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Hiliter

Trump answered Mueller's questions for the Russia probe, has yet to submit them


RT
Fri, 16 Nov 2018 17:48 UTC
Trump and pen
© Reuters/Jonathan ErnstPresident Donald Trump, November 16, 2018.
President Trump has said that he has answered questions for Special Counsel Robert Mueller's 'Russiagate' investigation, but has not submitted those answers yet.

"I was asked a series of questions. I've answered them very easily," he told reporters on Friday. "You always have to be careful answering questions with people who probably have bad intentions."

Asked about his comments on Twitter the day before, in which he blasted Mueller and his "gang of Democrat thugs," Trump said nothing in particular had brought that on.

"I'm not agitated," he said. "It's a hoax, the whole thing is a hoax." There should have never been an investigation, he argued, because there had been no wrongdoing by him or his campaign during the 2016 election. "The witch hunt should've never taken place. I imagine it's ending now," Trump added.

The president confirmed he wrote the answers himself, rather than have lawyers do it, but has not submitted the documents to the special counsel yet.

Comment: What is Mueller's intention regarding the president's Q&A if his Russiagate probe is 'ending now'? A last gasp?

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Arrow Up

Media prediction: Early general election inevitable; Netanyahu opposes it


Sputnik
Fri, 16 Nov 2018 16:00 UTC
Bennett/Netanyahu
© Miriam Alster/Flash90Education Minister Naftali Bennett • Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
The reports about early general elections started to occur days after Avigdor Lieberman left his position as the country's defence minister in the wake of a controversial cease-fire with Gaza militants. His Yisrael Beytenu party then left the country's ruling coalition, thus leaving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a fragile majority.

The meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Naftali Bennett earlier in the day resulted in the decision to hold early general elections in Israel, Haaretz reports, citing sources close to Bennett.

However, shortly after Netanyahu's office issued a statement refuting reports about the election, warning of the repetition 1992, when a right-wing party left the coalition, the Labour party won the subsequent election, and then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin signed the Oslo Accords.

Comment: Manipulating its own government for a change? See also:

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Attention

Iran: Execution of two men amid currency, corruption crackdown


Sputnik
Thu, 15 Nov 2018 22:00 UTC
noose and gavel
© timthumb
Iran hanged two men on Wednesday who were accused of hoarding gold in order to manipulate the market.

The men, Vahid Mazloumin and his assistant Mohammad Esmail Qassemi, were arrested in July and sentenced to death in October.

Mazloumin, nicknamed the "Sultan of Coins," and his team had a two-ton stockpile of gold coins. They were accused of forming a black market for gold with the goal of increasing its price on the traditional market. Mazloumin was arrested for acting as a speculator and Qassemi for "spreading corruption."

Amnesty International condemned the execution, as the men were not accused of lethal crimes, calling it a flagrant violation of international law.

"Use of the death penalty is appalling under any circumstances, but it is even more horrific given that these men were convicted after a grossly unfair show trial that was broadcast on state television," Philip Luther of Amnesty said.
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Star of David

"We'll show no restraint!" IDF vows zero-tolerance against Gazans' border violence


RT
Fri, 16 Nov 2018 05:47 UTC
Palestinians/IDF
© Reuters/Mussa Issa Qawasma
The IDF will no longer show any restraint in cracking down on Palestinian protesters who stir trouble at the Gaza border, an Israeli general has warned following the extreme escalation in violence witnessed this week.

Just days after Hamas unleashed an unprecedented bombardment of southern Israel which saw over 400 rockets and mortars fired from Gaza, Tel Aviv made it clear that it will no longer tolerate any unrest at the border.

"Our patience has broken and we will respond harshly." "We will show no restraint," Maj.-Gen. Kamil Abu Rokon, IDF Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), warned Gazans through his Facebook page.

Stressing that weekly border clashes are nothing short of "terrorist acts" which are well planned and coordinated by Hamas, Rokon issued explicit orders to the Palestinians to stay at least 100 meters clear of the border fence. Anyone who approaches the fence and tries to destroy it "will put himself at risk," the general said. Leniency, Rokon said, will not be shown to anyone who "hurls bombs, grenades and Molotov cocktails" or those who attempt to detonate explosives.
"I offer you the opportunity to wake up and understand that Hamas and the other terrorist organizations are leading you to the edge of the abyss," Rokon said."Understand this before it's too late, you have been warned."

Comment: This was an announcement for the global public, not per se the Palestinians. Israel doesn't require provocation to deliver a lethal message and it is more than capable of escalating petty violence into a war.

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X

US State Department: WH not involved in any Gulen extradition discussions


Sputnik
Fri, 16 Nov 2018 06:10 UTC
Fethullah Gulen
© AP/Selahattin SeviFethullah Gulen
The White House has not taken any steps with respect to extraditing US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen amid the developments in the case of murdered Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi, US Department of State spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a press briefing.

NBC News' reported on Thursday President Donald Trump is looking for ways to remove Gulen from the United States to appease Turkey and ease pressure on the government of Saudi Arabia.

"The White House has not been involved in any discussions [with Turkish authorities] related to the extradition of Fethullah Gulen," Nauert said on Thursday.

Nauert added Washington is continuing to evaluate the materials that the Turkish government's request for Gulen's removal.

Nauert said the Gulen and Khashoggi cases are not related and added that the two issues stay separated.

Comment: NBC's presumptions: a form of non-news reporting.

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Arrow Down

Two-faced? US continues imports of Russian gas while insisting Europe should stop purchasing


RT
Fri, 16 Nov 2018 13:42 UTC
Yamal LNG
© Sputnik/Eugene Odinokov
Several cargo ships carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia's Yamal LNG plant have arrived in the US, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova announced, highlighting the obvious weirdness of the situation.

"Oddly enough, with all this visible public flow of negative rhetoric from Washington, Russian liquefied natural gas is successfully being supplied to the US," Zakharova said during the weekly press briefing.

"Recently, at least three tankers with liquefied natural gas from the Russian Yamal LNG field on board have reached the US coast," she added.

This is not the first batch of Yamal-originated LNG. In January, a month after the facility started operating, French tanker Gaselys delivered the first LNG cargo to the US city of Boston. The fuel was reportedly purchased by Malaysian oil and gas firm Petronas, transported to the UK, and then resold. In March, Boston reportedly welcomed another LNG carrier - Provalys owned by French multinational Engie. The tanker reportedly delivered the second LNG cargo from the Russian Yamal plant.

Zakharova's comment came shortly after US Department of Energy [Under] Secretary Mark Menezes said that Washington is ready to back projects aimed at diversifying energy supplies to countries of the European Union even if Russian corporations take part in them.
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Heart - Black

Sick! Kiev scheduled shooting contest to mark Maidan protest, where dozens were killed by snipers


RT
Fri, 16 Nov 2018 18:42 UTC
maiden square memorial Ukraine snipers
© Reuters/David MdzinarishviliPeople lay flowers in memory of the victims of violence in central Kiev on February 24, 2014.
Ukraine is marking the 5th anniversary of the Maidan protests which reached their peak when snipers killed dozens of people in the streets. In a bizarre move, a youth sniper contest was announced as part of the event.

The competition itself, which is called "Sniper of the capital", has been held since 2005 and is meant for youngsters who aspire to have a career in the military or law enforcement. But on Thursday, Kiev authorities announced that this year the shooting championship will be held among other patriotic events dedicated to Dignity and Freedom Day.

Comment:

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V

CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou: I was targeted by Brennan, Mueller and Strzok just like Trump

Chuck Ross
The Daily Caller
Wed, 14 Nov 2018 18:24 UTC
John Kiriakou, a former CIA counterterrorism officer, has told RT that he was kicked off a panel at the European Parliament because a fellow panelist objected to his association with Russia as a Sputnik Radio host.
John Kiriakou, whistleblower and former CIA counterterrorism officer
When the FBI asked John Kiriakou to meet at the Washington field office in January 2012, the former CIA officer says he gladly agreed to the request.

"Anything for the FBI," Kiriakou told the FBI agent who contacted him.

Months earlier, as a senior investigator on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kiriakou had helped the FBI investigate a Japanese diplomat who had approached him offering a bribe.

Or so he thought.

Instead, Kiriakou says the FBI was running a sting operation against him for what he claims is payback for revealing secrets about the CIA's waterboarding program.
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Light Sabers

Canada could join US in sanctioning Saudi Arabai over Khashoggi murder


Sputnik
Fri, 16 Nov 2018 18:17 UTC
Canada fm Chrystia Freeland
© AP Photo / Bullit Marquez, POOLCanadian FM Chrystia Freeland
Canada could soon join the United States in imposing sanctions against the Saudi nationals accused of killing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters.

Earlier in the day, the US Treasury Department sanctioned 17 Saudis under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, including the head of the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, where Khashoggi was killed on October 2.

"Canada welcomes the US action. When it comes to Canada, we also do have Magnitsky legislation in place and that is a tool that we have found very useful in our foreign policy," Freeland said on Thursday, as quoted by CBC News. "And that is certainly something which in the coming days Canada is actively considering."
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Eye 2

'Fake news' isn't new: Throughout history elites have used the media to 'maintain and expand their power' - new book


Sputnik
Fri, 16 Nov 2018 17:26 UTC
Fake News
© Creative Commons
For quite some time, debate about 'fake news' has reverberated clamorously in both mainstream and alternative discourse. One could easily conclude the issue was a pressingly new plague, restricted to certain corners of the web - but academic TJ Coles begs to differ. In fact, he tells Sputnik fake news has been ubiquitous for thousands of years.

It's difficult to pinpoint the precise moment the term 'fake news' entered the Western political and media lexicon, but the election of Donald Trump as US President certainly turbocharged its usage. For the controversial leader and his supporters, the label can be automatically applied to any and all media reporting critical of him, while his opponents play much the same game when roles are reversed.

Comment: Real Fake News: Techniques of Propaganda and Deception-based Mind Control is also available on Amazon.

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