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Benjamin Netanyahu is no friend to America - Wants Washington to get embroiled in war with Iran

Scott Ritter
Truthdig
Thu, 04 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
Mike Pompeo meets with Benjamin Netanyahu
© State Dept.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Israel, on April 29.
Benjamin Netanyahu is no stranger to the American spotlight. A career Israeli politician who attended school in the United States, he specializes in the kind of rhetoric that his American counterparts revel in-a kind of narcissism that's more used car salesman than educator.

Netanyahu specializes in selling danger to the American people. This is an art he has practiced on numerous occasions, whether it be at the gatherings of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), his many appearances before the U.S. Congress, at televised events or during the general debate in the United Nations General Assembly, an annual gathering of global leaders and diplomats where each nation's representative is provided the opportunity to address counterparts and the world on issues he or she deems to be of particular import.

Bibi (as he is known, affectionately or otherwise) delivered his latest address to the General Assembly on Sept. 27. Like others he had delivered previously, this one was a tour de force of angst, fear and anger with a nearly singular focus on the issue that has seized Netanyahu for more than two decades - Iran and its alleged nuclear weapons program.
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Bad Guys

U.S.-led axis uses 'Russian hackers' narrative to justify preparations for global cyber conflict


South Front
Fri, 05 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
cyber war room
© File Photo
As of September 2018, the alleged Russian hacking attempts of various Western bodies have become one of the key narratives in the mainstream media. The ongoing media hysteria is being used by the US and allies to justify open preparations for the global cyber standoff.

Russia has been accused of cyber-attacks ever since 2016, in relation to alleged meddling in the US Presidential election. These accusations seemed to be in the background of other accusations, related to the war in Syria or the Skripal case.

On September 21st, the UK announced that it would create a £250m cyber-force unit to perform offensive, not simply defensive, cyber operations, targeting "the Russian threat and terrorist groups." In March 2018 the possibility of the cyber troops was initially reported, and it was supposed to consist of 1,000 members. However, reports in September claimed that it would number 2,000 digital warriors, with experts recruited from the military, security services and industry. It will quadruple the number of personnel in offensive cyber-roles and marks a step change in the nation's ability to disrupt and destroy computer networks and internet-connected devices.


Comment: At this stage of the 'Great Game' - with all the sanctions, proxy warfare, propaganda and Big Lies being leveled against Russia, one would do well to ask how long before this ice-cold war - turns into a red-hot one?

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Briefcase

Justice Kavanaugh: Senate confirms appointment after historic battle

Susan Ferrechio
Washington Examiner
Sat, 06 Oct 2018 20:38 UTC
Trump Brett Kavanaugh
© Evan Vucci / APPresident Donald Trump greets Judge Brett Kavanaugh his Supreme Court nominee, in the East Room of the White House, Monday, July 9, 2018, in Washington.
The Senate Saturday confirmed Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, ending one of the most contentious, tawdry, and partisan battles in history over a high court seat.

The vote was 50-48. One senator, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, voted present to accommodate absent Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., who was attending his daughter's wedding. One embattled Democrat, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, up for re-election in a state that favored Trump by 42 points, voted for Kavanaugh.

President Trump celebrated Kavanaugh's imminent confirmation as he boarded Marine One in the first leg of a trip to Kansas for a campaign rally.

Comment: The Daily Caller adds:
It's not yet clear when Kavanaugh will officially join the high court. The justices are not hearing cases Monday due to the Columbus Day holiday, providing an opportunity for Kavanaugh's immediate installation. There are generally two swearing-in ceremonies for Supreme Court justices: a private proceeding with the president, the chief justice and the other justices of the Court, followed by a public courtroom investiture.

The Court will hear arguments in four cases this week, which touch sentencing rules, the detention of criminal aliens and a maritime law dispute. There are not major social or political controversies on the docket as of this moment, though a deluge of test cases on affirmative action and the Second Amendment - among other topics - are expected in the near future.

Protests roiled Washington throughout the day, though they were less intense than the demonstrations that unsettled the Capitol earlier in the week. Thousands circulated in Senate office buildings on Thursday and Friday browbeating senators, as lawmakers scurried between secure rooms under armed escorts. There were several hundred arrests.

Demonstrators associated with the Women's March rallied outside the Washington home of GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a pro-choice moderate who announced her support for Kavanaugh on the Senate floor Friday afternoon, effectively guaranteeing his confirmation.


President Donald Trump lavished praise on Collins Saturday afternoon before departing for a rally in Kansas. The president monitored the vote aboard Air Force One.

"I thought that Susan was incredible yesterday," Trump said. "You could see how hard she worked, how hard she was working, she didn't stop. I know for a fact because I spoke with her. She didn't stop. And she gave an impassioned, beautiful speech yesterday and that was from the heart."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell expressed confidence that the protestors' tactics will rebound to the benefit of Republicans in a Saturday interview with The Washington Post.

"It's been a great political gift for us," McConnell said. "The tactics have energized our base."

"I want to thank the mob, because they've done the one thing we were having trouble doing, which was energizing our base," he added.

Kavanaugh is Trump's 69th appointment to the federal bench.


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Laptop

Russian hacking charges coordinated in formation: Mere coincidence or part of bigger picture?


RT
Thu, 04 Oct 2018 22:45 UTC
Cybersecurity Talks
© linkedin.com/KJN
A wave of hacking accusations against Moscow flowed on Thursday from several western states. Russian diplomats believe it wasn't a coincidence. But why take Moscow's word for it, when you can check out recent events for yourself?

The UK and the Netherlands claimed that Russian government hackers were behind the attacks on the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and also cited an attempt to hack into the MH17 crash investigation. The US indicted seven "agents" of Russian military intelligence for a series of alleged hacks and Canada blamed Moscow for "malicious cyber-operations."

But even if those events appear to be coordinated, as the Russian Foreign Ministry says, it really could be just the tip of the iceberg in the sea of recent international events.

Comment: See also:

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Biohazard

Russian Defense Ministry: US killed dozens with bioweapon disguised as drug research

Mac Slavo
shtfplan.com
Thu, 04 Oct 2018 19:47 UTC
Bioweapons research
The Russian Defense Ministry is accusing the United States of killing dozens of Georgians with a biological weapon after disguising it as drug research. Documents recorded the deaths of 73 people over a short period of time, indicating a test of "a highly toxic chemical or biological agents with high lethality rate."

According to RT, the question of what really might have taken place at the secretive United States-sponsored research facility hosted by Russia's southern neighbor Georgia was raised by the Russian military on Thursday after they studied files published online by a former Georgian minister. Igor Kirillov, commander of the Russian military branch responsible for defending troops from radiological, chemical and biological weapons said that it was not drug research, but a chemical or biological weapon that killed the 73 Georgians.

Comment:

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Propaganda

Corporate media beats the drum for war with Iran

John C. O'Day
truthdig
Fri, 05 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
Unkie Sam
© Activist Post
Three years ago, as Americans debated the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran - popularly known as "the Iran deal" - I highlighted a troubling media trend: "For nearly all commentators, regardless of their position, war is the only alternative to that position."

In the months since US President Donald Trump tore up the JCPOA agreement, his administration has been trying to make good on corporate media's collective prediction. Last week, John Bolton, Trump's national security advisor and chief warmonger, told Iran's leaders and the world that there would be "hell to pay" if they dare to "cross us."

That Bolton's bellicose statements do not send shockwaves of pure horror across a debt-strapped and war-weary United States is thanks in large part to incessant priming for war, facilitated by corporate media across the entire political spectrum, with a particular focus on Iran.

Back in 2015, while current "resistance" stalwarts like the Washington Post and Politico warned us that war with Iran was the most likely alternative to the JCPOA, conservative standard-bearers such as Fox News and the Washington Times foretold that war with Iran was the agreement's most likely outcome. Three years hence, this dynamic has not changed.

Comment: Numbing down the society, war has become second nature, the easy choice, the immediate belief without examination. The upgrade for Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), which streamlines the usual requirements, will pass Congress and all bets are off for restraint and reflection before annihilating another innocent population on flimsy grounds and lack of evidence to support such finality of action.

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Footprints

Pentagon's 'self-defense' allows war anywhere, anytime, but there's a call to repeal and replace


RT
Thu, 04 Oct 2018 22:59 UTC
ChopperSoldiers
© Lucas Jackson/Reuters
A post-9/11 act grants the president authority to wage foreign wars with few restrictions. However, Democrats want the Pentagon to explain a lesser-known policy that allows the military to strike almost anywhere, at any time.

Passed easily in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) streamlines the usual requirement that the president seek congressional approval to wage war, allowing him to use all "necessary and appropriate force" against anyone he decides "planned, authorized, committed or aided" the 9/11 attacks.

Since its passing, the AUMF has been invoked 37 times to allow US military action in countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia and Yemen. The global presence of extremist groups like al-Qaeda means that wherever the US wants to get involved, there'll more than likely be someone there connected in some way with 9/11, giving intervention the green light.

But what about those other times? The US has a presence in over 150 countries worldwide, and surely can't just open fire willy-nilly in these countries?

Comment: Legalization and congressional codification of procedures will enable and enforce instantaneous war. This is where the UN should be demanding all countries operate on the same rules of engagement. Watch out! Any minute this could be your country's yucky day.

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Question

When did the Democratic Party turn into Antifa? Or have they always been?

Daniel J. Flynn
The American Spectator
Fri, 05 Oct 2018 12:05 UTC
Protest crowd
© thecourier.co.uk
Apparently when they tasted the appeal of Bolshevism.

"Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength," reflected longshoreman philosopher Eric Hoffer. The events of the last month affirm this wisdom.

A Democratic Party lacking the White House, majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate, and the Supreme Court imitated strength in practicing rudeness. Now, hours before the confirmation vote that they sought to postpone, the Democrats' boisterousness appears, belatedly at least, as camouflage for weakness. This weakness, which may seem anything but when in earshot of protesters, appears most apparent in the U.S. Senate. Democrats lack the raw numbers to win.

Unable to rely on an institutional or the democratic apparatus to derail Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, they embraced a by-any-means-necessary strategy.

Comment: The Democratic mask has slipped. Overt and orchestrated civil disobedience, corruption and malicious attacks are their new markers for social revolution. The American public would do well to become informed and take note. Social justice does not mean justice.

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Attention

Labour's deputy leader calls for a 'Mueller-style' investigation into 2016 EU referendum


RT
Thu, 04 Oct 2018 17:37 UTC
Tom Watson, labour party guy
© Phil Noble/ReutersLabour Party Deputy Leader Tom Watson
Labour's deputy leader, Tom Watson has called on the UK government to conduct a 'Mueller-style' inquiry into allegations Russia interfered in the 2016 EU referendum, despite an Oxford study failing to backup such accusations.

Watson has written to Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, claiming that as many as 150,000 Russian linked Twitter accounts were tweeting about Brexit during the 2016 EU referendum. He accused Russian UK-based media outlets, RT and Sputnik of producing "systematically one-sided coverage" of the referendum, and called for a 'Mueller-style' investigation into alleged Russian interference.




Comment: It was (still is) insanity the first time around in the US while nothing has been proven or gained. Now in the UK? Was nothing learned?

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Snakes in Suits

Yemeni ambassador Mubarak asks Russia, US to urge Houthis to join peace talks


Sputnik
Fri, 05 Oct 2018 07:24 UTC
Yemen ruin
© The NationAfter a Saudi raid.
Russia and the United States should have a unified and tough message to the Yemeni rebel Houthi movement, calling on it to sit at the negotiating table, Ambassador of Yemen to the United States Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak told Sputnik.
"I think they [Russia and the United States] need to keep a unified strong message to the Houthis that there is no compromises, the only way to resolve the Yemeni problem is the Security Council resolution, they have to come to the table, and that they will not accept any excuses from them... I think having this unified strong message from Russia and the United States is very important," Mubarak said.
Yemen is grateful to Russia for its support for the country's legitimate government [Hadi] and for unifying the world around one position on the Yemeni issue, Ambassador of Yemen told Sputnik.
"We appreciate the Russian support to the legitimate government and their understanding for the main causes. I think they know more than others the roots of the problem in Yemen... We do appreciate all the support to the special envoy [of the United Nations, Martin Griffiths] and also to the Yemeni government and also pushing the international community and unifying international voice towards one opinion," Mubarak said.

Comment: Mubarak is a yes man and we get the idea that the talks, should they be held, will aim to bulldoze the Yemeni. And AQAP? How do they figure into this?

More from Sputnik:
The United States is determined to continue efforts to bring the parties to conflict in Yemen to the negotiating table in the near future, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Timothy Lenderking told Sputnik.

Earlier this week, UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths said he was hopeful to resume peace talks on Yemen by November. The negotiations were supposed to begin last month in Geneva but they were canceled due to tensions between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis. Griffiths said he was not sure when the talks would take place but hoped it would be soon.

When asked about the prospects for the next peace talks on Yemen, Lenderking said,
"We are very much supporting that. It's probably not going to be in Geneva, but we are very dedicated to trying to get at least the Yemenis and the Yemeni government and the Houthis to the [negotiating] table in the near future. Not sure [when] but the sooner the better," Lenderking said. "It's up to him [Griffiths] to set the venue... Wherever this could be done we would support it - we don't have any particular views about where it should happen."
Earlier in September, UN-mediated peace talks on Yemen were supposed to start in Geneva, but the Houthi delegation failed to arrive, accusing the Saudi-led coalition, which controls Yemeni airspace, of blocking them from traveling. UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths later announced that new dates for peace talks would be set.

Yemen has been engulfed in an armed conflict between official government forces and the Houthi rebels for several years now. The Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request since March 2015.


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