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Target

The 'James Bond clause': Ministers give spies license to torture, human rights group reports


RT
Fri, 07 Sep 2018 15:30 UTC
MI6 building
© REUTERS/Toby MelvilleMI6 building in London
Spies are routinely being given legal cover by ministers if there is a possibility of them using torture to extract information from suspects held abroad, a human rights group has claimed about the so-called 'James Bond clause.'

UK-based non-profit Reprieve intends to launch a judicial review of the practice, by which MI6 or GCHQ agents are effectively granted immunity from prosecution in cases involving suspects detained overseas.

Reprieve claims there is a pattern of authorizations from ministers, which invoke Section 7 - the James Bond clause - of the 1994 Intelligence Services Act.

The non-profit argues that the authorizations are unlawful as they are in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. It claims that the permissions are "the modern equivalent of the torture warrants [for interrogation] issued by the Privy Council" in the 16th and 17th centuries. The authorizations were highlighted in parliament's recent Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) report, which admonished the government for its role in hundreds of cases of torture and mistreatment.


Comment: See also:

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Newspaper

Senator Warren: Trump may be unfit for office as hysteria over NYT op-ed explodes


RT
Fri, 07 Sep 2018 17:55 UTC
WH, Flag
© Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has said that it may be time to use constitutional powers to remove Donald Trump from office, as the frenzy over an explosive New York Times op-ed continues to consume Beltway insiders and pundits.

The opinion piece in question, titled "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration," was allegedly penned by an anonymous senior administration official. It claims that there is a group of "adults" who are working to subvert the president's "amoral" decisions.


Comment: And their 'amoral decisions' to subvert the president? What about those?


Warren said that if these allegations are true, the "resistance" inside the administration should use powers vested in the constitution, instead of submitting anonymous op-eds to the New York Times.

"If senior administration officials think the president of the United States is not able to do his job, then they should invoke the 25th Amendment," Warren told CNN on Thursday. The senator was referring to a provision in the constitution which allows for the vice president to become president in the event of death, resignation, removal from office or impairment that prevents the current president from fulfilling his or her duties.


Comment: See also: Paul Craig Roberts: I know who wrote the NYT Op-Ed

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Boat

China Daily: 'Britain is Washington's sharksucker' - a rip at UK-US relationship


RT
Fri, 07 Sep 2018 11:37 UTC
Royal Navy's HMS Albion.
© REUTERS/Vincent WestThe Royal Navy's HMS Albion.
In a searing takedown of the UK, the state-run China Daily newspaper described a recent "freedom of navigation" exercise by the British Royal Navy as a "provocative" violation of Chinese sovereignty.

Both the editorial, entitled 'UK should try to have more than one friend,' and Chinese government spokespeople were scathing in their assessment of both the UK's current geopolitical position and its motivations for the exercise in which the 22,000-ton amphibious warship HMS Albion entered Chinese territorial waters near the Xisha Islands (aka the Paracel Islands) in the South China Sea on August 31.

"China strongly urges Britain to stop this kind of provocation lest it should undermine the overall picture of bilateral ties as well as regional peace and stability," said Hua Chunying, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Thursday. "We have lodged stern representations with the British side and expressed our strong dissatisfaction."

Comment: 'Sharksucker': marine fishes with a flattened elongated body and a sucking disk on the head for attaching to large fish or moving objects. Quite a descriptive jab at the UK!

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Cross

Church politics: Russian Orthodox promises to cut ties with Constantinople if they grant independence to Ukrainian Church


RT
Sat, 08 Sep 2018 16:30 UTC
Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.
© Sergey Pyatakov / SputnikA meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Russian Orthodox Church will break all relations with the Constantinople Patriarchate if it grants independence to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is still a part of the Moscow Patriarchate, a senior Russian cleric said.

The Constantinople Patriarch's decision to send two of his high representatives to Kiev has provoked angry reaction in the Moscow Patriarchate that considered the move an interference into its internal affairs.

Metropolitan Hilarion, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church's External Relations Department, has threatened to sever ties with Patriarch Bartholomew, who is formally first among equals, should Constantinople go further and recognize the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate as independent - so far unrecognized by other churches.

"The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church voices a strong protest and the deepest indignation" over the fact that the Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew appointed two bishops from the US and Canada as his exarchs in Kiev, an earlier statement from Moscow said. This decision was taken without the consent of the Moscow Patriarchate and thus constitutes "a grave canonicity violation," the document added, saying that the move violates the rule which forbids one Orthodox Church to interfere into the internal affairs of another one.

Comment: See also:

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Eye 2

Remember when 'paranoid' Obama prosecuted staff leakers, gave lie-detector tests?

Paul Bedard
The Washington Examiner
Fri, 07 Sep 2018 18:28 UTC
Barak obama paranoid
Should President Trump need a model to use to track down leakers inside his administration like the "anonymous" insider who challenged his authority in a New York Times op-ed, he need go no further back than the Obama administration that prosecuted leakers and shut out the media.

According to reports at the time from even New York Times journalists, no administration was tougher on leakers and punishing to the media than Obama's, a saga reinforced by reporters who have called Trump's team more forthcoming.

Criticism of Obama's attacks on the media and leakers did not just come in tweets and TV appearances by journalists but in an official report from the Committee to Protect Journalists, authored by former Washington Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr.

"This is the most closed, control freak administration I've ever covered," said David E. Sanger, veteran chief Washington correspondent of The New York Times, in the report.
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Propaganda

"Anonymous" op-ed is mainstream media's latest magic trick, brought to you by the New York Times

Seraphim Hanisch
The Duran
Fri, 07 Sep 2018 18:10 UTC
new york times op ed lies anonymous
When it comes to actually reading the New York Times anonymous op-ed, one sees nothing different from the same old narrative.

On September 5th, the media world was "rocked" by an anonymously authored op-ed piece in The New York Times that, to hear about it through all the other networks, was like the end of the world for President Trump. According to the op-ed piece itself, it is written by a "senior official in the Trump White House" who has "vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations."

This piece's existence became the lead story on Thursday going into Friday. Drudge, Fox, CNN, and just about everyone in the major news media was covering this "extraordinary" publication. The underlying narrative by most of the networks was "look, it's an insider trying to thwart the President and they are trying to control this out of control man. Defend yourselves while you still have time!" And indeed, the op-ed piece itself says this almost verbatim:

Comment:

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Light Saber

John Brennan: The untold truth about Obama's former CIA director

Richard Galustian
The Duran
Fri, 07 Sep 2018 17:13 UTC
John Brennan
Why does John Brennan need a security clearance other than to commercially exploit it?

Let's get something clear from the start. In 1976, in his 20s, John Brennan was a card carrying communist who supported the then Soviet Union, at the height some might say of the Cold War, so much so he voted and assisted Gus Hall, the communist candidate for President against a devout Christian, Jimmy Carter who ultimately won the Presidency.

Yet under four years later, just after the then Soviet Union invaded, just weeks before, Afghanistan and months after the tumultuous Iranian revolution of 1979, which at the time many thought the Soviet Union had a hand in, Brennan was accepted into the CIA as a junior analyst.

At that time, John Brennan should have never got into the CIA, or any Western Intelligence agency given his communist background.

Think on that carefully as you continue to read this.

Comment:

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War Whore

Pentagon 'routinely briefs Trump on 'military options' in case of chemical attack in Syria, and will not cooperate with Russia


RT
Sat, 08 Sep 2018 19:27 UTC
USS Philippine Sea launches a Tomahawk cruise missile
© US Navy / ReutersUSS Philippine Sea launches a Tomahawk cruise missile
While no final decision has yet been made, a top US general says he's involved in "routine dialogue" with Donald Trump to keep him informed about "military options" for retaliation in case "chemical weapons are used" in Syria.

"We are in a dialogue, a routine dialogue, with the president to make sure he knows where we are with regard to planning in the event that chemical weapons are used," Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Saturday. "He expects us to have military options and we have provided updates to him on the development of those military options."

Fears of a looming 'chemical incident' in Syria have intensified recently, as the Syrian government closes in on Islamist militants' last major stronghold in Idlib province. Russia, for over a month, has been warning that the terrorists, cornered and desperate, are preparing a false-flag attack to frame Damascus and trigger a US-coalition intervention.

Comment: The US is ready to put forward its own plan to effectively fight terrorism in Syria and it is not going to cooperate with Russia on the issue, the Pentagon said in a statement.
"US military officials believe there is a more effective way to do counterterrorism operations than major conventional operations in Idlib. The chairman said the United States was not talking about cooperating, but about using US capabilities to spot the terrorists - even in an urban environment - and take them out with a minimum of civilian casualties," the US Department of Defense said, citing Gen. Joseph Dunford.
See also:

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Info

Australia forms a 'new' government

Vladimir Terehov
New Eastern Outlook
Sat, 08 Sep 2018 13:29 UTC
Scott Morrison
© AAP: Joe CastroAustralian prime minister, Scott Morrison
A number of different events are contributing to the political puzzle in the Indian and Pacific Ocean regions. Not the least significant of these are the recent changes of government in several of the region's countries. This journal has already looked at the possible consequences for the region of the coming to power of new governments in countries such as Pakistan and Malaysia.

The changes in the make-up of the Australian government, including the appointment of a new prime minister, is equally deserving of attention. On 23 August the previous prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, was replaced by his colleague from the Liberal Party, Scott Morrison. Readers will remember that in September 2015 Malcolm Turnbull himself succeeded Tony Abbot, also from the Liberal Party, as prime minister.

There have thus been three prime ministers in the six years that the Liberal Party (which won parliamentary election victories in 2013 and 2016 and rules in coalition with the National Party) has been in power.

Comment: For more analysis on Australia's 'new' government: Political Thunderdome: Yet Another Palace Coup in Australia, Where The House Always Wins

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Document

EU in 'final stages' of crafting bill forcing big tech censorship

Joseph Jankowski
Planet Free Will
Wed, 05 Sep 2018 13:36 UTC
Vera Jourova EU commissioner
© Olivier Hoslet/EPAEU Commissioner in charge of Justice, Consumers and gender equality, Věra Jourová , speaks at a news conference on a second monitoring of the illegal online hate speech code of conduct in Brussels, Belgium, 1 June 2017.
The European Union is in the final stages of crafting legislation that will force big tech and internet companies to censor "extremist" content and cooperate with law enforcement, Reuters reports.

The bill is expected to be released by the end of the month and will absolutely require companies such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter to swiftly remove any content considered terroristic from their platforms.

In March, the European Commission told such companies that they had three months to show they were removing "extremist" content more rapidly or face legislation forcing them to do so.

EU recommendations were sent out at the time regarding the speedy removal of all content including terrorist content, incitement to hatred and violence, child sexual abuse material, counterfeit products, and copyright infringement.


Comment: The scope is so wide that it is inevitable that legislation will be forthcoming.


Comment: All part of the plan to stifle dissent and keep everyone stuck with the official narrative, with Germany being one of the first to adopt such measures:

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