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'These are violent people': President Trump warns Christians of consequences if GOP loses midterms


RT
Wed, 29 Aug 2018 16:21 UTC
President Trump speaks to evangelical leaders
© Leah Mills/ReutersPresident Trump speaks to evangelical leaders in the White House's State Dining Room
In a hotly contested election season, marked by confrontations and a widening divide between the left and right, President Trump fired up his evangelical base with a warning: "you're one election away from losing everything."

In a speech to a collection of evangelical Christian leaders Monday night, Trump warned them to get out and vote Republican in November. If they don't, he cautioned, Democrats "will overturn everything that we've done and they'll do it quickly and violently," reported the New York Times, citing a recording of the private event.

It is unclear what form that this violence would take, or who would carry it out, but Trump warned the faithful that the left "will end everything immediately."

"When you look at Antifa, and you look at some of these groups, these are violent people," he said, referring to the militant leftist group that has gained national attention for its violent protests, usually during right-wing rallies, as well as its harassment of conservative figures.
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Better Earth

Imperialism and its accomplices: Dictatorship and democracy, home and abroad

Professor James Petras
Global Research
Mon, 27 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
UncSamflag
© History.com
One of the most striking world historic advances of western imperialism (in the US and the European Union) is the demise, disappearance and dissolution of large scale long-term anti-imperialist and anti-interventionist movements (AIM).

One of the major reasons for the debacle is the unwillingness or incapacity of AIM to confront electoral imperial elites engaged in regional wars against nationalist dictatorial or authoritarian regimes. In this paper we will proceed by outlining the dimensions of the problem. Secondly, we will discuss the political economic consequences of the fateful policies taken by AIM. We will conclude by considering alternatives to the current impasse.

Dimensions of the Problem: Imperialism and the Conquest of Independent Dictatorial Regimes

Over the past three decades electoral imperial regimes led by the US have intervened, invaded and conquered several independent dictatorial or authoritarian regimes. They include Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and the Ukraine. Except for the initial invasion of Iraq, there was virtually no mass AIM opposition.

Comment: Apathy, ignorance and unaccountability are today's societal and political markers. All the easier to make war and reap the profits (that benefit almost no one).

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Dollar

Swamp business-as-usual: What actually happened between a Russian oligarch, Chris Steele, and the US Justice Department

John Solomon
The Hill
Tue, 28 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
Oleg Deripaska
© Sergei Savostyanev/TASSRussian businessman Oleg Deripaska
In a 20-month search for evidence of collusion between Donald Trump's campaign and Russia, none that is compelling has emerged.

Former FBI director James Comey told Congress he found none. The U.S. intelligence community has given a similar assessment, though it did prove convincingly that Moscow meddled in the 2016 election through cyber warfare. And, so far, special counsel Robert Mueller has not offered any collusion evidence, though his work continues.

But, for the first time, I can say there is evidence of collusion between Russians and Americans - specifically, the sort that is at the heart of counterintelligence work.

Before we review that evidence, let's define collusion. The Collins Dictionary says its original British meaning was "secret or illegal cooperation, especially between countries or organizations." Using that definition, collusion can be secret but good, if the outcome is well intended. Or, it can be bad, if it is meant to defraud, deceive or create illegality.

Now for the evidence, as presented to me by several sources, American and foreign:

Comment: In other words, business-as-usual in Washington, DC. Though the story probably needs embellishing with hookers, drugs, and a murder or ten.

All of this has everything to do with scumbag elites being scumbag elites, AND NOTHING TO DO WITH POLITICAL COLLUSION ON THE PART OF THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN WITH ANY RUSSIAN GOVT AGENCY.

See also:

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Target

Why is Kabul attempting to sabotage Russia's Afghan peace conference?

Adam Garrie
Eurasia Future
Tue, 28 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
KabulGov
© VOA NewsKabul Government in session
On the 4th of September, Russia will host a multi-party Afghan peace conference which will be attended by members of the Taliban in spite of the fact that their organisation remains illegal in Russia. Russia's motive for calling the peace conference and for inviting the Taliban is indicative of the fact that no realistic peace process can arise in Afghanistan unless every single party to the internal conflicts in the war torn state can come to the table and reach some form of consensus. This is likewise the view shared by Pakistan, China, increasingly by Iran and has even been invoked by some US officials at various times.

While representatives of the current government in Kabul were to attend the meeting, it was later announced that they would not. Today however, Afghan officials were quoted by Reuters as stating that either Russian or Tajik warplanes bombed Taliban locations on the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Russian officials as well as Tajik officials have vehemently denied the accusation.

Given the fact that the independently issued statements of both Russia and Tajikistan carry more credibility than the allegations of Afghan government officials in such a context, the question is: why would Kabul officials spread such provocative rumours just over a week before the peace conference in Moscow?

Comment: Enter the Chinese. See also: Hong Kong newspaper: China building 'military training base' in Afghanistan - Chinese FM denies report

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Target

Drone strike targets UAE's Dubai Airport, Yemen retaliates for Saudi-UAE strikes on children

Ahmed Abdulkareem
Mint Press News
Mon, 27 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
UAE plane
© Kamran Jebreilli/APEmirates Airline plane taxies at Dubai airport in UAE.
A source inside of Yemen's Air Force said in a statement that an unmanned long-range drone, dubbed the Samad 3 (Invincible-3), targeted Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates - located over 1100 km ( 683 miles) away from Yemen's capital, Sana'a - in retaliation for recent Saudi-led coalition airstrikes against civilians in Yemen.

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the drone successfully bombed the airport and returned to its base in Yemen, adding "this was the first time that Yemeni forces used a drone to attack the airport." The UAE is Saudi Arabia's key ally in its deadly war against Yemen.

Yemen's Army spokesman, General Sharaf Ghaleb Luqman, said the drone's strike achieved its goal and caused the airport to shut down for some time. No comments have been issued by Emirati aviation authorities thus far, and there are no immediate reports about possible casualties or the extent of damage caused.

The unnamed source said that the attack came in retaliation for the Saudi-led coalition's attack against a school-bus full of children in Dhahian and another attack targeting displaced civilians in Dreihimi, saying "we renew the invitation to investors to stay away from the UAE."
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Stock Down

Is it Turkey now, America later?

Ron Paul
Ron Paul Institute
Mon, 27 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
HandIOU
© Unknown"The Handout"
President Trump recently imposed sanctions on Turkey to protest the Turkish government's detention of an American pastor. Turkey has responded by increasing tariffs on US exports. The trade war is being blamed for the collapse of Turkey's currency, the lira. While the sanctions may have played a role, Turkey's currency crisis is rooted in the Turkish government's fiscal and (especially) monetary policies.

In the past seven years, Turkey's central bank has tripled the money supply and pushed interest rates down to 4.5 percent. While Turkey's government did not adopt Ben Bernanke's proposal to drop money from helicopters, Turkish politicians have taken advantage of easy money policies to increase subsidies for key voting blocs and special interests.

The results of the Turkish government's inflation-fueled spending binge are not surprising to anyone familiar with Austrian economics or economic history. Turkey is now plagued with huge deficits, a collapsing currency, and a looming economic crisis, making it the next candidate for a European Union or Federal Reserve bailout.

Turkey's combination of low interest rates, money creation, and massive government spending to "stimulate" the economy parallels the policies the US government has pursued for the past ten years. Without drastic changes in fiscal and monetary policies, economic trouble in America is around the corner.

Comment: The pattern is out there and will come home to bite. Paul is right. America is not immune.

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Snakes in Suits

Ukrainian consultant: Steele sought bogus stories for Trump dossier


Sputnik
Tue, 28 Aug 2018 00:29 UTC
Christopher Steele, Lee Stranahan, Andrii Telizhenko
© AP/Victoria Jones/PA/ Daily Caller/TwitterChristopher Steele • Lee Stranahan • Andrii Telizhenko
A Ukrainian political consultant has revealed to Sputnik that former MI6 agent Christopher Steele sought and paid for researchers in Ukraine to concoct fake stories about Donald Trump prior his election as US president to use in the now-infamous dossier that supposedly contained damning evidence of Russia-Trump collusion.

Radio Sputnik's Lee Stranahan spoke previously with Ukrainian political consultant and former diplomat Andrii Telizhenko about his connections to a Democratic National Committee (DNC) operative named Alexandra Chalupa who also worked for clients in Ukrainian politics. Chalupa told Politico in January 2017 that beginning in 2015, she pulled on a network of sources she'd established in Kiev and Washington to try and turn up dirt on Trump, once his star began to rise in the Republican primary campaign.

"I felt there was a Russia connection," Chalupa told Politico in January 2017.

Those talks led to other revelations by Telizhenko about further shady business between paid Ukrainian researchers and the DNC. Telizhenko disclosed this information to Stranahan in an interview; the recording of that interview was played on-air during Radio Sputnik's Fault Lines program Monday by Stranahan, who cohosts the show with Garland Nixon.
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Bullseye

Damning UN report slams all sides of Yemen conflict citing sexual violence, child soldiers, war crimes


RT
Tue, 28 Aug 2018 22:15 UTC
Yemeni Children
© Naif RahmaYemeni children, victims of the war
UN investigators said Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the Houthis may all have committed war crimes, including sexual violence and recruiting child soldiers, in a damning report detailing atrocities in the Yemen conflict.

The UN's Group of Regional and International Eminent Experts on Yemen found all parties in the conflict have committed substantial human rights violations and potential war crimes in a 41-page report published Tuesday, and gave a confidential list of individual perpetrators to the UN High Commissioner. The report was mandated by the UN's Human Rights Council and encompasses the period between September 2014 and June 2018.

Coalition airstrikes & civilian casualties

Air attacks by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition were responsible for most of the documented civilian casualties. The investigators said close to a dozen of the attacks they looked at over the last year raised "serious questions about the targeting process applied by the coalition." Targets included "residential areas, markets, funerals, weddings, detention facilities, civilian boats and even medical facilities," the report reads.

One "egregious" example was the March 15, 2016 strikes on Jhamees market, which killed over 100 civilians, 25 of whom were children. The UN estimates there have been 6,660 civilian deaths between March 2015 and August, but the true figure is believed to be higher.

Comment: Sadly something truly tragic, in a long line of tragedies, has finally made numb people notice. Do they care enough to do something about it?

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Handcuffs

Iran claims government infiltration, arrested numerous foreign spies


Sputnik
Tue, 28 Aug 2018 22:57 UTC
Iranian Police?
© Dunya News
Iranian Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said on Tuesday that security forces had arrested "tens of spies" working in different branches of the Iranian government, according to the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), a semi-official media publication in the country.

The intelligence minister did not say which countries the spies were working for nor when they were arrested, but only that many of them were dual citizens of Iran and other states.
"I have repeatedly asked people to inform us if they know any dual national. The Intelligence Ministry's anti-espionage unit has successfully identified and arrested tens of spies in different governmental bodies," ISNA quotes the minister as saying.
Maryam Rajavi, leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), a former US-designated terrorist organization which now enjoys deep ties to the US State Department and White House, called on Saturday for Western countries to expel "the regime's spies and mercenaries" which she argued take "advantage of diplomatic resources to promote state-sponsored terrorism."

Comment: More from RT:
Iranian security forces have identified and arrested "tens of spies" working in government agencies, according to Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi.

The minister did not offer any details about the arrests or identities of the alleged spies. He did say the ministry has been on the lookout for dual nationals, however.

The intelligence ministry has also foiled several bombing plots in metro stations and universities, but had not previously disclosed it to the public, said the minister.

In February, Iranian authorities arrested three environmental activists in the southern province of Hormozgan, charging them with spying for the CIA and the Israeli Mossad.


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Smoking

Lithuania proposes new smoking restrictions


Baltic Network News
Sun, 26 Aug 2018 19:11 UTC
Lithuania smoking ban
© AFP/Scanpix
Lithuania has proposed this week new smoking restrictions. Under new amendments, plain cigarette packaging would be introduced in Lithuania, the display of cigarettes would be banned and smoking in residential balconies, outdoor cafes, beaches and other places would also be prohibited.

Under these amendments, plain cigarette packaging will be introduced in November, 2022 and it will only feature the name of the company and product in a state-approved standard type and colour, and any logo elements or signs will be banned.

The amendments to the Law on the Control of Tobacco, Tobacco Products and Related Products have been drafted by the Ministry of Health in cooperation with other institutions.
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