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UN envoy to Israel: 'Stop shooting at children, they must be protected'


Middle East Monitor
Mon, 23 Apr 2018 12:59 UTC
Death of child
© Asraf Amra / Anadolu AgencyFuneral of a Palestinian child who was killed by Israeli forces during the 'Great March of Return' on 7 April 2018.
UN Special Envoy for the Middle East Peace Process Nikolay Mladenov clashed with a former Israeli army spokesman on Twitter after the UN official slammed Israel's violent response to protests in Gaza on Friday which left four Palestinians dead.

Mladenov angrily tweeted that Israel's actions on the Gaza border were "outrageous", particularly calling for children to be protected from the ensuing violence, a reference to 14-year-old Mohammad Ayoub, who was shot despite being some 150 metres away from the border.

Peter Lerner, who acted as spokesman for the Israeli military for 25 years, responded to Mladenov, labelling his comments "unhelpful" suggesting steps that the UN envoy should take instead to rectify the situation, including stopping "Palestinian incitement and organised riots at the border". He went on to say that the "the tweet from THE most senior UN official does nothing to prevent the next death".

Maldenov replied bluntly: "Here's another idea. Stop shooting at children."

Comment: See also: Israel's latest excuse for murdering child protesters in Gaza: They're not in school

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Bulb

Best of the Web: Russian MOD says OPCW confirms no chemical weapons at facility bombed by FUKUS


Sputnik
Wed, 25 Apr 2018 13:24 UTC
opcw
Last week, the fact-finding mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) visited a site in the Damascus suburb of Douma to collect samples in connection with the alleged April 7 chemical attack.

Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the Russian General Staff Col. Gen. Sergey Rudskoy has announced that the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had confirmed that there were no chemical weapons found at the Barzeh research center in Damascus despite the US officials' claims.

The official further noted that thousands of people could have died if there was any chemical weapon on the sites that were attacked by the US-led coalition.

"Immediately after the attacks, many people who worked at these destroyed facilities and just bystanders without any protective equipment visited them. None of them got poisoned with toxic agents," Rudskoy said.

He said the logic of strikes on alleged facilities with toxic agents in Syria was unclear, because if toxic agents had theoretically been stored there, tens of thousands of people would have died after the cruise missile strikes.

Comment: If the U.S. media bothered to actually read or undertake even cursory research, they'd know that the OPCW inspected the Barzeh site in November 2017 and found nothing. And if the U.S. media could use their vision and their ability to count to ten, they would have been able to confirm for themselves Rudskoy's counts of successful missiles, as SOTT's Joe Quinn did immediately after the attack: Just for comparison, we estimated 9 hits on Barzeh, 5 on Han Shinshar, and 1 on storage facility. The Russians counted 13, 7, and 2.

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Arrow Down

France: Poll shows over half "dissatisfied" with President Macron


RT
Sun, 22 Apr 2018 15:31 UTC
Macron
© REUTERS / Maxim Shemetov
Over half of the French people broadly disapprove of President Emmanuel Macron's job performance, according to a new poll that took place around the time Paris joined US-led airstrikes on Syria, and amid protests over reforms.

As many as 55 percent of the respondents said they are "dissatisfied" with the president's performance, says Ifop poll, published by Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper.

The study was conducted online and by telephone, from April 12 to 21, with a sample of nearly 2,000 people polled.

People were asked: "Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with Emmanuel Macron as President of the Republic?" Only 44 percent of those polled said they were, with five percent of those "very satisfied" and 39 percent "rather satisfied." Around 23 percent said they were "very dissatisfied," and 32 percent "rather dissatisfied." One percent did not answer.

Comment: Macron doesn't seem too phased by the fact that both his countrymen and parliament aren't happy with his performance so far, so long as he has Trump by his side:

Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: World in Chaos: Anti-Russia Hysteria, Israel Murders Palestinians, US Leaving Syria?

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Bad Guys

Trump: Iran will 'pay a price like few countries have ever paid' if US is threatened


RT
Wed, 25 Apr 2018 11:41 UTC
TrumpIranFlag
© Real Iran
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Iran "will pay a price like few countries have ever paid" if the Middle Eastern nation threatens the US in any way.

The president was speaking at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron on the second day of Macron's state visit to Washington.

Trump made his comments while speaking about the impending May 12 deadline to renew the Iran nuclear deal. If Trump does not sign a sanctions waiver by May 12 the deal is void and US sanctions on Iran resume.

Comment: Trump and Macron also discussed the possibility of unilaterally coming to a 'new agreement' on the Iran deal. The BBC reports:
"I think we will have a great shot at doing a much bigger, maybe, deal," the US president said, adding that any new agreement must be built on "solid foundations".

"They should have made a deal that covered Yemen, that covered Syria, that covered other parts of the Middle East," said Mr Trump, referring to the 2015 accord which he described as "insane".
Iran responded with appropriate indignation, threatening severe consequences if the US withdrew from the current deal:
"Together with a leader of a European country [the Americans] say: 'We want to decide on an agreement reached by seven parties,'" Mr Rouhani said in a televised speech in the city of Tabriz on Wednesday.

"For what? With what right?"

Mr Rouhani said Iran had "shown goodwill to the world" when it signed the accord and had wanted to prove it did "not seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction".

On Tuesday, he warned that there would be "severe consequences" if the US reimposed sanctions. He did not give any details but Iranian officials have said uranium enrichment could be stepped up within days and that the country could withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Further reading:

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Info

Russian military spokesman: Russia's air defenses destroy targets heading towards Khmeimim airbase in Syria


RT
Wed, 25 Apr 2018 08:15 UTC
Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system
© Dmitry Vinogradov / SputnikRussian S-400 surface-to-air missile system at the Khmeimim airbase in Syria
Russian air defenses have intercepted and destroyed several aerial targets heading towards the country's Khmeimim airbase in Syria late on Tuesday, a military spokesman said.

"After the fall of dark, the means of airspace control at the Russian Khmeimim base detected small-sized aerial targets of unknown origin in the distance from the airfield," the airbase spokesman said. "All of the targets were destroyed by the antiaircraft fire means of the Russian airbase."

There were no casualties as result of the incident, with the base returning to routine operations, he added.

Comment: See also: Panic over Russian S-300s in Syrian hands? CENTCOM general makes 'secret and unprecedented' visit to Israel

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Bad Guys

Mattis states the obvious about Syria chemical weapons: "We have no evidence"


True Publica
Mon, 23 Apr 2018 00:00 UTC
James Mattis
From Inter Press News Agency comes news that those with a critical and questioning mind, knew all along when it came to the pretext for bombing Syria due to the alleged and suspected use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government, that something simply didn't stack up.
(InterPressService) - US Defense Secretary James Mattis dropped a political bombshell last week when he said the U.S. has no evidence to confirm reports that the Syrian government had used the deadly chemical sarin on its citizens.
Its headline reads: "Chemical Weapons in Syria? Time for Outrage." The outrage, the report argues, is all about the role of the media.

Just for clarity, the IPS agency largely covers news on the Global South in areas focused on civil society, and globalization. It was set up in 1964 as a non-profit international cooperative of journalists and now has permanent offices and correspondents in 41 countries, covering 108 nations. You won't have heard of it because even with that much global reach their purpose is to "give prominence to the voices of marginalized, vulnerable people and groups."
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Bizarro Earth

As humanitarian crisis worsens, US State Dept refuses to even say there are civilians in Gaza

Whitney Webb
Mint Press News
Tue, 24 Apr 2018 00:00 UTC
Relatives of a Palestinian Iman
© AP/Khalil HamraRelatives of a Palestinian Iman who was shot and killed Friday by Israeli troops during the ongoing protest along the Gaza Strip border with Israel, carry his body to the family house during his funeral in Gaza City, April 14, 2018.
Faced with the unimaginable choices of being shot by snipers, crushed by rubble from an air strike, or dying slowly as the Strip becomes more uninhabitable with each passing day, Gazans have made it clear that they will resist until the very end.

Though Gaza has long been the target of Israeli hostility - which has ranged from a decades-long illegal blockade of the area to several wars of aggression - this year has arguably been unlike any other for Palestinians who call the Gaza Strip their home, as airstrikes pound the area and its infrastructure still struggles to function. Those Gazans who have decided to participate in unarmed protests along the border with Israel have been regularly killed by Israeli snipers. Meanwhile, another war with Israel looms.

This year began in Gaza not with fireworks but with air strikes, as Israel targeted Gaza during a night-time raid, allegedly responding to rocket fire from Palestinian resistance group Hamas. The strikes continued throughout January and into February, followed by more airstrikes in March targeting central Gaza and agricultural land in the area. Israel has used many alleged incidents as pretexts for the strikes, ranging from reports of rocket fire to alleged breaches of the border fence.
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Cult

Economic warfare: Washington uses currency to destabilize Iran

F. William Engdahl
New Eastern Outlook
Sat, 21 Apr 2018 00:00 UTC
Iran currency
Squeezing Iran's economy
The neoconservative hawks around the US President, notably new National Security head John Bolton and designated Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, are on record that Iran is in Washington's sights for regime change or at a minimum, economic sanctions and chaos. The rhetoric is not empty. The ground is being laid by US threats to not renew the Iran nuclear agreement in May, a move opposed by the other signatories and a move that would plunge Iran into a deep economic crisis at a time it can ill afford.

In recent weeks its currency has been dropping like a stone, provoking panic buying of dollars on the black markets and aggravating a growing domestic crisis. While Trump threatens in May not to renew the Iran nuclear agreement, opening new official sanctions, evidence suggests there is a dirty game underway from the side of key Washington allies Saudi Arabia and UAE to weaken the Rial.

In December 2017 there was a wave of protests across the country focused on the weak economy and high unemployment. Then, after initially charging foreign meddling (which there was to be sure), arresting thousands, the government was forced to recognize the economic grievances were legitimate and should be addressed. They were the largest protests since the US-incited attempt at a Green Revolution in 2009. With overall inflation at 14% in 2017 despite lifting of Western sanctions, and youth unemployment at 25%, the government of moderate Hassan Rouhani pledged to address the economic situation.


Comment: See also:
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Arrow Up

Over 100 retired US generals urge lawmakers to reject Haspel CIA nomination for being 'intimately involved in torture'


RT
Tue, 24 Apr 2018 22:46 UTC
gina haspel
© Associated Press"Bloody Gina" Haspel is ‘accused of running a CIA facility in Thailand when a Saudi terrorist suspect was subjected to waterboarding’.
As many as 109 retired US generals and admirals urged lawmakers to reject Gina Haspel's nomination as CIA director for being "intimately involved in torture," and to declassify her role in the notorious interrogation program.

Haspel, a career intelligence officer nicknamed the 'queen of torture' in some US media, should not be appointed as director of the CIA, the retired US military leaders argued in a letter addressed to lawmakers. Generals and admirals who signed the petition said there were troubled by the prospect "of someone who appears to have been intimately involved in torture" being elevated to a top position in the US intelligence community.

The letter was published on the Human Rights First website on Monday. Among the notable signatories are chief of US Transportation Command Walter Kross, former commander of US Army Europe David Maddox, former Marine Corps Commandant Charles Krulak, and Lee Gunn, former Inspector General of the Department of the Navy.

The document cites "uncontested reports" that Haspel ran a CIA "black site" prison, and mentions her role in the oversight of the CIA's controversial interrogation program "that was rife with mismanagement and abuse."

Comment: 'She tortured just for the sake of torture' says CIA whistleblower on CIA pick Gina Haspel

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Red Flag

Flashback Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg recommended decriminalizing pedophilia and child sex trafficking

Dr. Eowyn
Fellowship of the Minds
Wed, 08 Feb 2017 20:01 UTC
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg
© Wikipedia CommonsJustice Ruth Bader Ginsberg
The legal definition of "age of consent" is:
Age of consent refers to the legally defined age at which a person is no longer required to obtain parental consent to get married. It also refers to the age at which a person is held to have the capacity to voluntarily agree to sexual intercourse. Sexual intercourse with a person under the age of consent may lead to criminal charges of statutory rape or sexual assault . . . .

Statutory rape is sex between an adult and a minor below the age of consent. Every state has a statutory rape law in some form. The age of consent varies from state to state, but is generally from 16 - 18 years of age. . . . Consent of the victim and belief that the victim is of the age of consent are usually considered immaterial.
A pedophile is an adult with "sexual fondness for and activity" with children, i.e., minors below the age of consent. Pedophilia is legally defined as sexual child abuse, i.e., any sexual activity with a minor below the age of consent, which includes fondling a child's genitals, intercourse, incest, rape, sodomy, exhibitionism, and commercial exploitation of children through prostitution or the production of pornographic materials.

Comment: Normalization of Pedophilia: Psychopaths Try to Recreate Society in Their Own Image

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