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Abbas will not resume Israel contact until all Temple Mount security is lifted


Sputnik
Tue, 25 Jul 2017 23:35 UTC
Mr.Abbas
© AFP/Abbas MomaniPalestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
Palestine will not re-establish contacts with Israel despite the latter's removal of some of the metal detectors installed near the Temple Mount, one of Jerusalem's holy sites, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday.

The Temple Mount, which is the third holiest site in Islam, was equipped with metal detectors and surveillance video cameras to monitor its territory after a deadly shooting at the site that killed two Israeli police officers on July 14. The measures led to unrest in Jerusalem and caused Palestine to suspend contacts with Israel over several Palestinian deaths.

"Unless all measures go back to what they were before July 14, there will not be any changes," Abbas said with regard to Palestine's contacts with Israel, as quoted by Arutz Sheva news network.

Islamic religious trust Waqf, which administers the Temple Mount, called on Muslims to not go through the metal detectors. Many Muslims heeded the suggestion, and began to pray on streets and subsequently clash with the police.

Late on Thursday, street prayers in Jerusalem resulted in clashes with police, which injured five police officers and up to 40 protesters. On Friday, the Old City of Jerusalem became the scene of even more clashes between security forces and Muslims wishing to enter the Temple Mount to pray regardless of Israel's restrictions, which included barring male Muslims under the age of 50 from entering.

Comment: See also:

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Chart Bar

Calexit? California attorney general paves way for independence referendum in 2018


RT
Wed, 26 Jul 2017 17:15 UTC
calexit
© Jason ReedIs California about to 'drop off into the Pacific Ocean'?
A new California independence campaign has got the go ahead to collect signatures for its 2018 'Calexit' ballot initiative.

The state attorney general issued an official ballot measure title and summary, Tuesday. California Freedom Coalition can now start gathering the more than 585,000 signatures needed to qualify for the 2018 ballot.

This is the second official bid to make California an independent nation in the wake of Trump's election victory last November. Previous efforts by 'Yes California' ended in April after reports of Calexit affiliations with Russia undermined the campaign.

The movement, which received state authorization to begin collecting signatures last year, opened an embassy in Moscow in December. It's leader, Louis J. Marinell, specifically came under the spotlight for his connections to Russia.
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Eye 1

Declassified docs reveal illegal spying on Americans by FBI and NSA


RT
Wed, 26 Jul 2017 17:08 UTC
surveillance cameras
© Claudia Daut / Reuters
The FBI and National Security Agency improperly searched, stored and distributed raw intelligence on Americans, according to recently declassified documents about the controversial Section 702 surveillance program.

The documents, released earlier this month in response to a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), reveal specific violations that the FBI and NSA disclosed to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) or the Justice Department's national security division during President Barack Obama's time in office, between 2009 and 2016.

Reviewing the documents, The Hill found more than 90 incidents that specifically cited an impact on Americans, who are not supposed to be affected by 702 surveillance. Many of the incidents involved multiple people, multiple violations, or extended periods of time, the newspaper noted.

One analyst ran the same search on an American citizen "every work day" for a period of time in 2013 and 2014.
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Info

No more! New anti-Russian U.S. sanctions prompt German business lobby to urge EU action


RT
Wed, 26 Jul 2017 16:55 UTC
gas pipes harbor
© Tobias Schwarz / Reuters
A US move to expand sanctions against Russia may have an adverse impact on Europe's energy security, hurt the German economy, and appears to favor American firms, says Volker Treier, chief economist at the German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK).

Treier has urged European authorities to address the new round of anti-Russian sanctions approved by the US House of Representatives on Tuesday.

"The European Commission now must make efforts to shed light on the current situation, as well as resist the exterritorial effect of new US penalties. We get the impression the US pursues their own economiั interests," he told in an interview with TASS.

"If German firms are banned from participating in gas pipeline enterprises, very important projects in the energy supply security sector can be halted. In that case, the German economy will be discernibly influenced," Treier said.

Comment: You can only live in a bubble of narcissism so long before reality confronts you. The world is getting the message, but the American establishment cannot escape its self-induced delusions about Russia. Ironically, the harder they push their failing narrative, the more angry the rest of the world gets, the more obvious it becomes how deluded they are, and the more their credibility disappears. In the long run, they're only hurting themselves.

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Black Magic

Neophyte Nikki Haley requests ancient neocon wisdom from the demonic master of mayhem John Bolton

Riley Waggaman
Russia Insider
Wed, 26 Jul 2017 00:00 UTC
Haley and Bolton
Disciple and master
We are all deeply nostalgic for the days of yore-the days before Nikki Haley was muzzled by the State Department-when our favorite South Carolina peach made daily headlines with her barely literate, Facebook-rant diplomacy.

Of course, in accordance with official Trump policy, Haley is still allowed to preach from the Bible of Bomb Iran; so her status as a rogue psycho has been downgraded to "standard psycho".

But there's always room for improvement. After all, Haley is an unexperienced greenhorn when compared to the seasoned war criminals who usually infest the United Nations. But has Haley been taking advantage of her privileged status to absorb the wisdom of those who sought to bomb Iran before her?
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Apple Red

Pat Buchanan asks the question: Are our wars just and moral? No, they're not

Patrick J. Buchanan
Buchanan.org
Tue, 25 Jul 2017 16:39 UTC
pat buchanan
"One knowledgeable official estimates that the CIA-backed fighters may have killed or wounded 100,000 Syrian soldiers and their allies," writes columnist David Ignatius.

Given that Syria's prewar population was not 10 percent of ours, this is the equivalent of a million dead and wounded Americans. What justifies America's participation in this slaughter?

Columnist Eric Margolis summarizes the successes of the six-year civil war to overthrow President Bashar Assad.

"The result of the western-engendered carnage in Syria was horrendous: at least 475,000 dead, 5 million Syrian refugees driven into exile in neighboring states (Turkey alone hosts three million), and another 6 million internally displaced. ... 11 million Syrians ... driven from their homes into wretched living conditions and near famine.

"Two of Syria's greatest and oldest cities, Damascus and Aleppo, have been pounded into ruins. Jihadist massacres and Russian and American air strikes have ravaged once beautiful, relatively prosperous Syria. Its ancient Christian peoples are fleeing for their lives before US and Saudi takfiri religious fanatics."
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War Whore

Busted: Pentagon caught selling military supplies to fake police dept. set up by GAO


RT
Wed, 26 Jul 2017 16:47 UTC
night vision goggles
© Charles Platiau / Reuters
The US Department of Defense has been caught out selling large amounts of military supplies to a fake police department. The fake department was created by the US government itself to sniff out waste and fraud.

The Government Accountability Office issued a revealing report last week showing that the Pentagon sold more than 100 controlled items valued at $1.2 million to a fake police department set up by the government watchdog agency through the 1990s-era 1033 program, according to a report released by the GAO. The 1033 program allows local and state law enforcement to apply for excess equipment from the US military.

The gear that the GAO received from the DoD included night vision goggles, simulated M-16A2 rifles and pipe bomb equipment.

The government watchdog set up a fake website with a fake address that led to an empty parking lot and gave the information to the DoD in their application for the supplies. The GAO then received the fake items in less than a week after applying.

"They never did any verification, like visit our 'location,' and most of it was by email," Zina Merritt, director of the GAO's defense capabilities and management team, which conducted the operation, told the Marshall Project. "It was like getting stuff off of eBay."
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Megaphone

Trump tweets another bombshell: 'Transgender people cannot serve in any capacity in US military'


RT
Wed, 26 Jul 2017 16:32 UTC
transgenders military
© AFP/GettyTrump: 'Sorry guys, er, gals; no can do.'
Transgender people will not be allowed to serve in the American military in any capacity, President Donald Trump said, adding that US forces shouldn't be "burdened by" medical costs and "disruption" they would bring.

"After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow ... Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military," Trump wrote on Twitter.




The Pentagon declined to comment on the transgender ban, referring all questions on the issue to the White House.

"We refer all questions about the president's statements to the White House. We will continue to work closely with the White House to address the new guidance by the commander-in-chief on transgender individuals serving the military. We will provide revised guidance to the department in the near future," the Pentagon spokesman said.


Comment: For now, the Pentagon is apparently too scared to comment, leaving Trump to take all the flak.


Comment: Stand by for major backlash in 3, 2, 1...

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Megaphone

Moscow criticizes new US sanctions, calling them destructive and defying common sense


RT
Wed, 26 Jul 2017 16:25 UTC
US Capitol
© Aoc / Zumapress.com / Global Look PressAerial view of the US Capitol in Washington
Moscow will retaliate against the US for the expected adoption of new anti-Russian sanctions, which are viewed in Russia as senseless and destructive, Russia's deputy foreign minister said.

"It can be said now that the news is very sad from the perspective of Russian-American relations and the perspectives of their development," Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

"This is no less disheartening from the point of view of international law and international trade relations," he said.

"The attitude to this (law) will be formed on the basis of a thorough analysis, and the decision (on how to respond) will certainly be taken by the head of state, President Putin," he said.
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Vader

The beatification of ultra war-hawk John McCain

Neil Clark
RT
Tue, 25 Jul 2017 16:32 UTC
John McCain
© Brian Snyder / Reuters
The news the ultra-hawkish, pro-war US Senator John 'Bomb, Bomb, Iran' McCain has been diagnosed with a particularly aggressive form of brain cancer has led to gushing eulogies to a great 'hero' of 'freedom' in elite circles in the US and other Western countries.

Brain cancer is a terrible disease, and no humane person would wish it on anyone. But does McCain's illness mean we have to sanitize his record of relentless warmongering and portray him as a 21st Century version of Mahatma Gandhi? It's one thing not to jump on people when they are fighting for their life, but it's quite another to ludicrously distort the historical record.

Take the Washington Post. They ran a hagiographic article at the weekend entitled "What we can learn from John McCain."

"All over this world, Mr. McCain is associated with freedom and democracy. He has championed human rights with verve and tirelessness - speaking out against repression and authoritarianism," the neocon newspaper bellowed.

But McCain's champion of human rights and 'freedom and democracy' has been highly selective, to say the least, and has involved him associating with and supporting some very dubious characters.

Comment: More on McCain's dubious legacy:

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