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Propaganda

ABC's #FakeNews exposes Deep State sabotage of President-elect Trump's policy of rapprochement with Russia

Trump Flynn
© Getty Images
Flynn's attempt to carry out Trump's instructions after the election to achieve rapprochement with Russia were what caused his downfall

Around the time of the announcement of Michael Flynn's indictment and guilty plea for lying to the FBI, the US television network ABC carried a sensational story that it had been told by an insider that Flynn had disclosed to Special Counsel Mueller's inquiry that he had received instructions from Presidential candidate Donald Trump to establish contact with Russia.

The story caused a furore and a brief crash on the US Stock Market. However within hours ABC had 'clarified' it.

ABC now says that the insider is no longer saying that Michael Flynn told Special Counsel Mueller's inquiry that he had received instructions from Presidential candidate Donald Trump to establish contact with Russia during the election.

What Flynn has actually told Special Counsel Mueller's inquiry is that he received instructions from Presidential elect Donald Trump to establish contact with Russia after the election during the transition period.

In other words - assuming that the story is true, which it almost certainly is - Trump's instructions to Flynn were given after the election and not before or during it.

Comment: Trump's response:






Info

Former US envoy McFaul: 'US owes Russia explanation over property seizure'

Michael McFaul
© Valeriy Levitin / SputnikMichael McFaul
Washington should explain to the Russian ambassador why it had confiscated Russian diplomatic property and does not allow him to inspect the premises. This is what Former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul has suggested.

McFaul, a vocal Kremlin critic, who was one of the first to float the idea of registering RT as a "foreign agent," seemingly took a step back from his usual hard-line rhetoric towards Moscow on Friday, as he hosted a foreign policy meeting featuring Russia's Ambassador to US, Anatoly Antonov, at Stanford University.

Asked by Sputnik if Washington's decision to seize the Russian consular residence in San Francisco is warranted, McFaul responded that while he would not give a legal assessment of the US government's actions, he believes that Russia is at least due an explanation.

"I am just not a lawyer, so I don't know what's right and wrong. I do think, you know, if we confiscate that property, then we at least owe him [Antonov] an explanation for that," he said.

MIB

Classified documents show NSA secretly helping convict defendants in U.S. court

security officer
© Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesAPRIL 14: A security officer stands outside of U.S. Federal Court House on the morning the court begins jury selection for the Abu Hamza terrorism trial on April 14, 2014 in New York City.
By withholding evidence of warrantless spying, the government avoided a court challenge to controversial mass surveillance - which is now before Congress.

Fazliddin Kurbanov is a barrel-chested man from Uzbekistan who came to the United States in 2009, when he was in his late 20s. A Christian who had converted from Islam, Kurbanov arrived as a refugee and spoke little English. Resettled in Boise, Idaho, he rented an apartment, worked odd jobs, and was studying to be a truck driver.

But about three years after entering the U.S., around the time he converted back to Islam, Kurbanov was placed under FBI surveillance. According to emails and internet chat logs obtained by the government, Kurbanov was disgusted by having seen Americans burn the Quran and by reports that an American soldier had tried to rape a Muslim girl. "My entire life, everything, changed," Kurbanov wrote in a July 31, 2012 email.

After the FBI assigned one informant to live with him and another informant to attend his truck-driving school, Kurbanov was arrested in May 2013. Prosecutors accused him of providing material support to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and possessing bomb-making materials.

Eye 2

The duplicitous superpower no one trusts

Medvedev and Obama
Medvedev allowed a UN no-fly zone over Libya, Obama used it to launch a regime-change war.
Washington's chronic deceit - especially towards Russia - has sabotaged US foreign policy.
  • Having established global hegemony, the US treats every deal as an Indian treaty - to be binding only for the other side
For any country, the foundation of successful diplomacy is a reputation for credibility and reliability. Governments are wary of concluding agreements with a negotiating partner that violates existing commitments and has a record of duplicity. Recent U.S. administrations have ignored that principle, and their actions have backfired majorly, damaging American foreign policy in the process.

Snakes in Suits

Obama meets 'Les Napoleons': Flies to Paris for elite club speech and has lunch with Macron

Barack Obama
© Benoit Tessier / Reuters
The names of famous former leaders have stacked up in Paris, where Barack Obama appeared before an elite group named "Les Napoleons." The peculiarly-named French "communications network" refused to reveal Obama's fee, which was rumored to be some €400,000.

Obama, who is on a five-day global tour, stopped off in Paris on Saturday for a series of private meetings with high-profile French politicians, including Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, French President Emmanuel Macron and his predecessor, Francois Hollande.

One meeting on the brief Paris trip, however, stood out - when Obama acted as keynote speaker at a regular summit of a rather obscure organization with a striking name - Les Napoleons, who, according to French media, "staged a coup" by wooing Obama to Radio France's headquarters near the Eiffel Tower.


Comment: Obama was also scheduled to have lunch with French president Emmanuel Macron, with whom he would be talking about the Obama Foundation:
The French presidency said the private lunch was expected to include a presentation about the Obama Foundation. No journalists were allowed at the meal.
He was just coming back from China and India - curiously right after Trump went to Asia:


No Entry

FBI agent fired from Mueller probe relied on Russian fairy tales from Fusion GPS dossier

Mueller + FBI agent
A rabidly anti-Trump FBI agent who was fired from Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation relied on claims made in a largely unsubstantiated and highly salacious dossier provided by Washington DC-based opposition research firm, Fusion GPS - which enlisted former MI6 agent Christopher Steele to assemble the 34-page 'Dirty Dossier' in mid-2016.

Veteran FBI agent Peter Strzok - who headed up the Hillary Clinton email investigation, was dismissed from Mueller's Trump-Russia probe in mid-August and relegated to the FBI's Human Resources department, after the DOJ opened an inquiry into anti-Trump / pro-Clinton text messages Strzok sent to his Trump-hating mistress - FBI lawyer Lisa Page, while the two were working together on the Clinton probe. Page was also fired from the Mueller investigation into Russian meddling earlier this year.

Strzok's conduct in the Clinton investigation is now under review by the Justice Department, along with his role in a number of other politically sensitive cases, according to Fox News.

Comment: Regarding the review of the Justice Department on the role of Peter Strzok in the Clinton emails investigation:
Now this...

After new details emerged about Strzok's firing, the Washington Post revealed the Justice Department launched an investigation into "communications between certain individuals." Details of the mystery probe will be revealed "promptly upon completion of the review of them,' said the Justice Department. Late Saturday night, we learn the Department of Justice has launched a review of Peter Stzrok's role in the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

Fox News reports:
Two senior Justice Department officials have confirmed to Fox News that the department's Office of Inspector General is reviewing the role played in the Hillary Clinton email investigation by Peter Stzrok, a former deputy director for counterintelligence at the FBI who was removed from the staff of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III earlier this year, after Mueller learned that Strzok had exchanged anti-Trump texts with a colleague.

A source close to the matter said the OIG probe, which will examine Strzok's roles in a number of other politically sensitive cases, should be completed by "very early next year." [...] He participated in the FBI's fateful interview with Hillary Clinton on July 2, 2016 - just days before then-FBI Director James Comey announced he was declining to recommend prosecution of Mrs. Clinton in connection with her use, as secretary of state, of a private email server.
Reacting to Strzok's 'anti-Trump,' texts, House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) said, "We now know why Strzok was dismissed, why the FBI and DOJ refused to provide us this explanation, and at least one reason why they previously refused to make [FBI] Deputy Director [Andrew] McCabe available to the Committee for an interview."
See also:


SOTT Logo Radio

SOTT Focus: Behind the Headlines: The Russia Collusion Ruse: Why the US Deep State Hates Russia, Not Trump

US President Donald Trump and Michael Flynn
© Jim Lo Scalzo / Carlos Barria / ReutersUS President Donald Trump and Michael Flynn
Another week, another Russiagate flop. As many predicted, Flynn was finally indicted this week. But the charges have nothing to do with alleged collusion with Russia. Instead, they are for lying to the FBI about the content of phone calls he had with the Russian ambassador, the content of which was perfectly legal. If anything, however, the actual evidence points to a long-standing relationship of collusion: with Israel.

Join us today as we talk Flynn, Trump, Russiagate, and more. Tune in to Behind the Headlines at 6-8pm CET (4-6pm UTC / 12-2pm EST).

Running Time: 01:35:56

Download: MP3


Snakes in Suits

CIA chief and Netanyahu threaten Iran over presence in Iraq and Syria

Benjamin Netanyahu
© IsraeliPM / YouTube
Israel and the US won't tolerate Iran's presence in Syria and Iraq as it goes against their interests, Israel's PM and the CIA's director said in separate statements. The warnings follow an Israeli strike against a "military facility" near Damascus.

In a video message released hours after missiles struck targets near Damascus, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Iranian military presence in Syria poses an existential threat to Israel and would not be tolerated.

"Let me reiterate Israel's policy: We will not allow a regime hell-bent on the annihilation of the Jewish state to acquire nuclear weapons. We will not allow that regime to entrench itself militarily in Syria, as it seeks to do, for the express purpose of eradicating our state," said Netanyahu.

Attention

Lavrov: Tokyo and Seoul will be first to fall victim if there is war on Korean Peninsula

Seoul, South Korea
© Reuters
Japan and South Korea, whom the US is trying to involve in provocations against North Korea, will become the first victims if conflict breaks out in the region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned.

"While condemning Pyongyang's nuclear missile adventurism, we cannot but condemn the provocative behavior of our American colleagues," Lavrov said in an interview with Belarusian broadcaster STV. "Unfortunately, they are trying to drag the Japanese and South Koreans in the same direction, who... will be the first victims in the event of war on the Korean Peninsula."

Earlier this week, North Korea carried out its first missile test in two months, firing an ICBM that allegedly can reach the US mainland. The US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, reacted to the test by urging more sanctions against Pyongyang and threatening that "if war comes... the North Korean regime will be utterly destroyed."

Document

Strange things in the Republican tax bill

Congress building
© Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed in the Senate in the early hours of Saturday now has to be combined with the House version passed in November to make a final law.

The Senate bill grants tax breaks to corporations and the wealthy, with the middle class set to get some reward, too, albeit smaller and more time-limited. But after lengthy debate and frenzied last-minute alterations, some of its provisions can seem a bit out there at first glance, while others have little to do with actual tax.