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Light Sabers

China blasts "wanton" criticism from hypocritical US over religious freedoms


RT
Wed, 16 Aug 2017 18:44 UTC
monks
© China Daily / Reuters
China has blasted "wanton" criticism from the US over religious freedom, saying that Washington confuses the facts and is itself far from perfect. The statement comes following a US State Department report on religious freedom worldwide.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson commented on the 2016 International Religious Freedom Report released by the State Department. While Tillerson did not speak about China in particular, the document itself lists China among "countries of particular concern." The report accuses China of abuses of religious freedom, citing reports on alleged discrimination against Uighur Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists and religious minorities.

The report was criticized as baseless by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying on Wednesday.

"The so-called US report ignores the facts, confuses right and wrong and makes wanton criticism of China's religious freedom situation," she told reporters.
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X

Russia and US will square off over new sanctions

Dave Majumdar
The National Interest
Tue, 15 Aug 2017 00:00 UTC
2 metal sharks
© Watergate17 Pan-Pot
There is little Russia can do economically in retaliation to the U.S. sanctions, but Moscow can act against American interests geopolitically. Kremlin will likely respond to new U.S. sanctions that were recently imposed on Russia by asymmetric means.

From the Russian point of view, the new sanctions--which are codified by law--are essentially permanent, thus Moscow has little incentive to comply with American demands. Indeed, previous congressionally mandated sanctions, such as the Jackson-Vanik amendment of 1974, remained on the books long after their intended effects had come to pass. In fact, the Jackson-Vanik amendment remained in place long after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union until 2012 when it was replaced by the Magnitsky Act sanctions.

There is little Russia can do economically in retaliation to U.S. sanctions, but Moscow can act against American interests geopolitically. Moreover, if the United States starts to supply arms to Ukraine or launches a cyber attack against Russian infrastructure, Moscow, too, has means to make Washington's life much more difficult.

Comment: Sanctions are passive choices -- a punishment, a penalty from another country. They are absorbed by the unrecognizable, unimportant, uninvolved people whose government is the recipient.

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Top Secret

Flashback Obama's SEAL Team 6 top secret mission coverup

Kris Zane
Western Journalism
Thu, 30 May 2013 10:39 UTC
Obama
© The Blaze
On August 6, 2011, a military helicopter- Extortion 17- carrying thirty-eight men (including twenty-five of the elite SEAL Team 6, five National Guard and Army Reserve, and eight Afghan commandos) was shot down over Taliban-controlled territory in eastern Afghanistan. They had been on a top secret mission to take out a high-value target.

It was the worst loss of life in a single day since the war in Afghanistan began. Per a 1250-page military report, it was simply the result of a "lucky shot" by Taliban soldiers perched on top of a building. Per families of those killed and military experts at a press conference held on May 9, 2013, this is a lie among a host of other lies.

After the families attended a several hour military briefing about this "lucky shot," describing what happened and why their sons died, they smelled a rat and started digging around. Billy and Karen Vaughn, parents of Navy SEAL Aaron C. Vaughn, started poking around at the "official" story and found not a rat, but a stinking swamp, a coverup that went all the way to the top.

When the Vaughns began trying to drain the swamp, they received what the Obama administration is famous for: the shakedown. None other than one of the highest ranking officers in the nation-Admiral William McRaven, commander at U.S. Special Operations Command-paid the Vaughns a little visit, in essence telling them to keep their mouths shut.


Comment: In spy novels, it is called 'housekeeping' where all fragments of evidence are wiped clean and all traces to original order are scrubbed or evaporate. This was not a spy novel and the questions remain huge and looming.

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No Entry

Lavrov on Venezuelan crisis: Military intervention unacceptable


RT
Wed, 16 Aug 2017 09:50 UTC
red fists
© Whim Online Magazine
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized the idea of any intervention, including military, in the Venezuela crisis, saying that the situation in the country must be resolved through peaceful means. "We are united in the need to overcome the existing disagreements in the country by peaceful means through a nationwide dialogue as soon as possible, without any external pressure, not to mention the unacceptability of the threats of military intervention in the internal affairs of this country," Lavrov stated. The minister added that most Latin American states also condemn the possibility of such actions.

The statement came after a meeting of Lavrov with his Bolivian counterpart Fernando Huanacuni Mamani on Wednesday.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump mentioned the possibility of a "military option" to resolve the crisis. "Venezuela is a mess. It is very dangerous mess and a very sad situation," the US leader said, as cited by AFP. "The people are suffering and they are dying. We have many options for Venezuela including a possible military option if necessary," Trump said.

Comment: Who lives in Venezuela...the Americans? Clearly there are no recognized boundaries unviolated, no world issues without dictates and little hope that other countries have any chance to develop and prosper under their own aegis. It is the US government and its agencies that need the Trump wall...as in 'retaining.'

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USA

Could changing the Constitution be the only way to fix Washington?

Sophie Quinton
The PEW Charitable Trusts
Wed, 16 Aug 2017 02:47 UTC
13th Amendment
© Harpers WeeklyAmending the Constitution the 13th time.
Next month delegations of state lawmakers will travel to Phoenix, Arizona, to attend what organizers say will be the first formal convention of states since the Civil War. They'll gather at the capitol, inside the turquoise-carpeted House chamber, and draw up rules for a hoped-for future meeting: a convention to draft an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

No "amendment convention" has taken place since the Constitution was written over 200 years ago. But the idea is gaining steam now, stoked by groups on the left and right that say amendments drafted and ratified by states are the last, best hope for fixing the nation's broken political system and dysfunctional - some even say tyrannical - federal government.

Comment: "And there's a reason why Congress hasn't made the changes...[they] require lawmakers to make difficult choices." Isn't that a primary reason why there are lawmakers in Congress? To make difficult choices? The system is broken. Some folks are tired of waiting and want to fix it.

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Network

China urges US and N. Korea to 'hit the brakes' and find peaceful resolution to crisis


RT
Wed, 16 Aug 2017 18:40 UTC
north korea protests
© Joe Raedle / Getty Images / AFPProtesters gathered to ask President Donald Trump to stop his drive to war against North Korea on August 14, 2017 in Miami, Florida
The US and North Korea must "hit the brakes" and find a peaceful resolution to their ongoing crisis, China's foreign minister said. It comes amid a war of words and mutual strike threats between Washington and Pyongyang.

The remarks by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi were made during a Tuesday phone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.

"The most important task for the US and North Korea is to 'hit the brakes' on their mutual needling of each other with words and actions, to lower the temperature of the tense situation and prevent an 'August crisis,'" Wang said during the conversation, according to a statement published on the Chinese Foreign Ministry's website.

He told Lavrov that China and Russia should work together to contain tensions and to not allow anyone to "stir up an incident on their doorstep."
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Magnify

Trump revokes environmental regulations to speed up approval for infrastructure projects


RT
Wed, 16 Aug 2017 18:30 UTC
trump
© Drew Angerer / AFP
President Donald Trump has unveiled new plans to speed up approval processes for highways and other infrastructure projects, by revoking an environmental regulation aimed at protecting against the effects of climate change.

Addressing a news conference at Trump Tower in Manhattan Tuesday, Trump elaborated on an executive order he signed earlier in the day, which he said would "dramatically reform the nation's badly broken infrastructure permitting process."

Trump claimed the executive order would establish "discipline and accountability in the environmental review and permitting process for infrastructure projects," as well as reduce the time it takes federal agencies to approve highways, tunnels, bridges and many other major infrastructure projects.

The president began by unraveling what he called a "long, beautiful chart," which he said depicted all the steps involved in getting a single highway project approved. Then, he took out a much smaller flow chart to show what the process would look like under his new policy.
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Light Sabers

Crazy warhawk Nikki Haley warns Iran not to 'hold the world hostage' by using nuclear deal as bargaining chip


RT
Wed, 16 Aug 2017 18:23 UTC
iran deal
© Mandel Ngan / AFP
Tehran should not be allowed to use the nuclear deal as a bargaining tool and "hold the world hostage," the US ambassador to UN has said after Iran's president Hassan Rouhani warned that Tehran could backtrack on the 2015 agreement "within hours" should new sanctions be imposed.

"Iran cannot be allowed to use the nuclear deal to hold the world hostage. The nuclear deal must not become too big to fail," Nikki Haley said in response to Rouhani's remarks.

On Tuesday, Rouhani told a session of parliament, broadcast live on state television, that if Washington goes back to its practice of imposing unilateral sanctions, then "Iran would certainly return in a short time - not a week or a month but within hours - to conditions more advanced than before the start of negotiations."

In early August, US President Donald Trump signed into law a bill, which introduces sanctions on Iran, along with North Korea and Russia. Tehran considers it a violation of the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement.
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Network

Trump: Kim Jong-un 'very wise' not to follow through on threat to attack Guam


RT
Wed, 16 Aug 2017 17:51 UTC
Kim Jong-Un
© KCNA / ReutersNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-Un
North Korea's decision not to follow through on a threat to strike the island of Guam is "very wise," according to US President Donald Trump, who said such an attack would have been "catastrophic."

"The alternative would have been both catastrophic and unacceptable!" Trump tweeted Wednesday morning.

Relations between the two nations deteriorated drastically in recent weeks, culminating in North Korean leader Kim Jong-un claiming he was preparing plans to fire missiles at the US island territory in Micronesia.

North Korea has now, it appears, halted these plans, with its state media reporting that the government is open to defusing the tension in order to "prevent dangerous military conflict on the Korean Peninsula."
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Biohazard

Syria accuses U.S., UK of supplying chemical weapons toxins to terrorists


Sputnik
Wed, 16 Aug 2017 18:11 UTC
hazmat syria
© REUTERS/ Murad Sezer
On Wednesday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry has accused the US and the UK of supplying CS, CN toxic agents to terrorists.

According to Syria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the toxic agents found in Aleppo and Damascus suburb were produced by one British company and two American companies.

"The special equipment found consisted of hand grenades and rounds for grenade launchers equipped with CS and CN toxic agents [...] The chemical munitions were produced by the Federal Laboratories company in the US. The toxic agents were produced by Cherming Defence UK and NonLethal Technologies (US)," Syrian Deputy Foreign Minsiter Faisal Mekdad said.

According to the deputy foreign minister, the poisonous substances were found in the storehouses of the militants in Aleppo and in the eastern suburbs of Damascus.

Comment: The State Department says they're "aware" of the accusations, adding that they condemn CWs and that their use would be a violation of international standards and norms. Maria Zakharova said it's "beyond understanding" that such a thing could have taken place. Russian MP Leonid Slutsky says Syria has the right to address the UN over the issue:
"Syria now has all the reasons and the right to address the United Nations over western-produced chemical weapons found on the territories liberated from terrorists. The information released by the Syrian Foreign Ministry once more demonstrates in full the hypocrisy of the members of the western US-led coalition, and proves that the entire goal of the entire operation is to remove the regime of President Bashar Assad," Slutsky told reporters.

He added that in order to reach that goal, the western countries were ready to do everything from spreading fake news to actually supporting terrorists.

"Now it is even clearer that Idlib, where pro-governmental Syrian forces allegedly used chemical weapons, was the first step in one big chain of provocations to justify the Tomahawk missile strikes in violation of the international law and sovereignty of the Syrian Republic," Slutsky added.
Voltaire Network adds:
These three companies specialize in manufacturing gas used by the police for law enforcement. Federal Laboratories works mainly with the Israeli army.

Under article 5 of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, using these gases - assuming that it is in fact gas that police normally use for law enforcement - is prohibited in conflict zones.

On 14 September 2013, the Syrian Arab Republic ratified this treaty (a treaty that Israel still has not signed). Syria's entire stock of chemical weapons was dismantled under the joint control of the United States and Russia. Since then, Damascus declares that it has and is scrupulously respecting this Treaty; yet Washington - despite its declaration that it had watched over the destruction of Syria's entire arsenal- is accusing Syria of using prohibited weapons.

For the past five years, Washington, London and Tel-Aviv have been running Operation Timber Sycamore, the biggest operation for arms trafficking in History
A spokesman for UK's Chemring Defence has denied the allegations, kind of:
Chemring Defence doesn't manufacture chemical weapons or components that can be used in anything like that, so I suggest you might want to check your source to see if they know what they're talking about.
The Pentagon says their military "assistance" to rebels never consisted of chemical agents. Can the CIA say the same?

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