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US and Philippines navies conduct joint patrol


RT
Sat, 01 Jul 2017 19:52 UTC
military exercise
© U.S. Navy / YouTube
The navies of the US and the Philippines have jointly patrolled troubled waters in the southern Philippines amid rising fears that local Islamist cells may use maritime routes to spread reinforcements throughout the area.

The USS Coronado joined a Philippines Navy frigate, the Ramon Alcaraz, for a combined patrol in the Sulu Sea, which is separated from the disputed South China Sea by the Philippines' archipelagic province of Palawan, according to a statement from the American embassy to Manila.

As part of the maritime operation, a group of Philippines sailors boarded the USS Coronado to improve communications and movements between the two ships.
"The Philippine sailors also exchanged best practices with their US counterparts in visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS) techniques and information sharing," the embassy statement said.
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Attention

Broken democracy: US court dismisses Yemen drone strike wrongful death suit


RT
Sat, 01 Jul 2017 19:44 UTC
drone killing mural
© Khaled Abdullah / Reuters
A US appeals court has upheld a decision dismissing a lawsuit brought by a Yemeni man whose family was killed by a US drone strike. The plaintiff alleges that his family members were innocent bystanders when they were struck by the missile.

The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, which consisted of a three-judge panel, came to an agreement with lower courts that stated they, too, did not have the authority to judge government military actions. An August 2012 drone strike in Yemen, which killed, among others, Salem bin Ali Jaber and Waleed bin Ali Jaber, is what this case is based upon.

Faisal bin Ali Jaber is a Yemeni engineer. He and his family sued the US government for the deaths of Salem, his brother-in-law, and Waleed, his nephew. Jaber made the claim that the deadly strike was in violation of the Torture Victim Protection Act and the Alien Tort Statute.
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Cult

As Xi Jinping comes to Russia, US tries to end Trump-Xi friendship

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Sat, 01 Jul 2017 00:00 UTC
Jinping Trump
On the eve of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Moscow, Trump administration by selling arms to Taiwan and sanctioning Chinese companies ends brief friendship between Donald Trump and China's leader.

Back in April, at the time of the US-Chinese summit in Mar-a-Lago in Florida, I said that US President Trump, inexperienced in foreign affairs, was badly misreading China's President Xi Jinping.

In particular President Trump misread the Chinese President's habitual courtesy as a concrete commitment that China would take action against North Korea in connection with that country's nuclear and ballistic missile programme, and as a sign of Chinese support for the US cruise missile attack on Syria's Al-Shayrat air base.
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Propaganda

Media Fabrication - India-Pakistan Proxy War in Afghanistan

Masud Wadan
Global Research
Sat, 01 Jul 2017 20:06 UTC
US soldiers in Afghanistan

The Afghan war is sparked for an array of interests and it needs to flare up to secure a dozens of regional objectives. It can be claimed that the Taliban is a pretext to drain the undergrounds of rare earth elements and siphon off the black money out of drug trafficking or Russia is an alleged reason to ramp up the multi-billion dollar arms sales or the "war on terrorism" is a pretext to establish further military bases.

To ride the Afghan war, there has to be a litany of motives. Regional rivalries are not so sharp and deep nor potential to wreck Afghanistan as much. Admittedly, India and Pakistan are immersed in a feud that has stretched to the Afghan soil thanks to Washington's authorization of Pakistan in times of Jihad to intervene in Afghanistan on its behalf. If we sum up the entire bombings that represent the two archenemies' [India and Pakistan] proxy war in Afghanistan, it may constitute a tiny fraction.

By the same token, Saudi-Iran or US-Iran proxy war in Afghanistan is not in full-swing and leaves little to the imagination or doubt. It also account for not more than a fragment of violence.

Then what really drives the war machine? And importantly what is claiming so many Afghan lives a day?

The allegations over India and Pakistan's confrontation in Afghanistan are unfounded. Actually, it is overblown to cast shadow over the main causes of the war, yet a struggle for mounting clout on Kabul regime is undeniable. Pakistan's condition, among others, for a halt to terrorism and bringing Taliban to negotiation table is that Afghanistan should break off multidimensional ties to India. The proponents of this idea are false or turning a blind eye to the genuine concerns. This can also be refuted out of a stark reality that this hostility has not gone as far as to destabilize Afghanistan so largely because of the Afghan government's warming to India. Is the multimillion dollars project of rising ISIS in Afghanistan an outcome of this potato-small issue?

Comment: See also:

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Star of David

Interview with Israel's former Defense Minister Ya'alon: Netanyahu fosters 'extremism' and 'fascistization'


Information Clearing House
Fri, 30 Jun 2017 00:00 UTC
StarDpuzpiece
© Tools for Freedom.comThe Israeli piece of the puzzle.
Stephen Sackur speaks to the former Israeli defence minister Moshe Ya'alon, who has become a harsh critic of prime minister Netanyahu.
Q: "On the face of it, Israel has achieved a form of stability - led by the same man for eight years, locked in a state of hostile non-communication with the Palestinians, confident of strong support from Washington.

But look a little deeper and cracks appear. Prime minister Netanyahu is under investigation and Israeli society appears ill at ease with itself. How fragile is Israeli unity?"

Comment: An increasingly heated discussion on several pertinent points. Moshe Ya'alon begins with a rational persona. When push comes to shove, he reverts to the common caricature of an Israeli politician who has trigger-ready defensive anger and programmed answers, almost before questions are asked. As a study of manner and narrative, over a variety of topics framing Israel's debate and policy for decades, it doesn't get much better, or more obvious, than this.

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Star of David

Crucial victory: Ruling allows councils to boycott Israel

Ben Jamal
The Guardian
Mon, 26 Jun 2017 07:29 UTC
Boycott parade
© The Algemeiner
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign's judicial review is a win for the rule of law, meaning action can be taken against Israel for its violations of international law

Two weeks ago I found myself in a sweaty room in the Royal Courts of Justice, packed with fellow Palestine activists, listening to detailed and sometimes arcane legal arguments about pension law. The journey that ended in that courtroom began in September last year when the government announced new guidance intended to prohibit local government pension schemes from pursuing "divestment and sanctions against foreign nations and UK defence industries ... other than where formal legal sanctions, embargoes and restrictions have been put in place by the government".

The key target of these new rules was made clear in the government press release about the decision. This was the government acting to place a ban on boycotting Israel. The regulations were introduced in November 2016 despite a public consultation indicating that 98% of respondents thought this was the wrong thing to do, and a wider public outcry.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign, of which I'm the director, decided to take the government on. We launched a judicial review supported with witness statements from War on Want, Campaign Against the Arms Trade and the Quakers. Finally, on 22 June, we got the verdict - we won! Judge Sir Ross Cranston ruled the guidance was unlawful and that the government had acted for an improper purpose.

Comment: And the UK's neck is now in Israel's noose. It will trot out the new rendition of anti-semitism that goes beyond people to include Israel in its definition. What has worked for decades on a personal basis now personifies the country, a new defense against BDS.
See also:

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Snakes in Suits

Trump commission on election integrity: Requests for states' voter data pushed back or refused


RT
Sat, 01 Jul 2017 07:31 UTC
voterperson
© Ben Brewer/Reuters
Many states targeted by President Donald Trump's commission on election integrity have already pushed back, refusing to comply with a request for sensitive data on each voter in their states.

Kris Kobach, Kansas' secretary of state, is also the vice-chair of President Trump's election integrity commission. It was reported earlier that he had sent a letter to each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia requesting personal information on voters. The commission is following up on Trump's claims that millions of illegal votes were cast in the 2016 presidential election.

The letter requests the last four digits of voters' social security numbers, their voting history, and a list of any felony convictions they might have, as well as other information. It also asked each secretary of state to provide feedback on elections.

Questions in the letter include,
"what changes, if any, to federal election laws would you recommend to enhance the integrity of federal elections?" and "what evidence or information do you have regarding instances of voter fraud or registration fraud in your state?"
According to The Hill, at least 24 states have pushed back, with California, Virginia, and Kentucky refusing to comply altogether.

Comment: A voter fraud investigation is certainly warranted. If states do not comply, they, by default, are satisfied with faulty numbers, potentially corrupted outcomes and criminal actions. This should be decided nationwide by the people. It is their personal votes and choices that may have been negated by deliberate manipulations and fraudulent practices. The questions put forth are not unreasonable. Those states not cooperating may have more to hide than just the counts for the past presidential election.

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Chess

Did Putin permit Erdogan to attack US-backed Kurds in Afrin?

Tom Luongo
Russia Insider
Sat, 01 Jul 2017 00:00 UTC
ErdoKurds
© ekurd.net/Reuters
The attack by Turkey on the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in northern Syria looks more like a tactical victory than yet another instance of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's impishness.

In fact, looking over the reports on this incident it looks obvious that the real goal was Raqqa not the Kurds themselves. To wit:
  1. The Russian moved into Afrin months ago, during the siege of Aleppo to keep Turkey from allowing rebels to be resupplied. They pulled their forces out before the attack.
  2. The Turks have been massing in the area in preparation for an assault.
  3. Reports exist of Turkish forces firing at U.S. troops embedded with the SDF and not firing back. This less than two weeks since the U.S. shot down a Syrian SU-22 for 'threatening U.S. forces.
  4. The SDF is threatening to pull out of its operation to oust ISIS from Raqqa.
These are the things we know. Even if the SDF haven't officially stated they would pull their troops out of Raqqa in the event of a Turkish attack in Northern Aleppo, it's pretty obvious that this attack was designed to slow down U.S. plans to colonize Syria east of the Euphrates River.

Comment: Shifting sides, shifting plans. If Russia and Turkey are successful in short-sheeting the US coalition by eliminating their options through forced choices, it is evident that Russia knows the US military mentality, has made transparent its strategy and has out-thought and out-maneuvered the West's ability to achieve its objectives. Did they even see it coming? Well played.

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Newspaper

Jeremy Corbyn sacking rebel frontbench MPs proves he would make a great Prime Minister

Sean O'Grady
Independent
Fri, 30 Jun 2017 00:00 UTC
Even when they're split, Labour somehow manages to evince an air of calm and, in the case of Corbyn, a prime ministerial decisiveness
Jeremy Corbyn
© UnknownThe Labour leader finally looks like someone who could lead the country - BBC
It is a sign of the dramatic switchback in British politics that Jeremy Corbyn can sack a clutch of rebel shadow ministers with scarcely a murmur of protest from anyone, while Theresa May has to put up with her own Chancellor going around saying that she messed up the election and poking fun at the Foreign Secretary's fondness for cake.

Backbenchers more or less openly mock May's deal with the DUP and the hopelessly slow Brexit talks. She's a joke, a lame duck, a caretaker. She now has a shorter shelf life than Corbyn. There you go.
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Propaganda

Flashback That's embarrassing: PolitiFact "stands by" their rating of Clinton's "17 intel agencies" lie

Lauren Carroll
PolitiFact
Wed, 19 Oct 2016 17:23 UTC
politifact 17 agencies
Editor's note: We've attached an update to this fact-check below in response to reader queries after subsequent testimony by James Clapper. The original fact-check and rating remain unchanged.

In one of the most heated moments of the final presidential debate, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton clashed over Russia's interference in the current election.

Speaking of the WikiLeaks' release of tens of thousands of emails from the Clinton campaign and, earlier, the Democratic National Committee, Trump said Clinton had no idea who hacked and released the emails — "Russia, China or anybody else."

Clinton responded by asking Trump if he really doesn't believe the 17 federal intelligence agencies that have said Russia is behind the cyberattack.

Comment: Tortured logic, all to defend a political lie with an obvious agenda. After reading the above "report", we rate PolitiFact "A Whole Lot of Horse Hockey". See also: Just admit it, PolitiFact, Clinton and Clapper are unscrupulous liars.

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