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Cyberattack targets UK Houses of Parliament


RT
Sat, 24 Jun 2017 15:45 UTC
Big Ben in London
© Darren Staples / Reuters
The UK's Houses of Parliament have been targeted by cyber attackers, according to a parliamentary spokesperson.

Unauthorized attempts to access parliamentary user accounts have forced Westminster to take security measures in conjunction with the National Cyber Security Centre, a parliamentary spokesperson said on Saturday.
"We are continuing to investigate this incident and take further measures to secure the computer network, liaising with the National Cyber Security Centre," they said in a statement.

"We have systems in place to protect member and staff accounts and are taking the necessary steps to protect our systems," the statement added
Some lawmakers posted online that they had had difficulties accessing their emails remotely.
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Blackbox

The failing American Century: Has Washington lost the Middle East after Qatar?

F. William Engdahl
New Eastern Outlook
Sat, 24 Jun 2017 15:20 UTC
Salman
There is a hidden thin red thread connecting the recent US Congress' sanctions against Iran and now the Russian Federation, with the decision of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies to sanction Qatar. That red thread has nothing to do with a fight against terrorism and everything to do with who will control the largest natural gas reserves in the world as well as who will dominate the world market for that gas.

For more or less the past Century, since 1914, the world has been almost continuously at war over control of oil. Gradually with the adoption of clean energy policies in the European Union and most especially in China's agreeing to significantly cut CO2 emissions by reducing coal generation, itself a political act not a scientific one, as well as advances in natural gas transport technologies, notably in the liquefaction of natural gas or LNG, natural gas has finally become a globally traded market as is oil. With this development, we now are in an era not only of wars for control of major oil reserves around the world. Now we have the dawn of the age of natural gas wars. Fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen.

In terms of geopolitical actors, no political power has been more responsible for launching the recent undeclared gas wars than the corrupt Washington cabal that makes policy on behalf of the so-called deep state interests. This began markedly with the Obama Presidency and is continuing with a vengeance under the current Trump-Tillerson dog-n-pony show. Donald Trump's recent trip to Riyadh and Tel Aviv to nudge along the idea of a Sunni Arab "NATO" to fight "terrorism," which Washington now defines as Iran, has ignited a new phase in the emerging US global gas wars.
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Airplane

Mother Nature speaks: 2 US 'Doomsday planes' knocked out of commission by tornado


RT
Sat, 24 Jun 2017 15:29 UTC
E-4 doomsday plane
© Keith Allison / WikipediaThe Boeing E-4 Advanced Airborne Command Post.
Two US E-4B aircraft, otherwise known as 'Doomsday Planes', which are designed to survive an electromagnetic shockwave in the event of war, were damaged and left grounded by a fast-moving tornado at an airbase in Nebraska, local media report.

A heavy storm packing driving rain, high winds, and two tornadoes ripped through the US Air Force's Offutt base in Nebraska last weekend. The extent of the damage to the facility was reported by local media on Saturday.

Ten aircraft, including the two E-4B Nightwatchers, were damaged by the tornado, said Air Force Captain Mark Graff, as cited by Stars and Stripes.
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Attention

Saudi Arabia donates $66.7 million to stop Yemen cholera crisis as it continues to bomb and blockade it


RT
Sat, 24 Jun 2017 14:57 UTC
Nurse attends to a boy infected with cholera at a hospital in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, Yemen
© Abduljabbar Zeyad / Reuters Nurse attends to a boy infected with cholera at a hospital in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, Yemen.
WHO has expressed gratitude to Saudi Arabia for making a "noble" donation to fight a cholera outbreak in Yemen, even though the kingdom itself is contributing to the spread of the illness in the neighboring country by bombing and blockading it.

Saudi Arabian Defense Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who initiated and is now overseeing his country's intervention in Yemen, has ordered the King Salman Center for Humanitarian Aid and Relief (KSRelief) to contribute $66.7 million to fight cholera in a country that the Gulf kingdom has been bombing since March of 2015.

Cholera, which causes severe dysentery and vomiting, can develop in areas with poor sanitation. It is contracted by coming into contact with contaminated water sources.

Comment: The new crown prince trying to clean up Saudi Arabia's reputation?

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Info

Qatar slams Gulf ultimatum as 'unrealistic' and an 'attack on sovereignty and independent foreign policy'


RT
Sat, 24 Jun 2017 14:48 UTC
Doha, Qatar
© Naseem Zeitoon / Reuters
Qatar says the list of 13 demands put forward by the Gulf nations and Egypt as a precondition for the resumption of diplomatic ties and much needed economic relief is neither "reasonable" nor "realistic", and infringes on the country's sovereignty and foreign policy.

"This list of demands confirms what Qatar has said from the beginning - the illegal blockade has nothing to do with combating terrorism, it is about limiting Qatar's sovereignty, and outsourcing our foreign policy," Sheikh Saif Al Thani, director of Qatar's government communications office, said in an email statement to Bloomberg.

The Sheikh stressed that the list is currently under review, but only "out of respect for our brothers in Kuwait," whose emissary delivered the Saudi-led demands Friday. Al Thani noted that the demands do not meet the US and UK criteria for "reasonable and realistic measures."

Comment: And they're right: Saudi-led terms of surrender to Qatar are an offer to be refused

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Moon

The final totalitarian government objective: Enslave or kill us all

Jeremiah Johnson
SHTFplan
Wed, 21 Jun 2017 14:34 UTC
man behind bars drawing
In the world situation, we are all aware of the "hot spots," such as North Korea, Syria, and Ukraine that could escalate into a full-blown regional war and then expand even further, either on their own or with "assistance" from governments and oligarchs alike. We also have seen a rekindling of the tensions that existed during the first Cold War and the shaping of a new Cold War with Russia. Meanwhile, with all foreign policy in shambles and diplomatic ties in a limbo-vacuum, the U.S. government has adjusted its pace domestically. The President was sworn in with a tide of almost "messianic" fervor; however, 6 months has elapsed with little change evident and many of his reforms stopped dead in the water for the time being.

Domestically the U.S. government was instituting and initiating "reforms" at a running pace under Obama. The reforms were actually removals of more and more of our liberties. This pace has slowed down, but has not ceased. Read the article Senate Bill: Travelers Must Register Cash and Digital Amounts Over $10K or Face 10 Years in Prison and Full Asset Seizure. Labeled Senate Bill 1241, this nefarious totalitarian measure also contains provisions for wiretapping anyone suspected of "drug trafficking or money laundering" to fit the bill for asset seizure and further torment by the government.

They want to know everything you have, everything you're doing, everywhere you're going, and track you in real time with your happy cellular telephone.
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Bad Guys

Trump's latest tweets send Washington into 'snowflake frenzy'

Lachlan Markay & Spencer Ackerman
The Daily Beast
Thu, 22 Jun 2017 13:52 UTC
trump cell phone
After a cascading series of controversies created in large part by Donald Trump's Twitter account, the president took to his preferred medium again on Thursday to float another conspiracy theory: the Oval Office itself could be under surveillance.

Trump ended speculation on Thursday about whether he had installed a recording device in the Oval Office and made "tapes" of his conversations with former FBI director James Comey, a possibility he first raised in another tweet in early May. "I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings," he wrote.

But then, unprompted, he floated another possibility: U.S. intelligence or law enforcement officials might have his office bugged. "With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, I have no idea whether there are 'tapes' or recordings of my conversations with James Comey," Trump wrote.

Comment: Further reading: Poll: Half of US voters believe reporters and media owners biased against Trump

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Stock Down

Is a 'horrendous storm' about to slam into Wall Street?

Craig Wilson
The Daily Reckoning
Thu, 22 Jun 2017 13:52 UTC
stock market collapse finance David Stockman
David Stockman joined Boom Bust to discuss the massive storm that is building and about to slam into Wall Street. During the discussion Stockman reveals what he believes is ahead for the stocks in the market and the economy.

The interview began with the Boom Bust host asking the acclaimed author about his concern surrounding a government shutdown. David Stockman began
"we're in the midst of the biggest political train wreck in modern history... There will be no governance in Washington. There will be no tax bill, stimulus or infrastructure."

"We're heading for an expiration of the debt ceiling and running out of cash that will create an enormous crisis by August or September. They're not going to be able to cope with it."

"I think the odds by the day are increasing that we're going to have a government shutdown. Expect the mother of all debt ceiling crisis. The market is utterly unprepared and it really is the orange swan that is about ready to take Wall Street by surprise."
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Vader

Syngenta ordered to pay billions in reparations to Kansas farmers over GMO corn


RT
Sat, 24 Jun 2017 14:37 UTC
Syngenta logo
© Edgar Su / Reuters
A US district court has ordered Swiss agrochemical company, Syngenta, to pay out US$217.7 million to Kansas farmers who say the company commercialized a genetically modified corn product before being approved by China, a major corn importer.

Friday's ruling by a US district court in Kansas arose from farmers claiming that the Swiss agro giant caused them catastrophic damage when Chinese authorities began refusing shipments of corn shipments in 2013, after detecting a chemical that had not yet been approved by the Chinese government, according to court documents.

The farmers' case was the first to go to trial, but thousands of corn producers and traders are now also seeking compensation for lost revenue from the Swiss company.
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Chess

Russia responds wisely to US shoot-down of Syrian aircraft

Mike Whitney
CounterPunch
Fri, 23 Jun 2017 13:52 UTC
Putin
"The shooting down of the Syrian SU-22 is another demonstration that the US is prepared to resort to the most reckless means to defend its footholds in Syria and lay the basis for the broader war that is being prepared."

— Peter Symonds, World Socialist Web Site
The downing of a Syrian warplane by a US F-18 Super Hornet on Sunday proves that Washington's real objective in Syria is not to defeat ISIS but to topple the government, carve up the country and install a puppet who will follow Washington's directives. ISIS doesn't have an airforce nor is there any chance that the lumbering Soviet-era SU-22 was mistaken by the American pilot before it was shot down. No, the Syrian plane was positively identified on a clear day flying over Syrian territory. The US ignored the normal protocols, failed to communicate their activities on the "de-confliction" hotline (as per their agreement with Moscow) and - BAM - the Syrian warplane was taken out with two missiles over Ja'Din in the western part of Raqqah province. The attack was a clear provocation.
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