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Trump slapped with second lawsuit for accepting foreign payments through his hotel businesses


RT
Mon, 12 Jun 2017 18:48 UTC
Donald Trump
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Two attorney generals will file a lawsuit against the US president for violating anti-corruption laws, claiming foreign payments made to Trump's businesses are in violation of the US constitution.

The suit by the Maryland and District of Columbia attorneys general will be filed on Monday. It accuses Trump of violating the emoluments clause, which bars the president from accepting gifts from foreign governments without approval from Congress.
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Info

Turkish prosecutors identify 5 suspects linked to murder of Russian ambassador Karlov


Sputnik
Mon, 12 Jun 2017 18:40 UTC
Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek
© Sputnik/ Eray ErkylychAnkara Mayor Melih Gokcek presents a certificate of renaming an Ankara street into Andrei Karlov Street to Karlov's widow.
The Ankara Public Prosecutor's Office said Monday that it had identified five suspects connected to the assassination of Russian Ambassador Andrei Karlov carried out by off-duty Turkish police officer Mevlut Mert Altintas in December 2016.

According to the local Yeni Safak media outlet, in late November 2016, Altintas went to a 5-star hotel in Cankaya district of Turkey's capital of Ankara and sent a phone message to his roommate Sercan B., which read "A brother dear to me is coming, I will meet with him."
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Info

White phosphorus in Syria and Iraq: 'Nothing will change' unless Western governments do


Sputnik
Mon, 12 Jun 2017 18:28 UTC
SDF fighters
© REUTERS/ Rodi Said
Images taken by witnesses in Syria and Iraq have found that the US-led coalition which is currently fighting Daesh may have used the dangerous and life-threatening white phosphorus chemical munitions, prohibited under international law, in densely populated areas.

Photographs and video clips posted online on June 8 show blinding spots of light over the northern Syrian city of Raqqa. The pictures, distributed by the Amaq News Agency, which is linked to Daesh, and activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, show puffs of white light and smoke, which are signs of white phosphorous.

​White phosphorus is a weapon intended to provide a smokescreen for troop movements on the battlefield. It is highly flammable and its spread effect is such that it should never be used in civilian areas.
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Blackbox

Softening Brexit? Europe eyes opportunity with Theresa May's weakened government


RT
Mon, 12 Jun 2017 18:23 UTC
British and EU flags
© Daniel Leal-Olivas / AFP
European officials are said to be ready to pounce on Theresa May's weakened and unstable leadership, after last week's snap election left the British prime minister with a diminished mandate just days before Brexit negotiations are due to begin.

Formal talks with European Union counterparts were scheduled to begin next Monday, June 19, but might be postponed by a few days.

Brexit secretary David Davis announced the possible change of plan on Monday, as the date clashes with the announcement of the new government's policy program, known as the Queen's Speech.

"It's in the week of next week, basically, is the first discussions," Davis told Sky News when pressed about the start of negotiations.

"My permanent secretary is actually in Brussels today talking to them about the details. It may not be on the Monday because we've also got the Queen's Speech that week and I will have to speak in that and so on."
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Windsock

Saudi Arabia turns pro-Kurdish after Turkey sides with Qatar

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Mon, 12 Jun 2017 00:00 UTC
Syrian Kurds
© vindheim.wordpress.com
This could be the beginning of a new alignment that will elevate the Russian position in the region while diminishing the influence of the United States.

The new and seemingly prolonged row between Saudi Arabia and Qatar is having some curious and almost shocking knock-on effects. The most interesting is that Syrian media has been reporting that attacks and even mobilisations from many Gulf funded terrorists in Syria have declined. Likewise, state-run Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera has suddenly discovered the extent of Saudi war crimes in Yemen after ignoring the story until last week when Qatar's exit from the Saudi coalition was formalised.

But by far the most strange development thus far is the newfound Saudi love for the cause of Kurdish nationalism. Like most things coming from Saudi, this is a totally disingenuous move, designed to punish Turkey for its support of Qatar. Tightly monitored and in effect state-run Saudi social media has been filling up with words of support for Kurds in Syria and Iraq. These Kurds are of course the sworn enemy of Turkey. The Turkish based Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) has long been a thorn in the side of successive Turkish governments. Now it seems they have a new and highly wealthy ally in Saudi Arabia, at least for the time being.

Comment: The long view of the ME conflict shows things are rarely what they seem and alliances change as the sands shift. Those who have remained true to their allegiance and convictions: Syria and Russia.

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Snakes in Suits

Macron's party set for victory in first round parliamentary elections


RT
Sun, 11 Jun 2017 18:08 UTC
Macron
© Christophe Petit Tesson / ReutersThe Macronator
The recently elected president's Republic On The Move (LREM) party has gained enough votes in the first round of France's parliamentary elections Sunday that would see it secure an overwhelming parliamentary majority, projections show.

Macron's party and its allies have won the biggest share of the vote in the first round of the elections based on a partial count of ballots, the French interior ministry has announced.

Macron's party scores 32 percent, AFP reports citing projections.
chart french elections
© AFP

Comment: To what or whom does Macron owe his 'success' and rapid rise of his party? He certainly doesn't have an inherent ability or the experience to forge a 'new France', nor does he readily consider the heart and needs of the people in priority to his personal aspirations.

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Arrow Down

Dismal French parliamentary elections indicate a deepening cynicism amongst French voters

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Mon, 12 Jun 2017 00:00 UTC
French parliam elections
© RFI
Dismal turnout in French legislative elections points to deep cynicism and anger at the political system amongst French voters.

Whilst Britain absorbs the shock of a parliamentary election which resulted unexpectedly in a hung parliament, France has been holding parliamentary elections of its own. These come a few short weeks after Emmanuel Macron, the 'insider-outsider', got himself elected French President.

International reporting of the French parliamentary elections talks grandly of a 'landslide win' by Macron's party, La Republique en Marche, which together with its MoDem ally is set to win up to 445 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly.

In reality the French parliamentary elections point to the cynicism and disillusion of French voters with their political system. Turnout, admittedly never especially high in parliamentary elections in France, was down to 48.7% compared with 57.2% in the first round in the French parliamentary elections of 2012. Out of this total Macron's party and its MoDem ally have won 32.3% of the vote. That means that the two parties which support Macron got the support of just 18.47% of the French electorate. None of this is or should be any consolation to Macron's opponents.

Comment: French folk are discovering the true nature of its ruling class. The West, especially the US, France and Germany, seems to have run the gamut of exceptional leadership long ago.

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Pistol

Iranian police kill four militants linked to Daesh near Rudan


Sputnik
Mon, 12 Jun 2017 19:09 UTC
Iranian police
© AP Photo/ Ebrahim Noroozi
Iranian police killed four armed militants allegedly tied to the Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh, a terrorist group outlawed in Russia) in the southern province of Hormozgan, local media reported on Monday.

According to the Tasnim news agency, citing Brig. Gen. Azizollah Maleki, the militants were killed in an operation conducted by the police in the mountains near the city of Rudan on Sunday.

Weapons and ammunition were seized alongside explosives and a flag of the Daesh.

Comment: See also: Iranian Security Forces arrest 41 Daesh members across the country, following deadly Tehran attacks

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Cult

Saudi Arabia is Ponerizing and Destabilizing the Islamic World

Stephen Kinzer
The Boston Globe
Sun, 11 Jun 2017 00:00 UTC
Indonesian Muslims at Istiqlal Mosque
© Tatan Syuflana/Associated PressIndonesian Muslims at Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta on May 26. Saudi Arabia has been working to pull Indonesia away from moderate Islam.
Just a few months ago, the governor of Indonesia's largest city, Jakarta, seemed headed for easy re-election despite the fact that he is a Christian in a mostly Muslim country. Suddenly everything went violently wrong. Using the pretext of an offhand remark the governor made about the Koran, masses of enraged Muslims took to the streets to denounce him. In short order he lost the election, was arrested, charged with blasphemy, and sentenced to two years in prison.

This episode is especially alarming because Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, has long been one of its most tolerant. Indonesian Islam, like most belief systems on that vast archipelago, is syncretic, gentle, and open-minded. The stunning fall of Jakarta's governor reflects the opposite: intolerance, sectarian hatred, and contempt for democracy. Fundamentalism is surging in Indonesia. This did not happen naturally.
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Info

The real story behind the economic crisis unfolding in Qatar

Robert Fisk
Independent
Thu, 08 Jun 2017 15:53 UTC
Qatar embassy sign
© Reuters
The Qatar crisis proves two things: the continued infantilisation of the Arab states, and the total collapse of the Sunni Muslim unity supposedly created by Donald Trump's preposterous attendance at the Saudi summit two weeks ago.

After promising to fight to the death against Shia Iranian "terror," Saudi Arabia and its closest chums have now ganged up on one of the wealthiest of their neighbors, Qatar, for being a fountainhead of "terror". Only Shakespeare's plays could come close to describing such treachery. Shakespeare's comedies, of course.

For, truly, there is something vastly fantastical about this charade. Qatar's citizens have certainly contributed to ISIS. But so have Saudi Arabia's citizens.
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