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Passport

Trump team did no additional vetting of Flynn - cites earlier Obama security clearance as sufficient


RT
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 14:00 UTC
Michael Flynn
© Carlos Barria / ReutersUS National Security Advisor Michael Flynn
The White House has admitted that no other vetting was needed for former national security adviser Michael Flynn beyond the background check conducted by the Obama administration, shifting responsibility for the ongoing scandal to the previous president.

Flynn filled out the government's Standard Form 86 (SF-86) to renew his security clearance in January 2016, a month after he gave a speech in Moscow at an international conference hosted by RT, even though he was no longer a government employee. Flynn was able to maintain his active clearance because he was the former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

The Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General (IG) has opened an investigation to determine whether Flynn failed to obtain approval prior to receiving payment from a foreign government, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee announced Thursday.
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Snakes in Suits

Claims of crooked MPs passing secret reports to London City traders remain uninvestigated


RT
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 15:21 UTC
British currency
© Global Look Press
A claim that London City traders are taking bets on the pound after getting their hands on sensitive government data has not been investigated, despite suggestions the secret information is potentially being leaked by crooked British MPs or officials.

Analysis of UK government bond futures prepared for the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) last month suggests data is being leaked to the market ahead of its official publication, allowing traders to profit from inside information. Sterling dealers frequently predicted economic announcements, even when they defied expectations, the report suggested.
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Chess

T-Rex Tillerson switches to economic pressure against N. Korea - Kim Jong caught laughing hysterically


RT
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 14:56 UTC
Rex Tillerson
© Bryan R. Smith / ReutersRex Tillerson
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, speaking before the UN Security, has threatened to suspend diplomatic relations and impose additional sanctions affecting third parties with North Korea unless Pyongyang abandons its nuclear weapons program.

Secretary of State Tillerson said on Friday that for years North Korea has dictated the terms of its "dangerous course of action and it's time for us to retake control of the situation."


Comment: Seems like instead of "taking control" the US is backing down from military confrontation to threatening any country which has a diplomatic relationship with N. Korea. Most likely what happened is that Trump and his war hawk generals were merely talking tough about going after N. Korea and actually never had any plans to do anything but borrow from their obviously unsuccessful Russia strategy of using sanctions to force change. As with Russia, it's not going to work. T-Rex Tillerson thinks the US still has a big bite, but he's going to realize that US hegemonic dominance is not what it used to be.


Tillerson said that for too long the international community has been reactive and the "policy of strategic patience is over, additional patience will only lead to a nuclear North Korea."

Comment: A photographer was able to snap a candid picture of Kim Jong-Un and his generals reacting to Tillerson's threats:
kim jong un laughing


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Snakes in Suits

Montenegro parliament ratifies NATO membership despite being bombed by them in 1999


RT
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 15:00 UTC
Montenegro protesters
© ReutersA demonstrator raises his fist during anti-NATO protest as Montenegro’s parliament discuss NATO membership agreement in Cetinje, Montenegro, April 28, 2017.
Montenegro's Parliament formally agreed to join NATO - the military bloc that was pounding the tiny Balkan country with bombs just 18 years ago during the Kosovo War. Washington's consent cleared the way for its membership.

On Friday, Montenegrin MPs voted 46-0 to become the 29th member of NATO.

Opposition lawmakers boycotted the parliamentary session, while hundreds of protesters gathered outside the parliament building before the vote to express their discontent with the idea of Montenegro joining the alliance.

Comment: For more on Montenegro:

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Megaphone

Russian senator blasts UK Tories - "Ministers should use compromise and dialogue, not Russophobia and militarism" in election campaign


RT
Thu, 27 Apr 2017 14:12 UTC
Frants Klintsevich
© Iliya Pitalev / SputnikFrants Klintsevich, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security
A senior senator in the upper house of the Russian parliament has called on UK Defense Secretary Michael Fallon and the Conservative Party leadership not to use scaremongering about Russia as an election tool.

Franz Klintsevich, the first deputy chairman of the Federation Council's Committee for Defense and Security, told RT that British ministers should use "compromise and dialogue" not "militarism and Russophobia" in their general election campaign.

Klintsevich was referring to a string of controversial comments from top Tories in relation to Russia, which he says were attempts to "look tough before the general elections."

Specifically, the senator blasted Tory Defense Secretary Michael Fallon, who made a highly publicized trip to Estonia to personally oversee the deployment of some 800 British troops to the Russian border as part of a NATO mission.

During the trip Fallon called Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn "feeble and gutless" for voicing concerns that NATO expansion may elevate tensions with Russia.
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Eye 1

London teen plotted attack on Buckingham Palace & 9/11 memorial concert, court hears


RT
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 13:57 UTC
Buckingham Palace
© Dominic Lipinski / ReutersBuckingham Palace, London, Britain
A 19-year-old would-be jihadist researched and planned attacks on the Queen's London residence of Buckingham Palace and a 9/11 memorial concert featuring Elton John, a court has heard.

As well as looking at potential targets, Haroon Syed was "researching, planning and attempting to source" materials to create home-made bombs when he was caught, lawyers told the Old Bailey in central London.

Syed, whose 24-year-old brother Nadir Syed was jailed for terrorism offences in 2016, was caught after intelligence agents posed as fellow jihadists who were willing to source weapons for him.
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Eye 1

State Department: Turkey is 'putting US forces at risk' in strikes on Kurds


Sputnik
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 12:33 UTC
US State Department spokesman Mark Toner
US State Department spokesman Mark Toner
US Department of State spokesman Mark Toner said Thursday that by carrying out strikes against strikes against Kurds in Iraq and Syria, Turkey has put American troops operating in the region at risk.

Turkey put US forces at risk during its most recent strikes against Kurds in Iraq and Syria, and must fully coordinate such actions with the United States in the future, US Department of State spokesman Mark Toner told reporters on Thursday.

"We made very clear to the Turkish government at very high levels our deep concern about the actions they took the other day," Toner said. "Not only were they fully coordinated, or not coordinated, within the coalition, but they put, frankly, US soldiers at risk, who were operating in that area, but also resulted in the deaths of, for example, Iraqi Peshmerga who are fighting on the ground."

Comment: Decades of warfare that have destabilized the entire planet, sending soldiers and citizens to their deaths, but the State Department claims Erdogan is 'putting US lives at risk'? Clearly they're just upset he's not playing by their rules.

Further reading: Pentagon 'annoyed' that Erdogan is no longer following US mandate

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Star of David

Jared Kushner revealed as a secret financial partner with the Steinmetz family, once the richest in Israel

James North
Mondoweiss
Thu, 27 Apr 2017 13:24 UTC
Jared Kushner and Donald Trump
© Getty Images
Jared Kushner, the First Son-in-Law, is secret financial partners with what was once the richest family in Israel — the billionaire Steinmetzes, whose leading figure has been linked to a massive bribery scandal in Africa.

Kushner's hidden business ties, just revealed in the New York Times and Bloomberg, should prompt the same intense scrutiny that other Trump officials have gotten for their secret links to Russia. A federal grand jury has been investigating Beny Steinmetz, the Israeli billionaire family's most prominent member, for bribing officials in Africa to steal mining concessions. How can Donald Trump's Justice Department now be expected to conduct an honest probe of Steinmetz's alleged crimes?

In fact, Alan Dershowitz, a criminal defense attorney for Beny Steinmetz, already told the Times that "he believed that the federal investigation of Mr. Steinmetz and his companies was no longer active." Does Dershowitz already know something the American public doesn't?

Comment: More on Soros and Steinmetz: For more on Jared Kushner: Jared Kushner: Friend or foe? Son of a gangster, son-in-law of President Trump

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Snakes in Suits

French 'investigation' in Syria chemical attack neither impartial nor independent

Ulson Gunnar
New Eastern Outlook
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 13:06 UTC
man with gas mask Idlib, Syria
© Ammar Abdullah / ReutersIdlib, Syria April 4, 2017
After any crime, regardless of scale, a swift, impartial and independent investigation is required if any accountability at all is desired. The French government, in the wake of an alleged "chemical weapons attack" near Syria's northern city of Idlib, has claimed that it is "committed to ensuring that the perpetrators of this heinous attack are held accountable."

The LA Times in an article titled, "Syrian chemical attack bears Assad's signature, France says," would report:
A six-page report by French intelligence services claims the nerve agent came from hidden stockpiles of chemical weapons that Damascus was supposed to have destroyed under an U.S.- and Russian-brokered deal in 2013.
Were it the case that France was seriously committed to holding the perpetrators of the alleged attack accountable, the French government would need to call for an impartial, independent investigation into the attack, and as soon as possible. Instead, it decided to carry out its own "investigation," ensuring neither impartiality nor independence, and by consequence, achieving no accountability.

Comment: Also see: Quelle surprise: French 'proof' of Assad's chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun turns out to be total BS

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Propaganda

Fake News: The Sun 'exposes racism in Russia' using far-right Ukrainian video


RT
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 12:33 UTC
Ukraine Kiev Dynamo club kkk outfit
© Kyiv TV / YouTubeUltras Dynamo
It appears the UK tabloid, The Sun, needs a lesson in geography after it posted a video of controversial Ukrainian football fan group White Boys Club, who wear KKK capes, and paint swastikas on their clothes under the title 'Racism in Russia'.

The video was an edited version of a clip posted on YouTube, which shows Ukrainian ultras - hardcore fans of Dynamo Kiev - putting on a visual display during a home match against their biggest rivals, another Ukrainian team, Shakhtar Donetsk last week.

Despite being incorrect, the caption was not removed from the website for several hours.
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