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"The penny has dropped: The governments have decided not to fund Clinton Foundation activities anymore," Ortel said Tuesday. "Canada, Sweden and Ireland are countries that may undertake investigations or end their practice of contributing large sums to the Clinton Foundation."
He was commenting after Norway and Australia announced last weekend that they were ending their annual contributions to the charity, founded in 1997 by then-US President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton.
© Sputnik InternationalDimitrios Velanis, Special Advisor Russian Relations
"I would answer with the words used by the Russian Ministries of Defense and of Foreign Affairs, which were that the sanctions put in place by the EU and by NATO do not affect Russia, since it is not a member of these organizations," Velanis said. "We understand that Russia's intervention in Syria, with its navy and air forces, needs of course to keep them going. Planes don't fly without fuel.
"We know that Russian planes bomb terrorists, and not the Syrian people, unlike what is written in several Western news sources. To say that Russia is attacking peaceful ideals is 100 percent false. The Western media does not portray what is really happening, and similarly there is plenty of propaganda against Russia. But the Greek people understand this," he said.
© Toby Melville / ReutersBritain's former Prime Minister Tony Blair
The motion was led by Scottish National Party (SNP) foreign affairs spokesman Alex Salmond and a range of other MPs from the Green Party, Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru - as well as some from the Labour and Conservative camps.
Some 439 MPs voted in defense of Blair while only 70 voted he should be held to account.
The motion said the Chilcot report, published in July, "provided substantial evidence of misleading information being presented by the then prime minister and others on the development of the then government's policy towards the invasion of Iraq."
It was opposed by the section of right-wing Labour MPs who subscribe to Blair's ideas, several of whom argued that the debate was an SNP ploy to split Labour.
Münchau knows of what he speaks; as associate editor of the Financial Times he is in the unenviable position of acting as the spokesman for the banksters ensconced in the City of London. And in case you haven't noticed, the banksters aren't exactly the most popular people in the world right now. But don't take my word for it, take his:
"Some revolutions could have been avoided if the old guard had only refrained from provocation. There is no proof of a 'let them eat cake' incident. But this is the kind of thing Marie Antoinette could have said. It rings true. The Bourbons were hard to beat as the quintessential out-of-touch establishment.
"They have competition now.
"Our global liberal democratic establishment is behaving in much the same way. At a time when Britain has voted to leave the EU, when Donald Trump has been elected US president, and Marine Le Pen is marching towards the Elysée Palace, we — the gatekeepers of the global liberal order — keep on doubling down."
© Kevin Lamarque / ReutersFlags fly above the entrance to the new Trump International Hotel on its opening day in Washington September 12, 2016.
True to form, social media-savvy Trump made the announcement on Wednesday in a series of tweets and a Facebook post. He said he would address "leaving my great business" at a December 15 press conference in New York City, with his children present.
"While I am not mandated to do this under the law, I feel it is visually important, as President, to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses. Hence, legal documents are being crafted which take me completely out of business operations. The Presidency is a far more important task!"
© AFP 2016/ THOMAS COEX
The draft settlement bill proposes to allow Israeli settlers to remain on the Palestinian territory, while offering financial compensation to owners of the land. It has already been approved in the first reading.
According to the Jerusalem Post, a fraction of the Kulanu party has been in disagreement with the Likud party over the option of blocking court orders on legalization of settlements. Likud supported the inclusion of the option in the bill, while Kulanu opposed. As a result, Kulanu withdrew the bill from parliamentary discussions, the media reported.
© Signs of the Times
The units of JSOC have long been employed by the chiefs of the six major regional military commands, such as Centcom, which covers the Middle East and Central Asia, to conduct counter-terrorism operations. One such unit, Seal Team Six, carried out the assassination of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May 2011.
Comment: The evidence for this operation was never verified, nor the body examined and identified -- if there really was one. He most likely died years earlier of illness. Obama's version was show and tell, and take the credit.
Obama has approved a proposal to give JSOC independent authority to operate outside the regional commands, essentially as a globalized assassination force. JSOC units will bypass the regional commanders and report directly to Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in the Pentagon.
Comment: We already knew the trajectory of the Obama and Clinton team: The United States of Global Dystopia with secret laws, secret budgets, secret kill lists and massive abuse of power. Apparently a good majority of Americans sensed a different option with Trump, a chance for something -- anything -- better. Perhaps Trump has figured that out and will act accordingly...that is if he doesn't find himself the target of Obama's JSOC.
See also:
- JSoc: Obama's secret assassins
- Obama expands terrorist umbrella to include jihadist Somali group, redefines 'Terrorism'
© AFP PHOTO/Mohamed DAHIRYoung fighters from Al-Shabab come together to count their bullets in Mogadishu, 2009.
Shabab was not organized until after 2007, and as an entity could not have been involved in 9/11. Obama's expansion will likely be used to legalize an escalation in counterterrorism measures and airstrikes in support of the Somali government and the African Union.
The decision to target groups far from Al Qaeda's base in Afghanistan is expected to be announced next month in a list of global deployments detailed in a letter to Congress. This major expansion has raised the eyebrows of anti-war activists and foreign policy experts, but it is not the first instance of the US relaxing its own self-imposed restrictions for battling militant groups abroad.
In a June letter to Congress Obama amended 9/11 legislation to include "associated forces" of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda who aimed to "achieve strategic effects," against the Afghan government. This also allowed Washington to "prevent a strategic defeat" of Afghan forces, effectively giving the US the ability to target groups who may not be a direct threat.
Comment: Typically the excuse dictates the legislation. Obama is a master at the reverse: The legislation dictates the excuse.
See also: Obama expands global reach of US Special Ops death squads
© Sputnik/ Iliya Pitalev
The evacuation agreement between militants and government forces was proposed on Saturday. A 48-hour ceasefire was announced, after which the militants were allowed to leave for rebel-held territory in the Idlib province in the north of the country.
"The first group has already left Khan al-Shih together with their families. The rest will leave on Wednesday, they will go to the city of Idlib," the source said. The same source said on Monday that the evacuation of more than 2,500 people from Khan al-Shih had started.
Comment: Further reading: