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Dominoes

Trump's election has former critics looking to China to defend global trade

xi jinping
© Ernesto Arias / European Pressphoto AgencyChinese President Xi Jinping arrives at the government palace in Lima, Peru, on Nov. 21, 2016.
Just months ago, world leaders were fretting over the threat posed by an increasingly assertive China.

The country's government oversaw the worst crackdown on dissent in nearly three decades. The Chinese built, then militarized, islands in disputed waters of the South China Sea. They tightened controls over the Internet, freezing out foreign firms while allowing their domestic competitors to prosper.

Then the United States elected Donald Trump as president.

Now some of those same countries are looking to Beijing to defend international cooperation on matters as diverse as trade and climate change, propelling China to new heights on the world stage.

And yet China doesn't sound particularly enthused about its elevation.

The Global Times, a Communist Party mouthpiece, this week called it "beyond imagination to think that China could replace the U.S. to lead the world."

Propaganda

The Lie of the 21st Century: How Mainstream Media 'Fake News' led to US Invasion of Iraq

fake news
© NYTThe New York Times, purveyor of fake news par excellence
The mainstream media (MSM) has declared war on alternative media websites labeling them "Fake News" ever since Hillary Clinton lost the election to Donald Trump. The New York Times editorial board expressed their frustration in an article calling for the censorship of alternative and social media 'Facebook and the Digital Virus Called Fake News' which claimed both social media platforms (Facebook and Google) has not been aggressive enough in blocking fake news sites:
Most of the fake news stories are produced by scammers looking to make a quick buck. The vast majority of them take far-right positions. But a big part of the responsibility for this scourge rests with internet companies like Facebook and Google, which have made it possible for fake news to be shared nearly instantly with millions of users and have been slow to block it from their sites
Some of the websites named in a fake news list by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars, an assistant professor of communication at Merrimack College in Massachusetts including 21st Century Wire, Activistpost.com, Globalresearch.ca, Lewrockwell.com, Naturalnews.com and Project Veritas (who released undercover videos of the DNC attempting to rig the elections) and others have exposed the lies by MSM propaganda. The MSM has lost its credibility and at the same time lost viewers at unprecedented levels. on April 17, 2016, the Associated Press reported on how the U.S. population viewed the MSM 'Poll: Getting facts right key to Americans' trust in media' said that "Just 6 percent of people say they have a lot of confidence in the media, putting the news industry about equal to Congress and well below the public's view of other institutions." Now they want to stop the alternative media from becoming a credible source for news. The New York Times is calling for the censorship of the alternative and social media by blocking "misinformation":

Wall Street

Best of the Web: Washington Post's Sloppy 'Journalism' Blames Russia for 'Fake News' Crisis and Trump's Win, While Pushing Neo-McCarthyism

fake news
© 21st Century Wire
The mainstream media's post-election hysteria has taken on new level of crazy. It seems that The Washington Post has gone off the deep end this week, claiming that Russia is behind the "fake news" crisis which they claim helped propel an insurgent Donald Trump to victory on Nov 8th, and they are still standing by the official conspiracy theory that Russia has somehow hacked into the US elections. Everything that's wrong with the establishment media is contained within this incredible story...

The hacking claim is nothing new - backed by the White House and trumpeted by Hillary Clinton, the US mainstream media has claimed that Russia has been hacking and manipulating our US elections. The only problem is... it never happened. What's more disturbing though, is the complete collapse in journalistic standards at what used to be considered 'America's paper of record.'

It seems the The Post is playing a key role in waging a new McCarthy-style witch hunt targeting any independent websites which dare to challenge the prevailing anti-Russian party line currently dominating the mainstream political and media establishment - evident beyond any doubt after reading this latest feature in The Washington Post written by Craig Timberg entitled, 'Russian propaganda effort helped spread 'fake news' during election, Experts say.'

Comment: The Western hive mind is in its death throes.

As one of the blacklisted news sites, Sott.net wishes to thank WaPo for the free advertising!


Attention

Syria warns Turkey: Withdraw forces immediately

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad warned the Turkish government to immediately withdraw its military forces from Syria.

"Turkey should immediately retreat from the Syrian territories, and as long as Turkey continues occupation of the Syrian lands, the regional situation will not improve," Mikdad told al-Mayadeen news channel on Sunday.

He referred to Turkey's protest at the death and injury of a number of its military men in Syria's al-Bab city, and said, "The Turks should protest at themselves since the incident has happened inside the Syrian territories."

The Turkish military announced in a statement that three of its soldiers have been killed and 10 more wounded in Syria by an air strike allegedly launched by Syrian government forces.

Comment: For more on the strike on Turkish soldiers in Syria:


Light Sabers

Trump laments Jill Stein-led recount effort as "sad waste of time and money"

Trump
© REUTERS/ Carlo Allegri
President-elect Donald Trump, in a series of early morning tweets, lamented the "sad" waste of time and money about to be directed to vote recounts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

If Green Party candidate Jill Stein initiates recounts in those states as she intends, Democrat Hillary Clinton's campaign "will participate in order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides," Clinton campaign lawyer Marc Elias said Saturday.

Elias, in a post on the blogging website Medium, added that he doesn't expect the action to overturn Trump's election. He detailed exhaustive efforts already undertaken by the Democrat's team to assure the validity of the Nov. 8 election.

Trump, in a series of seven posts on Twitter on Sunday, recounted previous comments by Clinton on the need to accept the election results, culminating in her concession speech. "So much time and money will be spent - same result! Sad," Trump concluded.

The president-elect is spending the weekend at his golf resort, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, before returning to New York to resume interviewing potential hires for top administration posts.

Info

'I will defend France's values': 'Putin's friend' Fillon convincingly beats Juppe in center-right primaries

French politician Francois Fillon
© Eric Feferberg / Reuters
The moderate Alain Juppe has conceded defeat after being overwhelmingly beaten in the French Republican primaries by the right-winger Francois Fillon in a well-attended national vote.

Provisional results from 9421 voting stations out of 10,228 gave Fillon 66.9 percent of the vote, and Juppe 33.1.

"France can't bear its decline. It wants truth and it wants action," said Fillon in his victory speech, as supporters chanted "Fillon President!" repeatedly. "I defend France's values. Our rebirth will be the work of everyone."

"Our aims will be employment, growth, justice, to fight fanatics who declared war on France," he continued, before the crowd burst into a rendition of the Marseillaise.

Snakes in Suits

NATO redeploys Indian Ocean flotilla 'thanks to Russia'

NATO in Somalia seas
© AFP 2016/ ARCEL MOCHET
This week, NATO country ships and aircraft officially ended Operation Ocean Shield - a mission launched in 2008 to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia. Although officials have cited a drop-off in activity by Somali pirates, they've also admitted to a shift in the "global security environment," specifically the growing "threat" posed by Russia.

Reuters quoted NATO spokesman Dylan White as saying that NATO has had to adapt to changes in its assessment of global security threats, including by "increasing maritime patrols in the Baltic and Black Seas." The spokesman didn't mention Russia specifically, but these bodies of water are two areas where NATO has significantly increased its presence over the last two and a half years, to the ire of Moscow. Reuters wrote that the effective disbandment of NATO's Indian Ocean task force was in line with efforts to "shift resources to deter Russia."

USA

What are the chances that Hillary Clinton could still move into the White House? - A look at the US election process

Killary
© AFP 2016/Jewel Samad
As the US Electoral College voters are set to elect the US president and vice president later in December, Russian media review whether Democratic contender Hillary Clinton still has a last chance to move into the White House and does the president-elect have any reason to be nervous.

The November 8 presidential election in the US was not, in fact, the final point of the election process of the US head of state.

Back in the 18th century, the Founding Fathers of the US prudently excluded any chances for unfit people to become the country's President.

Not trusting the choice of the masses, they designed a system of bringing a trustworthy candidate into office. The system has also become a compromise to the idea suggested at the time that the President would be voted for by Congress.

And so the scheme whereby the election of the US President is decided by the popular vote of qualified citizens, the Electoral College, came into being.

It's made up of the 538 Americans who actually elect the president. The number corresponds to the seats each state has in the US Senate and the House of Representatives (there are 100 seats in the Senate and 435 in the House), plus the three electoral votes allotted to Washington, D.C.

Pegging each state's electoral vote count to the size of its congressional delegation was specifically designed to give smaller states proportionally more influence than larger states.

The national popular vote therefore simply doesn't matter to the election of the president, however it awards electoral votes to each state based on state-by-state results.

Therefore, on November 8 the country was choosing the qualified citizens who would then elect the president.

Attention

Jihadi fronts in Aleppo fall apart, SAA creates 2 pockets - Egypt enters the fray?

hanano aleppo
The Syrian army (SAA) and its allies made huge progress in east-Aleppo. There, as seemingly everywhere else, the Jihadi' fronts are breaking down. Disunity in the opposition, in reflection of disunity among their sponsors, disrupts all of their attempts for new initiatives. The largely hidden Russian air campaign behind the "rebel" frontlines diminished their material and personal reserves.


Comment: The rebels are reportedly turning on each other:
"Clashes between militant groups have intensified because some militants, who are controlling Eastern Aleppo, wanted to leave the city but were encountered by the most hardline groups," the center's statement said.

"Eastern Aleppo sees a growing number of locals who are disaffected with militants' actions. Grassroots revolts against terrorists' atrocities are taking place with increasing frequency," it read adding that the residents of three districts including Haidaria and Hanano, controlled by militants for at least four years, have squeezed them out.

New help for the Syrian alliance will soon come in form of Egyptian forces. With various "rebel" enclaves eliminated by fighting or peace deals more Syrian troops will be freed and become available for new campaigns. Turkey has been told in no uncertain words to pull back from its Syria (and Iraq) plans. With more forces available and under solid Russian (air) protection new SAA initiatives towards Idleb in the north of the country as well as against Raqqa in the east will now become possible.

SOTT Logo Radio

SOTT Focus: Behind the Headlines: Fake News About Fake News: WaPo Blacklists SOTT.net as Kremlin Disinfo

pro-Trump Kremlin troll
© RT
In the wake of the Trumpocalypse, "fake news" has been in the news. First it was Facebook being blamed for Trump's win because of the pro-Trump fake news floating around social media in the lead-up to the election.

Then, an obscure left-wing activist college professor hastily compiled a list of "fake news" sites and posted it on her social media. The list was picked up by such fake news sites as CNN, WaPo, Boston Globe, NY Magazine, USA Today, Business Insider, and more, with recommendations for serious readers to avoid such tainted goods.

Now, the Washington Post has cited an obscure list of "Russian propaganda" websites to justify its claim that a "Russian propaganda effort" helped spread fake news during the election. Included on the list? SOTT.net, among numerous other great alternative news websites.

Today on Behind the Headlines we share our thoughts on "fake news", who the real fakers are, and what we think about being labelled as Kremlin trolls or useful idiots.

Running Time: 01:37:19

Download: MP3