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Half-brother of N. Korean leader dead in Malaysia, reports claim he was murdered: Update female suspect detained


RT
Tue, 14 Feb 2017 14:23 UTC
Kim Jong-nam
© Eriko Sugita / Reuters
The estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been killed in Malaysia, police have confirmed, according to Reuters. The official cause of death remains unknown, but a report claims he was poisoned by North Korean operatives.

Police earlier told Reuters that an unidentified man had died en route to the hospital from Kuala Lumpur Airport.

It was later confirmed that the man was Kim Jong-nam, Kim Jong-un's older half brother.

South Korea's TV Chosun reported that Kim had been poisoned at the airport by two women believed to be North Korean operatives.

Those women are at large, according to the outlet, which cited multiple South Korean government sources.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said it could not confirm the reports, and the country's intelligence agency could not be reached for comment by Reuters.

Comment: Update: Female arrested in Malaysia over 'Kim Jong-nam murder' - police
A woman has been arrested at Kuala Lumpur airport in connection with the death of the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, according to Malaysian police.

The woman, who was in possession of a Vietnamese travel document with the name Doan Thi Huong, was alone at the time of her arrest.

The "suspect was positively identified from the CCTV footage at the airport and was alone at the time of arrest," police said in a statement.

Police say they are looking for "a few" other suspects in connection with the death.


Meanwhile, North Korean government officials in Malaysia have objected to an autopsy being performed on Kim, according to Malaysian government sources cited by Reuters.

Pyongyang instead requested that the body be released to North Korean officials right away. However, that request was rejected by Malaysia, several sources said. They added that no decision has been taken on whether the body will ultimately be handed over to North Korea.

Authorities confirmed on Tuesday that Kim Jong-nam had died after falling ill at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

"The deceased... felt like someone grabbed or held his face from behind," the senior assistant commissioner of the Malaysian Police Criminal Investigation Department, Fadzil Ahmat, said, adding "he felt dizzy, so he asked for help at the... counter of KLIA."

A receptionist at the airport also stated that someone had grabbed Kim's face, according to Fadzil.

However, South Korea's TV Chosun reported that two women believed to be North Korean operatives poisoned Kim with a needle, citing multiple South Korean government sources.

On Wednesday, local media reported that CCTV cameras at the airport had captured a clearer image of a woman allegedly connected with the murder. She appeared to be middle-aged and of Asian descent.

In the image posted online by The Straits Times, she can be seen wearing a top with the word "LOL" in large letters and a short blue skirt. Her right hand is placed over a small handbag.


A previous CCTV image showed a picture of a woman believed to be the same person, but taken at a greater distance and from a different angle.

South Korea also confirmed on Wednesday that the murdered man was indeed Kim Jong-nam, Channel News Asia reported.

"Our government is certain that the murdered man is Kim Jong Nam," said Chung Joon-Hee, a spokesman for Seoul's unification ministry, which handles inter-Korea affairs.

Seoul claims that Pyongyang had been planning to kill the North Korean leader's half-brother for the past five years.

"If the murder of Kim Jong Nam was confirmed to be committed by the North Korean regime, that would clearly depict the brutality and inhumanity of the Kim Jong Un regime," South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, the country's acting president, told a security council meeting on Wednesday.


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Piggy Bank

Defense Sec. Mattis declares NATO allies must increase spending or US will 'moderate its commitment'


RT
Wed, 15 Feb 2017 16:22 UTC
U.S. and Polish army soldiers
© Kacper Pempel / Reuters
US Defense Secretary James Mattis delivered an ultimatum to NATO allies during a visit to Europe - increase their military spending, or see America "moderate its commitment" to the alliance.

"I owe it to you all to give you clarity on the political reality in the United States, and to state the fair demand from my country's people in concrete terms," Mattis said.

"America will meet its responsibilities, but if your nations do not want to see America moderate its commitment to the alliance, each of your capitals needs to show its support for our common defense."

"No longer can the American taxpayer carry a disproportionate share of the defense of western values," Mattis said. "Americans cannot care more for your children's security than you do. Disregard for military readiness demonstrates a lack of respect for ourselves, for the alliance, and for the freedoms we inherited, which are now clearly threatened."
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Caesar

Russian MoD denies 'unprofessional and unsafe' flyby of a US destroyer in Black Sea


RT
Wed, 15 Feb 2017 13:18 UTC
Sukhoi Su-24 Russia Russian Air Force USS Navy Donald Cook Jet
© US Navy / ReutersA Russian Sukhoi Su-24 attack aircraft makes a very low altitude pass by USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) April 12, 2016.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has denied any unusual incidents or encounters with a US destroyer after the Pentagon accused Moscow of "unsafe and unprofessional" piloting in the vicinity of the USS Porter "patrolling" the Black Sea.

On Tuesday, Captain Danny Hernandez, a spokesman for the US European Command, said that on three separate occasions, Russian military jets came close to the USS Porter destroyer in the Black Sea on February 10.

One of the incidents, the US official said, involved two supersonic Su-24 attack jets. The second one also involved a separate Su-24, while the third flyby was apparently made by an IL-38 maritime patrol aircraft.
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Wall Street

Trump repeals mandate for oil, gas companies to disclose taxes & fees paid to foreign govt's


RT
Wed, 15 Feb 2017 13:18 UTC
Bill Huizenga Donald Trump Executive Order Bill Signing
© Carlos Barria / ReutersRepresentative Bill Huizenga (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump
President Donald Trump has repealed the mandate for US oil and gas companies to report taxes and fees paid to foreign governments. The administration and Republicans claim the move will create jobs, but Democrats criticize the lack of transparency.

The Dodd-Frank Act signed by President Barack Obama in 2010 required the US Securities and Exchange Commission to write a transparency rule for fossil fuel, mining, and other extraction companies. That rule has now been overturned after Trump signed House Joint Resolution 41, passed by Congress earlier this month.

Up until Tuesday, oil and gas companies had been forced to reveal any production-related fees such as taxes paid to foreign governments. That rule was ditched via party-line votes in both the House and Senate. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) had argued that the rule was "essential to combating waste, fraud, corruption, and mismanagement."

Comment: For more on Trump's impact on US oil, check out:

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Attention

#Fakenews strikes again: Pelosi and NYT fooled by fake Flynn tweet


RT
Wed, 15 Feb 2017 13:47 UTC
Nancy Pelosi
© Joshua Roberts / Reuters
House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi read a fake tweet to reporters on Tuesday not knowing it came from a parody account of resigned National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. Pelosi falsely said that Flynn had described himself as a "scapegoat" in the blunder.


Comment: And somehow these idiots keep getting voted into office!

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Eye 1

The CIA broke the law to take out General Flynn

Thomas Lifson
American Thinker
Wed, 15 Feb 2017 13:18 UTC
Michael Flynn
© Carlos Barria / Reuters
Make no mistake: we have just witnessed an operation by members of the CIA to take out a high official of our own government. An agency widely believed to have brought down democratically elected governments overseas is now practicing the same dark arts in domestic American politics. Almost certainly, its new head, Mike Pompeo, was not consulted.

Senator Chuck Schumer, of all people, laid out on January 2 what was going to happen to the Trump administration if it dared take on the deep state - the permanent bureaucracy that has contempt for the will of the voters and feels entitled to run the government for its own benefit:
New Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday that President-elect Donald Trump is "being really dumb" by taking on the intelligence community and its assessments on Russia's cyber activities.

"Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you," Schumer told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow.

"So even for a practical, supposedly hard-nosed businessman, he's being really dumb to do this."

Comment: Kucinich has a similar take, pointing out that Flynn's phone calls were intercepted and the contents were given to the media, quite possibly to sabotage rapprochement between the US and Russia. As he points out, 'What's going on in the intelligence community, with this new President, is unprecedented. Who knows what the truth is anymore...You know this isn't a joke, this is a serious matter...The American people have to understand that a game is being played with the security of our country."



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Star of David

Bowing to pressure: US unlikely to insist on two-state solution of Israeli-Palestinian conflict


Sputnik
Wed, 15 Feb 2017 13:44 UTC
Protestors palestinian
© Jaafar Ashtiyeh/Agence France-PressePalestinian protestors stand facing the Israeli settlement of Qadumim (Kedumim) during clashes with Israeli security forces following a demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the village of Kfar Qaddum, near Nablus, in the occupied West Bank on December 30, 2016
The United States won't stick to the two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, if the plan doesn't bear fruit, the White House announced on Tuesday.

The United States will not insist on the two-state solution to settle the conflict between Israel and Palestine, the statement reads.

"A two-state solution that doesn't bring peace is not our goal that anybody wants to achieve, the official said. "Peace is the goal, whether it comes in the form of a two-state solution if that's what the parties want or something else, if that's what the parties want, we're going to help them," the statement said on Tuesday quoting a senior White House official.

The concept of a two-state solution to the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians stipulates creation of "two states for two groups of people." It has long been viewed by the international community as the only realistic way to end the conflict.

The boundary between the two states is still subject to dispute and negotiation, with Palestinian and Arab leadership insisting on the "1967 borders," which is not acceptable to Israel.

Some experts suggest that any idea that this solution is viable is just a western misinterpretation of how to solve this conflict.

Moreover, Israel's settlement expansion into the Palestinian territories hamper the realization of the plan.
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Target

The witchhunt continues: Kellyanne Conway faces Ethics Office investigation over Ivanka promotion, 'retweet' of white nationalist


RT
Wed, 15 Feb 2017 05:05 UTC
Kellyanne Conway
© ElleKellyanne Conway
A single day's series of unfortunate events has left Special Counselor to the President, Kellyanne Conway, dealing with the Office of Government Ethics while also denying she retweeted a white nationalist.

The Office of Government Ethics (OGE) has requested the White House investigate and possibly take disciplinary action against Conway after she promoted Ivanka Trump's clothing line during a recent televised interview on Fox News.

Conway's interview last week on 'Fox and Friends' took place in the wake of Nordstrom dropping Ivanka's clothing line. President Donald Trump had tweeted that Nordstrom treated his daughter "unfairly."

On February 9, Conway used her time during an interview on Fox News to give a "free commercial" to Ivanka's clothing brand, urging Americans to "Go buy Ivanka's stuff! I'm going to go get some myself today," Conway said. "This is just a wonderful line...Go buy it today everybody, you can find it online."

On Monday, Walter Shaub, director of the OGE, sent a letter to the White House, calling that a "clear violation" of ethics rules. The letter was released Tuesday by Democrats on the House oversight committee.


Comment: That the Democrats are chiding anyone about ethics violations is laughable. This petty allegation is nothing compared to what Clinton and Obama did.

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Black Magic

Best of the Web: Hystericizing Westerners against Muslims: 'Mass sex assaults by refugees' in Frankfurt on New Year's Eve... never happened


RT
Wed, 15 Feb 2017 11:42 UTC
polish magazine rapefugees
Fake news: An example of the 'reporting' done by media outlets across Europe in the wake of 'mass rapefugee-gate' in Germany on New Year's Eve 2015.
Reports of mass sexual assaults on women in Frankfurt on New Year's Eve allegedly committed by dozens of drunken refugees, and which initially appeared in Germany's Bild newspaper, were made up and are "completely baseless," police said.

The story about mass sexual assaults by refugees in the Fressgass Street area in downtown Frankfurt was reported by Bild earlier in February. The article has since been taken down.

One of the victims, Irina A., 27, told Bild: "They [the migrants] grabbed me under the skirt, between my legs, my breasts, everywhere....More and more of these guys came. Their hands were everywhere," the Express said, quoting the original report.

Her words were supported by Jan Mai, a local pub owner, who said that a mob of Arabs was "highly aggressive, there was shouting and hand gestures."

"When I came in, the whole place was full with a group of around 50 Arabs. They did not speak German, drank our guests' drinks and danced towards them. The women asked me for help because they were being attacked. The mood changed completely," he told Bild, as cited by the Express.

It was claimed the migrants came from a refugee center in Hesse state, where Frankfurt is located, the Local said, citing the original report.

Comment: That first round of 'mass rape-fugee' in 2015 was likely also fake news:

Fact Check: Daily Express Publishes Fake Cologne Assault Video

Cologne sex assaults: Muslim rape myths fit a neo-Nazi agenda

The Truth About The New Years Eve Refugee Attacks On Women In Germany

Fake photos flood Internet after sexual assaults in Germany

Yes, assaults took place... and they've been taking place on an increasing basis in cities across the West for years. These assaults are being carried out NOT primarily by newly-arrived immigrants, but by nationals and longer-term residents of European countries (ie, by people already living in Europe's ghettos before the waves of arrivals after NATO destroyed Libya and Syria) - a fact that has everything to do with the West's internal economic, political and moral collapse, and little to do with 'outsiders coming for our wimmins'.

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Question

What Michael Flynn's resignation really means

Walter Russel Mead
The American Interest
Tue, 14 Feb 2017 00:00 UTC
Michael Flynn
© Carlos Barria / Reuters
Flynn was the wrong man for the job, but his resignation tells us less about insidious Russian schemes than the Trump Administration's flawed assumptions about Russia.

The resignation last night of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, following a controversy over his disputed pre-inauguration contacts with the Russian Ambassador, has sent an already anxious national media into overdrive. As insinuations of Russian blackmail, deliberate misleading of the public, and Logan Act violations fill the airwaves, it is important to take stock of what we do and don't know about Flynn's resignation—and what it might tell us about the Trump Administration's policy toward Russia.

First, it is not at all clear that this is a story of skeevy dealings with Russia laid bare by courageous leakers, nor does it substantiate the self-serving Democratic narrative that Putin, knowing he has incriminating evidence on Trump, cleverly engineered to throw the election to Trump. Nonetheless, that is how this is going to play among a certain group of Democrats, feeding the flames of moonbat moral certainty.

Comment: See also:

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