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Bad Guys

Washington blocks former Palestinian PM from leading UN mission in Libya


RT
Sat, 11 Feb 2017 18:30 UTC
The Palestinian and the UN flag
© Andrew Kelly / Reuters
Washington has blocked the appointment of former Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to lead the UN's political mission in Libya, while accusing the world body of being "unfairly biased" in favor of the Palestinian Authority.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley said that the Trump administration "was disappointed" by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' intention to appoint Salam Fayyad as the UN's next special representative to Libya, which was announced in a letter to the Security Council.

"For too long, the UN has been unfairly biased in favor of the Palestinian Authority to the detriment of our allies in Israel," Haley said, as quoted by AP.

Palestine is a non-member observer state at the United Nations, and its independence has been recognized by 137 of the 193 UN member nations so far. However, Haley noted that Washington doesn't recognize a Palestinian state "or support the signal" that Fayyad's appointment would send within the United Nations.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, UN diplomats told AP that Fayyad, a Texas-educated former International Monetary Fund official, is recognized for his efforts to reform Palestine. He served as the Palestinian Authority's prime minister from 2007-2013. Fourteen Security Council members have thrown their weight behind Fayyad's appointment to succeed Martin Kobler in the Libya job.
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Info

Russian 'Pentagon': RT unveils mysteries behind walls of MoD management center


RT
Fri, 03 Feb 2017 22:43 UTC
Russia’s state-of-the-art Defense Ministry Management Center
© Natalia Seliverstova / SputnikRussia’s state-of-the-art Defense Ministry Management Center
RT has been afforded exclusive access to Russia's state-of-the-art Defense Ministry Management Center which boasts a multistage check system, over 2,000 CCTV cameras, and a supercomputer capable of calculating military outcomes.

Foreign intelligence agents would relish getting into this impressive building on the Moscow river - the National Management Defense Center which control all the activities of Russia's Armed Forces.

"A biometric hand scans veins on your palm and the floor of the gates have a weighing platform," an officer explains.

Anything suspicious is certain to be picked up by nearly 2,000 cameras, while the perimeter bristles with sensors scanning for biological, chemical or radioactive contamination.

"The system tracks all mobile communications in the complex," Dmitry Litvinov, head of the Integrated Safety and Security Center, said.

Comment: More on Russia's supercomputer: Army's brain: Russia's 'colossal' supercomputer helps predict wars, defense minister says
A "colossally powerful" supercomputer installed at Russia's military headquarters helps the country's armed forces tackle emerging threats by analyzing previous conflicts, such as the Yugoslavian war and the like, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said.

The supercomputer is a key part of the headquarters' IT infrastructure and is so powerful that the military uses less than half of its capacity, Shoigu told Rossiya 24 TV channel, which filmed a documentary about Russia's National Defense Management Center (NDMC).

"It has open architecture - you can add or remove specific elements, build up, increase and expand its capacities, it has plenty of them," the minister said.

The center's supercomputer was designed to predict the development of current or future wars by analyzing the current security environment and drawing conclusions from past conflicts. It not only stores data on all major wars and conflicts, but also helps predict upcoming ones, Shoigu explained.

"Take the Yugoslavia war, for example. It was a large-scale NATO operation. Their naval buildup, missile deployments, locations and distances were all subject to the analysis," he went on.

"And, if the machine will tell us that this or that situation is 90 percent similar to what happened in Serbia, then we will know that this is likely to happen again, and take appropriate measures," Shoigu said.

The supercomputer has a storage capacity of 236 petabytes, or 236,000 terabytes, according to Rossiya 24. Shoigu told RIA Novosti in 2014 when the HQ was inaugurated that its storage capacity exceeds that of the Pentagon 19-fold.

He added that the giant machine can process "50 Russian State Libraries [worth of data] per second," referring to the country's largest library with its collection of over 17 million books, making it the fourth largest in the world.

The NDMC is the Russian military's highest command-and-control hub. According to open sources, it connects all army units, overseas facilities, and the General Staff into one ecosystem, while providing tremendous situational awareness for commanders.


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Colosseum

The West is failing: But why?

Andre Vltchek
CounterPunch
Fri, 10 Feb 2017 16:28 UTC
decline of west
© David Follett
Despite certain economic and social setbacks, the Western Empire is doing remarkably well. That is, if we measure success by the ability to control the world, to condition the brains of human beings on all continents, and to crush almost all substantial descent, at home and abroad.

What almost entirely disappeared from life, at least in such places like New York, London or Paris, is that simple human joy, which is so obvious and evident when it exists. Paradoxically, in the very centers of power, most people seem to be living anxious, unfulfilled, almost frightened lives.

It all somehow doesn't feel right. Shouldn't citizens of the conquering part of the world, of the victorious regime, be at least confident and optimistic?

Of course there are many reasons why they are not, and some of my comrades already outlined in details and in colorful language at least the main causes of depression and dissatisfaction with life, which are literally devouring alive those hundreds of millions of European and North American citizens.

The situation is mostly analyzed from socio-economic angle. However, I think that the most important causes for the present state of things are much simpler: the West and its colonies almost entirely destroyed the most essential human instincts: people's ability to dream, to feel passionate about things, to rebel and to 'get involved'.

Single-mindedness, optimism, naiveté are almost entirely gone. But those are exactly the qualities that used to move our human race forward!

Comment: While Mr. Vltchek's assessment of the current state of the Western psyche is accurate, his prescription for its cure seems equally unbalanced. Acting on pure feeling without rational reflection on the possible consequences can be just as disastrous, just in different ways. Look at the emotions the liberal left is indulging.

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Document

German court upholds censorship of notorious "anti-Erdogan" insult poem


RT
Fri, 10 Feb 2017 17:48 UTC
Erdogan
© Adem Altan / AFPTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
A German court upheld its ruling prohibiting comedian Jan Boehmermann from reciting the most explicit passages from his satirical "anti-Erdogan" poem that landed him in the middle of a diplomatic row last year.

A court in Hamburg announced its verdict on Friday, February 10 - almost a year after the row took place, local media report. Boehmermann presented the poem in March 2016 during his 'Neo Magazin Royale' TV show. The crude satire implied, among other things, that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan watches child pornography and has sex with animals.

The same court in Hamburg banned the republication of 18 out of 24 verses of the poem in May, finding them "abusive and defamatory" and thus unacceptable.

The recent verdict found that "artistic freedom is unconditional but not unbounded," adding however that a head of state "must accept heavy criticism, as freedom of expression arises from the special need to criticize power."

Comment: See also: Berlin Pirate Party's leader detained in Germany for citing poem about Erdogan

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Rocket

Russia makes a massive show of force in snap air drill

Richard Brandt
Russia Insider
Fri, 10 Feb 2017 16:18 UTC
Russian S-300
Russian S-300
Everyone agrees that tensions between NATO and Russia are at an all-time high. American soldiers are valiantly jogging through Latvian villages, as part of NATO's ingenious strategy of making Americans less fat.

Meanwhile, in Russia ...
Vladimir Putin ordered a snap air drill involving 45,000 troops who launched missiles at unidentified objects in the sky.

One hundred and fifty aircraft and 200 anti-aircraft units were also scrambled for the three-day exercise this week.
There's less than 10,000 NATO troops currently stationed across Russia's European frontier. We've been told that this force is supposed to guard Europe and democracy from the sinister Russian bear. Yeah right. It is, however, a rather rude provocation, and Russia has just reminded NATO (once again) that it's ready to tango.

Comment: It is highly unlikely that NATO would ever get into a hot war with Russia, but only because Russia has shown it's a military power to be reckoned with.

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Arrow Down

Ramping up the war on cash: Europe moves to begin elimination of paper money

Shaun Bradley
The Anti Media
Thu, 09 Feb 2017 16:31 UTC
burning euros
In the shadow of Donald Trump's spree of controversial actions, the European commission has quietly launched the next offensive in the war on cash. These unelected bureaucrats have boldly asserted their intention to crack down on paper transactions across the E.U. and solidify a trend that has been gaining momentum for years.

The financial uncertainty amplified by Brexit has incentivized governments throughout Europe to seize further control over their banking systems. France and Spain have already criminalized cash transactions above a certain limit, but now the commission has unilaterally established new regulations that will affect the entire union. The fear of physical money flowing out of the trade bloc has manifested a draconian response from the State.

The European Action Plan doesn't mention a specific dollar amount for restrictions, but as expected, their reasoning for the move is to thwart money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Border checks between countries have already been bolstered to help implement these new standards on hard assets. Although these end goals are plausible, there are other clear motivations for governments to target paper money that aren't as noble.

Comment: See also:

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Star of David

Netanyahu jockeys to be Trump's war broker in Middle East

Martin Jay
RT
Sat, 11 Feb 2017 16:25 UTC
Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu
© ReutersDonald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu
The Israeli Prime Minister's visit to President Trump is likely to be a starter's pistol for a new chapter in US foreign policy in the Middle East. He should drop his obsession with scrapping the so-called 'Iran Deal'.

The last time Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the US President, he was ushered into the White House through a back door. There's no chance of that happening on Wednesday when he meets Donald Trump and presents his arguments about what the chief ailments are in the region, who the culprits are and how to go about dealing with them.

There are no prizes for guessing who the usual suspects are, but some might note that post Syria war and the emergence of ISIS, positioning Israel's objectives perfectly with America is more challenging these days.

Previously, during Obama's time in office, those two prisms were certainly not perfectly aligned. With Trump now at the helm, however, both men can relax knowing ideologically they have more or less the same views on what was an amicable status quo in the region for decades when it came to US foreign policy: Israel the greatest friend, Saudi Arabia the greatest ally and Iran the enemy which threatens the entire region's stability.

And so it is unlikely that both men will disagree on any of the fundamentals, but more on the methodology on how to deal with them.
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Snakes in Suits

Poroshenko proudly boasts of 'new Ukrainian missile' in blockbuster-style video


Sputnik
Sat, 11 Feb 2017 16:09 UTC
Petro Poroshenko
© Sputnik/ Mikhail Voskresenskiy
Ukraine has successfully tested a new domestically made air-to-surface missile, President Petro Poroshenko proudly announced on Saturday. As it turned out, the much-touted missile happens to look and function very much like the S-5 missile developed back in Soviet times.

"I have good news. Ukroboronprom has developed a new missile for the Ukrainian Air Force. The 57-mm air-to-surface missile is designed for use by attack helicopters and warplanes," Poroshenko wrote on his Facebook page.

He also posted a video of the test during which the crew of a helicopter equipped with new engines and an onboard system of electronic jamming Adros successfully hit all their designated targets.

"The crew takes only a half second to fire its entire load of 20 missiles," Poroshenko happily elaborated.
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Rocket

India successfully tests interceptor ballistic missile


Sputnik
Sat, 11 Feb 2017 16:06 UTC
India interceptor missile test
© Youtube/OnlyFor Information
India conducted a successful test of a new interceptor missile as part of developing the country's new Ballistic Missile Defense system, local media reported on Saturday, citing a Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO) official.

The missile, called PDV interceptor, was launched from Abdul Kalam Island at approximately 7:45 a.m. local time (2:15 GMT), the PTI news agency said.

"PDV mission is for engaging the targets in the exo-atmosphere region at an altitude above 50 km [31 miles] of Earth's atmosphere. Both, the PDV interceptor and the two stage target missile, were successfully engaged," the unnamed official told the agency.

Comment: India is joining the missile testing party after Iran and the US.

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USA

Tom Price, vaccine skeptic, sworn in as Trump's Health Secretary

Andrew Buncombe
Independent
Fri, 10 Feb 2017 16:05 UTC
Tom Price
© Alex Wong/GettyU.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Nominee Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) testifies during his confirmation hearing January 17, 2017 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Price, a leading critic of the Affordable Care Act, is expected to face questions about his healthcare stock purchases before introducing legislation that would benefit the companies.
Tom Price - a man staunchly opposed to Obamacare and a skeptic over whether the government should force parents to vaccinate their children - has been sworn in as Donald Trump's Health Secretary

The Georgia Republican and orthopedic surgeon was confirmed 52-47 to oversee a department with a budget of more than $1 trillion.

Mr Price's confirmation was marked by no small controversy. He was questioned repeatedly by senators over his views about vaccinating children.

The congressman belongs to a group, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), which holds several unorthodox views and has described mandatory vaccination as "equivalent to human experimentation".

He was also dogged by questions about his trading in hundreds of thousands of dollars in health company stocks while working on healthcare legislation. Reuters said that Democrats boycotted the committee vote on his nomination, saying he had made misleading statements. Mr Price has said his actions were legal and ethical.

Comment: Trump taps anti-Obamacare Tom Price as secretary of Dept of Health and Human Services

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