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Attention

New docs implicate CIA in Hammarskjold assassination, UN to initiate new probe

Colum Lynch
Foreign Policy
Mon, 01 Aug 2016 11:59 UTC
hammarskjold
Dag Hammarskjold
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki­-moon will propose reopening an inquiry into allegations that Dag Hammarskjold, one of the most revered secretaries-general in the organization's history, was assassinated by an apartheid-era South African paramilitary organization that was backed by the CIA, British intelligence, and a Belgian mining company, according to several officials familiar with the case.

The move follows the South African government's recent discovery of decades old intelligence documents detailing the alleged plot, dubbed Operation Celeste, that was designed to kill Hammarskjold. In a recent letter to the United Nations, South African authorities said the documents have been transferred to their Justice Ministry so U.N. officials could review them, according to diplomatic sources. The South African Mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment. The CIA has previously dismissed allegations that it was behind Hammarskjold's death as "absurd and without foundation."

This new information (the discovery of which has not previously been reported) is surfacing more than a year after a U.N. panel of experts, chaired by Tanzanian Chief Justice Mohamed Chande Othman, wrapped up a wide-ranging review of fresh evidence that had emerged in the years following the mysterious 55-­year-old air tragedy. The panel urged the secretary-general, ­­who is already required by a 1962 General Assembly resolution to report on any new evidence shedding light on Hammarskjold's death, to keep pressing governments and their intelligence agencies to disclose or declassify information that could fill gaps in the evidence surrounding the tragedy.

Comment: See also our interview with Henning Melber, who was part of the Hammarskjold Commission: The Truth Perspective: Interview with Henning Melber: Dag Hammarskjold, why he died and why it matters

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Info

Amnesty International says refugee deal with Libya 'dangerous' as there's no effective government in Tripoli


RT
Wed, 03 Aug 2016 13:43 UTC
Refugees in capsizing boat
© Reuters
Europe cannot strike a refugee deal with Libya, as recommended by Britain's Home Affairs Committee, because authorities in Tripoli do not have coherent control over the country, Amnesty International says.

The Home Affairs Committee report published on Wednesday calls for an EU deal to be struck with Libya to clamp down on people-smuggling across the Mediterranean Sea.

"An EU deal with Libya to tackle people smuggling is very dangerous and fails to address the absence of any effective government with which to deal," Amnesty warned, however.
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Stock Up

Accelerated agricultural & manufacturing growth reveal a stronger Russian economy

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Wed, 03 Aug 2016 12:51 UTC
russian economy
© Sputnik/Anton Denisov
Economic figures from Rosstat and Central Bank point to easing inflation and strengthening recovery.

According to Rosstat (the Russian government's statistical agency) industrial production was 1.7% higher in June 2016 than in June 2015 - above most forecasters' expectations. Importantly manufacturing production grew for the third successive month, increasing by 1.6% in June as against 0.6% in April and 0.3% in May. The Central Bank now estimates the level of GDP decline in the second quarter (April to June) at just 0.2 - 0.4%.

Meanwhile food production continues to accelerate rapidly, with predictions of bumper food output this year and Russia's Agricultural Ministry saying Russian farmers will have replaced all food imports and will be supplying the country with 100% of its food products within just 10 years.

The sharp rise in inflation many predicted for June and July failed to take place. Where there were concerns that inflation might rise to an annualised rate above 8% it actually fell to an annualised rate of 7.2% at the end of July. There is now general agreement that there is likely to be slight deflation in August. The Central Bank is revising down its expectations for inflation this year and next year. Whereas earlier in the year it was predicting that annualised inflation would fall to 5% by the second quarter of 2017, it now expects it to be below this figure. It still expects to reach its 4% target by the end of 2017.

Comment: Further reading: Assessing Russia's economic Achilles heel

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Info

Russian foreign ministry rules out any offensive on Syria's Aleppo despite Washington's claims


Sputnik
Wed, 03 Aug 2016 13:29 UTC
Russian humanitarian aid to Syria
© Sputnik/ Ali Abrahim
Russia's deputy foreign minister ruled out any plans Moscow's offensive on the Syrian city of Aleppo and underscored that Russia's goal in the region was confined to conducting a humanitarian operation only.

Russia has no intentions of launching an offensive on Syria's Aleppo and is carrying out a purely humanitarian operation, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Wednesday.

"There are no plans of an offensive in Aleppo neither by Syrian forces, nor through airstrikes by the Russian Aerospace Forces," Ryabkov told reporters. "Absolutely false and harmful interpretations of our actions are voiced by certain circles in Washington."

"We repeat again that we have no goals other than solving humanitarian problems faced by the residents of Aleppo and creating conditions to extend the ceasefire regime," he underlined.
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Wall Street

Think tank warns UK 'sailing blindly' into financial meltdown bigger than 2008


RT
Wed, 03 Aug 2016 13:16 UTC
Canary Wharf financial financial district in London
© Reinhard Krause / ReutersCanary Wharf financial financial district in London
Britain is heading for financial crisis worse than the 2008 collapse and the Bank of England (BoE) is "asleep at the wheel," a think tank has warned.

A devastating report by the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) has blasted the BoE's stress tests - which are meant to check the resilience of a bank to economic shocks - as being like "a ship radar system that cannot detect an iceberg."

The report's author, Durham University professor of finance and economics Kevin Dowd, said every single UK bank would fail "more rigorous" stress tests used by the US Federal Reserve.

He predicts Britain is sleepwalking into a second global financial crisis which will be even bigger than the last one.
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Eye 1

Chinese defense minister calls on country to prepare for possible war over tensions in South China Sea


RT
Wed, 03 Aug 2016 13:00 UTC
Chinese Navy
© AFP 2015/ POOL / Guang Niu
The Chinese defense minister has warned the tense situation in the South China Sea poses the threat of a direct confrontation and has called on the military, police and general population to be ready to defend the country's territorial integrity.

Chang Wanquan made the statement while inspecting military installations in China's eastern coastal Zhejiang Province, state news agency Xinhua reported, without giving the timing of the comments.

The seriousness of the national security situation should be recognized, particularly when it comes to threats posed at sea, Chang said.

The Chinese military, law enforcement and citizens must be ready for mobilization in the event of a "people's war at sea,"he added.

The general public should be educated about national defense issues because national sovereignty and territorial integrity are at risk, according to the minister.

Comment: Further reading:

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Road Cone

Let's get the facts first: Russia abstains from accusations of chemical weapon use in Syria unlike US


Sputnik
Wed, 03 Aug 2016 13:11 UTC
Aleppo shelling
© Sputnik/ Mikhail Voskresenskiy
Russia, unlike the United States, abstains from accusing states of using chemical weapons in the Syrian city of Aleppo in the absence of facts, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Wednesday.

"Unlike the US administration - which received a primary signal from a perhaps non-neutral source that yet more barrel bombs with chemicals have been dropped and is already attempting to generalize and make far-reaching conclusions - we refrain from this. We do not know what had happened there really," Ryabkov.

A source in the local people's militia told RIA Novosti on Tuesday that terrorists shelled Aleppo's Old City district with munitions filled with poisonous gas, killing five civilians.
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Dollars

White House caught secretly airlifting $1.7 billion cash to Tehran to ensure Iran nuclear accord success

Tyler Durden
Zerohedge
Wed, 03 Aug 2016 12:39 UTC
John Kerry
What Donald Trump has proclaimed the worst deal ever made, may just have become worst-er. The shocking truth behind the US-Iran nuclear deal, as WSJ reports, is that John Kerry and the Obama Administration airlifted $1.7bn of cash in 'compromise' payments (read - bribe) to Tehran to ensure the release of 4 captured sailors coincidentally the same weekend as the signing of the nuclear deal.

With all the chatter of helicopter money as solution to the western world's economic ills,The Wall Street Journal's Jay Solomon and Carol Lee expose, it appears The Obama Administration is already busily dropping cash where ever it needs things done in a hurry...
Wooden pallets stacked with euros, Swiss francs and other currencies were flown into Iran on an unmarked cargo plane, according to these officials. The U.S. procured the money from the central banks of the Netherlands and Switzerland, they said.

The money represented the first installment of a $1.7 billion settlement the Obama administration reached with Iran to resolve a decades-old dispute over a failed arms deal signed just before the 1979 fall of Iran's last monarch, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

The settlement, which resolved claims before an international tribunal in The Hague, also coincided with the formal implementation that same weekend of the landmark nuclear agreement reached between Tehran, the U.S. and other global powers the summer before.

"With the nuclear deal done, prisoners released, the time was right to resolve this dispute as well," President Barack Obama said at the White House on Jan. 17—without disclosing the $400 million cash payment.
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Info

French deputy remarks Crimean Tatars are better off in Crimea than Russians in the Baltics, totally owns Ukrainian 'journalist' during Q&A


Fort Russ
Tue, 02 Aug 2016 12:27 UTC
Thierry Mariani
Topwar.ru

The net continues to buzz about yesterday's press conference of the members of the French parliament visiting Crimea. In the beginning of the press conference, the head of French delegation Thierry Mariani said that it is imperative to inform the Western community that the life of Crimeans is not those horror stories, painted by numerous European and American publications, and that the vast majority of Crimeans are happy, having made a choice in favor of Russia.

When talking about the situation of Crimean Tatars in Crimea, which the Western press, referring to some anti-Russian ideologues, calls "disappointing," a member of the French delegation said the following:
The situation of Crimean Tatars in Crimea is much better than, for example, the situation of Russians in the Baltic States.
At the same time Thierry Mariani noted that the Baltic countries are part of the European Union, where human rights should be a priority.
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Folder

Documents linking Britain to Israel's nuclear weapons go missing from National Archive


RT
Wed, 03 Aug 2016 12:16 UTC
Office file cabinets
© Olivia Harris / Reuters
Official documents on Britain's relationship with Israel, including papers on "military and nuclear collaboration" in the 1970s, have disappeared from the National Archives in the last four years.

More than 400 records have gone missing from the repository in Kew, southwest London, including a 1947 letter from Winston Churchill and a Home Office document on the 1910 Suffragettes "disturbances."

The Archives reassured the public it is following a "robust" plan to find the lost files.

The loss of the documents was uncovered following a BBC freedom of information (FoI) request, which found the last recorded knowledge of the 402 historical dossiers was January 2012.
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