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Iran calls a spade a spade: 'NATO hasn't done anything about the drug trade in Afghanistan because they earn billions of dollars from it'


FarsNews
Wed, 27 Jul 2016 16:31 UTC
Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli
Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli
Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said the western states, specially the NATO members, have not made any major move to resolve the drug problem in Afghanistan as they earn tens of billions of dollars from drug trafficking.

"The Western countries earn $50bln to $60bln from drug trafficking, but Iran and Afghanistan should pay the price," Rahmani Fazli said, addressing the second day of a meeting of the governors of Iranian and Afghan border provinces in Tehran on Tuesday. He complained that the West has defied help to Tehran and Afghanistan in fighting drug trafficking, and said the westerners have for years been claiming efforts to replace opium cultivation with other agricultural products, but only in words and not in action.

"Production of drugs has increased in Afghanistan after the NATO deployment to the country," Rahmani Fazli said. He stressed Iran's preparedness to help Afghanistan in this regard. Pakistan and Afghanistan are two origins of producing and trafficking of various types of narcotic in the region. The anti-drug squads of the Iranian Law Enforcement Police have intensified their countrywide campaign against drug-trafficking through staging long-term systematic operations since 2010.

Comment: Drug trafficking in Afghanistan didn't increase from 185 tons a year to 8,200 tons by accident. Such an incredible rise of the drug trade takes some serious planning and management, and the world witnesses the fruits of such labor through the chaos spread by the Washington-based drug lords.

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Che Guevara

Catalonia to continue independence bid with or without Spain's consent


RT
Wed, 27 Jul 2016 16:39 UTC
catalonia spain independence separatist movement
© Albert Gea / ReutersPeople hold Catalan separatist flags known as "Esteladas" during a gathering to mark the Calatalonia day "Diada" in central Barcelona.
Catalonia says it is preparing to seek independence with or without Madrid's backing. The region's government says it would prefer to conduct cordial negotiations about a split, but that the lack of response from the Spanish capital is forcing its hand.

On Wednesday, the Catalan parliament supported the conclusions of a commission created to study the process of the region's secession from Spain, El Mundo reports. Among other things, the document stipulates a national referendum that is to decide the fate of Catalonia.

Those protesting against the vote included three members of the Parliament's Bureau, the governing body of the Catalan legislature, José María Espejo (Ciutadans), David Perez (PSC), and Joan Josep Nuet (CQP).

The vote, which goes against a recent constitutional court ruling, has been branded a "real blow to democracy" by the opposition groups.

Speaking exclusively to the Guardian, the president of Catalonia's parliament, Carme Forcadell, and foreign affairs minister Raul Romeva said the stance taken by Madrid has left the region with no other choice.

"The [Spanish state] has left us feeling that we just don't have an alternative," Romeva told the Guardian. "We have always said that we would have preferred a Scottish-type scenario, where we could negotiate with the state and hold a coordinated and democratic referendum. We keep talking to Madrid, but all we get back from them is an echo."
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Chess

Manipulating public perception: U.S. doubles propaganda efforts in desperate attempt to retain hegemony in Asia

Tony Cartalucci
New Eastern Outlook
Wed, 27 Jul 2016 00:00 UTC
Ploy Bunluesilp
Police Lt. Gen. Thitiraj Nhongharnpitak stands with Ploy Bunluesilp, wife of Andrew Marshall. Marshall and Ploy actively aid the US-backed dictator Thaksin Shinawatra and his violent “red shirt” movement.
As the US loses ground in Asia, between its failure to coerce states to adopt its Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, and its inability to garner greater support for its manufactured crisis in the South China Sea, it has doubled down on efforts to undermine and replace governments in the region it perceives as obstructive to its regional "primacy."

Paramount to this process of undermining and removing governments, is the targeting and manipulation of public perception. This has always been an essential ingredient for special interests throughout human history. Today, the sophistication through which this is done is unprecedented. While all nations do this to a certain extent, the West has, by far, the largest and widest range of activities dedicated to this purpose.

Policy and objectives set out by corporate-financier funded think tanks are translated into media headlines and campaigns carried out by everyone from large Western news networks to hired bloggers and lobbyists posing as independent third parties. Together, this concerted effort is meant to maximize perceived credibility, and can even take a non-news event, and turn it into a minor crisis.

Just such an example has been exposed, just days before a crucial referendum in Thailand regarding the Southeast Asia nation's new charter.

The new charter is meant to set the nation back on course after over a decade of political instability rooted in the rise and fall of US-backed billionaire, mass murderer, and convicted criminal Thaksin Shinawatra. Should the charter pass, it will deliver yet another blow to a political machine the US has invested heavily in for over a decade, and further contribute to the US' geopolitical retreat from the region as a whole.

Comment: The cracks in the facade of American "primacy over Asia" are beginning to show: Primacy over Asia: US 'pivot' turns to panic

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Mr. Potato

Obama says Russia may have leaked DNC emails to influence election


Radio Free Europe
Wed, 27 Jul 2016 16:16 UTC
obama Russia DNC leaks
© Carolos Barria/Agence France-PresseU.S. President Barack Obama said it is possible that Russia was behind a major leak of Democratic party e-mails last week and had the goal of influencing the U.S. presidential election.
"Anything is possible," Obama said in an interview with NBC News on July 26.

The leak of thousands of Democratic National Committee e-mails showing top party leaders favored Hillary Clinton's candidacy despite their vow to remain neutral in her primary contest with rival Bernie Sanders caused embarassment for Clinton only days before she was due to get the party's official nomination at a Philadelphia convention.

While the FBI is still investigating who hacked the Democratic committee e-mails and leaked them to Wikileaks, Obama said "I know that experts have attributed this to the Russians."

"What we do know is that the Russians hack our systems, not just government systems but private systems," he said.

"What the motives were in terms of the leaks, I can't say directly," he said, but "anything is possible," including it being an attempt by Russia to influence the U.S. election.

Obama pointed out that Clinton's Republican opponent in the White House race, Donald Trump, has "repeatedly expressed admiration for [Russian President] Vladimir Putin" and has said he wants to work more closely with Russia to solve global problems such as battling the Islamic State group.

"I'm basing this on what Trump himself has said, and I think Trump's gotten pretty favorable coverage back in Russia," Obama said.

Comment: Putin really is the all-purpose villain A saner view:

If Russians were really behind DNC email leak, Putin should get Pulitzer

And Putin's own opinion on the subject?



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Cheese

Normalizing relations: Moscow to consider lifting Turkish food embargo


RT
Wed, 27 Jul 2016 12:24 UTC
Turkey food
© Umit Bektas / Reuters
Russian officials will visit Turkey next week to discuss the return of agricultural products currently banned from the Russian market.

The exchange of delegations is scheduled for next week. Our agriculture officials will go to Turkey. We will hold consultations," said Deputy Economic Development Minister Aleksey Likhachev.

Russia is interested in exporting poultry and dairy products to Turkey, he said, adding that Turkish agriculture officials are also expected to come to Russia.
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Yoda

Erdogan owes his life to Putin, who prevented US-led coup in Turkey

Gorazd Velkovski
MINA
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 16:13 UTC
Erdogan y Putin
© Agence France-Presse
The Turkish coup was originally planned for August, when the Greek Government was 'scheduled' to enter a crisis and be itself couped. This way, the entire Balkan would have entered a critical phase, with an end result of installing puppet Governments subservient to the US and a new iron curtain between US controlled Europe and Russia.

There isn't a country that didn't know a coup was underway in Turkey (apparently with the exception of the Turks who were wondering why were there tanks on the Bosphorus bridge). The specific coup-date kept being moved and wasn't known, however CNN's Christiana Amanpour helped everyone narrow it down when she set up base in Ankara and Istanbul just two days before the coup.

The Pentagon has a special relationship with CNN, and typically lets them know when the US is coup-ing a nation, so they can set up camp and report live. CNN's Amanpour has managed to get herself banned from several countries; with good reason - when she shows up in a country, something terrible happens to that country. Turkey was no exception.

Russia, Iran, Syria.... were all aware of a US led coup in Turkey. For this purpose, official Moscow sent one of Putin's advisors to travel to Ankara. The trip was top secret, no one in Tehran, Damascus or even in Moscow was aware of it, only few select in Putin's inner circle.

Aleksandar Dugin was the man that was sent to Ankara to warn the Turkish leadership, but also to give them a massive list of people involved in the coup.
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Star of David

Israeli forces murder Hamas militant in overnight raid in response to killing of rabbi


RT
Wed, 27 Jul 2016 16:04 UTC
israeli idf raid
© IDFSpokesperson / Twitter
Israel's security forces say they have killed a Hamas militant deemed responsible for the murder of Rabbi Michael Mark in a drive-by shooting. The raid was carried out overnight near Hebron, while a further two militants were arrested.

The man killed was identified as Mohammad Al-Fakih, who Israel says is a member of Hamas' armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades. The operation was jointly carried out by the Shin Bet (Israel's security agency), the Israeli Defense Forces and the Israeli police as they targeted a house in the village of Surif, near Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

"During the raid, the terrorist opened fire on our forces," the IDF said in a statement cited by the Jerusalem Post. "In response, the forces returned fire, and launched a number of anti-tank missiles at the structure in which he had barricaded himself."

The IDF subsequently used a bulldozer to partly demolish the building. When the troops eventually entered the house, they found Al-Fakih dead. A Palestinian woman received light injuries during the gunfire and was taken to hospital.

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Pistol

Predictable: German "officials" call for change to constitution after Munich shooting; want military on streets, gun control

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
Tue, 26 Jul 2016 15:47 UTC
german constitution gun control
© Sven Hoppe/European Press Agency Armed German police on duty at the main railway station in central Munich, Germany on New Year's Eve, after officials reported an imminent terror threat to the city.
The bodies of the victims of Munich's recent mass shooting barely cold, German "authorities" and politicians have wasted no time in calling for more police state measures and the further clamp down on access to gun ownership in Germany.

Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Hermann is now pushing for going so far as to revise the German Constitution so that limits placed on using the military domestically can be removed, allowing the German military to be used inside Germany for "large-scale terrorist situations."

The limits on Germany's military were put in place after World War II and in response to Germany's experience with the Nazi regime with all its excesses, totalitarianism, violence, and genocide.

Hermann stated that Germany is "an absolutely stable democracy" and, as such, Germans should be perfectly fine with having their military deployed on German streets.

Baden-Wurttemberg's Interior Minister also hinted at the possibility of changing the German Constitution in a manner similar to Hermann.

Social Democrats and Greens have criticized the statements as opportunism.
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Eye 2

George Soros returns to funding Killary in effort to defeat Trump

Kenneth P. Vogel
Politico
Wed, 27 Jul 2016 15:48 UTC
Izvještaj tajnih službi: U Mađarskoj Soroš manipuliše javnim mnjenjem
George Soros is back.

The billionaire investor, who scaled back his political giving after a then-unprecedented $27 million spending spree to try to defeat George Bush in 2004, has quietly reemerged as a leading funder of Democratic politics — and as a leading bogeyman of conservatives.

Soros has donated or committed more than $25 million to boost Hillary Clinton and other Democratic candidates and causes, according to Federal Election Commission records and interviews with his associates and Democratic fundraising operatives. And some of his associates say they expect Soros, who amassed a fortune estimated at $24.9 billion through risky currency trades, to give even more as Election Day nears.

The 85-year-old Hungarian-born New Yorker had planned to attend his first-ever Democratic convention here to watch Clinton, with whom he has a 25-year relationship, accept the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday. But an associate said he decided to cancel the trip this week because Soros, who recently returned to active trading, felt he needed to closely monitor the economic situation in Europe.

Nonetheless, people close to Soros say he seems more politically engaged than he's been in years, motivated they say by a combination of faith in Clinton and fear of her GOP rival Donald Trump, who Soros has accused of "doing the work of ISIS" by stoking fears.
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Info

Chinese troops in Indian State of Uttarakhand


Sputnik
Wed, 27 Jul 2016 15:42 UTC
Chinese troops
© AFP 2016/ AAMIR QURESHI
Chinese troops entered the state of Uttarakhand last week, the government confirmed on Wednesday.

The area where the incursion took place is a demilitarized international stretch of 80 sq km in Barahoti, part of the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. The grazing area is claimed both by India and China and shepherds from both the sides are allowed to enter the area.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat said he had flagged the matter with the central government after the incursion was reported.

Comment: Raising the tension: India moves nearly one hundred tanks and troops to Chinese border

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