Welcome to Sott.net
Fri, 15 Oct 2021
The World for People who Think

Puppet Masters
Map

Russian Flag

Major development: Russia adopts nuclear first strike policy

Joaquin Flores
Fort Russ News
Wed, 03 Jun 2020 00:00 UTC
Putin first strike option
Earlier in the week, Vladimir Putin amended the Fundamentals of State Policy of the Russian Federation in the Field of Nuclear Deterrence, by means of presidential decree. The decree sets out that Russia's nuclear deterrence policy is defensive in nature and is aimed at maintaining the potential of nuclear forces at a level sufficient for this. It also claims it guarantees protection of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. The decree alters official policy but comes more closely with the reality of the posture that has developed as a result of the US' policy since at least 2010.

The United States has refused to adopt a no first use policy and says that it "reserves the right to use" nuclear weapons first in the case of conflict. The US doctrine for the use of nuclear weapons was revised most recently in the Nuclear Posture Review, released April 6, 2010.

The language of the Russian decree drapes its first strike policy in the language of defense.

"The Russian Federation considers nuclear weapons exclusively as a means of deterrence, the use of which is an extreme and necessary measure, and is making all necessary efforts to reduce the nuclear threat and prevent aggravation of interstate relations that can provoke military conflicts, including nuclear ones," the document says.

Comment: Clearly, Russia has had enough of US stonewalling, belligerence, out right lying, covert and overt threats, and refusals to negotiate - and feels that this new policy may be the only one to effectively communicate that the nation refuses to be a victim of aggression.

"If the Americans don't want to talk, then we must speak in a language they understand," one imagines Putin saying.

See also:

      Read More...
Bad Guys

Judge Sullivan (well, his lawyer actually) finally responds to mandamus petition in Flynn case

Margot Cleveland
The Federalist
Wed, 03 Jun 2020 16:56 UTC
Judge Emmet Sullivan
© National Law Journal
Judge Emmet Sullivan
Judge Emmet Sullivan appeared as unofficial amicus curiae for the Resistance in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in the Michael Flynn criminal case yesterday.

Sullivan, who has presided over the Flynn case since December 2017, was ordered by the federal appellate court to respond to Flynn's previously filed petition for a writ of mandamus. Flynn sought the writ of mandamus after federal prosecutors moved to dismiss the criminal charge the special counsel's office had filed against him in late 2017.

Flynn originally pleaded guilty to the charge of lying to FBI agents about his December 2016 telephone conversations with the Russian ambassador. But after hiring new defense counsel, led by Sidney Powell, Flynn sought to withdraw his guilty plea.

Sullivan had yet to rule on Flynn's motion to withdraw his guilty plea when an outside review, conducted by Missouri-based U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen, uncovered evidence previously withheld from Flynn's defense team. That evidence established that the statements Flynn made to the FBI agents, even if false, were immaterial and thus not criminal. Accordingly, the then-acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia moved to dismiss the criminal charge.

Comment: It appears that Sullivan has gone straight to a fellow swamp creature for help. Ms. Wilkinson has quite the interesting resume. For starters, she has a heavy military background. She was part of the prosecution team for Timothy McVeigh, and also in Noriega's trial. She repped Cheryl Mills and other Clinton aide during the FBI probe. Oh, and she's married to a CNN 'analyst'. Doesn't get much swampier than that.

      Read More...
Attention

Libya's illegitimate minister of the interior accused of gouging out eye of prisoner

Steven Sahiounie
Mideast Discourse
Tue, 02 Jun 2020 16:57 UTC
Bashagha Al-Megrahi
Rajab Rahil Abdul-Fadhil Al-Megrahi has filed a complaint on May 31 before the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights accusing the Libyan Minister of Interior of the Government of National Accord (GNA), Fathi Bashagha, of gouging out his eye with a spoon while he was being held at the Mitiga prison in 2019.

Al-Megrahi appeared in a video on social media reading the statement he brought to the court.


He recalls in graphic detail his detention at the Mitiga prison near the airport in Tripoli during the summer of 2019. He states he endured systemic physical violence and torture, which included his eye being gouged out by Fathi Bashagha, while guards, the warden, and the head of RADA, Abdul Rauf Kara were present. Al-Megrahi is requesting the court investigate his claims and to hold to account those responsible for the torture and injury inflicted upon him.

Fathi Bashagha was appointed Minister of Interior of the GNA by Fayez al-Sarraj on October 7, 2018. Bashagha was a supporter of and involved in the 'Libya Dawn' operations, and is ethnically Turkish. The Islamist 'Libya Dawn' has been identified as terrorists by the elected parliament in Tobruk, and includes former al-Qaeda terrorists who fought against former Libyan leader Qaddafi in the nineties, and members of Libya's branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is a global political group following Radical Islam.

Libya's GNA leader Fayez al-Sarraj appears to have his hands tied by the Muslim Brotherhood, who have dominated Libya's Presidential Council. Sarraj has the direct backing of Turkey and support from many jihadist organizations in Libya. The Muslim Brotherhood's GNA was founded in 2015 under an UN-led political deal and had a two-year mandate which expired in 2017.
      Read More...
Chess

Russia invites US Defense Secretary Esper to Moscow military parade


RFE/RL
Wed, 03 Jun 2020 10:21 UTC
Mark Esper
© Olivier Doullery (AFP)
U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has invited U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper to a military parade in Moscow later this month, the Defense Ministry says.

The Russian ministry said Shoigu made the invitation during a telephone conversation on June 2, without saying whether Esper had accepted it.

The June 24 parade on Moscow's Red Square is to mark the 75th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Russia traditionally holds the parade on May 9, but the grand celebration was postponed over the coronavirus pandemic that is still triggering thousands of new infections each day.
      Read More...
HAL9000

Google faces $5 billion lawsuit in US for tracking 'private' internet use

Jonathan Stempel
Reuters
Wed, 03 Jun 2020 07:41 UTC
google spying
© RT
Google was sued on Tuesday in a proposed class action accusing the internet search company of illegally invading the privacy of millions of users by pervasively tracking their internet use through browsers set in "private" mode.

The lawsuit seeks at least $5 billion, accusing the Alphabet Inc unit of surreptitiously collecting information about what people view online and where they browse, despite their using what Google calls Incognito mode.

According to the complaint filed in the federal court in San Jose, California, Google gathers data through Google Analytics, Google Ad Manager and other applications and website plug-ins, including smartphone apps, regardless of whether users click on Google-supported ads.

This helps Google learn about users' friends, hobbies, favorite foods, shopping habits, and even the "most intimate and potentially embarrassing things" they search for online, the complaint said.

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
Red Flag

Are we about to see a Color Revolution in the US aiming to oust Trump?

Kit Knightly
Off Guardian
Tue, 02 Jun 2020 00:00 UTC
white house police
The familiar tropes are out in force, Trump may not weather this storm.

It started with peaceful protests. It always does. Oppressed, poor or otherwise desperate people take to the streets because they don't know what else to do. Because their neighbours are doing it. Because the world is unfair to so many people. Because attention should be paid.

The reasons don't matter. The peacefulness does.

Nobody who is marching for justice and change really wants to burn down a bakery or steal some trainers from a Nike store.

But then it starts happening.

Windows are broken. Bricks are thrown. Civilians are sprayed with mace. Bystanders are caught up in the throng. People get hurt.

It doesn't need to happen, but it does.

Sometimes police panic in the face of intimidating crowds. Sometimes protesters let their anger boil over. A small minority of people just enjoy violence and chaos. Others stand to benefit from it, they stoke conflict and spread blame.

Then the molotov cocktails are flying and the snipers are shooting people on both sides. There's blood in the streets and barricades are going up and the whole thing has its own momentum.
      Read More...
2 + 2 = 4

"The Federal Reserve did it" - Riots across America are about more than George Floyd

Tyler Durden
Zerohedge
Mon, 01 Jun 2020 12:50 UTC
its the economy stupid
As we detailed last night, what's happening to America right now: rioting, looting, pillaging, Americans fighting other Americans and while the media is spinning self-serving narratives that frame the bad guy as Trump, or China, or Russia, or this political party, or that, or some social movement, hides the truth that the culprit behind the upcoming collapse of the US is just one thing, the same one that Thomas Jefferson warned the brand new nation about more than two centuries ago:
"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. The issuing power of currency shall be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.

If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered."
And as RealInvestmentAdvice.com's Lance Roberts notes, while the murder of George Floyd was both unjust and tragic, his death was the catalyst that lit a powder keg of dissension, which has simmered beneath the headlines for over a decade.

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
Propaganda

UK gov docs reveal lockdown was political, not scientific


21st Century Wire
Mon, 01 Jun 2020 12:00 UTC
UK Column News
© UK Column News
Screenshot
An incredible discovery of UK government documents from SAGE science advisory committee reveals that Downing Street's decision to 'Lockdown' the country was in fact a political one, and little to do with "The Science" that government insists it's being guided by. Also, many are concerned about a spike in child abuse reports as a result of government lockdown policy. All this and more.

Co-hosts Brian Gerrish, Mike Robinson and David Scott with the latest Coronavirus updates. Watch:

Comment: Similar revelations were recently leaked in Denmark - but we can expect this was the case in most countries that implemented and sustained the provably unjustified lockdown: Leaked emails reveal Denmark's PM railroaded country's health authorities and deceived public over coronavirus to justify lockdown

      Read More...
Airplane

Maduro will visit Iran to sign energy agreements


RFE/RL
Tue, 02 Jun 2020 06:44 UTC
maduro
© Venezuelan Presidency/AFP
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says he will visit Iran shortly to sign cooperation agreements in energy and other sectors after Iran sent five fuel tankers to the South American country.

"I am obliged to go to personally thank the people," Maduro said on June 1 in an address broadcast on state television. He did not provide a date for his visit to the Islamic Republic.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Musavi said earlier that Tehran will continue to export fuel to Venezuela if the country requests more supplies.

Both Iran and Venezuela are under U.S. sanctions and Washington has sought to deter such shipments.

"Iran practices its free trade rights with Venezuela and we are ready to send more ships if Caracas demands more supplies from Iran," Musavi told a weekly news conference on June 1 that was broadcast live on state television.

Comment: Update for this article: All five Iranian gasoline tankers have successfully delivered their cargo to Venezuela.

See also:

      Read More...
Bad Guys

Violence against foreign journalists covering George Floyd protests draws scrutiny from US allies


CBS News
Tue, 02 Jun 2020 18:12 UTC
cnn journalist arrested
© CNN
Omar Jimenez is one of several journalists covering the riots
Australia is investigating a U.S. police attack on two Australian journalists outside the White House with a view to launching a formal complaint, the foreign minister said Tuesday. The reporter and her cameraman were covering a protest outside the White House — part of the groundswell of public anger over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.

"We have asked the Australian embassy in Washington D.C. to investigate this incident," Marise Payne said after the journalists were shoved, punched and hit with a baton live on television. "I want to get further advice on how we would go about registering Australia's strong concerns with the responsible local authorities in Washington."

Australia's 7News reporter Amelia Brace told her network that both she and her cameraman Tim Myers were left "pretty bruised, but okay" after their encounter with police in riot gear outside the White House.

Comment: RT reports on other journalists being harassed :
Nicole Roussell
© Sputnik / Nicole Roussell
Nicole Roussell, reporting for Sputnik on the George Floyd riots, was injured by a rubber bullet
The police shot a US journalist working for Russian news outlet Sputnik with "rubber bullets" as she was covering protests near the White House on Tuesday, the outlet has reported.

Nicole Roussell said she got caught up in police violence in Washington DC when officers deployed anti-riot weapons against the protesting crowd. "I ran closer to get footage of what was happening and the police quickly began shooting what I think were a combination of stinger grenades and rubber bullets," she said.

The police shot projectiles at her despite her wearing a press badge and identifying herself as a journalist, she added. Other journalists and protesters were treated the same way, Roussell said.



      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts