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© AlamyPoles apart: in 2013, the year scientists had forecast that the Arctic would be 'ice free’, its thickness increased by a third.
Last week I mentioned that the Prince of Wales had sent a message to this conference calling for the UN's forthcoming climate meeting in Paris to agree on "a Magna Carta for the Earth". But only a series of startling posts by a sharp-eyed Canadian blogger, Donna Laframboise (on Nofrakkingconsensus), have alerted us to what a bizarre event this judicial gathering turned out to be (the organisers even refused to give her the names of those who attended).
Including senior judges and lawyers from across the world, the three-day conference on "Climate Change and the Law" was staged in London's Supreme Court. It was funded, inter alia, by the Supreme Court itself, the UK government and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
As one of the two UN sponsors of its Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, UNEP has been one of the main drivers of alarm over global warming for 40 years. The organiser and chairman of the conference was the Supreme Court judge Lord Carnwath, a fervent believer in man-made climate change, who has worked with the Prince of Wales for more than 20 years, and with UNEP since 2002.
White washing war crimes in Palestine: U.S. press favors coverage granting Israelis all the humanity
© Carlos Latuff
For instance, USA Today has a grotesque account of a Glock-bearing settler that portrays her as a pioneer confronting savagery ("Glocker mom") and leaves out the military occupation she lives inside, entirely.
As violent clashes erupted throughout Israel and Palestinian territories, Aviva Yisraeli decided to carry a handgun while commuting from her home in the West Bank settlement of Tekoa to a weekly course in Jerusalem. "I feel that it's important for us to do everything in our power to protect ourselves," said the mother of four, adding that she refuses to be a "sitting duck."Reporter Shira Rubin repeatedly speaks about "Arab" violence:
The Israeli government announced new policies to contain Arab violence..Did the Jim Crow South or the Algerian colonial-settlers ever get such a fair shake from the establishment press?
But Yisraeli and many neighbors said tougher security measures have done little to deter Palestinian assailants....
"The Arabs have absolutely no fear from our army ....but when I started carrying our gun, I realized that they do have fear from the civilian response," she said. "As they say, it's better to visit you in jail than at the graveyard."..
Yagil Henken, a military historian at the Israeli Defense Forces college whose brother was killed in a West Bank shooting on Oct. 1, said he carries a gun to assuage his "paranoia," but his West Bank community is still maintaining a calm resolve.
Remember, it was Hillary Clinton, along with her State Department staff such as Susan Rice and Victoria Nuland who were out in front building up the case for war against Libya, a "UN Resolution," and support for the terrorists attempting to overthrow the Libyan leader.
In fact, in an article entitled "Hillary's War: How Conviction Replaced Skepticism In Libya Intervention," the Washington Post's Joby Warrick describes how Clinton provided yeomen's service in the effort to build an "international coalition" against Libya and Ghaddafi and how she worked overtime to see to it that the nation with the highest living standards in Africa was reduced to a burning desert of rubble and savagery.[1]
Comment:
© sputniknews.comThe war in Yemen has a broad financial impact as costs rise.
Such an estimate would mean that Saudi Arabia has spent around $1.2 billion on bombings so far, the same sum sold off since May, not including the cost of the ground invasion. It is possible that the sell-off is linked to the Yemen incursion as it was an unplanned expense for Saudi Arabia, unlike its oil price projections and other expenditures including arming Syrian rebels.
Comment: Despite a record budget deficit caused by low oil prices, Saudi Arabia can easily afford its military intervention in Yemen and cost is unlikely to limit the duration or scale of its operations, military analysts believe.
"Saudi Arabia is forced to spend big on defense and support of its allies in the region. It purchases a lot of armaments from the US and cannot ignore the threat coming from Shiite Iran," Russian State Humanities University Middle East Department professor Grigoriy Kosach told RBK.
Comment: So, the Saudis have a cash flow problem, oil is down to about $50/barrel, and they need to tap their reserves by cashing out their European stocks to "fund war obligations." According to Bloomberg, the kingdom's foreign holdings fell for the seventh month in a row to the lowest since February 2013 and the biggest sell-off since 2007 ($740B to $654.5B). Perhaps they are making a savvy financial decision, based on assessments of the deteriorating market signs in Europe, within the overall context of an imminent global debt crisis. A Gulf States shuffle of assets will have a major market impact and flash a signal to global investors. Not only are the Saudis selling out, the UAE is running down its reserves and withdrawing deposits from banks...ramifications we should all think about.
Putin at investment forum hosted by Russian investment bank VTB Capital.
"Let me be clear, we are not going to get into leadership (debates about Syria). There is only one leader in Syria, which is the Syria people," Putin said, answering a question from CNBC at the "Russia Calling" investment forum hosted by Russian investment bank VTB Capital.
"What we're trying to achieve is to contribute to is the fight against terrorism, which is a threat both to the U.S., to Russia, to European countries and the whole world," he said.
Comment: Even if the coverage from American media outlet CNBC is rather lacking in context, it is still interesting to see and watch how it is now compelled to ask some questions relating to Russia's involvement in Syria and the U.S.'s position. Because of stories like these, it is becoming increasingly more apparent to the dumbed-down media-afflicted populace that the war on terror is, in fact, a sham of the first order.
See also: Western media acknowledges Russia hit 86 terrorist targets in Syria in past 24 hours
French President François Hollande following in the footsteps of U.S. 'kill lists'
Last Thursday night at 11 p.m. a group of two French Rafale fighter aircraft descended on an ISIS training camp five kilometers southwest of Raqqa, the capital of the IS-controlled area of Syria. The French youth were allegedly training in the camp alongside over 100 other foreigners. The planes dropped seven 250-kilogram, GPS-guided smart bombs on the camp, in the latest French raid on ISIS training camps since a raid on another camp near Deir Ezzor on 27 September.
Comment: From facilitating the Charle Hebdo killings and anti-Islamic policies, to not delivering on its sale of Mistral ships to Russia, to anti-Russia sanctions, to ratcheting up its insistence that Russia target ISIL in Syria only, and now this - it seems the French have been following the U.S.'s Imperial dictates much, ultimately, to its own detriment.
© Reuters/Hosam Katan A vendor stands near his fast food shop amid rubbles in Aleppo, Syria October 13, 2015.
The offensive would expand on a ground attack launched by the same alliance last week that is targeting rebels in Hama province further west. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said thousands of Iranian troops had arrived to take part in the ground offensives in support of President Bashar al-Assad.
A big government offensive in the area near the Turkish border is likely to further anger NATO member Ankara, which has backed insurgents fighting Assad and has already expressed deep concern over Russian air strikes that have targeted them.
Comment: Russia does nothing on impulse. They've already calculated Turkey's reactions. The fact that Russia is going ahead means they aren't concerned.
Control of Aleppo city and the surrounding province is divided among the Syrian government, a range of insurgent groups fighting Assad, and the Islamic State group that controls some rural areas near the city.
Comment: So much for the 'moderate rebels' united in their goal of removing Assad.
© Steve Nease
When Americans start turning their heads away from train wrecks like Donald Trump or Sarah Palin and ask what's "going on up in Canada?" it might be a sign we've got an image problem.
Here are 7 international news stories that underline just how far off course Stephen Harper's divisive rhetoric has taken all of us:
© Vladimir Fedorenko / RIA Novosti Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during the Government Hour at a State Duma plenary session.
"We have proposed to Americans what President Vladimir Putin informed the public about yesterday, namely, to send a delegation of military experts to Moscow to agree on a whole number of joint steps, afterwards we would be ready to send a high delegation led by Prime Minister Medvedev to Washington," Lavrov told the Russian Parliament on Thursday.
"Today we were told that they will not be able to send a delegation to Moscow. At the same time, they are unable to receive our delegation in Washington," he added. The top Russian diplomat also said that when Moscow invited partners to join the Baghdad-based anti-terrorism center it got an unconstructive response.
"We invited our other partners to take part in activities of the information center so that everyone could see the full picture, so that everyone is on the same page to avoid any misunderstanding. The response was unconstructive. They said why in Iraq? It is not safe there. We explained that according to our estimates, this center can operate in quite favorable conditions. But if there is a wish to coordinate actions in some other place, we are ready for this," Lavrov said.
Comment: In 2003 the Bush administration said the 'cakewalk war' in Iraq would last six weeks. 12 years has passed since then and the US has still not been able to make Iraq safe for a meeting? It speaks volumes about the Empire's real goal: US engineering and support of terrorism.
Comment: The truth about Israel is most unwelcome in your mainstream news sources. Independent media, journalists and alternative news sites have come a long way in countering the lies of Israeli and offering a more truthful perspective. Social media like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook are a second form of 'independent journalism' we can all be a part of. Israel will continue to lose the propaganda war as long as we continue to share the truth any way we can.
Tired of the lies: Over half of US citizens interested in ditching mainstream media for alternative news sources