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Fake news fail: 'Executed' North Korean diplomat is seen alive with leader at theater performance

Kim Hyok Chol

Kim Hyok Chol, North Korea's special representative for US affairs, leaves the Government Guesthouse in Hanoi on February 23.
The North Korean diplomat who South Korea's largest newspaper said had been executed by firing squad is alive and in state custody, according to several sources familiar with the situation.

North Korea's special envoy to the United States, Kim Hyok Chol, is being investigated for his role in the failed Hanoi summit that took place between United States President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in February, the sources said.


Comment: It's likely that Kim Jong Un was well aware that the US intended for the summit to fail: How Trump sabotaged the North Korea summit to appease the hawks and lied about Kim's terms


That meeting, the second between the two leaders, ended abruptly without the two sides reaching a deal.

Kim Jong Un's translator in Hanoi, Sin Hye Yong, also is in custody and under investigation, sources said.

Pirates

Venezuela's gold seized by Deutsche Bank following second default

Maduro
© Carlos Becerra/Bloomberg
Nicolas Maduro with gold ingots in Caracas.
Venezuela has defaulted on a gold swap agreement valued at $750 million with Deutsche Bank AG, prompting the lender to take control of the precious metal used as collateral and close out the contract, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

As part of a financing agreement signed in 2016, Venezuela received a cash loan from Deutsche Bank and put up 20 tons of gold as collateral. The agreement, which was set to expire in 2021, was settled early due to missed interest payments, said the people, who asked not to be named speaking about a private matter.

In the meantime, opposition leader Juan Guaido's parallel government has asked the bank to deposit $120 million into an account outside President Nicolas Maduro's reach, which represents the difference in price from when the gold was acquired to current levels. As part of efforts to unseat Maduro, the U.S. and more than 50 countries have recognized Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela even though he still doesn't control key institutions at home, including the central bank.

Comment: Obviously Venezuela is struggling to manage its finances when, by all accounts, it's under a "medieval siege" by the US and its lackeys, with the expressed intent to overthrow the legitimate government and plunder the country for all its worth. Unlike the hawks and vultures in the West, some countries and businesses, like those of Russia and China, are doing their utmost to help Venezuela and its citizens: Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: US Regime Change Operation in Venezuela - This Time It's Legit?


Bad Guys

Israel Intel Chief: Nuclear deal or not, Iran under 'too much pressure' to obtain nuclear weaponry

Iran nuclear bomb
© AFP 2019 / HO / IRANIAN PRESIDENCY
On 8 May, Tehran announced that it would partially discontinue its obligations under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, giving European signatories 60 days to ensure that Iran's interests are protected under the agreement. This was reportedly followed by a drastic increase in Iran's uranium enrichment rate.

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Tamir Heiman has alleged that Tehran may fail to obtain a nuclear weapon even if the Islamic Republic exits from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal amid US pressure.

"Iran is under unprecedented pressure from every direction by US sanctions", Heiman told reporters at the Israel Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Centre in Tel Aviv.

Binoculars

The recent Bilderberg group meeting and the reason Trump now wants talks with Iran

Strait of Hormuz
© AFP / Atta Kenare
Iranian soldiers take part in National Persian Gulf Day in the Strait of Hormuz on April 30, 2019. There is concern about a blockade of the Strait and the disastrous impact that could have on the price of oil and world financial markets.
If Tehran blocks the Strait of Hormuz it could send the price of oil soaring and cause a global recession

Unlike Deep Purple's legendary 'Smoke on the Water' - "We all came out to Montreux, on the Lake Geneva shoreline", the 67th Bilderberg group meetings produced no fire and no smoke at the luxurious Fairmont Le Montreux Palace Hotel.

The 130 elite guests had a jolly good - and theoretically quiet - time at the self-billed "informal discussion forum concerning major issues". As usual, at least two-thirds were European decision-makers, with the rest coming from North America.

The fact that a few major players in this Atlanticist Valhalla are closely associated with or directly interfering with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel - the central bank of central banks - is of course just a minor detail.


Comment: The BIS is the same shady group that dictates monetary and banking policy for much of the Western world and beyond:

A revolution in world economies is underway thanks to the Bank for International Settlements' 'Basel III' policy


The major issue discussed this year was "A Stable Strategic Order", a lofty endeavor that can be interpreted either as the making of a New World Order or just a benign effort by selfless elites to guide mankind to enlightenment.

Other items of discussion were way more pragmatic - from "The Future of Capitalism", to "Russia", "China", "Weaponizing Social Media", "Brexit", "What's Next for Europe", "Ethics of Artificial Intelligence" and last but not least, "Climate Change".

Bad Guys

Xi meets with Putin in Moscow to salvage world broken by United States

Putin Xi
© Reuters / Kenzaburo Fukuhara
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend the Tsinghua University’s ceremony at Friendship Palace in Beijing, China April 26, 2019.
There are a lot of common causes on the table for the leaders of Russia and China as they meet in the Russian capital. The visit coincides with the 70th anniversary of Beijing opening diplomatic relations with Moscow.

China and Russia "have strong political mutual trust and support each other firmly on issues concerning each other's core interests and major concerns," Xi said ahead of his trip. On the international stage, the two nations have worked hand-in-hand to end the conflict in Syria, draft and preserve the nuclear deal with Iran, and end the standoff on the Korean Peninsula. All of these issues will likely be on the agenda during the meeting at the Kremlin on Wednesday.

While in Moscow, the Chinese leader will also attend a performance at the Bolshoi theatre. He will then travel to St. Petersburg for the International Economic Forum.

Snakes in Suits

Looks like Christopher Steele has cut a deal and will turn state's evidence on Russia Hoax prosecutions

Christopher Steele
© PA Archive/PA Images
I don't think it is a coincidence that just as President Trump is in the U.K., we suddenly learn that "dossier" author Christopher Steele has agreed to be questioned by U.S. authorities. Chuck Ross of The Daily Caller reports:
Former British spy Christopher Steele has agreed to meet in London with U.S. officials regarding the dossier, The Times of London is reporting.
A source close to Steele told the newspaper he plans to meet with American authorities within the next several weeks, but only about his interactions with the FBI and only with the approval of the British government.

Steele's decision is an apparent about-face from his reported refusal to meet with U.S. investigators regarding his infamous report.

Reuters reported in May that Steele was unwilling to meet with a federal prosecutor who Attorney General William Barr tapped to lead an investigation into the origins of the Russia probe. And Politico reported on April 17 that Steele was refusing to meet with the Justice Department's office of the inspector general, which is looking into the FBI's use of the dossier to obtain surveillance warrants against Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser.

Megaphone

America's persecution of Julian Assange has everything to do with Yemen

wikileaks yemen
I was in Kabul a decade ago when WikiLeaks released a massive tranche of US government documents about the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen. On the day of the release, I was arranging by phone to meet an American official for an unattributable briefing. I told him in the course of our conversation what I had just learned from the news wires.

He was intensely interested and asked me what was known about the degree of classification of the files. When I told him, he said in a relieved tone: "No real secrets, then."

When we met later in my hotel I asked him why he was so dismissive of the revelations that were causing such uproar in the world.

He explained that the US government was not so naive that it did not realise that making these documents available to such a wide range of civilian and military officials meant that they were likely to leak. Any information really damaging to US security had been weeded out.

Comment: See also:


Chalkboard

US-Iran: An inversion of reality, with the possibility of real war

tanks in middle east
In its march toward yet another war, the United States accuses Iran of using military force to establish itself as a "regional hegemon." It accuses Iran of being the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. It accuses Iran of aiding rebels in Yemen, the government in Syria, and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

But what the United States leaves out about Iran is just as important as what it accuses Iran of.

Familiar Lies

For one, the Middle East already has a regional hegemon - the United States. Even the wildest accusations against Iran regarding state sponsored terrorism pale in comparison to Al Qaeda and the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) whose terrorism spans the globe, including standing armies operating in Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan - several of which Iran itself is specifically fighting.

The US also supports terrorist organizations within Iran including the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK). MEK enjoys the support of National Security Adviser John Bolton - who lobbied for them for years while they were listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the US State Department itself.

Thus, Iran finds itself involved in Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon precisely to stave off openly declared intentions by the US to include Iran next under its already expansive hegemony over the Middle East.

Vader

News Corp journalist gets home raided by Australian Federal Police in 'dangerous act of intimidation'

Annika Smethurst

Annika Smethurst's home was raided by AFP
Police have raided the home of a News Corp journalist in what the media company has called a "dangerous act of intimidation" after she reported on a top secret government proposal to give Australia's cyber spies unprecedented powers.

Australian Federal Police officers presented Annika Smethurst, the national political editor of News Corp's Sunday tabloids, with a search warrant on Tuesday morning.

The warrant granted officers authority to access her home, computer and mobile phone.

The actions are in connection to a story published in April 2018 which revealed internal government discussions about introducing new powers for electronic intelligence agency the Australian Signals Directorate.

News Corp's report included details from a top secret internal document proposing new abilities to "proactively disrupt and covertly remove" onshore threats by "hacking into critical ­infrastructure".

The federal police confirmed the execution of a search warrant on Tuesday as part of an "investigation into the alleged unauthorised disclosure of national security information".

Comment: It would appear that Australia's tendency towards a Western-style police state has just given itself the signal to ramp things up Big Time because the AFP has been on something of a rampage lately. Don't miss:

Latest assault on press freedom : Federal Police raid ABC offices in Sydney, Australia with sweeping search warrent


MIB

The Deep State vs Public Govt: The battle between Austria's intelligence agencies and the Freedom Party


Comment: In the aftermath of the political assassination midway through last month that removed the Freedom Party from the Austrian government - and then the whole government itself - it's worth taking a closer look at what was going on in (and around) that country in the lead-up to it...


strache rally austria
© Joe Klamar/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Austria’s deputy chancellor, Heinz-Christian Strache, at a rally in Vienna in April. 3 weeks later, he was taken out in a political assassination, which Austria's security services played a central role in...
As well as anyone, Sybille Geissler knows the threats from Austria's far-right extremists, who in recent weeks have likened migrants to rats and blithely defended campaign material that evokes Nazi propaganda.

For over 12 years, she has led the anti-extremism unit of the domestic intelligence service, and recently testified in a parliamentary inquiry into whether the far right was trying to undermine her agency.

Her biggest challenge these days, her testimony suggests, is that the far right is part of her own government.

Shortly after the far-right Freedom Party joined the government 17 months ago, taking over the powerful Interior Ministry, the ministry's top official asked Ms. Geissler and her boss to turn over the names of informants who had infiltrated the far-right scene.

They refused. Just weeks later, armed police burst into her office and carted away years' worth of domestic files as well as intelligence from allied nations.

The consequences continue to reverberate through the country's politics and beyond, and have made Austria an important test of what happens when the far right moves from the political fringe to the halls of power.


Comment: Indeed, and, as we've seen, when that happens, 'allied nations' rise to the occasion and take 'executive measures'...

Comment: Indeed, they're reinforcing their network from 'contamination' by nationalists, conservatives and 'pro-Russians'.

In short, normal people!