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Russia slams US attempt to impose 'alternative vision' of Palestine-Israel peace process


Sputnik
Wed, 29 May 2019 08:33 UTC
bahrain manama city
© CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wadiia / Manama
Manama City in Bahrain
The preparation of a Bahrain economic conference as part of the proposed US plan to promote the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is Washington's attempt to substitute the genuine peace process with imposed economic incentives, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

"It is all about another US attempt to shift the priorities of the regional agenda and impose an ' alternative vision' of the Palestinian-Israeli settlement. The persistent desire to replace the task of achieving a comprehensive political solution with a package of the so-called 'economic incentives' while eroding the principle of creating two states for two peoples is causing deep concern," the ministry said in a commentary.

The US-sponsored "Peace to Prosperity" economic workshop will be held in Bahrain's capital of Manama on 25-26 June. The event seeks to explore political solutions for the entire region, and it also aims to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Comment: Also see:

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Bad Guys

After years of 'regime change' US State Dept to now give Syria $75mn grant to combat 'Iranian disinformation'


RT
Wed, 29 May 2019 08:33 UTC
us state department
© Sputnik
After spending years trying to topple Damascus, Washington has now pledged to protect war-scarred Syrians from Iranian "disinformation." The act of altruism is part of a grant aimed at "advancing US interests" in the country.

The US State Department wants to give $75 million to an eligible NGO as part of an initiative aimed at strengthening "credible governance and civil society entities" in Syria - at least in the areas controlled by illegitimate, US-backed forces.

The grant will also fund efforts to "counter extremism and disinformation perpetuated by Iranian forces," since that is apparently the major life-and-death issue facing Syrians after seven years of devastating war. Additionally, the grant aims to "ensure the enduring defeat" of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).
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Star of David

Israel sets appalling new record for number of Palestinian homes demolished in a single day

Arthur MacMillian
The National
Wed, 22 May 2019 20:25 UTC
Jerusalem palestine home demolition
© Agence France-Presse
A Palestinian family watch from a balcony as Israeli bulldozers demolish shops in the Arab-inhabited Shuafat refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem.
UN envoy says April 29 represented the biggest day for Israeli demolitions since records began in 2009

The number of Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem that were demolished by Israel's military in a single day peaked on April 29, when 31 structures were flattened, the UN's envoy for Middle East peace said on Wednesday.
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Bad Guys

Kosovo police detain Russian member of UN mission injured during raid


RT
Tue, 28 May 2019 20:07 UTC
kosovo police raid
© Agence France-Presse / Armend Nimani
A member of the Kosovo Police Special Unit near the village of Cabra during the May 28, 2019 raids in the predominantly Serb north of Kosovo
Moscow is demanding the release of a Russian citizen who was detained and possibly injured during a Kosovan police incursion into the ethnic Serb-majority northern areas of the breakaway region.

Mikhail Krasnoshchekov, a Russian national and member of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) was among those detained during the early Tuesday raids by Kosovan special police forces (ROSU) in the region's northern areas, populated mostly by ethnic Serbs.

The man was injured in the operation and had to be hospitalized, according to a Mitrovica hospital medic cited by TASS.

Comment: More information:
A Russian member of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) is in hospital with serious head injuries after Kosovo police broke his cheekbone with a rifle-butt, despite him being unarmed, his doctor says.

The UN mission's spokeswoman Sanam Dolatshahi confirmed that Mikhail Krasnoshchekov had been released by police, while details of the injuries sustained during his arrest began to emerge.

"He has a head injury and a fracture of the zygomatic bone, which is classified as a serious injury. The injury occurred from a butt strike to the head, although the man was not armed," Krasnoshchekov's doctor said.

Krasnoshchekov sustained the injury as Kosovan special police raided four predominantly Serbian communities in the breakaway region's north, ostensibly as part of a crackdown on organized crime. The massive campaign involved the use of 73 special vehicles and ended in 23 arrests, according to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

Despite the traumatic head injuries, UN Secretary General Farhan Haq announced that the UN worker was in "normal condition" upon release from police custody.

There is no update yet on a second UN mission employee who was also detained.

The president of the self-proclaimed territory of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, claimed that the detained mission member had "tried to prevent a police action."
Kosovo is ruled by savages who operate with impunity because they know they can always call in support from America's largest garrison in Europe, Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo.

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Bad Guys

With an eye towards regime change in Iran, US escalates tensions further with new sanctions

Salman Rafi Sheikh
New Eastern Outlook
Sun, 26 May 2019 00:00 UTC
Rouhani
Last Wednesday, the US slammed fresh sanctions on Iran's mining industry to apparently push Iran's economy into an even deeper recession, hoping for this situation to erupt into a large-scale labour discontentment, which might become, as many in Washington hope, a pivotal point leading to an overthrow of the Iranian regime. For example, one of the areas targeted is the production/export of iron ore. In 2018, Iran exported 14m tonnes of ore. Iran's export in this sector were expected to increase to 20m in 2019, but the US sanctions are likely to bring this export significantly down. Another sector targeted is mineral production and export. Iran has about 37 billion tonnes of proven mineral reserves and 57 billion tonnes of potential reserves, worth 800 billion dollars. Iran exported over 57 million tonnes of mineral products worth more than 9.2 billion dollars during the fiscal year to March. But new US sanctions are likely to adversely affect exports in this sector also.

Low export means low production, which means all sorts of problems with regards to the labour and the factories. With factories not working/shutting down and the labourer not able to earn their wages, a labour unrest can take place and spread across the country, causing a massive political crisis and/or an uprising against the Iranian regime. This is the essence of US policies vis-à-vis Iran: regime change. The US withdrawal from the Iran nuke-deal; imposition of sanctions and declaration of the revolutionary guards as a 'terrorist force' have all produced conditions for yet another military conflict in the Middle East.
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Stop

China's state-linked news outlet warns Beijing 'seriously considering' ban on rare-earth exports to US


RT
Tue, 28 May 2019 14:55 UTC
rare earth Lianyungang China
© Global Look Press
Excavator carries rare earth at Lianyungang dock, China
Beijing is considering a ban on exports of rare earth metals to the US, editor-in-chief of Chinese state-linked outlet Global Times has tweeted, warning it may not be the last retaliatory move by China as the trade war escalates.

Reports that China may resort to the embargo have been circulating for weeks. If implemented, the move could be really harmful to Washington as there are almost no alternative sources for the elements that are used in a wide range of industries from high-tech to the military.

"Based on what I know, China is seriously considering restricting rare earth exports to the US. China may also take other countermeasures in the future," Hu Xijin tweeted on Tuesday.

Comment: Are Rare Earth Metals China's Ultimate Weapon?
The question is how serious would it impact the US economy were China to ban exports of rare earths to the USA? Short answer, very serious.

In addition to its use in most electronic devices such as smart phones or laptops, rare earth minerals are absolutely essential to the Pentagon and the US military forces. According to Breaking Defense newsletter, rare earth components are essential for such major weapons systems as the nuclear-powered SSN-774 Virginia-class fast attack submarine; the DDG-51 Aegis destroyer; the F-35 Joint Strike fighter among others. They note that "Rare earths are also essential to precision-guided munitions, lasers, satellite communications, radar, sonar and other military equipment, added a 2013 Congressional Research Service report."


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Bad Guys

Totalitarianism: Riga government detains and deports editor-in chief of Sputnik Lithuania


Sputnik
Tue, 28 May 2019 17:09 UTC
Radio Sputnik
© Nina Zotina / RIA Novosti
Sputnik Lithuania senior editor Marat Kasem told Sputnik by phone on Tuesday that he had been detained in Vilnius upon arrival at the airport while on a business trip.

He explained that he'd been "detained with the wording 'threat to national security'" and "banned from entering the country for five years."

Following the incident at Vilnius Airport, Russia's Permanent Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said that the detention of Sputnik Lithuania editor-in-chief Marat Kasem in Vilnius airport was a gross violation of media rights.

Comment: Sputnik Lithuania is probably the only outlet broadcasting reality-based information in that statelet.

NATO approves!

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Bad Guys

Austrian corruption scandal involving 'niece of Russian oligarch' outed as Bosnian student paid to set up honey trap


RT
Tue, 28 May 2019 16:52 UTC
Heinz-Christian Strache Johann Gudenus
© AFP / Spiegel and Sueddeutsche Zeitung
Heinz-Christian Strache and party member Johann Gudenus meet with the woman in Ibiza
The 'Russian oligarch's niece' at the center of the corruption scandal that brought down the Austrian government was actually a Bosnian student paid to set up the then-vice-chancellor, an Austrian tabloid claims.

Austria's government collapsed on Monday after a no-confidence motion in parliament ousted Chancellor Sebastian Kurz from power. The scandal began two weeks earlier, however, when German media published a secretly recorded video showing former vice-chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache discussing an illicit deal with a woman purporting to be the niece of a Russian tycoon.
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Light Saber

18 Ways Julian Assange Changed the World

Lee Camp
truthdig
Wed, 22 May 2019 00:00 UTC
Julian assange, assange press freedom
© Frank Augstein / AP
Nearly every government on our third rock from the sun despises the man for bringing transparency to the process of ruling the unwashed masses.
Julian Assange is a dick. It's important you understand that.

Assange and WikiLeaks revealed the American military's war crimes, the American government's corruption and the American corporate media's pathetic servile flattery to the power elite. So, if you're a member of our ruling class, you would view those as textbook examples of dickery.

In a moment I'm going to list all the ways Julian Assange changed the world by being a dick.

In an evolved and fully realized society, the oligarchy would see Assange as a dangerous criminal (which they do), and the average working men and women would view him as justice personified (which they don't). We would celebrate him even as the mass media told us to hope for his downfall-like a Batman or a Robin Hood or an Ozzy Osbourne (the early years, not the cleaning-dog-turds-off-his-carpet years).

But we are not evolved and this is not Gotham City and average Americans don't root for the truth. Many Americans cheer for Assange's imprisonment. They believe the corporate plutocratic talking points and yearn for the days when we no longer have to hear about our country's crimes against humanity or our bankers' crimes against the economy. Subconsciously they must believe that a life in which we're tirelessly exploited by rich villains and know all about it thanks to the exhaustive efforts of an eccentric Australian is worse than one in which we're tirelessly exploited by rich villains yet know nothing about it.

"Ignorance is bliss" is the meditative mantra of the United States of America.

Comment: Real journalists react to Assange Espionage Act charges: 'Modern fascism is breaking cover'

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Network

Iran ready for talks with regional states, but US has lost their seat at the table


MEHR News Agency
Tue, 28 May 2019 16:45 UTC
Mousavi

Noting Iran's proposal for signing a non-aggression pact with regional countries, FM spokesman Mousavi said there is currently no prospect for talks with US.
"The Persian Gulf littoral states are among the most important neighboring countries for Iran; therefore, what foreign minister Zarif has put forward- i.e. the non-aggression pact- is not a new topic," Seyyed Abbas Mousavi said in a news conference on Tuesday.

"Iran does not want to be in an insecure and stressful region," he underlined.

Iran, in the past years, has always reiterated its readiness to sign a non-aggression pact with regional countries in a bid to build trust and confidence, and help eliminate concerns originating from other countries' fear-inducing tactics. Most recently, Foreign Minister Zarif in a meeting with Iraqi President Barham Salih in Baghdad on Saturday repeated the suggestion to Persian Gulf states to sign a non-aggression pact. The move was praised by Russian FM Sergey Lavrov as the first step to reduce regional tensions.
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