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Bandaid

US' Middle East plan: 90 Percent of West Bank for Palestine and a divided Jerusalem


Sputnik
Thu, 17 Jan 2019 10:49 UTC
israel palestine
© AP Photo
The plan for the peaceful settlement of the Middle Eastern crisis, which is being prepared by the administration of US President Donald Trump will be presented in the coming months, the Israeli Reshet 13 broadcaster reported, citing the source, who attended a closed briefing by a US official on the plan.

Under the plan, Palestine will receive twice more the territory they currently control. However, the historic center of Jerusalem, including its religious sites and nearby districts, and the western part of the city will remain under Israel's sovereignty, according to the outlet.

Moreover, Israelis will be able to annex major settlement areas in the West Bank and keep isolated settlements under their control without being able to enlarge them. However, Israel will have to evacuate the so-called illegal settlement outposts.

Comment: While some compromise must be reached for there to be any possibility of peace in the region, it's doubtful that Israel will relinquish any territory under its current regime: And check out SOTT radio's:

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Eye 2

US media propaganda intensifies pretext for a coup against Trump

Finian Cunningham
RT
Thu, 17 Jan 2019 16:05 UTC
Donald Trump speaks by phone
© Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump (L) speaks by phone with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S. January 28, 2017.
It's no secret that since his election in 2016, powerful elements in the US political and media establishment have been running a non-stop campaign to remove Trump from the White House. Lately, the stakes have been raised.

Spearheading the media effort to defenestrate Trump are the New York Times and Washington Post. Both have been prominent purveyors of the "Russiagate" narrative over the past two years, claiming that Republican candidate colluded with Russian state intelligence, or at least was a beneficiary of alleged Russian interference, to win the presidency against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Congressional investigations and a probe by a Special Counsel Robert Mueller, along with relentless media innuendo, have failed to produce any evidence to support the Russiagate narrative.

Now, the anti-Trump media in alliance with the Democratic leadership, the foreign policy establishment and senior ranks of the state intelligence agencies appear to have come up with a new angle on President Trump - he is a national security risk.

Comment: Some claim a coup is already accomplished in all but name. Still, Trump has managed to backfoot his enemies more than once. The 25th Amendment seems to be the weapon of last resort, even though it was only meant to apply to illness or disability

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Stormtrooper

Prospects for de-escalation look remote as Kiev's stubbornness causes civil war to drag into 2019

Max Beznosiuk
Global Risk Insights
Thu, 17 Jan 2019 11:45 UTC
Ukraine soldiers jet
It has been almost five years since the signing of the Minsk Agreements, which represent the only existing conduit for the gradual de-escalation of this conflict. However, increasing ceasefire violations and obstruction of monitoring suggest that de-escalation remains unlikely.

Currently, there is no progress towards the implementation of the Minsk Agreements, amid constant ceasefire violations and the continued presence of heavy weaponry in the conflict area. There are growing military losses on both sides and ongoing civilian casualties. Moreover, monitoring by the OSCE's SMM (Special Monitoring Mission) faces severe impediments. Discussions within the framework of Normandy Four format and the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on key issues - the exchange of hostages, the ceasefire and withdrawal of heavy weaponry, and illegal formations from the Ukrainian territory - have also been fruitless.

Comment: Global Risk Insight is clearly a Ukrainian propaganda outlet. The remainder of the article is merely more spin and obfuscation in the service of Ukraine's illegal war against its eastern population.

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Bad Guys

How an obscure government agency just legalized secret defense spending

Matt Taibbi
Rolling Stone
Thu, 17 Jan 2019 12:03 UTC
pentagon
October 4th, 2018, was a busy news day. The fight over Brett Kavanuagh's Supreme Court nomination dominated the cycle. The Trump White House received a supplemental FBI report it said cleared its would-be nominee of wrongdoing. Retired Justice John Paul Stevens meanwhile said Kavanaugh was compromised enough that he was "unable to sit as a judge."

#NationalTacoDay trended on Twitter. Chris Evans told the world production wrapped on Avengers 4.

The only thing that did not make the news was an announcement by a little-known government body called the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board - FASAB - that essentially legalized secret national security spending. The new guidance, "SFFAS 56 - CLASSIFIED ACTIVITIES" permits government agencies to "modify" public financial statements and move expenditures from one line item to another. It also expressly allows federal agencies to refrain from telling taxpayers if and when public financial statements have been altered.
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Propaganda

Leaks reveal Google regularly manipulates YouTube search results

Allum Bokhari
Breitbart
Thu, 17 Jan 2019 12:03 UTC
Google logo
© Sipa France via AP Images
Google logo
In sworn testimony, Google CEO Sundar Pichai told Congress last month that his company does not "manually intervene" on any particular search result. Yet an internal discussion thread leaked to Breitbart News reveals Google regularly intervenes in search results on its YouTube video platform - including a recent intervention that pushed pro-life videos out of the top ten search results for "abortion."

The term "abortion" was added to a "blacklist" file for "controversial YouTube queries," which contains a list of search terms that the company considers sensitive. According to the leak, these include some of these search terms related to: abortion, abortions, the Irish abortion referendum, Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters, and anti-gun activist David Hogg.

The existence of the blacklist was revealed in an internal Google discussion thread leaked to Breitbart News by a source inside the company who wishes to remain anonymous. A partial list of blacklisted terms was also leaked to Breitbart by another Google source.
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Bad Guys

Theresa May survives no-confidence vote the day after major Brexit defeat

Adam Shaw
Fox News
Thu, 17 Jan 2019 12:03 UTC
Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn
© Desconocido
British Prime Minister Theresa May's government narrowly survived a vote of no-confidence in Parliament Wednesday as her Conservative Party stuck together to push back an effort to oust the government -- despite May's colossal Brexit defeat a day earlier.

The House of Commons voted 325-306 in favor of the government and against the motion, as Conservative MPs and coalition allies The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) stood together and fended off Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn's push for an eventual general election.

"I am pleased that this House has expressed its confidence in the government tonight," she said in Parliament moments after the result was announced. "I do not take this responsibility lightly and my government will continue its work to increase its prosperity, guarantee our security and to strengthen our union. And yes, we will also continue to work to deliver on the solemn promise we made to the people of this country to deliver on the result of the referendum and leave the European Union."

Comment: May has also invited Corbyn to Brexit talks. RT reports:
British Prime Minister Theresa May has invited parliamentary party leaders, including Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, to meet with her on Wednesday evening after surviving a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons.

May had earlier taken heat for sidelining Corbyn from cross-party Brexit talks, but after the vote on Wednesday evening, the prime minister said she stands "ready to work with any member of this House to deliver on Brexit."

"We have a responsibility to identify a way forward that can secure the backing of the House," she said, adding that she wanted the meetings to begin immediately.

May said her government would approach the meetings "in a constructive spirit" and urged other parties to "do the same."She said the parties "must find solutions that are negotiable and command sufficient support" in parliament. May said she will return to the House on Monday to table an amendable motion and to make a statement about the way forward.
Also see: Still Confused About Brexit? It's Actually Pretty Simple...

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USA

Another political prisoner: Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman blasts US detention of PressTV anchor Marzieh Hashemi

Whitney Webb
Mint Press News
Wed, 16 Jan 2019 00:00 UTC
Marzieh Hashemi
© Aghiltohidian Wikimedia Commons
Marzieh Hashemi
The government's failure to comment on Hashemi's detention makes it difficult to analyze specifically what her arrest means. However, her detainment should serve as a chilling wake-up call for journalists, Muslim Americans, and all U.S. citizens.

Marzieh Hashemi, an American citizen and journalist who has been living and working in Iran, has been detained without charge or justification by U.S. government authorities since Sunday, when she arrived at Lambert International Airport in St. Louis to visit her sick brother. However, her family was not notified until 48 hours after her detention.

Hashemi - an African-American born in New Orleans, who later converted to Islam and currently works as a journalist for the Iranian English-language news network PressTV - has since been transferred to a detention facility in Washington at the request of the FBI, according to reports from PressTV and the Associated Press. U.S. officials have yet to provide any justification for Hashemi's detention.

Comment: The US has been doing quite a bit of this sort of thing lately:

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Bullseye

Top ten reasons not to like NATO

David Swanson
Let's Try Democracy
Tue, 15 Jan 2019 11:26 UTC
NATO
The New York Times loves NATO, but should you?

Judging by comments in social media and the real world, millions of people in the United States have gone from having little or no opinion on NATO, or from opposing NATO as the world's biggest military force responsible for disastrous wars in places like Afghanistan (for Democrats) or Libya (for Republicans), to believing NATO to be a tremendous force for good in the world.

I believe this notion to be propped up by a series of misconceptions that stand in dire need of correction.

1. NATO is not a war-legalizing body, quite the opposite. NATO, like the United Nations, is an international institution that has something or other to do with war, but transferring the UN's claimed authority to legalize a war to NATO has no support whatsoever in reality. The crime of attacking another nation maintains an absolutely unaltered legal status whether or not NATO is involved. Yet NATO is used within the U.S. and by other NATO members as cover to wage wars under the pretense that they are somehow more legal or acceptable. This misconception is not the only way in which NATO works against the rule of law. Placing a primarily-U.S. war under the banner of NATO also helps to prevent Congressional oversight of that war. Placing nuclear weapons in "non-nuclear" nations, in violation of the Nonproliferation Treaty, is also excused with the claim that the nations are NATO members (so what?). And NATO, of course, assigns nations the responsibility to go to war if other nations go to war - a responsibility that requires them to be prepared for war, with all the damage such preparation does.

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

US missile defense systems needed in Europe to counter Iran claims US Official


Sputnik
Thu, 17 Jan 2019 05:04 UTC
Us missile
© US Missile Defense Agency
US missile defense forces positioned in Europe are there to deter threats from rogue states like Iran, a senior US administration official said during a conference call previewing the 2019 Missile Defense Review (MDR).

"Our missile defense capabilities are primarily postured to stay ahead of rogue state threats.The forces, for example, that we have positioned in Europe are there to deal with extra-regional threats like those that come from Iran," the official said on Wednesday.

The same senior US administration official said that the new MDR will address cruise missile and hypersonic weapons in addition to ballistic missile threats.

"This Missile Defense Review is responding to an environment in which we have not just ballistic missile threats but also cruise missile threats and other types of weapons like hypersonic... so expanding the scope of what we're postured to defend against with this new review," the official said.

Comment: It's notable that China and Russia, not Iran, are the countries known to have hypersonic missiles. But anyway, as it is, it's unlikely the citizens of Europe would be eager to accommodate the US' 'needs'. Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Putin The World To Rights: Russia's New Nuclear Weapons And The End of 'Unipolarity'

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Stock Up

Russia to overtake Germany as world's fifth-largest economy in 2020

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Thu, 17 Jan 2019 10:15 UTC
Russia
The Russian economy is apparently more durable than many Western politicians imagined.

Despite years of international sanctions and low oil prices have dragged on Russia's economy, which pushed the Russian economy into a recession during 2015, UK-based global bank Standard Chartered predicted in a report published this week that Russia will overtake Germany as the world's fifth largest economy, possibly as early as next year, according to RT.

In a report outlining its projections for the global economy through 2030, StanChart projected that China would overtake the US a the world's largest economy as explosive growth in Asia will eventually see some of the Continent's largest economies unseat Western economies in the top rankings. By 2030, the bank expects seven of the world's ten largest economies will be Asian economies.

Using a combination of PPP-inflected exchange rates and nominal GDP growth, the bank ranked the top five economies as China, the US, India, Japan, and Russia. Rounding out the top 10 countries will include Germany, Indonesia, Brazil, Turkey, and the UK.

Comment: See also:

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