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Maduro urges Latin American states to join oil and gold-backed cryptocurrency project


RT
Sat, 13 Jan 2018 13:30 UTC
Nicolas Maduro
© Miraflores Palace / Reuters
Venezuela's leader Nicolas Maduro has invited members of the regional ALBA-TCP bloc to join him in launching a new cryptocurrency. Named petro, the cryptocurrency will be backed by the country's oil, gas, gold and diamond riches.

"I have a proposal for the economic teams of the ALBA: to assume jointly the creation of an oil-backed petro cryptocurrency, which will be supported with Venezuelan oil and that very soon we will sustain with the wealth of Venezuela's gold and diamonds," Maduro told the delegates of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) on Friday.

Meeting the high-ranking officials from Antigua & Barbuda, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Saint Vicente and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, the President of Venezuela invited them to join him in overcoming what he had previously called a "financial blockade" imposed by the United States

Comment: This cryptocurrency push by Maduro will be something to keep an eye on: CEO of JP Morgan Chase says 'all cryptocurrency' will be under government control

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Eye 1

Nancy Pelosi supports House passing Trump administration's bill to spy on Americans

Alex Emmons
The Intercept
Thu, 11 Jan 2018 21:34 UTC
Nancy Pelosi
© Zach Gibson/Getty Images
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaks during a weekly press conference on Capitol Hill on Jan. 11, 2018, in Washington, D.C.
With bipartisan backing, the House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday that would renew one of the government's most sweeping surveillance authorities for six years with minimal changes.

The measure, which passed 256-164, reauthorized Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which was set to expire later this month.

The law was first passed in 2008 to legalize President George W. Bush's warrantless wiretapping program. It allows the National Security Agency to collect Americans' communications with people overseas, as long as the NSA is "targeting" the foreigners involved.

The vote followed a morning of confusion, as President Donald Trump tweeted in opposition to the bill, referencing a conspiracy theory about then-President Barack Obama spying on the Trump campaign. He walked himself back two hours later, tweeting, "We need it! Get Smart!"

Comment: So not all Democrats are opposed to everything that Trump does - when it comes to spying on Americans, they're happy to oblige. See also:

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Megaphone

Is US ceding Middle East diplomatic leadership to Russia a bad idea?

Paul R. Pillar
The National Interest
Wed, 10 Jan 2018 00:01 UTC
Vladimir Putin honour guard
© REUTERS/Alexander Nemenov/Pool
Russian President Vladimir Putin walks past an honour guard as he attends a meeting of the State Council at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia December 27, 2017.
Late this month Russia will host and broker a new round of Syrian peace talks in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi. The Sochi talks will be an extension of talks that had earlier taken place in Astana, Kazakhstan, under the joint sponsorship of Russia, Turkey, and Iran. If there is to be any diplomatic momentum in the weeks ahead regarding the Syrian conflict, that momentum most likely will be found in Sochi and Russia. Although some Syrian opposition elements are still hoping the United States will snatch diplomatic leadership on the issue away from Moscow, other relevant players regard Sochi as the place to be rather than a place to avoid. This evidently includes Saudi Arabia, a principal bankroller of the Syrian opposition, and United Nations special envoy Staffan de Mistura, who has had his own intermittent Syrian negotiations in Geneva. Russian officials describe their efforts as complementing rather than replacing the U.N. talks in Geneva, and they have expressed hope there will be another Geneva round before the Sochi meeting.

Comment: Sez who? The interests of the US are completely irrelevant to peace negotiations in the Middle East and it's fairly obtuse to assume Russia couldn't do a better job without the US injecting its "interests" into the negotiation. It really comes down to who is best for the job, and given that the US is completely in bed with Israel, there is simply no way they could be considered impartial. Moscow, it would seem, really is the best choice, without US 'cooperation'.

See also:

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X

Pakistan 'betrayed' by Washington, will not seek any more military aid


RT
Sat, 13 Jan 2018 12:06 UTC
Pakistani cadets
© RIZWAN TABASSUM / AFP
Pakistani cadets parade in Karachi, December 25, 2017
Pakistan's army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa spoke with US Central Command General Joseph Votel on the phone and said he feels "betrayed" after recent actions by the US to cut military aid. He will not seek further funding.

Bajwa made the comments to Votel earlier this week during a phone call, a spokesman for Pakistan's military said in a statement on Friday. Bajwa also said Pakistan is being treated badly by the US "despite decades of cooperation,"Sputnik News reports.

The comment comes after President Donald Trump's administration withheld almost $2 billion in security aid from Pakistan for allegedly failing to take "decisive action" against Taliban militants targeting US personnel in neighboring Afghanistan, according to the Associated Press.
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Mr. Potato

State Department ridiculed on Twitter after it warns citizens against travel to Russia

Bryan MacDonald
RT
Sat, 13 Jan 2018 12:29 UTC
State Department travel map
© travelmaps.state.gov
The US State Department found itself the focus of social media jibes after an overhaul of its travel safety warning system downgraded Russia to the same category as Mauritania, Sudan and other trouble spots.

The move, explained as "due to terrorism and harassment," comes at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Moscow and just five months before Russia hosts the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The new State Department classification sees countries divided into four zones, when it comes to personal security. Russia has been bundled into the "orange" category (the 2nd most dangerous of the quartet), meaning US citizens should "reconsider travel" to this destination.
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Stormtrooper

IDF troops fire live rounds & tear gas at Palestinian Day of Rage 'inciters'


RT
Sat, 13 Jan 2018 12:41 UTC
protester Palestine
At least 46 Palestinians have been injured in clashes with Israeli forces who again deployed tear gas and live ammunition at the weekly "Day of Rage" protests against the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Around 2,000 Palestinians, enraged by US President Donald Trump's decision to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, swarmed the streets of the West Bank and Gaza for the sixth consecutive Friday, burning tires and hurling projectiles at the Israel Defense Force (IDF) in 20 locations across the occupied Palestinian territories.

In Bethlehem on the West Bank the Israeli soldiers responded to the unrest by firing tear gas, Ruptly's video shows. At least five people in the West Bank suffered injuries when the IDF used rubber bullets to disperse the crowd, Haaretz reports, citing Palestinian health officials.
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Arrow Down

The United States seeks to create new 'usable' nuclear arsenal


RT
Sat, 13 Jan 2018 12:07 UTC
mushroom cloud
© Wikipedia
A mushroom cloud of the atomic bomb dropped by B-29 bomber Enola Gay over the city of Hiroshima
The Trump administration is set to violate the nuclear non-proliferation treaty with Russia by building up its stockpile of so-called "low-yield" warheads, according to a leaked draft of the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR).

The review, which the Trump administration plans to roll out after President Donald Trump's State of the Union address later this month, will mark a break in policy with the development of a new class of low-yield, "usable" nuclear warheads.

The D5 missiles, each costing approximately $66 million, will carry warheads more than 30 times the destructive power of the Hiroshima bomb. However, they would only include the primary fission section of the existing thermonuclear warheads with lower explosive yields.

Comment: Ah, low-yield 'usable' nuclear weapons... just what the world needs. We can be sure the development of this weapon has been in the works for some time and has little to do with the presidential administration. 'Usable' and 'nuclear weapons' are words that shouldn't go together.

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Pistol

The Trump administration is turning the State Department into a global weapons dealer

Haley Pedersen, Jodie Evans
Alternet
Thu, 11 Jan 2018 11:24 UTC
weapons armas
© AFP 2018/ Mauro Pimentel


In the Trump administration, an agency started to promote peace is now fomenting war.

The Trump administration will soon announce its next move in the ongoing assault on diplomacy and human rights currently taking place in the United States. Through a plan dubbed "Buy American," the administration is calling for U.S. attachés and diplomats to play a larger role in the sale of U.S. weapons, effectively solidifying their role as lobbyists for the arms industry rather than agents of diplomacy.

This means the State Department, the agency that is meant to foster diplomatic relations and maintain peaceful engagement with other countries, will now openly operate as a weapons dealer. The administration is essentially forcing the State Department to undermine itself, as seeking out and expanding opportunities for increased weapons sales are certainly not conducive to fostering peaceful global relations.

The "Buy American" plan will increase U.S. officials' involvement in facilitating weapons sales, while simultaneously easing rules that limit U.S. weapons sales to governments with poor human rights records. The move displays an increasingly undeniable truth-that the United States government views human rights not as the foundation of human dignity but as an impediment to corporate profits.

Comment: In the words of Dwight D. Eisenhower:
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.


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Dollars

Economist says 'declaration of war' if US freezes Russian dollar assets

Dmitry Sudakov
Pravda.ru
Fri, 12 Jan 2018 17:27 UTC
burning american dollar money
The Bank of Russia holds a third of its currency assets in the United States. The USA may impose sanctions on the bank. Earlier, the US had frozen the assets of the National Fund of Kazakhstan, which suggests that Russia's reserves may find themselves in a similar situation as well.

Given the current state of affairs in the US-Russian relations, investments of the Bank of Russia in dollar assets look risky. However, should the Russian gold and foreign exchange assets be frozen because of sanctions, this will become a declaration of war, President of the Foundation for Economic Research, economist and publicist Mikhail Khazin said in an interview with Pravda.Ru.

"About a third of the Bank of Russia's gold and currency assets are in the US. Can they be frozen due to new sanctions?"

"Technically, they can be, and Kazakhstan is an example. Practically, such a move will be the declaration of war, and the declaration of war will immediately trigger a whole bunch of various problems."

Comment: See also:

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Evil Rays

Trump Introduces New Word Into Mainstream Media Lexicon


Sott.net
Sat, 13 Jan 2018 11:41 UTC
Trump shithole
The mainstream media isn't known for its truth-telling. Too much political correctness and a belief in 'less said soonest mended' has resulted in an institutional paucity of forthright and objective opinion, calling a 'spade a spade' if you will. But Donald Trump is putting an end to all that.

While most of the mainstream media loves to hate Trump and takes great delight in excoriating him over his low brow and 'unpresidential' utterances, his most recent faux pas has been seized upon by leftist pundits across the board and indulgently repeated to the extent that we start to wonder if they aren't secretly thankful for the opportunity offered by the President to let loose and publicly say the words they always wanted to.

For those of you that may have been out of the loop on the goings-on in the world (or at least the 'international community') over the past few days, just watch this short video and be assured that you are now up to speed.
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