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US prepares for future wars by militarizing space

Stephen Lendman
stephenlendman.org
Sun, 03 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
weoponization of space
The notion of real time star wars, possibly with nukes and/or other super-weapons, should terrify everyone.

The 1967 Outer Space Treaty bans nations from placing WMDs (not conventional weapons) in earth orbit or otherwise in outer space.

It restricts use of celestial bodies to peaceful purposes, bans space bases and outer space weapons testing. The 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty prohibits nuclear testing in outer space.

The 1972 SALT I Treaty, 1987 INF Treaty (pulled out from by Trump), 1992 Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty, 1994 START I Treaty, 2000 Start II, 2011 New START, and other international agreements include provisions dealing with space-related issues.

The UN Conference on Disarmament, established in 1984 to negotiate arms control and disarmament agreements, strongly opposes weaponizing space.

So do the vast majority of world nations. The cosmos should be used exclusively for peaceful purposes benefitting humanity.

Washington refused to negotiate with Russia and China on their joint draft treaty to ban space-based weapons.
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Bulb

OPCW Syria report debunks Western "chemical weapons" narrative

Tony Cartalucci
New Eastern Outlook
Mon, 04 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
OPCW HQ
The OPCW (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) has presented its final report regarding an alleged chemical weapons attack on Douma, Syria on April 7, 2018. Despite attempts by the Western media to hail it as "proof" that the Syrian government used chemical weapons in Douma - the report says nothing of the sort.

In fact, the report fails to link any of the alleged 43 deaths to apparent chlorine found at the scene of the alleged attack.

Claims of the attack were made by US-backed militants on the eve of their defeat - with the Syrian military retaking Douma the following day. Initial reports claimed sarin or chlorine chemical weapons were deployed through the use of two yellow gas canisters modified as bombs.

No sarin of any kind was found by OPCW inspectors.

Comment: See also: OPCW's final report states Chlorine was 'likely' used in alleged Douma chemical attack - no nerve agent as Western media reported

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Safe

Under economic siege: Russia's financial decisions show preparedness for war waged by US

Anna Andrianova and Yevgenia Pismennaya
Fort Russ News
Sun, 03 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing for war. War, the main weapons in which will not be hypersonic missiles and nuclear torpedoes, which he boasted about for a whole year.

Putin has built a financial fortress, which, according to government officials and Kremlin advisers, will protect the economy from strikes and encourage the US and allies to assess Russia's military capabilities and intentions..

Putin has been striving for this goal since he came to power at the turn of the millennium. The problem is becoming more urgent against the background of the next crisis with the West. When the global financial crisis occurred 10 years ago, Russia's main stock market index lost three-quarters of its value. And 5 years ago, after the collapse of oil prices and the imposition of sanctions because of the situation in Ukraine, the ruble fell by half against the dollar, which led to the longest recession during Putin's rule.

Now Russia is on the rise again, despite the adoption of a very curtailed budget. The total expenses of the Russian treasury this year (about $ 270 billion) make up less than half of Pentagon expenses. Last year, the country became one of the three G20 surplus economies, and its debt burden is the lowest in this group.

Comment: See also: From strength to strength: Russian goods trade surplus up 20% in 2018 to $212bn

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Light Saber

Ilhan Omar stands strong amid blizzard of attacks: 'I am told I am anti-American if I am not pro-Israel'

Philip Weiss
Mondoweiss
Mon, 04 Mar 2019 19:16 UTC
Ilhan Omar

Ilhan Omar
Ilhan Omar's statement last week about the role of the Israel lobby- "I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country" - has ignited a firestorm of criticism, including from House Democratic colleagues such as Eliot Engel, chair of House Foreign Affairs, who called on her to apologize for a "vile, anti-semitic slur." Engel is a regular at the Israel lobby organization AIPAC, where he has promised to keep support for Israel bipartisan.

Nita Lowey has also been outspoken against her colleague:
Lawmakers must be able to debate w/o prejudice or bigotry. I am saddened that Rep. Omar continues to mischaracterize support for Israel. I urge her to retract this statement and engage in further dialogue with the Jewish community on why these comments are so hurtful.
Lowey is also an AIPAC regular. That event was closed to the public, in a Westchester temple.

Comment: Love her or hate her Ilhan has finally brought the issue of Israel's inordinate influence over American foreign policy out into the open. She deserves to be commended for it.

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Gold Seal

Assange in Room 101: The Prisoner Says no to Big Brother

John Pilger
johnpilger.com
Mon, 04 Mar 2019 19:54 UTC
John Pilger invokes George Orwell in calling on his compatriots to stand up for the freedom of 'a distinguished Australian', the founder and editor of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, and for 'real journalism of a kind now considered exotic'.
assange embassy pilger
Whenever I visit Julian Assange, we meet in a room he knows too well. There is a bare table and pictures of Ecuador on the walls. There is a bookcase where the books never change. The curtains are always drawn and there is no natural light. The air is still and fetid.

This is Room 101.

Before I enter Room 101, I must surrender my passport and phone. My pockets and possessions are examined. The food I bring is inspected.

The man who guards Room 101 sits in what looks like an old-fashioned telephone box. He watches a screen, watching Julian. There are others unseen, agents of the state, watching and listening.

Cameras are everywhere in Room 101. To avoid them, Julian manoeuvres us both into a corner, side by side, flat up against the wall. This is how we catch up: whispering and writing to each other on a notepad, which he shields from the cameras. Sometimes we laugh.

Comment: Organize a protest/riot or flash-mob through which Assange could be secreted into a waiting vehicle or nearby safe-house, and from there hopefully escape Blighty, preferably to safety in Russia as he's not safe anywhere else in NATOstan.

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Newspaper

China accuses detained Canadians of stealing state secrets

Jun Mai
South China Morning Post
Mon, 04 Mar 2019 23:30 UTC
Kovrig Spavor
© Facebook
Accusations come just two days after Canada decided to proceed with an extradition hearing for Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou -
Canadians Michael Spavor (left) and Michael Kovrig have been accused by China of spying.
China has upped the ante over its detention of two Canadians, accusing the pair of acting together to steal state secrets just days after Ottawa decided to proceed with an extradition hearing for a Chinese tech giant executive.

Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig is accused of "severely violating" Chinese law by acting as a spy and stealing Chinese state secrets and intelligence since 2017, state news agency Xinhua reported on Monday, citing unnamed Chinese authorities.

The report said he entered China using an ordinary passport and business visas, and obtained intelligence from Michael Spavor, another Canadian also held in China.

The pair were taken into Chinese custody in December, soon after Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Chinese telecom firm Huawei, was arrested by Canadian authorities at the request of the US government.

Comment: For more background on Kovrig, F. William Engdahl in Is Canada's Huawei arrest an attempt to sabotage Trump-Xi talks? writes:
Rather than retaliate by going after the many top US executives in China, it arrested a former Canadian diplomat in Beijing on suspicion of "endangering national security," as well as a Canadian entrepreneur with business ties to North Korea.

The connections of that former Canadian diplomat are more than interesting.

Michael Kovrig previously worked as a Canadian diplomat in Beijing, Hong Kong and the United Nations. Chinese national security police took him into custody on December 10 in Beijing. Kovrig is officially listed as "North East Asia adviser" for something called the International Crisis Group.

The International Crisis Group is an NGO with a knack for being involved in key conflict zones such as Myanmar. The magazine Third World Quarterly in a peer-reviewed article in 2014 accused the ICG of "manufacturing" crises.

It was founded by Trump nemesis and Hillary Clinton supporter, George Soros. The Trustees of Kovrig's employer, the International Crisis Group, include some very notable names. One is of course founder and funder, George Soros. Another trustee is a Canadian billionaire, Frank Guistra. Make a note of the name as it is likely to appear in the news in coming weeks as details emerge of FBI and other US investigations into illegal or shady dealings of the tax-exempt Clinton Foundation. Frank Giustra President & CEO, Fiore Financial Corporation, is a big donor to the Clinton Foundation where he also sits on the board.
See also:

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Archaeology

House Judiciary panel launches new investigation into Trump upon failure of Russiagate probe

Mary Clare Jalonick
Chicago Tribune
Mon, 04 Mar 2019 19:26 UTC
Jerry Nadler
© NurPhoto / NurPhoto via Getty Images file
The House Judiciary Committee is launching a sweeping new probe of President Donald Trump, his White House, his campaign and his businesses, sending document requests to 81 people linked to the president and his associates.

Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said Monday the investigation will be focused on possible obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power. The aggressive, broad investigation could set the stage for an impeachment effort, although Democratic leaders have pledged to investigate all avenues and review special counsel Robert Mueller's report before trying any drastic action.

Nadler said that the document requests, with responses to most due by March 18, are a way to "begin building the public record" and that the committee has the responsibility to investigate and hold public hearings.

Comment: Unhappy with the hole in which they have dug themselves, Democrats have concluded they just need to dig deeper.

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Eye 2

Warmonger Bolton counts diplomatic success as failure and failure as success

Daniel Larison
The American Conservative
Mon, 04 Mar 2019 18:52 UTC
Bolton
© Office of the Russian President
National Security Advisor John Bolton attends meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Oct. 23, 2018.
John Bolton was spinning the failure of the Hanoi summit as a success in an interview earlier today:
"Well, I don't agree at all that it was a failed summit."
For Bolton, a failed summit is his idea of the perfect summit, because it produces nothing of value and undermines future talks. He has been very open about his hostility to reaching any agreement with North Korea that they might find acceptable, and he has been working to sabotage diplomacy by insisting on maximalist demands that North Korea won't agree to. What almost everyone else considers obvious diplomatic failure and malpractice on the Trump administration's part is Bolton's idea of how diplomacy should "work": issue unreasonable ultimatums and then use their inevitable rejection to pursue more aggressive and punitive policies. Trump did his part to blow up the process by making a counter-offer that everyone in the administration had to know would be turned down:

Comment: Bolton is still waving the neocon flag: endless wars and endless profits for the MIC while trying to shore up the dying US hegemony. How was Trump talked into letting this relic of the bad old Bush days back into the White House?

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Light Saber

UK journo Neil Clark slams media coverage of Corbyn assault: 'To portray him as a victim goes against their narrative'


RT
Mon, 04 Mar 2019 17:13 UTC
corbyn mosque
© Reuters / Peter Nicholls
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, on a visit to Finsbury Park Mosque in London
A hostile British media is not interested in reporting Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as the "victim," even if he literally is, they only care about stories that portray him as the "bad guy," journalist Neil Clark has told RT.

Clark, a UK journalist and RT contributor, insists he's not surprised at how little the British media has covered the story of Corbyn being the victim of an assault at a mosque in north London, because it doesn't fit into "their narrative" of the democratic socialist leader.

Clark maintains that much of the mainstream media have vilified Corbyn ever since becoming Labour leader in 2015 and have labelled him "a traitor, an anti-Semite, a terrorist supporter/sympathiser." He argues they only want to cover news "that can see him in a bad light."

Comment: The Brit media has had it in for Corbyn for most of his political career.

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Eye 1

Watch as US-led coalition uses banned white phosphorus in attacks on Syrian town of Baghouz - UPDATE


Sputnik
Sat, 02 Mar 2019 23:56 UTC
U.S. Army
© U.S. Army
1st Lt. Daniel Johnson
The US-led coalition has used shells with white phosphorus in its bombing attacks on the southwestern Syrian town of Baghouz, which remains the last stronghold of the Daesh terror group in the country, local media reported on Saturday, citing sources.

This came soon after the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced that it had resumed operations against Daesh militants in Baghouz, following a break for citizens evacuation. According to SDF claims, only Daesh militants currently remain in the town.

However, the battle for Baghuz is currently going slowly in order to protect hostages held by the Daesh terrorists, according to co-chair of the US mission of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), Bassam Ishak.


Comment: So are there civilians in the area or not?


Comment: This is yet another instance of the US using white phosphorous over an area known to have civilians, which is considered a war crime:
UPDATE: 4th March 2019 at 15:20: Almasdarnews.com has obtained and posted the footage online:
Last night, the U.S. Coalition dropped internationally banned white phosphorous on the last Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS/Daesh) enclave in eastern Syria.

According to reports from eastern Syria, the U.S. Coalition specifically dropped the white phosphorous on the Islamic State's positions inside the Baghouz camp.

Video footage of the U.S. Coalition dropping white phosphorous on the Islamic State's positions was captured by 'Ayn Al-Firat (Eye of the Euphrates) on Saturday:





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