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Mon, 08 Nov 2021
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Wall Street

IMF's Christine Lagarde spells it out: 'When the world goes downhill, we thrive'

Christine Lagarde
When we wrote earlier that based on a leaked Wikileaks transcript, which the Greek government interpreted "as revealing an IMF effort to blackmail Athens with a possible credit event to force it to give in on pension cuts which it has rejected", the article promptly went viral. While it remains to be determined if the IMF indeed made such an implied threat, we attribute this spike in interest to the general public's surprise that the IMF could stoop to such a low, even by its own standards, level as to use a nation of 11 million people as a lab rat on which to conduct policy experiments.

But why the surprise?

As the below transcript from a April 2012 interview given by Lagarde to the Wharton school at UPenn, none other than IMF president Lagarde herself admitted that for the IMF to "thrive", the world has to "go downhill", and that the IMF "to be sustainable" it needs to be "very in touch with our client base."

She added that "when the world goes well and we've had years of growth, as was the case back in 2006 and 2007, the IMF doesn't do so well both financially and otherwise"

Comment: It should be pretty obvious by now that international bankers have no interest in the well being of the population. Suffering gives them more opportunities to feed off the people.


Vader

US/NATO ally set to double beheadings this year

Michael Fallon met the Saudi Defence Minister, Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, in Riyadh
© AFP
Michael Fallon met the Saudi Defence Minister, Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, in Riyadh
Saudi Arabia has already executed 82 people this year and is on course to behead twice as many prisoners as it did in 2015, according to new statistics compiled by a leading human rights organisation likely to raise fresh concerns about the UK's close ties to the Kingdom.

The British Government has been urged to do more to put pressure on its Gulf allies to halt the bloodshed in light of the figures, which would see the total death toll in Saudi Arabia reach a record high of more than 320 by the end of the year if the current rate is maintained.

This would be more than double the 158 executions carried out by the Kingdom last year, which was in itself a dramatic rise on the 88 people it beheaded in 2014. The figures were compiled by the UK organisation Reprieve using a combination of official statements from the Saudi government and reliable local media reports.

Bad Guys

Activist: UN fosters 'culture of impunity' that enables horrible sexual assaults by peacekeepers

United Nations peacekeepers
© Flickr/ United Nations Photo
Over 100 girls from a province in the Central African Republic claim they were sexually abused by UN peacekeepers, the AIDS-Free World's campaign Code Blue reported. Co-founder of Code Blue Paula Donovan told Radio Sputnik that the reports are just the tip of the iceberg.

According to Donovan, the United Nations has been deliberately concealing the information about sex crimes committed by peacekeepers for the sake of its reputation, leaving 'thousands' of victims without hope.

"The United Nations by being so slow and so secretive and so careful about their reputation, they're actually culpable in these crimes," she argued.

Donovan said that documents in the recent case were leaked to her organization by an insider, and that the data they received included correspondence and notes from meetings that imply that the victims were interviewed two weeks before the information was released and that the UN was notified but — for unknown reasons — never informed the civilian population or the governments involved.

Comment: The UN has a long history of covering up the crimes of its 'peacekeepers'. Back in 2002 their investigation arm could 'barely cope' with the number of cases being sent to it for investigation. If anything it's gotten worse, with the UN going so far as to essentially ally with terrorists in Syria in the mistreatment of the Syrian people.

The institution has been thoroughly ponerized thanks to its alliance to Western power and the horrendous and despicable crimes they commit around the globe. For more on what the UN could have been, and the direction it was heading under the leadership of Dag Hammarskjold, listen to The Truth Perspective: Interview with Henning Melber: Dag Hammarskjold, why he died and why it matters.

For more on the vast criminal conglomerate that the UN has become, see:


Binoculars

After Palmyra: Syrian Army takes strategic mountain range near Al-Qaryatayn (plus ceasefire updates)

Syria
© Sputnik/ Iliya Pitalev
The Syrian Army backed by popular forces has taken control over the Suniyat-Homs mountain range, two kilometers away from the town of Al-Qaryatayn, in central Syria.

The operation to liberate the Christian town of Al-Qaryatayn from Daesh militants began on Saturday morning. Covered by artillery fire, vanguard units of the army and its allies began an assault from the south, southeastern and northwestern directions, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported.

Comment: Ceasefire Update

After a period of stagnation, more militia groups and towns have joined the truce. The totals now stand at 56 towns and 44 armed groups. 1230 mines and IEDs have been defused in and around Palmyra. al-Nusra continues provocations in northwestern Aleppo, near the border with Turkey. The fighting there continues. Ziad Fadel at SyrPer humorously commented on the discredited Syrian Observatory for Human Rights' announcement of a 'glorious' Nusra offensive as follows:
Amazingly, news sources as widespread as UPI, API, Reuters, inter alia, (with reporters everywhere but in Syria) are quoting this lunatic who has "zero" sources inside Syria and whose only access to news is the MI6 Department of Creative Writing at Vauxhall Cross in London.
In reality, Nusra was destroyed, losing 41 (mostly foreigners, including many Turks) to the Russian/Syrian response, and allowing the SAA to enlarge their control over the surrounding area. Fadel writes:
The fact remains that the British terrorist handlers, most of whom are MI6 independent contractors formerly with the agency or retirees from SAS, cannot keep any secrets. They use mediocre communications platforms which are easily intercepted by the Russian military, the Syrian counterintelligence branch of the MI or HZB, which is proving itself to be surprisingly adept at the most complicated forms of encryption and deciphering. Not only that, citizens are regularly reporting events to the MoI which uniquely controls 3 separate intelligence agencies all reporting to Maj. Gen. Muhammad Ibraheem Al-Sha'aar. The Intel was clear: British handlers in Gaziantep would micro-manage the assault based on detailed satellite and drone intelligence from the CIA and MI6.

When the assault started at the time mentioned herein-above, you could hear British accented voices barking out orders in execrable Arabic - so dreadful it sounded like bad Spanish. It was only a few times, according to Wael, when a fluent speaker of Syrian Arabic could be heard with British voices in the background correcting this message or modifying this order. It was as though they were playing team table tennis using Korean.



Black Cat

Media blackout: Russia tells UN Security Council that Turkey is 'main supplier' of weapons to ISIS, uses humanitarian convoys to deliver weapons

turkey flag isis

Links between Turkey and ISIS continue to be revealed
Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said in a letter to the UN Security Council that Turkey is the main supplier of weapons to ISIS -- but the media doesn't seem impressed

The western media has been almost completely silent about a rather explosive accusation leveled against Turkey: According to Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, Ankara is the main supplier of weapons and ammunition to ISIS and other extremist groups operating in Syria.

The accusation was made in a letter to the UN Security Council, and included a detailed list of weapons and chemicals that Turkey has sent across its border into Syria.

Comment: While Russia sends humanitarian convoys with humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Turkey sends humanitarian convoys with weapons to terrorists. Shockingly (or rather, not shocking at all), the western media is silent on NATO's crimes against humanity.


Wolf

Pepe Escobar: Brazilian democracy thrown to the dogs

Brazilian corruption

The "lowly crooks" of Brazil
It took only 3 minutes for a bunch of lowly crooks - more known for excelling in corruption than competent administration - to (literally) throw young but vibrant Brazilian democracy to the dogs.

With no votes counted, so traitors would not be publicly identified, the centrist Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (Partido do Movimento Democrático Brasileiro or PMDB) in Brazil abandoned the coalition that supports President Dilma Rousseff in power in Brasilia, thus increasing the chances of a - Kafkaesque - impeachment drive against Rousseff being approved in April.

The PMDB is Brazil's largest party - accounting for 69 out of 513 members of Parliament. In the short term, the party will be contributing for one of its own, current vice-president Michel Temer, 75, a not exactly brilliant constitutionalist lawyer, to ascend to the presidency until the next elections in 2018, thus fulfilling the white coup/regime change scenario dreamed about by the proponents of Hybrid War in Brazil and their lowly vassals.

The Brazilian Constitution allows for impeachment; but in Rousseff's case, no undisputable «crime of responsibility» has been proven. The alleged accusations - centered on embezzling of public debt and fiscal mismanagement - are essentially bogus.

It gets worse; this undisguised white coup/regime change process will run in parallel to a dirty deal preventing the leader of the lower house in Brasilia, notorious crook Eduardo Cunha, from being thrown out of office for corruption. Cunha would simply 'resign' - under the assumption that the new Temer administration would need to articulate a new majority in Parliament.

Comment: More information on this soft coup by the corrupt elite of Brazil:


Eye 2

ISIS booted out of Syria: Is Lebanon next in line to be 'handed over' to them?

lebanon military

Members of the Lebanese military
Now that the Syrian armed forces have liberated Palmyra, President al Assad has thanked Vladimir Putin and the Russian people for the substantial support they provided to his country. Side by side, Syria and Russia have been fighting against the ISIS and other terrorist groups operating in the region - mainly the implants from the staunch allies of the West: Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey.

After recent victories in Syria, the myth of invincibility of the terrorism has collapsed, smashed to pieces. It has become clear that if fought honestly and with full determination, even the most fanatical ones can be defeated.

It has also become obvious that the West has very little interest in defeating these groups. First: they were invented in the Western capitals, at least conceptually. Second: they serve numerous purposes and in many different parts of the world; they brutalize rebellious countries in the Middle East, and they are spreading fear and frustration amongst the European citizens thus justifying increasing 'defense' and intelligence budgets, as well as grotesque surveillance measures.

It is so obvious that the West is unhappy about the marvelous success of both the Syrian and Russian forces in the Middle East. And it still does all it can to undermine it, and it is belittling and even smearing it using its propaganda apparatus.

Comment: Fortunately, Russia and also Iran, appear to be on top of Lebanon's predicament.


Arrow Up

Building bridges: More countries look to align with Russia in battle against terrorism after NATO's incompetence in Middle East

animation hands cooperation russia india
The wide display of technology and firepower shown in Syria has encouraged building cooperation and buying weapons from Moscow

With ISIS and Al Nusra on the run thanks to the combined capabilities of the Russian air force and Syrian Arab Army, terrorist organizations are moving to reallocate forces, continue propaganda and recruitment, as well as to spread chaos.

One of the most important factors that makes Islamic State (IS) so successful is the capability to franchise, replicate and expand its symbols. In recent weeks we have come to know that Jemaah Islamiyah, maybe the most infamous islamic group in South Asia, has practically created a joint venture of terror, rebranding its labels with that of IS. This is just the beginning as more and more small groups taking up the black flag of IS and declaring allegiance to Al-Baghdadi or whoever is in charge of that jihadi galaxy.

Comment: Considering the role that NATO and western partners have played in the formation of ISIS, who wouldn't want to align with Russia? See more: Is ISIS a creation of the US government? Do large hairy mammals relieve themselves in the woods?


Bomb

CIA 'K-9 test' gone wrong or something else?

C-4 explosive on School Bus
© This Can't Be Happening!.
Alert Virginia school district mechanic found C-4 explosive package planted on school bus in CIA "test".
What on earth was the CIA doing putting plastic high explosive charges on schoolbuses and in hidden places in a Virginia public school in a "test" of K-9 dogs reportedly belonging to the Agency itself?

The story of the secret "test" broke because an alert mechanic doing a routing check on one of the Loudon County School District's schoolbuses found a package of what turned out to be plastic explosive, packed in plastic-wrapped "shaped-charge" packages, down in among some of the rubber hoses and electric wires around the engine.

It had allegedly "fallen" from where it had originally been placed and was missed by the dogs and their handlers, and remained where it was stuck for two days, while the bus delivered some 26 young children to and from school on eight bus runs totaling 145 miles of driving.

I called the CIA's "public information" office on Friday to ask for clarification as to why the CIA, which does not have a domestic policing function, would be operating, and testing, a K-9 bomb-detecting unit, given that such tasks in the US would appropriately be handled either by state and local police agencies, or by the FBI or the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). The office, though it was mid-day, was not answering its phones, and only had a voice mail recording, on which I identified myself as a reporter, left my contact information and requested a response on deadline. No surprise: I was not called back with an answer, and do not anticipate receiving one from an agency that is infamous for its secrecy. (The standard CIA response in my experience, when I've received one at all, is: "We have no response to that question.")

Still, even for a notoriously opaque and obtuse government agency, this is a truly bizarre incident that cries out for answers.

Red Flag

Trying to make nice? Turkey to restore Russian monument in Istanbul

San Stefano
© WIKIPEDIA/ FUAT UZKINAY
The demolition of the Russian commemorative monument in San Stefano in November 1914
The Turkish government has agreed to restore the historic San Stefano Russian monument in Istanbul, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

According to the newspaper, the Turkish parliament's national defense commission said it would build the monument to commemorate fallen Russian soldiers in return for the construction of five similar monuments in Russia.

The agreement was initially discussed in 2012 and now it would be brought back up at the Turkish parliament. According to the 2012 document, the two countries decided to honor soldiers who died during historic wars on each other's soil.

Comment: This comes after further Russian revelations of Turkish collusion with Daesh. Is Turkey finally trying to make nice in order to avoid the inevitable fallout? After all, it looks as if their U.S. patron is willing to abandon the Erdogan regime to whatever fate meets it.

Turkey also recently arrested the alleged killer of the Russian Su-24 pilot on unrelated charges. Turkey has yet to apologize, but is this too a subtle overture, a way of mending bridges without explicit saying so?