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British-flagged tanker reaches Dubai port following release from Iran


RFE/RL
Fri, 27 Sep 2019 11:11 UTC
The British-flagged tanker Stena Impero Bandar Abbas

The British-flagged tanker Stena Impero pictured in the port of Bandar Abbas on July 21.
The British-flagged oil tanker that was seized by Iran in July has arrived at Dubai's Port Rashid in the United Arab Emirates, according to ship-tracking websites.

The Stena Impero, which had been held off Bandar Abbas for more than two months, started moving out of the Iranian port on September 27 and reached the coast off Dubai in the early morning hours of September 28.

The arrival was reported on several ship-tracking websites.

Erik Hanell, CEO of the company that owns the vessel, Stena Bulk, told the media earlier that the tanker's crew are "safe and in high spirits" following their release from Iran.

He added that arrangements have been made for them to return to their families.

"The crew will have a period of time to be with their families following 10 weeks of detainment on the vessel. Full support will be offered to the crew and families in the coming weeks to assist with their recovery," he said.

Comment: Previously:

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Cowboy Hat

'Obvious paranoia': Lavrov responds to Pelosi's claim Russia 'had a hand' in Trump-Zelensky impeachment scandal


RT
Sat, 28 Sep 2019 13:11 UTC
Sergei Lavrov and Nancy Pelosi
© Reuters / Brendan McDermid / Alexander Drago
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's claims that Russia was involved in the Trump-Zelensky phone conversation scandal as "obvious paranoia" and yet another "deadly sin" to pin on Moscow.

"Russia's been accused of all the deadly sins, and then some," Lavrov said at a press conference at the UN General Assembly on Friday, addressing a question about Pelosi's claims that his country was somehow involved in the alleged quid pro quo between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"It's paranoia, and I think it's obvious to everyone."

Comment: For more on Ukrainegate:

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Bad Guys

Careening from Russiagate to Ukrainegate

Finian Cunningham
The Strategic Culture Foundation
Thu, 26 Sep 2019 21:05 UTC
Biden

Biden looking awfully smug.
With the "Russiagate" hoax proving to be the "most fraudulent political scandal in American history," as Princeton Professor Stephen Cohen puts it, now we have emerging an alternative - "Ukrainegate".

President Donald Trump is being accused of abusing his White House office to put pressure on Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to dig into alleged corrupt dealings by Joe Biden, the top Democratic candidate for the forthcoming presidential elections in 2020.

To make matters worse for Trump, he is also accused of threatening to withhold $250 million of military aid as a way to pressure the Kiev authorities to investigate Biden's past relations with Ukraine, when he was serving as Vice President in the Obama administration. That could amount to extortion by Trump, if proven.

Comment: The Democrats have failed every time they've tried to unseat Trump. Will "Ukrainegate" looks like it may boomerang on them to the point it finally puts the coup attempts down for good. One can only hope. The American public deserve a rest from the madness.

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Attention

Solomon: Once-secret Ukrainian memos cast doubt on Joe Biden's story

John Solomon
The Hill
Thu, 26 Sep 2019 20:26 UTC
biden ukraine

Joe Biden holds court with Ukraine's puppet government after the 2014 coup
Former Vice President Joe Biden, now a 2020 Democratic presidential contender, has locked into a specific story about the controversy in Ukraine.

He insists that, in spring 2016, he strong-armed Ukraine to fire its chief prosecutor solely because Biden believed that official was corrupt and inept, not because the Ukrainian was investigating a natural gas company, Burisma Holdings, that hired Biden's son, Hunter, into a lucrative job.

There's just one problem.

Hundreds of pages of never-released memos and documents — many from inside the American team helping Burisma to stave off its legal troubles — conflict with Biden's narrative.

Comment: More from the Gateway Pundit:
Investigative reporter John Solomon dropped hundreds of pages of documents today.

Here is the Victor Shokin statement.
Shogin statement biden
shogin statement biden2
shogin statement biden3


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Attention

'They're murdering my son' - Julian Assange's father shares his pain and anguish in an interview

Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture
Tue, 24 Sep 2019 00:00 UTC
John Shipton
© TV Tonight
John Shipton, father of Julian Assange
Julian Assange's father, John Shipton, gave an interview to Strategic Culture Foundation over the weekend. After arriving from his home country of Australia, Shipton is visiting several European states, including Russia, to bring public attention to the persecution of Julian Assange by British authorities over his role as a publisher and author.

First though an introduction to the Assange case. Few media figures can be attributed with transforming international politics and the global media landscape. Arguably, Julian Assange, author, publisher and founder of the WikiLeaks whistleblower website (2006), is in the top tier of world-changing individuals over the past decade.

The Australian-born Assange has previously been awarded with accolades and respect for his truth-telling journalism which exposed massive crimes, corruption and nefarious intrigues by the US government and its Western allies.

One of the most shocking exposés by WikiLeaks was the video Collateral Murder (2010) which showed mass, indiscriminate deadly shootings by US troops in Iraq. Similar war crimes by American troops in Afghanistan were also revealed by WikiLeaks. The so-called US and NATO "war on terror" was exposed as a fraud and gargantuan crime.
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Cheese

Adam Schiff sheepishly claims his blatant fabrication of Trump quotes was merely 'parody'

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Thu, 26 Sep 2019 11:40 UTC
Adam Schiff
© Joseph Maguire Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff
Moments after an anonymous whistleblower complaint against President Trump was released, acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire sat for public testimony with the House Intelligence Committee - where he was grilled by Congressional Democrats over his handling of the complaint.

Kicking off the session, Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) rattled off completely fabricated account of a July 25 call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in order to analogize the interaction to a scene from a mafia drama.

Schiff was later forced to apologize, calling it a "parody."

Comment: From RT, 26/9/2019: Schiff's 're-telling' of Trump phone call with Ukraine head gets mocked as 'unhinged Orange-Man-Bad fan fiction'
With impeachment efforts against President Donald Trump resting on the content of a single phone call, who could blame Congressman Adam Schiff for embellishing the truth a little, all to sell his "Orange Man Bad" narrative.

His thunder stolen by the release of the transcript - Schiff added some dramatic flourishes to his summary of the call as Maguire's hearing opened, describing "the essence of what the president communicates."


"We've been very good to your country. Very good. No other country has done as much as we have. But you know what? I don't see much reciprocity here. I hear what you want. I have a favor I want from you, though. And I'm gonna say this only seven times, so you better listen good."

"I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent, understand, lots of it. On this and on that. I'm going to put you in touch with people...and by the way don't call me again. I'll call you when you've done what I asked."
Sounds dramatic, but the only problem? Trump didn't say any of this. Not a word. Schiff was mocked by Republican lawmakers and pundits for being so "desperate" that he resorted to rewriting the call into "unhinged 'Orange Man Bad' fan fiction."




"It's a shame that we started off this hearing with fictional remarks," Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) said. "Unfortunately today, many innocent Americans are going to turn on their TV and the media is only going to show that section of what the chairman had to say."

From his wooden delivery to his poor imitation of Trump, Schiff will unlikely be leaving Washington DC for Hollywood any time soon. However, the California Democrat is well versed in grandiose storytelling. Schiff branded the idea of probing Joe Biden's son Hunter over his role at a Ukrainian gas holding as "making up dirt."

The actual Trump quote on Biden in the conversation with Zelensky goes as follows:
"The other thing, there's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution [of the Burisma Holding where Hunter Biden was on board of directors] and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the attorney general [William Barr] would be great."
Doubling down, Schiff has this response to his actions:


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Bad Guys

Paul Craig Roberts: Dems reveal real purpose of impeachment investigation

Paul Craig Roberts
paulcraigroberts.org
Thu, 26 Sep 2019 00:00 UTC
Trump
© Otago Daily Times
US President Donald Trump
The Democrats know that there is no impeachable offense. What they intend to do is to use the investigation to look into every aspect of Trump's life and try to make dirt out of things unrelated to his talk with the Ukrainian president. This "impeachment investigation" is a political act to help their candidate win the next presidential election.

Democrats themselves describe it in this way. For example, here is how Rob Kall, the director of one of the progressive Democrat websites, described the purpose of the investigation:
"The idea should be to keep the impeachment going as long as possible, with new testimonies and new releases of disclosures of alleged corruption and treason on a regular basis.

"Looking at impeachment as a process for removing the president is the wrong way of thinking about it. Looking at it as a key that gives access to investigative tools is the smarter, more strategic, way of looking at it. Ideally, it will get so bad for Trump that the Republicans will end up putting up someone else to run in the general election.

"But keeping him under investigation, at least through the November election, will increasingly erode the support of both Trump and the Republican party brand, making a Democratic takeover of the Senate and the White House, and an increased control of the House even more likely."
In other words, it is a political power play.

Comment: Don't miss Tucker Carlson's take on this new attack against Trump:



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Attention

Rouhani: Iran was told 'all US sanctions would be lifted in return for talks' - not the case!


RT
Fri, 27 Sep 2019 13:08 UTC
Rouhani/Trump
© Unknown
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani • US President Donald Trump
European nations were so eager to negotiate with Iran that they suggested the US would end its sanctions regime if Tehran was willing to engage in dialogue, President Hassan Rouhani has said.

According to Rouhani, European signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal urged him to meet with US President Donald Trump, promising that Washington would lift "all" sanctions in return.

"Three out of the six countries, that is the chancellor of Germany, prime minister of Britain, and president of France, all insisted for the meeting to be held, saying that the US would lift all sanctions," stated the Iranian president.

He said he rejected the proposal because, "under sanctions and maximum pressure," it would have been impossible to predict the end result of any negotiations.

Trump quickly denied that he had offered Iran any relief, tweeting that Tehran had asked him to lift sanctions as a prerequisite to talks, but that he had "of course" refused.

Comment: More from Jerusalem Post, 27/9/2019:
Rouhani said, according to his official website: "Americans had propagandised about being ready for negotiation, and that it is Iran who is stubborn. They had sent messages to almost all European and no-European leaders that they wanted one-to-one negotiations between the two Presidents, but we had rejected it, saying that negotiations had to be done in the framework of P5+1, and they accepted."
See also:

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Arrow Up

Nicola Sturgeon supports Jeremy Corbyn as caretaker PM to ensure Brexit extension


Irish Examiner
Fri, 27 Sep 2019 12:58 UTC
Nicola Sturgeon/Jeremy Corbyn
© Unknown
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon • British Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn
Nicola Sturgeon has backed the idea of Jeremy Corbyn becoming a caretaker prime minister, in a bid to secure an extension to the Brexit deadline.

The Scottish First Minister tweeted on Friday that she agrees with the idea of installing the UK Labour leader as British PM through a vote of no confidence in the Conservative administration so he can secure a Brexit extension, before then calling an immediate general election.

In response to a tweet making the suggestion, Ms Sturgeon said: "Agree with this. VONC [vote of no confidence], opposition unites around someone for sole purpose of securing an extension, and then immediate General Election.

"Nothing is risk free but leaving Johnson in post to force through no deal - or even a bad deal - seems like a terrible idea to me." Mr Johnson has maintained Britain will leave the EU on October 31, with or without a deal.

The Benn Act, passed in Westminster earlier this month, instructs the PM to request an extension to the deadline until the end of January if no deal is agreed, but that is something Mr Johnson has repeatedly said he will not do.

Despite support from the SNP, a vote of no confidence in the UK Government would still need to win over the other opposition parties, and the 23 MPs expelled by the Tories.
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Nuke

IAEA: Iran in violation of nuclear deal, uses advanced centrifuges


RT
Thu, 26 Sep 2019 19:36 UTC
Ali-Akbar Salehi
© Reuters/Leonhard Foeger
Ali-Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, at IAEA conference
Iran is violating the nuclear deal by enriching uranium with advanced centrifuges, the International Atomic Energy Agency has reported, after Iran said the European nations involved in the deal aren't holding up their end.

The UN nuclear watchdog warned Iran has further breached the beleaguered JCPOA agreement by enriching uranium with advanced centrifuges and by planning to install hundreds more of those centrifuges, which were reduced in number from 19,000 to 6,000 under the terms of the deal. Iran is only permitted to use first-generation centrifuges to enrich uranium under the JCPOA.

The move hasn't exactly come as a surprise: Iran had informed the IAEA of its plans to add advanced centrifuge clusters to its uranium-enrichment setup, the agency acknowledged in its report, released on Thursday.
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