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Editorial freedom? UK's 'Independent' partners with Saudi Arabia to expand international media influence


RT
Fri, 25 Jan 2019 22:21 UTC
Independent Arabia

Independent Arabia
A Saudi media company has launched an Arabic-language version of the UK Independent headed by an ally of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Persian, Turkish and Urdu versions of the website will also be launched.

Independent Arabia will feature a mix of translated articles from the UK site and content written by the reporters from Saudi Arabia and other countries. The organization running it is the Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG), which owns Arab News and Asharq al Awsat media brands.

Adhwan Alahmary has been appointed editor of the Independent Arabia. Seen as an ally of the royal family, he defended Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi embassy in Turkey in October.

"First of all, we are 'Independent' and we do not belong to any party," Alahmary told al Arabiya, whose parent company MBC Group is 60 percent owned by the Saudi government. "We promise the readers objectivity and the highest journalistic standards. We will leave it to the readers to judge our coverage, and time will proof that we are independent."

Comment: Independent journalism out of Saudi Arabia takes oxymoronic to the extreme, but at least thanks to this partnership we now know how readily the UK's Independent is to sell out: Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: West Discovers Saudi Arabia Has Human Rights Issues & The Real Reason People Hate Trump

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Better Earth

Russia to work on keeping INF Treaty even if US withdraws from it


RT
Fri, 25 Jan 2019 21:23 UTC
Russian defence and foreign ministries' officials
© Reuters / Maxim Shemetov
FILE PHOTO: News briefing by Russian defence and foreign ministries' officials about the SSC-8/9M729 missile system
Moscow will not abandon the INF Treaty and will make efforts to keep the landmark agreement in place even after Washington suspends its membership, Russia's Foreign Ministry deputy head, Sergey Ryabkov said.

"Absolutely not," Ryabkov told journalists when answering a question on whether Russia believes the INF Treaty may be given up on. Moscow considers the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), which was initially signed by the US and the USSR to denuclearize the European continent, to be well worth preserving regardless of Washington's actions, he added.

Even after the US withdraws from the deal in February "we will continue our work," the deputy foreign minister said, adding that Russia will still work to "preserve this document" and nothing the US does will change its approach to the issue. He also expressed his hope that "common sense will prevail" eventually.

Comment: It has become evidently clear in recent years that the US is so bogged down in corruption that its military (as but one example) is lagging far behind Russia and China, and it has little choice but to resort to threats, playing dirty and fantastical ideas: 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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Quenelle - Golden

"Empty European rhetoric": Italian PM slams France & Germany's hypocrisy


RT
Fri, 25 Jan 2019 22:13 UTC
Merkel Conte
© Reuters / Arnd Wiegmann
Angela Merkel and Giuseppe Conte
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte called out France and Germany in a hard-hitting interview Friday, fired up over the countries' efforts to land Berlin a seat on the UN Security Council.

"Did Germany lose or win WWII?" Conte asked rhetorically, emphasizing, in his typical no holds barred style, that the seat had been intended for the EU as a whole.

The populist PM made the comments in an interview with local media after he was asked to comment on French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel's recently signed "friendship treaty." The so-called Treaty of Aachen includes a provision highlighting Paris and Berlin's stated priority of securing a permanent seat on the powerful UN body. The UN General Assembly gave Germany temporary UNSC membership in June, alongside four other countries.

Comment: Thankfully we can rely on Italy's populist politicians to say it like it is, although Merkel and Macron aren't merely looking out for the elites of their respective countries, they're also working towards subsuming national sovereignty for the insidious, supranational powers: And check out SOTT radio's:

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Arrow Down

Trump betrays MAGA over Venezuela

Tom Luongo
TomLuongo.me
Fri, 25 Jan 2019 12:00 UTC
Donald Trump and Juan Guaido
© Reuters: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Aaron Josefczyk
The US has announced its support for Juan Guaido, the Venezuelan Opposition Leader.
The U.S. backed a coup in Venezuela that has failed. And President Trump was the architect of it. This is a farce surrounding an intrigue contained within a tragedy.

What has happened in Venezuela is tragic. Nicolas Maduro is a comical figure straight out of central casting for a South American leader of a junta. But it has been the U.S.'s designs on Venezuela's oil and gas reserves (the largest proven in the world as of 2017) that is the real story behind this week's events.

For anyone still harboring doubts as to who Trump truly is Venezuela should end them. Trump's Energy Dominance policy is at the core of his foreign policy. And he will do whatever it takes to secure that policy and deliver a long-standing order to the U.S. and European oligarchy to gain control over Venezuela.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Will Globalists' War on Nationalism Lead to Bloody Revolution?

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Chess

Roger Stone indicted and arrested by FBI in connection with Russiagate investigation

Darren Samuelsohn, Josh Gerstein, Marc Caputo and Caitlin Oprysko
Politico
Fri, 25 Jan 2019 20:53 UTC
Roger Stone
© Lynne Sladky / Associated Press
Roger Stone
Roger Stone, a longtime aide and confidant of President Donald Trump, was arrested early Friday morning by the FBI after being indicted on charges he lied to Congress and obstructed the House Intelligence Committee's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The seven-count indictment alleges Stone misled lawmakers on the committee about his efforts to communicate with WikiLeaks and his contacts with the Trump campaign.


Comment: Wikileaks has responded by saying the indictment only reveals more evidence that Trump's campaign had no "back channel" with WikiLeaks.


It also accuses Stone of attempting to intimidate another witness: radio host Randy Credico, who was in contact with WikiLeaks head Julian Assange in 2016.

Stone appeared Friday morning at the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., after a Washington, D.C., grand jury approved the indictment Thursday. He was released on a $250,000 personal surety bond. Stone said Friday that he would be arraigned in D.C. next week.

The Stone indictment marks Mueller's biggest move yet against a Trump associate on grounds related to the release of stolen emails to sabotage Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2016. It also reflects a stunning turn for Stone, a GOP operative and prominent Trump cheerleader whose relationship with the president spans nearly 40 years, making him a prime target for investigators to try to turn into a government witness.

Comment: There has been plenty of reaction from across the political spectrum to Stone's arrest. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders stated that despite the media claims otherwise, Trump did nothing wrong: "There was no collusion on his part".

Stone's lawyer, Grant Smith, claims his client is "vindicated" due to the fact that the indictment against him does not mention Russian collusion. Trump's legal counselor Jay Sekulow weighed in:
"The indictment today does not allege Russian collusion by Roger Stone or anyone else. Rather, the indictment focuses on alleged false statements Mr. Stone made to Congress".
Stone has since said he will plead not guilty and that the charges against him are "politically motivated".

Jim Jatras, a former US Diplomat and GOP Senate policy adviser, told RT:
the indictment shows "no collusion between the Trump campaign and Wikileaks, or the Russians or anyone else." Instead, the crimes are so-called 'process crimes', or crimes that occurred during the course of an investigation.

"This is what they do to put the squeeze on people to try to force them to make up things that aren't true. What they do is they throw all kinds of complex questions at you and if you don't have the relevant records, and any time you get a name wrong or a date wrong, they say 'that's a felony,' 'that's a felony, and we're gonna throw you in jail for the next fifty years unless you do what we say.'"
Charging Trump's associates with a barrage of process crimes, and broadcasting images of heavily armed federal agents raiding Stone's house are part of an attempt to "create an atmosphere of criminality" around Trump, Jatras said, with the end goal of supporting his impeachment.

The entire 'Russiagate' investigation, former Pentagon analyst Michael Maloof told RT, is "a waste of money, and a waste of time" being "perpetuated by the mainstream media, and the democrats in Congress, because they hate Trump period. That's what this is all about. They just hate Trump."
For more, see Top takeaways from the Roger Stone indictment

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Light Sabers

Greek MPs back Macedonia name-change deal in narrow vote amid repeated protests


RT
Fri, 25 Jan 2019 20:00 UTC
Greek parliament
© RT
Greek parliament votes on an accord between Greece and Macedonia changing the former Yugoslav republic's name
Greek MPs have supported the name-change deal with Macedonia with a narrow majority. The agreement, which resolves the lengthy dispute blocking Macedonia's accession to the EU and NATO, sparked massive protests in Greece earlier.

Athens managed to secure the parliamentary backing of the deal with 153 votes in favor to 146 votes against, amid mounting public opposition. The parliament's decision was welcomed by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who helped hammered out the deal last year.

"After one year of negotiations, discussions and exhaustive dialogue, we are reaching the end of a tough and painful process," Tsipras told parliament during a heated debate ahead of the vote on Thursday night. However, the agreement, which is aimed at ending a 28-year row between Athens and Skopje by allowing the Balkan state to name itself the 'Republic of North Macedonia', apparently does not sit well with the Greek people.
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Satellite

Russian Foreign Ministry warns that US plans for space wars are real


RT
Fri, 25 Jan 2019 19:59 UTC
rocket launch
© Global Look Press / US Air Force
US plans to pursue development of space-based interceptors signals that Washington would use space for military operations, the Russian Foreign Ministry has warned.

Washington's concept of a space-based interceptor capable of destroying missiles in the boost phase was presented in the US Missile Defense Review (MDR) last week.

In the speech announcing the publication of the MDR, US President Donald Trump warned that the new strategy will "ensure that enemy missiles find no sanctuary on Earth or in the skies above."

He also declared that "space is a new war-fighting domain with the Space Force leading the way."

Comment:

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Snakes in Suits

Morgan Stanley CEO: Saudi Ritz-Carlton purge 'creative and efficient'

Daniel Hilton
Middle East Eye
Thu, 24 Jan 2019 18:06 UTC
James Gorman
© Reuters
Morgan Stanley chairman and chief executive James Gorman
The detention of scores of Saudi royals and businessmen in Riyadh's Ritz-Carlton, where some were reportedly tortured, may be one of the most creative and efficient ways of tackling corruption, Morgan Stanley's James Gorman said on Thursday.

Speaking on a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Gorman, CEO and chairman of the major investment bank, said businesses should not be dissuaded from engaging with Saudi Arabia despite the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

"The murder of Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul was utterly unacceptable," Gorman said as he responded to questions on a panel.

"But what do you do? What part do you play in the process of economic and social change?"
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Pirates

Act of gangsterism against Venezuela: Trump, Pence, Pompeo star in the Pirates of the Caribbean

George Galloway
RT
Fri, 25 Jan 2019 17:58 UTC
Opposition supporters, Caracas, Venezuela
© Reuters /Carlos Garcia Rawlins
Opposition supporters, Caracas, Venezuela
You could scour the bowels of US imperial crimes, from the Mexican-American War to the Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnam, and you won't find a more brazen cynical act of gangsterism than that which is now underway against Venezuela.

Not since Hitler justified blitzing Poland by claiming it had encroached on the frontier into Nazi Germany has a more blatant set of falsehoods been adduced as a pretext for conflict.

In Venezuela, it will quickly become a civil war that will most likely draw in other countries from Cuba to Colombia and Brazil (as I previously predicted here) with incalculable consequences - not least for the world's oil prices.

Discerning readers will already be aware that Venezuela has the world's largest oil reserves and is a major producer - and the biggest seller to the American market.
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Bad Guys

Washington orchestrates coup in Venezuela, incites civil war, in name of 'democracy'

Finian Cunningham
RT
Fri, 25 Jan 2019 17:51 UTC
support maduro
© REUTERS/Marco Bello
A rally in support of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela October 5, 2018
The dramatic events in Venezuela have "US-orchestrated coup d'état" written all over them. Washington is also giving itself license for military intervention which could spark a proxy war involving Russia.

The sequencing leaves no doubt the US has upped the ante for regime change in the South American country.

This week, Vice President Mike Pence issued a call to arms with a deft video address to the "people of Venezuela" to take to the streets against the elected government. Pence also urged the country's security forces to back the protests, adding, "we [the US] are with you."

Next day, the opposition figure Juan Guaido holds a major rally in the capital Caracas and declares himself "interim president of Venezuela" while denouncing incumbent Nicolas Maduro as "a usurper."
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