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Georgian opposition TV host bad-mouths Putin and Russia on air, sends country into meltdown

Georgiy Gabuniya

Georgiy Gabuniya
An expletive-ridden rant by a Georgian TV host, who switched to Russian to hurl vulgarities at President Vladimir Putin and his late parents, has drawn a massive backlash, forcing officials to go into damage control.

The host of an opinion show on Georgia's opposition Rustavi 2 TV broadcaster began his Sunday program by addressing Putin in Russian. For nearly a minute, Georgiy Gabuniya used expletives in Russian, including making foul references to Putin's late parents, before finally expressing his desire to "sh*t on [Putin's] grave." In the tirade, Gabuniya referred to Putin as an "invader," and to Russians as "slaves."

The expletive-drenched diatribe used nearly every curse word in Russian, in which even the F-word seemed moderate compared to the more vulgar phrases he employed.

Despite the two countries' enmity, the stunt wasn't taken well in either Russia or Georgia, where a crowd of agitated protesters flocked to the channel's Tbilisi headquarters, chanting slogans and demanding the host be fired. The station was soon forced to go off-air, citing security concerns. It resumed broadcasting on Monday morning.

Bizarro Earth

US greenlights $2.2bn sale of tanks & missiles to Taiwan despite China's protests

US Marine
© Reuters / Staff Sgt. Dengrier M. Baez
FILE PHOTO: US Marine Corps M1A1 Abrams tanks
Washington has given a green light to supply Taiwan with $2.2bn worth of US military tech, including tanks and surface-to-air missiles, in violation of the One China principle that views the island as part of the mainland.

"The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to TECRO for the M1A2T Abrams Tanks and related equipment and support Stinger missiles and related equipment and support for an estimated cost of $2 billion," the Pentagon announced on Monday.

The purchase, which still needs to be approved by Congress, includes 108 units of M1A2T Abrams Tanks, which Taipei plans to use against China if it tries to reclaim sovereignty over the island. The Pentagon maintains that the sale will not influence the "basic military balance" in the region and will merely "enhance" Taiwan's ability "to meet current and future regional threats and to strengthen its homeland defense."

Comment: See also:


Whistle

Contrary to fake news spin, President Trump is a whistle-blower against Jeffrey Epstein, not a co-conspirator

Epstein Trump
The fake news is attempting to tie President Donald Trump to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was charged with the sex trafficking of minors on Saturday.

Stock Down

Deutsche Bank slashes 18,000 jobs in brutal cull, "financial system is in trouble"

Deutsche Bank
© Simon Dawson / Reuters
A man carrying a box leaves a Deutsche Bank office in London, Britain July 8, 2019.
One laid off equities trader said the mood was "pretty gloomy" as people were called in to meetings. "They give you this packet and you are out of the building," he said.

Deutsche Bank laid off staff Monday as it began cutting 18,000 jobs as part of an $8.3 billion "reinvention."

In a retreat from a long-held ambition to make its struggling investment bank, which employs 38,000 people, a force on Wall Street, Deutsche Bank said on Sunday it would scrap its global equities operations and cut some in fixed income.

Shares in Deutsche Bank, which has almost 91,500 staff around the world, were slightly lower in Frankfurt as the bank's finance chief said there was "significant uncertainty" whether it would break even in 2020.

Comment: Investor Jim Rogers comments on RT that this cull is just one of many signs the system is in serious trouble:
When traditionally stable institutions like Deutsche Bank find themselves in trouble, it's a signal that the world's financial system will face big problems down the road, legendary investor Jim Rogers has told RT.

The move has already impacted the bank's shares, which started to fall after initial 4 percent gains on Monday.

"The financial system is in trouble and this is just one sign of what is going on. This has happened in previous financial problems in the 1930s or the 1960s or the 1990s," Rogers said in a phone interview with RT. He explained that central banks around the globe drove interest rates "to crazy levels," and now we have to pay the price for that.

This led to what "we think is a stable and sound [bank] start making speculative loans... and then what used to be strong banks get in trouble."

Deutsche Bank's major overhaul does not mean it will not survive, according to Rogers. However, the bank will never be the same and "this is serious trouble" for the lender as well as the entire financial system, the investor believes.

Rogers offered a reminder that some stable banks went bust when nobody expected it, as was the case with Lehman Brothers in 2008 or with another old bank, British Northern Rock.

"And it is happening again. If you go to Scandinavia you see some of those banks that have been around for years are in trouble now. This is nothing more than a sign of the times and we're going to have a lot of problems down the road," the investor said.

However, according to Rogers, Deutsche Bank is unlikely to collapse due to multiple warnings and enormous government efforts to support it. Rogers went on to explain that collapses occur unexpectedly and it's when the global markets can crash.

"If Deutsche Bank were to collapse it would be a surprise. It would cause the global market to start to decline," he said, adding that it would create a "snowball" that would see other major banks follow the same path.
The corrupt banking system wasn't reformed following the 2008 crash, governments simply stole public wealth to bail them out and the two carried on as usual while the working man suffered, what we're seeing now are the fruits of that deception, and the fall out from the next crash will likely be catastrophic: Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal #26: Globalization vs Nationalism - The Hidden Causes of The Yellow Vest Protests in France


Eye 1

Ukrainian TV drops show co-hosted with Russian broadcaster over "death threats" & govt pressure

press
© Global Look Press / Oskar Eyb / imageBROKER.com
FILE PHOTO
A Ukrainian broadcaster abruptly halted work on a new televised 'politics-free' discussion with Russia's flagship channel, aimed at giving a say to viewers from diverse sides, citing "death threats" and pressure on journalists.

NewsOne and Russia's most-watched broadcaster Rossiya 1, were eagerly anticipating their co-hosted television show called 'We need to talk.' Scheduled to go on air on July 12, it was meant to give a voice to people from each country without having to touch upon divisive political issues.

However, on Monday NewsOne said it had to cancel its participation in the joint project on the back of a tremendous smear campaign that "a number of political parties" had launched ahead of the show. There have been rallies outside the channel's premises as well as "unambiguous death threats against our journalists and their close relatives," it said.

Comment: The dark forces that run Ukraine aren't in the business of reconciliation or fair reporting:


TV

Trump turns on Fox News, says some hosts worse than 'fake news CNN'

fox news protest
© Global Look Press/ Zumapress.com/ Michael Nigro/File
US President Donald Trump has unloaded on Fox News, slamming the channel for recruiting Democrats and using "fake news" sources. He accused his favorite broadcaster of forgetting "who got them there."

Trump's ongoing war with the media has been well-documented, but Fox News, which Trump's detractors describe as his mouthpiece, has been spared his wrath - until now.

In a series of posts, Trump said that watching "terrible" Fox News daytime weekend anchors is worse than watching "low ratings Fake News CNN." He also bashed Fox for hiring former Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairwoman Donna Brazile, and for referring to the New York Times as a news source.

Briefcase

Leak of UK ambassador's views on Trump shows why honesty has no place in international relations

uk british american flags
© Tim Graham/Getty Images
Britain's establishment is scrambling to limit the damage caused by a leak of the UK ambassador's classified criticism of Donald Trump, even if it's clear that most of them agree with it.

In fact, the outrage caused by the views of Britain's man in Washington being publicly aired underlines what most of us know - that honesty has absolutely no place in international relations.

Sir Kim Darroch called Trump, among other things, "incompetent," "inept," and "clumsy." That all looks pretty rich now that his innermost thoughts on the one man he is supposed to be buttering up have been released for all to see. However it happened, it does seem clumsy and inept. Almost Trumpian, allegedly.

Comment: Our man in America: UK ambassador Darroch's secret cables to Downing Street labeled Trump 'inept', 'insecure', 'incompetent'


TV

Interview with former President Manuel Zelaya on the 10th anniversary of US overthrow: 'The coup turned Honduras into hell'

Manuel Zelaya
© Radio Netherlands Worldwide
Former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya
The Grayzone's Anya Parampil sat down for an exclusive interview with Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, on the 10th anniversary of the US-backed right-wing military coup that overthrew him. He discusses the extreme violence, drug trafficking, economic depression, migration crisis, Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH), WikiLeaks, Venezuela, and more.


Transcript:

Oil Well

Conflict in Persian Gulf may send oil beyond $325/barrel...three scenarios

oil tanker
© Joan Carlos Hernandez/Global Look Press
The possibility of Iran attempting to close the Strait of Hormuz to tanker traffic has increased significantly in recent weeks, as has the possibility of a Persian Gulf War, especially with the Islamic Republics' intentional destruction of a U.S. surveillance drone on June 20. This act provides weight to Tehran's threat that it will inflict a heavy toll on U.S. allies in the region if attacked by American forces and will not allow these same countries to export their oil if it can't export its own.

The memory remains remarkably fresh in Iran of the 1951-53 oil embargo that toppled the democratically-elected government of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh - and the CIA installing the despot Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the so-called Shah of Iran, in his place.

The impact on oil markets of an Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz would be enormous.

Strait of Hormuz Closure

The leadership of the Iranian Navy and the Revolutionary Guard Navy, knowing they could never challenge the U.S. in a conventional naval contest, have been accumulating considerable asymmetric and other capabilities to enable the Islamic Republic to close the Strait of Hormuz since the "tanker war" in the Persian Gulf during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War. These capabilities include thousands of sea mines, torpedoes, advanced cruise missiles, regular-sized and mini-submarines, and a flotilla of small fast-attack boats, most of which are concentrated in the strait region.

Snakes in Suits

Pompeo warns Iran: New 'sanctions and further isolation' for uranium enrichment (levels set by the JCPOA)

Pompeo
© Israel National News
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
On Sunday, Iranian authorities announced that the country's enrichment of uranium would surpass 3.6 percent "in a few hours," and promised to reduce the nation's commitment to the Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), every 60 days, if the issue is not resolved.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Iran of "further isolation and sanctions," following Tehran's move, claiming that an Iran "armed with nuclear weapons, would pose an even greater danger to the world".

According to Tehran, reducing Iran's commitments under the nuclear accord is "in parallel with saving the JCPOA, and not destroying it, this tendency may lead to discontinuing our participation in the JCPOA".

On Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that on 7 July Tehran will start enriching uranium at levels set out in the JCPOA and would maintain that enrichment at a level it considers necessary.

Comment: See also: