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SE Asia must not 'compromise' with terrorists and traitors

Tony Cartalucci
New Eastern Outlook
Mon, 02 May 2016 00:00 UTC
Red shirt terror
© Soichiro Koriyama
Red Shirt Terror: The people responsible for doing this to Thailand, never get to run the country again. Period.
So-called Thai "academic" Thitinana Pongsudhirak of Chulalongkorn University in a Bangkok Post op-ed titled, "Thailand lags as Myanmar gains ground," attempts to convince readers that Myanmar is an example for Southeast Asia to follow, while Thailand is in reverse.

Thitinan's simplistic analysis is based on the most superficial metrics one can observe. Myanmar had "elections," so therefore Thitinan concludes functioning and fair "democracy" must exist. The US and Europe hailed the ascension of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to power, therefore it must be "good." And Myanmar's military leadership made concessions to allow all of this to take place, therefore "so should Thailand and the rest of Southeast Asia."

Thitinan condemns Thailand for what he calls, "fits and starts from military-authoritarianism to popular rule only to revert to dictatorship, enabled by two military coups in 2006 and 2014." He fails to mention the "popular rule" removed from power by "two military coups" was led by Thaksin Shinawatra, a man who literally mass murdered nearly 3,000 innocent people in 2003, another 85 protesters in a single day in 2004, and carried out a systematic campaign of murder, assassinations, kidnappings, and physical and legal intimidation to silence his critics and political opponents all while illegally and very openly consolidating his power.

In the wake of the 2006 coup, twice Shinawatra brought mobs to Bangkok, and in 2010 those mobs included 300 heavily armed terrorists who tipped off street battles that killed nearly 100 protesters, by-standers, soldiers, and police. That was before Shinawatra's political subordinates openly called for nationwide arson upon protest stages before dutifully and destructively carrying it out.

Thitinan, like many pro-Shinawatra lobbyists impersonating academics, intentionally leaves all of this out, as well as any feasible alternative that could have been used to remove a "popular ruler" from power who was openly trampling both the rule of law, and the lives and livelihoods of the people of Thailand.

Thitinan, and Impersonators Like Him, Represents the West, Not Asia

Thitinan then touches back on Myanmar, citing Western condemnation and sanctions as one of several causes for Myanmar's failure to keep up with its Southeast Asian neighbors. He incorrectly cites however, "the force and logic of basic rights and freedoms" as why the military-led government there finally gave in to Suu Kyi's opposition party.


Comment: And here's where the puppet masters take control.


Comment: Myanmar embraced, then suffered, the "saffron revolution" thinking it was a liberal, pro-democratic progressive movement. It wasn't. Small and independent countries, no matter where they are located, are easy prey for the ongoing imperial sales job...a con game of high intensity and geopolitical ramifications. Unsuspecting states, under the spell of freedom and democracy but without understanding the built-in pitfalls, become enamored with those concepts. Meanwhile the PTB undermine it politically, economically and socially long before it is realized. Don't look a democracy gift horse in the mouth. It has teeth and you best know that up front. They are hidden right behind the lip service.

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Vader

Kerry wants more propaganda: US increasing funding to train 750 journalists worldwide


Sputnik
Tue, 03 May 2016 21:14 UTC
US Secretary of State John Kerry
© REUTERS/ Mike Blake
The United States is increasing funding by more than $2 million to train hundreds of reporters across the globe, US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a press briefing on Tuesday to mark World Press Freedom day.

"We [the United States] have provided physical and digital training to more than 750 journalists worldwide and we are increasing our funding to $2.5 million this year so we can train even more," Kerry stated.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) is supporting independent media efforts in more than thirty countries, Kerry noted.
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Cowboy Hat

Japan turns down Merkel's NATO offer because it would 'negatively affect our relations with Russia'


Fort Russ
Tue, 03 May 2016 21:03 UTC
Shinzo Abe and Vladimir Putin
Angela Merkel invited Japan to join NATO during a conversation with the prime minister of the country, Shinzo Abe, during the German chancellor's visit to Tokyo in March, 2015, Japanese media report.

As the publication "The Japan News" reports, Merkel promised Abe the support of the prime minister of Great Britain, David Cameron, and the president of France, Francois Hollande. The Japanese leader refused the offer and said: "Maybe in the future, but now this would negatively affect our relations with Russia."

Comment: That is an excellent snub by Shinzo Abe to NATO!

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Eye 1

Huxley's Brave New World fast becoming a terrifying geopolitical reality


Sputnik
Tue, 03 May 2016 20:14 UTC
obama virtual reality
© AFP 2016/ Jim Watson
The terrifying dystopian vision described by science fiction writer Aldous Huxley is not a description of the totalitarian states of the 20th century, but a creeping reflection of today's reality, says Russian journalist Konstantin Syomin.

Last week, visiting a technology fair in Hanover, as part of his trip to Germany, President Barack Obama and Chancellor Angela Merkel tried on 'virtual reality' glasses. The president reacted to the technology, quipping that "it's a brave new world!"

​"It's hard to find a more appropriate analogy," Syomin said, recalling the Aldous Huxley novel of the same name published between the first and second world wars.

"Huxley described a future in which the world was run by a global government. In this world the only religion was consumption, machines do the majority of the work, and people, sorted by castes and by social position, remain in a state of eternal euphoria, thanks to propaganda and hallucinogenic drugs."

"In its own time," the journalist recalled, "Huxley's writings, just like those of George Orwell, another famous warrior against utopias, were widely used in the propaganda war against the Soviet Union. It was the USSR, it was said, that dreamed of a world government, the unification of humanity, and the building of heaven on earth. The Soviet vision was branded and ridiculed, compared either to the Gulag Archipelago, or to an 'Animal Farm'."
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Light Saber

Syrian Information Minister: Turkey and Saudi Arabia regimes responsible for Aleppo bloodshed

Hazem Sabbagh
Syrian Arab News Agency
Tue, 03 May 2016 20:09 UTC
Omran al-Zoubi

Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi
Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said that Saudi Arabia and Turkey issued instructions to terrorist organizations in Syria to attack civilians and the Syrian Arab Army in Aleppo city, noting that whenever terrorists and their backers fail in one area, they try to escalate the situation in another.

In a phone call with al-Ikhbariya TV on Tuesday, al-Zoubi held the Saudi and Turkish regimes legally, politically, mortally, and criminally responsible for the bloodshed that has been taking place in Aleppo city throughout the past few days, adding that they are also responsible for everything that's happening in Syria.

He also noted that over 6,000 terrorists entered Syria from Turkey two weeks ago.

The Minister condemned the terrorist attacks on the residential areas in Aleppo, stressing that protecting Aleppo is the duty of all Syrians, adding that the main topic of the Cabinet's meeting on Tuesday was the situation in Aleppo.

Comment: See:

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Stormtrooper

Controlling Europe: Elites like Soros are behind the Merkel Plan and EU refugee policy


Sputnik
Fri, 29 Apr 2016 19:39 UTC
puppet master graffiti
© Flickr/ Jo Morcom
What lies beneath the so-called "Merkel Plan" to deal with the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe? American author and researcher F. William Engdahl suggested that the US and NATO-linked think tanks play a central role in what he calls "the greatest social dislocation across the EU."

Back in October 2015 when thousands of asylum seekers were arriving on the shores of the European continent, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced on a popular German TV program that she had a "plan" to handle the crisis.

In his latest article for New Eastern Outlook American author, researcher and strategic risk consultant F. William Engdahl narrated that what was dubbed "the plan" turned out to be a string of inexplicable actions, including the violation of principles of free speech, all to indulge the controversial Erdogan regime.

It is worth mentioning that since spring 2015 more than one million refugees have entered Germany due to Angela Merkel's "open arms" refugee position.

"All of those seemingly inexplicable actions from the once-pragmatic German leader appear to go back to her embrace of a 14-page document prepared by a network of pro-NATO think-tanks, brazenly titled 'The Merkel Plan,'" Engdahl wrote.

Comment: See also:

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Eye 1

Head of German intelligence calls for broader security powers to fight against extremism


RT
Tue, 03 May 2016 18:57 UTC
Hans-Georg Maassen
© Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters
Hans-Georg Maassen from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV)
The head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency has advocated broader security powers in the face of the imminent IS threat and rise of the radical right. He called for a "coalition against extremism" in Germany to be created with moderate Muslims at its core.

Speaking at the security symposium in Berlin on Monday, the head of Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution Hans-Georg Maassen warned of the "worsening security situation in Germany," adding that the country's political climate is "a lot rougher" now than it had been before due to the radicalization of previously non-partisan Germans and the activity of Islamist groups operating in Germany.


Comment: Maybe if Germany wasn't the US' lapdog and actually acted in favor of their own interests instead of the Empire, the political climate wouldn't be as extreme as Maassen says it is. That being said, this comes across as just another government agent clamoring for more power to spy on its own citizens, all in the name of security. Where is the proof of these "imminent threats". It's all empty threats until they can actually provide proof that they exist. Until then, it's just the government trying to scare the people into giving up their rights.


"For the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution it is clear: Islamic State wants to launch attacks against Germany and the German interests," said Maassen, as cited by Bild, stressing that the agency receives at least four tip-offs on possible jihadi attacks in Germany on daily basis.


Comment: The Germans should be talking to their American allies. It's the Americans who creates ISIS to destabilize the Middle East. If their mercenaries are spreading into Europe, it's the American's that should have to help deal with the problem.


Maassen pointed out that the threat posed by Islamists in Europe should not be underestimated as Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL)"has established command structure and cells in Europe, which are planning attacks and carry them out."
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Star of David

British MP suspended from Labour Party over Facebook image of Israel superimposed on US - She shared it in 2014, before she was even elected


The Guardian
Tue, 26 Apr 2016 18:47 UTC
british israel

Is it Britain, or is it Israel? Maybe it's Br-US-Rael?
Jeremy Corbyn has caved in to pressure and suspended Naz Shah, the Bradford West MP, over remarks she made about Israel on Facebook.

Shortly before he faced David Cameron in the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon Corbyn had issued a statement saying that he had accepted Shah's "fulsome" apology for a series of posts from 2014 in which she appeared to endorse a suggestion that Israelis be deported to the United States.

Even after the prime minister said it was "extraordinary," that she continued to hold the Labour whip, and accused the Labour leader of failing to get to grips with antisemitisim in his party, Corbyn's aides defended Shah, saying the comments were antisemitic but the MP had "shocked herself," and did not mean what she said.

Comment: Sott.net readers can see what's going on here, right?

And the Anglo-Saxon elite is only too happy to go along with it: they get to trash Corbyn, their "largest ever threat to national security", and have you-know-who do it for them.

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Eye 2

Report finds Big Pharma and government reap massive profits through unlawful advertising and overcharged insurance

Justin Gardner
Free Thought Project
Sun, 01 May 2016 17:51 UTC
big pharma kills
With the "Affordable Care Act" now fully in place, the middle class is feeling the squeeze yet again through higher insurance costs, making quality health care unaffordable for many. On top of that, pharmaceutical drug prices continue to increase, especially cancer drugs which have skyrocketed.

Since 2000, the average monthly cost of oral cancer drugs went from $1,869 per month to $11,325 per month. Some of these drugs can extend a cancer patient's life, although paying for the drugs may drain their life savings.

As we are well aware, pharmaceutical corporations are major power players in Washington, teaming up with government to squash competition through patent monopolies and fleece the public. The U.S. is one of only two countries where "direct-to-consumer" drug advertising is allowed, and the effects are plastered all over American TV.

But Big Pharma is not even happy with what it's got. According to a report from Public Citizen, pharma companies routinely break the law through deceit and fraud. The resulting financial penalties, rather than being a deterrent, are "just a cost of doing business."
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Target

3 years after raising taxes on the rich, here's the hellscape Minnesota has become

Zeeshan Aleem
Policy.mic
Mon, 02 Mar 2015 17:30 UTC
Since 2011, Minnesota has been doing quite well for itself. The state has created more than 170,000 jobs, according to the Huffington Post. Its unemployment rate stands at 3.6% — the fifth-lowest in the country, and far below the nationwide rate of 5.7% — and the state government boasts a budget surplus of $1 billion. Forbes considers Minnesota one of the top 10 in the country for business.

Given that Minnesota's governor is a well-connected millionaire whose family controls the Target fortune, one could be forgiven for thinking this was the result of embracing the corporate world. But in fact, over the past four years, the state has undergone a series of policy reforms that most of the corporate world decries: It has imposed higher taxes on the wealthy and raised the minimum wage.

When each of these progressive policies was initially proposed, Minnesota Republicans made dire predictions about their effects on the economy, and argued that bleeding-heart concerns about economic fairness would stifle growth. Despite all the warnings, Minnesota's economy hasn't tanked. Instead, it's sailing with greater force than it has in years.
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