Free advice to Obama, Cameron, Merkel, et al: You are backing the mental midgets in this affair. Note giggling of viewers in the background.
Puppet Masters
'With God as my witness...'
A sensational YouGov survey of Labour members and supporters found the veteran backbencher has secured the backing of almost half the electorate.
The scale of the crisis facing the party prompted Mr Blair to warn Labour against a lurch to the left.
Giving a speech this morning, he launched a scathing attack on the socialist leadership hopeful, saying: "People who say their heart is with Corbyn, get a transplant."
Comment: Says the Tin Man!
He said:
"It's like going back to Star Trek or something. Back to the old days. I wouldn't want to win on an old-fashioned leftist platform. Even if I thought it was the route to victory, I wouldn't take it. We won elections when we had an agenda that was driven by values, but informed by modernity."
Comment: The 'values' of modernity: economic debt slavery, illegal wars of aggression, and rampant nihilistic narcissism (led and instigated by pure psychopathy). Who would ever want to abandon such values?
Comment: That's an interesting bluff on the Tories' part. Their real fears of Corbyn leading the opposition is betrayed by the fact that the British media has been activated to 'nail him to the wall'.
As for Blair, 'get a heart transplant' is an interesting turn of phrase from the man who pretty much ripped the heart of the old British Labour Party and turned it into a heartless Neo-Liberal, NeoCon supporter of ruthless Western empire.
© Reuters
Western states are once again flirting with fascism - as in earlier dark periods over the past century.
Here is a recent snapshot of the disturbing trend. Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond this week openly voiced his frustration with democratic processes something that is "cumbersome" for the pursuit of foreign military objectives.
© Bullit Marquez / AP
Protesters outside the U.S. Embassy in Manila display placards during a rally to mark the third month since the killing of 44 elite police commandos in the Philippines.
Protesters outside the U.S. Embassy in Manila display placards during a rally to mark the third month since the killing of 44 elite police commandos in the Philippines.
The International Peoples' Tribunal on Crimes Against the Filipino People, held July 16-18 in Washington, D.C., drew upward of 300 people. An international panel of seven jurors heard two days of testimony from 32 witnesses, many of whom had been tortured, arbitrarily detained and forcibly evicted from their land. Some testified to being present when their loved ones, including children, were gunned down by the Philippine military or paramilitary. I testified as an expert witness on international human rights violations in the Philippines, many of which were aided and abetted by the U.S. government.
Comment: Another country in a sad state affairs due to US interference.
© Morteza Nikoubazl / Reuters
The N-11 is made up of: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, South Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Turkey and Vietnam. Some of these upstarts may even become members of the increasingly assertive BRICS.
The moment the sanctions regime vanishes, arguably sometime in early 2016, Iran will become the hottest N-11 in the world. It's very hard to beat its roll call of assets: a consumer market of more than 80 million, largely well educated people; a human capital mix that is even more attractive than Turkey; and in the all-important energy front, a combination of as much oil as Saudi Arabia, as much gas as Russia, and arguably more mineral resources than Australia.
And soon back with a vengeance in the global market. Talk about an economic game-changer.
So what is the Obama administration really up to in Iran? What sort of strategic calculations have led to what for the moment looks like a tactical geopolitical shift?
President Obama certainly concluded that the 36-year-long Wall of Mistrust against Iran was bound to fail. The real Masters of the Universe in Washington - those who control the deep state - always knew that the "nuclear weapons" hysteria was bogus. That was part of a strategic decision to keep the Islamic Republic isolated from the West as long as possible, and ultimately force regime change.
The "policy" failed - miserably. So Obama's Plan B was a nuclear deal.
And after striking a deal, why not seduce Tehran into some sort of collaborative effort in policing the Middle East - as in reigning in or, better yet, soundly defeating ISIS/ISIL/Daesh?
That would provide a neat historical echo to the Shah years - the former "gendarme of the Gulf" who, when driven out of power by the Islamic revolution, plunged Exceptionalistan into fits of decades-long despair.
Moreover, the Obama administration and some Beltway factions seemed to believe that factional leadership silos in Tehran - and Qom — might be manipulated to serve US strategic interests.
Even before the Lausanne agreement, and in the lead-up towards the Vienna deal, this possibility was practically discussed by US Secretary of State John Kerry, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. In diplomatic talk, these were "discussions of regional issues".
© Amos Chapple
View of central Tehran from inside a minaret in Sepahsalar Mosque.
View of central Tehran from inside a minaret in Sepahsalar Mosque.
The "policy" failed - miserably. So Obama's Plan B was a nuclear deal.
And after striking a deal, why not seduce Tehran into some sort of collaborative effort in policing the Middle East - as in reigning in or, better yet, soundly defeating ISIS/ISIL/Daesh?
That would provide a neat historical echo to the Shah years - the former "gendarme of the Gulf" who, when driven out of power by the Islamic revolution, plunged Exceptionalistan into fits of decades-long despair.
Moreover, the Obama administration and some Beltway factions seemed to believe that factional leadership silos in Tehran - and Qom — might be manipulated to serve US strategic interests.
Even before the Lausanne agreement, and in the lead-up towards the Vienna deal, this possibility was practically discussed by US Secretary of State John Kerry, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. In diplomatic talk, these were "discussions of regional issues".
© AP Photo / Militant Website, File
The footage, published by Islamic State's propaganda office, showed a militant saying that he is one of approximately five hundred French nationals fighting alongside IS in the Middle East. He added that the message was directed at anyone, who is trying to destroy the group, whether he is French or not.
The IS fighter then fatally shot a Syrian soldier with an assault rifle and threw his body off a cliff. The video was allegedly filmed in the Syrian province of Hama.
Comment: ISIS receives an allowance from NATO. So much for NATO being a "defensive pact":
According to the Guardian, "one Turkish solider has been killed and another wounded in clashes with Islamic State across the Syrian border, a senior Turkish official said. The clashes continued as the Turkish army returned fire on the militants in Syria. Earlier, a Turkish police officer was shot and killed and a second wounded in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir. Violence along Turkey's 560-mile (900km) border with Syria has spiked in recent days, beginning with a suicide bombing blamed on Isis in the town of Suruç on Monday. The Diyarbakir shooting came a day after two police officers were killed in an attack in Ceylanpinar on the Syrian border claimed by militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)"
Comment: Turkey has been waiting to invade Syria for some time. Elements of the Turkish power structure have long been at the center of NATO's "Terrorists Inc." and have been eager to take down the biggest contenders in the region. It's a lawless world, thanks to Washington. Check out:
© Tyrone Siu / Reuters
The Venetian Macao resort and casino
The Venetian Macao resort and casino
The "highly confidential" report on the gambling industry exposing the possible CIA operation in Macau, was prepared by a private investigator in 2010 and remained secret until it was uncovered by the Investigative Reporting Program at the University of California, Berkeley, the Guardian reports.
The document dated June 25, 2010, was presented by Sands China Limited, the Macau branch of the gambling empire of Las Vegas tycoon Sheldon Adelson, as part of an ongoing lawsuit filed by Steven Jacobs, former head of Sands Macau casinos, who is suing the company for wrongful dismissal. The civil action hearing is being held at a Las Vegas court.
Comment: This is how Washington's 'game' works against individuals, groups, and countries. Those with power use blackmail, toxic promises, and economic warfare to vector their opponents:
Just let that headline sink in.
Here is the actual language: "The ATO* spokesmen [Major General Taran and colonel Sergei Galushko] have presented proof that Donetsk is being shelled by the rebels themselves, in order to provoke return fire from the UAF forces, and then blame them for shelling Donetsk." SOURCE
Saved screenshot in case they take it down.So, here is the reality as presented by "Voice of Langley" in East Europe:
The rebels start randomly shelling their own families in Donetsk. UAF see it, get "provoked" by somebody else doing their job, and start indiscriminately shelling Donetsk as well.
Now we just wait for John Kirby and Co. to start parroting these claims...
Here is the actual language: "The ATO* spokesmen [Major General Taran and colonel Sergei Galushko] have presented proof that Donetsk is being shelled by the rebels themselves, in order to provoke return fire from the UAF forces, and then blame them for shelling Donetsk." SOURCE
Saved screenshot in case they take it down.
The rebels start randomly shelling their own families in Donetsk. UAF see it, get "provoked" by somebody else doing their job, and start indiscriminately shelling Donetsk as well.
Now we just wait for John Kirby and Co. to start parroting these claims...
Comment: Western media cannot tell the truth; they're simply not allowed, and don't care one way of the other anyway. And this is the lengths they will go: spouting complete absurdities. So, Donetsk shells civilians, and Kiev also shells civilians, but in retaliation? It simply doesn't make sense. But very little sense comes out of the Ukrainian and American governments these days. For example: More Congressional theater? Samantha Power's feet held to the fire over roots of Ukrainian crisis, commits felony by lying to Congress
Comment: Wow, evil Putin! And people gladly swallow this BS.