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Wed, 03 Nov 2021
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Bullseye

The 10 most important questions Rod Rosenstein needs to answer

Carter Page and Rod Rosenstein
© AFP / Reuters
Carter Page and Rod Rosenstein
From an alleged plot to remove the president from office to Robert Mueller's appointment, the former deputy attorney general is going to face some intense interrogation Wednesday by senators.

Two years ago, then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein chafed when asked whether congressional Republicans might have legitimate reason to suspect the factual underpinnings of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants that targeted Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in the Russia probe.

Seeming a bit perturbed, Rosenstein launched into a mini-lecture on how much care and work went into FISA applications at the FBI and Justice Department.

"There's a lot of talk about FISA applications. Many people I've seen talk about it seem not to recognize that a FISA application is actually a warrant, just like a search warrant. In order to get a FISA warrant, you need an affidavit signed by a career law enforcement officer who swears the information is true ... And if it is wrong, that person is going to face consequences," Rosenstein asserted.

Comment: Lest it be thought that Rosenstein's focus was merely on Trump:


Snakes in Suits

Zuckerberg won't censor Trump, but don't mistake Facebook for a bastion of free speech

zuckerberg and trump
© Global Look / White House
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has taken heat over refusing to hide a post from US President Donald Trump that Twitter claimed "glorified violence." But his reasons are more about placating power than defending free speech.

Zuckerberg's decision to leave up a Trump post condemning the riots in Minneapolis that warned "when the looting starts, the shooting starts" upset Facebook employees, a few of whom even threatened to appeal to the company's newly-appointed oversight board - notoriously larded with anti-Trump voices.

But the CEO's reasoning - "people should be able to see this for themselves, because ultimately accountability for those in positions of power can only happen when their speech is scrutinized out in the open" - had little in common with the fiery rhetoric of free speech activism. In fact, it was so mind-numbingly obvious it would likely have gone unremarked-upon in any other era. How, indeed, are Americans supposed to hold their leaders accountable if they don't know what those leaders are saying?

Bullseye

America masterminded 'color revolutions' around the world. Now the very same techniques are being used at home

maidan protest
© Reuters / Gleb Garanich
Peaceful protests degenerating into riots and arson, followed by violence, clashes with police and political demands for regime change: today's America, or what happened in Ukraine, North Africa and Serbia - or both?

How Americans view the events of the past week greatly depends on their political persuasion, media preferences and to large extent even ethnic identity. This is hardly the first death of an African-American man at the hands of police, nor the first time a peaceful protest turned violent and resulted in a city on fire. It is, however, the first Black Lives Matter protest that spread all over - and quickly gained an openly political, partisan dimension.

That ought to be baffling. The four officers involved in George Floyd's death were fired almost immediately, rather than suspended with pay pending investigation. One of them was charged with murder just days later. Conservatives and liberals alike agreed that Floyd was murdered and that the men responsible should face justice. Yet the riots started, and spread, anyway.

Vader

Washington's escalating anti-China rage

Chinese dragon
China's political, economic, industrial, technological, and military development poses the greatest threat to US hegemonic aims.

Its growing prominence on the world stage comes at a time of US decline.

The harder the US tries to reverse things by hardline policies, notably its endless wars by hot and other means, the further behind it falls.

In his book titled "The World in Crisis," historian Gabriel Kolko said US decline "began after the Korean War, was continued in relation to Cuba, and was greatly accelerated in Vietnam - but (Bush/Cheney did) much to exacerbate it further."

Obama/Biden followed the same counterproductive pattern. Do does Trump/Pence.

Historian Immanuel Wallerstein believed US decline began in the 1970s, accelerating post-9/11, adding:

"The economic, political and military factors that contributed to US hegemony are the same (ones) inexorably produc(ing) (its) decline."

'Political scientist Chalmers Johnson noted that the counterproductive path followed by the US is same dynamic that doomed past empires.

He cited "isolation, overstretch, the uniting of local and global forces opposed to imperialism, and in the end bankruptcy," combined with growing homeland authoritarianism and loss of personal freedoms.

Comment: See also:


Propaganda

British coroner lies, hides evidence in novichok case, as BBC prepares to broadcast new propaganda series

ridley helmer
The Wiltshire county coroner investigating British Government allegations that Russian military agents using a Russian-made poison called Novichok caused the death of a woman, Dawn Sturgess, on July 8, 2018, has lied in his report of the inquest into her death.

This has been revealed by evidence gathered by the Wiltshire police two years ago, and recovered this week.

Senior Coroner David Ridley (lead image, right) has also concealed evidence from the coroner's court inquest file and withheld it from the Russian Government after promising "to assist with the Russian Federation's investigation of Ms Sturgess' death...if the Russian Federation were to be supplied with a copy of the coronial investigation file which focuses on Ms Sturgess' death."

Asked to respond to the police evidence and to say if he had passed the file to the Russian Government, Ridley refused to say. "You are not an Interested Person as defined by S47 Coroners and Justice Act 2009 [ click for link ], and therefore [Ridley] will not be responding to your e-mails or correspondence." But last December Ridley published a ruling identifying two Russians - the alleged Novichok assassins - as "Interested Persons", declaring "the same disclosure material...will be provided to all Interested Persons including Messrs Petrov and Boshirov."

Ridley did not provide the "disclosure material", according to the Russian Embassy in London.

The reason for Ridley's cover-up is that the "disclosure material" in the "coronial investigation file" includes Wiltshire police evidence, together with blood and toxicology tests from Salisbury District Hospital; these show Sturgess had taken illegal drugs, the contamination of which caused her death. The Wiltshire police and hospital medical reports were dated more than a week before the authorities claim to have discovered Novichok on the kitchen table at the apartment where Sturgess fell mortally ill.

Comment: See also:


Red Pill

'Prof Lockdown' Neil Ferguson admits Sweden used same science as UK


Comment: Then why on Earth did you lock down the country for 3 months??


Neil Ferguson
© Parliament TV/PA
The scientist behind lockdown in the UK has admitted that Sweden has achieved roughly the same suppression of coronavirus without draconian restrictions.

Neil Ferguson, who became known as "professor lockdown" after convincing Boris Johnson to radically curtail everyday freedoms, acknowledged that, despite relying on "quite similar science", the Swedish authorities had "got a long way to the same effect" without a full lockdown.

Sweden has adopted a far softer approach to Covid-19 than elsewhere in Europe, introducing voluntary social-distancing measures and keeping restaurants and bars and many schools open.

Russian Flag

Major development: Russia adopts nuclear first strike policy

Putin first strike option
Earlier in the week, Vladimir Putin amended the Fundamentals of State Policy of the Russian Federation in the Field of Nuclear Deterrence, by means of presidential decree. The decree sets out that Russia's nuclear deterrence policy is defensive in nature and is aimed at maintaining the potential of nuclear forces at a level sufficient for this. It also claims it guarantees protection of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. The decree alters official policy but comes more closely with the reality of the posture that has developed as a result of the US' policy since at least 2010.

The United States has refused to adopt a no first use policy and says that it "reserves the right to use" nuclear weapons first in the case of conflict. The US doctrine for the use of nuclear weapons was revised most recently in the Nuclear Posture Review, released April 6, 2010.

The language of the Russian decree drapes its first strike policy in the language of defense.

"The Russian Federation considers nuclear weapons exclusively as a means of deterrence, the use of which is an extreme and necessary measure, and is making all necessary efforts to reduce the nuclear threat and prevent aggravation of interstate relations that can provoke military conflicts, including nuclear ones," the document says.

Comment: Clearly, Russia has had enough of US stonewalling, belligerence, out right lying, covert and overt threats, and refusals to negotiate - and feels that this new policy may be the only one to effectively communicate that the nation refuses to be a victim of aggression.

"If the Americans don't want to talk, then we must speak in a language they understand," one imagines Putin saying.

See also:


Bad Guys

Judge Sullivan (well, his lawyer actually) finally responds to mandamus petition in Flynn case

Judge Emmet Sullivan
© National Law Journal
Judge Emmet Sullivan
Judge Emmet Sullivan appeared as unofficial amicus curiae for the Resistance in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in the Michael Flynn criminal case yesterday.

Sullivan, who has presided over the Flynn case since December 2017, was ordered by the federal appellate court to respond to Flynn's previously filed petition for a writ of mandamus. Flynn sought the writ of mandamus after federal prosecutors moved to dismiss the criminal charge the special counsel's office had filed against him in late 2017.

Flynn originally pleaded guilty to the charge of lying to FBI agents about his December 2016 telephone conversations with the Russian ambassador. But after hiring new defense counsel, led by Sidney Powell, Flynn sought to withdraw his guilty plea.

Sullivan had yet to rule on Flynn's motion to withdraw his guilty plea when an outside review, conducted by Missouri-based U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen, uncovered evidence previously withheld from Flynn's defense team. That evidence established that the statements Flynn made to the FBI agents, even if false, were immaterial and thus not criminal. Accordingly, the then-acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia moved to dismiss the criminal charge.

Comment: It appears that Sullivan has gone straight to a fellow swamp creature for help. Ms. Wilkinson has quite the interesting resume. For starters, she has a heavy military background. She was part of the prosecution team for Timothy McVeigh, and also in Noriega's trial. She repped Cheryl Mills and other Clinton aide during the FBI probe. Oh, and she's married to a CNN 'analyst'. Doesn't get much swampier than that.


Attention

Libya's illegitimate minister of the interior accused of gouging out eye of prisoner

Bashagha Al-Megrahi
Rajab Rahil Abdul-Fadhil Al-Megrahi has filed a complaint on May 31 before the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights accusing the Libyan Minister of Interior of the Government of National Accord (GNA), Fathi Bashagha, of gouging out his eye with a spoon while he was being held at the Mitiga prison in 2019.

Al-Megrahi appeared in a video on social media reading the statement he brought to the court.


He recalls in graphic detail his detention at the Mitiga prison near the airport in Tripoli during the summer of 2019. He states he endured systemic physical violence and torture, which included his eye being gouged out by Fathi Bashagha, while guards, the warden, and the head of RADA, Abdul Rauf Kara were present. Al-Megrahi is requesting the court investigate his claims and to hold to account those responsible for the torture and injury inflicted upon him.

Fathi Bashagha was appointed Minister of Interior of the GNA by Fayez al-Sarraj on October 7, 2018. Bashagha was a supporter of and involved in the 'Libya Dawn' operations, and is ethnically Turkish. The Islamist 'Libya Dawn' has been identified as terrorists by the elected parliament in Tobruk, and includes former al-Qaeda terrorists who fought against former Libyan leader Qaddafi in the nineties, and members of Libya's branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is a global political group following Radical Islam.

Libya's GNA leader Fayez al-Sarraj appears to have his hands tied by the Muslim Brotherhood, who have dominated Libya's Presidential Council. Sarraj has the direct backing of Turkey and support from many jihadist organizations in Libya. The Muslim Brotherhood's GNA was founded in 2015 under an UN-led political deal and had a two-year mandate which expired in 2017.

Chess

Russia invites US Defense Secretary Esper to Moscow military parade

Mark Esper
© Olivier Doullery (AFP)
U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has invited U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper to a military parade in Moscow later this month, the Defense Ministry says.

The Russian ministry said Shoigu made the invitation during a telephone conversation on June 2, without saying whether Esper had accepted it.

The June 24 parade on Moscow's Red Square is to mark the 75th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Russia traditionally holds the parade on May 9, but the grand celebration was postponed over the coronavirus pandemic that is still triggering thousands of new infections each day.