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Bolivia's 'military mutiny' key factor in successful coup & main reason Venezuela's Guaido can't oust Maduro


RT
Thu, 21 Nov 2019 18:19 UTC
bolivia anez venezuela guaido
© Reuters / David Mercado; Reuters / Carlos Garcia Rawlins
Bolivian "interim president" Jeanine Anez (L) Venezuelan "interim president" Juan Guaido (R)
The ouster of Bolivian President Evo Morales was only possible with the support of the country's military, and Venezuela's opposition is unlikely to effect its own putsch plot while the army has Caracas's back, an analyst told RT.

After another lackluster attempt to launch mass demonstrations to depose Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro on Saturday, opposition figurehead Juan Guaido may be wondering how his counterparts in Bolivia obtained their coup with such speed. But Lucas Koerner, independent political analyst and editor of Venezuelanalysis.com, says it's all about the guns.

"The key factor are the armed forces," Koerner told RT's Rick Sanchez. "In Venezuela, the military has stayed on the side of the constitutionally elected president, where in Bolivia they opted to overthrow the likewise democratically elected President Evo Morales, who had just won an election with 47 percent of the vote."

Comment: And the most likely reason for the coup?

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Snakes in Suits

Who does Putin want in the White House in 2020? 'Experts' suggest reading RT to find out

Danielle Ryan
RT
Thu, 21 Nov 2019 18:08 UTC
putin
© REUTERS / Brendan McDermid / Loren Elliott / Eric Thayer / Scott Morgan; Sputnik / Sergey Guneev
Russian bots are so 2016. The best way to decipher who Moscow wants in the White House in 2020 is to read RT. That's according to internet sleuth Clint Watts, who is back with another timely analysis of Russian nefariousness.

Watts, for the uninitiated, is one of the most prolific media charlatans when it comes to fake Russian expertise - and one of the developers behind the 'Hamilton 68' dashboard 'tracking' Russian influence campaigns online. Launched with much fanfare in 2017, Hamilton 68's popularity soon fizzled out as even the most ardent Russia critics admitted that media coverage of bot influence was "totally overblown."
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Eye 2

Serbian arms are being trafficked to Ukraine: Evidence of contraband mortars used against Donbass

Dilyana Gaytandzhieva
Arms Watch
Thu, 21 Nov 2019 17:33 UTC
serbian arms donbass
© DNR Ministry of Defense, 9 November 2019
This Serbian mortar shell 60 mm M73 HE manufactured by the Serbian arms factory Krusik in 2016 was found on the front line in Donbass.
New evidence has emerged of Ukraine's Army using contraband Serbian weapons in the war in Donbass. Serbia officially has not exported weapons to Ukraine since the beginning of the armed conflict between Ukraine and the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR). However, Serbian weapons manufactured in 2016 appear to be used by Ukraine's Army in the war in Donbass.

This is not the first documented case of alleged Serbian mortar shells being fired by the Ukrainian Army.

Comment: Another great investigative effort by Dilyana Gaytandzhieva and Arms Watch. Here are some of her other reports holding illegal arms manufacturers and traffickers to account:

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Info

Vindman advised Zelensky about alleged plot but not Trump - and other testimony highlights

Sara Carter
SaraACarther.com
Tue, 19 Nov 2019 17:30 UTC
vindman
© AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
“That’s Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, please.”
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman's bombshell testimony Tuesday raised significant questions as to what his authority is within the White House National Security Council when he delivered a direct message to the Ukrainian president in April and whether he undermined the White House when he spoke to the foreign leader.

At the hearing, Vindman stated to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, (D-CA), that during the scheduled bilateral meeting in April, at the inauguration of President Volodymyr Zelensky, he offered the foreign leader direct advice, to "stay out of U.S. politics."

Rep. Schiff specifically asked Vindman as to "why did he felt it was necessary for President Zelensky to stay out of U.S. domestic politics?"

"Chairman, in the March and April timeframe, became clear there were actors in the U.S. ...public actors, non-governmental actors that were promoting the idea of investigations and 2016 Ukrainian interference...and it was consistence with U.S. policy to advise any country...all the countries in my portfolio, any country in the world to not participate in US domestic politics," explained Alexander Vindman.

His advice to the Ukrainian president was based on his knowledge of an alleged plot being organized by public nongovernmental individuals to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden's sons dealings with a Ukrainian gas company and possible involvement of Ukraine in the 2016 presidential elections, he said.

Despite his concerns, he only advised the Ukrainian president and admits that he has never spoken personally with or directly advised Trump on these same facts. In fact, he's never met Trump, he told lawmakers.

Comment: Vindman apparently didn't think Biden's behavior in Ukraine was wrong:
During his line of questioning, Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) noted that Vindman's concerns of the July 25 phone call between President Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky were based on "moral, ethical, and policy differences" rather than legal concerns.

"So your concerns regarding this phone call were not legal. They were based on moral, ethical, and policy differences. ... To use your word. You said this was wrong. Not illegal, but wrong," he said, asking Vindman if he considered Biden's actions "wrong" as well.

"There are dozens of corrupt nations in the world. Hundreds of corrupt government officials. Exactly one time did a vice president go to a nation and demand the specific firing of one individual and give a six-hour time limit and withhold or threaten to withhold a billion dollars in aid if not," Stewart said, referencing the video of Biden bragging about his threat during an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations last year.

"It was the one individual who was investigating a company who was paying his son. So I'll ask you, was that also wrong?" Stewart asked.

"I frankly don't have any firsthand knowledge of that," Vindman began.

"Did you not see the video?" Stewart asked.

"I've seen the video," Vindman admitted.

"That's all I've described is the video. Everything I just said to you is in the video. Was that wrong as well?" Stewart asked again.

"Congressman, this is something I actually participated in," Vindman began, with Stewart adding, "Well I think the American people can make a judgment."

"The time of the gentleman has expired," Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) said, giving Vindman an option to answer the question.

Once again, Vindman refused to describe Biden's action as "wrong."

"I frankly don't know any — that much more about that particular incident," he said. "I saw the snippet of the video, but I don't know if I could make a judgment off of that."
See also:

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Arrow Down

'I said the FIRST!' Brain-dead Biden boasts he has support of 'only' female African-American senator while on stage with Kamala Harris


RT
Thu, 21 Nov 2019 17:18 UTC
Biden Harris
© Reuters / Brendan McDermid
Democratic presidential candidates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris at the fifth 2020 campaign debate in Atlanta, Georgia, November 20, 2019.
Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden was forced to swiftly correct himself during a debate after bragging that he had support from the "only" black female senator ever elected, despite standing mere feet from Kamala Harris.

While giving a brief monologue about the immense support he enjoys from African Americans, the former VP was stopped dead in his tracks by fellow contestant Kamala Harris (D-California), a US senator who is both black and female.

"I have more people supporting me in the black community, that have announced for me, because they know me, they know who I am," Biden said, listing a number of examples before adding as the cherry on top: "The only African American woman that's ever been elected to the United States Senate."
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Dominoes

State senator announces he's leaving Democratic Party over 'partisan purists'

Zachary Stieber
The Epoch Times
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 17:09 UTC
John Yudichak
© Pennsylvania State Senate
Pennsylvania state Sen. John Yudichak in a file photograph
A state senator in Pennsylvania said he's leaving the Democratic Party to become an independent, asserting the party's so-called tent "is shrinking every day."

State Sen. John Yudichak made the announcement on Nov. 19.

"As an Independent, I will continue to put people above politics. I will continue to support Democratic ideas as well as Republican ideas when it is clear that they serve the greater good and help government work for people rather than the narrow interests of partisan 'purists,'" he said in a press release.

Referencing the division during the Civil War, Yudichak said the country is, "again, in the throes of a fierce public debate where politics has become more about choosing sides than it is about working together toward 'a more perfect union.'"

The lawmaker said he's already been working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle: "Working outside the confines of an extremist political ideology is the foundation of my political career in Harrisburg, and it has helped me serve the people I care about the most — the people of northeastern Pennsylvania."
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Propaganda

Propaganda video of NATO's smoke and mirrors over Kosovo hides some inconvenient truths

Nebojsa Malic
RT
Thu, 21 Nov 2019 16:38 UTC
nato propganda
© YouTube/NATO
A new and strangely timed NATO video paints a flattering - and entirely fraudulent - picture of the alliance's mission in Kosovo, a Serbian province it occupied in 1999 that now styles itself an independent state.

What NATO wants the general public to believe is that it had no choice but to intervene in 1999, because "Kosovo Albanian forces" were fighting the "policy of ethnic cleansing" of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who was "not interested" in a peaceful solution.

"The conflict had created this dire humanitarian crisis, it was threatening the stability of the region, and the security of the region, and NATO's intervention was therefore necessary," NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Operations Jonathan Parish says at one point in the nine-and-a-half-minute video, released last Friday.
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Radar

Sergei Lavrov: US satellite imagery and Ukrainian radar data still absent from MH17 crash probe


Sputnik
Thu, 21 Nov 2019 13:36 UTC
The Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 crashed on 17 July 2014 in eastern Ukraine while en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. All 298 people aboard, mostly Dutch citizens were killed. Kiev and the self-proclaimed republics in Ukraine's easternmost Donbass region, where the plane crashed, have blamed each other for the incident.
MH17
© Sputnik / Mikhail Voskresensky
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has commented on recently-emerged telephone recordings related to the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 crash.

Speaking at a press conference following talks with his Malaysian counterpart, Lavrov noted that US satellite imagery and Ukrainian radar data were still absent in the investigation into the deadly incident.

The Russian diplomat said that Moscow had invited experts from Malaysia to study Russian data on the tragic crash. He added that he had discussed with his Malaysian counterpart Saifuddin Abdullah the ways Russia could contribute to the investigation.

"As far as I understand, Malaysia was not informed about the data we handed to the Joint Investigation Team, so we invited our Malaysian friends to send their experts so that our experts would share with them everything that was shown and sent to the Netherlands to the Joint Investigation Team. I hope it will help our Malaysian colleagues to be more informed than other participants of the investigative team would want them to be", Lavrov said at a joint press conference with his Malaysian counterpart.

Comment: As we wrote here:
Russia found a far more credible suspect: Sadly, the pilot implicated committed suicide. Whether from the pressure of the accusation or from a sense of guilt, or perhaps the elimination of participant in the crime, we will never know.

Pilot suspected of shooting down MH17 commits suicide
Ukrainian pilot Vladislav Voloshin, whom his colleague Yevgeny Agapov accused of involvement in the shooting down of Boeing 777 flight MH17, has committed suicide in Nikolaev.

Please note that Western mainstream media are specifically running the story as "Pilot, who was accused by Russia..." The allegations came from his colleague, who then was forced to leave Ukraine for Russia.

Two days after the MH17 disaster, Voloshin was awarded the Order of Courage of the Ukrainian air force. According to the testimony of Evgeny Agapov, who escaped to Russia, the Boeing 777 aircraft was allegedly shot down by an Su-25 of the Ukrainian Air Force, piloted by the aforementioned pilot: "A combat mission was carried out from an airfield in the city of Dnipropetrovsk." According to his testimony, he personally saw how Voloshin's aircraft was equipped with air-to-air missiles of the R-60 type before departure, which the Su-25 is not normally equipped with.


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Hourglass

Now that Assange is safely locked up, Sweden drops its 'investigation'

Caitlin Johnstone
Medium
Thu, 21 Nov 2019 13:21 UTC
hands off assange
Now that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is safely locked up in Belmarsh prison awaiting a US extradition hearing, Sweden has, for a third time, dropped its rape investigation.

"After conducting a comprehensive assessment of what has emerged during the course of the preliminary investigation I then make the assessment that the evidence is not strong enough to form the basis for filing an indictment," said deputy chief prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson at a press conference in Stockholm on Tuesday.

This decision comes days after the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer began making noise about the Swedish government's refusal to answer his questions on the many enormous, glaring plot holes in the investigation which began in 2010. These plot holes include "proactive manipulation of evidence" with the testimony of the alleged victim, a condom provided as evidence that had neither the DNA of Assange nor of the alleged victim on it, complete disregard for confidentiality rules and normal investigative protocol from the earliest moments of the investigation onward, disregard for conflicts of interest, Sweden's refusal to provide assurance that Assange would not be extradited to the US if he went there to answer questions, statements made by the alleged victims which contradict the allegations, unexplained correspondence between Swedish prosecutors and the FBI, and many others.

Comment: Assange's father, after a recent visit, reported that he needed to face the bitter truth that his son may die in jail. So if we want to help Assange (and what thinking, feeling human wouldn't?) we must act NOW, before it's too late.

Let's share articles about him, write to him to support him, write to our governments, write to everyone in power in the UK where he is being held, sign petitions... Time is running out.

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Info

Prince Andrew to step down from public life amid Epstein scandal

Rachael D'Amore and Kerri Breen
Global News
Thu, 21 Nov 2019 21:07 UTC
prince andrew
Prince Andrew says he will be stepping down from public duties "for the foreseeable future."

Andrew has denied allegations that he had sex with a 17-year-old girl, procured for him by his friend, Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself in a U.S. prison in August while awaiting his own sex trafficking case.

"It has become clear to me over the last few days that the circumstances relating to my former association with Jeffrey Epstein has become a major disruption to my family's work and the valuable work going on in the many organisations and charities that I am proud to support," he said in a statement on Wednesday.

Comment: Randy Andy the scumbag has probably made the right decision in disappearing from view. He seems only capable of digging his hole deeper with everything he says. But unfortunately, the idea that justice will be served for the prince and his cronies seems nearly inconceivable.

See also:

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