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Analysing Flynn's indictment for lying to the FBI about asking Russia to help protect Israel

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Fri, 01 Dec 2017 19:57 UTC
flynn kislyak

General Michael Fly and Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak
The indictment and guilty plea of General Flynn represent what I suspect is the high water mark of the Russiagate scandal.

A few weeks ago, following the indictments issued against Paul Manafort, Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos, I speculated that Flynn would be the next person to be indicted, and so it has proved.

Flynn's guilty plea has come with an apparent agreement to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Inevitably this is giving rise to speculation that Flynn has "flipped". Is that speculation warranted?

Firstly, it needs to be said that the indictment against Flynn and his guilty plea have absolutely no bearing on the allegations of illegal collusion during the 2016 Presidential election between the Trump campaign and the Russians which are at the centre of the Russiagate scandal.

Instead they concern what is purely a 'process crime': that Flynn falsely denied to the FBI that he had asked Russian ambassador Kislyak for Russia to react with restraint to the sanctions imposed on Russia in December 2016 by Barack Obama, and - much more interestingly - that he also falsely denied asking Kislyak for Russia's help to block or delay a vote on a Resolution in the UN Security Council.

Comment: Trump's personal lawyer released this statement:
"The false statements involved mirror the false statements to White House officials which resulted in his resignation in February of this year," Cobb continued. "Nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr. Flynn. The conclusion of this phase of the Special Counsel's work demonstrates again that the Special Counsel is moving with all deliberate speed and clears the way for a prompt and reasonable conclusion".
More of Flynn's statement, quoted partially above:
After over 33 years of military service to our country, including nearly five years in combat away from my family, and then my decision to continue to serve the United States, it has been extraordinarily painful to endure these many months of false accusations of "treason' and other outrageous acts.

Such false accusations are contrary to everything I have ever done and stood for.

But I recognize that the actions I acknowledged in court today were wrong, and, through my faith in God, I am working to set things right.

My guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the Special Counsel's Office reflect a decision I made in the best interests of my family and of our country. I accept full responsibility for my actions.
See also: Michael Flynn 'Guilty' Plea and the Entire 'Russia Collusion' Investigation is a Farce

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Gear

Turkey issues arrest warrant for former CIA officer in role of 2016 failed coup


Sputnik
Fri, 01 Dec 2017 17:03 UTC
Turkey military
© AP Photo/ Hussein Malla
Since the thwarted coup in Turkey, the authorities have arrested hundreds of military personnel, activists and journalists on suspicion of having links to the Fethullah Terrorist Organization.

Turkish prosecutors have issued an arrest warrant for Graham Fuller, a former employee of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), over his alleged involvement in the 2016 coup attempt, the Hurriyet newspaper reported Friday.

Graham, who served as vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council of the CIA, resided in Turkey during the attempted coup in July 2016 and left the country after it failed, according to the newspaper.

Comment: Looks like Turkey is starting to inform the public that the 'Gulen network' isn't a mere independent organization and is in fact a CIA operation. This is something Sott.net has been signaling all along:

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Bullseye

Tulsi Gabbard: The 'only viable option' to denuclearize North Korea is diplomacy

Daniel Chaitin
Washington Examiner
Thu, 30 Nov 2017 17:25 UTC
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard
© AP Photo/Ajit Solanki
"The only viable option that I see before us today is a diplomatic one, and that can only be pursued if two things happen," the Hawaii Democrat said.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, said there is only one "viable" way to denuclearize an aggressive North Korean regime.

Following Pyongyang's latest intercontinental ballistic missile test this week, demonstrating a range not seen before, Gabbard advocated diplomacy, but with conditions.

"The only viable option that I see before us today is a diplomatic one, and that can only be pursued if two things happen," Gabbard said on CNN on Thursday.

Comment: Diplomacy - what a concept! But unfortunately one that few in Washington see as real option. So much better to threaten, bully and terrorize.

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USA

Michael Flynn 'Guilty' Plea and the Entire 'Russia Collusion' Investigation is a Farce

Andrew McCarthy
National Review
Fri, 01 Dec 2017 19:22 UTC
Michael Flynn arrives at a U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., December 1, 2017.

Michael Flynn arrives at a U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., December 1, 2017.
Former Trump-administration national-security adviser Michael Flynn, who is reportedly cooperating with the investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller, is pleading guilty in federal district court in Washington, D.C., to a one-count criminal information (which is filed by a prosecutor in cases when a defendant waives his right to be indicted by a grand jury).
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Star of David

Report finds 85 percent of Palestinians killed by Israel in 2015 were extra-judicially executed

Ariyana Love
Middle East Rising
Sun, 24 Jan 2016 19:18 UTC
dead palestinian
The Detainees and Ex-Detainees Committee, said in a report published on Sunday, that 85 percent of Palestinians who were killed by Israel since the beginning of 2015; 179 Palestinians, were killed in extrajudicial field executions.

It maintained that Israeli forces executed Palestinians in 'cold-blood' and on the grounds of mere suspicion, maintaining that forces acted as both judges and executioners. The committee noted that based on a series of documented and publicized incidents, the majority of Palestinians, who assaulted Israelis or were suspected of doing so, were executed by Israeli forces despite that fact that they posed no immediate danger to the latter's lives, stressing that forces could have restrained and detained them instead.

The committee added that a large number of Palestinians were left to bleed to death, without providing them with the necessary first aid, or even allowing Palestinian ambulances' access to them.

It said that the majority of killed Palestinians were shot from a very close range with the intention to kill.

It described Israeli politicians' calls to kill Palestinians instead of detaining them, as a 'war crime', and intentional extrajudicial murders; which it affirmed, violates principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the four Geneva Conventions, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
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Cowboy Hat

Jeremy Corbyn's older brother says Trump was exposing political hypocrisy with Britain First retweets


RT
Fri, 01 Dec 2017 17:05 UTC
Jeremy Corbyn Brother Piers Corbyn.
© Andrew Parsons / Global Look Press
Jeremy Corbyn Brother Piers Corbyn.
Jeremy Corbyn's brother has waded in on Donald Trump and Theresa May's Britain First Twitter spat. The black sheep of the Labour leader's red flock has defended the US President's right to repost Islamophobic videos.

Piers Corbyn also re-posted a message from a former far-right British National Party (BNP) activist, while insisting Trump was making a valid political point. His rant was sparked by the escalating row between Washington and London, which kicked off when Trump retweeted three videos from Britain First deputy leader Jayda Fransen.

May said Trump was "wrong" and that Britain would not hesitate to tell him so. When Trump heard the response from Downing Street, he tweeted (the wrong) Theresa May to tell her to focus on "extremist terrorism" in the UK, and not his social media.

Comment: This is typical Trump: make a valid point in such a controversial manner that by focussing on the way in which Trump made the point, the media have no choice but to bring attention to the point Trump was trying to make. In this case: the utter barbarity of fanatical Islamists. There's really no arguing that point, no matter how much many in the media try to ignore it.

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MIB

Obama-appointed federal inspector directly threatened by Clinton campaign for whistle-blowing about Killary's private server

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Tue, 28 Nov 2017 18:33 UTC
Charles McCullough III

Charles McCullough III
An Obama appointed government watchdog central to the Hillary Clinton email investigation says that he, his family and his office faced an 'intense backlash' from Clinton allies, who threatened him over findings that Clinton mishandled classified information.

Former Inspector General Charles McCullough III told Fox News Chief Intel correspondent Catherine Herridge that he was under intense pressure from senior officials on the left - with one Clinton campaign official threatening that he and another government investigator would be immediately fired under a Hillary Clinton presidency:
"It was told in no uncertain terms, by a source directly from the campaign, that we would be the first two to be fired - with [Clinton's] administration. That that was definitely going to happen." -Charles McCullough III
As a refresher, over 2,100 classified emails were sent over Clinton's personal server, which was used exclusively for government business. Despite this, former FBI Director James Comey - who had drafted Clinton's exoneration letter months before reviewing evidence in the case - recommended that the DOJ not prosecute the case.
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Megaphone

Nikki Haley is "no diplomat, just a bull in a china shop"


RT
Fri, 01 Dec 2017 18:26 UTC
nikki haley
© Lucas Jackson / Reuters
Washington is doing everything possible to kill off any possibilities of diplomacy on the Korean nuclear problem, says Gregory Elich, from the Korea Policy Institute. The US UN envoy acts like a bull in a china shop, adds Daniel McAdams of the Ron Paul Institute.

The US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has called for the complete isolation of North Korea, including cutting all trade links. She was speaking at an emergency Security Council session, following Pyongyang's latest ballistic missile test. Haley said North Korea is pushing the world closer to war.

RT asked Gregory Elich, Advisory Board member at the Korea Policy Institute whether the US diplomat has a point.
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Attention

Sarah Sanders defends Trump's anti-Islamist tweets: 'The threat is real, Trump's goal is to promote strong national security'

Gabby Morrongiello
The Washington Examiner
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 16:11 UTC
Sarah Sanders Trump anti-islamist tweets
© AP / Alex Bandon
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders defended President Trump on Wednesday after he shared a series of unverified videos that allegedly portrayed Muslims beating and harassing non-Muslim individuals.

At least one of the videos was later described as "fake" by a Dutch news outlet. Sanders said that didn't matter.

"Whether it's a real video, the threat is real," Sanders told reporters. "[Trump's] goal is to promote strong border security and strong national security."

Sanders continued, criticizing reporters for pressing her on whether Trump should verify the content of videos before sharing them with his 43 million followers on Twitter.

"I'm not talking about the nature of the video. I think you're focusing on the wrong thing," she said. "The threat is real, and that's what the president is talking about."

Comment: Trump retweets anti-Islamist tweets from far-right Britain First leader - world goes crazy in response

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Stormtrooper

Lessons unlearned: Ukrainian troops violate ceasefire, get stuck in new "cauldron"

Translated by Jafe Arnold
Fort Russ News
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 18:10 UTC
Ukranian soldier in trench
© European Press Agency
Ukrainian soldier in WWI-style trench
The Ukrainian Armed Forces, having violated the Minsk Agreements and seized the villages of Gladosovo and Metallist [earlier Travnevoe was reported as captured - J.A.] in the neutral zone in Donbass, have apparently celebrated too early.

According to the war correspondent of the Ministry of Defense of the Donetsk People's Republic, Mikhail Andronik, Ukrainian troops have effectively caught themselves in a new "cauldron" like back in Debaltsevo.
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