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Republican presidential candidate Joni Ernst calls Obama 'dictator' and sez 'impeachment' should be on the table

Meredith Shiner
Yahoo
Tue, 08 Jul 2014 12:55 UTC
Image
© Charlie Neibergall/AP
State Sen. Joni Ernst waves to supporters at a primary election night rally, June 3, 2014, in Des Moines, Iowa.
The Republican candidate for the Iowa U.S. Senate seat called the president a "dictator" and said he must "face the consequences"

Sarah Palin might have called for the impeachment of President Barack Obama Tuesday, but Iowa Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst actually beat her to the punch by six months.

At a Montgomery County, Iowa, candidate forum in January, Ernst told a crowd that she believed Obama had "become a dictator" and that he needed to face the consequences for his executive actions, "whether that's removal from office, whether that's impeachment."

The video, which was previously described to Yahoo News by a source, was posted, removed and then posted again online at AOL. Yahoo News was able to view a cached version of the previously unpublished video before it went live. The clip shows the January Montgomery County GOP Forum in Red Oak, Iowa. The Ernst campaign tweeted out a photograph of the forum Jan. 15.
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Cow

Leaving the herd: European countries breaking EU's united front on Russia amid gas needs

George Jahn
NewsDaily
Tue, 08 Jul 2014 12:24 UTC
Lavrov
© RIA Novosti/Eduard Pesov
Lavrov visits Bulgaria to discuss South Stream gas deal.
A clutch of countries is breaking ranks with the EU's efforts to put economic and diplomatic pressure on Russia over Ukraine and building a pipeline meant to carry huge amounts of Russian gas to their doorstep.

Their defiance of a European Union stop work order is more significant than just another missed chance for Europe to call out the Kremlin. Russian natural gas already accounts for around a third of the EU's needs. The South Stream pipeline could increase Russian supplies to Europe by another 25 percent, potentially boosting Moscow's leverage long after the Ukraine crisis fades.

Adding to the skein of Russian pipelines already ending in Europe, South Stream would go through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia, Austria and Italy in one leg and Croatia, Macedonia, Greece and Turkey in a second. The European Commission, the EU executive, has ordered a construction moratorium over concerns with Russia's dual role as pipeline owner and gas supplier. It has also delayed some political talks on the pipeline amid the crisis in Ukraine.

"Developments in Ukraine and Russia have demonstrated that the EU's priority is to diversify its energy sources," says spokeswoman Sabine Berger of the EU Energy Commissioner's office.

But Austria, Hungary, and Serbia - the first two EU members, the third a candidate to join - have said they will build their sections of the project and others may follow, to the displeasure of the EU and United States. In the wake of Austria's decision last month, Washington urged it to "consider carefully" whether that contributed to "discouraging further Russian aggression."


Comment: We're really getting tired of the U.S.'s veiled threats and political doubletalk.

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Vader

France to introduce stricter laws for citizens accused of terrorism


RT
Wed, 09 Jul 2014 12:15 UTC
Image
© AFP Photo/Guillaume Briquet
France plans to introduce stricter anti-terrorist legislation amid growing concern its nationals are fighting alongside Islamic militants in Syria and Iraq.

The bill, if approved, will ban terrorist suspects from international travel as well as websites that recruit radicals.

Individuals who are suspected of terrorism will be banned from traveling abroad for up to six months, says the draft bill to be presented on Wednesday. The passports of the suspects may also be confiscated for some time or invalidated.

"The objective of this bill is to increase the number of hurdles to discourage those who want to go and to stop them [from] actually going," an Interior Ministry source said, reported French outlets.

Also the law, if approved, says that the airlines will have to inform the country's authorities about the alleged radicalized individuals the moment they make a reservation on the flight. The airlines will also be banned from taking on board such suspects.

Comment: It should not be forgotten that France's first 'Muslim radical', Mohamed Merah, was conscripted, funded and 'radicalized' by French intelligence:

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Eye 1

Cybersecurity bill that broadens NSA spying powers passes Senate Intelligence Committee


RT
Wed, 09 Jul 2014 12:06 UTC
Image
New cybersecurity legislation cleared the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday during a closed session. Critics fear it may broaden the NSA's already formidable access to Americans' data.

Written by Senate Intelligence Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), CISA - or Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act - is widely seen as a redux of last year's CISPA bill, which was widely protested by online privacy watchdogs and ultimately defeated in Congress.

A draft of the bill circulated in June granted permission by government agencies to retain and share data for "a cybersecurity purpose," which was defined as "the purpose of protecting an information system or information that is stored on, processed by or transiting an information system from a cybersecurity threat or security vulnerability." According to the Guardian, that language would likely lead the NSA to stockpile weaknesses in digital security.
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Megaphone

Top Obama official blasts Israel for continuing to deny sovereignty and security to Palestinians

Raphael Ahren
Times of Israel
Wed, 09 Jul 2014 11:55 UTC
Image
© screen shot haaretz.co.il
White House coordinator for the Middle East Philip Gordon speaks at the Israel Conference on Peace in Tel Aviv, July 8, 2014
'How can Israel have peace if it's unwilling to delineate a border, end the occupation?' asks White House Mideast chief, Phillip Gordon, in blistering Tel Aviv speech

Israel's ongoing occupation of the West Bank is wrong and leads to regional instability and dehumanization of Palestinians, a top American government official said Tuesday in Tel Aviv, hinting that the current Israeli government is not committed to peace.

In an unusually harsh major foreign policy address, Philip Gordon, a special assistant to US President Barack Obama and the White House coordinator for the Middle East, appealed to Israeli and Palestinian leaders to make the compromises needed to reach a permanent peace agreement. Jerusalem "should not take for granted the opportunity to negotiate" such a treaty with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who has proven to be a reliable partner, Gordon said.

"Israel confronts an undeniable reality: It cannot maintain military control of another people indefinitely. Doing so is not only wrong but a recipe for resentment and recurring instability," Gordon said. "It will embolden extremists on both sides, tear at Israel's democratic fabric and feed mutual dehumanization."

Delivering the keynote address at the Haaretz newspaper's Israel Conference on Peace, Gordon reiterated Obama's position that a final-status agreement should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed land swaps.
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Vader

U.S. revives Afghanistan TAPI pipeline as Ukraine is pushed to the brink

Mike Whitney
Counterpunch
Wed, 09 Jul 2014 09:35 UTC
Image
"The unipolar world model has failed. People everywhere have shown their desire to choose their own destiny, preserve their own cultural identity, and oppose the West's attempts at military, financial, political and ideological domination."

- Vladimir Putin
"While the human politics of the crisis in Ukraine garner all the headlines, it is the gas politics that in many ways lies at the heart of the conflict."

- Eric Draitser, Waging war against Russia, one pipeline at a time
What does a pipeline in Afghanistan have to do with the crisis in Ukraine?

Everything. It reveals the commercial interests that drive US policy. Just as the War in Afghanistan was largely fought to facilitate the transfer of natural gas from Turkmenistan to the Arabian Sea, so too, Washington engineered the bloody coup in Kiev to cut off energy supplies from Russia to Europe to facilitate the US pivot to Asia.

This is why policymakers in Washington are reasonably satisfied with the outcome of the war in Afghanistan despite the fact that none of the stated goals were achieved. Afghanistan is not a functioning democracy with a strong central government, drug trafficking has not been eradicated, women haven't been liberated, and the infrastructure and school systems are worse than they were before the war. By every objective standard the war was a failure. But, of course, the stated goals were just public relations blather anyway. They don't mean anything. What matters is gas, namely the vast untapped reserves in Turkmenistan that could be extracted by privately-owned US corporations who would use their authority to control the growth of US competitors or would-be rivals like China. That's what the war was all about. The gas is going to be transported via a pipeline from Turkmenistan, across Afghanistan, Pakistan and India to the Arabian sea, eschewing Russian and Iranian territory. The completion of the so called TAPI pipeline will undermine the development of an Iranian pipeline, thus sabotaging the efforts of a US adversary.
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Cut

Iraq fed up with the U.S., turns to Iran and Russia for support

Hala Jaber
The Sunday Times
Mon, 07 Jul 2014 09:50 UTC
Image
© Hadi Mizban
Nouri al-Maliki is frustrated with the lack of genuine support from America
Iraq's beleaguered Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is threatening to tear up a defence agreement with the US and build closer links with Iran and Russia instead.

Sources close to Mr Maliki, who is under pressure from Washington to step down, say he could cancel the Strategic Framework Agreement with the US. The SFA, signed in 2008, outlines the terms for political, economic and security co-operation between Washington and Baghdad.

The document was intended to be the basis for a lasting relationship between the two countries, promoting peace, stability and democracy in Iraq. In return it granted the US a monopoly on defence contracts worth billions.

Frustrated by President Barack Obama's lack of support in the face of insurgency by the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, Mr Maliki is now considering abrogating the agreement altogether, the sources say.

The US has sent up to 600 military advisers to Iraq, but Secretary of State John Kerry has insisted further aid be conditional on moves by Iraq's government to heal the sectarian divide within the country. Mr Maliki has refused to make any concessions for the Sunni and Kurdish minorities.

Comment: Aren't Iraq and Iran supposed to be at each other's throats?! Seems the divide-and-conquer tactics are losing their grip while U.S. dominance continues to fall apart.

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MIB

Rift deepening? Germany expels CIA Berlin chief over NSA spying


RT
Thu, 10 Jul 2014 09:14 UTC
Merkel
© Unknown
Germany is expelling the CIA chief in Berlin in retaliation for the latest espionage scandal.

The expulsion comes shortly after two alleged US agents were unmasked, suspected of acting as double agents within the state security apparatus, and passing secrets to US intelligence contacts.

The move was "a reaction to persistent failure to work together in efforts towards clarification," according to the chief of the Parliamentary Control Panel.

The two new cases, which came in quick succession of one another, increase the strain on already tense relations after the revelations made about the extent of global NSA espionage in June, 2013.

Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized the spy's presence in Germany, stating that when common sense is switched on, "spying is ultimately a waste of force," reported Der Spiegle.

She added that in 21st century intelligence work, there should be a strong focus on the essentials rather than that which is just technically possible - to the point that "one can't see the wood because of all the trees," Merkel said.

Comment: Is the German government starting to see that the US is not acting in the interest of Germany or is it all just a fake outrage and business as usual?

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Bomb

Hundreds of Israeli bombs shake Gaza, leaving 81 dead and 550 injured in 2 days


AlJazeera
Thu, 10 Jul 2014 06:25 UTC

At least 81 people, including many children, have been killed in the Gaza Strip in two days of Israeli air raids, as Israel's army mobilised on the border for a possible ground invasion.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said 550 people had been wounded since Israel launched its campaign in Gaza this week, which it said targeted Palestinians firing rockets into its territory.

The Israeli authorities say more than 200 rockets have been fired into Israel from Gaza since Monday, with some reaching as far as Tel Aviv.

At least 550 sites have been hit by Israeli jets, including Gaza City, Beit Hanoun and Khan Younis.

An Israeli air strike killed seven Palestinian civilians on Thursday, including five children, in the largest death toll from a single attack since the start of the three-day offensive, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.

Comment: All these official meetings, the UN resolutions, the "talks".... they amount to nothing, as nothing ever changes for the Palestinian people.

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Heart - Black

Yet another bombing of Gaza (through the eyes of a neo-con loon)


SCG News
Wed, 09 Jul 2014 05:43 UTC
israel bombing gaza
© Associated Press
Smoke and debris rise after an Israeli strike on the Gaza Strip seen from the Israeli side of the Israel Gaza Border, Wednesday, July 9, 2014. Since the Gaza offensive began Tuesday, Israel has attacked more than 400 sites in Gaza
Right now Israel is bombing Gaza into oblivion... again. It doesn't really matter when you read this. Two years from now you will probably be able to overlay the gist of the story over the headlines of the day, and it will still be relevant.

What was the excuse this time? Oh right... three Jewish teenagers were killed by some unknown person or persons. Most assume that someone was a Palestinian, but there was no trial. Israel of course decided that they would be handling this like any civilized country handles a murder case: by bombing an entire city.


Comment: Abducted Israeli teenagers found dead - a convenient development (for Israel)


Comment: There are no words to describe the crimes perpetrated by Israel (with the help of the U.S.) on such large scale and so often, on a population that they keep imprisoned, hungry and without any human rights for decades now. The one thing that tops this outrageous and conscienceless ethnic cleansing is the complicity of the world media to spread Israeli propaganda and try to convince the global audience that the perpetrator is the victim despite the amount of evidence (and corpses) on the ground.

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