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The end of M.A.D. - the beginning of madness

Eric Zuesse
The Saker
Wed, 01 Jun 2016 16:45 UTC
nuke Maeshall islands
© Photo: US Department of Defense/Wikimedia/cc
The Marshall Islands were the site of the United States' infamous Bikini Atoll nuclear bomb test, among many others, in the 1940s and 1950s.
John Helmer, who explains military-strategic matters better and more knowledgeably than just about anyone, headlined on May 30th, "The Red Line Crossed, In the Cross-Hairs, At Trigger Point", and he opened:
First there was the red-line announcement. On Friday [May 27th] in Athens there was the cross-hairs statement. By the month of October, the month before the US presidential election, there will be the trigger point.

The US and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies are going to war with Russia, accelerating the inevitability that Russia will strike in self-defence. This is what the first and second statements by President Vladimir Putin warn. There will be no statement of warning.
News media in the West treat any such report — that Russia might be placed into a situation in which a blitz nuclear attack against the West would (and maybe even will) be Russia's rational response to Western operations to surround Russia with hostile forces on its borders — as if there's something kooky about any such opinion: they treat it as if the West weren't ruled by people who are that evil, as if recognizing such evil in a ruler in the West is to be prohibited (especially if that ruler is America's President, instead of, for example, Turkey's President, whom apparently one is allowed to impute to be evil). On the present occasion, however, they should pay close attention to the situation Helmer describes, and they should report about the matter, while there might still be time enough to avert an unimaginable catastrophe, which (as Helmer explains in detail) could quite possibly happen this year.

Comment: Further reading:

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Info

Stubborn US has no plans for joint anti-Daseh ops with Russia


Sputnik
Wed, 01 Jun 2016 20:01 UTC
US coalition
© AP Photo/ Bilal Hussein
Washington is not considering carrying out joint operations with Moscow against Daesh, US Department of State spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday.

The United States will remain in close contact with Russia regarding efforts to fight terrorist groups in Syria like the Islamic State (IS, or Daesh) and the Nusra Front, Kirby added.

"There has to be a level of communication here and there is. And this is largely between the Russian military and the Defense Department. There are no joint being operations being conducted," Kirby stated in a press briefing.
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Propaganda

'Disgusting' and 'shallow': Corbyn on the ridiculous bias of the BBC


RT
Wed, 01 Jun 2016 19:42 UTC
BBC hq
© Peter Nicholls / Reuters
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has struck out at the BBC for its "disgusting" and "shallow" coverage of him, accusing the broadcaster of being "obsessed" with turning positive stories into negative ones.

Corbyn was particularly critical of the BBC's local elections coverage last month, in which he said Labour did well because it "hung on" - the party lost 11 seats, while the Tories lost 49.

His remarks were captured by a Vice film crew as they followed Corbyn over a period of two months.

"There is not one story on any election anywhere into the UK that the BBC will not spin into a problem for me," he said in the film, 'Jeremy Corbyn: The Outsider.'

"It's obsessive beyond belief. They are obsessed with trying to damage the leadership of the Labour Party and unfortunately there are people in the Labour Party who play into that."

Comment: Corbyn has done remarkably well to keep hold of any sanity while working in that den of vipers and being consistently slated all over national media. The best thing to come of this is the increasingly obvious divide between public opinion and the media line. No matter how many articles, TV shows and internet troll commenters they send out, it just doesn't seem to be having the same effect anymore.

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War Whore

Idlib hospital bombing: From "Russia definitely did it" to "forces loyal to Assad maybe did it" to "we're working with the Russians to find out who did it"


RT
Wed, 01 Jun 2016 19:34 UTC
syria hospital
© Khalil Ashawi / Reuters
Civilians and civil defense members look for survivors in the Syrian city of Idlib, Syria, late May 30, 2016.
The Department of State did not back the accusations that Russian jets were responsible for airstrikes that killed at least 23 people in Syria's Idlib province, and said the US was working with Russia to figure out what happened.

"We're still looking into what happened in Idlib. We don't have a great sense of complete knowledge here of who's responsible," State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters Tuesday.


Comment: Isn't that interesting. On the day itself, Western media were certain that Russia did it.


"We're going to continue to work closely - inside the cessation of hostilities task force - with the Russians to try to figure out what happened here, and we'll take it from there," Kirby said. "Obviously, the images coming out of Idlib are very troubling. Obviously, the killing of innocent civilians is a violation of the cessation of hostilities, period."

Comment: This pattern has been going on for some months now, with about 30 medical facilities in Syria having been deliberately bombed since the peace process began. Right after the first hospitals were bombed, the Turks accused Russia of carrying out these war crimes, "obviously."

Let us spare everyone the suspense of waiting for Kurveball Kirby to discover the actual culprits and suggest that the party with "obvious" means and motive to carry out such atrocities is Turkey, with NATO's full blessing of course.

These people are so sick, they will blow up Syrian children just to make Russia look bad.

See also:

Syria propaganda fail: Idlib airstrike wasn't hospital, wasn't Russian, wasn't civilian

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Quenelle - Golden

Mass protests across France: Resistance against the global Orwellian nightmare

Corey Schink
Sott.net
Wed, 01 Jun 2016 21:16 UTC
paris protest

The 'Nuit Debout' protest movement in Paris, first taken up by the youth, now spreading to nationwide strikes by the unions
"Until they become conscious, they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious."

~ George Orwell, 1984
Turmoil everywhere as an Orwellian nightmare unfolds around the globe

protest france

Worker strikes are spreading in France
In just the last couple of months, we've seen what is effectively a 'legal coup' against the democratically-elected president of Brazil, continued and relentless pressure to remove al-Assad from power in Syria, economic warfare in Venezuela threatening to bring 'Chavismo' to an ignominious end, and the so-called 'Panama Papers' forcing the resignation of Iceland's prime minister, once the world's youngest, and who oversaw the country's unique resolution to banksters' private debt.

If they have their way, the 'Secret Elite' ruling the West will replace these formerly democratic governments with the same power-hungry system in place everywhere else in the West - entrenched oligarchy that consumes everything it can get its hands on, including human resources.

Ordinary folks in Europe have been feeling this relentless drive for total power in the form of 'austerity' imposed from above. Some populations pretty much rolled over, displaying relatively muted protest in the face of egregious pillage and plunder. But the French, like the Greeks, have not been taking it lying down. The French are resisting, en masse, to challenge the pathological boot aimed squarely at their necks.
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Vader

NATO vs Russia: Romania and Poland are now ground zero

Phil Butler
New Eastern Outlook
Wed, 01 Jun 2016 16:47 UTC
US navy base romania

US Naval Support Facility (NSF) Deveselu, Romania
Last week Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that the placement of U.S. missiles in nearby countries such as Romania and Poland will lead to a "Russian response". In an unprecedented escalation of Cold War aggression, NATO now ups the pressure on an already unstable policy crisis. Reuters and other western media report that Romania is now in "Putin's crosshairs" should a confrontation ensue. In a redux of history, Romania seems bound to be an anti-Russian pawn as in previous wars. And Poland's leadership proves once-and-for-all they are witless puppets.

This latest escalation is the most serious of all, considering the nature of the weapons being deployed and their locations. But NATO (and its lap dogs) contend the systems are aimed at stopping incoming missiles from Iran. Considering Iran does not even have the capability to strike itself with 100% effectiveness right now, it's laughable what the Washington/Brussels war talkers are spitting out. The missile installation in Romania is the first land-based defensive missile launcher in Europe. It is part of a larger NATO defense shield that includes a command-and-control center at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, a radar installation in Turkey and four ships capable of identifying enemy missiles and firing their own SM-3s, based in Rota, Spain. The reality of this situation is exactly as Mr. Putin suggests. NATO is intent on eliminating Russia's retaliatory capability, while at the same time adding first strike capability for NATO. Russia cannot allow this to happen. This is the whole point here.
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Attention

A warning from Russians living in the U.S. - Russia will NOT attack, but she WILL retaliate


The Saker
Wed, 01 Jun 2016 16:11 UTC
russia usa
We, the undersigned, are Russians living and working in the USA. We have been watching with increasing anxiety as the current US and NATO policies have set us on an extremely dangerous collision course with the Russian Federation, as well as with China. Many respected, patriotic Americans, such as Paul Craig Roberts, Stephen Cohen, Philip Giraldi, Ray McGovern and many others have been issuing warnings of a looming Third World War. But their voices have been all but lost among the din of a mass media that is full of deceptive and inaccurate stories that characterize the Russian economy as being in shambles and the Russian military as weak—all based on no evidence. But we—knowing both Russian history and the current state of Russian society and the Russian military, cannot swallow these lies. We now feel that it is our duty, as Russians living in the US, to warn the American people that they are being lied to, and to tell them the truth. And the truth is simply this:

If there is going to be a war with Russia, then the United States
will most certainly be destroyed, and most of us will end up dead.

Let us take a step back and put what is happening in a historical context. Russia has suffered a great deal at the hands of foreign invaders, losing 22 million people in World War II. Most of the dead were civilians, because the country was invaded, and the Russians have vowed to never let such a disaster happen again. Each time Russia had been invaded, she emerged victorious. In 1812 Napoleon invaded Russia; in 1814 Russian cavalry rode into Paris. On July 22, 1941, Hitler's Luftwaffe bombed Kiev; on May 8, 1945, Soviet troops rolled into Berlin.

Comment: The paradox: mutually assured destruction, or something approaching it, should insure that such a scenario never takes place. But psychopaths don't seem capable of that kind of consequence-based logic. The Neocons and Neolibs are crazy enough to take down the world with them, or at least a sizeable chunk of it. With any luck, that won't happen. Perhaps mitigating events will intervene, perhaps the U.S. power structure will implode before it reaches that point. But even if that is the case, humanity shouldn't ignore the current geopolitical trajectory, which is openly inviting destruction on a massive level, all out of an inflated sense of imperial hubris and thickheadedness. As bad as things are today, they can get worse. At the very least we can educate ourselves about the possibilities.

Putin recently made some serious remarks in Greece on the subject. See Eric Zuesse's take on it here: Putin gives grave warning to Romania and Poland against installing NATO's ABM missiles, "no one is listening". The Saker also gives some background on Russia's actual military capabilities here: War with Russia? Debunking the Empire's lies and illusions.

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Black Cat

Loco Savachenko: Ukraine's newest 'hero' curses Putin and walks in public fountain as she fields questions from reporters

Mikhail Klikushin
Observer
Tue, 31 May 2016 16:30 UTC
Loco Savchenko
© Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images
Ukrainian military pilot Nadiya Savchenko (L) joins Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko to address the media at the Presidential Administration building following Ms. Savchenko’s return to Ukraine on May 25, 2016 in Kiev, Ukraine.
Released from Russian prison, Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko predicts World War Three

Two weeks ago, The New York Times ran a story about Ukrainian pop-diva Jamala beating her Russian pop-foe during the Eurovision pop-song contest with the song "1944" in which she hinted at the tragic deportation of the Crimean Tartars from Crimea 72 years ago. While the whole world was celebrating Jamala's victory over Russia just last week—who remembers her name today? Jamala is all but forgotten.

That's because there's a new young female celebrity in the spotlight so far as Ukraine is concerned: Nadia Savchenko. The Ukrainian pilot, released from a Russian prison last week, has made Jamala a thing of the past.

Ms. Savchenko is back in Ukraine, with both Ukrainian and Russian political junkies agreeing on one thing: This is political reality TV in the making. Ms. Savchenko will inevitably prove to be somewhat different from her well-crafted image created by Ukrainian propaganda.

The Ukrainian political class is holding its breath.

"It's not going to be boring," wrote one Ukrainian journalist on her blog. "Fuck, for the first time in two years I will go to cover the Rada next Tuesday!"

Comment: What does it say that about the state of Ukraine that this nutjob is being hailed as a hero and someone who will soon be seated in their parliament?!

See also: The Lunatic Nadezhda Savchenko is back on the streets

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Clock

Russian envoy: NATO needs an enemy in order to justify itself


RT
Wed, 01 Jun 2016 15:55 UTC
poland nato
© Franciszek Mazur / Agencja Gazeta / Reuters
Polish and U.S soldiers look at a Patriot missile defence battery during joint exercises at the military grounds in Sochaczew, near Warsaw.
NATO needs the image of Russia as a major adversary in order to return to the center of global affairs by proving there are no other options to maintain security in the region other than US-Europe military alliance, Moscow's envoy to the bloc says.

The alliance is shifting to Cold War-era schemes of maintaining security in Europe, believes Russia's envoy to NATO, Aleksandr Grushko. To pursue that goal, the alliance consistently eliminates the tools created once the Cold War was over, literally "inviting us to return into the past," he told Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily.

Political efforts alone would not be enough to break this tendency, it implies a rejection of "confrontational military planning," Grushko said.

Comment: The NATO block has lost whatever hold on reality it may have had at some point in the distant past. Grushko is right: NATO needs an enemy, and Russia fits the bill. NATO aggression may well result in exactly that. Unfortunately, when push comes to shove, the American-led death cult stands to lose. Russia has been trying to make the crazies see sense, but it looks like the Buck Turgidsons of the world are determined to see the world - and themselves - burn.

Further reading:

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Attention

Recognizing the Armenian genocide: German MPs receive death threats, Turkey warns Germany to be 'careful'


RT
Wed, 01 Jun 2016 13:49 UTC
erdogan
© Flickr/ mrsamisnow
Thousands of emails have been reportedly sent out by the Turkish community to German MPs, threatening the politicians and calling them names in connection with Berlin's latest attempts to recognize the 1915 Armenian genocide.

Berlin is looking to adopt a resolution, titled "Remembrance and commemoration of the genocide of Armenians and other Christian minorities in the years 1915 and 1916" this Thursday.

The legislation, which has strained German-Turkish relations, is largely being supported by the opposition Greens in Germany, Merkel's conservative bloc and Social Democrats.

The document has the word "genocide" in its headline and the text that reads "the fate of the Armenians is exemplary in the history of mass exterminations, ethnic cleansing, deportations and yes, genocide, which marked the 20th century in such a terrible way."

Comment: Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister joined the fray, saying: "Germany must be careful concerning its relations with Turkey."
"I do not think that the German parliament will destroy this relationship for the sake of two or three politicians," he added, referring to the officials who put the resolution before the Bundestag.

Turkey, the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, rejects the use of the word "genocide" to describe the mass killing of Armenians during World War One, arguing that any deaths that occurred during the relocation and deportation of Armenians were justified as the Armenians posed a threat due to their supposed sympathies towards Russia.
Sorry, 'Turkey', but mass murder is mass murder. Indiscriminate killing such as this is never justified.

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