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Fri, 05 Nov 2021
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Turkey's Erdogan - From Haga Sophia to the shores of Tripoli and beyond

Turkish soldiers
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has clearly decided to launch an offensive on multiple fronts, taking advantage of what he clearly perceives as a geopolitical vacuum. From his recent call to Islamic prayer at the Haga Sophia in Istanbul, to his breaking of the arms embargo to back the Tripoli regime against the advance of General Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army in the East, from continuing military presence inside Syria to refusal to stop drilling for oil and gas in waters off Cyprus, as well as actions in Africa, Erdogan is clearly in an aggressive mode. Is there a larger strategy behind all this, far more than as a diversion from domestic Turkish economic problems?

In recent weeks the Erdogan government has made aggressive moves on multiple fronts that have led many to question their overall aims. In Libya Turkey's Erdogan has boldly made moves to give arms, soldiers and other support to the embattled Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli of Fayez Mustafa al-Sarraj.

In December 2019, Erdogan signed a military cooperation pact with the UN-recognized and highly unstable Tripoli government to counter the offensive mounted by Gen. Haftar's Libyan National Army, based in the oil-rich east of Libya.

Comment: The signs are all there. Erdogan is a loose cannon:


Folder

Austria confirms OPCW report on Skripal faked by Brits, exposes Financial Times lies and cover-up

helmer opcw
Austria officially confirmed this week that the British Government's allegation that Novichok, a Russian chemical warfare agent, was used in England by GRU, the Russian military intelligence service, in March 2018, was a British invention.

Investigations in Vienna by four Austrian government ministries, the BVT intelligence agency, and by Austrian prosecutors have revealed that secret OPCW reports on the blood testing of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, copies of which were transferred to the Austrian government, did not reveal a Russian-made nerve agent.

Two reports, published in Vienna this week by the OE media group and reporter Isabelle Daniel, reveal that the Financial Times publication of the cover-page of one of the OPCW reports exposed a barcode identifying the source of the leaked documents was the Austrian government. The Austrian Foreign Ministry and the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz und Terrorismusbekämpfung (BVT), the domestic intelligence agency equivalent to MI5 or FBI, have corroborated the authenticity of the documents.

The Austrian disclosures also reveal that in London the Financial Times editor, Roula Khalaf, four of the newspaper's reporters, and the management of the Japanese-owned company have fabricated a false and misleading version of the OPCW evidence and have covered up British government lying on the Skripal blood testing and the Novichok evidence.

On Wednesday afternoon this week, OE24, a news portal of the OE media group in Vienna, broke the first story (lead image, right) that the barcode found on the OPCW document photograph published in London had been traced to several Austrian state ministries. The next day, OE political editor Isabelle Daniel reported the Austrian Foreign, Defence and Economics Ministries had received copies of the barcoded OPCW dossier, and that the Justice Ministry and prosecutors were investigating "potential moles".

Bizarro Earth

Covid-19, The Great Reset and The New Normal

Push to reset
© MsTech/Getty/KJN
Clearly, 2020 has been unlike any previous year in the last century or so. The world is currently battling against an infodemic of propaganda spewing from the corporate media and official health authorities. Yes, people are sick and dying. However, the statistics make it clear that COVID-19 simply does not warrant a total lockdown of the planet and further destruction of the economy.

Regardless, nations around the world are using COVID-19 as an opportunity to grab more surveillance and police state powers, institute mask and vaccine mandates, accelerate the push towards a completely digital world, enact more corporate bailouts, and generally, extreme control and involvement in citizens lives. The sheer magnitude of the COVID-19 operation is unparalleled, with the most recent similar event being the attacks of September 11, 2001. As with the 9/11 attacks, the predator class is using COVID-19 as the excuse to push plans and agendas which predate the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Even so, the COVID-19 operation is unlike any other event to take place in modern history because the results of this event are affecting people in every single nation on the planet and will continue to for years to come. Also, unlike 9/11 - which took place over the course of one morning - the COVID-19 operation is taking place daily for months on end. The effects of this constant bombardment with fear and panic are taking a toll on the hearts and minds of free people all around the world. Quite simply, the people are ready for this to end and they will do almost anything to achieve this goal. It is within this space of fear and uncertainty which the predator class has now begun to insert themselves, ready to present the "solution" to our ills.

The Great Reset

As every student of power and deception knows, the easiest way to achieve victory over your opponent is to guide them to a predetermined destination which benefits your agenda. If you can do this while convincing your opponent that they are consciously making their own choices and the path is for their own good - well, you are all but guaranteed success. I believe the evidence indicates this is the strategy we are seeing unfold during the COVID-19 operation.

Comment: See also:


Stop

Pompeo: US will 'do everything' to stop Nord Stream 2 project!

Pompeo
© AP
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has told lawmakers that the United States intends to impose sanctions on firms that continue to help Russia build a natural-gas pipeline to Europe as he sought to dispel concerns about Washington's commitment to halt the controversial project.

"We will do everything we can to make sure that that pipeline doesn't threaten Europe," Pompeo told a senate hearing on July 30, adding: "We want Europe to have real, secure, stable, safe energy resources that cannot be turned off in the event Russia wants to."


Comment: It doesn't matter what the Europeans want!


Pompeo told the panel that the United States has already been in touch with some companies working on Nord Stream 2 about the risks they face if they don't halt their activities.

The State Department and Treasury Department "have made very clear in our conversations with those who have equipment there the expressed threat that is posed to them for continuing to work on completion of the pipeline," he said.

Comment: Sanction and punishment. How short-sighted is this? The benefit from lower gas prices due to the pipeline is projected to benefit all European consumers, a positive impact considering the sudden crash in the global economy. What helps one sector, eventually helps all:
Analysts expect the price for the blue fuel in Europe to drop by up to 25 percent after Russia starts pumping natural gas via the 1,200km route stretching across the Baltic Sea to Germany. Analysts at Wood Mackenzie commented:
"If Nord Stream 2 remains unfinished, European benchmark TTF gas is expected to average about $4 per million British Thermal Units next year. But if the project can be completed as its backers hope early in 2021, then the average TTF price that year could drop to about $3, we estimate. If sales to Europe are constrained again, as they have been this year, that will put downward pressure on Henry Hub prices. The net impact of that in terms of lost revenues for upstream US gas producers could be significant."
The Title Transfer Facility, more commonly known as TTF, is a virtual trading point for natural gas in the Netherlands. The Dutch platform is considered Europe's benchmark gas market.
See also:


Calendar

Trump: Election results may take 'years' with mail-in ballots

Trump
© Reuters/Leah Mills
US President Donald Trump
President Trump on Thursday evening broadened his attack on widespread mail-in voting, warning that it could delay the results of the presidential election. "Must know Election results on the night of the Election, not days, months, or even years later!" Trump tweeted.

Hours earlier, Trump suggested that Election Day be delayed from Nov. 3 so people can "securely and safely vote" during the coronavirus pandemic — only to be shot down by Republicans in Congress.

Trump told reporters at an evening press conference:
"Do I want to see a date change? No. But I don't want to see a crooked election. "I don't want to delay. I want to have the election. But I also don't want to have to wait for three months and then find out that the ballots are all missing and the election doesn't mean anything.

"Our country will be a laughingstock all over the world because everyone knows it does not work... Stupid people may not know it. And some people don't want to talk about it. But they know."
Trump has for weeks argued that if states mail ballots to all voters, they will be "harvested" by Democrats, despite few prosecutions for voter fraud in recent years. He also says foreign countries may forge ballots.

Comment: Without constituency-voted changes in standard election procedures, the rights, methodology and expectations (for a fair process) of American citizens remain the protocol.

See also:
Democrats apoplectic as Trump floats delaying election over mail-in voting


Stock Down

German economy shrinks at record pace in 'recession of a century'

Merkel
© Getty Images/Maja Hitij
German Chancellor Angela Merkel
The German economy contracted at its steepest rate on record in the second quarter as consumer spending, company investment and exports all collapsed during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, wiping out nearly 10 years of growth.

The Federal Statistics Office said gross domestic output in Europe's largest economy shrank by 10.1% quarter-on-quarter from April to June after a revised 2.0% contraction in the first three months of the year. The plunge was the steepest since the office began collecting quarterly growth data in 1970 and was worse than the 9% contraction predicted by economists in a Reuters poll. Adjusted for inflation, seasonal and calendar effects, it erased almost a decade of growth, the statistics office said.

"Now it's official, it's the recession of a century," said DekaBank economist Andreas Scheuerle. "What has so far been impossible to achieve with stock market crashes or oil price shocks was achieved by a 160 nanometre tiny creature named coronavirus."

In a further sign of economic weakness, annual inflation came to a standstill in July as consumer prices posted their weakest reading in more than four years, separate data from the statistics office showed.

Comment: The whole world is on reset, victims of decisions by 'the few'.

See also:




Dollars

Iran to pay compensation for downing Ukrainian plane; Kiev to take legal action if Tehran stalls

funeral Iranian victims
© Abdolrahman Rafati/Tasnim News Agency via Reuters.
The funeral of four Iranian victims of a Ukrainian plane crash in Iran.
Iran has agreed to pay compensation for its accidental shooting down a Ukrainian passenger plane, although details of payment amounts have yet to be determined. Kiev said if it feels Tehran is stalling, it may launch legal action.

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was shot down in January by an Iranian air defense unit shortly after departing from Tehran. Marathon talks concerning the incident, held in Kiev this week, were hailed as constructive by both parties.

Tehran agreed to pay compensation for the loss of lives and property, but determining its scope will take time, due to "technical and legal aspects," the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Abbas Mousavi, said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the Iranians had pledged to conduct a "transparent and objective" investigation of the plane's downing and to meet all its obligations under international agreements on aviation safety. Establishing all relevant facts is necessary to determine the size of the compensation package. "The sum cannot be taken out of the blue," the minister said.

Russian Flag

Russian authorities to investigate as Communist MP claims 39 ruling party politicians have dual citizenship or foreign residency

Denis Parfenov
© Sputnik / Alexey Danichev
Denis Parfenov
The speaker of Russia's State Duma (parliament) has ordered the Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption to determine which lawmakers have alternative citizenships or other residence permits, after a claim by an opposition MP.

A key part of Vladimir Putin's constitutional changes, approved in a national vote earlier this month, called for a halt to top officials having foreign passports or the right to reside in other countries. The clause was popular with the public, given the number of times over the past three decades that corrupt former politicians or bureaucrats have fled abroad after milking Russia.

Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin ordered the investigation following a claim by Denis Parfenov, a deputy from the parliamentary opposition Communist Party, who alleged that 39 politicians from the ruling United Russia party have foreign passports or residency, which the speaker called a "serious accusation."

In his list, Parfenov named prominent senators Andrey Klishas and Elena Mizulina, as well as Governor of the Moscow Region Andrey Vorobyov, among others. He did not provide any evidence for his claims.

Some of the revelations regarding foreign citizenship and residencies are not new. For example, popular Telegram channel 'Nebozhena' has previously claimed that Mizulina holds a Belgian residence permit. This raised eyebrows given that not only is Belgium a NATO member-state, but it is also home to the organization's headquarters. Mizulina confirmed to the Moscow newspaper RBK that she had reported the accusation to Russia's prosecutor general. Questions have also previously been asked of Vorobyov, who in January denied that he had residence permits in both Spain and Israel.

Bad Guys

Because COVID: Hong Kong leader postpones elections - after barring 12 pro-democracy candidates

hk civic party
© Civic Party
Civic Party members meet the press on July 30, 2020 regarding the disqualification of four members from the 2020 Legislative Council Election.
Hong Kong is to postpone September's legislative election by one year owing to a resurgence in untraceable coronavirus cases, Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced on Friday.

The leader will invoke the Emergency Regulations Ordinance to hold off the vote - a decision she said was supported by Beijing.

"The announcement I have to make today is the most difficult one I have had to make in the past seven months," she said at a press conference. "It is a really tough decision to delay the election, but we want to ensure public safety and health, and to make sure the elections are held in an open and impartial manner. The decision is therefore essential."

The unprecedented delay came amid added scrutiny over the disqualification of at least a dozen democratic hopefuls the day before. Activists, NGOs and foreign politicians have decried the move as part of a wide-reaching crackdown under Beijing's newly implemented national security law for the city.


Lam said the exposure of millions of staff and voters, including vulnerable elderly people, to Covid-19 on polling day threatened to overwhelm the city's public healthcare system. She added some Hong Kong permanent residents were stranded in mainland China and abroad due to travel restrictions, therefore it would be "impossible" for them to return home to vote.

Comment: Hong Kong - hot on the heels of the national security law criminalizing ill-defined 'subversion' against the Communist Party - jumps on the bandwagon of states using COVID hysteria to postpone elections. Germany has suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong in response to the above developments.


TV

YouTube suspends Russian 'Fox News' imitator, Kremlin warns internet users not to trust it or other Western platforms

Fox news russia imitator Tsargrad TV
© Reuters / Dado Ruvic; Global Look Press / Konstantin Kokoshkin
Tsargrad TV
After a Russian TV channel loosely inspired by America's Fox News was blocked by video-streaming service YouTube earlier this week, Vladimir Putin's spokesman says Western web giants should be treated with a "low degree of trust."

Dmitry Peskov emphasized that the companies are completely unaccountable and can do as they please. He said the public needs to be aware that they can be "thrown out of there along with their account" at any moment.

Comment: Wise advice.

A little more on Konstantin Malofeev, who is an ardent promoter of conservative family values in Russia: Orthodox TV hits the airwaves, Russian style