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Mexico claiming some migrant caravan funding came from U.S., England - freezes assets of entities believed involved

Ildefonso Ortiz and Brandon Darby
Breitbart News
Thu, 06 Jun 2019 19:24 UTC
migrant caravan mexico
© Associated Press/Rodrigo Abd
Migrant caravan blocked by police near Arriaga, Mexico, October 27, 2018
Mexican tax officials froze the assets of 26 individuals and entities they allege are tied to human smuggling organizations or to promoting Central American migrant caravans. The caravans moved thousands of individuals from the "northern triangle" through Mexico to the U.S. border. The funding for the migrant caravans allegedly came from the U.S., England, Africa, and Central America.

Through a prepared statement, Mexico's Finance and Tax Secretariat (SHCP) announced the freezing of the accounts claiming the move resulted from an investigation by their Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF).

The operation tracked financial movements from October 2018 through current dates in an attempt to determine the sources of funding for the migrant caravans. According to their statement, the UIF identified a group of individuals that made several questionable international financial transactions from the cities of Chiapas and Queretaro during the times that the migrant caravans were moving through those places.

Comment:

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Eye 1

Twitter's 'simplified' new rules of conduct are just as vague and arbitrary


RT
Fri, 07 Jun 2019 17:07 UTC
twitter protest
© Global Look / Nicolas Datiche
Twitter has revamped its rules, cutting them into tweet-sized morsels in the name of a "healthier public conversation." Just as opaque and patronizing as before, they're now even more likely to get you banned. Move over, YouTube!

Twitter has presented its users with a reformulated "easier to understand" set of rules, moving most of the text off the main page for a pleasing aesthetic experience and upping the chance users will never read the detailed policies. The byzantine and often self-contradictory conduct code is chock full of pitfalls, and users are quickly finding out the range of bannable offenses has swollen to rival YouTube's and Facebook's.

"Private Information," "Sensitive Media" and "Terrorism & Violent Extremism" are the subsections advertised on the new rules page as having received a makeover, but reading through them is likely to leave the user even more confused than before. "We also prohibit the glorification of violence," the tweet-sized takeaway under "violence and extremism" reads, but if you click through to the actual policy page, it turns out "violent acts by state actors" get a pass.
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Blue Planet

US 'very encouraged' by Mexican migration proposals - but 'still a long way to go'


Yahoo News
Fri, 07 Jun 2019 17:01 UTC
migrants mexico border Guatamala
© Associated Press
Migrants, part of the caravan hoping to reach the U.S. border, walk on the shoulder of a road in Frontera Hidalgo, Mexico
U.S. officials were very encouraged by Mexican immigration proposals but there is still a long way to go as negotiators begin their latest round of talks on Friday, Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff told Fox News.

"Yesterday they came back I think very open to those recommendations and so we're very encouraged as to where the negotiations are going," Pence aide Marc Short said. "But there frankly is still a long way to go." He said negotiations were under way, with White House counsel Pat Cipollone leading talks for the Americans.

Comment: See also:

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Attention

Key figure that Mueller report linked to Russia was actually a State Department intel source

John Solomon
The Hill
Fri, 07 Jun 2019 16:00 UTC
Konstantin Kilimnik

Konstantin Kilimnik
In a key finding of the Mueller report, Ukrainian businessman Konstantin Kilimnik, who worked for Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, is tied to Russian intelligence.

But hundreds of pages of government documents - which special counsel Robert Mueller possessed since 2018 - describe Kilimnik as a "sensitive" intelligence source for the U.S. State Department who informed on Ukrainian and Russian matters.

Why Mueller's team omitted that part of the Kilimnik narrative from its report and related court filings is not known. But the revelation of it comes as the accuracy of Mueller's Russia conclusions face increased scrutiny.

The incomplete portrayal of Kilimnik is so important to Mueller's overall narrative that it is raised in the opening of his report. "The FBI assesses" Kilimnik "to have ties to Russian intelligence," Mueller's team wrote on Page 6, putting a sinister light on every contact Kilimnik had with Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman.
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Light Sabers

Russia slams US Navy for 'unacceptable behavior' after warships' near-miss in East China Sea


RT
Fri, 07 Jun 2019 16:04 UTC
US Navy's USS Chancellorsville
© AFP / Anthony Wallace
US Navy's USS Chancellorsville
Russia has accused the US Navy of "unacceptable" and dangerous maneuvering, after a US warship almost caused a catastrophic collision with a Russian destroyer in the East China Sea.

The Russian Navy said that the USS Chancellorsville, a guided-missile cruiser, unexplainedly changed direction and came within just 50 meters of the Admiral Vinogradov on Friday at 6:35 Moscow time. It added that a collision was only prevented after the Russian crew implemented emergency maneuvers and changed course.

A statement from Russia's Pacific Fleet added that a complaint had been lodged with the command of the American cruiser.
"We made our protest to the command of the American ship on an international wavelength and pointed out that such actions are unacceptable."

Comment: In fact, US media is reporting a mirror version of events, in which the Russian ship was in the wrong. Video and photo evidence appears to support the Russian account:

russian us ships collision

That's the Russian ship on the left
As pointed out by Moon of Alabama:
The Handbook of Nautical Rules lists as the International Maritime Organization Rule 15:
When two power-driven vessels are crossing so as to involve risk of collision, the vessel which has the other on her own starboard side shall keep out of the way and shall, if the circumstances admit, avoid crossing ahead of the other vessel.
The book explains further:
Rule 15 requires the vessel that has the other on its starboard side to stay out of the way, and to pass behind. The vessel on the right becomes the stand-on vessel and must follow Rule 17 (Action by Stand-on Vessel). The vessel on the left becomes the give-way vessel and must follow Rule 16 (Action by Give-way Vessel).
...
The give-way vessel is required (if the circumstances of the case admit) to pass behind the stand-on vessel and so a turn to starboard would be in order. To keep the area to the left of the stand-on vessel clear for the give-way vessel's maneuvers, Rule 17 directs the stand-on vessel to refrain from turning to port.
Rule 16 says:
Every vessel which is directed to keep out of the way of another vessel shall, so far as possible, take early and substantial action to keep well clear.
and Rule 17:
Where one of two vessels is to keep out of the way, the other shall keep her course and speed.
Here's US Navy footage of the near-collision:



The Russian ship is clearly 'to starboard', meaning, according to basic nautical rules, it is the American ship that must change course.

In this case, it didn't, forcing the Russians to alter course to their starboard, something the US Navy has spun as a 'dangerous maneuver', but without which one or both ships would now be at the bottom of the ocean...

There was likely a bigger maneuver in play here. Besides the issue of who had right of way at the moment of 'near-miss', the fact that the ships were anywhere near each other - off the coast of China - speaks to the Russian-Chinese 'challenge' of American 'ownership' of the oceans...

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Bulb

Russia to launch Nord Stream 2 despite Danish hurdles & US threats to derail project


RT
Fri, 07 Jun 2019 16:01 UTC
Nord Stream 2
© Nord Stream 2 / Axel Schmidt
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Denmark would eventually provide the necessary permits for completing the gas pipeline from Russia to Europe despite aggressive US attempts to block the project.

The undersea pipeline passes through the territorial waters of Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. Only Danish authorities have yet to allow the pipeline in its territorial waters.

The project is being implemented under an avalanche of criticism from Washington. The US has persistently slammed the EU over excessive reliance on Russian energy supplies, while accusing Moscow of abusing its dominant position in the European energy market.

"We believe that they should give their consent. There is no obstacle to it, and the Nord Stream 1 is the proof, since this project was implemented successfully," Novak told journalists at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, referring to the original pipeline that started operating in November 2011.
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Bell

Prosecutors refusing to release wiretaps of Flynn and Kislyak: Why it could be a game-changer

Sara Carter
saraacarter.com
Tue, 04 Jun 2019 15:01 UTC
flynn mueller

Michael Flynn and Robert Mueller
The highly classified transcript between former National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and former Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak would answer once and for all exactly what was said between the then senior government officials. Kislyak's phone was being monitored by U.S. intelligence but that didn't stop senior U.S. officials from leaking the conversation to the media. In fact, it was that essence of Flynn's conversation with Kislyak that eventually led to Flynn being fired from his role as President Donald Trump's national security advisor.

Knowing exactly what was said could be a game changer. Prosecutors don't want that to happen. In fact, they argue that the transcripts aren't essential to Flynn's prosecution, in which he has already pleaded guilty. Isn't that interesting, since it was senior government officials who broke the law and leaked the fact to the media that the two had spoken by phone.

Comment:

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Dollar

Putin: 'Trust in US dollar falling because it has become tool of pressure against whole world'


RT
Fri, 07 Jun 2019 15:56 UTC
dollar
© Getty Images / Dimitri Otis
The role of the US dollar as a reserve currency should be reconsidered since it has become Washington's political weapon, Russian President Vladimir Putin told participants at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

"Deep changes require adaptation of international financial organizations, reconsidering the role of the dollar, which after it became international reserve currency, turned into the tool of pressure of the country of issue on the rest of the world today," Putin said.

The Russian president added that US actions undermine the advantages created by the Bretton Woods system, thus "trust in the US dollar is falling."
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Network

'EU supported us amid baseless US spy claims': Kaspersky Lab boss on friends, hackers & cyber-awareness


RT
Thu, 06 Jun 2019 20:46 UTC
Kaspersky
© Reuters / Maxim Shemetov
Eugene Kaspersky, Chief Executive of Kaspersky Lab.
The US crusade against Kaspersky Lab has revealed that the Russian anti-virus company has many friends in the EU, including Germany, France, and Belgium, who value its high-quality cybersecurity products, Eugene Kaspersky told RT.

Without providing any proof, the US Department of Homeland Security accused Kaspersky Lab of ties to Russian intelligence in late 2017, and forbade all US government agencies from using its software.

The European Commission initially sided with Washington on the issue, but internal pressure from some of the member states made it change its stance this April, saying that it was "not in possession of any evidence regarding potential issues related to the use of Kaspersky Lab products."

Comment: It's notable that the US attacks pretty much any tech company not under its control:

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Newspaper

German parliament slated to debate ban of Hezbollah

Benjamin Weinthal
Jerusalem Post
Thu, 06 Jun 2019 02:40 UTC
palestine berlin
© REUTERS
Freedom for Palestine protesters during a demonstration in Berlin
"Germany does not classify Hezbollah as a a terrorist organization, it may continue to collect donations and propaganda. That must have an end," said one German politician.

The German Bundestag is scheduled to debate a bill on Thursday to outlaw the radical Islamic organization Hezbollah in the federal republic.

The far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) party introduced the bill.

The Jerusalem Post exclusively reported on Tuesday that the number of Hezbollah members and supporters in Germany rose from 950 in 2017 to 1,050 in 2018, according to a German intelligence report from the state of Lower Saxony.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and her interior minister, Horst Seehofer, rejected an urgent appeal from the Central Council of Jews in Germany last week to ban Hezbollah amid rising Jew-hatred in the federal republic.

Comment: See also:

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