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Trump says prepared to talk to Iran but there's always a chance of military action


RFE/RL
Wed, 05 Jun 2019 16:58 UTC
trump
U.S. President Donald Trump says he is prepared to talk to Iran but that there was always a chance of U.S. military action against Tehran.

"So Iran is a place that was extremely hostile when I first came into office," Trump who is on a state visit to Britain, told ITV television on June 5. "They were a terrorist nation number one in the world at that time and probably maybe are today."

Asked if he thought military action might be needed, he said: "There's always a chance. Do I want to? No. I'd rather not. But there's always a chance."

He said, when asked, that he was prepared to talk to Iranian President Rohani: "Yeah of course. I would much rather talk."
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Question

Do Trump's hawks speak for Trump?

Patrick J. Buchanan
buchanan.org
Mon, 03 Jun 2019 16:53 UTC
hawks
For a president who won his office by denouncing the Middle East wars into which George W. Bush and Barack Obama plunged the nation, Donald Trump has assembled the most unabashedly hawkish conclave of foreign policy advisers in memory. And he himself seems to concede the point.

If foreign policy were decided by my security adviser John Bolton, the president confided recently, "We'd be in four wars by now."

It was Bolton who ordered the Abraham Lincoln carrier group and B-52s to the Gulf and told the Pentagon to draw up plans to send 120,000 U.S. troops. It is Bolton who is charging Iran with using mines to sabotage four oil tankers outside the Strait of Hormuz.

Asked for evidence, Bolton barked back at reporters: "Who else would you think is doing it? Somebody from Nepal?"
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Eye 1

YouTube issues site-wide crackdown on 'hateful' videos

Max Jaeger
NY Post
Wed, 05 Jun 2019 22:52 UTC
Getty Images
YouTube will yank down and ban "hateful" and "supremacist" videos - including those that deny violent, well-documented events such as the Holocaust, the company announced Wednesday.

"Today, we're taking another step in our hate speech policy by specifically prohibiting videos alleging that a group is superior in order to justify discrimination, segregation or exclusion based on qualities like age, gender, race, caste, religion, sexual orientation or veteran status," YouTube said in a blog post.

"This would include, for example, videos that promote or glorify Nazi ideology, which is inherently discriminatory. Finally, we will remove content denying that well-documented violent events, like the Holocaust or the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, took place."

Critics have accused the video-sharing website of enabling hate speech by turning a blind eye to it on its platform.
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Clock

Netanyahu picks Likud MK to serve as justice minister

Gary Willig
Israel National News
Wed, 05 Jun 2019 16:27 UTC
amir ohana
© Flash 90
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has selected Likud MK Amir Ohana to replace Aleyet Shaked as acting Justice Minister, the Prime Minister's Office announced Wednesday evening.

"MK Amir Ohana is a jurist who knows the legal system well. He holds a bachelor's degree in law, specializing in the Central District Attorney's Office," the PMO stated.

"For a decade, MK Ohana worked as a lawyer and appeared in various courts throughout Israel, and the Knesset led a series of laws, including the Basic Law on Nationality."

The Likud party emphasized the fact that Ohana is the first member of the LGBTQ community to be appointed as Israel's Justice Minister.

Prime Minister Netanyahu fired Shaked and Education Minister Naftali Bennett from the Cabinet on Sunday in a surprise move.

Netanyahu had reportedly sought to give the justice portfolio to Minister Yariv Levin, another Likud minister. However, Levin has refused to be made Justice Minister on an interim basis and will only seek the Justice Ministry after the next elections in September.

National Union chairman MK Bezalel Smotrich has also sought the justice portfolio.

Comment: So Netanyahu served a full day as Justice Minister. That was one day too many, but at least it's over:

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Gem

'My closest friend': China's President Xi hails his personal relations with Putin


RT
Wed, 05 Jun 2019 18:12 UTC
Putin Xi
© Sputnik / Alexei Druzhinin
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands during their meeting in the Kremlin.
Xi Jinping visits Russia more than any other country - and his great personal relationship with Vladimir Putin is one of the reasons for that, the Chinese President revealed after talks with his Russian counterpart in Moscow.

"This is my eighth trip to Russia since 2013," Xi told the journalists, who gathered at the Kremlin on Wednesday.

According to the Chinese leader's stats, he and Putin "have met almost thirty times over the past six years."
Russia is the most visited foreign state for me and President Putin is my closest friend and a good colleague.

Comment: These statements by Xi should really come as no surprise. In addition to the constructive leadership qualities of both men, they both share a positive and shared vision of cooperation, growth and stability for their respective countries. And they both have a shared enemy...

See also:

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Snakes in Suits

Gaetz: Biden had to 'copy and paste' Green New Deal because there is no inspiration behind his campaign - 'Donald Trump will trounce him'

Jeff Poors
Breitbart
Wed, 05 Jun 2019 14:57 UTC
Joe Biden
© Michael Dwyer/AP Photo
Joe Biden rolled out his climate policy on Tuesday after facing weeks of criticism from the Democratic Party's left flank for reportedly considering a plan to strike a "middle ground" on the issue.
Tuesday on Fox News Channel's "Hannity," Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) mocked former Vice President Joe Biden, a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, for his newly unveiled climate proposal.

Gaetz coined the term "Plagiarizing Joe Biden" when asked about the proposal, noting its similarities to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D-NY) so-called Green New Deal.

"We could even get a new nickname," he said. "We could call him Plagiarizing Joe Biden. Well look, I mean Joe Biden once bragged that foreign leaders were calling asking him to run for President and now we know why. The Biden plan would unilaterally disarm the American economy, exporting carbon-based jobs to emerging economies where they're not going to put off their own prosperity for a generation for any environmental concern."

"Now, I do believe the climate is changing," Gaetz continued. "I think that humans have an impact on it, but the right approach is the one taken by President Trump to stand up for American innovation by putting tariffs on the Chinese when they steal our intellectual property and hollow out American businesses. So I think that has far more to do with the ultimate environmental consequence protecting the American innovator than trying to regulate our way through this challenge with a plan that Joe Biden didn't even write. His staffers went and took it off of media reports and other interest group websites."
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USA

Did Nancy Pelosi say she 'wants to see Trump in prison'?

Sara Carter
SaraACarter.com
Thu, 06 Jun 2019 14:44 UTC
Nancy Pelosi
© Reuters / Yuri Gripas
"I don't want to see him impeached, I want to see him in prison," said Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal), in a meeting with House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler and other top Democrats, according to Politico.

Politico reports that in the meeting were present the House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings, Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal and Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel.

A Pelosi spokesperson told the New York Post the lawmakers "had a productive meeting about the state of play with the Mueller report. They agreed to keep all options on the table and continue to move forward with an aggressive hearing and legislative strategy, as early as next week, to address the president's corruption and abuses of power uncovered in the report."

The spokesperson did not directly address whether Pelosi made the remark about Trump that was attributed to her.

Comment: For what exactly, Nancy?

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Arrow Up

PM Khan praises Pakistan military cut in defense spending amid financial crisis


Zee News India
Wed, 05 Jun 2019 08:41 UTC
imran khan

Imran Khan
Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, the DG of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Major General Asif Ghafoor, announced the move.

The Pakistan armed forces have decided a voluntary cut in the defence budget for a year in view of the financial crisis of the country, a move which Prime Minister Imran Khan has appreciated. It is to be noted that there will not be a cut in their current budget but the military won't take an increase this year.

Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, the DG of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Major General Asif Ghafoor, announced the move. He said that three services will manage the impact of the cut through appropriate internal measures, adding that the step was important for the development of several areas. He also added that the step will not be at the cost of defence and security of Pakistan. Ghafoor asserted that Pakistan will maintain an effective response to all potential threats.

Comment: In the end, it's not how much you spend, but how you spend it:

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TV

Fake news fail: 'Executed' North Korean diplomat is seen alive with leader at theater performance

Will Ripley
CNN
Thu, 06 Jun 2019 10:36 UTC
Kim Hyok Chol

Kim Hyok Chol, North Korea's special representative for US affairs, leaves the Government Guesthouse in Hanoi on February 23.
The North Korean diplomat who South Korea's largest newspaper said had been executed by firing squad is alive and in state custody, according to several sources familiar with the situation.

North Korea's special envoy to the United States, Kim Hyok Chol, is being investigated for his role in the failed Hanoi summit that took place between United States President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in February, the sources said.


Comment: It's likely that Kim Jong Un was well aware that the US intended for the summit to fail: How Trump sabotaged the North Korea summit to appease the hawks and lied about Kim's terms


That meeting, the second between the two leaders, ended abruptly without the two sides reaching a deal.

Kim Jong Un's translator in Hanoi, Sin Hye Yong, also is in custody and under investigation, sources said.
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Pirates

Venezuela's gold seized by Deutsche Bank following second default

Patricia Laya
Bloomberg
Tue, 04 Jun 2019 18:42 UTC
Maduro
© Carlos Becerra/Bloomberg
Nicolas Maduro with gold ingots in Caracas.
Venezuela has defaulted on a gold swap agreement valued at $750 million with Deutsche Bank AG, prompting the lender to take control of the precious metal used as collateral and close out the contract, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

As part of a financing agreement signed in 2016, Venezuela received a cash loan from Deutsche Bank and put up 20 tons of gold as collateral. The agreement, which was set to expire in 2021, was settled early due to missed interest payments, said the people, who asked not to be named speaking about a private matter.

In the meantime, opposition leader Juan Guaido's parallel government has asked the bank to deposit $120 million into an account outside President Nicolas Maduro's reach, which represents the difference in price from when the gold was acquired to current levels. As part of efforts to unseat Maduro, the U.S. and more than 50 countries have recognized Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela even though he still doesn't control key institutions at home, including the central bank.

Comment: Obviously Venezuela is struggling to manage its finances when, by all accounts, it's under a "medieval siege" by the US and its lackeys, with the expressed intent to overthrow the legitimate government and plunder the country for all its worth. Unlike the hawks and vultures in the West, some countries and businesses, like those of Russia and China, are doing their utmost to help Venezuela and its citizens: Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: US Regime Change Operation in Venezuela - This Time It's Legit?

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