Puppet Masters
"I would rather starve to death than to change my opinion in this regard. And when I say that, I mean that quite literally," Manning said during a hearing at a federal courthouse in Virginia on Thursday.
The US Army intelligence specialist has already spent seven years behind bars for handing over classified military and diplomatic files to WikiLeaks in 2010, and another 62 days in jail until last week for refusing to testify before another grand jury.

Chechen SOBR special police unit during a military parade in Grozny in 2013
Thursday's announcement by the Treasury Department affects the Terek Special Rapid Response Team (SOBR), the Russian equivalent of a SWAT team. The sanctions also apply against the team commander, listed as Abuzayed Vismuradov.
Four more individuals were added to the blacklist, including the warden of Penal Colony IK-7 by the name of Sergey Leonidovich Kossiev. The official positions of three other sanctioned Russian citizens were not given.
Comment: RT reports that in Russia also intends to respond reciprocally:
Moscow to react 'reciprocally' to US blacklisting of elite Chechen police unit - KremlinFirst the US sanctions Iran's Revolutionary Guard accusing it of being a terrorist organization, and now it blacklists the Chechen elite police unit, it's not immediately clear what the US' intentions are, other than an attempt to smear Chechnya and, by-proxy, Russia.
Russia will respond 'reciprocally' to the US sanctions placed on Chechen special police unit Terek, Vladimir Putin's spokesperson said, slamming Washington's move as 'destructive.'
"Obviously, the principle of reciprocity applies here," Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday, adding that Washington's recent actions against Chechnya's Terek Special Rapid Response Team will trigger "necessary countermeasures."
Peskov did not specify what steps are being considered.
On Thursday, the US Treasury Department included the rapid-response unit - a local equivalent of a SWAT team - into the anti-Russian sanctions list. The sanctions also personally apply to the team's commander.
It was done under the 2016 Global Magnitsky Act, which is an extension of an earlier US law adopted to target Moscow. The legislation allows the US government to sanction anyone it sees as complicit in violating human rights anywhere in the world.
Russian officials heavily criticized the law, saying that Washington does not provide sufficient evidence for its enactment and uses it to target people arbitrarily.
- It's good for Israel! US labels Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a foreign terrorist organization
- Fake news purveyors busted: There are no 'gay gulags' in Chechnya
- Must-Watch Russian Documentary, Banned in The West: 'The Magnitsky Act - Behind the Scenes'
Also check out SOTT radio's: The Truth Perspective: Bill Browder, the Magnitsky Act, and anti-Russia Sanctions: Interview with Alex Krainer
Comment: Prior to the Illegal US raid on the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington DC, the Embassy Protection Collective wrote to the State Department, outlining the traditional mechanism for treating another country's diplomatic properties when the countries are in conflict. The State Department chose to ignore centuries of custom, opting instead to seize the property in favor of its puppet, Juan Guaido.
It is hard to imagine what will be accomplished, as Venezuela will not recognize any activity of the "embassy" as legitimate. Carlos Vecchio is unable to authorize passports or any other diplomatic credentials, thereby depriving innocent Venezuelan citizens access to services.
The blatant violation of international law by the US government will have repercussions on diplomatic relations between countries far into the future. America has put a time-tested framework in jeopardy
Activists protecting the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington have written to the State Department offering a way to peacefully end the standoff between themselves and an argy mob of Guaidó supporters.
Activists who have lived inside the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington for more than a month protecting it from seizure by an illegitimate government have offered the State Department a solution to the crisis unfolding at the diplomatic compound. Last week the State Department pulled the credentials of Venezuelan diplomats-still recognized at the United Nations- preventing them from entering their place of work. Instead the U.S. recognized Venezuelan "diplomats" representing the self-declared "president" Juan Guaidó.
Comment:
- Sabotage to out activists? Now water has been cut to Venezuela's US embassy, govt. denies action
- Illegal collective punishment: US siege on Venezuelan embassy violates Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, US Constitution, UN Charter and international laws
- Activists guarding Venezuela's DC embassy brace for US seizure - takeover meant to shore up failed Guaido coup
- Anti-coup activists arrested as police batter down door of Venezuelan Embassy in DC - flagrant violation of international law
- Transfer of Venezuelan embassy in US to 'fake government' would be an 'act of war' - Max Blumenthal
The strike was conducted as Afghan police were fighting the Taliban outside Lashkar Gah in southern Helmand province, with Afghan officials describing the incident as a "mistake". Head of the provincial council Attaullah Afghan said 14 policemen were also wounded in the strike.
It wasn't clear whether Afghan or US forces carried out the strike, the AP reported, although the Taliban claimed it had been US forces.
Comment: Bombing hospitals, schools, weddings, and so on, is par for the course for the US led coalition's reign of terror in the Middle East:
- Barbarians: Dozens of children slaughtered as Saudi-led coalition airstrike hits bus in Yemen
- US-led coalition bombs, completely destroys local hospital in Hajin, Syria
- US-led war of terror 'officially' killed at least half a million in Afghanistan, Pakistan & Iraq - not counting Libya and Syria
- Amnesty International: US bomb destroyed hospital in Yemen
Guided missile destroyers USS Gonzalez (DDG-66) and USS McFaul (DDG-74) transited the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday afternoon, the US Naval Institute (USNI) reported. Their sailing proceeded "without challenge" or "harassment" from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, despite boiling hot tensions between Tehran and Washington, the publication's defense sources noted.
The two destroyers are now in close proximity to other American warships in the region sent by Washington earlier this month to tackle what the US called "heightened Iranian readiness to conduct offensive operations against US forces and our interests." No evidence has yet been offered to back up those claims.
89up, a London-based online content and social media consultancy have analysed a database of 1.5 million Facebook pages, since the beginning of the EU election cycle, which started a month ago.
They found that the Brexit Party generated 125,035 shares, dwarfing the numbers of their rivals. The Tories were the closest with 26,400, with Labour, the Liberal Democrats, UKIP and the Green Party all trailing with less than 6,000 shares. The new pro-second referendum party Change UK had a dismal 56 shares.
Comment: The elites are no doubt going to blame social media/Russia for the landslide euroskeptic victories in the upcoming 'EU election' (if it can even be called that). Never, never will they accept that they're simply in the minority...
The report, titled "Engineering Assessment of Two Cylinders Observed at Douma Incident", came to public prominence a few days ago after The Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media released their analysis of the text.
Since then it has gotten a lot of play all across the alternate media (you can read our original report here, but there were many others too).
It has received virtually zero coverage in the mainstream media, of course. And that doesn't appear likely to change any time soon.
Comment: So there you have it. The security services for the US, UK and French governments - aka FUKUS - staged a 'chemical weapons attack' in Douma, killing 70 Syrian innocents, blamed the Syrians/Russians, then bombed Syria to 'punish' Syria.
Those are the facts. The rest is Fake News.
The move by the British government follows a decision on Wednesday to order its non-emergency government employees to leave Iraq amid increasing Middle East tensions.
The Ministry of Defence refused to confirm the new threat level, first reported by Sky News, but said in a statement that "we keep the security of our deployed personnel and assets under constant review."
The Florida Senate unanimously approved House Bill 741 with all 39 members on the chamber floor Monday signing on as co-sponsors.
HB 741 - approved by the House 114-0 on April 11 - was substituted for its Senate companion bill, Senate Bill 1272, which had only progressed through one committee, on the Senate floor and adopted after senators consented to waive procedural rules to accelerate its passage.

Demonstrators occupying the Venezuelan embassy in Washington D.C. on behalf of Venezuelan authorities were removed after the U.S. invaded it.
"The U.S. has raided the premises of the Venezuelan embassy in Washington ... a brutal act against international law and lack of respect for embassies in the world," said the president.
The Venezuelan head of state says he gave instructions to take its complaint of the event to the highest authorities and is expecting U.N. member states to make declarations against this violation.
Comment: See also:
- Code Pink co-founder denounces police raid on Venezuela embassy as 'violation of Vienna Convention'
- Anti-coup activists arrested as police batter down door of Venezuelan Embassy in DC - flagrant violation of international law
- US Secret Service is blocking food from reaching activists inside Venezuelan Embassy













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