© thehilly.com
When the story of foreign interference in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election is finally told it will have little to do with Russia and a lot to do with how Democrats, some Republicans and critical parts of the intelligence and law enforcement community colluded in an effort to discredit Donald Trump and undermine his ability to function as President. What puzzles me is
why the media is acting surprised with the latest news confirming that Hillary Clinton's campaign financed the infamous Trump Dossier. Thank you Captain Obvious. Who else would have commissioned such an effort once the Republican primary battle was settled?
Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy says he is dissolving the Catalan parliament and calling regional elections over its push for independence.
The prime minister said the unprecedented imposition of direct rule on Catalonia was essential to "recover normality" in the region.He is also firing Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and his cabinet.
Earlier, the Catalan parliament unilaterally voted to declare independence.
Comment: Spain is also seeking
rebellion charges against the Catalan leaders responsible for the independence vote, which could be brought as early as Monday.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the Catalan parliament. When independence from Spain was announced, the crowd went wild with excitement.
Alex Christoforou
The DuranThu, 26 Oct 2017 16:40 UTC
© YouTube/KJN
in previous posts that whether it is the left screaming about fake news Russia election meddling, or the right screaming about secret Russian agents bribing Hillary and Co., Russia will be scapegoated as the main culprit, and bad actor, in any investigations playing out in the public theater.
Fox News' Sean Hannity kicks off the propaganda of putting the entire onus of the Uranium One deal, and the apparent corruption of Hillary, Obama, and the DC swamp, onto the shoulders of Vladimir Putin.
Whether left or right, neo-liberal or neoconservative, Russia will always be made out to be the villain when it comes to Washington DC's crippling corruption.
Comment: See also:
FBI informant claims Barack Obama received daily updates on Uranium One deal (Video)This too is a nothing-burger, although it's understandable why US conservatives have hung their hat on it: their democratic opposition, with the backing of the Deep State establishment, have used 'ties with Russia' as a vehicle with which to bash Trump and keep him in line, thus keeping the US Empire on course (towards its total destruction, but they don't know that).
Putin explained - in plain, simple, non-hysterical language - what this uranium deal is actually about
in his recent speech at Valdai 2017 (where leaders from around the world in the fields of politics, media and business met to discuss future global governance without the US, which has apparently lost its mind).
The US and Russia made arrangements in the early 90s to 'civilize' their nuclear warheads by selling it to each other for use in nuclear power plants. This way, the process could be openly monitored. The only Clinton connection to this overarching deal is that Slick Willy happened to be president at the time. There's no scandal here. It's
being 'scandalized' now because all things Russia are 'bad'.
The vast majority of political news coming out of the US these days is - to again borrow a phrase from Putin - paranoid political schizophrenia.
CNBCTue, 17 Oct 2017 09:44 UTC
© Bloomberg
likely will be the next Federal Reserve chairman, according to a slim majority of economists in a Reuters poll - but most of them said current Fed Chair
Janet Yellen would be the best option.
Just over half the 40 economists who participated in the survey, taken in the past few days, tipped Fed Governor Powell to be appointed chair by
U.S. President Donald Trump when Yellen's current four-year term ends on Feb 1, 2018.
Powell, a lawyer and former investment banker, has served as a member of the Fed's Board of Governors since May 2012.
"The most continuity between Fed chairs would be Yellen to Powell. Given where we are in the tightening cycle some consistency would be welcomed by financial markets," said Ryan Sweet at Moody's Analytics.
© AFPCambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (L) smiles during a speech at a banquet in Tokyo on August 7, 2017.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen told his cabinet on Friday he had no fear of Western sanctions after some US senators threatened to push for travel restrictions over his arrest of the main opposition leader in the country, the government spokesman said.
Hun Sen's critics accuse him of destroying democracy in Cambodia to ensure that he wins re-election next year to extend more than 32 years in power.
US Senator Ted Cruz said he would push for a travel ban on top officials if opposition leader Kem Sokha was not freed by November 9. Senators John McCain and Dick Durbin have also called for travel restrictions if the crackdown continues.Hun Sen told a weekly cabinet meeting that sanctions by Western donors don't worry him, the government spokesman said.
Comment: US threat of sanctions don't appear to carry the weight they used to... thanks to Russia, with love.
RTThu, 26 Oct 2017 17:34 UTC
© Dado Ruvic / Reuters
Twitter has banned ads from RT and Sputnik over alleged meddling in the 2016 US election.
RT's editor-in-chief says the move will spark retaliation from Moscow, and has revealed that Twitter pushed RT to spend ad money during the presidential campaign.The social network says it will give away money already earned from the two companies.
"Early this year, the US intelligence community named RT and Sputnik as implementing state-sponsored Russian efforts to interfere with and disrupt the 2016 presidential election, which is not something we want on Twitter," the California-based company said in a statement on its blog.
"Twitter has made the policy decision to off-board advertising from all accounts owned by Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik, effective immediately," Twitter said.
Comment: In an op-ed, RT deputy editor-in-chief Kirill Karnovich-Valua
reveals the details of Twitter's suggested advertising campaign for RT:
The RT and Twitter teams held a number of direct negotiations, during which we brainstormed potential media strategy ahead of American elections in 2016. The first meeting dates back to as early as April 2016, and involved senior marketing and news partnerships managers from Twitter.
The main idea pitched by Twitter to RT was "to take a stand." The more money RT spent, the bigger the reach to American voters that Twitter would provide. At the meeting, the RT team was shown an in-depth presentation giving background into Twitter's advantages as a platform of choice for the election.
The custom presentation provided an insight into just how big a conversation Twitter was expecting on its platform around the much-anticipated US vote. Among the shared data, the RT team was presented statistics on how Twitter users were reacting to each of three main contenders at the time - Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
So, clearly RT was a valued customer for Twitter just last year, and RT hasn't changed any of its journalistic style since then. This is just about Twitter showing very clearly to anyone paying attention that they aren't actually a private company but merely a tool of propaganda for the elites. People on social media are
justifiably blasting Twitter for its "classic corporate cowardice" and its attack on free speech and freedom of expression:
Update 10/27: It appears that
Twitter never "informed" the US government that it pushed RT to purchase a large ad campaign from Twitter before the 2016 election. That should make it interesting when Twitter execs sit down in front of Congress next week. There might be some pointed questions!
The reaction to Twitter's decision has led some observers to point out that its a part of a
continuous attack on free speech. Former US diplomat Jim Jatras tells RT:
"It is not even so much RT but what does this say about what the American government, the American agencies and now these social media companies are willing to do to compromise information coming to the American people?"
Mark Almond, director of the Crisis Research Institute at Oxford points out how the need to control information reveals how little trust the government has in the people that elected them and their ability to think for themselves:
"Those politicians in the Congress who have the social media platforms like Twitter and Google and Facebook a little bit in fear of them... are actually also damaging their own political standing because essentially they are saying to the American voter that you're so gullible and foolish that a tiny amount of money targeted in some way can control your minds and turn your votes."
The Kremlin has
responded by saying the ban is motivated by a "deep prejudice" against Russian media. It's hard to argue with them on that point. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the move as a result of pressure from US establishment and security services, while another Russian official, Konstantin Kosachev,
deleted his Twitter account in protest and said the company had become "highly politicized." Meanwhile, RT has
released Twitter's presentation and offer in full.
RTFri, 27 Oct 2017 18:33 UTC
© KCNA / ReutersKim Jong-Un of North Korea wrings his hands in pleasure at the utter stupidity of Western propaganda.
North Korean hackers are thought to be behind a cyberattack that brought down National Health Service (NHS) computers last May, leaving clinics in chaos. The 'WannaCry' ransomware demanded money to unlock medical records that it was holding hostage.
About 19,500 medical appointments - including 139 potential cancer referrals - were cancelled as a result of the attack, while hospitals had to reject ambulance arrivals when 81 health trusts across England were hit. The massive attack targeted more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries with the cyberattack.
Ransomware attacks occur when information is taken hostage and hackers demand money for its return. Often, money is taken but files remain lost forever.
Berkeley Lovelace Jr.
CNBCTue, 24 Oct 2017 18:34 UTC
© FOX Business
People should ignore President Donald Trump's "idiot tweets," but listen to his strategies on tax reform, infrastructure and border security, former McDonald's CEO Ed Rensi said Tuesday.
In an appearance on CNBC's
Squawk on the Street, Rensi said t
he president isn't a "political animal." Instead, Trump is a businessman who is interested in the well-being of Americans, Rensi contended. "[Trump] doesn't like politics at all," said Rensi, who is now a food service and restaurant consultant. "
He doesn't really care much for Democrats or Republicans. He's very interested in the American people." Trump's got it "figured out" on tax reform, Rensi said. "We've got to get this corporate tax rate down," Rensi said. "We're at a huge disadvantage. Our American citizens need more money. We need more disposable income for people to be able to buy things."
© YouTube/KJN
A former FBI informant who blew the whistle on a high-profile bribery case involving a Russian energy company was intimidated by Obama administration lawyers into dropping a civil suit against the government last year, his attorney says.
Victoria Toensing, the lawyer for the informant,
told The Daily Caller's Vince Coglianese that
Obama Justice Department lawyers told her client that "his reputation and liberty [was] in jeopardy" if he did not drop a lawsuit against the government.On Wednesday, the Trump Justice Department released the informant from a confidentiality agreement, clearing the way for him to testify before several congressional committees about his undercover work at Uranium One, a Canada-based energy company that has ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton and their family foundation.
Comment: This too is a nothing-burger, although it's understandable why US conservatives have hung their hat on it: their Democratic opposition, with the backing of the Deep State establishment, have used 'ties with Russia' as a vehicle with which to bash Trump and keep him in line, thus keeping the US Empire on course (towards its total destruction, but they don't know that).
Putin explained - in plain, simple, non-hysterical language - what this uranium deal is actually about
in his recent speech at Valdai 2017 (where leaders from around the world in the fields of politics, media and business met to discuss future global governance without the US, which has apparently lost its mind).
The US and Russia made arrangements in the early 90s to 'civilize' their nuclear warheads by selling it to each other for use in nuclear power plants. This way, the process could be openly monitored. The only Clinton connection to this overarching deal is that Slick Willy happened to be president at the time. There's no scandal here. It's
being 'scandalized' now because all things Russia are 'bad'.
The vast majority of political news coming out of the US these days is - to again borrow a phrase from Putin - paranoid political schizophrenia.
© Omar haj kadour / AFPDestruction at a hospital room in Khan Sheikhun, in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province, following a suspected toxic gas attack April 4, 2017.
The recently issued report put the blame for a chemical weapons incident in Syria's Khan Sheikhun on President Bashar Assad. Russia's deputy foreign minister has stated that Moscow may propose measures to improve methods of probing chemical attacks after examining the results of the findings.
Moscow, after its first reading of the OPCW-UN Syria report, believes that there are flaws in the methodology and that biased evidence was used, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told RIA Novosti.
According to Ryabkov,
conclusions were derived from "all the same evidence and testimony, which cause us great doubts due to the bias of sources and due to non-compliance with the requirements of the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, according to the sequence of collection and storage of material evidence.""All these logical inconsistencies, internal contradictions are visible even after the first cursory reading," the deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry added.
Comment: It's no accident that this report comes out as Russia and Syria are wiping ISIS off the map. The US is coming face-to-face with its failed strategy to destroy Syria and are grasping at straws to maintain their position.
See also:
Update (Oct. 28): The investigators admit in their report that the "integrity of the scene was devalued" after the alleged crater was "subsequently filled with concrete" by the terrorists occupying the area. As the Russians
point out, the accounts on which it is based are culled from anonymous research centers, open-source information and so-called 'independent experts,' which lack any convincing proof to support their findings.
In separate commentary, the ministry questioned why repeated requests by the Syrian government for the UN team to share not only the lab results, but also the actual samples stored in the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) laboratory, were only partially fulfilled following months of negotiations.
While it was provided with lab results, the biochemical samples which had allegedly been collected at the site were never sent to Damascus.
"Apart from that, the OPCW Technical Secretariat constantly dodges answering the question, whether it received the samples allegedly taken at the scene of the Khan Shaykhun incident by the British and French. According to Convention [on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons], these samples should be presented to the country, where they were collected," the statement reads further.
Such discrepancies in the process not only violates Syria's rights as a member of OPCW, but raise serious questions about the impartiality of the UN and the OPCW investigation team, Russia's Foreign Ministry said.
"There's only one conclusion - as the US and their 'like-minders' continue to escalate the situation with the Syrian 'chemical dossier,' more and more glaring examples of the 'double standards' in their approach towards Syria at the UNSC and OPCW platforms," the statement adds.
Damascus has also rejected the report's findings, charging that it apparently "came in implementation of the instructions of the US administration and Western countries to exert more political pressures and threats to Syria's sovereignty," Sana reported citing a source at Foreign and Expatriates Ministry.
"Syria strongly condemns the direct and indirect accusations against it which were included in this report and the previous one since they represent a falsification of the truth and distortion of all accurate information about what happened in Khan Shaykhun."
Moscow said it would provide a "more detailed analysis" next week, after carefully studying the report. The ministry promised to issue a response on the possible extension of JIM's current mandate which is due to expire on November 16.
...
Western nations have meanwhile welcomed the conclusions of the report. The findings were promptly praised by US officials as adamant and "impartial" proof of the alleged crimes attributed to Syria's President Bashar Assad.
"Time and again, we see independent confirmation of chemical weapons use by the Assad regime," Nikki Haley, the US envoy to the UN said in a statement.
Britain, on Friday, urged the UNSC to impose sanctions on Syria: "A robust international response is now essential to hold those responsible for the Khan Shaykhun attack to account... It now falls on the Security Council to act on these findings and to deliver justice," British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters.
China's reaction, however, appeared to be more guarded: "We hope the conclusion of any investigation should be grounded on solid and reliable evidence, conforms to the principle of professionalism, objectiveness, and justice and will stand the test of history," Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang's told reporters Friday.
US State Department spokesperson
Heather Nauert:
This new report confirms unequivocally what the United States and many in the international community have stated publicly for many months - that the Assad regime carried out the heinous April 4 attack killing approximately 100 innocent Syrian civilians, including many children, and injuring hundreds more. The [UN] Security Council must send a clear message that the use of chemical weapons by anyone will not be tolerated, and must fully support the work of the impartial investigators.
Confirmation bias at its best.
Comment: See also: