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US' F-35 jet's gun can't shoot straight plus 873 software 'issues'

Anthony Capaccio
Bloomberg
Thu, 30 Jan 2020 20:20 UTC
F-35A jet
© SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg
An F-35A fighter jet.
Add a gun that can't shoot straight to the problems that dog Lockheed Martin Corp.'s $428 billion F-35 program, including more than 800 software flaws.

The 25mm gun on Air Force models of the Joint Strike Fighter has "unacceptable" accuracy in hitting ground targets and is mounted in housing that's cracking, the Pentagon's test office said in its latest assessment of the costliest U.S. weapons system.

The annual assessment by Robert Behler, the Defense Department's director of operational test and evaluation, doesn't disclose any major new failings in the plane's flying capabilities. But it flags a long list of issues that his office said should be resolved -- including 13 described as Category 1 "must-fix" items that affect safety or combat capability -- before the F-35's upcoming $22 billion Block 4 phase.

Comment: This is just the latest in long list of faults coming out of US weapons manufacturers: See also: The Saker: Political implications of Russia's new weapons

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Bullseye

This 1987 news segment on Joe Biden appears to catch the Presidential hopeful lying over and over again

Katie Jerkovich
Daily Caller
Thu, 30 Jan 2020 02:31 UTC
News segment
© Twitter Screenshot/User: Shaun King
A news clip from 1987 finds multiple examples of former Vice President Joe Biden appearing to lie about his background and plagiarizing other politicians during the 1988 presidential campaign.

The video — which appears to be multiple segments compiled together — starts out with a news clip highlighting then-presidential hopeful and Democratic Sen. Joe Biden's comments during his appearance at the Iowa State Fair where he "used phrases identical" to that of British Labour Party Leader Neal Kinnock.

The video posted on Twitter reads, "In 1987 Joe Biden was proven to be a pathological liar. In 1987, when Joe Biden was running for President, he did not get caught in a lie — he got caught in at least 9 lies. They engulfed his entire campaign and almost derailed his political career."

The reporter goes on to note that "Biden seems to be claiming Kinnock's vision and life as his own."

Comment: See also: Joe Biden: A portrait of corruption

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Bullseye

UkraineGate documentary alleges Poroshenko 'most corrupt president ever,' Hunter Biden's board job may have been bribe for his father


RT
Thu, 30 Jan 2020 19:47 UTC
hunter joe biden poroshenko
© REUTERS/Andy Wong/Pool ; REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
(L) Hunter Biden and Joe Biden. (R) Petro Poroshenko and Joe Biden
Former Ukrainian officials told a French journalist that President Petro Poroshenko was directly involved in corruption, and that Hunter Biden's job at the gas company Burisma was a bribe to his father, the US vice president.

US President Donald Trump is currently on trial in the Senate, having been impeached by the House over Democrat allegations that withholding military aid to Ukraine over corruption concerns amounted to an abuse of power. Former Ukrainian officials and anti-corruption activists, however, have testified that not only was there corruption involving Burisma, the natural gas firm tied to former vice president and Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden's son, but that it went all the way to the top.

These revelations can be found in the third installment of the documentary series 'UkraineGate: Inconvenient facts', produced by the French investigative journalist Olivier Berruyer, founder of popular anti-corruption and economics blog Les Crises.

Comment:

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Yoda

Viktor Shokin demands criminal probe of Joe Biden in declaration to Kiev prosecutors

Josh Kovensky
Talking Points Memo
Wed, 29 Jan 2020 18:27 UTC
biden campaign speech
© Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images
Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden makes a statement on Ukraine corruption during a press conference on September 24, 2019, in Wilmington, Delaware.

Comment: TPM attempts to burnish its establishment cred, giving a point by point account of the fairytale that Joe Biden is innocent of corruption and never, ever, interfered in Ukrainian internal affairs to protect his son. Facts however, are stubborn things.


Discredited Ukrainian prosecutor general Viktor Shokin demanded in a Tuesday affidavit that Kyiv prosecutors open a criminal investigation into Joe Biden.

Shokin repeated long-debunked allegations in the declaration, accusing Biden of "blackmail" and violating international law in pushing for Shokin to be fired in 2016.

The filing marks the latest attempt to have Ukraine open a criminal investigation into a potential opponent of President Trump's in the 2020 election. It comes as the Senate holds an impeachment trial of President Trump over allegations that he attempted to have Ukraine announce investigations into the Bidens and the 2016 elections.

Comment: The website Les Crises has published a translation of the complaint filed by Shokin against Biden:
Today we present you this exclusive document: the complaint of former Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin against Joe Biden for interference in the legal proceedings of Ukraine - which incidentally cites our UkraineGate investigation ...
shokin sue complaint biden corruption
To the interim director of the National Bureau of Investigation

COMPLAINT [against Joe Biden]

On the commission of a criminal offense

(under article 214 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine)

I have read and understood Article 63 of the Constitution of Ukraine and the liability provided for in Article 383 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine "Slanderous denunciation of an offense".

Shokin V.M. (signature).

During the period 2014-2016, the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine was conducting a preliminary investigation into a series of serious crimes committed by the former Minister of Ecology of Ukraine Mykola Zlotchevsky and by the managers of the company "Burisma Holding Limited "(Cyprus), the board of directors of which included, among others, Hunter Biden, son of Joseph Biden, then vice-president of the United States of America.

The investigation into the above-mentioned crimes was carried out in strict accordance with Criminal Law and was under my personal control as the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

Owing to my firm position on the above-mentioned cases regarding their prompt and objective investigation, which should have resulted in the arrest and the indictment of the guilty parties, Joseph Biden developed a firmly hostile attitude towards me which led him to express in private conversations with senior Ukrainian officials, as well as in his public speeches, a categorical request for my immediate dismissal from the post of Attorney General of Ukraine in exchange for the sum of US $ 1 billion in as a financial guarantee from the United States for the benefit of Ukraine.

The facts I have described above are confirmed, among other things, by the official interview of Joseph Biden published in the media (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHoXh42BraI), where he declares that Ukraine will not receive money if I remain in my post as Attorney General.

Throughout the last months of 2015 and the first months of 2016 Joseph Biden, taking advantage of his position, came several times on official visits to Ukraine in order to negotiate with the leaders of the country my eviction and, consequently, the closing of the objective investigation into the offenses committed by persons associated with the company "Burisma Holding Limited" (Cyprus), including the son of the aforementioned US official.

Due to continued pressure from the Vice President of the United States Joseph Biden to oust me from the job by blackmailing the allocation of financial assistance, I, as the man who places the State interests above my personal interests, I agreed to abandon the post of Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

After my resignation caused by illegal pressure, no active investigation into the offenses concerning the company "Burisma Holding Limited" (Cyprus) was carried out and, therefore, the persons implicated in these offenses were not identified, nor arrested or charged.

According to the conclusions of the International Law Association of 18.04.2017, made by the doctor of law, Professor O.O. Merezhko, at the time vice-president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the request of the Vice-President of the United States Joseph Biden concerning my ousting from the post of the Attorney General of Ukraine as a condition for the granting of financial (economic) assistance is qualified as pressure, which represents interference in the internal affairs of Ukraine on the part of a foreign power in violation of one of the principles of international law.

Moreover, the facts of pressure on me as Prosecutor General of Ukraine from Joseph Biden in the circumstances described above are confirmed by an independent journalistic investigation under the name "UkraineGate" conducted and published by the French online media "Les-Crises.fr" available at this link. https://ukrainegate.info/part-2-not-so-dormant-investigations/

Thus, the unlawful influence exerted on me as the head of a judicial structure in the country by Joseph Biden, who abused his power as the Vice-President of the United States in order to prevent me from carrying out my duties as the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, thus preventing me from solving serious crimes and arresting the persons who committed those crimes, has the characteristics of the crime stipulated in Article 343 part 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

In accordance with article 214 part 1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine the investigator is obliged without delay but not later than 24 hours from the moment of filing a complaint, reporting a crime, or from the independent discovery of facts testifying to a crime, to bring the information to the Unified Registry of Preliminary Investigations and open the investigation.

I also inform that the agreement on legal assistance No. 00299 was signed on 12.10.2019 between me and the law firm "Leshchenko, Doroshenko and associates" which will represent me, among others, in this case.

The mandate provided for in Article 50 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on behalf of my representatives, lawyers Teleshetsky Oleksandr Yvanovych et Leshchenko Oleksandr Viktorovych, is attached to this complaint.

On the basis of all the above and pursuant to Articles 55, 56, 214 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine,

I REQUEST:
  1. To submit to the Unified Registry of Preliminary Investigations, the information on the fact that the citizen of the United States of America Joseph Biden has committed on the territory of Ukraine and beyond its borders a crime against me, including interference in the carrying out of the duties of a representative of a judicial structure, which falls within the scope of article 343 part 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
  2. To immediately open the preliminary investigation and give written orders to the investigators of the National Bureau of Investigation.
  3. To be associated, I, V.M. Shokin, with the criminal investigation as a victim, to be delivered a memento on the rights and duties of a victim and to be questioned as a victim.
Appendices:

- mandate for providing legal assistance series KV No. 823666 of 28.01.2020 on 1 sheet,
- certified copy of the right to practise as a lawyer TchTs No. 00173 of 07.28.2017 on 1 sheet,
- mandate for providing legal assistance series KV No. 823665 of 28.01.2020 on 1 sheet,
- certified copy of the right to practise as a lawyer No. 25023 of 01.11.2013 on 1 sheet,
- copy of the conclusions of the International Law Association of 04.18.2017

January 28th, 2020,

Shokin Viktor Mikhailovych

(signature)

Annexe 1 : Complaint of Viktor Shokin

Download

Annexe 2 : Article 343 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine
Article 343. Interference with activity of a law enforcement officer

1. Any influence on a law enforcement officer for the purpose of interfering with his official duty or obtaining any unlawful decisions, -

shall be punishable by a fine of 50 to 200 tax-free minimum incomes, or correctional labor for a term up to two years, or arrest for a term up to six months.

2. The same actions that precluded the prevention of a criminal offense or apprehension of an offender, or were committed by an official through abuse of office, -

shall be punishable by the deprivation of the right to occupy certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term up to five years, or arrest for a term up to six months, or imprisonment for a term up to four years.
Annexe 3

Link to the conclusions of the International Law Association of 04.18.2017

Download

Annexe 4

Link to the dispatch of Interfax news agency about this complaint.


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Red Flag

'Without any sympathy and empathy': China furious at Danish newspaper over image of flag with coronavirus


RT
Tue, 28 Jan 2020 18:42 UTC
China coronavirus
© Getty Images / Kevin Frayer / Stringer
The Chinese Embassy in Copenhagen has demanded an apology from Danish newspaper Jyllands-posten for publishing a Chinese flag with the coronavirus on it.

The image by Niels Bo Bojesen featured the Chinese flag with the yellow stars replaced with pictures of the novel coronavirus. The newspaper published the cartoon in their 'Today's Cartoon' section with a disclaimer saying that the cartoon represented the artist's personal interpretation, which may differ from the position of the paper.

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Eye 1

US demands Iraq join war against Iran or be destroyed

Eric Zuesse
The Saker Blog
Tue, 28 Jan 2020 12:00 UTC
us embassy iraq
© Reuters
US embassy in Iraq
U.S. officials have now made clear that if U.S. forces become removed from Iraq as Iraq's Parliament unanimously demanded and Iraq's Prime Minister affirmed on January 5th, then the U.S. will try to break Iraq up into separate Sunni and Shia nations, and will also definitely impose sanctions against Iraq or (if Iraq becomes successfully broken up) against the Shia-governed portion of Iraq, in order to destroy Iraq (or the Shiite regions in Iraq) totally.

The U.S. is determined to separate both Lebanon and Syria (both of which are supported by Shia Iran) from Iran so that Iran will become internationally isolated unless and until Iran again becomes controlled by the U.S. Government as it was during the period from 1953 when U.S. imposed the Shah's dictatorship there, till 1979, when Iranians finally took back control over their country and kicked out the U.S.-and-allied foreign oil companies.

By far the best international journalism about the situation today regarding Iraq has come from the Middle East Eye, which headlined on January 23rd, "US seeking to carve out Sunni state as its influence in Iraq wanes", and sub-headed, "With Shia parties pressuring American troops to leave, Washington wants to create an autonomous region around Anbar to maintain its presence." Their reporter in Baghdad, Suadad al-Salhy, stated that,

Comment: See also:

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Gear

Dershowitz: Even if Bolton article true, 'quid pro quo' is not impeachable

Joel B. Pollak
Breitbart
Mon, 27 Jan 2020 18:35 UTC
Dershowitz
Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz told the Senate impeachment trial Monday evening that even if allegations attributed to former National Security Advisor John Bolton were true, they would not be impeachable conduct.

The Times reported that Bolton had written a draft book in which he said President Donald Trump told him he wanted to condition aid to Ukraine on investigations of "Democrats."

Dershowitz said, however, that the "quid pro quo" alleged was not impeachable. He argued that impeachment was designed to be used for "criminal-like conduct akin to treason and bribery," not for vague criteria like the "abuse of power," which were subjective, and similar to the "maladministration" that the Framers specifically ruled out as a basis for impeachment.
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Star of David

Kushner urges Israel not to annex chunks of the West Bank as Knesset vows to 'fast-track' vote


Sputnik
Thu, 30 Jan 2020 18:18 UTC
west bank settlements
© AFP 2019 / AHMAD GHARABLI
President Trump's so-called 'Deal of the Century', the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, recognises Israeli claims to sovereignty over Israeli settlements in the West Bank, solidifying the rights of the estimated 400,000 Israeli nationals living in these areas.

Trump son-in-law, advisor and Israeli-Palestinian peace plan architect Jared Kushner has urged Israel to hold off on plans to annex settlements in the West Bank until elections take place and Tel Aviv's long-running political stalemate is resolved.

Speaking to Gzero Media on Wednesday and commenting on the expected move by the Knesset to apply Israeli sovereignty to areas of the West Bank in the near future, Kushner said that "the hope is that they'll wait until after the election, and we'll work with them to try to come up with something."
Asked if the US would support Israel if it moved forward to annex the territories, Kushner stressed that "what the administration is doing is we've agreed with them on forming a technical team to start studying, taking the conceptual map. The Jordan Valley can mean a lot of different things. And again, I want to make sure that we have all of the parameters defined".
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Chess

PACE ratifies full credentials of Russian delegation, rejecting five-nation challenge


RT
Thu, 30 Jan 2020 18:09 UTC
pace
© Reuters / Vincent Kessler
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has once again confirmed that Russia's delegation enjoys full rights within the international body, after they were challenged by five member nations, led by Lithuania.

PACE delegates overwhelmingly voted to confirm Russia's credentials on Wednesday: 96 of them supported the move, with 44 votes against it and seven abstentions.

A challenge on "substantial grounds" was raised earlier this week by Lithuanian delegate Emanuelis Zingeris, who claimed that Moscow supposedly does not comply with the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights. Other issues were raised as well, related to Crimea and ability of certain Russian MPs to represent it. The UK and Ukraine led the way in backing the complaint.
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Chess

Trump's 'Deal of the Century' is an 'offer they can't refuse', and that's why it will likely work

Scott Ritter
RT
Thu, 30 Jan 2020 18:03 UTC
trump and netanyahu
© Reuters / Brendan McDermid
President Donald Trump has done what no other has been able to accomplish — get Israel to agree to a two-state solution with Palestine. With the fail-safe ultimatum he's concocted, the Palestinians may yet end up getting on board.

For the moment, the optics of the presentation outweighed its substance: an impeached president during a Senate trial that holds the fate of his presidency standing side by side with an indicted prime minister facing serious criminal charges. The roll-out of President Trump's long-awaited Middle East peace plan — the so-called "Deal of the Century" — had all the hallmarks of classic political deflection, a means for both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to distract their respective constituents from the ongoing drama brought about by their personal failings, alleged or otherwise.
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