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Elliott Abrams orders India to stop buying oil from Venezuela 'or else The Mighty USA will sanction you!'

Lesley Wroughton, Luc Cohen and Marianna Parraga
Reuters
Mon, 11 Mar 2019 17:36 UTC
Elliot Abrams
© EPA-EFE/JIM LO SCALZO
US Special Representative for Venezuela and convicted felon Elliott Abrams
The United States is pressing India to stop buying oil from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government, Washington's top envoy for Venezuela said, as the Trump administration this week threatened more U.S. sanctions to cut off Maduro's financial lifelines.

"We say you should not be helping this regime. You should be on the side of the Venezuelan people," Elliott Abrams told Reuters in an interview.

The Trump administration has given the same message to other governments, Abrams said, and has made a similar argument to foreign banks and companies doing business with Maduro.

Abrams described the U.S. approach as "arguing, cajoling, urging."
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Arrow Down

How much longer will the middle class politely tolerate its own destruction?

Robert Gore
Straight Line logic
Fri, 08 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
France police tear gas
© Damien Meyer/AFP
A middle class that outnumbers the combined poor and aristocracy is a relatively new phenomenon, dating back to around 1900. The rise of the middle class was the result of Industrial Revolution capitalism. It has been one of the most significant and epochal developments in history, yet the intellectual reaction for the most part has been to either ignore it or treat it with disdain. Now the project to destroy the middle class is well under way, with unpredictable and uncontrollable consequences that promise to be just as epochal as its creation.

Intellectual condescension towards the middle class is so common it's a cliché. What's rare are attempts to go back in history and see things through the perspectives of that despised group and its progenitors, the poor.

In 1800, virtually everyone was poor, living under conditions of deprivation and grinding poverty. Even being wealthy was no picnic; present-day poverty-line Americans live better. Life expectancy was an estimated twenty-nine years. Farming, the occupation of most, was dangerous, backbreaking labor from dawn to dusk. Most of those so engaged eked out a tenuous subsistence. There was no electricity, no running water, primitive sanitation and health care, and none of the machinery, gadgets, and appliances we take for granted. Only a few wealthy poets who didn't have to wrest a living from nature waxed euphoric about its "joys."
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Propaganda

Ukraine: Austrian Journalist and Kiev Critic was Barred 'For His Own Safety'

Christopher Miller
RFE/RL
Mon, 11 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
Christian Wehrschuetz
© Heinz-Peter Bader (Reuters)
Austrian ORF broadcast correspondent Christian Wehrschuetz arrives for an ORF meeting in Vienna, August 9, 2011
Austrian reporter Christian Wehrschuetz said he feared being attacked by Ukrainian nationalists over reporting critical of the government in Kyiv, according to the Ukrainian Security Service. Now they're using a one-year entry ban to keep him out of the country.

In citing Wehrschuetz's own purported concerns, the counterintelligence and counterterror agency appears to be contradicting the initial reason for the ban given to Austrian authorities: that he had violated Ukrainian law when his camera crew crossed the Kerch Strait via the Russian-built bridge connecting Russia to the annexed Crimean Peninsula. That legislation allows for bans of up to three years for those who violate it.

It also appears to skirt a dispute over whether or not Wehrscheutz actually broke the entry law, which is aimed at undermining Moscow's de facto control over the seized peninsula, since he said he stayed behind while other members of the crew crossed the bridge.
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Chart Bar

Trump's 2020 Budget Proposal: More for Defense,Border Security and Countering Russia, Less for Welfare and Food Stamps


RT
Mon, 11 Mar 2019 22:25 UTC
President Trump
© Reuters / Kevin Lamarque
President Trump's budget presented on Capitol Hill
President Donald Trump has announced his 2020 budget request. The $4.7 trillion funding plan cuts foreign aid and DC spending, and gives a boost to the military and border security, as well as to countering Russia's "influence."

Announced on Monday, the 2020 budget promises to drive down the US' staggering $22 trillion debt by cutting "wasteful Washington spending," while demanding more resources for defense and national security.

The document outlines $2.7 trillion in spending cuts aimed at slashing nondefense spending by five percent. The State Department will see its spending cut by 23 percent, the Environmental Protection Agency will suffer a 31 percent chop, and food stamps will be cut by $17 billion and other welfare programs by $22 billion.
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Attention

China rebukes Turkey over Uighur criticism, closes consulate


The New Arab
Sat, 02 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
Man and flags
© Getty Images
China has threatened Turkey with 'economic' consequences if it keeps criticising Beijing's treatment of Uighur Muslims in its far western Xinjiang region, days after the Chinese government shut down its general consulate in Turkey's third biggest city in an apparent punitive move.

The threats were made by China's envoy to Ankara on Friday, saying Turkey risks jeopardising economic ties with his government if it persists in its criticism of its internal policies.

China Map
© Unknown
"There may be disagreements or misunderstandings between friends but we should solve them through dialogue. Criticising your friend publicly everywhere is not a constructive approach," said Deng Li, Beijing's top diplomat to Ankara.

"If you choose a non-constructive path, it will negatively affect mutual trust and understanding and will be reflected in commercial and economic relations," Deng, speaking through a translator, told Reuters in [an] interview.

This comes as China is seeking to expand investments in Turkey, including in mega infrastructure projects, although the row over Xinjiang could now affect these efforts.

Comment: The US needs to destroy China's OBOR project. If completed, OBOR will create new and lasting trade partners for China while US trade diminishes. The plan is to infuse Xinjiang Province with TIP and IS cells from Syria to foment violence, challenge China's counter-terrorism capabilities and provide a strategic US foothold inside China. We should expect these efforts, and the spread of radical jihadist ideology in the Uighur population, to be funded and supported by the usual suspects: US, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

See also:

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Eagle

US has been getting 'its ass handed to it' in war games simulating fights against Russia and China

Ryan Pickrell
Business Insider
Fri, 08 Mar 2019 20:07 UTC
us artillery exercise
© U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. Brittany Johnson
US artillery units hone their gunnery skills during an exercise near Dona Ana, New Mexico, April 28, 2018.
In war games simulating a high-end fight against Russia or China, the US often loses, two experienced military war-gamers have revealed.

"In our games, when we fight Russia and China, 'blue' gets its ass handed to it," David Ochmanek, a RAND warfare analyst, explained at the Center for a New American Security on Thursday, Breaking Defense first reported. US forces are typically color-coded blue in these simulations.

"We lose a lot of people. We lose a lot of equipment. We usually fail to achieve our objective of preventing aggression by the adversary," he said.

US stealth fighters die on the runway

At the outset of these conflicts, all five battlefield domains - land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace - are contested, meaning the US could struggle to achieve the superiority it has enjoyed in the past.

In these simulated fights, the "red" aggressor force often obliterates US stealth fighters on the runway, sends US warships to the depths, destroys US bases, and takes out critical US military systems.

Comment: No doubt this will be used to call for even more inflated defense budgets. The fact is, the U.S. has enjoyed global hegemony long enough for Russia and China to observe American abilities and plan accordingly, on a fraction of the budget. Existential threat has a remarkable ability to focus priorities. American complacency has the opposite effect. At least there are a couple positive implications of the revelation that the U.S. will lose in a war with Russia and China: the U.S. is unlikely to start such a war knowing it will lose. And the Russians and Chinese haven't shown any indication they will be the ones to start one.

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Bullseye

From 'Not Us' to 'Why Hide It': How Maidan Denied Its Involvement in the 20 February 2014 Snipers Massacre and Then Admitted It

Gordon M. Hahn
gordonhahn.com
Mon, 11 Mar 2019 19:57 UTC
Maidan snipers Andriy Parubiy

Andriy Parubiy at the Maidan directing people who appear to be snipers heading home from a job well done
Although the Maidan regime in Ukraine continues to deny, mostly ignore, its leading members' role in organizing and executing the 20 February 2014 snipers massacre that targeted both police and demonstrators in order to escalate the demonstrations and that indeed led to the overthrown of President Viktor Yanukovych, some of the regime's members and supporters are beginning to speak out against the oligarchic-ultranationalist hybrid regime's original sin. Earlier, beginning almost immediately after the coup, numerous participating snipers from the Maidan's ultra-nationalist and neofascist wing began acknowledging their role in the massacre. Many have named present Rada Chairman Andrey Parubii as its organizer and much evidence points to him as at least one if not the lead mastermind of the slaughter (on these admissions, see gordonhahn.com; Ivan Katchanovski, "The Snipers Massacre on the Maidan in Ukraine," Academia.edu, Paper presented at the Chair of Ukrainian Studies Seminar at the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, October 1, 2014, p. 55; Ivan Katchanovski, "The 'Snipers' Massacre' on the Maidan in Ukraine (Revised and Updated Version)," Academia.edu, 20 February 2015, p. 55 or Johnson's Russia List, #33, 21 February 2015, Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs). Most recently, Georgian snipers revealed their involvement in the massacre on order from their then-employer, former Georgian President and Odessa Governor Mikheil Saakashvili.

Comment: Hahn's book, Ukraine Over the Edge, contains a detailed study of the Maidan massacre and all the relevant admissions by its perpetrators over the years. For the full story, read his book and the articles referenced in the article above.

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No Entry

Eleventh Circuit ruling: DACA recipients are illegal aliens


Immigration Reform Law Institute
Wed, 06 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
Judge gavel
© Getty Images
Court agrees with IRLI and denies admission to Georgia universities for DACA-deferred illegal aliens

Today the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued the first opinion by a federal circuit court classifying Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients as illegal aliens. The court's opinion, which closely tracks a friend-of-the-court brief that the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) had filed in the case, makes clear that DACA recipients are "inadmissible and thus removable" under federal law. According to the Court, their deportation has merely been "reprieved" by an Obama-era policy that "encouraged" government officials to "exercise prosecutorial discretion and focus on higher-priority cases."

In 2016, several DACA recipients sued the Georgia higher education system, which bars aliens who are not "lawfully present" from enrolling in selective state colleges and universities, even if they otherwise qualify for admission. The students argued that they were lawfully present under federal law, which preempted state law. They also claimed that the admissions bar violated their right to equal protection, as Georgia treats aliens who are paroled into the U.S. or granted asylum as lawfully present.
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Caesar

Iranian influence goes from strength to strength: Rouhani makes first official visit to Iraq, to 'discuss important projects'


RFE/RL
Mon, 11 Mar 2019 12:09 UTC
iran iraq summit

The kind of deal-making Washington hates
Iranian President Hassan Rohani has arrived in Baghdad for his first official visit to Iraq, state television reported, as Iraq is under pressure from the United States to limit ties with its neighbor.

Speaking at Tehran's Mehrabad airport on March 11 before departing for his three-day visit, Rohani hailed the "special" relations between Iran and Iraq. "We are very much interested to expand our ties with Iraq, particularly our transport cooperation. We have important projects that will be discussed during this visit," he also said.​

Iraq, which receives financial and military support from Washington, has attempted to balance its relations with the United States and Iran, which carries significant influence with members of Iraq's Shi'ite population.

Tehran does not have an official military presence in Iraq. But the government supports powerful Shi'ite paramilitary groups operating in the country, with estimates of the number of fighters ranging up to 150,000.

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Network

Russia preparing to be cut off from Internet, but doesn't want to disconnect - Kremlin


RT
Mon, 11 Mar 2019 18:03 UTC
internet freedom protesters Moscow
© Reuters / Shamil Zhumatov
"This is the web prepared by the authorities for us," reads a banner, carried by protesters at the rally for freedom of internet freedom in Moscow on Sunday.
Russian authorities support online freedom, just like those who rallied in Moscow on weekend, and only want to protect the Russian web from foreign intrusion, Dmitry Peskov, the presidential press secretary, said.

Some 6,500 people took to the streets in the Russian capital on weekend to decry the draft law regulating autonomous operations of the Russian segment of the internet, according to police estimations.

But Peskov insisted that fears of the protestors that the legislation will put the web under strict state control were misplaced because "everybody stands for internet freedom - the authors of this law; the presidential administration; the government."

"In this regard, the position of the participants of the rally should be supported. But there can be no support for their misunderstanding and misconception that the draft law is in some way aimed at limiting online liberties."
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