Welcome to Sott.net
Tue, 02 Nov 2021
The World for People who Think

Puppet Masters
Map

Quenelle

"Free Assange first": Twitter schools hypocritical UK Foreign Sec over 'media freedom' event

Jeremy Hunt
© Reuters / Toby Melville
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt
UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt's tweet about a media freedom event was met with swift mocking on social media, as many reminded him of WIkiLeaks founder Julian Assange's situation and the Saudi killing of Jamal Khashoggi.

"Free media is the lifeblood of democracy," Hunt tweeted as he announced the "first ever ministerial-level media freedom conference" in London in July, adding the hashtags #DefendMediaFreedom and #JournalismIsNotACrime.

Social media users were quick to respond, calling on Hunt to "Free Assange first," and asking whether the WikiLeaks founder would be giving a speech at the event.

Comment: See: All Your Meme Are Belong to Us: EU Plans 'European Firewall' to End Free Internet




Star of David

About time! Israeli AG prepares to indict Netanyahu on bribery charge this week

netanyahu
© Associated Press / Abir Sultan/Pool
The Israeli prime minister reportedly shortened his visit to Russia and will return to Israel tonight because of the reports of an indictment, per the Times of Israel.

The bribery scandal that's surrounded Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may finally reach a head, as Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit is poised to recommend bribery charges, according to Israeli media reports.

Citing Israel's Army Radio, the Times of Israel reported Wednesday that the attorney general is getting ready to file charges on Case 4000, which alleges that Netanyahu took regulatory steps to help Shaul Elovitch in exchange for the telecommunication mogul's news site, Walla, covering Netanyahu in a more favorable light.

Comment:


Blue Planet

In the new 'multipolar world' globalists still control all the players

Kabuki kids
© unknown
The greatest tool at the disposal of globalists is the use of false paradigms to manipulate public perception and thus public action. The masses are led to believe that at the highest levels of geopolitical and financial power there is such a thing as "sides." This is utter nonsense when we examine the facts at hand.

We are told the-powers-that-be are divided by "Left" and "Right" politics, yet both sides actually support the same exact policy actions when it comes to the most important issues of the day and only seem to differ in terms of rhetoric, which is meaningless and cosmetic anyway. That is to say, it's nothing but Kabuki theater.

We are told that corporate power must be balanced by government power and that government power must be balanced by "free markets," when in reality corporations are chartered and protected by governments and free markets simply don't exist in today's economy. In the case of social media "censorship," we are told that the solution is to use government power to enforce "fairness" instead of simply launching our own alternative platforms. Yet, social media corporations exist in the form of monopolies exactly because of government power and intervention in business. The abuses of one "side" are being used to push us into the arms of the other side, which is just as abusive.

In terms of geopolitics, we are told that national powers stand "at cross-purposes;" that they have different interests and different goals, which has led to things like "trade wars" and sometimes shooting wars. Yet, when we look at the people actually pulling the strings in most of these countries, we find the same names and institutions. Whether you are in America, Russia China, the EU, etc., globalist think tanks and international banks are everywhere, and the leaders in all of these countries call for MORE power for such institutions, not less.

These wars, no matter what form they take, are a circus for the public. They are engineered to create controlled chaos and manageable fear. They are a means to influence us towards a particular end, and that end, in most cases, is more social and economic influence in the hands of a select few. In each instance, people are being convinced to believe that the world is being divided when it is actually being centralized.

Comment: See also:


Light Sabers

"Surgical strike 2.0" or big Bollywood spectacle?

Pakistani reporters and troops
© AP Photo
Pakistani reporters and troops visit the site of an Indian airstrike in Jaba, near Balakot, Pakistan
India is portraying its first aerial violation of the Line of Control (LoC) in nearly half a century as another "surgical strike" against Pakistan that followed in the footsteps of the operation that it claimed to have pulled off without evidence in 2016, but in the absence of any proof to once again back up its assertion and considering that Pakistan already presented contradictory photographic evidence proving that the so-called "attack" only destroyed a couple of trees, it's clear that this was just another big Bollywood spectacle for infowar purposes.

Facts First

India dramatically claimed to have pulled off another "surgical strike" against Pakistan in the early hours of 26 February, declaring that 200-300 members of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) were killed in retaliation for the group's involvement in the Pulwama attack. The country's media is wildly celebrating what their government portrayed as a massive victory over Pakistan after the Indian Air Force violated the Line of Control (LoC) for the first time since the 1971 war with their neighbor and didn't instantly trigger a larger conflict. The message being conveyed to their citizens is that India can "surgically strike" Pakistan at will without repercussions, but the actual facts of the matter state something altogether different and show that this is nothing more than a big Bollywood spectacle for infowar purposes.

Comment: See also:


Gold Bar

Return to the gold exchange standard

Dollar/Gold
© unknown
This article makes the obvious point that a return to a gold standard is the only way nations can contain the interest cost of servicing debt, given the alternative is inflationist policies that can only lead to far higher interest rates and currency destruction. The topic is timely, given the self-harm of American economic and geopolitical policies, which are already leading America into a cyclical slump. Meanwhile, American fears of Asian domination of global economic, monetary and political outcomes have come true. The upcoming credit crisis is likely to kill off the welfare state model in the West by destroying their unbacked paper currencies, while China, Russia and their Asian allies have the means to prosper.

The fragility of state finances

In my last Goldmoney article I explained why the monetary policies of inflationist economists and policy makers would end up destroying fiat currencies. The destruction will come from ordinary people, who are forced by law to use the state's money for settling their day-to-day transactions. Ordinary people, each one a trinity of production, consumption and saving, will eventually wake up to the fraud of monetary inflation and discard their government's medium of exchange as intrinsically worthless.

Attention

Weeks prior to Ukraine vote, Poroshenko comes under fire over smuggling claim

Yulia Tymoshenko
© Pyotr Sivkov/TASS
Yulia Tymoshenko calls for the impeachment of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at a parliament session in Kyiv on February 26, 2019.
Ukrainian presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko has called for the impeachment of President Petro Poroshenko, accusing him of treason after a media outlet aired a program alleging that people close to the incumbent enriched themselves by smuggling spare parts for military equipment from Russia.

With the March 31 election less than five weeks away and polls indicating that she and Poroshenko are among the three front-runners, former prime minister Tymoshenko told a parliament session on February 26 that her Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party and others have launched an impeachment process.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a comedian who some polls have put in the lead in the presidential race, sharply criticized Poroshenko in a social media post.

The report on media outlet Bihus.Info's program Nashi Hroshi (Our Money) threw an explosive new element into a campaign in which Poroshenko -- the pro-Western tycoon who came to power after Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych was pushed out by protests known as the Maidan -- is seeking to overcome a steep drop in popularity to win a new term amid a continuing war against Russia-backed separatists and persistent economic challenges.

Comment: See also:


Rocket

UN warning: EU to be most affected by possible INF treaty collapse

rocket launch USS Barry
© Flickr/US Department of Defense
The guided missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG52) launches a Tomahawk cruise missile.
Europe would be most vulnerable to any negative consequences of the potential collapse of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, stressing the inadmissibility of a new arms race.
"The demise of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, should it be allowed to happen, would make the world a more insecure and unstable place. That insecurity and instability will be keenly felt here in Europe. We simply cannot afford to return to the unrestrained nuclear competition of the darkest days of the Cold War."
The UN chief also called on Russia and the United States to use the time remaining before the agreement's official termination to engage in a sincere dialogue on issues relating to the deal.

"It is very important that this treaty is preserved," Guterres stressed.

Comment: See also:


Arrow Down

To be peace at last? US Democrats introduce bill to provide formal end to the Korean War

Korean War banner
© Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji
US House Democrats have introduced a bill calling for a formal end to the Korean War - which never really ended even when both sides stopped shooting - on the eve of President Trump's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Acknowledging that "the persistence of a state of war represents a constant risk and threat to the national security of the United States and its allies," the bill calls on Trump to declare an end to the "state of war with North Korea" and recommends "serious, urgent diplomatic engagement" in pursuit of a binding peace agreement between all three countries. It does not, however, call for the withdrawal of the 28,000 American troops stationed in South Korea, or make any recommendations regarding the repeal of sanctions on the North.

Comment: See also:


X

As voice after voice is purged from social media, still think there's no censorship?

Free speech sign
© Global Look Press/Creative Touch Imaging Ltd
For a civilization that considers freedom of speech one of its fundamental principles and universal human rights, the West sure does a lot of censorship - and no, farming it out to 'private companies' does not change what it is.

It happened again on Tuesday: British activist Tommy Robinson was erased from Facebook and Instagram. The social media behemoth said it has to act "when ideas and opinions cross the line and amount to hate speech that may create an environment of intimidation and exclusion for certain groups in society."

As online polemicists are fond of saying, "citation needed!" Yet Facebook offers none: no evidence of specific violations, not even a definition of "hate speech," just an arbitrary standard - and a threat of further bans for people who "support... hate figures." Whatever that means.

Binoculars

Taliban spokesman says close to reaching withdrawal agreement with US

taliban delegation
© Qatari Foreign Ministry / AFP
Qatari officials (center) take part in a meeting between U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad (second from left) and the U.S. delegation, and Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai (sixth from the right) and the Taliban delegation, in Doha on February 26.
A spokesman for the Afghan Taliban has said the group is close to reaching an agreement with the United States on the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

Spokesman Suhail Shaheen made the comment in Doha, Qatar, following the second day of negotiations with U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad on February 26.

"If we do not reach a solution in this round of talks, then we will in the next round of talks," he told AP.

Khalilzad's past rounds of talks with the Taliban focused on U.S. troop withdrawal in exchange for guarantees of no attacks against the United States, but it was unclear how close he was on a deal on those issues.

He said that in exchange for a U.S. withdrawal, the Taliban would offer guarantees that Afghanistan would not be used as a staging area for anti-American attacks.