Welcome to Sott.net
Tue, 19 Oct 2021
The World for People who Think

Puppet Masters
Map

Star of David

Interim FM Longaric: Bolivia resumes diplomatic relations with Israel


Sputnik
Thu, 28 Nov 2019 23:57 UTC
Bolivia-Israel
© BtNews.Online
Bolivia restores relations with Israel
Bolivia's interim Foreign Minister Karen Longaric on Thursday announced the resumption of diplomatic relations with Israel following an 11-year break. "We plan to resume diplomatic relations with Israel," Longaric said at a press conference as quoted by Milenio news outlet.

In 2009, then-President Evo Morales severed diplomatic ties with the Middle East country in response to Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip. The ex-president then called Israel a terrorist state.

According to Longaric, relations will resume "taking into account respect for state sovereignty and they will be sincere and aimed at mutually beneficial cooperation".

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has welcomed the news. "The ouster of President Morales, who is hostile to Israel, and his replacement with the government friendly to Israel, allow to develop the process," Katz said on Twitter.

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
Question

Assad doubts Al-Baghdadi's death: 'Important to know if it really took place'


RT
Thu, 28 Nov 2019 10:42 UTC
Baghdadi's compound
© U.S. DOD/Handout via Reuters
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's compound before and after an air strike
Islamic State was actually a US creation which they have never fought against for real, the Syrian President claimed, which makes him doubt the much-talked about killing of the group's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Less than a month ago, Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) confirmed the loss of its longtime chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and tapped his successor - but Bashar Assad thinks that even if he was killed, the reasons might not be that transparent. "Did it really happen? I do not know. That does not mean he was not killed, but if he was, it's not because he was a terrorist."

Reiterating his previous doubts about al-Baghdadi's death in a US-led operation in late October, Assad told France's Paris Match magazine the terrorist group was "manufactured by the Americans" and that its leader was "part of the comedy."

"The most important [thing] is whether al-Baghdadi was really killed, and whether this beautiful comedy presented by the Americans really took place," the Syrian President said.

Comment: RT, 28/11/2019: 'Can you imagine Syrian troops coming to France without an invitation?'
There's no major difference between supporting terrorism on Syrian soil and sending troops there without formal approval from its government, Bashar Assad said as he lambasted France's role in Syria's civil war.

Syria has "come a long way" toward defeating much of the terrorist insurgency on its soil, but pockets of resistance still remain as jihadists are receiving support from Turkey and Western countries, Bashar Assad told Paris Match magazine, singling out the US, the UK and "especially France." The French intervention amounted to an "occupation."
"Do you frankly think that we can send Syrian forces to fight terrorism in France without being invited by the French government? International law governs the behavior of states in the world, not [their] intentions. There is not a big difference between supporting terrorism and deploying the military to occupy a country."
Assad said Syria can handle the war without any backing from the West. "We can manage our own business ... But we want to come back to a world order that is no longer respected, because chaos reigns," he concluded.
See also: Assad doubts ISIS leader's death: 'Americans will respawn al-Baghdadi' like Bin Laden

      Read More...
Bad Guys

No jurisdiction? Scotland Yard forced to explain why it dropped sex trafficking probe into Epstein & Prince Andrew


RT
Fri, 29 Nov 2019 19:23 UTC
prince andrew
© Reuters / Andrew Winning / Shannon Stapleton / David Mirzoeff
The Met had to give an explanation for why it stopped investigating allegations of sex trafficking against Jeffrey Epstein after a woman who claims she was forced to have sex with the Duke of York accused the police of corruption.

Virginia Giuffre is pictured in a now-notorious photo of Prince Andrew with his hand around her bare waist, with Epstein and the Duke's 'friend' Ghislaine Maxwell in the background. Then a teenager, she claims to have had sex with the royal at least three times back in 2001.

Some 14 years later, she brought her story to the Metropolitan Police Service, only to see the probe dropped rather quickly. "At first the Scotland Yard told me they were going to forensically examine [Ghislaine Maxwell's] house in London - next thing I hear, just like the FBI, they were not allowed to pursue the investigation. Corruption in the highelevels (sic) of gov," Giuffre wrote on Twitter this week.

The Met confirmed on Thursday that they had indeed launched a probe, interviewed Guiffe, got advice from the Crown Prosecution Service, and decided the case was out of their jurisdiction to proceed with a full criminal investigation.
We therefore concluded that the MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) was not the appropriate authority to conduct enquiries in these circumstances.
"It was clear that any investigation into human trafficking would be largely focused on activities and relationships outside the UK," Commander for Specialist Crime Alex Murray said, noting that Scotland Yard once again reviewed its position in 2019 and it remained unchanged.

Giuffre in the meantime doubled down on her accusations against Prince Andrew in the upcoming interview with the BBC, as the Duke of York faces a growing backlash following his own train-wreck interview with Newsnight about his friendship with the US financier.
He knows what happened, I know what happened, and there's only one of us telling the truth.
      Read More...
Biohazard

'We didn't forget how to negotiate': US, Russia agree on adding Novichok & NATO-made chemicals to OPCW blacklists


RT
Fri, 29 Nov 2019 19:17 UTC
hazard
© Global Look Press / ZUMAPRESS.com / Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy
A Russian envoy rejoiced at a diplomatic breakthrough that allowed the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to make history by drastically expanding its blacklist of the world's deadliest toxins.

Members of The Hague-based OPCW have unanimously backed amending the entity's lists of banned nerve agents for the first time since 1997.

One amendment, proposed by the US, the Netherlands and Canada, extended the ban on the notorious Novichok - a colloquial term for a group of deadly chemicals once developed by the USSR. The other one, put forward by Russia, took aim at a toxin that was designed and studied by NATO's secretive labs during the Cold War.

"Fixing the problem with the lists was a positive thing," commented Alexander Shulgin, Russia's envoy to the OPCW. "Russia and the United States have finally shown that our delegations have not forgotten how to negotiate," he added.
      Read More...
Megaphone

Democrats' 'bribery' charge against Trump is a complete bust

Betsy McCaughey
NY Post
Tue, 26 Nov 2019 18:36 UTC
trump
© Tia Dufour
After nearly three years searching for grounds to ­impeach President Trump, House Democrats have landed on "bribery." Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) cited bribery ­repeatedly as he grilled impeachment witnesses. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, raising her finger in triumph, declared the witnesses have provided "devastating testimony" and "evidence of bribery."

Not so fast: What the Democrats are labeling "bribery" isn't illegal, according to the Supreme Court. And the public won't support impeaching a president who hasn't broken any law.

Truth is, Democrats are trying to impeach Trump for the same kind of give-and-take horse-trading that politicians do every day. They should look in the mirror.

The pretext for the bribery charge is a July 25 call between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump asked for a "favor" — to investigate Ukrainian meddling in the 2016 US election and Joe Biden's son's dealings with a corrupt Ukrainian energy company. Trump didn't say military aid ­depended on it. But aid was ­delayed, and Democrats insist a quid pro quo was implicit. Therefore, bribery.
      Read More...
Vader

Cultural warfare against Russia: USADA chief declares only 'full ban' on Russian athletes will do

Danielle Ryan
RT
Fri, 29 Nov 2019 18:23 UTC
russia olympics
© Reuters / Ruben Sprich
As the sporting world awaits WADA's decision on the fate of Russian athletes, the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) chief decided to pour fuel on the fire, calling for a total ban on Russian participation in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Travis Tygart even called for Russians to be banned from competing as neutrals, and not under their national flag. Such extreme measures, he said, would "protect clean athletes" and force Russia to "clean up its act."

Yet, with the situation increasingly tense and uncertain for Russian athletes in the run up to another Olympic games, is now really the appropriate time for Tygart to be inflaming the situation? What is to gain from such provocative statements?

The USADA chief's comments come just a couple of weeks before WADA will make its final determination in Paris on December 9. The doping saga re-erupted after a WADA compliance committee claimed that data handed over by Moscow in January — in an attempt to draw a line under the whole scandal — was manipulated to delete hundreds of positive drug tests.

Comment: There are plenty who are fed up with politics invading the Olympics and the hypocrisy of the West towards Russia. Greek pole vault champion Katerina Stefanidi blasted Tygart on Twitter:

Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was even more poignant:
"This is about the politicization of this issue in order to squeeze Russia out. There is a term for such a thing: unfair competition. This is a battle without rules, maybe even already a war.

"The issue of doping...focuses exclusively on Russia. The problems of other countries are not discussed at all.


      Read More...
Piggy Bank

Six European nations join INSTEX mechanism for trade with Iran - UPDATE


Sputnik
Fri, 29 Nov 2019 17:59 UTC
zarif haavisto
© AP Photo / MARKKU ULANDER
The Foreign Minister of Finland Pekka Haavisto (L) welcomes visiting Foreign Minister of Iran Mohammed Javad Zarif at the House of the Estates in Helsinki, Finland on August 19, 2019.
Iran considers the European Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), a tool set up to help trade with Tehran under the US sanctions, to be weak, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi stated earlier in November, adding that the system has not been fully implemented so far.

Finland, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden will join the INSTEX mechanism for trade with Iran, the Finnish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"In light of the continuous European support for the agreement and the ongoing efforts to implement the economic part of it and to facilitate legitimate trade between Europe and Iran, we are now in the process of becoming shareholders of the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) subject to completion of national procedures", the joint statement reads.

The INSTEX is a special purpose vehicle created by Germany, France, and Britain in February to help EU companies do business with Iran, bypassing US sanctions against the country. Following a meeting of the Joint Commission of the JCPOA in June, the mechanism became operational and available to all EU member states. The trade instrument in its initial stage only covers the supply of medicines, medical equipment, and agricultural products, but Tehran also seeks to export oil.

Comment: Uncle Sam is drunk again, and somewhat irate. Here's US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell venting his spleen on Twitter:



      Read More...
Eye 1

Ghislaine Maxwell once snuck masseuse into Buckingham Palace for Prince Andrew: report

Lee Brown
New York Post
Fri, 29 Nov 2019 01:45 UTC
Prince Andrew and Monique Giannelloni
© Getty Images; Facebook
Prince Andrew and Monique Giannelloni
Prince Andrew once had a massage in Buckingham Palace — by a masseuse picked for him by Jeffrey Epstein's accused madam Ghislaine Maxwell, it was claimed Thursday.

Monique Giannelloni told the Daily Mail that she had first given massages to Epstein's ex Maxwell — including once with the "creepy, seedy" pedophile present — when she was fixed up to work on the Duke of York.

"I am going to introduce you to someone more famous than God," she claims Maxwell told her, with Giannelloni telling the website, "Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be royalty."

She recalled being "very nervous" during her 2000 visit to Buckingham Palace, where she says Andrew, now 59, greeted her at a bedroom door wearing a bathrobe.

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
Megaphone

Boris Johnson once said Islamophobia is a 'natural reaction' to Islam, and that 'Islam is the problem'

Adam Bienkov
Business Insider
Wed, 27 Nov 2019 10:02 UTC
boris johnson
Boris Johnson's Conservative party has been accused by Muslim leaders in the UK of allowing Islamophobia to "fester" within their ranks.

"This an issue that is particularly acute in the Conservative Party who have approached Islamophobia with denial, dismissal and deceit," the group said in a statement on Tuesday.

They added: "It is abundantly clear to many Muslims that the Conservative Party tolerate Islamophobia, allow it to fester in society, and fail to put in place the measures necessary to root out this type of racism."

Comment: This seems like a pearl-clutching reaction to any criticism of other cultures. No culture is beyond criticism. And while some of his comments are crass and tasteless, Boris isn't wrong in citing issues with Islam in regards to Islamic persons integrating into British society. People's reticence to talk about the issue is the real issue.

There are a lot of things to criticize Boris Johnson on, but this isn't one of them.

      Read More...
Penis Pump

Indian Diplomat slammed for saying Kashmir issue needs Israel-like solution

Geeta Mohan
India Today
Thu, 28 Nov 2019 06:00 UTC
Chakravorty

India's Consul General in New York Sandeep Chakravorty
After a massive controversy erupted over comments made by India's Consul General in New York on Kashmir during a private dinner, he has said that his statement was taken "out of context".

In a tweet on Wednesday, the Indian diplomat Sandeep Chakravorty wrote, "I have seen some social media comments on my recent remarks. My remarks are being taken out of context."

His video saying that India could follow the "Israeli model" in rehabilitating Kashmiri Pandits in the valley had gone viral on social media.

Comment: The above is revealing in how diplomats and politicians alike speak behind closed doors, as well as how many see Israel and its genocide of the Palestinians for what it really is:

      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts