Puppet Masters
Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said during a press conference in Amman that "a two-state solution" should be reached through negotiations, The Times of Israel reported on Sunday.
His Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi echoed the statement, confirming that "the two-state solution is the only way to end the conflict", according to The Times of Israel.
by Peter Mansbridge, CBC (Friday, June 06, 2019)
I had not intended to watch this program, a CBC special documentary hosted/narrated by Peter Mansbridge, the CBC's retired chief correspondent and national news anchor. However, as it came on during prime pre-dinner time viewing I thought that I should watch it in order to find out some of the current political spin within Canada's establishment.
It was rather underwhelming but also informative, not for what it said, but for what it did not say. A general summary of its main points covers three main ideas: first it is great support for the military industrial complex; second, it promoted active militarism; finally it supported the concept that we have been at peace for 75 years.
The introduction was a whirlwind through World War II, its aftermath in setting up the Bretton Woods group, the Washington consensus to control global finances, and then on through a precis of today's "threats". What was missing was context, and a whole lot of other information.
"I deal through the Clinton Foundation," Tony Rodham said, according to court transcripts uncovered by the New York Times. He gave his word that Hillary and Bill were setting him up with Haitian-government permits to build a $22 million housing development in the earthquake-stricken country.
"I hound my brother-in-law, because it's his fund that we're going to get our money from," Rodham explained, promising a $1 million check once the Haitian-government paved the way, enough both to cover the outstanding legal fees and take his family to Disney World.
The construction deal fell through, but Rodham managed to settle his debt. And the next year, he got another crack at making money in Haiti's heavily-regulated economy when he joined the advisory board of a company, VCS Mining, which was developing a gold mine on the island. He'd met the company's CEO at a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative. "I go to see old friends [at the meetings,]" Rodham told the Washington Post, "but you never know what can happen."
From the moment the Clintons walked through the White House doors in January of 1993, Rodham has proven remarkably adept at harnessing their political horsepower for his personal gain. His schemes don't always pan out, and they have caused numerous headaches for Hillary and Bill. But Rodham's fortunes have always been tied to theirs, his bank account waxing and waning in time with the Clintons' political prospects. He may lack their sophistication, but to many observers, Tony is the unvarnished embodiment of the Clintons' decades-long dance with crony capitalism.
Rodham sits atop of a pile of money acquired through a vast tangle of enterprises just a little less secret and complex than those of his sister and brother-in-law. "There's really no better definition of what this is," says David Bossie, president of the conservative group Citizens United and a longtime Clinton foe. "This is a person who is not directly the principal, but he's the brother - or, in the 1990s, the brother-in-law - of the president, using these open doors of family to shake people down."
"A sibling's power is tremendous," says presidential historian Doug Wead. "In many parts of the Third World, the sister gets the Coca-Cola franchise and the brother gets to build the big shopping center. Now, unfortunately, that kind of corruption exists in the United States."
The most interesting candidate is undoubtedly Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who is a fourth term Congresswoman from Hawaii, where she was born and raised. She is also the real deal on national security, having been-there and done-it through service as an officer with the Hawaiian National Guard on a combat deployment in Iraq. Though in Congress full time, she still performs her Guard duty.
Comment: Gabbard has even more to recommend her candidacy than just being anti-war:
- Tulsi Gabbard on Joe Rogan podcast: I'd drop all charges against Assange and Snowden
- Tulsi Gabbard: The 'only viable option' to denuclearize North Korea is diplomacy
- Rep. Tulsi Gabbard calls out Democrats for 'religious bigotry' in Knights of Columbus flap
- Tulsi Gabbard slams Facebook over censorship, calls on Americans to 'defend free speech for all'
- Tulsi Gabbard stands out from the crowd: Rational foreign policy, end for-profit prisons, legalize marijuana, punish big pharma
- Why the Left hates the very reasonable & progressive Tulsi Gabbard
The "Caliphate's" African Comeback
The average person is under the false impression that Daesh has been defeated after both Russia and the US claimed victory over the world's worst terrorist organization, yet the fact is that the group is pivoting to Africa nowadays after claiming attacks in the Western, Central, and now Southern parts of the continent. Daesh first popped up in war-torn Libya and Somalia, but now reportedly has a presence in the Mali-Burkina Faso-Niger border triangle in West Africa, says that it carried out an attack in the Ebola-plagued conflict-wreaked eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, or simply the Congo), and now purports to have been behind a recent assault in northern Mozambique, showing that it's spread all throughout Africa while the rest of the world failed to take notice. It's true that local allies (whether alleged or self-declared) might have actually been the ones responsible for the latest incidents in the Congo and Mozambique, but even if that's the case, then it still speaks to Daesh's intent to expand into those largely lawless countries that it would claim to have been behind those terrorist attacks there.
Comment: If Korybko's scenario plays it, it would be pretty ironic: the terrorist organization designed at least in part to destabilize Russia may end up becoming the means by which Russia gains a strategic foothold not only in the Middle East, but Africa as well.
Iran unveiled its new domestically-designed air defense missile system Khordad 15 on Sunday. Equipped with long-range Sayyad 3 missiles, it can shoot down enemy jets and combat drones at a range of 120 kilometers, Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami said.
The complex can also track "stealth targets," intercepting them 45km away. Overall, the weapon can destroy six targets simultaneously, according to military officials.
Speaking at a high school event in Tehran on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that much of the United States' economic influence would "go away" if countries around the world were to ditch the dollar as the basis for their international trade.
"America's power rests on the dollar; a great part of America's economic power will go away if countries eliminate the dollar from their economic systems", the minister said.
Zarif went on to say that Washington was trying to beef up pressure on Tehran "out of desperation" and slammed the US-led economic war as "economic terrorism".
"It amounts, by definition, to economic terrorism because the United States is putting pressure in terms of what its president calls warfare on normal ordinary Iranians in order to change the policies of their government", he told reporters on the side-lines of the event.
Comment: More recent news on the almighty dollar and the international movement away from it:
- Putin: 'Trust in US dollar falling because it has become tool of pressure against whole world'
- Russia slashes share of US dollar international reserves, increases Euro, Yuan & gold
- Dollar dump? Russia & China agree to bilateral trade in national currencies during Putin-Xi meeting
- More sanctions! Now US threatens to penalize countries devaluing their currencies against mighty dollar
"Under certain circumstances," Israel "has the right to retain some, but unlikely all, of the West Bank," David Friedman told the New York Times in an interview published on Saturday.
For years, Israeli right-wing politicians had been proposing to formally annex parts of the West Bank containing Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law. The Palestinians vehemently oppose this move, saying that it will render a two-state solution impossible.
Comment: What was Freidman thinking? His remarks set off a firestorm of criticism for having potentially scuttled the current talks:
Palestinians and left-wing Israelis have slammed the US ambassador to Israel for saying Israel "has the right" to annex parts of the West Bank, labeling him "spokesman of the settlers."
David Friedman told the NYT that "under certain circumstances," Israel "has the right to retain some, but unlikely all, of the West Bank," prompting a furious response from Palestinians.
In a statement, Fatah questioned whether Friedman's comments were indicative of a change in US policy towards the Palestinian territories and "represented the official American position or the position of the settlers in Israel." The comments are a "complete blow" to the peace process, the group added, and undermine the prospect of a two-state solution.
Fatah's Mustafa Barghouti said it has long been clear that Friedman is "the spokesman of the settlers."
Palestine Liberation Organization leader Saeb Erakat said in a tweet Friedman's words show that the Trump administration's vision for the region is really about the annexation of occupied territory.
Criticisms were also leveled at the US ambassador from the Israeli left, with Meretz's Tamar Zandberg saying Friedman "must know that annexation would be a disaster for the State of Israel."
A US State Department official said on Saturday that the administration position on settlements has not changed and "no plan for unilateral annexation by Israel of any portion of the West Bank" has been presented by Israel to the US, Haaretz reports.
Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories, including the West Bank, are illegal under international law and breach a number of UN security resolutions on the issue. The Friedman controversy comes as Jared Kushner prepares to officially unveil the US peace plan, which has already faced criticism for allegedly proposing to split the West Bank and leave a "smaller share" to Palestinians.
The released documents were Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50) and Request for Personnel Action (SF-52) forms that were FOIA requested by Judicial Watch in January 2018.
The documents show that on November 13, 2016, Ohr was given a performance award of $28,000. This was during the time of his deep involvement in the highly controversial Justice Department surveillance of the Trump presidential campaign. The bonus was nearly double the $14,250 performance award he was given on November 29, 2015.
Bruce Ohr was married to Nellie Ohr of Fusion GPS and was removed because of his conflict of interest and role as conduit for Fusion GPS material. The documents show that Ohr was removed from his position as Associate Deputy Attorney General on December 6, 2017. On January 7, 2018, Ohr was reassigned from his position of director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) and shifted to Counselor for International Affairs in the Department of Justice Criminal Division. Ohr received a $2,600 pay increase.
















Comment: CBC had spun up this show to coincide with the D-Day celebrations, which all too often refuses to acknowledge the role of the Soviets - as if to revise history.
Soviets say Allied version of D-Day is a 'distortion' of history
The above article opens with an important comment: