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Snakes in Suits

Mueller signals he'll be a tough witness - that could play right into the GOP's hands

Cody Fenwick
Raw Story
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 00:00 UTC
Robert Mueller/Report
© Unknown
Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller
Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller is sending a very clear message: He doesn't want to testify.

That's the not-so-subtle subtext of the announcement that Mueller plans to submit the 448-page report detailing the findings of the Russia investigation as a statement for the record during his hearing before the House scheduled for Wednesday. Of course, Congress already has the report, so the move isn't necessary. It's Mueller's way of saying, as he has previously, "The report is my testimony."

In other words: Leave me alone.

But the Democratic chairs for the House Judiciary Committee and Intelligence Committee have subpoenaed Mueller to testify, and he will comply. He just won't be happy about it.

What will he actually say? "The report is my testimony" phrasing actually leaves open two possibilities. First, it could just mean that, with respect to any of the questions explored or addressed in his report, he will simply recite the answers provided (or omitted) by the report. But there's a second, potentially more sweeping interpretation, which is that he literally won't answer any questions from Congress aside from providing information already detailed in the report.

Comment: See also:

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Eye 1

Iran's imposed rule of engagement is 'an eye for an eye'

Elijah J. Magnier
ejmagnier.com
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 00:00 UTC
Strait of Hormuz
© Unknown
Strait of Hormuz at night
Iran has meticulously selected its political steps and military targets in recent months, both in the Gulf and the international arena. Its partial and gradual withdrawal - tactical yet lawful - from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known as the nuclear deal, is following a determined path. Its clear objective is to corner the US President and his European allies, and indeed Iran seems aiming for a final withdrawal from the JCPOA. Also, despite the effect the US sanctions are having on the Iranian economy - and despite Iran's determination to reject US hegemony - Iranian officials have publicly put on hold a Russian offer to support its oil sales.

In Iran, sources confirm that
"China rejected the US sanctions and Russia offered to sell one million barrels daily for Iran, and to replace the European financial system with another if needed. But why would Iran make it easy on those who signed the deal (Europe)? If the European countries are divided and not in a position to honour the deal why did they sign it in the first place? Iran will pull out gradually, as stated in the nuclear agreement, up to a complete withdrawal. Iran is experiencing a recession (Trump is expected to be re-elected, which will prolong it), but is not in poverty, and is far from being on its knees economically and politically".
Despite the harsh US sanctions, Iran is sending unusual and paradoxical signs, playing down the effect of the economic crisis and showing how less than relevant the Trump administration's measures are: it has frozen the Russian offer designed to ease its financial burden by selling one million barrels of oil daily, and by stepping in to replace the European financial system. The only plausible interpretation is that Iran is determined to pull out of the nuclear deal if possible without invoking worldwide sanctions. In parallel, its military steps continue at a calculated pace.

Comment: More from Elijah Magnier on the situation in Iran:

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Attention

John Kiriakou: Intelligence act protects CIA agents who commit war crimes


RT
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 17:31 UTC
Waterboarding
© The Stuff of Life
A new US bill would make it illegal to reveal the identity of a covert agent, even after their retirement or death, if it becomes law. Former CIA officer, and whistleblower, John Kiriakou told RT that it will protect wrongdoers.

The 2020 Intelligence Authorization bill passed the US House of Representatives last week, and will become law once agreed upon by the House and Senate. Aside from funding the US' intelligence agencies for the forthcoming year, a provision in the act would dramatically expand a 1982 law that makes it a criminal offense to disclose the identities of covert officers.

Whereas the 1982 law protected agents who had served abroad in the preceding five years, the new provision would apply to anyone working in a classified position with the agencies, even after their retirement or death. The provision's language was crafted by the CIA, who claim it necessary to protect agents from foreign adversaries.

"The only reason the CIA wants this thing on the books is to protect those CIA officers who have committed war crimes or crimes against humanity," Kiriakou told RT's Watching the Hawks. As the existing law was not used to prosecute the CIA leadership who leaked the identities of their officers before (like former director David Petraeus, who divulged classified information to his extramarital girlfriend), Kiriakou said that it will more likely be used to protect headquarters-based officials "who were instrumental in creating and implementing the torture program, the illegal rendition program, and the secret prison program, nothing more."

Fast forward to 14:50 for the Kiriakou interview:


Comment: More on this issue from Yahoo 11/7/2019: Who is a 'covert agent'? CIA bid to expand the category raises alarm for civil liberties groups
The agency's letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee justifying the request, which was obtained by the New York Times, read in part: "Particularly with the lengths organizations such as WikiLeaks are willing to go to obtain and release sensitive national security information, as well as incidents related to past Agency programs, such as the RDI [retention, detention and interrogation] investigation, the original congressional reasoning mentioned above for a narrow definition of 'covert agent' no longer remains valid."

The CIA's intention in asking for the expanded protections was to offer the agency more power to prosecute actors like WikiLeaks who have exposed the names and operations of CIA officers at home and abroad, according to one congressional staffer.

Steven Aftergood, the director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists told Yahoo News there might be a good reason for the change, but those reasons are not clear.
"In principle, I think there is room to consider tailored steps to increase protections for 'covert agents' in light of the many developments — the Internet, social media, wholesale leaks, cyber operations, etc.," he wrote in an email to Yahoo News. "But CIA has not articulated a clear public argument in favor of the latest amendment."
Intelligence Committee, Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said he was "not yet convinced" that the additional protections are necessary, and said there was a potential it could be "employed to avoid accountability."


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Star of David

Was Epstein an Israeli 'agent of influence'?

Philip Giraldi
The Unz Review
Wed, 24 Jul 2019 08:38 UTC
EpsteinWallstreet
© Probe-Media/Daily Mail/crainsnewyork.com/KJN
Jeffrey Epstein
Some journalists in the Jewish media are starting to complain that President Donald Trump is "loving Israel" just a little too much since he keeps citing his concern for the Jewish state as the driving force behind some of his erratic behavior. It is a viewpoint that I most definitely share, though I would describe the apparent White House lovefest with the Israel as a "lot too much." When the President of the United States calls a congresswoman an anti-Semite and demands that she apologize to him personally and also to Israel it is definitely a lot too much.

So Israel is always in the news, or so it seems, though it is often not in the news when the story might be derogatory. The story disappears from sight as soon as it is determined that Israel might be involved, as is currently the case with Jeffrey Epstein, or Israeli activity is excised completely as was the case with the Mueller investigation where Russiagate should have really been called Israelgate as it was Israel that was seeking favors from the incoming Trump Administration, not Russia. As Noam Chomsky put it, Israeli interference in American politics "vastly overwhelms" anything Russia has done.

I have recently written about how the Jewish state works hard to brainwash the American people and limit the foreign policy options of the U.S. government, to include aggressive efforts to obtain what the intelligence agencies would call "agents of influence." Agents of influence live and work in one country while simultaneously and treacherously advancing the interests of another nation. It is what George Washington warned about in his Farewell Address when he counseled "Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government."
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NPC

Dems think they've got a slam dunk obstruction case against Trump - they don't

Byron York
Washington Examiner
Wed, 24 Jul 2019 08:38 UTC
Nancy Pelosi democrats
© AP Photo/Susan Walsh
On Wednesday, House Democrats will have a chance to breathe life into the Mueller report. Relatively few Americans have read the 448-page document in which special counsel Robert Mueller concluded the evidence did not establish that the Trump campaign and Russia engaged in a conspiracy or coordination to fix the 2016 election, and also declined to conclude whether or not President Trump obstructed justice. Democrats know the report has failed to capture the public imagination, and they hope bringing Mueller to Capitol Hill for questioning will catch the nation's attention.

"Not everybody is reading the book, but people will watch the movie," a House Judiciary Committee official told Politico's Playbook.

Mueller's testimony will be divided between the Judiciary Committee and the House Intelligence Committee. Judiciary will focus on Volume II of the report, which covered allegations of obstruction, and Intelligence will pursue Volume I, on conspiracy and coordination.
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Headphones

Veteran reporter Hersh told Ed Butowsky on Trump-Russia 'collusion': "It was a Brennan operation"

Jim Hoft
The Gateway Pundit
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 00:15 UTC
John Brennan
© Fox News via MSNBC
Veteran reporter Seymour Hersh previously spoke to Ed Butowsky on the origins of the Trump-Russia witch hunt.

The phone call did not take place this year.

Butowsky contacted Hersh to discuss Julian Assange and the leaked emails to Wikileaks.

Butowsky told Hersh the leak was from the inside. Ed Butowsky later leaked the audio of their phone call and it was posted up on Youtube.

Comment: The phone call would have taken place sometime before May of 2017 when Fox News broke the story on May 16, 2017. At the time, Butowsky did not name Sy Hersh as his source. A week later Fox was forced to retract it.By August 2017, the lawsuits were flying back and forth over Butowsky's publicizing of the information and Hersh had retreated into 'no comment' territory. NPR even felt the need to do a smear piece on Butowsky. The whole story has been plagued with claims, counterclaims and retractions by nearly every one involved. A perfect way to bury it from the public eye.

What then, to make of this exchange? Ed Butowsky interview William Binney on Seth Rich and the downloaded files:

William Binney: NSA has 32 pages of Seth Rich-Julian Assange communications FOIA request reveals

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Bad Guys

Pepe Escobar: How to kill 10 million Afghans and not win

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 19:58 UTC
Afghanistan
© AFP / Haroon Sabawoon / Anadolu Agency
Afghan security officials inspect the scene of a bomb blast near the University of Afghanistan in Kabul, Afghanistan on July 19. At least 8 people were reported killed and 33 others injured. Two vehicles caught fire following the explosion.
"We're like policemen. We're not fighting a war. If we wanted to fight a war in Afghanistan and win it, I could win that war in a week. But I don't want to kill 10 million people. Afghanistan could be wiped off the face of the Earth. I don't want to go that route."

Even considering the rolling annals of demented Trumpism, bolstered every single day by a torrent of outrageous tweets and quotes, what you've just read is simply astonishing. Here we have the President of the United States asserting that, 1) The US is not fighting a war in Afghanistan; 2) If the US wanted a war, the President would win it in a week; 3) He would kill 10 million people - although he doesn't want it; 4) "Afghanistan" as a whole, for no meaningful reason, could be wiped off the face of the Earth.


Comment: For some factions in the US it never was a war, it was geostrategic chaos creation, and for others it was a failed attempt to take control of a country; both were hoping that it would provide the US and its allies with whatever they needed to continue their demented imperialist agenda.


Trump said all of the above while sitting alongside Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan - who, in a deft move, is trying to appease the White House even as he carefully positions Pakistan as a solid node of Eurasia integration alongside Russia, China and Iran.

Comment: See also:

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Chess

Boris Johnson elected new Tory leader - succeeds Theresa May as UK prime minister

Heather Stewart
The Guardian
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 22:04 UTC
BorisJohnsonJeremyHunt
© skynews
Boris Johnson • Jeremy Hunt
Former foreign secretary will succeed Theresa May as Britain's next prime minister after beating Jeremy Hunt

Boris Johnson will become Britain's next prime minister after winning a convincing victory over Jeremy Hunt in the Conservative party leadership race.

The former mayor of London, who has long cherished an ambition to lead his country, won 66% of the votes - 92,153, to Hunt's 46,656. Turnout was 87.4% among 159,320 party members.

In a characteristically lighthearted acceptance speech, Johnson conceded that even some of his own supporters may "wonder quite what they have done".

Comment: Johnson started his incumbency with a pep-talk to his base:
He revealed that he had read in the Financial Times on Tuesday morning that no incoming leader had ever faced such a daunting set of circumstances, with Brexit casting a shadow over British politics.

Addressing the packed auditorium in London, he declared: "Well I look at you this morning and ask do you look daunted? Do you feel daunted? I don't think you do."

Johnson also added a new letter to his campaign slogan - Deliver, Unite, Defeat with an E for Energise - rebranding it from the DUD to the DUDE strategy.

A former mayor of London and former British foreign secretary, Johnson was the clear favorite from the moment Theresa May announced she would be stepping down, following her failure to secure a Brexit deal with the EU.

A staunch Brexiteer, Johnson won the backing of over 50 percent of MPs in the first stage of the leadership race, marking him as the likely successor to lead Brexit-era Britain into the final chapter of the EU divorce saga which began with the 2016 referendum.

Johnson is expected to issue a slew of changes in his cabinet in the coming days as he prepares to take up the mantle of Brexit negotiations.
Johnson's confidence seems furthered by Trump's approval though the relationship has been strained, at least on Johnson's part. London was already on a downward spiral during Johnson's time as mayor. At the time he didn't appreciate Trump pointing that out:
Donald Trump has relayed his congratulations after Boris Johnson was selected as the next prime minister of the UK. The US president has described Johnson as a friend, but the pair's relationship hasn't always been rosy.

Trump and Johnson do have a colorful relationship. The US president considers Johnson a "friend" and a "very talented guy," but the newly-anointed prime minister stirred up media speculation after turning down a face-to-face meeting with Trump during his state visit to the UK in June. Instead, they reportedly exchanged pleasantries in a 20-minute phone call, which an aide for Johnson described as "friendly and productive."

Johnson's feelings about Trump have been less consistent. Last August, he praised the president, suggesting that the UK would be better off if Trump took over the Brexit talks. "There is method in his madness," he said at the time.

But Johnson was far less flattering during his tenure as mayor of London. In 2015, he slammed Trump's "stupefying ignorance" after the president claimed there were dangerous "no-go areas" in the British capital. Those comments made him "frankly unfit to hold the office of president of the United States," Johnson said at the time.


Buffoon Boris bashing: Foreign Sec ridiculed as 'joke' by Trump team, EU diplomats and UK officials

Boris' ascendency had the British twitterati in a tizzy:
The breaking news that Boris Johnson is to be the next UK prime minister has sparked a robust reaction on social media, with many claiming his appointment will be the breaking of the UK.

Many were quick to tweet jokes playing on the 'breaking' news announcement, writing, "Breaking: Our country," and "Breaking: We all are."


Brits expressed dismay at Johnson's victory, with many saying they are now "doomed," and others pointing out that he is "unelected" by the people. The hashtag, "NotMyPM" was used by a number of disappointed Twitter users.


Johnson's critics say the leading Brexiteer will fail to secure a reasonable exit from the European Union and even accuse him of being dishonest, racist and inept. However, many of Johnson's backers tweeted their support for the former mayor of London as he prepares to take on the leadership mantle. He even got a vote of confidence from US President Donald Trump who said that the 55-year-old will be a "great" prime minister.

Johnson has racked up a long history of diplomatic gaffes and scandals down the years, ranging from being fired for making up quotes while working as a journalist, lying about extramarital affairs and making racist comments about Africans and Muslim women.
Johnson not only has the Brexit circus to worry about, but the UK's stance towards Iran vis a vis the US in the current oil tanker crisis. His previous interactions with Iran and other countries do not bode well. George Galloway has the last word:



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Rocket

India successfully launches unmanned mission to the far side of the Moon - Follows delay due to "technical snag"


ABC
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 13:24 UTC
Chandrayaan
© (Supplied: Department of Space Indian Space Research Organisation)
The Chandrayaan-2 mission vehicle at a launch pad.
India's space agency said it has launched an unmanned spacecraft to the far side of the Moon a week after aborting the mission due to a technical problem.

Scientists at the mission control centre burst into applause as the rocket lifted off in clear weather as scheduled at 2:43pm (local time) on Monday.

Chandrayaan-2, the Sanskrit word for "Moon craft," is designed to land on the lunar south pole in September and send a rover to explore water deposits.

India's first moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, orbited the Moon in 2008 and helped confirm the presence of water.

Comment: See also:

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Arrow Up

'Big victory' or 'kick the can'? Trump and Dems agree to dump US debt onto next president and future Americans


RT
Mon, 22 Jul 2019 23:10 UTC
US Debt
© Reuters/Shannon Stapleton
Republicans and Democrats have struck a deal on raising the debt ceiling and US government budgets through 2021, lowering the risk of a shutdown or a default and kicking the $22 trillion economic can down the road.

President Donald Trump announced the deal in a tweet on Monday, calling it a "real compromise" that contained "no poison pills" and delivered "another big victory" for the US military and veterans.

The deal would raise the current budget cap by $320 billion over two years - $30 billion less than the Democrats demanded, while delivering only half of the $150 billion in savings the Trump administration sought, according to Bloomberg. It also cancels the automatic cuts that would have decreased military spending by $71 billion and domestic expenditures by another $55 billion.

Comment: The US Congress has had years of practice bypassing its fiduciary responsibility while sabotaging the strength and viability of the American economy. This deal is just another short-sighted, short-term fix to an ever-deepening financial disaster. Back-slaps all 'round!

See also:

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