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Assange was sold for $4.2 BILLION - Former Ecuadorian President confirms IMF loan in exchange for Assange


Fort Russ
Thu, 11 Apr 2019 18:07 UTC
Assange Correa
© RT
Julian Assange talks with Ecuador President Raphael Correa in May 2012
Former and much loved Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has accused Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno of suspending the asylum of cyber-activist Julian Assange in order to obtain a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Correa said that there is evidence of the agreement and that Moreno, who Correa selected at his successor, has promised to "hand over" Assange in a 2017 meeting with Paul Manafort, former US campaign chief to Donald Trump.

Former President Correa, who broke with Moreno, also commented on visits to Ecuador by US Vice President Mike Pence.

At these times, Moreno would have promised to "help isolate Venezuela, leave the Chevron oil corporation, a company that destroyed half of the Amazon rainforest, unpunished, and to deliver Assange."

Comment: Correa has since been booted off Facebook, aka CIA-book.

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Sheriff

Professionals only: Military conscription in Russia to become a thing of the past - Putin


RT
Fri, 12 Apr 2019 15:47 UTC
Conscript
© Sputnik / Vitaly Ankov
Conscript at the enlistment office in Vladivostok
As the modern military faces more complicated challenges and obtains advanced technologies, it requires a transition to a professional army, said President Vladimir Putin.

"Compulsory military service slowly becomes a thing of the past," he said, adding that "it takes time and appropriate financing" to make it happen.

"But this trend exists and we will move in this direction," Putin stressed.

However, many countries don't abolish compulsory military service completely because militaries have a lot of unskilled work to do, he added.

Comment: See also:

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Light Saber

Russia statement: Assange's persecution sends freedom of speech & journalists' rights into 'oblivion'


RT
Fri, 12 Apr 2019 20:34 UTC
Maria Zakharova
© Global Look Press / MFA Russia
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova
The Russian Foreign Ministry has said the manner in which the UK government executed the arrest of WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange is demeaning to human dignity, and his long-running persecution is a blow to journalism.

Commenting on the arrest and detention of the publisher in the UK on Thursday, the ministry's spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, condemned the British authorities for manhandling the 47-year-old Assange as he was being hauled out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

"The manner in which this operation was executed leaves a total impression of a flagrant and unconcealed neglect for the human dignity of the arrestee," she said, adding that Moscow hopes all of Assange's rights would be respected.

Comment: Other public figures have spoken out:
Lee Camp has unloaded on mainstream media in a fiery speech in defense of WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange. He said that by staying silent, they put a nail in the coffin of press freedom they themselves used to enjoy.

The host of Redacted Tonight addressed a crowd of protesters outside the UK Embassy in Washington, DC.
If you are not going to stand up for freedom of press, freedom of speech, stand up for your own goddamn job, then. How about that?

Fashion doyenne, activist and long-time friend Vivien Westwood:
Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood has blasted UK authorities for "misrule of law" over the arrest of Julian Assange, telling RT video agency Ruptly she had spoken to the whistleblower just days ago inside the Ecuadorian embassy.

The British designer and activist, who is a friend of Assange's, told Ruptly that she saw Assange on Tuesday and was surprised to learn rumors of his impending arrest were true. Westwood said she had read in the press that Ecuador would not kick Assange out of the embassy, but said Assange told her during the visit that his removal was indeed imminent.


She said Assange told her Ecuador was in a "very weak" position and under "such strong pressure from America that they're just waiting to find an excuse and they will arrest me either tomorrow or definitely within two weeks. That's what he said to me on Tuesday," she said.
"This is about human rights, free speech and misrule of law by government, because what's at stake here. The issue is that Chelsea Manning and Julian [Assange] released American war crimes. Chelsea the whistleblower, Julian the publisher - and that's what this is about."
Westwood said she blames England for the situation, saying "England have kept him in that embassy trapped under total false pretenses" for years.

Earlier on RT, Westwood said Assange was "one of the greatest heroes in the world."


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Eye 2

Journalists worried as new UK law could send citizens to jail for going to terror hotspots


RT
Fri, 12 Apr 2019 16:02 UTC
West Bank
© Reuters / Nayef Hashlamoun
An Israeli soldier (L) checks the press identification of Reuters cameraman Mazen Da'na in the West Bank
New UK counter-terrorism legislation could see Britons face up to 10 years in jail if it's proven they have entered or remained in a "designated area" overseas, as free press campaigners warn British journalists face arrest.

Coming into force on Friday, the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019, will give UK border guards enhanced powers to stop and search individuals without suspicion, on the grounds of tackling "hostile state" activity.

UK ministers unveiled the sweeping new proposals last year in a bid to tackle the threat from so-called foreign fighters. The act allows Home Secretary Sajid Javid to designate an area, dependent on parliamentary approval.

Comment: So long as they're pushing the government narrative, they'll be fine, for everyone else, this new law is in line with the UK's tip toe towards totalitarianism:

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Bad Guys

The real victims of Trump-Russia collusion hoax: Those smeared as 'Russian agents'

Brian Cates
The Epoch times
Fri, 12 Apr 2019 20:56 UTC
Michael Flynn
© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Former White House National Security Advisor Michael Flynn arrives at the Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington on Dec. 18, 2018.
When President Donald Trump declassifies all the FISA-related documents-as he has vowed to do-we'll see a most sordid story of how top FBI and Justice Department (DOJ) officials launched a politically motivated "counter-intelligence" investigation of the Trump campaign, using confidential informants who were sent to entrap innocent people.

For two years, the Spygate plotters and some media outlets inside the DNC Media Complex coordinated together to sell the U.S. public the hoax that the "Crossfire Hurricane" investigation started with verified evidence that Trump's campaign was compromised by agents of the Russian government.

Much of this hoax was centered around the now-infamous "Steele dossier," the political opposition research project of former MI6 official Christopher Steele, who was paid by the Hillary Clinton campaign through the political operative firm Fusion GPS to target Trump and his associates with fake allegations of Russian collusion.

Comment: Now that the whole Russian collusion hoax has been brought to light in the mainstream media, it is also time to expose the fact that Russia never played a part in interfering with the US elections in the first place! The whole of Russiagate was built on a gigantic pack of lies.

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Snakes in Suits

Top US envoy to Iraq warns against collaborating with Iranian Revolutionary Guard


Sputnik
Thu, 11 Apr 2019 06:05 UTC
United States Department of State
© CCC BY 2.0
United States Department of State
People can have relations with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps or with the US and "its financial system," not both, top US envoy in Baghdad said.

Joey Hood, the US charge d'affaires in Iraq, warned Iraqi militia groups Wednesday against receiving support and otherwise collaborating with Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, which the US recently designated as foreign terrorist organization, Kurdistan 24 reported.

"This designation makes it clearer and clearer that people can have a relationship with the problematic parts of the Iranian government, like the IRGC, or they can have a relationship with the United States and our financial system, but they cannot do both at the same time," Joey Hood said in an interview.

Comment: Sputnik reports:
Hezbollah: We Have 'Many Cards Up Our Sleeve' to Respond to US Over IRGC Move
Iran revolutionary guard
© AP Photo / Ebrahim Noroozi
The statement comes after earlier this week US President Donald Trump stated that Washington would recognise IRGC as a foreign terrorist group. The designation marks the first time that the US has formally blacklisted another country's military as terrorists.

The head of the Lebanese movement Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah has rebuffed Washington's decision to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation, accusing the United States of being the main source and sponsor of terror in the world.


And they'd be right.


"US impudence and folly went beyond limits when it branded Iran's IRGC as a terrorist organisation. The force has made a great deal of sacrifice in order to stand against the US and Israeli hegemony in the region. We, hereby, condemn the US decision, and express our support for our friends at the IRGC", Nasrallah said on Wednesday evening.

He also noted that the move was a concession to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the wake of elections in the country.

"Blacklisting the IRGC and Hezbollah is a proof of our strength not weakness. It is our fundamental right beside a humanitarian and moral duty to confront all those who threaten us and our achievements. The resistance front has many cards up its sleeve to respond to US sanctions and measures", the Hezbollah chief added.

Addressing Washington's decision earlier this week, the Iranian Supreme National Security Council accused the US government of supporting terrorism and recognised the US Central Command (CENTCOM) as a terrorist organisation.

IRGC is a branch of Iran's Armed Forces that was founded in 1979 in order to struggle against left-wing opposition groups. Today IRGC has a wide range of responsibilities such as domestic security, overseeing the activities of political, social, and non-governmental organisations, private companies and firms as well as preventing foreign interference.
Evidently the US is incapable of accepting that these ultimatums, more often than not, spectacularly fail:

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Bad Guys

CNN tries and fails at creating conspiracy theory over Ruptly's exclusive shot of Assange arrest

Simon Rite
RT
Fri, 12 Apr 2019 20:32 UTC
assange arrest Ruptly
© Ruptly
Julian Assange is dragged from the Ecuadorian embassy by British police
If you've seen the pictures of a frail Julian Assange being carried out of Ecuador's London embassy like a bearded battering ram by a gaggle of coppers, then you did so courtesy of video agency Ruptly.

Normally the identity of the video agency that provides news footage is not worthy of a story in itself, but Ruptly has one distinctive factor which sets it apart: it's Russian. Even worse, it's Russian and it's a subsidiary of RT.

CNN appears so shocked that the footage of Assange being manhandled "wasn't captured by leading UK broadcasters like the BBC, Sky News or Independent Television News (ITN)" that it wrote a story headlined "How a Russian-owned media outlet landed the first video of Julian Assange's arrest."
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Light Saber

Nigel Farage launches Brexit Party ahead of European elections


BBC
Fri, 12 Apr 2019 19:28 UTC
Nigel Farage
© Philip Coburn/Daily Mirror
Nigel Farage
Ex-UKIP leader Nigel Farage has launched his new Brexit Party, saying he wants a "democratic revolution" in UK politics.

Speaking in Coventry, he said May's expected European elections were the party's "first step" but its "first task" was to "change politics".

"I said that if I did come back into the political fray it would be no more Mr Nice Guy and I mean it," he said.

But UKIP dismissed the Brexit Party as a "vehicle" for Mr Farage.
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No Entry

Facebook blocks outspoken Ecuadorian ex-president Rafael Correa's page


RT
Fri, 12 Apr 2019 17:44 UTC
Former Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa
© Reuters/Eric Vidal
Former Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa
Facebook has apparently blocked the page of former Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa, which was used to share WikiLeaks material. The move also comes after he bashed his successor for allowing to arrest Julian Assange.

Correa took to Twitter on Thursday night to decry the block, which he called a "show of desperation" following the publication of the INA papers, a trove of documents leaked last month that show current President Lenin Moreno's involvement in a corruption investigation. Correa had been publicizing the papers on his Facebook page, which had 1.5 million followers.

A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the block to El Comercio, telling the paper that Correa's page was blocked because it breached the company's policies on "disclosure of personal information, such as phone numbers, addresses, bank account data, cards, or any record or data that could compromise the integrity physical or financial of the people in our community."

Microsoft translation: They Blocked my Facebook page, 1.5 million followers One step further from the brutal persecution, and another show of desperation for INA papers, of which the corrupt Moreno will not be able to escape. Just this way I will announce new page. Do Not believe in "fakes"

Comment: See also:

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Newspaper

Over 450 refugees leave deplorable US-controlled Rukban camp via Syria-Russia humanitarian corridor in the last 24 hours


Sputnik
Thu, 11 Apr 2019 23:31 UTC
Rukban camp
© AP Photo
More than 450 refugees have left the Rukban camp in Syria through the humanitarian corridor in the past 24 hours, Maj. Gen. Viktor Kupchishin, head of the Russian centre for Syrian reconciliation, said Thursday.

"A total of 459 refugees left the Rukban camp through provided humanitarian corridor in the past 24 hours", Kupchishin said at a daily news briefing. The Russian general added that almost 2,300 people have been able to leave the camp and reach the territory controlled by the Syrian authorities since 19 February 2019.

Russia and Syria have repeatedly tried to draw the attention of the international community to the deplorable conditions at the camp, which houses more than 40,000 internally displaced people, mostly women and children. Both Moscow and Damascus have criticized the United States over its reluctance to allow people to leave the camp, which lies in a US-controlled zone near its unauthorized military base in At Tanf.

Comment: See also:

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