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

Puppet Masters
Map

Stormtrooper

US: Iran's Revolutionary Guards are 'terrorists', but who are they?


RT
Mon, 08 Apr 2019 23:24 UTC
Iranian Rev.Guard Corps
© AFP
Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) march during the annual military parade marking the start of Iran-Iraq war.
The US has for the first time ever designated an official foreign military institution as a terrorist organization. RT looks at Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite and powerful military force.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was formed shortly after the Islamic Revolution back in 1979, when US-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran was overthrown. Soon the country became an Islamic Republic under the Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

The Corps was created out of several paramilitary forces loyal to the new government - while the loyalty of the standing army was under question back then. The IRGC was tasked with protection of the gains of the Revolution itself, while the Army was entrusted with preserving the country's territorial integrity and independence.

However, the IRGC was soon forced to act as a regular army, following the Iraqi invasion in 1980. The IRGC had to substitute for dwindling numbers of the regular army, which had been plagued by desertions - and political purges - after the Revolution. Eventually, the IRGC grew its own aerospace (AFAGIR) and naval (NEDSA) forces, duplicating many of the responsibilities of Iran's regular military.

Comment: What goes around, comes around: US troops are now on Iran's terrorist list:
In response to Washington's decision to put Iran's Revolutionary Guards on the terrorist list, the Iranian Supreme Security Council declared the US a "terrorist government" while calling the US CENTCOM a terrorist group as well as all its affiliates a terrorist group.

The statement blamed CENTCOM for harming Iran's national security as well as ruining the lives of "innocent Iranian and non-Iranian individuals" to promote the US' "aggressive policies" in Western Asia.

The Iranian Security Council condemned the move by calling it "an illegal and dangerous action" that poses a "major threat to the regional and international peace and security as well as grossly violates the rules of international law."
Iranian president Rouhani has a few choice words for the US:
"You want to use terrorist groups as tools against the nations of the region... you are the leader of world terrorism. Even now America is hiding the heads of ISIS, even now they are not prepared to tell the regional governments where the heads of ISIS are hiding. Who are you to label revolutionary institutions as terrorists?"

Rouhani said Trump's move was a "mistake" that will unite the nation and make the Revolutionary Guards more popular among Iranians.
IRGC's top commander also had warnings for the US:
"Mr. Trump, tell your warships not to pass near the Revolutionary Guards boats," Mohsen Rezaei, a senior officer of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was quoted by the semi-official news agency ISNA.

[The] US President designated the elite Corps as a terrorist organization...to "expand the scope and scale" of pressure on Tehran. Now, the US may impose further sanctions on the IRGC, with Trump himself warning that "if you are doing business with the IRGC, you will be bankrolling terrorism."

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen Joe Dunford, expressed concerns about troop safety in the region. They argued that the designation could spark violence against US forces across the Middle East.


      Read More...
Attention

China signals it is set to eliminate Bitcoin, virtual currency mining

Wang Cong
Global Times
Tue, 09 Apr 2019 16:41 UTC
Bitcoin equipment
© VCG
Worker checks on Bitcoin mining at Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Southwest China's Sichuan Province.
Bitcoin's price has been on a bull run this month, but the virtual currency could soon feel a chill from China, as government agencies and officials signal that they might further tighten their grip on mining and trading of virtual currencies.

On Monday, China's top economic planning agency the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) released a catalogue of industries that it would support, restrict or eliminate. The catalogue listed "mining" activities for Bitcoin and other virtual currencies as an area to be "eliminated."

Furthermore, the NDRC did not mention a specific timetable or plan to eliminate virtual currency mining, which indicates the government will immediately eliminate the sector.

That should leave no speculation about China's official stance against Bitcoin and other virtual currency mining, and, given China's role as a world leader in mining activities, the move will likely have a major impact on the global market, analysts said.

Though China's central bank banned Bitcoin trading in September 2017, mining continued in China, despite efforts to phase out.

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
Robot

Puppet Bolsonaro: Brazil, US to create a 'rift' within Venezuela's army to oust Maduro


RT
Tue, 09 Apr 2019 01:38 UTC
Bolsonaro/Trump
© REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro and U.S. President Donald Trump at a joint news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, U.S., March 19, 2019.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is not making a secret of his plan to bring down Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, saying in an interview that he and Washington pin their hopes on a military coup instigated from the outside.

Speaking to Jovem Pan radio on Monday, the right-wing Brazilian leader, who has never hidden his deep animosity towards his Venezuelan counterpart, implied that, while not intervening outright, both the US and Brazil are working behind the scenes to lay out the grounds for a military revolt that would bring down Maduro.

"It is our intention and that of the Americans that there is a rift in the army, because it is they who still support Maduro. It is the armed forces that decide whether a country lives in a democracy or in a dictatorship," Bolsonaro said, adding that he does not see any future for Venezuela in its present state. "What you cannot do is to continue as you are," he said.

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
Dollars

Billionaires are not policy failures - far from it

Gonzalo Schwarz
The Hill
Sat, 06 Apr 2019 08:00 UTC
Dollar umbrella
© AllBusiness.com
Successful entrepreneurs buck the system
Income inequality dominates our political and policy debates. Perhaps the latest example of this phenomenon is the extent to which proposals regarding how much the rich should be taxed have become ubiquitous in our discourse.

The problem now surfacing in our public and political discussions is how they are creating a culture that frowns on success. This is particularly the case when we start denouncing that billionaires are policy failures or that they somehow take money from the rest of us, instead of thinking about their value-creation for society as a whole.

Three things are often overlooked and/or underappreciated when thinking about billionaires, millionaires or really any successful entrepreneur for that matter and the system that fosters their achievements.

First, one of the most consequential shortcomings of our ever more affluent society, is the extent to which the power and role of entrepreneurship for increasing opportunity and raising living standards is taken for granted.

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
Footprints

Another one gone: Trump fires Secret Service Director Randolph Alles

Jake Tapper, Evan Perez, Betsy Klein
CNN
Mon, 08 Apr 2019 04:36 UTC
1Kirstjen Nielsen, Randolph Alles
© law.virginia.edu/Fox 4/ewscripps.brightspotcdn
Sec. DHS Kirstjen Nielsen • USSS Dir. Randolph Alles
United States Secret Service director Randolph "Tex" Alles is being removed from his position, multiple administration officials tell CNN.

President Donald Trump instructed his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, to fire Alles. Alles remains in his position as of now but has been asked to leave. The USSS director was told two weeks ago there would be a transition in leadership and he was asked to stay on until there was a replacement, according to a source close to the director. Secret Service officials have been caught by surprise with the news and are only finding out through CNN, according to the source.

In an email to employees at his agency obtained by CNN's Jim Acosta, Alles told the workforce he was not fired, but was told weeks ago that the administration would be making "transitions in leadership" at the Department of Homeland Security. "The President has directed an orderly transition in leadership for this agency and I intend to abide by that direction," he wrote.


Comment: See also: DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigns

      Read More...
Eiffel Tower

How can Marine Le Pen win in France? By doing nothing

Bill Wirtz
The American Conservative
Fri, 05 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
LePen
© COMEO/Shutterstock.com
Marine Le Pen
She's back and capitalizing on Emmanuel Macron's failures to address the Yellow Vest protests.

A couple months ago, when he was still the rising star of a new generation of EU enthusiasts, France's "centrist" president Emmanuel Macron was expected to turn European politics around. Back then, the only people pointing out the potential negative consequences of his administration were libertarians, of which there aren't many in France, and conservatives, who are still bemoaning their electoral failure in 2017.

France has 79 seats in the European Parliament, making it the second most influential country after Germany. As a result of Brexit, France has gained an additional five seats while Germany's count remains the same. Seventy-nine seats could potentially drive a wedge through the myriad political groups of the European Parliament and drastically alter the political priorities of the legislature.

Current polling suggests that Macron's En Marche party and its allies will reach 23 percent, just in front of Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National (the party changed its name from "National Front" to "National Rally") at 21 percent. These data reveal that Macron's party is currently performing better than he is in the polls, which is likely related to the fact that he is trying to delegate campaigning to other party officials while he deals with the fallout of the Yellow Vests movement.
      Read More...
No Entry

16 Saudi individuals involved in Khashoggi's murder banned from US by the State Department

Abigail Williams
NBC News
Tue, 09 Apr 2019 12:02 UTC
Khashoggi
© Hasan Jamali AP file
Jamal Khashoggi speaks during a press conference, in Manama, Bahrain on Dec. 15, 2014.
The State Department on Monday publicly barred 16 individuals from entering the U.S. for their roles in the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The statement reads:
"In cases where the Secretary of State has credible information that officials of foreign governments have been involved in significant corruption or gross violations of human rights, those individuals and their immediate family members are ineligible for entry into the United States."
Khashoggi, a permanent U.S. resident and vocal critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was murdered and dismembered Oct. 2 in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The designations from the State Department follow the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's detention of at least 10 individuals associated with women's rights advocates in the kingdom's biggest crackdown since Khashoggi's death, according to Human Rights Groups. The State Department confirmed that two U.S. citizens were among those arrested.

Among those banned Monday from entering the U.S. is Saud al-Qahtani, an adviser to bin Salman who the CIA suspects organized the assassination of Khashoggi.

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
Briefcase

AG Barr reveals he is reviewing FBI's 'conduct' in the original Russia probe

Brooke Singman
Fox News
Tue, 09 Apr 2019 18:23 UTC
William Barr
© Tom Williams/Getty Images
Attorney General William Barr
Attorney General William Barr revealed Tuesday that he is reviewing the "conduct" of the FBI's original Russia investigation during the summer of 2016, following calls from Republicans to investigate the origins of the probe.

Barr testified before a congressional panel in what was his first Capitol Hill appearance since revealing the central findings of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Barr was grilled by Democrats on the handling of that summary, which stated the special counsel found no evidence of collusion between members of the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election -- but he was also questioned about the initial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants approved to surveil members of the Trump campaign.

Barr explained that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz has a pending investigation into the FISA warrants and said the probe will be complete by May or June. He then confirmed he's personally reviewing the investigation itself.

Comment:

      Read More...
Jet5

Pakistan says Indian claims of downing F-16 have been proven false - UPDATE: India provides radar data of dogfight


RFE/RL
Mon, 08 Apr 2019 09:33 UTC
Pakistan F-16 combat jet
© AFP
All of Pakistan's F-16 combat jets have been accounted for, according to a report that cited U.S. officials.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan says India's claim it downed a Pakistani F-16 fighter aircraft during a military standoff in February has proven to be "false."

U.S.-based Foreign Policy magazine issued a report on April 4, citing U.S. officials, that said all of Pakistan's F-16 combat jets had been accounted for.

"The truth always prevails and is always the best policy," Khan said in a tweet on April 6.

Comment: Update (Apr. 9): India responded by releasing photos of the dogfight between the two militaries:





      Read More...
Star of David

Netanyahu claims Trump designated Iran's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist group at his request

Noga Tarnopolsky
LA Times
Tue, 09 Apr 2019 18:12 UTC
trump and netanyahu
© Susan Walsh / Associated Press
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, facing a hotly contested bid for a fourth term, tweeted on the eve of the election that the Trump administration designated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization at his request.

"Thank you, my dear friend, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, for having decided to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization," he wrote in Hebrew on Twitter on Monday. "Thank you for responding to another of my important requests, which serves the interests of our countries and countries of the region."

His English-language thank you note posted later omitted taking credit, but said of Trump, "Once again you are keeping the world safe from Iran aggression and terrorism."

In Israel, the move by the Trump administration is being viewed by some as an election eve gift to Netanyahu.

Comment: Former Pentagon official Michael Maloof pointed out the dangerous precedent this sets:
"It is a slippery slope. It can backfire," he warned. What happens if Iran or any other country declares the US troops in Syria a terrorist group? That means to shoot on sight.
Political analyst Seyyed Mostafa Khoshcheshm believes this decision could leave to major conflict in the Middle East:
"As soon as Washington's decision is communicated to the US Army, they would target the IRGC on the ground and the IRGC would definitely defend itself," he told RT. "Security consequences will be grave."
Seyed Mohammad Marandi, political analyst and professor at the University of Tehran, believes that by cozying up to Tel Aviv, Washington alienates other players in the region and weakens its position globally
It is a major miscalculation. A string of openly provocative actions that clearly favor Israel has pushed people in the Middle East away from the US and closer to Iran, at the same time uniting Iranians in their pushback against the US, Marandi explained. Trump's other blunders, like his continued row with Turkey, are also likely to make Ankara friendlier towards Tehran, the analyst believes.


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