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Twitter removes hundreds of accounts linked to Venezuela amid US calls for regime change


RT
Fri, 01 Feb 2019 12:15 UTC
VenFlagGuy
© REUTERS/Edgard Garrido
Twitter has announced that it took down about 2,000 accounts in Venezuela, most of which it claimed were "engaged in a state-backed influence campaign." This comes amid accusations of a US-led coup attempt.

The San Francisco-based social media giant released a blog post on Thursday saying that it removed 1,196 accounts located in Venezuela which it deemed to "appear to be engaged in a state-backed influence campaign targeting domestic audiences." It also removed another 764 accounts, however, noted: "We are unable to definitively tie the accounts located in Venezuela to information operations of a foreign government against another country."

The Twitter purge of accounts was met with criticism and accusations of censorship.

Host of the Empire Files, a documentary & interview series, Abby Martin lamented that amid Twitter censorship of pro-government supporters, "pro-coup Venezuelans & right-wing exiles dominate the media sphere."

Comment: Who does Twitter work for?
See also:

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Clipboard

Trump says he's on same page as intel chiefs, after insulting them, CNN reports

Zachary Cohen
CNN
Thu, 31 Jan 2019 09:56 UTC
TrumpMeeting
© The White House
President Trump and intelligence advisors, including John Bolton, Gina Haspel, Dan Coats
President Donald Trump claimed Thursday that his intelligence chiefs, including Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and CIA Director Gina Haspel, told him that they were misquoted when they publicly contradicted him during public on-camera testimony.

He made the claim a day after he tweeted that "Intelligence should go back to school!"

"They said they were totally misquoted and totally taken out of context," Trump said when asked by CNN if he raised the testimony with Coats and Haspel during his daily briefing on Thursday.

"They said it was fake news," Trump said.

The President did not provide examples of the areas the intelligence chiefs said they were misquoted. Their testimony was televised, and their written assessment of global threats was made public.

Comment: See also: Intel chiefs' break with Trump highlights the internal administration battle

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Arrow Up

EU parliament has recognized Guaido as Venezuelan interim president

Robin Emmott, Alissa de Carbonnel
Reuters
Thu, 31 Jan 2019 07:06 UTC
Guaido
© Fox News
Juan Guaido
The European Parliament recognized Venezuela's self-declared interim president Juan Guaido as de facto head of state on Thursday, heightening international pressure on the OPEC member's socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

EU governments, divided over whether to recognize Guaido, also agreed to lead an international crisis group with South American nations to seek new elections, setting a 90-day time limit, and threatening further economic sanctions. EU lawmakers voted 439 in favor to 104 against, with 88 abstentions, at a special session in Brussels to recognize Venezuelan congress head Guaido as interim leader.

In a statement with the non-binding vote, the parliament urged the bloc's 28 governments to follow suit and consider Guaido "the only legitimate interim president" until there were "new free, transparent and credible presidential elections". Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said he was ready to join a common position on Venezuela if the bloc could agree what next steps to take.

Though accusing Maduro of stifling democracy, the European Union is nervous at the precedent of a self-declaration, so has been reluctant to follow the United States and most Latin American nations with immediate recognition of Guaido.

Britain, France, Germany and Spain said on Saturday, however, that they would recognize Guaido unless Maduro called elections within eight days. But the EU as a whole has not set a time limit in its call for a new presidential vote and in its Bucharest meeting did not take a clear position.

Comment: Why this guy? See also:

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Bullseye

UN investigators place Khashoggi murder blame on Saudi Prince


Sputnik
Fri, 01 Feb 2019 16:48 UTC
MbS portrayal
© AP/Emrah Gurel
A portrayal of the Crown Prince at a candlelight vigil outside the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
A UN investigative team comprised of experts and led by Agnes Callamard, rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, believes that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is the main person responsible for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, Yasin Aktay, an adviser of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.

Aktay told the Turkish NTV broadcaster:
"The UN team considers the crown prince of Saudi Arabia the main person responsible for the killing of Khashoggi. The team held a number of meetings in Turkey, including with Khashoggi's fiance, and she [Callamard] also intends to listen to the audio recordings related to the crime."
The team travelled to Turkey on Monday but has been barred by the Saudis from entering the site of the murder, the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, according to Turkey's ruling party spokesman Omer Celik, who slammed Riyadh's actions as "a scandal."

Comment: Right or wrong, it is not clear how the UN team came to this conclusion.

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Stormtrooper

CNN's 'Venezuelan army defectors' not in army, not defectors & don't live in Venezuela


RT
Fri, 01 Feb 2019 20:20 UTC
venezuelan defectors
© screenshot from https://edition.cnn.com/
Closer inspection of the uniforms worn by two self-proclaimed Venezuelan army defectors interviewed on CNN earlier this week has revealed that they are not who they say they are, and probably should not be given guns.

"As Venezuelan soldiers, we are making a request to the US to support us, in logistical terms, with communication, with weapons, so we can realize Venezuelan freedom," one of the alleged defectors told CNN.

Their conveniently timed appeal came alongside ramped up efforts by the US to institute regime change in the oil rich South American nation, installing pro-American opposition leader Juan Guaidó into power. The two claimed to be in contact with a network of disgruntled army units and defectors ready to "rise up in arms" against recently re-elected President Nicolas Maduro.

If this story wasn't already suspicious enough, it turns out that the pair were wearing uniforms that were retired by the Venezuelan military after consolidating its branches in 2008. This fact was easily confirmed by paying attention to their badges which still read 'FAN' ( Fuerza Armada Nacionales), where-as all Venezuelan service members today have badges which read 'FANB' (Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana).
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Light Sabers

Pompeo announces US will withdraw from INF treaty - Russia threatens retaliation

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Fri, 01 Feb 2019 19:56 UTC
trump
© REUTERS/Reinhard Krause
Update: As we previewed below, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced that the US will withdraw from the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces treaty immediately, prompting threats of a Russian "response" from Moscow.

According to RT, Pompeo said the US could return to compliance with the treaty if Moscow meets Washington's demands within the next 180 days. To convince the US to back down, Washington has insisted that Russia cease development of a new cruise missile. Moscow has repeatedly denied claims that it's in violation of the treaty.

The withdrawal, which has been expected for months, will formally take place on Saturday.

Trump said the US's NATO allies support the decision to withdraw from the treaty, which has been a cornerstone of European security for years. The US has also expressed concerns that its compliance with the treaty has benefited China, which isn't a party to the agreement.

* * *

Comment: One expert, Ivan Konovalov, director of the Center for Strategic Environment think tank, told RT that the US seeks to protect its crumbling hegemony by leaving INF Treaty:
The US uses [Russia] as a pretext to withdraw from the agreement and keep its face." The treaty interferes with their policies and throws obstacles in the path of the American military industrial complex, which is so "cherished" by President Donald Trump
Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of the National Defense journal and member of the Russian Defense Ministry's public council added:
The US particularly wants to continue the military build-up on the Russian borders to raise the stakes in its "power game" against Russia
Viktor Murakhovsky, editor-in-chief of the Fatherland's Arsenal journal, told RT that China, which currently possesses the largest arsenal of intermediate range missiles, is Washington's other major target. The US seeks to stop Beijing's advancements in the South China Sea as it fears to lose control over the Asia-Pacific region.

Russian officials have also noted how this decision put US allies in Europe in a much more precarious situation. Vyacheslav Trubnikov, the former head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, noted, explaining that the European countries might become targets of the Russian weapons if the US decided to deploy their new missiles there

Konstantin Kosachev, head of the Russian Senate's International Affairs Committee, commented on the news:
The fact that the US opted for the "language of ultimatums" from the very beginning also shows that the decision on the withdrawal from the INF Treaty was taken by the US administration long ago, and Washington "never intended to reach an agreement" on the issue
The senator said that the US and its NATO allies ignored all of Russia's attempts to preserve the accord, both when Moscow initiated a discussion on the issue in the NATO-Russia Council, and when it staged a public presentation of the missile in question. "They cannot hear you if they do not want to," Kosachev noted, adding that "Pompeo announced something that was decided long ago and nothing Russia could do would have changed it."

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Chess

Enter, stage center: Schultz calls the Political Identitarians' bluff

James Howard Kunstler
Kunstler.com
Fri, 01 Feb 2019 19:45 UTC
schultz
Howard Schultz seemed like a nice enough fellow on CBS's 60 Minutes show last week. The coffee maestro from the Brooklyn public housing projects is no Golden Golem of Greatness but, alas, he does happen to be a white man, meaning he's a walking microaggression. And he informed the viewing audience that he is of the Hebrew persuasion, which must have induced a fugue of hysteria among those who believe that the Jews have put the global economy on layaway for some future apocalyptic Hanukkah celebration.

In a way, he's calling the Political Identitarians' bluff. The Democrats who, for the moment, remain a major political party, are absolutely determined to put a woman in the White House because men have made the world a failed planet that can only be fixed with a regime of caring-and-sharing. The Democrats would like to drive a wooden stake through Mr. Schultz's offensive gonads. How dare he! Does he not know that his independent ticket in the 2020 election will crib votes from whomever the "It's Her Turn" candidate proves to be - and result in the re-election of that Diet Coke guzzling shit-magnet in the oval office? (!)
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Bullseye

We must avoid mistake of Libya: Italian deputy FM speaks out against Venezuela regime change


RT
Fri, 01 Feb 2019 19:36 UTC
guaido and maduro
© (L/R) REUTERS / Carlos Garcia Rawlins
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido (L) and President Nicolas Maduro (R)
Italy "does not recognise" Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as its interim president, the European country's deputy foreign minister said, warning that a Libya-style regime change must be avoided.

"Today, the greatest interest we have is to avoid a new war in Venezuela," Manlio Di Stefano told Italy's TV2000 network on Thursday. He added that the kind of regime change that failed in Libya must not be attempted, as it turned out to be a "mistake" that everyone recognized today.

"We must prevent this from happening in Venezuela," he warned.

The Five Star Movement (M5S) politician's comments come the same day the EU Parliament voted, in a non-legislative resolution, to recognize Guaido as interim president of the oil-rich South American nation.
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Eye 2

Venezuela: Another national dismemberment brought to you courtesy of the oilygarchy

Rob Slane
The Blogmire
Fri, 01 Feb 2019 18:51 UTC
venezuela oil company
© Reuters
Oligarchy: noun - A small group of people having control of a country or organisation.

Oilygarchy: noun - A small group of people determined to control the world, who use words like "democracy", "human rights" and "freedom" to persuade gullible people to support their plans for toppling the governments of other countries, especially those with large oil reserves.
"Stop what you're doing and care about Venezuela. Yes you! Although we've hardly ever mentioned the country before, and although you may not even be able to point to it on the map, you've just gotta care. You have to. It'd be heartless not to, wouldn't it? The poor people in that country you've hardly heard of and know nothing about, are living under a dictator whose name you don't know. And night after night after night we're gonna keep talking about it until you say it in your sleep: Maduro Must Go! He must be replaced by another man whose name you've never heard of either, but we can assure you he's a good guy. Yessir, he's a good guy alright. Kind. Compassionate. A true democrat. A true lover of freedom. A man of the people. Oh and he's friendly with our oil companies too.

So, c'mon what are you waiting for? Support our nightly campaign to unseat the man whose name you've never heard of, in the country you can't place, with a man whose name you can hardly pronounce let alone remember. And together let's bring about true freedom and liberty for the Venekrainian people, and maybe get ourselves some cheaper oil as well."
Thus spake the Western media in their new campaign to get us to support yet another regime change, brought to you courtesy of Neocon Warmongers Inc., nicely wrapped up of course in the obligatory garb of squishy newspeaky buzzwords like "freedom'n'democracy'n'human rights".

Comment:

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TV

No break from Brexit: RT unscrambles the latest developments


RT
Thu, 31 Jan 2019 18:14 UTC
brexit
As British MPs are told that their February break from parliament is to be cancelled in order to solve the chaos currently enveloping Britain, RT takes a look at the latest goings-on in the EU divorce saga.

On June 23, 2016, the UK voted in a referendum to leave the European Union. Over two and a half years after that vote, the British people are no clearer as to how the country will leave the bloc it's been a member of since 1973.

So, where are we at with less than 60 days to go until the UK is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29?

Theresa May and her government

The British prime minister won the backing of UK MPs in parliament on Tuesday after the 'Brady' amendment, backed by her government, was voted through, in what was seen as a major victory by many of her supporters.

Comment: Anyone would think that the whole Brexit fiasco was intended to be confusing and distract from the real issues, although that probably would be giving the politicians too much credit whereas it actually just reflects the current, sorry state of politics: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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