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No hope for change: 70% say Macron's 'great debate' was a PR stunt


RT
Sun, 17 Mar 2019 10:54 UTC
video macron great debate
© RT
France has ended two months of citizen debates in which Yellow Vest supporters were invited to air their grievances. Parisians who spoke with RT said the meetings were a stunt used by Emmanuel Macron and won't lead to real change.

The French president launched his "great debate" in mid-January in response to the popular Yellow Vest protest movement. Up to 500,000 people participated in 10,000 meetings nationwide, with discussion topics ranging from taxes to the environment. The national dialogue has been credited with giving Macron a much-needed boost in the polls - but few seem optimistic that the debates will lead to concrete changes.

"It would surprise me if he takes any measures, but I don't expect anything," one Yellow Vest supporter told RT.

"Macron has a habit of just talking, but with no results in the end," another activist said. "In my opinion, nothing will come of it." Several Parisians who spoke with RT mused that the debates were also designed to boost support for his centrist party ahead of European elections.

Comment: Meanwhile the Yellow Vest protests continue into their 18th week (Macron has spent the weekend at a ski resort), with some of the better known members of the Yellow Vests and other populist representatives gaining traction in the run up to the EU parliamentary elections: Also check out SOTT radio's:




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Hourglass

Brexit delay makes sense 'only if UK says what the plan is' - German FM


RT
Sat, 16 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
An anti-Brexit protester
© REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
An anti-Brexit protester walks outside the Houses of Parliament in London
As the UK government struggles to delay Brexit beyond the looming March 29 deadline, the German foreign minister says London can still buy some time if it tells the others "what the plan is."

"No one can want the unregulated Brexit," Heiko Maas tweeted, saying he supports making "a lap of honor with a short extension before it comes to this."

The EU "should not miss any opportunity to prevent [the UK's] exit without an agreement," but the delay has certain conditions, Maas warned.

Comment: See also:

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2 + 2 = 4

The Christchurch Shooting and the Normalization of Anti-Muslim Terrorism

Whitney Webb
Mintpressnews.com
Sat, 16 Mar 2019 21:34 UTC
Christchurch shooting casualty
The real forces responsible for the destruction of many Muslim-majority countries and the current chaos present in many Western countries are not generated by civilian populations or religions but instead by the global oligarchy that engineers and profits from this chaos.

Comment: While the author's analysis is accurate, to a large extent, there is one crucial piece of the puzzle that she has missed: the Christchurch mosque shootings - and many other similar terror attacks in recent years in Western nations - are very likely the work of state actors seeking to inflame social tensions in Western nations and thereby better control their populations.

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Snakes in Suits

Macron feigns friendship with Africa, issues warnings about China

Simon Rite
RT
Fri, 15 Mar 2019 15:15 UTC
macron airforce
© AFP / POOL / Ludovic MARIN
When I see Western leaders smiling, shaking hands and offering sage and heartfelt advice on tours of Africa, I just can't help settling in for the show because you know some top level hypocrisy is just around the corner.

By far, my favorite part of politics is watching its highest level practitioners ignore whatever inconvenient facts from the past are getting in the way of the blatant self-interest of the present. The French leader visiting Africa? Well you know this is going to be a good one.

Africa is full of elephants, and many of them are political, sitting in the corners of rooms and trumpeting away merrily at the likes of Emmanuel Macron. His ability to ignore the weight of history has proved commendable.

Comment: Africa will take what it can get, even from impressively duplicitous puppets like Macron. In the end, the projects and the benefits they bring will speak for themselves: Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Révolution Jaune? France Revolts Against Macron

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Pirates

Pentagon "does not know" how $2.1 billion was spent on F-35 parts


RT
Fri, 15 Mar 2019 23:40 UTC
F-35
© Reuters / Lockheed Martin / Fred Clingerman
FILE PHOTO. F-35 fighter jet seen at an assembly line.
The Pentagon has failed to properly manage and account for $2.1 billion worth of parts for F-35 fighter jets, a new report by a government watchdog reveals. Now, the military simply has to take the word of Lockheed Martin on that.

The US military failed to account for 3.45 million pieces of government property - parts and equipment for F-35s, according to a new report issued by the Department of Defense's (DoD) Office of Inspector General. Pentagon officials have "failed to implement procedures, and failed to appoint and hold officials responsible, to account for and manage government property for more than 16 years."

Lacking the paperwork and even people to hold responsible for the blunder, the Pentagon has no actual idea how much the aforementioned pile of parts cost, and has to simply trust the word of the main contractor - Lockheed Martin - and its subcontractors, according to the report. The corporation valued the parts at $2.1 billion.

Comment: This is merely symptomatic of the damningly corrupt US military industrial complex that's holding Americans to ransom: Russia wipes US in Rand corp wargame, just in time for a defense budget increase

And the financial blackhole that is the faulty F-35 program isn't the only harbinger that something is incredibly wrong with the US military:

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Star of David

UN fails to name and shame firms profiting from illegal settlements in West Bank

Jonathan Cook
jonathan-cook.net
Sun, 10 Mar 2019 18:34 UTC
Israeli settlement Har Homa West Bank
© UPI/Debbie Hill
A Palestinian stands on his property overlooking the Israeli settlement Har Homa, West Bank, February 18, 2011.
The United Nations postponed last week for the third time the publication of a blacklist of Israeli and international firms that profit directly from Israel's illegal settlements in the occupied territories.

The international body had come under enormous pressure to keep the database under wraps after lobbying behind the scenes from Israel, the United States and many of the 200-plus companies that were about to be named.

UN officials have suggested they may go public with the list in a few months.

But with no progress since the UN's Human Rights Council requested the database back in early 2016, Palestinian leaders are increasingly fearful that it has been permanently shelved.

That was exactly what Israel hoped for. When efforts were first made to publish the list in 2017, Danny Danon, Israel's ambassador to the UN, warned: "We will do everything we can to ensure that this list does not see the light of day."

He added that penalising the settlements was "an expression of modern antisemitism".


Comment: Doublespeak at its best. Doubleplusgood, in fact. Because penalizing illegal, ethno-nationalist colonization is "anti-Semitic".


Both Israel and the US pulled out of the Human Rights Council last year, claiming that Israel was being singled out.

Israel has good reason to fear greater transparency. Bad publicity would most likely drive many of these firms, a few of them household names, out of the settlements under threat of a consumer backlash and a withdrawal of investments by religious organisations and pension funds.
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Propaganda

Damage control: WaPo says CIA wasn't involved in attack on N. Korea embassy - blames dissident group


RT
Sat, 16 Mar 2019 18:24 UTC
madrid north korea embassy
© REUTERS/Sergio Perez
A man walks past the North Korea's embassy in Madrid, Spain February 28, 2019.
The Washington Post has reported, citing anonymous sources, that an obscure dissident group was behind a violent break-in at the North Korean Embassy in Spain, defying reports in local media that the CIA was involved.

A group of 10 unidentified men stormed into the North Korean Embassy in Madrid on February 22, several days before the summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam. According to reports in Spanish media, the attackers tied up and gagged the staff, placing hoods over their heads. They then seized documents, computers and other electronic devices before dashing away in two diplomatic vehicles they soon abandoned.

While the investigation into the bizarre, brazen, action movie-style attack has been shrouded in secrecy, some shreds of information have been leaked to the Spanish media, with Spanish outlets El Pais and El Confidencial reporting that police now believe that at least two of the attackers were connected to the CIA.

The reports were received with a grain of salt by the mainstream media, reported cautiously by most and outright rejected by some. Yahoo called the allegations "unlikely" while citing former CIA officials. The senior editor at the Diplomat, Akit Panda, came out in the CIA's defense on Twitter.


Comment: Could that possibly be because the mainstream media is infested with people working for the CIA?



Comment: And yet no possibility is raised that the CIA itself is working with, or controlling, this "obscure" North Korean dissident group. The mainstream sources are either idiots, or they take their readership to be idiots.

See also:

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Snakes in Suits

Pompeo: 'Change your course!' as ICC war crimes probe threatens 'US rule of law'


RT
Fri, 15 Mar 2019 16:56 UTC
Pompeo
© Reuters/Yuri Gripas
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
In an effort to threaten everyone into not investigating US or Israeli war crimes in the International Criminal Court, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says anyone involved in such probes will lose their visa and may be sanctioned.

The Washington war hawk said that action had to be taken because any investigation into alleged war crimes and torture committed by the United States would be a threat to US rule of law. Visas will be pulled or denied for anyone who has been involved in or even requested an ICC investigation of "any US personnel."

The ICC is currently mulling over a request to investigate possible war crimes committed by the US in Afghanistan in the course of the nearly 20-year conflict which has left over 100,000 Afghans dead. The international court prosecutor's office says it has "reasonable basis" to believe that "war crimes and crimes against humanity" were, and continue to be, committed by foreign government forces in Afghanistan.


Comment: See also:

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Arrow Up

Poland's 'Fort Trump' closer to a reality: Ready to negotiate an offer US can't refuse

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Fri, 15 Mar 2019 04:15 UTC
Army guys, equipment
© AP
Poland's push to house a major permanent US military base dubbed last year by Polish President Andrzej Duda as "Fort Trump" is a big step closer to becoming a reality this week after top US defense officials met with Polish counterparts in Warsaw to negotiate an offer. US Defense Undersecretary for Policy John Rood led a delegation to the former Soviet satellite country and longtime east European defense ally on Wednesday to discuss the US "robust offer" to establish a permanent facility on Polish soil.

The Poles previously vowed to pay $2 billion for a base that could host a division-sized installment of US forces, which the US has called "very generous" - though likely to fall short of the total cost for such a base. A spokesperson for Rood's office informed the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday said:
"We have come forward with what we think is a very serious robust offer and we're working out some of the technicalities this very week, when we hope to have a solid foundation to work from having coming out of this meeting."
Though the idea of a permanent US base in Poland has been floated for years, especially after the Russian-Ukraine conflict grew hot, last September's official visit between Presidents Duda and Trump at the White House gave it real momentum.

Comment: See also:

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Bulb

Moscow: Venezuelan blackouts are a 'diversion' orchestrated from overseas


RT
Fri, 15 Mar 2019 13:27 UTC
Venezuelan blackout
© Global Look Press/Juan Carlos Hernandez
Venezuelan blackout
The Venezuelan energy sector was "targeted from abroad," Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, claiming the culprits aimed for the grids which work on Western-made equipment.

In order to cause "a diversion," foreign actors hit the nation's key power stations which "had equipment manufactured in Canada," Maria Zakharova explained, adding that the perpetrators were well aware of "all the algorithms and weak spots" of Venezuela's power grid.

The official claimed that attacks on vital infrastructure are often being employed by the West in "hybrid wars."

Venezuela began suffering from nationwide blackouts last week. President Nicolas Maduro labelled the outages "sabotage" orchestrated by the US. He said that several "saboteurs" have been apprehended while trying to tamper with the power grid. He earlier accused Washington of plotting a coup against him, among other alleged subversive activities.


Comment: See also:

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