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Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill and the myth of income inequality

Douglas Valentine
CounterPunch.org
Mon, 03 Mar 2014 00:00 UTC
Image
© AP
American journalists Jeremy Scahill, right, and Glenn Greenwald
Quite righteously, Glenn Greenwald and his sidekick Jeremy Scahill see nothing wrong with Pierre Omidyar having $8 billion, and not using it to house, feed, clothe and heal the poor. No harm, no foul.

Omidyar's "political views and donations are of no special interest to me," Greenwald explained.

Those views and "donations" (apart from those that pay his salary) have "no affect whatsoever on my journalism or the journalism of The Intercept," he added humbly, from the heart.

Noting that Omidyar worked hard for every cent in his piggy bank, Greenwald recently assured his nervous followers that the Omidyar Network's political views and activities "have no effect whatsoever (italics added) on what he and his recycled mainstream media cohorts at The Intercept report, how they report it, or what they say.

But do Greenwald and Scahill really have editorial freedom? Could they, for example, investigate and write a story on something as farfetched as income inequality in America?

I hear you laughing, and wondering why a winner of the Polk Award and a guy who'd been on the Bill Maher Show would risk their reputations by treading into such a dubious arena.

Comment: Wolf in sheep's clothing? Billionaire neoliberal Pierre Omidyar

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Propaganda

Bear-baiting BS: U.S. and Europe threaten to punish Putin

Jay Solomon, Carol E. Lee and Stephen Fidler
The Wall Street Journal
Sun, 02 Mar 2014 22:25 UTC
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© T-mag.it
The U.S. and its European allies vowed Sunday to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin and punish his nation's economy, demanding he withdraw what they called an occupation force from Ukraine's Crimean region.

Washington began canceling joint economic and trade initiatives with Moscow, including preparations for the summit of the Group of Eight leading nations scheduled to be held in Sochi, Russia, in June.

Senior U.S. officials said the administration was also beginning discussions with Congress on implementing targeted economic and financial sanctions on Russian companies and leaders if the Kremlin didn't begin pulling back from Crimea.

"Russian forces now have complete operational control of the Crimean peninsula, some 6,000-plus airborne and naval forces, with considerable materiel," a senior official said. "There is no question that they are in an occupation position in Crimea, that they are flying in reinforcements, and they are settling in."
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War Whore

Useless eater Hillary Clinton compares Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler‏

Karen Robes Meeks
Long Beach Press Telegram
Mon, 03 Mar 2014 23:25 UTC
hillary
© Unknown
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday compared recent actions by Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Ukraine to those implemented by Adolf Hitler in the late 1930s.

Putin's desire to protect minority Russians in Ukraine is reminiscent of Hitler's actions to protect ethnic Germans outside Germany, she said.

Putin has been on a campaign to give Russian passports to anyone who has Russian connections, Clinton said.

The Russian leader has recently done so in the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which, Clinton said, is similar to what happened in Nazi Germany in the late 1930s. Hitler resettled tens of thousands of ethnic Germans who were living in parts of Europe to Nazi Germany.

Clinton made her comments at a private event benefiting the Boys & Girls Clubs of Long Beach.

Comment: It seems that Hillary is resorted to the age old trick of projecting her own inner Hitler onto the latest boogieman that is Putin. We suggest that she take a look in the mirror, and at the people around her.

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Apple Red

Apple's Tim Cook: Climate-change deniers don't buy shares in this firm

Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith
The Independent
Sun, 02 Mar 2014 00:00 UTC
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© Independent
Apple's chief executive was responding to conservative think tank National Centre for Public Policy Research that has challenged the company's sustainability goals.
He leads a company that some would consider the epitome of ruthless global capitalism. But Apple chief executive Tim Cook has shocked some in the US with an impassioned attack on the single-minded pursuit of profit - and a direct appeal to climate-change deniers not to buy shares in his firm.

Eyewitnesses said Cook, who succeeded Steve Jobs as boss of the technology giant in 2011, was visibly angry as he took on a group of right-wing investors during a question-and-answer session at a shareholders' meeting.

Responding to calls from the National Centre for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), a conservative think tank and investor, for Apple to refrain from putting money in green energy projects that were not profitable, he shot back that Apple did "a lot of things for reasons besides profit motive". The chief executive added: "We want to leave the world better than we found it."

Addressing he NCPPR representative directly, he said: "If you want me to do things only for ROI [return on investment] reasons, you should get out of this stock."

Cook, who is generally known for his level-headed demeanour, also insisted that he places more importance on helping people and the environment than on pure profit, saying: "When we work on making our devices accessible to the blind, I don't consider bloody ROI."
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Snakes in Suits

I have the smoking gun in Obama's IRS scandal

Wayne Allyn Root
The Blaze
Wed, 05 Mar 2014 15:04 UTC
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© AFP/Getty Images
IRS official Lois Lerner is finally testifying in front of Congress Wednesday.

Still, the media and Republicans in Congress are missing the larger picture. They keep thinking this scandal involves nameless, faceless Tea Party groups. That's only the tip of the iceberg. That's what Obama hopes we all think. This "IRS targeted the Tea Party" is the distraction to make us miss the real scandal. Congress needs to expand this investigation.

The real scandal is that this was a widespread criminal conspiracy by the Obama White House to use the IRS to target, persecute, intimidate and silence Obama's critics and political opposition.

And I believe I personally have the smoking gun to tie the Obama White House to this scandal.
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Penis Pump

Russia's response to Ukraine coup has revealed the depths of western impotence

Simon Jenkins
The Guardian
Wed, 05 Mar 2014 08:35 UTC
william hague ukraine
© ITAR-TASS/Barcroft Media
William Hague, the British Foreign Secretary, meets Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the Ukrainian prime minister in Kiev on 3 March.
I am starting to lose this one. How dare anyone excuse a great power hurling brute force against a small one, justifying it with some nonsense about extremists and a "responsibility to protect". There should be no place for such cynical bullying in a 21st-century world order. And for what? So a leader with a virility complex can play to his domestic gallery. The whole thing is utterly unacceptable. There must be costs and consequences.

But enough of Iraq. What of Ukraine? We can only gasp at the hypocrisy of a British foreign secretary and an American secretary of state lecturing Russia from a Kiev street corner on the evil of invading small countries. Did no ghost of Iraq or Afghanistan, of Kosovo or Libya, hover over their shoulders? To be sure there are motes in Vladimir Putin's eye, but they are nothing as to the beams in the eyes of Washington and London. The occupation of Crimea is a village fete compared with shock and awe over Baghdad and Belgrade and the killing fields of Falluja and Helmand. As the western powers repatriate their blood-stained legions, surely a twinge of humility is in order.
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Dollar

Surprise! Ukrainian people will bear brunt of IMF deal with tough austerity

Patrick L Young
RT
Wed, 05 Mar 2014 03:47 UTC
Image
© AFP Photo / Louisa Gouliamaki
A woman holding carnations walks on Independence (Maidan) square in central Kiev on February 25, 2014
As part of a proposed $15 billion IMF deal to save the Ukrainian economy, lenders will make sure Ukraine makes tough economic reforms which will hurt ordinary people, global financial markets expert Patrick Young told RT.

He also warned that unless economic and political stability is quickly restored, investors will be put off from investing in Ukraine, thereby creating further problems.
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War Whore

What "invasion"? Russia has 16,000 military personnel in Crimea even though its 1999 agreement with Ukraine permits it to have up to 25,000‏


RT
Tue, 04 Mar 2014 20:07 UTC
Image
© AFP Photo / Viktor Drachev
Ukrainian marines look at a Russian ship floating out of the Sevastopol bay on March 4, 2014
Ukraine's statement at the UN that '16,000 Russian soldiers had been deployed' across Crimea sparked a MSM feeding frenzy that steadfastly ignored any hard facts that got in their way.

Especially unwelcome is the fact that the so-called 'invasion force' has been there for 15 years already.

The media many trust described in hysterical tones how the Autonomous Republic of Crimea was under a full-scale Russian invasion with headlines like: "Ukraine says Russia sent 16,000 troops to Crimea", "Ukraine crisis deepens as Russia sends more troops into Crimea," as well as "What can Obama do about Russia's invasion of Crimea?".

Comment: If having military bases in other countries counts as an invasion, then the US has invaded pretty much every country in the world. Where's the outcry for the millions upon millions slaughtered by US/NATO troops in the past few decades alone? The governments overthrown, the people starved, and the whole countries devastated? The hypocrisy displayed by the western presstitutes is simply unspeakable, and those who still believe the propaganda and support this will get the reality they have chosen.

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Coffee

Glaring propaganda: NATO warns that Russia is risking Europe's peace and security

Damien McElroy, Roland Oliphant and Peter Foster
The Telegraph
Sun, 02 Mar 2014 20:20 UTC
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© Unknown
NATO General Secretary: Anders Fogh Rasmussen
Ukraine has mobilised for war amid warnings from Nato that Russia's annexation of Crimea "threatens peace and security in Europe".

With tension nearing boiling point, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Nato Secretary General, vowed the organisation would stand by Ukraine, a nation of 46 million which occupies a vital strategic position between Europe and Russia.

Speaking before he chaired an emergency meeting of ambassadors from the 28 Nato member states, he said: "Russia must stop its military activities and its threats."

The United States dramatically instensifed pressure on Moscow, threatening to remove Russia from the G8 club of developed economies.

John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, condemned Russia for what he called an "incredible act of aggression" and threatened "very serious repercussions", including Russia's possible expulsion from the G8.

"You don't just, in the 21st century, behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on a completely trumped-up pretext," he said.

Comment: What sanctions? UK prepares to rule out sanctions against Russia amid threat to global economy
In case of sanctions: Putin adviser urges dumping U.S. bonds
The true cost of Russian sanctions to London and UK investors

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Vader

How and why the U.S. government aided a coup led by neo-nazis in Ukraine

Brian Becker
Global Research
Wed, 05 Mar 2014 13:31 UTC
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The people of the United States are being deliberately misled and misinformed about the leading role played by the U.S. State Department, intelligence agencies and neoconservative leaders in bringing neo-Nazis to power in Ukraine.

The same neoconservative politicians and strategists that drove the country to war against Iraq in 2003, against Libya in 2011 and nearly against Syria in 2013 have been neck-deep in a protracted regime change effort in Ukraine as part of a larger geo-strategic struggle against Russia. The fact that they have worked hand in glove with armed neo-Nazis in Ukraine - with Sen. John McCain and Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland literally joining the protests - speaks volumes about the political nature of the events.
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