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UN: Israel's Jewish nation-state law violates international pact

Boycott Israel protester
© Anacolu Agency/Volkon Furuncu
A UN body has announced that Israel's Jewish Nation-State Law contravenes international human rights laws ratified and adopted by Israel, Arab48 reported yesterday.

The news website reported that the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UNCESCR) released its observations in the fourth periodic report of Israel on 18 October and highlighted Israel's violation of international law.

According to the website, the UNCESCR's observations included a list of concerns, recommendations and actions that Israel must take in order to comply with its obligations in relations to the international human rights convention that it signed in 1966 and ratified in 1991.

Adalah - the Legal Centre for Minority Rights in Israel said that the findings and recommendations mark the first time that a UN monitoring body determining that the Jewish Nation-State Law "does not comply with a human rights treaty ratified by Israel."

Comment: The UN's concerns, messages and mandates are useless without a means to force Israel into compliance.


Clipboard

Evo Morales has agreed to new elections due to uproar over fraud accusations and results dispute

EvoMorales
© Martin Alipaz/EPA
Claims of irregularities in the election gave Evo Morales an outright victory
The Bolivian president, Evo Morales, is to call fresh elections after international monitors identified serious irregularities in the last vote and recommended a new ballot.

The announcement comes after weeks of unrest over disputed election results, which escalated over the weekend as police forces joined anti-government protests, and the military said it would not "confront the people" who had taken to the streets.

In a televised news conference on Sunday, Morales told journalists he had decided to call fresh elections to "to preserve the new Bolivia, life and democracy".

Morales, who has been Bolivia's president for nearly 14 years, announced he would also replace members of the country's election board. The body has been heavily criticised after an unexplained 24-hour halt in the vote count on 20 October, which showed a shift in favour of Morales when it resumed. The stoppage fed accusations of fraud and prompted an audit of the vote by the Organisation of American States.

Comment: See also:


Light Sabers

Hasaka province: Turkey-affiliate forces and terrorists clash with Syrian army

Turkish Army soldiers
© Ilyas Akengin
The Turkish Army and Ankara-affiliated terrorists resumed attacks on the Syrian army and the Kurdish militia in several regions in Hasaka province. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the attacks targeted the village of Tal Sho'air between Tal Tamar and Abu Ra'asin in Hasaka, adding that the Turkish army also supported the offensive with heavy artillery fire, wounding several people.

It also reported that the Turkish drones bombed several regions between Tal Tamar and Ra's al-Ein in Hasaka on Friday. Meanwhile, the SOHR reported that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian army regained control of the village of Um Sha'eifeh from the Turkey-backed militants on Friday night.

Also, the Arabic-language service of the SANA news agency reported that the Syrian army has engaged in clashes with the Turkish forces at around midday today, adding that the two sides exchanged fire with heavy and semi-heavy weapons.

Comment: Sputnik, 9/11/2019: Erdogan, Putin discuss Syria, Sochi Memorandum
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian leader Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in Syria in a Saturday phone call, reiterating commitment to the 22 October Sochi memorandum, Erdogan's administration said in a statement.
Sputnik, 10/11/2019: Raqqa Province - 8 dead, 20 injured in car blast
At least eight people perished and more than 20 sustained injuries after a car explosion rocked the village of Suluk in the north of the Syrian Raqqa Governorate on Sunday, the Turkish Defence Ministry said via Twitter. The ministry blamed Kurdish militia for the attack.




Mr. Potato

CNN enlists help of criminal fraudster Browder & Integrity Initiative 'experts' to fan Russia meddling claims in UK

cnn westminster
© Global Look Press / ZUMAPRESS.com/ Alexander Pohl (Right) / Global Look Press / DPA / Waltraud Grubitzsch (Left)
While the yet-to-be published report on alleged Russian meddling in Brexit is at the center of the political drama in the UK, CNN got the scoop from pundits - the usual suspects when it comes to the Russiagate narrative.

Russiagate might have fizzled out in the US, but CNN apparently has no intention of giving up on the stale narrative - and is now peddling it across the ocean. Saturday's scoop delves into testimonies submitted by "witnesses" during a UK parliamentary investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 Brexit referendum and 2017 general election. While the report, prepared by the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) has not been released yet, and previous reports failed to turn up any damning proof of Russia's influence, CNN's bombshell conveniently revolves around the testimony of Bill Browder, a financier wanted for tax fraud in Russia and one of the leading champions of sanctions against Russia.

CNN says that Browder's was one of two written testimonies the channel got its hands on, in addition to being "briefed" on oral testimonies provided by two other witnesses.

While it might be argued that Browder, the self-proclaimed "No. 1 foreign enemy" of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is a person whose words should hardly be taken at face value in matters related to Russia, CNN does not offer any critical analysis, but rather serves as a mouthpiece for the disgraced entrepreneur.

Comment: What a joke. Browder is a con man, plain and simple. And the rest are just as biased - propagandists, all of them.


Binoculars

Whistleblower and DNC contractor visited Obama WH - must be investigated

obama
© Getty Images North America / AFP / Scott Olson
A controversial whistleblower who allegedly reported second-hand on President Donald Trump's private conversation with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the Obama White House on numerous occasions, according to Obama era visitor logs obtained by Judicial Watch.

Last week Real Clear Investigation's first reported the whistleblower's name. It is allegedly CIA officer Eric Ciaramella. His name, however, has been floating around Washington D.C. since the leak of Trump's phone call. It was considered an 'open secret' until reporter Paul Sperry published his article. Ciaramella has never openly stated that he is the whistleblower and most news outlets are not reporting his name publicly.

He was detailed to the National Security Counsel during the Obama Administration in 2015 and was allegedly sent back to the CIA in 2017, after a number of people within the Trump White House suspected him of leaking information to the press, according to several sources that spoke with SaraACarter.com.

Further, the detailed visitor logs reveal that a Ukrainian expert Alexandra Chalupa, a contractor that was hired by the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 election, visited the White House 27 times.

Chalupa allegedly coordinated with the Ukrainians to investigate then candidate Trump and his former campaign manager Paul Manafort. Manafort was forced out of his short tenure as campaign manager for Trump when stories circulated regarding business dealings with Ukrainian officials. Manafort was later investigated and convicted by a jury on much lesser charges than originally set forth by Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation. He was given 47 months in prison for basically failing to pay appropriate taxes and committing bank fraud.

Comment: See also: It's amazing how many non-scandals have exploded into major media affairs just because Trump. Meanwhile, the very real examples of corruption and dirty tricks - which have been standard operating procedure in U.S. politics for decades - rarely get media attention. For example, no one is pointing out the degree to which the United States interfered in the affairs of Ukraine before and during the Maidan revolution. That was the real scandal.


Bullseye

Western sanctions on Syria only hurt the people in order to push regime change agenda - Assad

Assad
© RT
Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The sanctions the US and Europe placed on Damascus serve a single goal: to pit people against the government and make them uphold the West's agenda, Syrian President Bashar Assad told RT in an exclusive interview.

The restrictions the EU and the US imposed against Syria initially targeted ordinary Syrians so that they would blame the government for their woes and eventually rebel, President Assad told RT's Afshin Rattansi. Now, as the West has kept renewing the sanctions year by year for almost a decade, they serve another goal: to punish Syrians for refusing to bow to the pressure, the president said.

"Those people were expected to rise against their government during the different stages of the war but they did not. They were supposed to support the terrorists - the 'moderate rebels' and 'angels' of White Helmets - but the people did not and stood with their government. So, they have to suffer. They have to pay the price and learn their lesson that they should stand with the agenda [of the West]."

Comment: Meanwhile the US strategically positions itself near Syria's oil wells: U.S. Didn't 'Withdraw' From Syria - It Redeployed, And Now Controls 75% of The Country's Oil

See also: Starvation sanctions are worse than overt warfare


NPC

Ex- ambassador Yovanovitch lies under oath: Communicated with Dem staffer on 'delicate' issue after 'whistleblower' complaint, emails show

Marie Yovanovitch
© J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press
Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch (center).
Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, a key witness in House Democrats' impeachment inquiry, communicated via her personal email account with a Democratic congressional staffer concerning a "quite delicate" and "time-sensitive" matter -- just two days after the whistleblower complaint that kickstarted the inquiry was filed, and a month before the complaint became public, emails obtained Thursday by Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight show.

The emails appear to contradict Yovanovitch's deposition on Capitol Hill last month, in which she told U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., about an email she received Aug. 14 from the staffer, Laura Carey -- but indicated under oath that she never responded to it.

The communication came "from the Foreign Affairs Committee," and "they wanted me to come in and talk about, I guess, the circumstances of my departure" in May as ambassador to Ukraine, Yovanovitch testified, describing Carey's initial email. "I alerted the State Department, because I'm still an employee, and so, matters are generally handled through the State Department."

Comment: Ms. Yavonvitch was recalled by the Trump administration for blatant interference in internal Ukrainian politics. She also initiated monitoring of many pro-Trump and or right-wing media reporters.



Safe

'Nonsense': Tory & Labour bash each other over secret spending plans, social media users tired of whole circus

british pounds
© Reuters / Leonhard Foeger
The UK's biggest political parties are locked in a war of words over each other's spending plans - despite both refusing to reveal the details of their own budget projections to the public.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid claimed analysis carried out by his Conservative party showed that if Labour got into government, they would embark on a £1.2 trillion public spending spree. He has refused, however, to reveal his own spending plans if the Tories are returned to government in the December 12 election.

Labour's John McDonnell swiftly dismissed the alleged spending projection as "fake news" - but his party has similarly repeatedly refused to reveal its actual figures.

Politicians from both parties appeared on TV on Sunday to condemn their rivals for their allegedly disastrous spending plans, without giving ground on what the final figure is for their own party.


Blue Planet

Washington-based Organization of American States 'deteriorated', ceased to be inter-American - Argentina's president-elect

Trump
© Martin Bernetti / AFP
Protesters hold signs depicting US President Donald Trump and the head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on November 30, 2018.
The chief regional bloc in the Americas has grown too dependent on the US, while the "interventionist" IMF shares the blame for Argentina's economic crisis, the nation's President-elect Alberto Fernandez told RT.

Fernandez sat down for an interview with former leader of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, on his show Conversation with Correa, aired on RT Spanish.

Correa asked Fernandez what he thinks about the role of the regional bloc, the Organization of American States (OAS), whose HQ is located in Washington, DC. "I've always asked myself: why must our countries resolve domestic conflicts through Washington?"

Fernandez agreed that it is a problem, saying that he "does not understand many of the decisions made by" the organization's current chief, Luis Almagro. "The OAS has deteriorated indeed," he said.

Comment: US controlled fronts are being replace by multilateral and equitable organisation all over the planet, and thanks in large part to Russia and China:


Eagle

Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff says up to 600 US troops will remain in Syria

us troops
© AP Photo / Spc. Zoe Garbarino
US President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of US military from Syria amid Turkey's operation against Kurdish forces in the northeast of the country. At the same time, the United States said it would remain in the oil-producing areas in the east of the country and would help local Kurds to control them.

Up to 600 US military staff will remain in Syria, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley told broadcaster ABC.

"Less than a thousand, somewhere around 500, maybe even 600," Milley said when asked about the number of the US troops in Syria. "There are still Daesh fighters in the region. And unless pressure is maintained, unless attention is maintained on that group, then there is a very real possibility that conditions could be set for a reemergence of Daesh," Milley said, adding that "the footprint will be small, but the objective will remain the same: the enduring defeat of Daesh."


Comment: They're not there to defeat Daesh. Syria, Russia, Iran, Iraq and Hezbollah can do that on their own.

Milley also said the Americans would be in Afghanistan for years to come (no surprise there):
In an ABC interview broadcast on November 10, Milley noted that, after the September 11 attacks in 2001, the original reason U.S. forces went into Afghanistan was to make sure that the country never again would be a haven for extremists who would attack the United States.

"That mission is not yet complete," the general said. "In order for that mission to be successful the government of Afghanistan, the Afghan security forces, are going to have to be able to sustain their own internal security to prevent terrorists using their territory to attack other countries, especially the United States."

There are some 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, as well as thousands of European forces participating in the NATO-led Resolute Support mission.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly said it is time for the United States to pull back from its role in various conflicts around the globe, including in Syria.

Milley said U.S. troops will remain in the Middle Eastern country "for a significant amount of time because it's in our national interest to be there to help out."
The mission will never be complete, because it's impossible to make sure any country could never conceivably be used as a haven for extremists.