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Fri, 05 Nov 2021
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Bad Guys

Iran looks toward planned release of oil tanker, Gibraltar stumbles on delivery - Update

Iranian oil tanker
© REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo
Iranian oil tanker Grace 1 sits anchored after it was seized earlier this month by British Royal Marines off the coast of the British Mediterranean territory on suspicion of violating sanctions against Syria, in the Strait of Gibraltar, southern Spain July 20, 2019.
The British territory of Gibraltar will not yet release an Iranian oil tanker seized by Royal Marines in the Mediterranean despite an Iranian report that it could do so on Tuesday, an official Gibraltar source said.

The commandeering of the Grace 1 on July 4 exacerbated frictions between Tehran and the West and led to retaliatory moves in Gulf waterways used to ship oil.

Britain accused the vessel of violating European sanctions by taking oil to Syria, a charge Tehran denies.

Comment: Iran's state run media station IRIB is now reporting that the Grace 1 tanker will be released within two days:
The Grace 1 tanker, carrying Iranian oil and detained in Gibraltar more than a month ago will be released within two days, Iran's state-run television and radio corporation IRIB reported on Tuesday, citing informed sources.

According to IRIB, the tanker will be freed as a result of Iran's diplomatic and legal efforts.

The outlet did not provide further details of the expected release.
Sounds like a repeat performance, but we'll just have to wait and see.


Bad Guys

Khan warns India: Pakistan will respond to any aggression in Kashmir

khan
© FILE PHOTO AFP / Iranian Presidency
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has used a speech marking the country's Independence Day to accuse India of planning military action in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

"The Pakistani Army is fully aware that they have made a plan of taking action" in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, Khan said in an August 14 address before the region's legislative assembly in Muzaffarabad.

"We will be ready, we will respond to whatever you do," he added.

Tensions between Pakistan and India have soared since New Delhi last week imposed a security lockdown in Indian-ruled Kashmir and revoked an article in India's constitution that guaranteed the predominantly Muslim region greater autonomy than other states in India.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the move will allow New Delhi to rid the region it administers of "terrorism and separatism."

Tens of thousands of people have died in a three decades-old insurgency in Indian-ruled Kashmir.

Comment: See also:


Bad Guys

US walks away from southeast Asia summit empty-handed

pompeo
A recent meeting of the 10 member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) convened in Bangkok, Thailand and attended by representatives from China, Russia and even the United States, provides us with a clear indicator of how power and influence are being shaped across wider Asia and even globally.

Headlines like the Associated Press', "Pompeo ends frustrating Bangkok visit," gives a good feel for how, at least for Washington, the meeting went and how the region responded to Washington's "plans" for it.

The article would note:
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo left Thailand on Saturday with his hopes for resuming nuclear talks with North Korea dashed, while facing an escalating trade war with China and a potentially devastating breakdown in relations between key American allies Japan and South Korea.

Chess

Trump: India, China no longer 'developing nations', shouldn't be 'taking advantage' of WTO benefits

trump
© Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images
President Donald Trump speaks to the press on the South Lawn of the White House before departing Washington on Aug. 9, 2019.
The U.S. and China are currently engaged in a bruising trade war after Donald Trump imposed punitive tariffs on Chinese goods and Beijing retaliated.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said that India and China are no longer "developing nations" and were "taking advantage" of the tag from the WTO and asserted that he will not let it happen anymore.

Mr. Trump, championing his 'America First' policy, has been a vocal critic of India for levying "tremendously high" duties on U.S. products and has described the country as a "tariff king".

The U.S. and China are currently engaged in a bruising trade war after Mr. Trump imposed punitive tariffs on Chinese goods and Beijing retaliated.

Black Cat

Fate of pedophile Epstein's fortune shrouded in mystery after his death

epstein island
© Emily Michot/The Miami Herald
Jeffrey Epstein’s home sits on the island of Little St. James in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It was one of many homes owned by the hedge fund manager, including ones in Palm Beach, Manhattan, Paris and New Mexico.
Millionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's death has raised many questions. With his accusers seeking compensation, there is speculation about where his wealth came from, how much there is, and what happens to his fortune now.

The 66-year-old, who was arrested and jailed on July 6 on charges of sexually abusing and trafficking underage girls, was found dead in his jail cell on Saturday. While his death was initially reported as an apparent hanging suicide (despite the fact he was on suicide watch following a previous attempt to take his own life), the medical examiner declined to name suicide as the cause of death and said a further investigation was in order.

Moreover, Epstein's death may be a relief for many powerful figures around the world who were allegedly frequent guests on Epstein's Lolita Express jet and his 'pedophile island'. These include Britain's Prince Andrew, former President Bill Clinton, and other US politicians and businessmen. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio called the financier's death "way too convenient," wondering how many "other millionaires and billionaires were part of" Epstein's "illegal activities."

Comment: What happens to Jeffrey Epstein's wealth and property now?


Question

Michael Baden, pathologist connected to JFK investigation, to conduct independent autopsy on Epstein

Pathologist Michael Baden

Pathologist Michael Baden
Let the conspiracy theories commence.

Pathologist Michael Baden, who served as chairman of the House Select Committee on Assassinations' Forensic Pathology Panel that investigated the assassination of John F. Kennedy, is set to conduct an independent autopsy on Jeffrey Epstein.

"Epstein's representatives have hired celebrity pathologist Michael Baden to conduct an independent autopsy and they were allowed to observe the autopsy," reports the Daily Beast.

As chairman of the investigation into the JFK assassination, Baden bolstered the official story that Kennedy was killed by a single bullet, also known as the "magic bullet" theory.

Handcuffs

Barr suspends Epstein guards, reassigns warden over suicide

epstein suicide
© William Farrington
EMTs attempt to revive Jeffrey Epstein as he's wheeled into New York Downtown Hospital.
Update: The warden of the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) where Jeffrey Epstein died has been temporarily reassigned to the Bureau's Northeast Regional Office by Attorney General William Barr, according to a Tuesday statement by the Justice Department. Meanwhile, two prison employees who had been assigned to Epstein's unit have been placed on administrative leave pending ongoing investigations, according to CNBC.
Department of Justice spokewoman Kerri Kupec, in a prepared statement said, "Today, the Attorney General directed the Bureau of Prisons to temporarily assign the warden at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York to the Bureau's Northeast Regional Office pending the outcome of the FBI and OIG investigations into the apparent suicide of Jeffrey Epstein, a former MCC inmate."

"FCI Otisville Warden James Petrucci has been named Acting Warden of the MCC New York. The Bureau of Prisons also placed on administrative leave two MCC staff assigned to Mr. Epstein's unit pending the outcome of the investigations. Additional actions may be taken as the circumstances warrant." -CNBC

Comment: And the questions of the circumstances surrounding the most high-profile suicide in recent times continue to mount.

The New York Post reported there were no cameras trained on Epstein's cell, though this was ultra-maximum security facility
Although there are cameras in the 9 South wing where the convicted pedophile was being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, they are trained on the areas outside the cells and not inside, according to sources familiar with the setup there.
As Paul Joseph Watson comments, "How convenient."


Epstein had been taken off suicide watch, apparently at the request of his lawyers. Why was Epstein's cellmate removed?
"Epstein was supposed to have a cellmate," reports Fox News. "But the person who was assigned to share a cell with Epstein was transferred on Friday before the 66-year-old's death."

"It was not immediately clear why the cellmate was transferred nor why no one else was assigned to room with Epstein."
The warden and guards on duty at the time appear to be being made the patsies in the affair, and like to be subject to disciplinary action.
The warden of the federal jail in New York City where wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein killed himself was replaced Tuesday on orders of Attorney General William Barr pending investigations into the incident, the Justice Department said.

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons also placed two staffers at the Metropolitan Correctional Center who had been assigned to Epstein's cell unit on administrative leave as probes into the death of the accused child sex trafficker continue.

"Additional actions may be taken as the circumstances warrant," said Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec.

Lamine N'Diaye is being replaced at MCC by acting warden James Petrucci, who had been warden of the federal prison in Otisville, New York.
Breitbart adds:
Two New York City prison guards in charge of checking up on Jeffrey Epstein reportedly fell asleep and later falsified documents in an attempt to cover up their mistake on the eve of the alleged child sex trafficker's apparent suicide.

According to the New York Times, the guards dozed off for three hours, causing them to miss the Metropolitan Correctional Center's routine prisoner check. They then forged their supervision logs, which could come with criminal charges. On Tuesday, federal authorities removed the prison warden and the pair of guards from their roles.

The move by the Justice Department came amid mounting evidence that the chronically understaffed Metropolitan Correctional Center may have bungled its responsibility to keep the 66-year-old Epstein from harming himself while he awaited trial on charges of sexually abusing teenage girls.

Security at the Manhattan Correctional Center has been described as 'intense':
Dana Gottesfeld's husband Martin, who is serving a 10-year sentence for hacking, has spent three months in New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center and has even drawn a picture of the special unit Epstein was imprisoned in.

"When you enter the prison it says something to the effect of, 'one of the harshest SHU's - that's a segregated housing unit - in the country,'" she told RT. "They're locked down for 23 to 24 hours a day, they get one 15 minute call a month."

"It's really harsh," she added. Security was "really intense" at the prison, she said, explaining that as a high profile case, her husband had "two guards and a lieutenant to transfer him between his solitary room to the visiting room."

"So they're very, very keen on security. They pay very special attention to high profile cases, so it's hard to imagine that Epstein would not be given at least a three guard escort," Gottesfeld said.
Apparently though, security at this tough prison can be breached, for those with the right means:
Last year, a prison guard at the jail, Victor Casado, pleaded guilty to taking more than $25,000 in cash bribes to smuggle cellphones, alcohol and food to a wealthy Turkish gold trader between 2016 and 2017.

He also received thousands of dollars in payments from another inmate, which were given to him by the prisoners relatives and a paralegal representing him.

Casado was sentenced in January to three years in prison by a judge who called the crime an assault on 'our entire system of justice'.

Reza Zarrab, who was the Turkish gold trader involved with bribing the guard, was in prison over a money laundering scheme to Iran.

He has previously testified in court that someone tried to assassinate him at the prison when he implemented Turkey's President Recep Tayip Erdogan in the scheme that would launder billions of dollars from the U.S. to Iran.

'I came face to face with an individual who was trying to take my life, and he had pulled a knife on me, and I was about to lose my life,' Zarrab testified in 2017.

'He said that he had received instructions to kill because I was cooperating.'

A former CIA employee, Joshua Adam Schulte, is also accused of leaking classified files while he was locked up in the federal prison.

Schulte was charged last year with stealing classified national defense information from the CIA in 2016. He is believed to be behind the 'Vault 7' and 'Vault 8' documents released by WikiLeaks.

Authorities found multiple cellphones in his cell at the prison when they raided it in October last year. Officials also found 13 email and social media accounts that Schulte was allegedly using to communicate with others outside the prison.



Bad Guys

MSM circles the wagons after Sanders jab at WaPo, comparing him with Bad Orange Man

bernie and trump
© Reuters / Scott Morgan / Jonathan Ernst
Mainstream media has stepped up its attacks on Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders after he slammed the Washington Post for biased coverage of his campaign, calling him "dangerous" and likening him to Trump.

Sanders "is continuing to undermine the institution of the press by suggesting to people that we can't make editorial decisions for ourselves because the corporate leaders, owners, dictate for us," CNN's Dana Bash complained on Monday, deftly conflating "the press" with "corporate-owned mainstream news" after Sanders suggested the Washington Post's relentlessly negative coverage of his campaign was revenge for his attacks on owner Jeff Bezos' Amazon and the "corporate media."

Sanders' criticism of the Post wasn't just dangerous, Bash warned - it was "very similar to what Trump is doing." Never mind that Sanders calls himself a Democratic Socialist while Trump dredges up the specter of socialism only to wring a few "boos" from an audience, or that Sanders was skewering Goldman Sachs while Trump was populating his cabinet with its former executives - both were flogging the same "conspiracy theory," the CNN panel agreed, echoing the words of WaPo executive editor Marty Baron, who issued a statement to CNN on Monday in response to Sanders' jabs insisting that Bezos "hasn't once intervened in any way" in the paper's coverage.

Eagle

The stunning hypocrisy of the US and UK over clashes in Hong Kong

Hong Kong protests
© AP Photo / Kin Cheung
Imagine the response if protesters were to smash up JFK or Heathrow airports, closing down international flight services. The US and British authorities would have culprits rounded up and jailed, or worse, shot dead on the spot by armed police.

The scenes of vandalism and lawless insurrection this week at Hong Kong's airport - the world's eighth-busiest hub for passengers - were staggering. Thousands of club-wielding demonstrators trashed the terminals causing cancellation of all flights for the day.

A reporter for China's Global Times news outlet was lynched by an angry mob on suspicion of being an undercover policeman. That suspicion does not excuse beating the man nearly to death, nor the subsequent attacks on paramedics as they entered the airport to retrieve the injured journalist.

What's also staggering is the hypocrisy of the American and British governments and their media.

Senior US and British politicians are condemning China and the Hong Kong police for heavy-handed tactics towards the "pro-democracy protesters". American diplomats have been photographed holding discussions with organizers of the demonstrations, which have rocked the southern Chinese enclave for the past 10 weeks.

Pirates

Western meddling and subterfuge in Russian affairs and the Moscow Duma election

protests in Moscow
In the Federation Council an enlarged meeting of the working group of the temporary commission on defending state sovereignty and preventing interference in the internal affairs of Russia took place. The reason for it was the Moscow City Duma election, or rather - unauthorised actions in support of unregistered candidates and the participation of the West in them.

Outside intervention was foreseen in May of this year

Opening the meeting, the chairman of the commission Andrey Klimov reminded that on May 30th of this year the question of the possible interference of the US and its partners in the Russian political system in the run-up to the uniform voting day in Russia on September 8th 2019 was raised in the Federation Council.
"Back then we drew the conclusion that the US and its supporters, with the actual complicity of those who are considered abroad to be stooges for the destabilisation of the Russian political system, will try to take advantage of the next election in our country. At the same time, i.e. two months ago, we named the Moscow City Duma election process as being subject to possible interference. Unfortunately, our conclusions about the expected provocations that will take place with external support were confirmed. I say 'unfortunately' because there was the hope that foreign partners will start to observe, at last, the fundamental principles of the UN, including the principle of non-interference in the affairs of the sovereign states. There was also the hope that certain representatives of the so-called 'non-systemic opposition' will refrain from doubtful cooperation with those who officially in their documents, including in the US federal law, proclaim Russia as the enemy and call to 'contain Russia at any cost' - it is a quote," said senator Klimov, opening the meeting.

Comment: So the next time you hear someone spout something about 'Russian collusion' or such other nonsense - send them this article. The real election meddling (and worse) comes from the US - and is directed to Russia.