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Even Japan, Germany, and EU are doubting Trump admin's claim Iran attacked ships

Ben Norton
The Grayzone
Mon, 17 Jun 2019 16:15 UTC
shinzo abe iran
Even longtime US allies Japan and Germany, along with European Union diplomats, have expressed deep skepticism of the Donald Trump administration's claim that Iran attacked two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini warned diplomats to not jump to premature judgements, saying, "The maximum restraint and wisdom should be applied."

Japanese government officials have stressed that there is no "definite proof that it's Iran," adding, "The US explanation has not helped us go beyond speculation." A senior official close to Japan's prime minister went so far as to insist, "Even if it's the United States that makes the assertion, we cannot simply say we believe it."
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Bullseye

Want the truth? Put your money on Bill Barr, not Jerry Nadler

Kevin R. Brock
The Hill
Tue, 18 Jun 2019 16:07 UTC
bill barr

Attorney General William Barr
An anonymous, but wise, Wyoming rancher recently summarized special counsel Robert Mueller's report in clear middle-America language: "We know that old boy didn't actually steal any horses, but he's obviously guilty of trying to avoid being hanged for it."

The House Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), wants a hangin' no matter what. We know they're serious because they had former Nixon counselor John Dean testify, which had everyone in America under age 60 searching Google. The parallels to Watergate apparently are uncanny in the minds of some. Next up: Maybe Robert DeNiro, since his resemblance to Bob Mueller on "Saturday Night Live" is uncanny, too.

Let's face it, Congress seems little more than a parody now. The legislative branch of our constitutional government has withered to a thin twig, completely overshadowed by the executive and judicial branches that have far more impact on our lives.
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Megaphone

Kremlin: Zelensky's rhetoric on Russia similar to Poroshenko


TASS
Tue, 18 Jun 2019 15:43 UTC
Zelensky
© Ludovic Marin/Pool via AP
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky
The rhetoric on Russia of new Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is similar to his predecessor Pyotr Poroshenko, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

"We are carefully watching this and we tend to agree with the stance, which is now taking shape, that these positions are rather similar," Peskov said, when asked to comment on Zelensky's statements on Russia.

Peskov also said that Putin will find the right words to say to Zelensky if their meeting takes place.

According to Peskov, he came across one of Zelensky's interviews, in which he had said he already had a phrase to start a potential meeting with the Russian leader. "President Putin always starts his meetings with the most appropriate words. If such a meeting [with Zelensky] ever takes place, I have no doubt that he [Putin] will use the right words," Peskov noted.
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Stormtrooper

US Defense dept. announces $250M more in military aide to Ukraine

Tony Bertuca
InsideDefense
Tue, 18 Jun 2019 15:25 UTC
Ukraine and US army
The Defense Department announced today it plans to provide $250 million in military aid to Ukraine, including a variety of small arms, maritime surveillance systems, night vision equipment and electronic warfare detection and secure communications systems.

"This reaffirms the long-standing defense relationship between the United States and Ukraine and will bring total U.S. security assistance to Ukraine to $1.5 billion since 2014," the Pentagon said.

Comment: Even though it means throwing good money after bad, the US will string along the pathetic Ukrainian military with just enough toys to keep the pot simmering in the Donbass, happily located on Russia's south eastern flank.

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Eagle

Trump loses big: The axis of Western hegemony just overplayed their hand against Iran

Tom Lunogo
Gold, Goats 'N Guns
Sat, 15 Jun 2019 00:00 UTC
An oil tanker is on fire in the sea of Oman
© AP Photo/ISNA
An oil tanker is on fire in the sea of Oman, Thursday, June 13, 2019. Two oil tankers near the strategic Strait of Hormuz were reportedly attacked on Thursday, an assault that left one ablaze and adrift as sailors were evacuated from both vessels and the U.S. Navy rushed to assist amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has a term of endearment for Iran's enemies, "The B-Team."

The "B-Team" consists of U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton, Israeli Prime Minister (nee Dictator) Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and the UAE's Mohammed bin Zayed.

When we look seriously at the attacks on the oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman this week the basic question that comes to mind is, Cui bono? Who benefits?

And it's easy to see how the B-Team benefits from this attack and subsequent blaming Iran for it. With Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tehran opening up a dialogue on behalf of U.S. President Donald Trump the threat of peace was in the air.

And none of the men on the B-Team profit from peace in the Middle East with respect to Iran. Getting Trump to stop hurling lightning bolts from the mountain top the B-Team guided him up would do nothing to help oil prices, which the Saudis and UAE need/want to remain high.

Bin Salman, in particular, cannot afford to see oil prices drop back into the $40's per barrel. With the world awash in oil and supply tight, even with OPEC production cuts, Bin Salman is currently on very thin ice because of the Saudi Riyal's peg to the U.S. dollar, which he can't abandon or the U.S. will abandon them.
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Question

Trump says he 'thinks he knows' who was behind 9/11


RT
Mon, 17 Jun 2019 15:10 UTC
trump wtc world trade center 9/11
© Reuters / Jeff Christensen
Real estate developer Donald Trump gestures as he addresses reporters next to a model of the proposed World Trade Center known as the 'TWIN TOWERS II', Tuesday, May 18, 2005 in New York.
US President Donald Trump has cryptically suggested he knows who is responsible for the 9/11 attacks, but would not name the names.

Speaking to ABC's George Stephanopoulos in the Rose Garden of the White House this weekend, the president digressed from the subject of the 2003 invasion of Iraq to the infamous terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York and Washington in 2001.

"By the way, Iraq did not knock down the World Trade Center," the president said.
It was not Iraq. It was other people. And I think I know who the other people were.
"And you might also," he added, looking at Stephanopoulos.

Comment:

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Snakes in Suits

Israeli firm boasts it can hack all iPhones, Android and Flagship Samsungs


Sputnik
Mon, 17 Jun 2019 17:39 UTC
iphone
© REUTERS / Clodagh Kilcoyne
Israeli-based Cellebrite, whose clients reportedly included the FBI, has already been criticised over its refusal to cooperate with Apple and report the discovered vulnerabilities of the latest iOS, allowing the tech giant's technicians to eliminate them and boost the security of its devices.

Israeli tech company Cellebrite, based in Petah Tikva and specialising in getting access to mobile phone data, has claimed on its website it has a solution "to unlock and extract crucial mobile phone evidence" from all iPhones and many Android-based devices, including flagship Samsungs.

The company marketed one of its products in this way. It promises clients to get "a full file system extraction" on any iOS and many high-end Android phones and pads, as well as a physical extraction for the latter.

Comment: As if people needed any more reasons to switch over to Huawei:

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Arrow Up

US chipmakers quietly lobby to ease Huawei ban

Alexandra Alper
Reuters
Mon, 17 Jun 2019 01:06 UTC
Huawei
© REUTERS/Aly Song
FILE PHOTO: A Huawei company logo is seen at a shopping mall in Shanghai, China June 3, 2019.
Huawei's American chip suppliers, including Qualcomm and Intel, are quietly pressing the U.S. government to ease its ban on sales to the Chinese tech giant, even as Huawei itself avoids typical government lobbying, people familiar with the situation said.

Executives from top U.S. chipmakers Intel and Xilinx Inc attended a meeting in late May with the Commerce Department to discuss a response to Huawei's placement on the black list, one person said.

The ban bars U.S. suppliers from selling to Huawei, the world's largest telecommunications equipment company, without special approval, because of what the government said were national security issues.

Qualcomm has also pressed the Commerce Department over the issue, four people said.

Comment: If this were truly a national security issue it's likely US companies would gladly comply however there is no reason to believe Huawei nor China itself has any intent to deliberately harm the US, this is just another ill-conceived attempt from Washington to maintain US dominance in a world that has moved on and is fast leaving the US behind:

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Bad Guys

Washington, Russia, China and the probability of World War III in the not too distant future

Federico Pieraccini
Strategic Culture Foundation
Tue, 11 Jun 2019 00:00 UTC
mushroom cloud
Those who are familiar with my articles would be aware that I am not given to catastrophism or alarmism. But perhaps the time has come to reflect on who will be president after Trump (whether after this or the next term) and what this will mean for relations with Russia and China.

What will the United States' relations with Russia and China be like when the 46th president of the United States takes office in 2025? This is a question that I often ask myself, especially in light of Trump's political choices regarding international arms-control treaties (INF Treaty), nuclear proliferation, economic war with China, a financial crisis that is artificially postponed thanks to QE, out-of-control military spending, an increasingly aggressive NATO stance towards the Russian Federation, and continuous provocations against the People's Republic of China. Where will we end up with after another five years of provocations? For how much longer will Putin and Xi Jinping maintain the "strategic patience" not to respond to Washington with drastic measures?

Let us imagine we are in 2025

The four current global hot spots - Iran, Syria, Venezuela and DPRK - have maintained their resistance to Washington's diktats and have emerged more or less victorious. Syrian territory in its entirety is now under the control of Damascus; Iran has established enough deterrents not to be attacked; Pyongyang continues in its negotiations with Washington as the reunification of the two Koreas continues along; the Bolivarian revolution still lives on in Venezuela.


Comment: All these predictions may be overly optimistic, however.

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Nuke

Stephen Cohen's 2017 Prophecy About The Nuclear Threat of Russiagate is Coming True

Caitlin Johnstone
Medium
Mon, 17 Jun 2019 22:59 UTC
nyt cyberattacks russia
The New York Times has published an anonymously sourced report titled "U.S. Escalates Online Attacks on Russia's Power Grid" about the "placement of potentially crippling malware inside the Russian system at a depth and with an aggressiveness that had never been tried before" which could potentially "plunge Russia into darkness or cripple its military," with one anonymous official reporting that "We are doing things at a scale that we never contemplated a few years ago."

Obviously this is yet another serious escalation in the continually mounting series of steps that have been taken into a new cold war between the planet's two nuclear superpowers. Had a report been leaked to Russian media from anonymous Kremlin officials that Moscow was escalating its cyber-aggressions against America's energy grid, this would doubtless be labeled an act of war by the political/media class of the US and its allies with demands for immediate retaliation.

To put this in perspective, The New York Times reported last year that the Pentagon was pushing for the US Nuclear Posture Review to include the strategy of retaliating against serious Russian cyberattacks on American power grids with nuclear weapons.
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