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Lebanon election results: Pro-Iranian Hezbollah party wins most seats, while PM Hariri's party loses a third


PressTV
Mon, 07 May 2018 21:33 UTC
hezbollah election
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri says his party has lost a third of seats in the Sunday parliamentary elections, winning only 21 seats, down from the 33 it had been holding since the last time Lebanon elected a parliament in 2009.

Hariri made the announcement in a televised statement on Monday, saying that despite gains in Sidon, Tripoli, Beirut and Western Bekaa Valley, the Future Movement had only won 21 out of 128 parliamentary seats.

The election results, however, still make Hariri the frontrunner to form the next government as the Sunni leader with the biggest bloc in parliament.

The Lebanese premier said he extended his hand to all political factions in order to fulfill the wishes of the Lebanese people who "voted for security and stability of Lebanon."


Comment: Meanwhile, trouble is flaring up in Beirut:



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Star

Kadyrov praises Putin's role in transforming Chechnya


RT
Mon, 07 May 2018 21:14 UTC
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov
© Andrey Lyubimov, Moskva News Agency
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov
Thanks to Vladimir Putin's resolute decisions the Chechen people have defeated terrorism and restored the economy in the republic, Ramzan Kadyrov said ahead of the Russian Presidential Inauguration ceremony.

"Chechnya has transformed. We all remember that 18 years ago we had no schools, no roads and no infrastructure, the economy was on the lowest possible level and unemployment rate was at 100 percent. And the main problem we faced was international terrorism. Thanks to the Russian President and his resolute decisions we have won the fight with the international terrorism, restored our economy and are now solving the social issues," Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said in his comments with Russia 1 TV channel on Monday, shortly before Vladimir Putin's fourth swearing-in ceremony.
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Propaganda

WaPo Outraged That Trump Lies About Everything That Doesn't Matter

Harrison Koehli
Sott.net
Mon, 07 May 2018 19:14 UTC
trump funny
Everyday I am thankful, because everyday I have something to be outraged about. Thanks to that bastion of truthfulness and objectivity - the Washington Post - I now have 3,001 more things to be outraged about: President Trump, they claim, has made precisely 3,001 false or misleading claims so far in his presidency. That should last me until middle age. If he keeps it up, at this rate I should be set for life. And for that I'm super thankful. For without WaPo's studious fact-checking, I might otherwise neglect to be outraged that Donald Trump said not once, not twice, but a full twenty-nine times that the U.S. trade deficit with China is $500 billion, instead of $300 billion. Can anyone truly read that without the blood flowing to the face? Without one's delicate hands clenching into outraged fists?

What about the fact - the FACT, dagnabbit - that Trump had the audacity to claim that FDR served as president for 16 years, when he only served 12? Surely an involuntary guttural cry is beginning to escape the sanctified space of your larynx. No? Well what about the time he said Henry Ford invented the assembly line? Henry Ford! Everyone knows it was Ransom Eli Olds. Well, maybe not everyone knows that. But they should. And I'm ready to smash something breakable now that I know that Trump didn't know that too.

I was unaware that Donald Trump plays loose with the facts and tends to wildly exaggerate. That comes as a complete surprise to me. I had no idea he was a bombastic persuasion peddler. But in his 466 days since taking office, WaPo sez, he has made "false or misleading" claims an average of 6.5 times per day. WaPo even has an interactive graphic displaying the ebb and flow of his fibs.
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Eye 2

Israeli minister: We'll 'liquidate' Assad if he lets Iran attack us from Syria


RT
Mon, 07 May 2018 12:28 UTC
Yuval Steinitz

Yuval Steinitz, yet another pathological representative of Israel's government
Israel will "liquidate" Syrian President Bashar Assad and topple his government if it continues to allow Iran to use Syrian territory to carry out attacks on the Jewish state, an Israeli security cabinet minister has warned.

"If Syrian President Bashar al-Assad continues allowing Iran to operate within Syrian territory, Israel will liquidate him and topple his regime," Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz told Ynet.

He went on to state that "if Assad lets Iran turn Syria into a military base against us, to attack us from Syrian territory, he should know that will be the end of him."

Hassan Beigi, a member of the Iranian parliament's national and foreign policy commission, responded to the minister's statements later on Monday. "Israel can't do anything," he told RIA Novosti, reminding Tel Aviv that Iran has legitimate grounds to operate on Syrian soil, citing an invitation from Damascus.

Comment: Israel has now reached a fever pitch in rhetoric and aggression towards Iran that - with or without US help - will ultimately lead to some level of war with the Persian nation. What the crazed leadership of Israel seems unable to see at this point is that Iran will strike back and strike back hard as soon as it's ready to. Israelis with conscience should recognize this suicidal course of action for what it is and run the hell out of there.

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Target

The US-UK anti-Russia conspiracy

Stephen Lendman
stephenlendman.org
Fri, 04 May 2018 00:00 UTC
USUKflagstuff
© Unknown
The Skripal incident was likely hatched by both countries, one episode among numerous longstanding efforts to demonize Russia - improved relations ruled out entirely. US/UK policies toward Russia are joined at the hip, both countries partnering in Russophobic harshness.

On Thursday, Sergey Lavrov blasted Britain, saying
"Russia is worried over the health and position of the Skripals, whom the British authorities dragged into this provocation," adding: "The British authorities' refusal to grant consular access is a reason enough to consider the current situation as abduction or intentional isolation. This is utterly unacceptable."
-Washington equally responsible for what happened, he failed to stress.
Virtually all Russophobic actions by either country are joint efforts, neither regime going it alone on relations with Moscow.

Despite no chance for improved relations with both countries in the near, intermediate, and likely longterm, official Russian policy seeks mutual cooperation.

Comment: Lendman provides a dismal view of what is possible and a dismal outcome of what is probable.

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Snakes in Suits

Dershowitz: John Kerry would be violating the Logan Act, if enforced

Caitlin Yilek
Washington Examiner
Sat, 05 May 2018 10:58 UTC
John Kerry
© AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool
Former Sec. of State John Kerry
Former Secretary of State John Kerry would be violating the Logan Act, if it was enforced, for secretly speaking with foreign leaders about salvaging the Iran nuclear deal during Trump's presidency, Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz argued Saturday.

No one has ever been prosecuted under the Logan Act, a more than 200-year-old law that prohibits private citizens from acting on behalf of the U.S. in negotiations with foreign governments without authorization.

"Fortunately for everybody, the Logan Act [is a] dead letter but if it were in existence, my friend John Kerry would be violating the Logan Act," Dershowitz told Fox & Friends. "He is negotiating, though he is not in the administration, and there are real problems with doing that," he continued.

Kerry has reportedly engaged in shadow diplomacy with foreign leaders to discuss ways of preserving the nuclear deal that he helped construct under the Obama administration.

Comment: If the Logan Act was a factor in Flynn's case, why not for Kerry?

Ah that's right, because Trump. Silly us.

See also:

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X

State Dept to Ankara on Russian S-400: 'You're only supposed to buy NATO-compatible weapons'


RT
Fri, 04 May 2018 07:56 UTC
S-400 missile system
© Igor Zarembo/Sputnik
S-400 missile system
Being a NATO member apparently means you can only buy arms and military hardware that the US-led bloc approves. At least, that's what the State Department said in its latest warning to Ankara over an S-400 air-defense system deal.

The new warning came on Thursday from US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert, who said that Washington has "serious concerns about Turkey's potential acquisition" of the S-400 anti-aircraft systems.
"Under NATO and under the NATO agreement, which of course, Turkey is a NATO member, you're only supposed to buy, they are only supposed to buy, weapons and other materiel that are interoperable with other NATO partners. We don't see that as being interoperable," the State Department spokeswoman said during a press briefing.
The hotly discussed Turkey-Russia deal may signal closer relations between both nations, as well as a growing rift between Ankara and its NATO allies, mainly the US.

Comment: Turkey vies for attention between two superpowers that calculate it as strategic, but neither trusts Ankara's meandering loyalty.

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Eye 2

US General declares "we're the mujahedeen", the taliban are the apostates


Sputnik
Fri, 04 May 2018 23:27 UTC
US Marine Corps Commandant General Robert Neller
© Wiki
US Marine Corps Commandant General Robert Neller
US Marine Corps Commandant General Robert Neller shocked observers Wednesday at a US Navy Department briefing when he made the tone-deaf claim that American forces and their Afghan partners are the mujahedeen in Afghanistan now.

​​Afghanistan is currently experiencing a resurgence of violence. During the spring, the country typically sees an uptick in insurgent activity as the winter is often spent harvesting poppies for opium production. However, violence during this year's growing season didn't dwindle as in years past, which experts believe signifies an even more intense fighting season. Already, a slew of terrorist attacks have left many Afghan security forces and civilians dead and civil infrastructure destroyed by bombs.


Comment: 2017 is a record breaking year for opium production in Afghanistan, thanks to the U.S.


Neller's statement was in response to a reporter's question about how the US will deal with this uptick, as US officials have offered contradictory statements in recent weeks about the viability of coming to a political solution with the Taliban. For example, Acting Secretary of State John J Sullivan, in an April 25 press release in which he agreed with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, responded to the Taliban's announcement of their spring offensive by noting that "the Taliban should turn their bullets and bombs into ballots. They should run for office. They should vote. We encourage Taliban leaders to return to Afghanistan from their foreign safe havens and work constructively for Afghanistan's future."


Comment: The US can't be trusted in so says former Afghan president Hamid Karzai: US Colluded With ISIL in Afghanistan


Comment: See: Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Western Order Break-Up? New Middle East? New Korea?

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Bulb

EU: Cracking down on protests only bad when Russia does it (Catalonia violence was okay)


RT
Sun, 06 May 2018 18:59 UTC
russian protests
© Reuters
The EU has released a statement condemning police "violence" at an unauthorized opposition rally in Russia. Seven months earlier, Brussels took a different view on brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters in Catalonia.

"The detention of over a thousand demonstrators and violence used against them by the Russian authorities across the country today threaten the fundamental freedoms of expression, association and assembly in the Russian Federation," the European Union said in comments released as the last protesters were leaving venues across Russia on Saturday.

While acknowledging that "some of the demonstrations [in Russian cities] were not authorised," the EU condemned the "police brutality and mass arrests."

One might expect images of bloody noses, injuries, tear gas, or something similar after this harsh rhetoric. However, photos and videos from the protests that circulated online and in newscasts showed people with their hands locked behind their backs, flanked by officers, police forming a line and pushing the crowd back, some running with their batons up. There are a few pictures of skirmishes between protesters and their opponents. So far there have been three reports of bruises received during the protest.

Comment: It's quite ironic that when the Russians crack down on an illegal protest, they do so in a relatively civilized manner - yet are denounced as violent totalitarians by bureaucratic machines like the EU. Yet the home of freedom and democracy - the West - can't get enough of the bloodshed when it comes to cracking down on their own (legal) protests, and then congratulating themselves on it. Ahh, the glories of double standards. What would we do without them?

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Bizarro Earth

The utter gall: France deigns 'Assad can stay, for now, but leave the terrorists alone'


RT
Mon, 07 May 2018 17:03 UTC
Assad con partidarios
© Sana / Reuters
France, which recently bombed Syrian government targets together with the US and Britain, does not insist on ousting Syrian President Bashar Assad from power, but only if Syrians agree to keep him.

French President Emmanuel Macron may have fired a dozen missiles at Syria last month, but he is not bent on regime change, French Ambassador to Moscow Sylvie Bermann said in an interview with Kommersant business daily.

"We will not take a decision for the Syrian people. There is no more demand for the unconditional departure of Bashar Assad," she said, adding that a political transition in Syria must take place to form a new, fully legitimate government.

She also said France does not want to see reforms - which were supported by Russia during a forum it held in Sochi in January - end with nothing. According to the French diplomat, it is not acceptable for somebody to take the territory from the militants "and for Bashar Assad to simply stay in power."

Comment: Contradictory doesn't even begin to describe the West's behaviour these days. But, when one considers that the ruling establishment is infested with psychopaths and many others are suffering from equally debilitating and dangerous personality disorders - with Emmanuel Macron exhibiting clear signs of deviance - then it all begins to make much more sense: Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Humpty Trumpty? Western Reality Creation Taken to Breaking Point in Syria Strikes

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