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Heart - Black

Lavrov: Months of torture-like conditions forced Maria Butina to plead guilty in order to escape


RT
Fri, 14 Dec 2018 14:50 UTC
butina
Maria Butina
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has explained why he thinks gun activist Maria Butina, jailed in the US, has made a deal with prosecutors: she wants to escape the torture-like conditions she is being kept in.

Speaking to the media in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, Lavrov said US prosecutors were deliberately trying to break Butina.

"I can understand that woman, she is being kept in the harshest conditions, for many many months now she has been subjected to a kind of torture: they would make her go for walks at night, forcibly interrupting her sleep, place her in single confinement, and many other things," Lavrov said.
I have reasons to believe the conditions that have been created for her are intended to break her will and make her confess to something she likely didn't do.
Unnecessarily harsh treatment continued as recently as on Thursday, after Butina's plea deal. She was being kept in conditions "normally reserved for dangerous repeat offenders," Lavrov said.

Comment: And many others agree with that assessment:

Tormented into a guilty plea? Experts denounce US "miscarriage of justice" in Butina case

See also:

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Cross

Russian Orthodox Church calls on international leaders to protect its followers in Ukraine from state pressure & persecution


RFE/RL
Fri, 14 Dec 2018 15:48 UTC
Patriarch Kirill
Patriarch Kirill has sent a letter to world leaders asking them to assist followers of Russian Orthodoxy in Ukraine.
The Russian Orthodox Church has called on international leaders to "protect" its followers in Ukraine in the face of what it called official pressure on Moscow-appointed clerics.

In a statement issued on December 14, the Russian Orthodox Church said Patriarch Kirill has sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Thomas Greminger, the secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, Pope Francis, and other spiritual leaders, urging them to help protect believers and their faith in Ukraine.

"The interference by the leaders of the secular Ukrainian state in church affairs has recently assumed the shape of undue pressure being exerted on the bishops and priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which can be defined as the start of all-out persecution," Patriarch Kirill was quoted as saying in the statement.

The statement was issued a day before a meeting on December 15 of senior figures from Orthodox Christian communities in Ukraine in Kyiv in a bid to form a new, unified, independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church and elect a leader, known as a Primate.

Comment: See also:

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No Entry

'Not open for renegotiation': EU stands by Brexit deal, May receives vague assurances on backstop


RT
Fri, 14 Dec 2018 22:58 UTC
Merkel May
© Reuters / Yves Herman
British Prime Minister Theresa May has failed to secure any tangible "reassurances" from Brussels that she can take back to her Parliament, with EU leaders refusing to renegotiate the divorce agreement with the UK.

Before Brussels delivered its verdict, May told EU leaders that the Brexit deal is "at risk" if British lawmakers' concerns are not addressed, and urged her European counterparts to "change the perception" of the controversial Irish border backstop clause.

Yet she has received only vague assurances that the backstop, if triggered, would only be a temporary measure - with no particular timeframe - and that the bloc will "work speedily" and do its best to negotiate, in time, a new trade agreement.

The EU has made clear that the backstop was their "insurance policy" to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland and to preserve the "integrity" of the single market. "It is the Union's firm determination to work speedily on a subsequent agreement that establishes by 31 December 2020 alternative arrangements, so that the backstop will not need to be triggered," the final communiqué of Thursday's meeting reads.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: California Wildfires, Climate Change, And The Impossible Brexit

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Eye 1

Tormented into a guilty plea? Experts denounce US "miscarriage of justice" in Butina case


RT
Fri, 14 Dec 2018 03:01 UTC
Maria Butina
© Facebook / Maria ButinaMaria Butina
Maria Butina's only crime is that she is Russian, legal analysts told RT, attacking the US justice system for keeping her in solitary confinement until she admitted guilt to at least one of the many charges brought against her.

"This is an utter and total miscarriage of justice," retired CIA agent and whistleblower John Kiriakou told RT after Butina pleaded guilty to the charge of failing to register with the Justice Department as an agent of the Russian government. "You can see clearly, this is not about justice, this is not about criminal activity. This is about making a political point. This is about identifying Russia and Russians as the enemy of the United States, and punishing them."

"We arrested this young woman because we need dirt on Trump and Russia. And she is Russian, political and pro-Trump," US legal analyst Jennifer Breedon explained. "We are seeing [the Foreign Agents Registration Act - FARA] being used specifically as it relates to undermining the Donald Trump administration or conservatives really with anybody involved in Russia, friends with Russia or contacts."

Comment: In recent weeks the Butina case and the Canadian arrest of a Chinese tech exec reflect just how lame US influence is that it has to resort to such feeble and dirty tactics in its attempts to exert some influence on the international stage:

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Light Saber

Canada suffers US bidding: 2 nationals arrested and stock plunge as China retaliates


RT
Thu, 13 Dec 2018 21:08 UTC
Toronto Stock Exchange
© Reuters / Mark Blinch
The wars of words between Donald Trump and Justin Trudeau may have grabbed headlines, but Canada has always remained a faithful US ally, apparently believing it's a safe bet. The strategy, however, has backfired.

Trump's presidency has been marked by a continued row with Canada's 'liberal' Trudeau, which was fueled by a US trade dispute with its Western allies and incompatible views on climate change, for example. The war of words between the two neighbors apparently culminated during the G7 summit in June.

But do not be deceived by what you see. All this time Canada actually dutifully followed the US lead and even copied some of its trendiest policies. Be it following Russophobic hysteria or making billions worth of deals with some Middle Eastern autocrats, Canada was here to march in lockstep with its powerful neighbor. Its response to the alleged murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Washington's key Middle Eastern ally - the Saudis - was also conspicuously reserved, particularly for a nation that portrays itself as a fervent champion of human rights.

Comment: Hopefully this will send a strong message to any other US lackeys that if you choose the side of the bully, you will suffer the same fate.

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Eye 1

Clinton Whistleblowers: Thursday's public hearing will reveal 'explosive' information

Sara Carter
saraacarter.com
Fri, 14 Dec 2018 11:26 UTC
Hillary Clinton shadows
A trove of documents on the Clinton Foundation alleging possible pay for play and tax evasion have been turned over to the FBI and IRS by several investigative whistleblowers, who will be testifying in an open hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Thursday, according to the committee and lawmakers.

Roughly 6,000 documents that are expected to reveal the nearly two-year investigation by the whistleblowers with a private firm called MDA Analytics LLC, which allegedly turned over the documents more than a year and a half ago to the IRS, according to John Solomon, who first published the report last week in The Hill.

The whistleblowers are former federal criminal investigators, who allege that the Clinton Foundation was "engaged in illegal activities and may be liable for millions of dollars in delinquent taxes and penalties," according to Solomon.
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Magnify

Salvini claims "whoever wants peace, needs to support Israel" while on two day tour of region

Raphael Ahren
Times of Israel
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 11:24 UTC
Salvini Israel
© TwitterItaly's Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini during a visit on the Israeli-Lebanese border, where he was shown a Hezbollah attack tunnel, December 11, 2018
The European Union has treated Israel unfairly, Italy's far-right Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said Tuesday in Jerusalem, while also indicating that Rome would not be shifting its stance toward the country.

"The EU has in recent years been entirely unbalanced, it has condemned and sanctioned Israel left and right, for every step it took," he said at a press conference Tuesday evening.

Salvini, the controversial head of the far-right Lega party, arrived earlier on Tuesday for a two-day trip, during which he will also visit the Western Wall, the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Comment: It just goes to show how critical one needs to be with regards to politicians, because, evidently, while they may make sense about some issues, they may show complete ignorance in others.

See also: And check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Israeli-French Deception Downs Russian Spy Plane Off Syria, US Escalates 'Regime Change' Against Iran

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Light Sabers

The trade war distraction: Huawei and linchpin theory

Brandon Smith
alt-market.com
Wed, 12 Dec 2018 11:04 UTC
domino effect
Since the beginning of this year, I have been warning that trade tariffs initiated by Donald Trump would develop into a full-blown trade war with China, and perhaps other nations, and that the timing of this trade war is rather suspicious. Suspicious how? Almost every instance of further escalation was made by Trump around the exact time that the Federal Reserve was also making a large cut to its balance sheet or raising interest rates. Instead of focusing on the fact that extreme volatility has returned to markets because central banks are pulling the plug on life support, the mainstream media is holding up the trade war as the ultimate culprit behind the accelerating crash.

In other words, Trump's trade war is acting as a perfect distraction from the crisis which the banking establishment has now deliberately triggered.

The initial response to my suggestion by a minority of liberty movement activists and skeptics was outright denial. Some people argued that the trade war would be over before it even began and that China would immediately capitulate in fear of losing the U.S. consumer market. Others argued that the trade war "had been started by the Chinese years ago" and Trump was simply "fighting back."

Clearly, the trade war is not fading away as many assumed. As I predicted, it is only continuing to grow. And the notion that a trade war is necessary at this time in defense of the U.S. economy ignores certain realities. For example, the trade deficit itself was never "theft" by the Chinese, but a BARTER between the Chinese and the U.S. government and U.S. corporations. In exchange for the Chinese and other trade partners using the dollar as the world reserve currency (and petro-currency) and buying up US treasury debt, U.S. elites have arranged a deficit advantage for China. One could also add China's cheap labor and low cost manufactured goods as part of that barter as well.

Comment: See also:

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Hammer

Financial bounty hunters testify: Clinton Foundation operated as foreign agent

Sara Carter
SaraACarter.com
Thu, 13 Dec 2018 17:13 UTC
Hillary Clinton
© Getty Image
The Clinton Foundation operated as a foreign agent 'early in its life' and 'throughout it's existence' and did not operate as a 501c3 charitable foundation as required by its and is not entitled to its status as a nonprofit, alleged two highly qualified forensic investigators, accompanied by three other investigators, said in explosive testimony Thursday to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

John Moynihan and Lawerence W. Doyle, both graduates of the Catholic Jesuit College of the Holy Cross and former expert forensic government investigators, gave their shocking testimony before congress based on a nearly two year investigation into the foundation's work both nationally and internationally. They were assisted by three other highly trained experts in taxation law and financial forensic investigations. The forensic investigators stressed that they obtained all the documentation on the foundation legally and through Freedom of Information Request Acts from the IRS and other agencies.

Former Utah U.S. Attorney General John Huber, who resigned when he was appointed by former Department of Justice Attorney General Jeff Sessions to investigate the Clinton Foundation and the issues surrounding the approval to sell 20 percent of U.S. Uranium assets to Russia, declined to attend the hearing. Chairman Mark Meadows, R-NC, who oversaw the hearing stated that it was disappointment that Huber declined, leaving Congress in the dark regarding the DOJ's investigation.
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Dig

New York's incoming attorney general unveils 'huge' plan to investigate Trump and his family

Dan Cancian
Newsweek
Wed, 12 Dec 2018 15:09 UTC
Letitia James
© Drew Angerer/ Getty ImagesNew York Attorney General Letitia James
The New York attorney general-elect has unveiled plans to launch a large-scale investigation into President Donald Trump.

Letitia James, who will replace Barbara Underwood on January 1, 2019, vowed to probe not only Trump but also his family and any of his associates who might have violated the law.

Her plans include an investigation over the meeting between a Russian official and three senior members of the Trump campaign-Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort-held at Trump Tower in June 2016.
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