Armenian law enforcement today arrested Jirayr Sefilyan, a well-known opposition activist and Artsakh War veteran, on suspicion of illegal arms trafficking and possession. Law enforcement in Armenia state that the charges against Sefilyan, and seven other as yet unidentified individuals, stem from a traffic accident that occurred on May 20 of this year near the Tzitznernakaberd Highway. Police state that during an investigation of the accident they uncovered two AK-74 assault rifles and ammunition in one of the cars involved and that Sefilyan was later implicated in organizing the transfer of the weapons.

The driver of the car and a passenger were taken into custody at the scene of the accident. Cops allege that Sefilyan and others were planning to use the weapons to "seize", by force of arms, buildings in Yerevan, including communications centers. The Yerevan TV tower was one of the targets according to the police statement.

These actions, according to the police, were to take place after fighting broke out along the Karabakh Line of Contact in early April. Six others have been arrested along with Sefilyan and a manhunt has been launched for a seventh allegedly involved in the arms plot. Police state that some of those arrested have confessed to the arms charges.

The US and Canadian anti-doping agencies plan to request that all Russian athletes, not just those on the already-banned track & field team, are barred from participating in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, according to a leaked letter seen by Reuters.

"The only appropriate, and permissible, course of action in these unprecedented circumstances is for the IOC to immediately suspend the Russian Olympic and Paralympic Committees from the Olympic Movement... and declare that no athlete can represent Russia at the Rio Olympic Games," says the draft letter, signed by United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports (CCES) CEO Paul Melia.


Reuters claims the letter was to be addressed to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which is scheduled to be sent after the findings of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report on doping at the Sochi Olympics in 2014 is published next week. While its contents have not yet been made public, it is expected to accuse Russia of running a state-sanctioned doping program, aimed at defeating international drug-testing protocols.

After the doping scandal broke out earlier this year, Russia fired several senior anti-doping officials, and handed over its drug-testing to international WADA labs, but officials deny that the corruption reaches the highest levels of government, as several whistleblowers have claimed. Whistleblower testimonies are expected to constitute a key part of the report.

By the time the 43rd G-7 summit convenes from May 26-27 next year in Taormina, Sicily, German chancellor Angela Merkel will be joined by at least one female colleague, British Prime Minister Theresa May, described as «Margaret Thatcher on steroids», and quite possibly a third, the war hawk Hillary Clinton representing the United States. Sicily may not be able to withstand the presence of two highly-volatile threats on the island, the unpredictable Mount Etna, along with the three «Maidens of War» - Merkel, May, and Clinton.

Dozens of protesters have taken to the streets of the Armenian capital, attempting to march on a police station which was seized by armed men over the weekend. Protesters clashed with officials after failing to comply with warnings not to proceed with the march. Some 100 people gathered in central Yerevan on Monday, according to Interfax.

They were led by opposition activist David Sanasaryan, TASS reported, saying that the activist has been calling on Yerevan citizens to take to the streets in an anti-government protest. "I am against armed struggle, but a good deed has been launched, so let's join them," Sanasaryan reportedly said, calling on protesters to march towards the seized police station.

The head of Yerevan's police force, Ashot Karapetyan was at the scene and warned the protesters that the gathering was unlawful and they would not be allowed to proceed with the unsanctioned march. Armenia's deputy police chief, Unan Pogosyan also addressed the gathering, saying that a confrontation is being "provoked" in Yerevan, and calling on people not to "exacerbate the situation."

Canadians who hoped the federal election last October 19 would usher in change to the aggressive foreign policy of the defeated Conservative government are wondering what happened to their wishes. The transition in imperialist foreign policy from the Harper Conservatives to the Justin Trudeau-led Liberals has been utterly seamless, if not predictable.


In the Middle East, Canada's support to 'regime change' in Syria stands. The Liberals stirred controversy during the election when they promised to end Canada's participation in the U.S.-led military intervention in northern Iraq. But surprise: while the Liberals did carry out a promised withdrawal of the six fighter jets that weren't doing much anyway in the skies over Syria and Iraq, they ended up tripling the presence of Canadian soldiers on the ground in Iraq, to approximately 200.

One person was killed and least three wounded as an armed group seized a police station in Armenia's capital Yerevan. At least six hostages are still being held by the attackers, TASS reports citing police. The hostage takers are being described as terrorists by local authorities.

"During the ongoing negotiations authorities are trying to convince the terrorists to refrain from any movements that can endanger people's lives, to free hostages, give up their arms and surrender to the officials," the statement published by the Armenian National Security Agency reads.

The local police chief, Valery Osipyan, is among the hostages, authorities confirmed to Armenian news agency Arminfo. Troops have been dispatched to the area, and the head of the country's security forces, Vladimir Gasparyan, is on the scene as well. "SWAT police units and other law enforcers are in a combat-ready state, but they have not received the order to begin a special operation so far," Unan Pogosyan, Armenia's vice-police chief said as quoted by RIA news agency.

Relations between Russia and NATO are deteriorating. Kremlin foreign policy advisor Sergey Karaganov speaks with SPIEGEL about the risk of war, NATO's aggressive posturing and the West's inability to understand Russian values.

SPIEGEL: Sergey Alexandrovich, NATO is boosting its presence in Eastern Europe in reaction to recent Russian advances. Western politicians have warned that the two sides could stumble into a situation that might result in war. Are such warnings excessive?

Karaganov: I was already speaking of a prewar situation eight years ago.

SPIEGEL: When the war in Georgia broke out.

"A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty."—James Madison

America is a ticking time bomb.

All that remains to be seen is who—or what—will set fire to the fuse.

We are poised at what seems to be the pinnacle of a manufactured breakdown, with police shooting unarmed citizens, snipers shooting police, global and domestic violence rising, and a political showdown between two presidential candidates equally matched in unpopularity.

The preparations for the Republican and Democratic national conventions taking place in Cleveland and Philadelphia—augmented by a $50 million federal security grant for each city—provide a foretaste of how the government plans to deal with any individual or group that steps out of line: they will be censored, silenced, spied on, caged, intimidated, interrogated, investigated, recorded, tracked, labeled, held at gunpoint, detained, restrained, arrested, tried and found guilty.

For instance, anticipating civil unrest and mass demonstrations in connection with the Republican Party convention, Cleveland officials set up makeshift prisons, extra courtrooms to handle protesters, and shut down a local university in order to house 1,700 riot police and their weapons. The city's courts are preparing to process up to 1,000 people a day. Additionally, the FBI has also been conducting "interviews" with activists in advance of the conventions to discourage them from engaging in protests.

Make no mistake, the government is ready for a civil uprising.

Indeed, the government has been preparing for this moment for years.

A 2008 Army War College report revealed that "widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security." The 44-page report goes on to warn that potential causes for such civil unrest could include another terrorist attack, "unforeseen economic collapse, loss of functioning political and legal order, purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency, pervasive public health emergencies, and catastrophic natural and human disasters."

Subsequent reports by the Department of Homeland Security to identify, monitor and label right-wing and left-wing activists and military veterans as extremists (a.k.a. terrorists) have manifested into full-fledged pre-crime surveillance programs. Almost a decade later, after locking down the nation and spending billions to fight terrorism, the DHS has concluded that the greater threat is not ISIS but domestic right-wing extremism.

"For the past 25 years, the center-left has told the bottom 60% of the income distribution in their countries the following story: "Globalization is good for you. It's awesome. It's really great. We're going to sign these trade agreements. Don't worry, there will be compensation. You'll be fine. You'll all end up as computer programmers. It'll be fantastic. And, by the way, we don't really care because we're all going to move to the middle because that's where the voters are, and they're the ones with the money, and they're the only ones we really care about...and you basically take the bottom 30% of the income distribution and you say, "We don't care what happens to you. You're now something to be policed. You're now something that has to have its behavior changed. We're going to nudge you into better parts...

It's a very paternal, patronizing relationship. This is no longer the warm embrace of social democracy, arm in arm in solidarity with the working classes. They are to policed and excluded in their housing estates, so you can feel safe in your neighborhoods and private schools.

So once this has evolved over 20 years, you have this revolt, not just against Brexit. It's not about the EU. It's about the elites. It's about the 1%. It's about the fact that your parties, have sold you down the river."

(Excerpt from Mark Blyth's Brexit on YouTube)

Liberals and progressives love to point across the aisle and accuse their opponents of racism, misogyny and xenophobia, but that's not what the Trump campaign is all about. And that's not what Brexit was about. While it's true that anti-immigrant sentiment is on the rise in Europe and the US, the hostility has less to do with race than it does jobs and wages. In other words, Brexit is a revolt against a free trade regime in which all the benefits have accrued to the uber-rich while everyone else has seen their incomes slide, their future's dim and their standard of living plunge. As Vincent Bevins of the Los Angeles Times said:

"Both Brexit and Trumpism are the very, very wrong answers to legitimate questions that urban elites have refused to ask for thirty years"..."since the 1980s the elites in rich countries have overplayed their hand, taking all the gains for themselves and just covering their ears when anyone else talks, and now they are watching in horror as voters revolt."

Reinstating the death penalty in Turkey would end EU accession talks, a German government spokesman has stated. Meanwhile, EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini also warned that no country can become an EU member that has capital punishment.

"Introduction of death penalty would mean immediate suspension of accession talks," German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Monday.

Turkey is part of the Council of Europe and is bound by the European Convention on Human Rights, the EU Foreign Policy Chief noted.

"No country can become an EU member state if it introduces the death penalty," she said. "Turkey is an important part of the Council of Europe and is bound by the European Convention on Human Rights, which is very clear on the death penalty."

It is wrong to make a hasty decision about the death penalty, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, adding that, at the same time, Turkey cannot ignore the demands of its own people, Reuters reported.