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Russia & France discuss nuclear energy partnership in third-party countries, in defiance of the belligerent US


RT
Wed, 23 May 2018 10:43 UTC
pylon
© Mike Hutchings / Reuters
Russian and French power companies are considering joint nuclear projects in third-party countries, says Russia's Rosatom.The talks will take place during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum this week.

"During the 'nuclear dialogue' the sides are expected to present the joint projects on cooperation in third countries in such areas as engineering and the manufacture of nuclear power plant equipment, development of renewable energy resources and energy efficiency, the digital transformation of the energy sector and nuclear fuel cycle," Rosatom said.

Comment: As Russia and China forge ahead with mutually beneficial deals with the rest of the world, the US is fast making itself obsolete: Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Atlantic Trade War? How Trump Breaking Iran Deal Could Dismantle US Empire

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Bomb

US military lacks innovation, spending is out of control, and soon it may struggle to source the necessary materials

Aaron Mehta
Defense News
Wed, 23 May 2018 09:07 UTC
Key suppliers for weapons such as the AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missile are fleeing the defense-industrial base, which could have an impact on the ability of America to wage war in the future.
© R. Nial Bradshaw/U.S. Air Force
Key suppliers for weapons such as the AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missile are fleeing the defense-industrial base, which could have an impact on the ability of America to wage war in the future.
The Pentagon plans to invest more than $20 billion in munitions in its next budget. But whether the industrial base will be there to support such massive buys in the future is up in the air - at a time when America is expending munitions at increasingly intense rates.

The annual Industrial Capabilities report, put out by the Pentagon's Office of Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy, has concluded that the industrial base of the munitions sector is particularly strained, something the report blames on the start-and-stop nature of munitions procurement over the last 20 years, as well as the lack of new designs being internally developed.


Comment: A common trait amongst psychopathic entities is a lack of creativity.


Some suppliers have dropped out entirely, leaving no option for replacing vital materials. Other key suppliers are foreign-owned, with no indigenous capability to produce vital parts and materials ― setting up the risk that a conflict with China could rely on Chinese-made parts.

Comment: The US zombie military industrial complex is so corrupt its inefficiency has it lagging dangerously behind Russia and China, despite a spending budget many multiples more:

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Video

Alive and well: Yulia Skripal says 'returning to Russia is the long-term goal' in her first interview since attack


RT
Wed, 23 May 2018 19:28 UTC
Yulia Skripal interview
© Dylan Martinez / Reuters
In her first interview since surviving an alleged nerve agent attack, Yulia Skripal said she eventually wants to return to Russia. She has not shed any light on what happened in March in Salisbury.

"I came to the UK on the 3rd of March to visit my father, something I have done regularly in the past. After 20 days in a coma, I woke to the news that we had both been poisoned," Skripal said in a video that was recorded by Reuters. She reiterated her words in a handwritten statement.

She and her father, Sergei Skripal, a former Russian double-agent, were found unconscious on a public bench in the British city of Salisbury on March 4. The UK government immediately accused Russia of being behind their poisoning, but it has yet to provide evidence for the claim. Skripal did not comment on who she thought was to blame for her poisoning.


Comment: The Russian Embassy is still requesting direct access to Yulia Skripal as they have legitimate concerns that she is being held against her will or forced to make certain statements:
"We are glad to have seen Yulia Skripal alive and well," the Russian Embassy in the UK said in a statement. "However, the video shown only strengthens our concerns as to the conditions in which she is being held."

While the release of Yulia's interview is most welcome, it "does not discharge the UK authorities from their obligations under Consular Conventions," Russia's Embassy reminded.

"The UK is obliged to give us the opportunity to speak to Yulia directly in order to make sure that she is not held against her own will and is not speaking under pressure. So far, we have every reason to suspect the opposite," the statement reads.

Yulia's speech during the interview and the written statements in Russian and English she signed have raised multiple questions with Russian diplomats.

"Judging by quite a few elements, the text was a translation from English and had been initially written by a native English-speaker," the embassy said. "The handwritten letters signed by Yulia in Russian and English confirm this impression."


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Pistol

UK law enforcement head: Albanian mafia 'fueling surge of violent crime in London'


RT
Wed, 23 May 2018 13:30 UTC
drugs uk
© Stefan Wermuth / Reuters
Organized crime gangs, like the Albanian mafia, are "fueling the surge in violent crime in London" as a result of importing Class A drugs into Britain, leading to turf wars on the streets, claims a top UK law enforcement official.

John Coles, head of special operations at the National Crime Agency (NCA), charged with targeting high level drug gangs, claims that there is a greater propensity for gangsters to carry guns and knives, adding that social media was helping to drive the rise in London's brutal street crime.

Coles told the Evening Standard: "In my day it was face to face, part of the problem is that these threats are posted on social media and everyone sees it.

"They have no qualms or concerns about shooting someone, they are extremely violent nasty individuals."
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Evil Rays

US government employee working in China suffers brain injury after experiencing 'abnormal sensations of sound and pressure'


RT
Wed, 23 May 2018 16:54 UTC
Brain injury US worker China
© Ueslei Marcelino / Reuters
The unnamed employee assigned to Guangzhou, where an American consulate is located, first began experiencing a variety of physical symptoms from late 2017 and reported it in late March, according to the department.
A US government worker has reportedly suffered a mild brain injury after hearing an "abnormal sound" while working in China. The incident has sparked comparisons to last year's alleged 'sonic attack' on US diplomats in Cuba.

The US State Department issued a health warning to its citizens based in China outlining the mysterious case. "A US government employee in China recently reported subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure," the statement said, adding that it has informed all official staff based in the country of the case.

In a statement to RT the US State Department said it learned that the employee had symptoms similar to that of a patient with mild traumatic brain injury on May 18.

The unnamed employee assigned to Guangzhou, where an American consulate is located, first began experiencing a variety of physical symptoms from late 2017 and reported it in late March, according to the department.

Comment: Regarding the alleged 'sonic attacks' against American and Canadian diplomats in Cuba, see:

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Stock Up

Human rights watchdog says US anti-ISIS ops in Syria, Iraq deadliest since Vietnam


Sputnik
Tue, 22 May 2018 19:46 UTC
us soldier syria
© REUTERS / Rodi Said
The US-led coalition is responsible for at least 9,600 civilian deaths in its campaign against Daesh in Syria and Iraq, representing the highest death toll inflicted by Western military forces since the Vietnam War, a fresh report by London-based NGO Airwars said.

"Since 2014, Airwars estimates that the Coalition is likely responsible for between 6,250 and 9,600 civilian deaths overall in the war against ISIS [Daesh], out of more than 25,000 civilian fatalities alleged locally by Iraqis and Syrians," the report read.

The NGO went on saying that non-combatant casualties from US-led strikes "appear to be at their highest levels since Vietnam," but little has been done to calculate the official death toll from urban fighting.

The watchdog also highlighted that strikes were often planned without thoroughly assessing the potential for casualties. According to Airwars, the coalition failed to properly assess 'unobservable' civilian harm in urban fighting and relied on remote analysis, which did not allow non-combatant damage in residential areas to be realistically estimated. The inability to carry out field analysis and assess how many people may have been hiding near targeted areas was probably the key reason why the coalition undercounted the death toll, Airwars concluded.

Comment: Reported deaths in war historically are a fraction of the actual numbers. So you can take it to the bank that the numbers are much higher than 9,600. See:

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Attention

California man with terminal cancer takes Monsanto to trial for suppressing cancer risk of its products


RT
Wed, 23 May 2018 11:41 UTC
Roundup
© Benoit Tessier/Reuters
Monsanto has been accused of hiding the dangers of its popular Roundup products for decades, a claim the company denies.
A Californian groundskeeper with terminal cancer is set to become the first person to take agrobiotechnology giant Monsanto to trial, claiming that the company has suppressed the cancer risk of its product for decades.

DeWayne Johnson, 46, who has just a few months left to live, will take the stand against Monsanto in San Francisco County Superior Court. The landmark trial is scheduled to begin June 18.

Johnson, a father of three, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma at the age of 42. He had earlier worked for a school district, "where his responsibilities included direct application of Roundup and RangerPro, another Monsanto glyphosate product, to school properties," the lawsuit claims.

Comment: Chinks are appearing in Monsanto's wall of invincibility - and not a moment too soon:

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USA

US Embassy in Israel demands apology for Israeli third temple photo stunt


Sputnik
Tue, 22 May 2018 23:37 UTC
Dome of the Rock
© Reuters/Eliana Aponte
Dome of the Rock, Noble Sanctuary (Muslim) - Temple Mount (Jews)
The US Embassy in Israel has demanded an apology from Israel's Achiya organization for taking advantage of US envoy David Friedman by presenting him a photo of Jerusalem with Third Temple photoshopped on the Temple Mount.

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman was photographed Tuesday being presented with a wide-format picture of Jerusalem during his visit to the Israeli city of Bnei Brak. The picture, however, had been modified: the al-Haram ash-Sharif compound, which today includes two of Islam's holiest mosques, including Jerusalem's trademark Dome of the Rock, has been replaced with a temple of an entirely different design.


Comment: Somebody came up with this crass idea. Somebody reviewed and approved it knowing exactly the effects it would have. Apparently murdering men, women and children isn't enough.

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Red Flag

North Carolina father crashes into restaurant on purpose killing daughter; injuring other family

Jon Silman
Oxygen
Tue, 22 May 2018 08:56 UTC
Katelyn and Roger Self
© news.unclesamsmisguidedchildren.com
Katelyn and Roger Self
A North Carolina man drove into a restaurant on purpose over the weekend, killing two family members, police say.

Roger Self sat his family down for a Sunday afternoon meal at a restaurant in Bessemer City and then went outside. He got in his jeep, police say, and rammed it right into the restaurant, killing his daughter and daughter-in-law, and injuring other family members in the chaos, according to The Gaston Gazette.

Self, a prominent 62-year-old businessman, was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder on Sunday in the deaths of his daughter, Katelyn Self, a deputy in the Gaston County Sheriff's Office, and his daughter-in-law Amanda Self, a nurse.
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Boat

Brand new 'Italy First' coalition wants to deport 500,000 migrants

Abdelhamid Kaddour
Voice of Europe
Mon, 21 May 2018 00:00 UTC
Dimitris Avramopoulos
© Daily Express
EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos
On the 18th of May, the Five Star-Movement and the League struck a deal to form a populist government. One of their government's pledges is to deport half-a-million migrants.

A few days before the deal, EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos stated that he wished Italy would "not change its migratory policy".

The government deal not only changes the migratory policy of Italy, it revolutionises it. The programme calls for the deportation of the 500,000 migrants present in Italy.

"Today, there are around 500,000 illegal migrants in Italy (...) expulsion orders are not enough: those who don't have the right to stay must return to their home countries", the document said.

Italy, being the first port of call due to its close proximity to North Africa, is inundated with refugees, who don't integrate well with Italians, to put it mildly.

In fact, one of the reasons of the League's success in the latest election was the horrific murder of Pamela Mastropietro, a teenage Italian girl, who was chopped up and put in two suitcases by a Nigerian asylum seeker, just few days before the election.

Comment: See also:

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