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Cold War Flop: Most Americans want little to do with hysterical 'anti-Russia' campaign

Trump Putin fake news propaganda russia collusion
Has there ever been a country so vilified as Russia, a leader so demonized as Vladimir Putin?

It makes me dizzy just to think of all the crimes that have been laid at that particular doorstep. I could spend the rest of this column simply listing them, from the deaths of numerous Russian journalists to the extinction of Hillary Clinton's presidential ambitions - that and so much more! The omnipotent Russian President has apparently poisoned so many Russian expatriates in Britain that the streets are awash in polonium, novichok, and god knows what else. Why, it only took a few thousand bucks spent on some Facebook ads that practically no one saw to steal the presidential election from the rightful winner. Vlad the Bad is the all-powerful villain at the center of so many sinister conspiracies that it's hard to keep track of them.

The anti-Russian campaign that the media has been hyping ever since Trump took office isn't anything new. Those of us born during the cold war years - the first cold war, that is - remember all too well the atmosphere of hysteria and unreason that prevailed in those days. The fear of Communist agents under every bed was exploited by the War Party to no end - no good end, that is - and one would've thought that the collapse of communism and the end of the cold war would put a stop to it.

Comment: Also see: Grand Deception: The Strangulation of the Russian Economy in the 1990s Was a Deliberate IMF Policy


Info

Monsanto cancer ruling sparks backlash around the globe

Monsanto
© JOSH EDELSON / AFP / Getty Images
Plaintiff Dewayne Johnson leaves the courtroom after hearing the verdict to his case against Monsanto at the Superior Court of California in San Francisco on Aug. 10.
Glyphosate, the world's most popular herbicide, is at the center of international scrutiny after a San Francisco court on Friday decided in favor of a California school groundskeeper with terminal cancer.

The jury ruled that the plaintiff, Dewayne "Lee" Johnson, developed cancer from repeated exposure toRoundup, Monsanto's widely used glyphosate-based weedkiller, and ordered the company to pay $289 million in damages.

The landmark jury ruling, which could open the door for roughly 4,000 similar U.S. lawsuits against Monsanto, sparked outcry around the world.

Sherlock

British couple die, 300 evacuated from Egyptian hotel - Faulty air con unit blamed

egypt hotel AC ill
A British couple who died suddenly on a Thomas Cook holiday were "fit and healthy" before they left home, their daughter has said, as around 300 holidaymakers are evacuated from the same Egyptian hotel after more guests fell ill.

The travel company took the decision to evacuate its remaining customers at the Red Sea resort "as a precaution" following the deaths of John and Susan Cooper.

The couple, from Burnley, Lancashire, were on holiday at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in Hurghada with their daughter, Kelly Ormerod, and her three children when tragedy struck.

Describing the "horrendous ordeal", Mrs Ormerod said her parents "had no health problems at all" before their holiday, adding that the family are in "utter shock" as they await results of post-mortem examinations.

As the cause of their deaths is investigated, Mrs Ormerod reportedly told local officials she believes an alleged faulty air conditioning unit might have been involved in her parents falling ill.

Sheriff

Mexican Army seizes one ton of meth & fentanyl in tourist beach town

Mexican Army drug bust
© AP File
The Mexican Army seized approximately 2,700 pounds of illicit drugs in two separate security operations over the past weekend in the tourist municipality of Ensenada, Baja California.

The first operation took place late Friday, August 17, when soldiers secured a Cessna plane with approximately 470 kilograms of methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl in a remote area known as the San Fernando Canyon, according to local reports.

Personnel of the II Military Region were dispatched to search for an aircraft spotted in the area when they came upon an abandoned white Cessna.

Fire

Footage emerges of fire on 3rd floor of Russian Central Bank in Moscow

Russian Central Bank building fire
Russia's Central Bank building in central Moscow caught fire late on Friday, with footage showing flames shooting out of windows. Firefighting crews managed to promptly extinguish the flames.

Curling flames could be seen erupting from the Central Bank's building, located in central Moscow, photos from the scene show. The fire was likely caused by a short-circuit, TASS reported, citing a source from the emergency services.

As the fire broke out, ten people left the building ahead of the emergency crews' arrival.

Comment: See also: Fire breaks out on the roof of the Federal Reserve


Heart

Miraculous survival of 15 year old girl lost in Siberian tundra for 2 weeks

Svetlana Evai
© Investigative Committee
Svetlana Evai , in the middle, pictures soon after she was found in tundra by her uncle.
Svetlana Evai ate unripe berries for 15 days after getting lost in tundra with family fearing she had been attacked by brown bear.

A major search in the north of Gydan peninsula found the schoolgirl alive but needing urgent medical care in a 'grave' condition.

She was flown by a search helicopter to a local hospital.

Despite suffering from exposure medics said 'her vital organs are safe' and 'there is no threat to her life'.

'Her blood pressure and heart beat are stable,' said Eldar Faradjev, chief doctor of Tazovsky central hospital.

Comment: Tales of youngsters going missing in Russia's harshest areas don't appear to be such a rare occurrence. In this instance, it probably helped that the girl had a good knowledge of the region and knew how to look after herself: There are other stories from around the world, but in particularly the US, of people going missing in perhaps more curious circumstances:


Flashlight

First drone footage of isolated Amazon tribe released

drone amazon tribe
An Amazonian tribe isolated from the outside world has been captured on video for the first time by a drone.

Funai, or Brazil's government agency for the protection of indigenous people, on Tuesday released the aerial images.

The footage was taken in the innermost region of Brazil's Amazon close to the border with Peru.

The video shows tribespeople walking through jungle, carrying what appears to be a bow and arrow.

Researchers at Funai who have been monitoring isolated tribes in the region say they believe the group in the new footage has never been seen before.

Comment: See also:


Boat

Russia sends 3 large ships to Syria as Idlib offensive approaches

A ship of the Russian Navy
For the first time in two years, the Russian Navy has sent three large ships to Syria's Port of Tartous along the Mediterranean Sea.

According to Yoruk Isik of the Bosphorus Observer, three Russian ships recently sailed through the Bosphorus Strait towards Syria's territorial waters.

The three ships were identified Isik as the BSF Krivak Class frigate Pytlivy, the BSF Tapir class LST Orsk, and the BSF Tapir class LST Nikolay Filchenkov.

Target

German army targets children with fancy ads amid chronic personnel shortage

german army
© Global Look Press/ Axel Heimken
In a bid to boost its long-understaffed military, Germany has been targeting young people with "glossy" ads featuring the lives of soldiers. It comes as child military recruitment in the country is at a record high.

Germany's army has "big gaps" in its personnel, Parliamentary Armed Forces Commissioner Hans-Peter Bartels warned last February in a damning report on the condition of the military. He called for reforms to be implemented with "greater urgency."

As part of efforts to boost its personnel from the current 179,000 to 198,000 by 2024, Germany's army - or Bundeswehr - has been using YouTube ads to attract under-18s. This is despite already being called out by the United Nations back in 2014 over its "specific targeting of children" in advertising.

The ads feature on the army's YouTube channel, which boasts more than 300,000 viewers, and have garnered a total of 64 million views. They promise to give behind-the-scene footage of what it's like to be a young soldier in the army.

Comment: See also: Germany considers bringing back conscription to boost falling army numbers


Cult

Abuse issues threaten to overshadow Pope's visit to Ireland

Preparations are made at Phoenix Park in Dublin ahead of Pope Francis’ visit to Ireland
© PA
Preparations are made at Phoenix Park in Dublin ahead of Pope Francis’ visit to Ireland.
Decades of child sex abuse scandals have eroded Irish trust in the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis's planned weekend visit to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families comes at a tumultuous time for the Catholic Church around the globe.

Last week's grand jury report out of Pennsylvania, uncovering years of child sexual abuse at the hands of hundreds of priests across the state, is the latest entry in a laundry list of scandals that have rocked church leaders and parishioners in recent years. In Ireland, historically among the most Catholic countries in the world, churchgoers are experiencing their own nationwide reckoning with sexual abuse of children by priests and a subsequent, systematic cover-up that allowed such abuse to happen.


Comment: According to the recent grand jury report of six dioceses in Pennsylvania, over a period of 70 years, 300 priests abused over 1,000 children in Pennsylvania and church officials repeatedly covered it up. See also:

The grand jury report about Catholic priest abuse in Pennsylvania shows the church is a criminal syndicate: 'It is time to face the horrible truth: The Catholic church is a pedophile ring'.


The embattled pope's visit comes less than a week after he issued a 2,000-word apology for the church's role in the international sex abuse crisis. Though critics say his missive lacked concrete solutions for dealing with this crisis, it'll be his first opportunity to make public amends with Catholics both in Ireland and around the world. But sex abuse is not the only issue that will be on Irish Catholics' minds as the pope makes his arrival.

The past few years have seen this once-devout country shaken by a series of scandals within the Catholic Church, including the revelations of forced labor and systemic physical abuse at many of the country's Catholic orphanages and care homes. Meanwhile, the country has, in recent years, become increasingly secular and liberal, countering traditional, conservative Catholic social policy.

A country in which divorce, homosexuality, and abortion were all illegal has now transformed into the first country in Europe to legalize same-sex marriage by referendum. It is a country that overturned its historic abortion ban just a few months ago, something that would have been all but unthinkable one generation ago. If one thing is clear, it's that the Ireland of 2018 is not the Ireland of nearly four decades ago, when Pope John Paul II became the first sitting pope to visit the country.