Society's ChildS


Mr. Potato

If you make grammar mistakes on the internet, you're probably a Russian troll - Atlantic Council fellow

Twitter Russian flag
© Dado Ruvic / ReutersA 3D-printed Twitter logo displayed in front of Russian flag, October 27, 2017.
If you're a Russian immigrant in the United States - or anywhere else - don't bother tweeting your opinions unless your English is flawless. Otherwise you'll be branded a Kremlin-paid troll by influential American think tanks.

Eagle-eyed Ben Nimmo, a fellow at the Atlantic Council, has tweeted advice for Twitter users to help them identify "Russian troll-factory accounts" on the social media platform.

What gives the Russian trolls away, Nimmo advises, is their tendency to use imperfect English. For example, Nimmo highlights the "inability" of so-called Russian trolls to use the words 'a' or 'the' because the Russian language itself does not use definite or indefinite articles.

Comment: Ben Nimmo is propagandist tool and working the troll factory himself! :wink:


Fire

Moscow shopping mall catches fire, casualties reported

Moscow mall fire
© Sputnik/ Iliya Pitalev
According to reports, two KA-32 helicopters are ready to extinguish a fire in the Persei shopping mall in eastern Moscow.

The Persei shopping mall has caught fire in Moscow's east on April 4, evacuation is underway and there are casualties, an emergency services source told Sputnik.

According to preliminary information, the fire started on the fourth floor of the building.

"The fire was given the 2nd rank of complexity, there are injured, visitors are evacuated by the rescue ladder," a source in the local emergency services told Sputnik.

Comment: Here's a list of some of the major fires in Russia so far this year:


Eye 2

Gaza massacre: Will Israel pay a price for its latest war crimes

Muslih Sheikh Khalil, 24, is treated at Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital
© Mohammed AsadMuslih Sheikh Khalil, 24, is treated at Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital for an injury caused by a bullet that fragmented in his leg. He is among 800 people injured when Israeli forces opened fire with live ammunition at Palestinians taking part in Land Day rallies along the Gaza-Israel boundary, 30 March; Sixteen Palestinians died by Israeli fire

This article contains graphic images.


Palestinians are calling for escalating global campaigns to isolate Israel after its army killed 16 people in the Gaza Strip and wounded almost 1,500 others.

Meanwhile, Israel has rejected calls for an international investigation and its defense minister has commended soldiers on Friday's slaughter.

"Evoking memories of the South African apartheid regime's massacre of peaceful protesters in Sharpeville in 1960, Israel's military committed a new massacre against Palestinian civilians as they were peacefully commemorating Palestinian Land Day," the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) said Monday.

Biohazard

OPCW meeting could put full stop to Russia-blaming in Skripal case - Russia has questions ready

Putin conference Turkey
© Umit Bektas / ReutersRussian President Vladimir Putin pauses during a news conference in Ankara, Turkey, April 3, 2018
Russian President Putin said he hopes the upcoming UN chemical watchdog meeting will put to rest the UK's accusations against Russia in the Skripal poisoning case, adding that 20 other countries could produce the nerve agent used.

"Tomorrow we convene a session of the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in order to sort out this situation in detail. We have prepared at least 20 questions for discussion. We hope that this discussion will put an end to this issue," Putin said in Ankara, where he held a joint press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In a rare comment on the case, in which the UK is accusing Moscow of poisoning former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a military-grade nerve agent, Putin said he was baffled by how quickly the incident turned into a full-blown attack on Russia.

Comment:


Snakes in Suits

Ex-attorney Mark Benavides found guilty on all 6 counts of continuous trafficking of persons

Benavides
Benavides accused of trading legal services for sex

A jury found ex-attorney Mark Benavides guilty on six counts of continuous trafficking of persons on Tuesday.

Benavides is accused of trading legal services for sex with his female clients, then recording those sexual encounters.

During the trial, San Antonio Police Department detective Manual Morales testified that police found a filing cabinet at Benavides' home containing 246 of what the detective called "pornographic DVDs" that showed Benavides having sex with women who police said were Benavides' clients.

Some of the graphic and sexually explicit videos were played for jurors. A video was so graphic that a female juror fainted as the panel left the courtroom last Tuesday.

Folder

Syrian Army reportedly finds documented proof in East Ghouta connecting US support to terrorists

East Ghouta tunnel
© Reuters / Omar Sanadiki
Following the liberation of East Ghouta, the Syrian military has found an extensive network of tunnels with underground hospitals that were used by terrorist groups to move safely and perform raids on Syrian army positions.

Syrian soldiers have found documented proof of the secret cooperation between a US-based company and terrorists in Syria in the tunnels discovered after the liberation of East Ghouta, the Fars news agency reports, citing anonymous source in the army. The source refused to give the name of the company, due to the sensitivity of the information and the fact that the investigation is still ongoing. But he reassured that the documents are corroborative and prove that the terrorists were funded and even paid regularly by the US organization.

Cross

Damascus Christians free to celebrate religious holidays following East Ghouta liberation

Damascus Christians
© Sputnik/ Nada Ajeeb
Thanks to Eastern Ghouta's liberation from terrorists, Damascus' Christian regions are no longer under fire and they were safe to go out and attend church.

On Sunday Syrian Catholics celebrated the Easter holiday, marking the resurrection of Jesus. The service was also held at the Damascus Patriarchal Cathedral of the Dormition of Our Lady (the so-called Az-Zeytun church).

"It's the first time in years that I cry with happiness. We pray and feel safe. We're not afraid for our children anymore," Sirin Dahi, who's come to Az-Zeytun church to celebrate Easter, told Sputnik.

"Today's holiday is highlighted by the joy of the Syrian Army's victory in Eastern Ghouta. We're happy that we're safe to celebrate Easter," Lin Istanum, a young Syrian, said.

Question

Why does everything keep changing about the Skripal story except for "Russia definitely did it"?

tweets on skripal
© Ellen Barry / Daily Mail U.K. /Twitter
The latest news update on the notorious Skripal case is that the source of the alleged Novichok poisoning may have been a cereal brought to the Skripals by a family friend who happens to work for a major Russian medical company, hospitalizing them both as well as a police sergeant for some reason. Less than 24 hours earlier, we were informed that the Novichok nerve agent was actually likely administered via the handle of the front door, which according to the New York Times would have been an operation that "is seen as so risky and sensitive that it is unlikely to have been undertaken without approval from the Kremlin."

This is par for course in the immensely plot hole-riddled Skripal case, which since the story broke has been an endless barrage of ever-changing contradictory narratives the details of which nobody is certain of to any degree at all... except that Russia definitely did it.

We've been told that the Novichok was planted in Yulia Skripal's suitcase. We were told that it was administered via the air vents in their car. We were told that it was delivered by a weaponized miniature drone. We were told that the Novichok was smeared on the family's car door handle. Now it's either the house door or Russian buckwheat cereal, depending on who you're reading.

Comment:


People

New York Times article: 'Can Islamic and European civilizations coexist?' or 'The West is wrong to resist'

praying muslims europe
© MikeDotta / Shutterstock.comMuslims pray in Turin, Italy
The New York Times published a piece Thursday, "Can Islamic and European Civilizations Coexist?" and it is incredible (as in beyond belief, hard to believe, far-fetched, implausible).

The headline leads you to believe that, finally, maybe there might be a discussion of this existential question with a (sadly) obvious answer, but that would be delusional. In reality, the Times is not asking the question. It mocks you into thinking the question is a legitimate one. The real title should be: "Muslim Grievances, Why We Are Right to Whine After Jihadis Attack."

The piece is not written by a legitimate, reasoned, and brilliant scholar of Islam like, say, Ibn Waraq, Bat Ye'or, or Robert Spencer. No, this absurd propaganda is by one of the Times' resident shills for Islam, Atossa Araxia Abrahmian, coming in form of a review of Journey Into Europe: Islam, Immigration, and Identity, the latest installment in Islamic studies professor Akbar Ahmed's series on Muslims around the world.

Comment: This is a very complex issue. Can Islamic civilization coexist side by side with European civilization? Probably not on equal terms, depending on whether we are considering a scenario in Europe or in a Middle Eastern country - and which country. If in Europe, it is the Islamic part that needs to change and adapt to local standards; it is after all the 'guest culture', so to speak, and as the minority, it cannot expect the majority to adapt to them. If in the Middle East, it depends on which country. Syria, for example, a country with a secular government, had for many years conditions that allowed different Christian and Muslim sects to coexist in peace - until this order was disrupted by external groups of mercenaries and fanatics. In constrast, a country like Saudi Arabia is a totalitarian theocratic monarchy that completely cancels the possibility. Furthermore, Islamic culture is not a monolith - sunnis, shias and wahabis are different - and the same can be said of Christianism.

Speaking of Saudi Arabia, and to complicate the matter further, consider the implications of Mohammed Bin Salman's recent revelations to the Washington Post:

Saudi prince MBS: 'Anglo-Americans asked us to spread Extremist Islam to defeat Russia in Cold War'


Arrow Up

The UK Government, not Russia, is the real threat to UK security

boris johnson
© AFP 2018/ Stefan Rousseau
Here we go again. In the UK government's latest 52 page 'National Security Capability Review', guess who's right there at the top of the threats Britain faces? Yes - those dastardly Russians!

'The resurgence of state-based threats, intensifying wider state competition and the erosion of the rules-based international order, making it harder to build consensus and tackle global threats', the report says. 'The erosion of the rules-based international order'? Excuse me? Didn't that happen when the UK and its NATO allies bombed Yugoslavia- without UNSC approval in 1999- and when the UK and its allies illegally invaded Iraq - again without UNSC approval- in 2003?

According to the report, those events just didn't happen. Instead 'Russian State Aggression' is the thing we should all be worried about. The long litany of alleged Russian crimes include 'supporting the Assad regime' and the 'illegal annexation of Crimea'. Never mind that the so-called 'Assad regime' requested Russian assistance in fighting ISIS [Daesh]*/al-Qaeda* linked jihadists whose co-ideologists have brought terror to the streets of Britain.

Comment: See also: Russia: Lavrov warns against sponsoring terrorists to achieve short-term goals, like overthrowing countries