Secret HistoryS


Info

Flashback Stalin 'planned to send a million troops to stop Hitler if Britain and France agreed pact'

Map of Europe post WWI
© UnknownThere is no image in the achieved article, but this map may help to locate the different countries mentioned.
Stalin was 'prepared to move more than a million Soviet troops to the German border to deter Hitler's aggression just before the Second World War'

Papers which were kept secret for almost 70 years show that the Soviet Union proposed sending a powerful military force in an effort to entice Britain and France into an anti-Nazi alliance.

Such an agreement could have changed the course of 20th century history, preventing Hitler's pact with Stalin which gave him free rein to go to war with Germany's other neighbours.

Comment: History is often hotly contested, and the events that surrounded the beginning of WWII is no exception. A difference between then and now, is that the lines of communication are much faster, but if anyone imagined more technology would make the World more more peaceful then the results are disappointing. Consider also: "the British and French side - briefed by their governments to talk, but not authorised to commit to binding deals - did not respond to the Soviet offer, ". The technology of telegrams and telephone was there, but it was not used.
Putin reminded his listeners that true blame for the war should be found in those European powers that had already created non-aggression pacts with Hitler long before Russia, beginning with the 1938 Munich Agreement between France, England and Germany permitting the later to carve up Czechoslovakia. To this point, Putin said: "Let them read historical documents so that they can see that the Munich Agreement was signed in 1938: the leaders of key European countries - France and the United Kingdom - signed an agreement with Hitler to divide Czechoslovakia."

The Russian leader went onto say "It is people like those who negotiated with Hitler - it is people like that who today are tearing down monuments to the liberating warriors, the Red Army soldiers who freed Europe and the European people from the Nazis."



Blue Planet

Pagan-Christian trade networks supplied horses from overseas for the last horse sacrifices of 14th century Europe

china bronze age
© Kai Bai; Antiquity Publications LtdFILE: One of the six sacrificial horse pits unearthed at Yaoheyuan in northwestern China. The walled city likely served as a political and cultural hub in Bronze Age China.
Horses crossed the Baltic Sea in ships during the Late Viking Age and were sacrificed for funeral rituals, according to research from Cardiff University.

Published in the journal Science Advances, studies on the remains of horses found at ancient burial sites in Russia and Lithuania show that they were brought overseas from Scandinavia utilising expansive trade networks connecting the Viking world with the Byzantine and Arab Empires.

Up to now, researchers had believed sacrificial horses were always locally-sourced stallions. But these results reveal horses from modern Sweden or Finland travelled up to 1,500 km across the Baltic Sea. The findings also show that the sex of the horse was not necessarily a factor in them being chosen for sacrifice, with genetic analysis showing one in three were mares.

Comment: See also:


Info

The new study presents evidence suggesting the use of threshing sledges in Neolithic Greece as early as 6500 BCE

Threshing Sledge
© University of Pisa
The threshing sledges, which until a few decades ago was used in many Mediterranean countries from Turkey to Spain to separate the chaff from the wheat, is estimated to have appeared in Greece as early as 6500 BC.

By applying advanced analytical methods, including co-orientated microscopy, to the flint industries, researchers led by the University of Pisa were able to trace the early adoption of such technology and the adaptation of what can be considered among the first agricultural machines in Europe.

The research, conducted as part of several research projects funded by the European Union, Italy, and Spain and directed by the University of Pisa in collaboration with the CSIC in Spain and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, predates previous records of this technology in Europe by at least 3,000 years, providing new insights into Neolithic society's technological innovations.

We have been working for years to reconstruct the routes and mechanisms of the spread of agriculture from the Near East to the rest of the Mediterranean, explains Professor Niccolò Mazzucco, of the University of Pisa, principal investigator of the work, discovering the processes of technological innovation and how new machines were introduced is fundamental to reconstructing past technological systems.

The use of the threshing sledge, also known by the Roman term tribulum, allowed for a considerable increase in the amount of grain processed and accelerated its processing. In the past, it was believed that this innovation was linked to the birth of the first states, but our study shows that its first use is much older.

Pharoah

Discovery of ancient Ahramat branch of the river Nile may explain location of Egypt's pyramids

egypt pyramid nile
© Eman GhoneimThe water course of the ancient Ahramat Branch borders a large number of pyramids dating from the Old Kingdom to the Second Intermediate Period, spanning between the Third Dynasty and the Thirteenth Dynasty.
Some 31 pyramids in Egypt, including the Giza pyramid complex, may originally have been built along a 64-km-long branch of the river Nile which has long since been buried beneath farmland and desert. The findings, reported in a paper in Communications Earth & Environment, could explain why these pyramids are concentrated in what is now a narrow, inhospitable desert strip.

The Egyptian pyramid fields between Giza and Lisht, built over a nearly 1,000-year period starting approximately 4,700 years ago, now sit on the edge of the inhospitable Western Desert, part of the Sahara. Sedimentary evidence suggests that the Nile used to have a much higher discharge, with the river splitting into several branches in places. Researchers have previously speculated that one of these branches may have flown by the pyramid fields, but this has not been confirmed.


Comment: Note that there's compelling evidence that suggests the Giza pyramids were built thousands of years earlier than is commonly believed, and that they likely were served a technological function, rather than being a funerary monument to a pharaoh. However, could it be that this flow of water may have played some part in its operation?


Comment: See also:


Pharoah

Mysterious L-shaped structure found near Egyptian pyramids of Giza baffles scientists

An enigmatic L-shaped structure found underground near the pyramids at Giza may be an entrance to a mysterious deeper feature below it.
Survey Area Giza
© Archaeological ProspectionLocation of the survey area projected on Google Maps. The red rectangle shows the area of the initial survey. The colour figure shows the horizontal profile of GPR. View is to the north.
Using remote sensing techniques, archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a mysterious L-shaped structure underground in the western cemetery of Giza.

The western cemetery contains burials of royal family members of the royal family and high-ranking officials, the team of scientists wrote in a study. Many of their tombs have above-ground rectangular stone or mud-brick structures with flat roofs known as "mastabas."

There is an area in the middle of the cemetery where no aboveground structures have been found. To search for remains in this area, the team used a technique called electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), in which electrical currents are sent into the ground and resistance is measured to detect remains, along with ground-penetrating radar (GPR), a technique that sends radar into the ground and, after it bounces back, maps the underlying structures.

The team found an anomaly roughly 6.5 feet (2 meters) beneath the surface. It appears to be an L-shaped structure measuring at least 33 feet (10 m) in length, the team wrote in their paper, published May 5 in the journal Archaeological Prospection. From the readings, the L-shaped structure "seems to have been filled with sand, which means it was backfilled after it was constructed," the team wrote in the study.

Pistol

The IRA, MI6's not so secret army, remains the global hallmark in personal and political treachery

Gerry Adams
© breitbart.comGerry Adams
Anyone who thinks they understand the Irish Troubles has not a clue what they are talking about, Declan Hayes writes.

While the dying Bobby Tohill, once one of the IRA's top Belfast assassins prior to the IRA trying to assassinate him a couple of years back, prepares to meet his Maker over the next few days in North Belfast, Tommy Tolan, his one time friend and IRA comrade, comforts him by bringing Holy Communion to his sick bed.

What is noteworthy about that is that Tolan was caught by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in the process of kidnapping Tohill so that the IRA could torture and then kill him. In a remarkable act of forgiveness that would leave even Jesus scratching His head, these two lifelong "friends no matter what" have since metaphorically kissed and made up and Tolan, having previously failed in his mission to kill Tohill, is once again pulling up his sleeves to help his friend cross the Styx to the land beyond. As regards the PSNI, well Tolan, Tohill and their buddies spent the best years of their lives killing 314 of them and injuring a further 9,000 them but that, as they say, is another story from another time

Though that is but one tiny vignette of the old maxim that anyone who thinks they understand the Irish Troubles has not a clue what they are talking about, there is no shortage of other tales and many of them, in the case of Belfast at least, lead right back to Gerry Adams, long regarded as both the head of the IRA and, along with Martin McGuinness, MI6's main plant within the IRA.

Info

Undersea scans of 'Gateway to Europe' reveal astonishing detail of sunken landscape

Submerge Landscape
© Submerged Landscape Research Centre
The first ever hi-resolution archaeological underwater scans of the Adriatic Sea off the coast of Croatia have revealed the remains of an astonishing network of streams, rivers and other geological features, all of which were once above ground.

The discovery has been made by the Life on the Edge project, which is a collaboration between the University of Bradford's Submerged Landscapes Research Centre and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Split. A series of expeditions over the next five years will map parts of the Adriatic and North Sea, as they were between 10,000 and 24,000 years ago, when sea levels were around 100m lower than they are today.
Dr Simon Fitch,
© University of Bradford, UK
Principal investigator Dr Simon Fitch, pictured above, described the findings as "astonishing", adding: "The results provided way more detail than we were expecting.

"It's a more diverse landscape and it's better preserved than we expected. The unique environment of the area around Split, which is quite sheltered, has preserved a lot of it. There are beautifully preserved rivers and estuaries buried beneath what is now the seafloor."

Archaeology

Unprecedented evidence humans occupied 'lava tubes' could fill in gaps in the archaeological record

lava tube ancient caves saudi arabia
© Green Arabia Project via CNN NewsourceThe researchers enter Umm Jirsan, the longest lava tube system in the region.
People who lived in the Arabian Peninsula thousands of years ago went underground when they wanted to beat the heat, new research shows.

People who lived in the Arabian Peninsula thousands of years ago went underground when they wanted to beat the heat. Possibly stopping there as they traveled between oases and pastures, they ducked into vast subterranean tunnels where molten lava had once flowed millions of years earlier, according to a recent study.

Beginning in the Stone Age, Neolithic herders descended into and occupied these vast tunnels, known as lava tubes, archaeologists have discovered. Cooler air underground would have provided a welcome respite from the sun and wind, and for thousands of years, humans sheltered with their livestock in the tunnels. The herders left behind objects and even carved pictures on the rocky walls, researchers reported April 17 in the journal PLOS One.

Info

It's written in the stars - Assyriologist solves archaeological mystery from 700 BC in Iraq

Ancient symbols on a 2,700-year-old temple which have baffled experts for over a century have been explained by Trinity Assyriologist Dr Martin Worthington.

The sequence of 'mystery symbols' were on view on temples at various locations in ancient city of Dūr-Šarrukīn, present day Khorsabad, Iraq, which was ruled by Sargon II, king of Assyria (721-704 BC).

Assyrian Eagle and Bull
© From New York Public Library.Late 19th century drawings of the eagle and bull symbols published by French excavator Victor Place.
The sequence of five symbols - a lion, eagle, bull, fig-tree and plough - were first made known to the modern world through drawings published by French excavators in the late nineteenth century. Since then, there has been a spate of ideas about what the symbols might mean.

They have been compared to Egyptian hieroglyphs, understood as reflections of imperial might, and suspected to represent the king's name - but how?

Dr Martin Worthington of Trinity's School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies has proposed a new solution in a paper published this month [April 26th] in the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. He argues the Assyrian words for the five symbols (lion, eagle, bull, fig-tree and plough) contain, in the right sequence, the sounds that spell out the Assyrian form of the name 'Sargon' (šargīnu).

Sometimes, the same archaeological site uses only three of the symbols (lion, tree, plough), which Dr Worthington argues again write the name 'Sargon', following similar principles.

Bad Guys

Odessa massacre 10 years on... Western media silence covers up NATO incrimination

Odessa Trade Unions House
© Photo: Public domainOdessa Trade Unions House
Ten years ago this week, a shocking and brutal massacre was perpetrated by supporters of the NATO-backed Kiev regime in Odessa.

At least 42 men and women were murdered on May 2, 2014, when the Trade Unions House in the historic port city was set ablaze by a fascist mob.

Comment:
1) The massacre at the Odessa Trade Unions House on May 2, 2014 was an important turning point for future developments. It was a warning to citizens, especially in the countries that kept silent about this tragedy, as to how much their governments and media are ready to underwrite without even batting an eyelid. A cursory glance at the more than one hundred article on SOTT, that discuss, or just mention the event in passing, reveal undercurrents that are now manifest in the global situation.

2) The article claims the western media has been silent, and several articles relate to this situation.
  1. A look at the false flag in Odessa and the pathetic U.S. media coverage
  2. How Western media protects the right-wing supporters of the new puppet regime in Kiev by covering their murders!
  3. Nazi sympathizers: Ukraine's political repression is 'downright funny' to Western media
  4. Complicit Western media totally silent about U.S.-sponsored genocide in SE Ukraine
  5. The German media and the massacre in Odessa
  6. Avoiding facts? MSM uncertain who is behind deadly Odessa blaze
  7. Best of the Web: 'Rigorous' Maidan massacre exposé suppressed by top academic journal
  8. The pathological falsification of reality in Ukraine by U.S. and NATO
  9. Best of the Web: Political repression and resistance in 'Democratic Europe'
  10. Ukraine neo-Nazi Far Right portrayed as heroes by Rupert Murdoch-owned Sky News
  11. How the Western Press has for years hidden Ukraine's neo-nazi war on Donbass
  12. Best of the Web: Ukraine on Fire: The Oliver Stone documentary the US Empire doesn't want you to see
  13. Best of the Web: Kiev livid as documentary revealing ugly truth about Maidan 'revolution' aired on French TV - EN subs (VIDEO)
  14. Western news blackout: The U.S. media ignores Putin's peace plan (13 May, 2014!)
3) Below is a mix of articles using various search strings applied to title, summary and text. First those that contain Odessa Trade Union (or Unions) House in the title, next those that mention these terms in the summary and last those that mention them in the main text. There is no system to the numbering, but it makes it easer to find and refer to them later, if needed.
  1. Leaked transcript reveals firefighters delayed response to Odessa Trade Union House fire
  2. Ukraine Interior Ministry's statement on Odessa fire 'cynical' - 46 people killed and over 200 wounded after radicals attacked Odessa's Trade Union House
  3. Apathy: Ukrainian nationalists sneer at Odessa Trade Union House victims
  4. Pro-West radicals set Trade Unions House on fire in Odessa, Ukraine - 39 people die
  5. Ukraine's neo-Nazis should face tribunal - Russia's top senator
  6. Flashback Best of the Web: As Ukrainians call for Moscow intervention, EU 'foreign minister' Catherine Ashton justifies Kiev junta bloodshed: "The state's monopoly on the legitimate use of violence needs to be respected"
  7. Flashback The Odessa slaughter: How a vicious mob burnt anti-government activists alive
  8. Ukrainian Neo-Nazis parade through Odessa on seventh anniversary of post-Maidan massacre in which dozens were burned alive
  9. Ukraine: Ultra right wingers stage torchlight march on day that Odessa residents mourn victims of 2014 massacre
  10. Vladimir Putin blasts western double-standards while standing next to Angela Merkel
  11. Remembering the horrific Odessa Massacre three years later
  12. Anniversary of Odessa tragedy: Kiev makes no progress to investigate it
  13. Fascist Ukraine disappears independent journalists and opponents of the Kiev junta
  14. Russian MP suggests Russia open its own international war crimes court to try Kiev junta
  15. The European Union wants Russia to bail out both the EU and Ukraine
  16. Odessa massacre probe falsified? Parliament inquiry member blasts 'redacted' results
  17. Our 'enemies' in Ukraine speak: People from the Donbass describe the atrocities there
  18. Odessa massacre victims did not die from smoke but died in seconds says emergency service chief
  19. Odessa and Mariupol massacres expose true face of fascist Kiev regime
  20. Odessa massacre 9 days on: Dozens still missing, residents commemorate the dead
  21. Odessa tragedy survivor tells how 'many people were strangled after escaping the fire'
  22. Lavrov says Odessa tragedy was 'fascism in action'
  23. Obama's bloodbath in Odessa - as guilty as anyone in Kiev
  24. The truth about what happened in Odessa, Ukraine: How Bandera psychopaths murdered, raped and burned people alive with the blessing of the Western powers
  25. Washington responsible for fascist massacre in Odessa
  26. Sevastopol declares 3-day mourning for Odessa fire victims
  27. Activists demand 'murderer' governor's resignation over Odessa bloodshed
  28. SOTT Focus: Shades of 911: US-backed anti-Russian attacks by 'Right Sector' in Ukraine sees 'jumpers' from burning building
  29. NATO's proxy war in Ukraine and Nazi-linked White Helmets
  30. An eyewitness recalls the 2014 Odessa massacre: 'An act of genocide'
  31. Eight years ago in Odessa
  32. CIA behind secret plots to kidnap, torture and assassinate Ukrainian dissidents for President Zelensky, says Ukraine defector
  33. Ukraine: The Second World War continues
  34. SOTT Focus: "One less traitor": Zelensky Oversees Campaign of Assassination, Kidnapping And Torture of Political Opposition
  35. Testimony reveals Zelensky's secret police plot to 'Liquidate' opposition figure Anatoly Shariy
  36. Flashback Burned alive: How the 2014 Odessa massacre became a turning point for Ukraine
  37. Sergey Poletaev: How incompetent leaders put Ukraine on the road to disaster
  38. What did Putin mean by 'denazification' of Ukraine and why is it so important?
  39. How a century of political violence in Ukraine is linked to the atrocities of today
  40. Repressions: A detailed list of a disturbing trend in the Ukraine
  41. 'Why did the Ukrainians have to kill us?': Refugees fleeing Donbass talk to RT
  42. 'We will never go back to Ukraine': DPR fighter jailed for his views by Kiev talks to RT
  43. Belligerent rhetoric & SS-style regalia: Who are Ukraine's Right Sector and neo-nazi Azov?
  44. Best of the Web: Joe Biden - the show is over! Revealing the tools and programming for implementing a sustainable US coup
  45. Ukrainian Deputy Renat Kuzmin: Zelensky's party has lost all legitimacy by blaming Russia for Odessa massacre
  46. New York Times reveals America's weapons-makers drive Trump impeachment
  47. Why are Ukrainian neo-Nazis joining the Hong Kong protests?
  48. Ukraine, Trump, Biden — The story behind the story of "Ukrainegate"
  49. Russian Embassy in US furious over Washington's silence over Odessa tragedy
  50. Message for progressive left: 'If you want to see real Nazis, come to Ukraine'
  51. Ukraine Immortal Regiment Victory Day celebrations marred by nationalist violence
  52. Ukrainian Nazi Azov leader threatens new Odessa bloodbath on May 9
  53. UN slams Ukraine for systemic torture, intimidation, rampant human rights abuses
  54. U.S. Government backs fascists who want to destroy Russia
  55. How the Elites in the US rile up its suckers with lies and propaganda
  56. Best of the Web: The reality of Kiev's repression of anti-fascism in Ukraine
  57. Delusional! Kiev's 'Joan of Arc' arrested - 19 year old Neo-Nazi involved in murder sprees, burglaries
  58. As Ukraine is defaulting Soros wants the EU to pay for his long-term investment
  59. Those maniacs! U.S. government is seeking any excuse to go to war with Russia
  60. The twelve clauses of betrayal written in the Minsk ceasefire agreement
  61. We see whose Security Council this is: UN ignores Russia's request for Odessa tragedy investigation
  62. Outclassed by Putin: Obama's war Against Russia backfires
  63. More evidence suggesting MH17 shot at from jet fighter
  64. Ethnic cleansing in Ukraine: Obama is the war criminal, not Putin
  65. 'Vote at gunpoint,' anyone? US keen to legitimize 'good' election in Ukraine no matter what
  66. Ihor Kolomoyskyi, the key man behind Odessa Massacre: His many connections to the White House
  67. SOTT Focus: Behind the Headlines: Lessons from collapse of USSR for USA: Interview with Dmitry Orlov
  68. Fascists from the Right Sector attempt to enter Europe's largest nuclear power plant in S.E. Ukraine
  69. Welcome to Nulandistan: A multimedia look at the hell the U.S. and EU have unleashed on Ukraine
  70. Powerplay and cover-up: Kiev protégé allegedly behind Mariupol and Odessa massacres leaked tapes reveal
  71. Mariupol industrialists to form people's patrols to ensure order in city and ask Ukrainian military to leave immediately
  72. Venezuela won't recognize Kiev authorities until free elections in Ukraine
  73. Editor of Executive Intelligence Review: US using Ukraine as excuse to provoke confrontation with Russia
  74. Kiev junta brought in 4,000 Right Sector fascists for Operation Odessa
  75. How the Odessa massacre went down: Genocide in Novorossiya and swan song of Ukrainian statehood
  76. Odessa police release 67 anti-govt activists after crowd surrounds police HQ
  77. Ukrainian army attacks eastern cities of Mariupol, Konstantinovka
  78. On the edge of war: Ukrainian military storms Kramatorsk, 1 dead, 9 injured
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  82. SOTT Focus: Blowback: An Inside Look at How US-Funded Fascists in Ukraine Mentor US White Supremacists
  83. Putin tells Merkel Ukraine's Minsk peace process all but dead
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  86. Tactics of repression: The connections between Operation Jade Helm and the Ukrainian Far Right
  87. SOTT Focus: Behind the Headlines: Anti-Empire Report - Interview with William Blum
  88. Ukrainian parliament makes ignoring human rights official policy
  89. South Front, Ukrainian Crisis News: Poroshenko wants Donbass and Crimea, Kiev clamps down on Odessa
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  100. Russian Parliament demands war crimes tribunal for Kiev authorities for bloodbath in Odessa