Secret HistoryS


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Lenin's proclamation of the 1917 October Revolution to be shown in UK for 1st time


RT
Sun, 05 Nov 2017 09:53 UTC
armoured car
© SputnikRed Guards of Putilovsky factory with the armoured car "Lieutenant Shmidt" taken from cadets at night on October 23, 1917. Petrograd
An artefact marking a turning point in Russian history - the proclamation of the 1917 October Revolution by Vladimir Lenin - will be shown for the first time in the UK, the Independent reports. The event marks the uprising's 100th anniversary.

The poster, proclaiming the overthrow of the provisional Russian government, was put up on walls in Petrograd (Saint Petersburg) on November 7, 1917 (October 25 in the old Russian calendar). It was written by Lenin and published in the name of Petrograd Revolution Committee.

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2 + 2 = 4

The history behind National Unity Day


Sputnik
Sat, 04 Nov 2017 21:15 UTC
On Saturday Russia is celebrating National Unity Day - a relatively new state holiday, albeit one with deep historical roots.

Russian statue
© CCO

National Unity Day was first celebrated November 4, 2005 and established in memory of the events of 1612, when a Russian merchant by the name of Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky led a volunteer army to liberate Moscow from Polish occupation. Dmitry Pozharsky was even heralded as the 'Savior of the Motherland' for his merits.

These events were connected to the end of the period in Russian history called the Time of Troubles.

Comment:
Russia celebrates Unity Day

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Dig

Mysterious stone sarcophagus cover dates back more than 1,400 years found in Turkey


RT
Sat, 04 Nov 2017 16:52 UTC
Trowel
© Przemysław Sakrajda / Wikipedia
An ancient sarcophagus cover inscribed with a prayer to the dead has been discovered by construction workers in northern Turkey. Historians believe the artifact dates back more than 1,400 years, but there are very few clues as to who it belonged to.

Best known for their use in the ancient burial rituals of Egypt, Rome, and Greece, sarcophagi are a type of coffin whose decoration often reflected of the status of the person within. Perhaps the most famous sarcophagus is that of the 'boy king,' the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun, whose burial case consisted of four layers, one made from solid gold.

A much more rudimentary design in the form a stone sarcophagus cover has now been discovered in the northern Turkish province of Gümüşhane.
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Star of David

100 years of the Balfour Declaration: The cause of injustice and suffering endured by generations of Palestinians

John Wight
Sputnik
Fri, 03 Nov 2017 14:55 UTC
palestinian protest balfour
© AP Photo/ Majdi Mohammed
On 2 November 1917 the British government in the form of the country's then foreign secretary, Sir Arthur Balfour, addressed a letter to Lord Rothschild, a leading figure within the British Jewish community.

In terms of its significance and impact this brief letter, known to the world as the Balfour Declaration, remains unsurpassed. Depending on your point of view it enjoys a place in history as the catalyst of Jewish salvation, leading to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, or the cause of the unremitting injustice and suffering and endured by generations of Palestinians.

In the letter Balfour writes:
"His Majesty's Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by the Jews in any other country."
The stance enshrined in these words - involving the government of a European state arrogating to itself the right to hand over part of the land of another people to a third people without bothering to ask or consult said people - is staggering in its iniquity. It bespeaks the injustice upon which the British Empire rested and the country's engagement with the developing world, one rooted in domination, exploitation and naked self-interest.
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MIB

Orwellian NSA wanted to use the Espionage Act to prosecute a journalist in the 80's for using FOIA

Emma Best
Muckrock
Tue, 24 Oct 2017 16:38 UTC
NSA memo
Declassified memos show agency's leadership argued there was "criminal intent" in Puzzle Palace author's public records requests

Declassified documents in the Central Intelligence Agency's archives show that while the CIA was looking to include the Freedom Of Information Act in its war on leaks, the National Security Agency was seriously considering using the Espionage Act to target target Puzzle Palace author James Bamford for using FOIA.

While Bamford has briefly discussed this on a handful of occasions, the declassified memos and briefings from NSA confirm that this was more than just an intimidation tactic or a passing thought - the NSA had truly wanted to jail a journalist for his use of public records. When the Agency determined that this was unlikely to happen, they moved on to exploring other legal avenues which could be used to punish Bamford for his FOIA work.

Comment: In this case, justice may be best served by buying and reading James Bamford's book. After all the trouble the NSA went to supress it, aren't we a little curious about what it says?

The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency, America's Most Secret Intelligence Organization

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Star of David

 The Balfour Declaration set in motion the ethnic cleansing of Palestine

Rana Askoul
Mondoweiss
Thu, 02 Nov 2017 16:08 UTC
Suhmata Palestine
© Palestine RememberedThe Palestinian village of Suhmata in the early 1950s before its destruction by Israel.
Dear Ms. May,

I was in London for a summer visit a few years back. After a long day, I headed to Pret for a cup of coffee and a falafel wrap. A few minutes in, and as I was about to tuck into my wrap, a man seated next to me started a conversation with me about the weather. As we got to the part of the conversation where I told him that I'm in London just for a visit, he asked me where I was from. "Palestinian" I said.

"I like Palestinians," he responded. "But do you know what's wrong with the Palestinians?" he followed up.

"What?", I answered, curious as to what he is about to share.

"The problem is that the Palestinians can't move on. What happened has happened, but what are you going to do next, and when will you start looking towards the future, instead of continuing to be stuck in the past." I didn't respond to him then, but promised him that I would give what he said a thought.

I never thought back to that exchange until recently. Actually, specifically until four days ago. See, Ms. May, this past October 30 marked the 69th anniversary of the fall of my small village in Palestine - Suhmata- at the hands of the Golani brigade. With a little over 1300 inhabitants at the time, a mosque, a church and two schools, the village was aerially bombarded at first. Shortly after, Suhmata was captured by the Golani infantry brigade. They killed some of the villagers - maternal relatives of mine - and gave a choice to the remaining people to either stay and get killed or leave.

Comment: For an excellent historical account of what happened to Palestine as a consequence of the Balfour declaration, we recommend Illan Pappe's book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. Illan Pappe is an Israeli professor of history, and his book uses as sources internal documents of the Israeli military.

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Pyramid

Egyptian mysteries: Muon detection confirms giant 30-meter-long 'void' inside Great Pyramid of Giza


RT
Thu, 02 Nov 2017 12:39 UTC
giza pyramids
Void discovered using three different detection techniques
Scientists have discovered a secret, giant void hiding inside the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Located above the pyramid's Grand Gallery, the 30-meter-long void inside Khufu's Pyramid remains a mystery.

Its size suggests it plays an important role in the tomb's structure. It's the first discovery of its kind since the 19th century.

"These results constitute a breakthrough for the understanding of Khufu's Pyramid and its internal structure," the scientists explained in a journal published in Nature.

Comment: Also see:

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Pyramid

Cave paintings from lost civilization in Caribbean depict human-animal hybrids


RT
Thu, 02 Nov 2017 10:10 UTC
human hybrid cave paintings 1
© University of Leicester / Facebook
A team of archaeologists has discovered a vast array of pre-European conquest artwork from a lost civilization in a series of tiny caves on an uninhabited island in the Caribbean.

Some of the artwork was already known to archaeologists but had been misidentified as far more recent than it actually was. The Taíno people, a forgotten civilization that were wiped out following the conquests of Christopher Columbus, who mistook them for Indians, etched and painted a series of pictograms of animal-human hybrids and complex geometric designs.

human hybrid cave paintings 2
© University of Leicester / Facebook
"For the millions of indigenous peoples living in the Caribbean before European arrival, caves represented portals into a spiritual realm, and therefore these new discoveries of the artists at work within them captures, the essence of their belief systems and the building blocks of their cultural identity," said researcher Jago Cooper from the British Museum, as cited by Science Alert.

In the Taíno religion, for example, both the sun and moon emerged from caves, making them a key feature of their religious canon. "Most of the precolonial pictographs are in very narrow spaces deep in the caves," says Victor Serrano from the University of Leicester as cited by The University of Leicester Press, where the team's findings were published.
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Video

Zapruder film likely altered to hide true nature of Kennedy's wounds, indications of multiple shooters

Douglas P. Horne
Lew Rockwell
Sat, 19 May 2012 17:42 UTC
kennedy assassination
Was the Zapruder film altered?
Most Americans don't know anything about the two significant events involving the famous Zapruder film of President Kennedy's Assassination that took place back-to-back, on successive nights, at the CIA's National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC) - in Washington, D.C. - on the weekend immediately following JFK's assassination. But anyone evenly remotely interested in what is perhaps the key piece of film evidence in the Kennedy assassination - what for decades was viewed as the "bedrock evidence" in the case, the "closest thing to ground truth" - needs to become acquainted with what happened to Abraham Zapruder's home movie of JFK's assassination during the three days immediately following President Kennedy's death. Why? Because the hottest debate raging within the JFK research community for the past several years is about whether the Zapruder film in the National Archives is an authentic film from which sound, scientific conclusions regarding JFK's assassination can be divined, or whether it is an altered film indicative of a government cover-up, which yields tainted and suspect information, and leads us to false conclusions, about what happened in Dealey Plaza. The resolution of this debate hinges on the answers to two essential questions: First, is the film's chain of custody immediately after the assassination what it has been purported to be for many years, or is it, in reality, quite different? Second, are there visual indications within the film's imagery which prove it has been tampered with, i.e., altered? If the film's chain of custody has been misrepresented for decades, and if the opportunity and means existed that weekend to alter the film, then suspect imagery within the film takes on a crucial new level of importance, and is not simply of academic interest.

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MIB

Flashback President Truman: 'Limit CIA role to intelligence gathering'

Harry S Truman
Washington Post
Sun, 22 Dec 1963 05:50 UTC
Image
Independence, Missouri - I think it has become necessary to take another look at the purpose and operations of our Central Intelligence Agency - CIA. At least, I would like to submit here the original reason why I thought it necessary to organize this Agency during my Administration, what I expected it to do and how it was to operate as an arm of the President.

I think it is fairly obvious that by and large a President's performance in office is as effective as the information he has and the information he gets. That is to say, that assuming the President himself possesses a knowledge of our history, a sensitive understanding of our institutions, and an insight into the needs and aspirations of the people, he needs to have available to him the most accurate and up-to-the-minute information on what is going on everywhere in the world, and particularly of the trends and developments in all the danger spots in the contest between East and West. This is an immense task and requires a special kind of an intelligence facility.

Of course, every President has available to him all the information gathered by the many intelligence agencies already in existence. The Departments of State, Defense, Commerce, Interior and others are constantly engaged in extensive information gathering and have done excellent work.

Comment: That 'something' about the way the CIA has been functioning, and continues to function, is that it considers itself accountable only to private, corporate interests that lie above the State.

This op-ed by former President Harry Truman, timed as it was one month to the day following the assassination of another President who made it his mission to "splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds", was published in the morning edition of the Washington Post. It didn't make the later print runs. CIA officials pleaded with Truman to retract his op-ed, but he refused.

And so, like Eisenhower's farewell address to the nation outlining the dangers presented to a free and open society by the 'Military-Industrial Complex', and JFK's speech about the "monolithic and ruthless conspiracy", Truman's message stands as a warning to the American people: your government has been taken over by sinister psychopaths whose "subverting influence" is corrupting the nation, international relations, and the global common interest.

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