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And yet another murder that wasn't: The Perepilichny case, the anti-Russia campaign and Bill Browder

Clara Weiss
World Socialist Web Site
Mon, 24 Dec 2018 00:00 UTC
Alexsander Perepilichny
© BBC.com
Alexander Perepilichny
The past few days have seen the unravelling of one of the many alleged "murders" that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been accused of by the media and the intelligence agencies: after an investigation into the November 2012 death of the multi-millionaire Alexander Perepilichny, the coroner found that he "more likely than not" died of natural causes.

This conclusion comes after years in which the media have treated his death as a "killing" and "murder," ascribed to the Kremlin and even Putin himself, without any kind of factual substantiation.

As recently as August 8, 2018, the New York Times cited his death as one of several for whom Putin was probably responsible, falsely writing that "the police were left scratching their heads over the body... It was not until 2015 that a botanist was able to identify the presumptive cause of Perepilichny's death: His stomach held traces of gelsemium, a rare, poisonous plant grown in the Himalayas and known to have been used in Chinese assassinations."
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Snakes in Suits

Barack Obama, ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood

F. William Engdahl
New Eastern Outlook
Tue, 25 Dec 2018 00:00 UTC
Obama
© AP
Former US President Barack Obama
There is a great uproar over the recent decision by US President Trump to pull US troops out of Syria, announcing his reason for doing so is that ISIS, the so-called Islamic State, has largely been defeated. What lies behind the decision and more important, what was behind the surprise emergence of ISIS across Syria in 2014 brings the spotlight to yet-classified documents of the Obama term. If the reorganized Justice Department is compelled to make these documents public in lawsuits or Freedom of Information requests, it could rock organizations such as the CIA and many in the Obama camp.

In 2010 the US Administration under President Barack Obama developed a top secret blueprint for the most ambitious and far-ranging series of US-backed regime change across the Islamic Middle East since World War I and the Anglo-French Sykes-Picot agreement. It was to set off a wave of wars and chaos, of failed states and floods of war refugees unimaginable to the most cynical veteran diplomat, and beyond the belief of most lay persons in the world.

In August, 2010, six months before Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution was launched by the Washington NGOs including the NED, the Soros Foundations, Freedom House and others, President Obama signed Presidential Study Directive-11 (PDS-11), ordering Washington government agencies to prepare for "change." The change was to be a radical policy calling for Washington's backing for the secret fundamentalist Islamic Muslim Brotherhood sect across the Middle East Muslim world, and with it, the unleashing of a reign of terror that would change the entire world.
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Colosseum

Pompeii was a full-fledged city before it was taken over by the Romans

ANSA
Archaeology News Network
Fri, 21 Dec 2018 20:00 UTC
amphitheatre pompeii
© ANSA
Pompeii may have had a theatre already at the time of the arrival of the Samnites in the fourth century BC, Superintendent Massimo Osanna said Thursday after the discovery of a concave area next to the second-century BC theatre that was preserved by the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius. The new digs at the famed archaeological site have "raised this hypothesis", he said.

There are archaeological remains in Pompeii for Greeks, Etruscans, Samnites, and an unnamed indigenous Italic population in addition to the Romans. The foundation of the city, and the exact phases of each cultural group, are a bit murky but are believed to date back to the sixth century BC.


Comment: Enigmas of 3000 to 300 BC


It is however clear from the archaeological record in Pompeii and in other towns of southern Italy that sometime in the fourth century BC the people of Samnium moved down from the mountains and into some of the more urban areas. Just in Campania, there is evidence of Samnite populations in Capua and Nola in addition to Pompeii.

Comment: Interestingly, poisonous vapours, as those associated with the Semnite goddess and the possible founders of Pompeii, were often linked to comets and the accompanying disasters. As Laura Knight-Jadczyk writes in New Light on the Black Death: The Cosmic Connection:
Along with the science, Baillie cites contemporary evidence - some of this evidence has been relegated to "myth" - from around the globe that indicate that the earth was, indeed, subjected to bombardment from space during the 14th century and that this may very well have been not only the cause of the 25 January 1348 earthquake, but also the cause of the Black Death. Baillie quotes a great selection of material from contemporary accounts including the work of Ziegler cited above:

[...]

From Samuel Cohn's book:
... a dragon at Jerusalem like that of Saint George that devoured all that crossed its path .... A city of 40,000 ... totally demolished by the fall from heaven of a great quantity of worms, big as a fist with eight legs, which killed all by their stench and poisonous vapours. (Cohn)
See also:

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2 + 2 = 4

Mysterious Folkton drums of Stonehenge may have been Stone Age measuring devices

Victoria Bell
Daily Mail
Fri, 21 Dec 2018 16:56 UTC
Folkton drums

Archaeologists are now suggesting that the 4,000-year-old cylinders, found in a child's grave in 1889 were actually a tape measure used during the Stone age.
Ancient cylinders which have baffled experts for more than a hundred years since they were discovered were used for measuring, archaeologists have claimed.

The unique 4,000-year-old Folkton drums date from the Neolithic period and were found in a child's grave in 1889.

Since their discovery, the pots - which are covered in intricate carvings - have been studied by generations of experts who struggled to find what they were used for.

Now researchers claim that were used as a 'standard measurement' to plan out the stone circles built by our Stone Age ancestors around 5,000 years ago.

Comment: 5000-year-old stone balls continue to baffle archaeologists

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USA

The razing of Panama, commemorating another 'heroic' American victory

Atilio Boron
Greanville Post
Sat, 22 Dec 2018 00:00 UTC
panamaattack
© Unknown
The George H.W. Bush invasion of Panama
On a day like today, but in 1989, the recently deceased war criminal George H. W. Bush ordered his troops to attack Panama City and arrest President Manuel Noriega and take him prisoner to the US.

The seismograph of the university of Panama recorded 417 bomb impacts in the first 14 hours of the invasion. Of that total, 66 bombs fell in the first 4 minutes. The South command recognized 314 Panamanian military fallen in combat, compared to 23 Americans. He didn't recognize civilian dead. But the Panamanian committee on human rights recognized in 1990 to have a list of 556 dead, including 93 missing. Former Attorney General of the United States, Ramsey Clark, assured the dead numbered several thousand".

It was 42 days of unequal combat, between the most powerful army in the world and an infinitely weaker military force and an unarmed people, or armed only with machetes. In tribute to that heroic defense of the Panamanians I share the note of who at that time was a girl and now tells us her experiences and what happened during the invasion. I lived in the invasion of the United States to Panama. First I want to clarify that all Panamanians who were born before December 20, 1989 we are survivors of a war.
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Dig

Study details immense timber henge at Newgrange, Ireland, discovered during summer drought

Ronan McGreevy
Irish Times
Fri, 21 Dec 2018 10:23 UTC
henge ireland newgrange

The Geometric Henge: Discovered by Anthony Murphy and Ken Williams in July
The full scale of archaeological discoveries at Newgrange revealed by the summer drought has been described as "staggering".

A series of "immense" timber palisade (wooden fences) walls measuring nearly a kilometre in length enclosed a vast ceremonial area which was used for mortuary rituals.

Large ceremonial henges and enclosures of timber uprights indicate that the the Newgrange site was used for ceremonial purposes several centuries after the construction of the world-famous passage tomb and mounds.

Archaeologists now believe that the Newgrange site was "sanctified" by the original passage tomb which made the site a place of pilgrimage for the generations that came afterwards.

Comment: If the following recent study is correct, then these areas may have been much more than sites for 'ritual': Prehistoric cave art study reveals ancient people had complex knowledge of astronomy and were tracking catastrophic meteor showers

And, curiously, the discoveries in Ireland weren't the only to take place during the heatwave in Europe this summer: See also:

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Solar Flares

Nemesis - Our Sun's missing death star companion

Walter Cruttenden
Ancient Origins
Sun, 23 Dec 2018 01:47 UTC
Nemesis
© Ancient Origins
The great issue facing the binary theory today is, well, the absence of an obvious candidate for the part. In the visible realm, we do not appear to have any stars near enough that fit the bill, according to our current understanding of physics (Newton's Laws place physical restrictions on distance calculations). Although it's a long shot, the existence of a visible companion to our Sun could still be possible under circumstances we will investigate later.

We have seen that the idea of a binary, while controversial, is not a new one. References to it in ancient writings and belief systems are there, though largely ignored by researchers and historians. With the majority of stars in the universe (all 1 % of it) being attached to binary or multiple star systems, the obvious question is, why wouldn't our own Sun have a partner star as well? Statistically, it's not at all likely that our Sun would be a loner. To many astronomers, though, the binary idea is an annoyance that just won't die. They may ignore or disagree with the theory, but at the same time can't disprove it.

Comment:

Nemesis - The Sun's Evil Twin Brother

Nemesis - The Sun's long-lost twin

The Death of Nemesis: The Sun's Distant, Dark Companion

Getting WISE About Nemesis

Nemesis: Does the Sun Have a 'Companion'?

Study: Our sun probably has an evil twin called Nemesis

Sott Exclusive: Nemesis, not 'Nibiru' - Clarifying mainstream reports about 'a large ninth planet' that periodically sends comets our way

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Bad Guys

40 years later: John Wayne Gacy's killing spree shattered the illusion of the safe suburban community

William Lee
The Chicago Tribune
Tue, 18 Dec 2018 03:00 UTC
john wayne gacy
In the shadow of O'Hare International Airport, the winding, looping streets and small-town character of unincorporated Norwood Park Township look much the way they did in December 1978.

But gone are the lines of gawking bystanders, desperate families of missing young men and carloads of curiosity-seekers who choked the streets in the days before that long-ago Christmas, trying to catch a glimpse of the murder house.

John Wayne Gacy's confession to the rape and murder of more than 30 people didn't just awaken America to a nightmare hidden in its own backyard. The discovery 40 years ago of the dank, muddy mass grave underneath Gacy's yellow brick ranch house at 8213 W. Summerdale Ave. forever shattered the image of the safe suburban community.

A police search for missing Maine West sophomore Robert Piest led investigators to 36-year-old Gacy, a "stocky, bull necked contractor," described by neighbors and business associates as a pillar of the community: a likable, boastful divorced businessman and Democratic precinct captain who hosted themed neighborhood parties and entertained children as a clown named Pogo.

"(The public) would feel much more comfortable if Gacy was this type of creepy, sequestered ghoul that was unkempt and heinous," Detective Sgt. Jason Moran of the Cook County sheriff's office, who is a point man on the Gacy case, said recently. "But instead, he dressed as a clown and bounced kids on his knee. He would knock at your door and say vote for my candidate."

Gacy's nice-guy persona masked something far more sinister. Once they were safely restrained - usually in a pair of handcuffs as he demonstrated a "trick" he learned as a clown - Gacy's easy smile melted away, revealing a cold, growling predator who sexually assaulted his victims before strangling many of them with a knotted rope. He buried 29 of his 33 victims in trenches underneath and around his home and dumped four others from bridges once his property could hold no more bodies.
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Fireball

Oldest Aramaic inscription ever discovered describes 'devourer that brings fire' to victims

Owen Jarus
Live Science
Thu, 20 Dec 2018 07:01 UTC
ancient aramaic fire inscription
© Roberto Ceccacci/Courtesy of the Chicago-Tübingen Expedition to Zincirli
The ancient inscription had illustrations of animals such as scorpions on the front and back (shown here).
A 2,800-year-old incantation, written in Aramaic, describes the capture of a creature called the "devourer" said to be able to produce "fire."

Discovered in August 2017 within a small building, possibly a shrine, at the site of Zincirli (called "Sam'al" in ancient times), in Turkey, the incantation is inscribed on a stone cosmetic container. Written by a man who practiced magic who is called "Rahim son of Shadadan," the incantation "describes the seizure of a threatening creature [called] the 'devourer,'" wrote Madadh Richey and Dennis Pardee in the abstract of a presentation they gave recently at the Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting. That event took place in Denver between Nov 17 and 21.

The blood of the devourer was used to treat someone who appears to have been suffering from the "fire" of the devourer, said Richey, a doctoral student in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. It's not clear whether the blood was given to the afflicted person in a potion that could be swallowed or whether it was smeared onto their body, Richey told Live Science.
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Seismograph

Strong earthquake struck Machu Picchu in 1450 interrupting construction and helping perfect design


Peruvian Times
Thu, 13 Dec 2018 13:37 UTC
Machu Picchu

The separation of stone blocks at Machu Picchu is due to an earthquake of at least magnitude 6.5 that struck around the year 1450.
Construction of Machu Picchu was interrupted around 1450 by a powerful earthquake, leaving damage still evident today and prompting the Inca to perfect the seismic-resistant megalithic architecture that is now so famous throughout Cusco, according to a major new scientific study revealed by Peru's state-run news agency Andina.

The Cusco-Pata Research Project determined that a temblor of at least magnitude 6.5 struck during the reign of the 9th Inca Pachacutec while he was building his now iconic summer estate atop the saddle-ridge between two craggy mountain peaks.

The multidisciplinary research project began in 2016, led by the Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Institute (Ingemmet), with the participation of experts from the United Kingdom, France and Spain.

"What we can see is that there was already construction underway with one type of architecture under Pachacutec," said the project coordinator Carlos Benavente. "Then, we believe in the middle of that construction of Machu Picchu, there was a major earthquake."

Comment: As noted in Massive flooding in Europe during the Little Ice Age It appears the earthquake occurred during a fairly tumultuous period on our plane:
Climate historians estimate that major flooding on an unpredictable but increasingly frequent basis started as early as 1250. Extreme events like the Grote Mandrake flood of 1362 which killed at least 100,000 people became darkly repetitive.
The Little Ice Age, that is considered to have begun around the 13th century, stretching all the way into the 20th, and which afflicted much of the planet, was clearly accompanied by a much more diverse collection of catastrophic events, in Little Ice Age foiled Europeans' early exploration of North America it says:
Starting in the late 16th century, a series of volcanic eruptions likely chilled the Northern Hemisphere by as much as 1.8 degrees Celsius below the long-term average, White says.
Did events like these drive the Inca's to create their self-sustaining civilization in the sky?

See also:

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