Every year or so Benjamin Netanyahu treats the entire globe to cartoonish nightmares of a 'nuclear Iran,' exhorting us all to do something 'before it's too late!' Just like with the 'global warming' myth, there's the exhortation that, if we just did something, we could all be saved. And, just like the global warming myth, we are never told 'it's too late' because then the myth loses its political usefulness.

In the latest edition that will no doubt dominate headlines for days, Netanyahu, utilizing a 'professional' PowerPoint presentation, provides what he calls incontrovertible proof that Iran had a nuclear weapons program and is still secretly pursuing nuclear weapons. He sums it up as follows:

At the very beginning of the of the Skripal incident, the security services blocked by D(SMA) notice any media mention of Pablo Miller and told the media not to look at Orbis and the Steele dossier on Trump, acting immediately to get out their message via trusties in the BBC and Guardian. Gordon Corera, "BBC Security Correspondent", did not name the source who told him to say this, but helpfully illustrated his tweet with a nice picture of MI6 Headquarters.

MI6's most important media conduit (after Frank Gardner) is Luke Harding of the Guardian.
A number of people replied to Harding's tweet to point out that this was demonstrably untrue, and Pablo Miller had listed his employment by Orbis Business Intelligence on his Linkedin profile. That profile had just been deleted, but a google search for "Pablo Miller" plus "Orbis Business Intelligence", without Linkedin as a search term, brought up Miller's Linkedin profile as the first result (although there are twelve other Pablo Millers on Linkedin and the search brought up none of them). Plus a 2017 forum discussed Pablo Miller's Orbis connection and it both cited and linked to his Linkedin entry.

Netanyahu had his best Microsoft Office^TM people put together a nice 'Iran is EVIL' PowerPoint presentation, which he then launched at the ever-receptive Western media, and in particular at Trump, who will decide before May 12th whether or not to back out of the 2015 Iran deal. This is Bibi's attempt to influence Trump's decision.

Not one word of it should be believed of course.

In late 2005 CNN's Christiane Amanpour interviewed Syrian president Bashar al-Assad ahead of the publication of a UN report on an investigation into the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former prime minster of Lebanon, on Valentine's Day that year. Syria's leader was at the time effectively tried and condemned in a trial-by-media as having ordered Hariri's assassination, though there is to this day no conclusive evidence proving either Syrian or Lebanese government links with the massive bomb attack in Beirut that killed Hariri and 22 other people. In fact, the evidence strongly points to an Israeli hand in the murder.

Given that Hariri's death triggered a popular uprising known as the 'Cedar Revolution', which overthrew the pro-Syrian government in Beirut and led to Syrian troops being forced out of Lebanon after decades of peacekeeping since the Lebanese civil war, it's difficult to see what possible motivation the Syrian government may have had for assassinating Hariri - though one can certainly see how certain other countries in the region may have benefited.

Having grilled Assad on his alleged involvement in that macabre deed, Amanpour went on to tell her interviewee, to his face, that the US government was 'actively seeking' to depose him by force:

"Mr President, the rhetoric of regime change is headed towards you from the United States. They are actively looking for a new Syrian leader. They are granting visas and visits to Syrian opposition politicians. They are talking about isolating you diplomatically and perhaps a coup d'état or your regime crumbling."

Though the House Intelligence Committee report exonerated President Donald Trump of 'collusion' with Russia, it still accused Moscow, and RT specifically, of meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.

The report released on Friday says the committee "found no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded, coordinated, or conspired with the Russian government," but it accepted the US intelligence community's claims from the January 2017 report that said Russia used 'active measures' to meddle in the elections.

How did that happen? That's classified. Much of Chapter two, suggestively titled 'Russia attacks the United States,'was entirely redacted at the request of the US intelligence community, according to Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas). The few tidbits that the public was allowed to see defined spear phishing and credential harvesting and admitted that "attribution is a bear."

The report then goes full tinfoil hat, claiming that WikiLeaks is a Russian intelligence outlet and accusing RT of serving some dark agenda of the Kremlin. According to the US spy community, RT produces content which appeals to "skeptics of both the mainstream media and the establishment." Points for honesty on that, Langley, that is literally what "Question More" means.

Last week French President Macron and German Chancellor Merkel visited Trump. In contrast to Macron and Trump's 3 day 'love in', Merkel spent a mere 3 hours with the POTUS, but both European leaders had the same agenda: preventing Trump from starting a 'trade war' with the EU and backing out of the 'Iran deal'. Why does Trump think the 'Iran deal' is "bad" anyway?

Reading between the lines of comments by both Macron and Merkel, it is clear that Trump's protectionist and isolationist bent is deeply concerning to the stewards of the 'Western order' on both sides of the Atlantic. After all, who will 'contain' Russia and Iran and protect Israel and Saudi Arabia? For 70 years the Europeans have merely played the role of NATO cheerleaders for US imperialist wars under the NATO flag. Are they really expected to go it alone now?

In another blow to the Western world order, there were extraordinary scenes in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) of Korea this week as the leaders of the two Koreas met for the first time in 11 years and agreed in principle to formally end the Korean War, with Chairman Kim Jong-un becoming the first North Korean leader to cross the border into the South since the Korean peninsula was partitioned in 1945.

A little over a year ago, the situation in Korea looked far from peaceful as North Korea and the US began a war of words (and a display of missile capability) that apparently portended imminent global nuclear Armageddon. What changed? Or what were people missing? And if it's possible for this conflict to be resolved amicably, could peace break out in other hotspots like the Middle East?

Tune in this week from 12-1:30pm EDT / 6-7:30pm CET this Sunday April 29.


Running Time: 01:48:01

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Dear diary, many of my colleagues are unhappy about the recent events in Syria. They are unhappy that Assad is still in power. However, I see the metaphorical glass as being half full. In a recent poll, 58% of Americans support the bombing of Syria and 19% have "no opinion." This is wonderful news, since it shows how the vast majority of people are easily manipulated and are simply apathetic. In a democracy, the most important but least understood tool is propaganda. Let me share with you the fundamentals of a successful propaganda campaign.

Joe Quinn spoke with PressTV today about German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to Washington, DC. Distinctly low-key compared with French president Emmanuel Macron's 3-day love-fest with US president Donald Trump, the US-German summit merely underscored the isolationist approach Trump has taken with respect to its 'closest partners'.

The US government imposed import tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum in March, but it provided a temporary exemption until May 1 for the EU. Judging by both Merkel and Trump's statements to the media following their meeting, Trump is probably not going to make the exemption permanent. In short, 'Europe must pay!

Coupled with the EU leaders' failure to turn Trump back from reneging on the JCPOA Iran deal, this week's meeting with the leaders of Europe's two biggest countries serves to underscore a 'parting of ways' within the Atlantic alliance.

The leaders of North and South Korea stunned the world on Friday by declaring a new age of peace between their long-divided states. But to credit Washington for this remarkable turnaround would be sending a dangerous message.

To say that the situation on the Korean peninsula has been moving ahead at breakneck, roller-coaster speed would be a great understatement. Just a few months ago, the world held its breath as Pyongyang slammed yet another round of US-backed sanctions as an "act of war." In the background of the breakdown was Donald Trump, armed with an insurmountable ego and a very active Twitter account, helping to drive up tensions to the boiling point.

This week, the mood could not have been any more different had white doves and rainbow-colored unicorns descended upon the Korean peninsula from the heavens and broke out in song and dance.

Few could have imagined the historic event that was playing out before them: Kim Jong-un strolled hand-in-hand with South Korean President Moon Jae-in across the forbidden Militarized Zone, thus becoming the first North Korean leader in 65 years to enter South Korean territory. But that was just the beginning of April's shower of political surprises. Kim and Moon went on to commit themselves to eliminating nuclear weapons on the peninsula, and pledging to sign a formal peace treaty later this year.

After a day of upbeat optics and good vibes, the Koreas agreed to cooperate and reduce tension, but details on denuclearization must await the North Korea-US summit in May or June

After a day-long summit, leaders of the two Koreas hugged one another, opening "a new era of peace". They pledged that there would be no further conflict on the peninsula and vowed to upgrade relations in multiple spheres.

But while they agreed on "total denuclearization," no details of steps to achieve this were included, suggesting the issue has been deferred to the upcoming North Korea-US summit, expected in May or June.

After a day of talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in and their entourages at the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, the two sides released the "Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula."