SOTT Focus:


Black Cat

SOTT Focus: As Dutch Elections Approach, Muslim Think Tank Launches Anti-Freedom of Speech Tool


Sott.net
Sat, 24 Feb 2018 10:18 UTC
Dutch Council elections in Turkish
Dutch tolerance: local council election advertisement of Christian Democrats (CDA) political party in the Turkish language
With local Dutch council elections coming up in The Netherlands next month, the extreme left is ramping up their propaganda war against the right. The mainstream media has been making their job so much easier with articles quoting the anti-fascist, anti-Assad and anti-Russia Kafka group, which claims to do research into the far right movement, and by giving the International Socialists the opportunity to proclaim how the bloody Russian October Revolution of 1917 is still a 'source of inspiration' to them.

While mainstream politicians are busy making fools of themselves with their anti-Russia propaganda, a new Dutch political party Forum voor Democratie (FvD) that campaigns for reduced immigration and good relations with Russia, is gaining popularity. Unsurprisingly, the leftist Dutch establishment is doing their level best to besmirch the new party's leaders, hoping they can stop the momentum that seems to be building in The Netherlands. In doing so however, they are creating a dangerous political climate for politicians who don't toe the anti-Russia establishment line.
Read More...
Network

SOTT Focus: US Establishment Hysterical About Russian Trolls - Even Pro-Gun Tweets Are Their Fault

Andrés Perezalonso
Sott.net
Fri, 23 Feb 2018 18:02 UTC
Mueller Trump Russiagate
Russiagate is no longer about whether or not Russia 'hacked' the 2016 US election, or 'rigged' it to ensure Trump would win. No, U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's indictments last week against thirteen Russian nationals and three Russian entities based in St Petersburg means that the Russian government stands accused of the broader crime of 'sowing discord' in the US body politic as a whole.

The indictments were based on: The Russians are accused of having "the strategic goal of sowing discord in the U.S. political system, including the 2016 U.S. presidential election." In order to do this, they adopted false online personas; traveled to the United States "to collect intelligence" and staged political rallies while posing as American voters.

As he presented the document, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein stressed that there was no evidence that these actions changed the results of the election. No actual votes were altered, nor was there any indication of any links to either the Russian government or the Donald Trump campaign. This was not about 'collusion' or the alleged hacking of the DNC, but about the manipulation of public opinion via the purchasing of social media ads and the creation of multiple social media accounts, which they called 'trolling'.
Read More...
SOTT Logo Radio

SOTT Focus: The Health & Wellness Show: Hello Darkness My Old Friend: The Ups and Downs of Caffeine


Sott.net
Fri, 23 Feb 2018 16:00 UTC
coffee
Caffeine is the most popular mood-altering drug in the world and a daily habit for millions (or billions?) of people. Whether it's savored in coffee, sipped in tea, devoured in chocolate or downed in cola we can't seem to get enough. Though mostly embraced as a concentration booster, workout and memory enhancer, caffeine has also been blamed for hypertension, sleep disturbances, stress and in some extreme cases, death.

Stay alert and join us for this episode of The Health and Wellness Show where we explored the ups and downs of this cherished substance, its 'addictive' properties, withdrawal symptoms, side effects and medicinal uses. Note: We talk about coffee. A lot.

Also stay tuned for Zoya's Pet Health Segment where she tells us about a coffee-drinking cat that lived to 34 years old!

Running Time: 01:18:07

Download: MP3

Read More...
Propaganda

SOTT Focus: Mass Media Reaches New Low Stoking Russiaphobia in Wake of Florida School Shooting

Finian Cunningham
Sputnik
Thu, 22 Feb 2018 18:42 UTC
florida shooting
© Reuters/ WSVN.com
Hysteria over alleged Russian meddling in US affairs hit a new low this week, with claims that Kremlin-controlled internet agents are exploiting the Florida gun massacre.

The New York Times' top story in its online edition Tuesday was headlined: "After Florida School Shooting, Russian 'Bot' Army Pounced".

Other US news media also gave prominent coverage to unsubstantiated claims that Kremlin-orchestrated internet agents, known as "trolls" or "bots", were heartlessly exploiting American public grief over the mass shooting.

The NY Times report stated: "Any news event - no matter how tragic - has become fodder to spread inflammatory messages in what is believed to be a far-reaching Russian disinformation campaign."
Read More...
Russian Flag

SOTT Focus: America's election meddling would indeed justify other countries like Russia retaliating in kind

Caitlin Johnstone
caitlinjohnstone.com
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 12:27 UTC
tweet whataboutism Twitter
There is still no clear proof that the Russian government interfered with the 2016 US elections in any meaningful way. Which is weird, because Russia and every other country on earth would be perfectly justified in doing so.

Like every single hotly publicized Russiagate "bombshell" that has broken since this nonsense began, Mueller's indictment of 13 Russian social media trolls was paraded around as proof of something hugely significant (an "act of war" in this case), but on closer examination turns out to be empty. The always excellent Moon of Alabama recently made a solid argument that has also been advanced by Russiagate skeptics like TYT's Michael Tracey and Max Blumenthal of The Real News, pointing out that there is in fact no evidence that the troll farming operation was an attempt to manipulate the US election, nor indeed that it had any ties to the Russian government at all, nor indeed that it was anything other than a crafty Russian civilian's money making scheme.

The notion that a few Russian trolls committed a "conspiracy to defraud the United States" by "sowing discord" with a bunch of wildly contradictory posts endorsing all different ideologies sounds completely ridiculous in a country whose mainstream media spends all its time actively creating political division anyway, but when you look at it as a civilian operation to attract social media followers to sock puppet accounts with the goal of selling promoted posts for profit, it makes perfect sense. James Corbett of The Corbett Report has a great video about how absolutely bizarre it is that public dialogue is ignoring the fact that these trolls overwhelmingly used mainstream media like the Washington Post in their shares instead of outlets like RT and Infowars. As a scheme to acquire followers, it makes perfect sense. As a scheme to subvert America, it's nonsensical.

Comment: Caitlin Johnstone's podcast on the topic: America's Election Meddling Would Indeed Justify Other Countries Retaliating In Kind

Read More...
Family

SOTT Focus: Dutch-Russians File Discrimination Complaint Against Russophobic Statement by Democrats Party Leader

Bahar Azizi
Sott.net
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 23:32 UTC
alexander pechtold
Dutch politician and Democrats 66 (D66) party leader Alexander Pechtold
Several days ago, Dutch Foreign Minister Halbe Zijlstra resigned after he admitted lying about having met Russian President Putin in 2006 and overhearing him talk about his plans to create a "Greater Russia". After former Shell executive Jeroen van der Veer told the Dutch Volkskrant newspaper that Zijlstra wasn't even present at that 2006 meeting with Putin, Zijlstra confessed that he'd been lying all these years.

In response to Zijlstra admitting that he'd never attended a meeting with Putin, the Parliamentary leader of the Democrats 66 (D66) party, Alexander Pechtold, told state-run broadcaster NOS, that he appreciated Zijlstra's frankness, and that he has "yet to meet the first Russian who corrects his mistakes himself."

This statement raised many eyebrows in the Netherlands, including among Dutch-Russians. Several of them have now filed a complaint against Pechtold, calling his statement "offensive" and "hurtful".
Read More...
TV

SOTT Focus: Desperate Deep State Resorts to Russia-Bashing Infomercial in Wake of FISA Memo - Act Now!!

Elan Martin
Sott.net
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 14:43 UTC
'Evil Russia' narrative
'Russia is Evil' narrative now available in over 9 different colors!
Desperate times call for desperate measures. In the afterburn of the House Intelligence Committee's and White House's release of the damning FISA Memo, the forces behind the Russia-gate and Russia-is-evil narrative are, predictably, doubling-down in response. And how could they not, after all, the FISA Memo unambiguously showed how the Clinton political machine, the FBI and the DOJ all conspired to illegally push through the bought-and-paid-for lies of the now-infamous Steele Dossier - in order to help justify spying on Trump and his campaign team, and gain any advantage they could over their political nemesis.

The Dossier was supposed to tie Trump to Russia and help paint Russia as some malign entity trying to undermine US politics and subvert American Democracy. A one-two punch that is now showing itself to be full of toxic hot air.

It looks very much like master conman Barack Obama was also neck deep in the action. Complicit in attempts to undermine Trump, the Obama administration applied for a FISA court wire tapping permission as well - and was actually turned down the first time by the judicial body. Turned down, that is, until the Hillary camp came up with the manufactured Dossier.

For anyone actually paying attention (and who isn't still hopelessly 'pro-Hillary'), the FISA Memo releases should not only sound the death-knell for the Russia Gate investigation, but also largely demolish the egregious and dangerous 'Cold War 2' impetus it rests upon.
Read More...
USA

SOTT Focus: American Energy Dominance And The Rise of The Petro-Yuan

Corey Schink
Sott.net
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 13:50 UTC
US flag oil crude rig refinery
Russiagate, gun control, terrorism - a new deception for every day. But while Western populations are increasingly at each other's throats over political and social ideologies, a radically different moral and political system is developing in the world.

For centuries the West has enjoyed the fruits of global hegemony, and for the past 60 plus years America has enjoyed a dominant place within that system. Thus, the idea of a foreign culture gaining hegemonic power anywhere else is nearly unthinkable; for the elites it is a sacrilege, and for the average person it is simply unnerving.

But for China, the civilization with the longest continuous written history, regional hegemony is natural, and yet China struggles in an international system which leaves no room for national sovereignty - let alone regional hegemony.
Read More...
Black Cat

SOTT Focus: When Race Trumps Story: Black Panther - an Alt-Right Superhero for Leftists

Timothy C. Trepanier
Sott.net
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 13:21 UTC
Black Panther movies
© MarvelHear no Evil - See no Evil - Speak no Evil
Imagine that Hitler and Oprah had a baby, and that baby's name was Shaft (or perhaps Helmut).

He would be like a skinhead, but with an afro.

One hand raised in protest as a fist, the black power salute, clutching a flag emblazoned with a rainbow coloured swastika.

The other hand attempting a feeble, limp-wristed Seig Heil, barely mustering the strength to hold a piece of fried chicken, coincidentally shaped like a hammer and sickle.

He wears a dark hoodie with a picture of Che Guevara, who himself is wearing a T-shirt with a picture of Richard Spencer being punched by Chairman Mao, who is wearing a red MAGA baseball cap, loaned to him by Joseph Goebbels, the original founder of Antifa.

His archetype - Pepe the gorilla, sipping on a soy milkshake.

This baby was no ordinary baby, for he was destined for greatness. He grew up to be the benevolently xenophobic, compassionately despotic emperor of the ethnically pure, 100% genuinely fictional country of Wakanda. His name is T'Challa (the artist formerly known as Kangz), and he is here to chew watermelon-flavoured bubblegum and kick some deplorable ass, and he's all out of bubblegum!

Alas, if only Idiocracy played professional basketball. If only there were concentration camps for albinos. If only hillbillies were fluent in eubonics. If only we could keep crackers as slaves. If only there were bagpipes in every rap song. If only there were some less offensive words that rhyme with trigger.

Then, and only then, would our fake non-fictional world be as perfect a place to live in as the real fictional world of Wakanda!
Read More...
Jet2

SOTT Focus: US Wars Fund The Welfare State Which Finances The Liberal March Towards Totalitarianism

Pierre Lescaudron
Sott.net
Mon, 19 Feb 2018 19:25 UTC
liberal totalitarianism
Most people reading this will have heard of the US Military Industrial Complex (MIC), a state within the state that wages wars everywhere, has bases all over the planet, plunders poor nations and seizes their resources for the personal profit of an elite few. But if this definition is accurate, we would expect to have seen a dramatic increase in the US federal spending on defense over the course of the last 70 or 80 years, when the modern American MIC has been active. Is that the case?
Read More...