SOTT Focus:


2 + 2 = 4

SOTT Focus: Iran Protests Through the Prism of Geopolitics

Iran1
What's happening in Iran? Are the protests genuinely spontaneous? Are the grievances authentic and deep-rooted? Or is it a drama created by covert, regime-change puppeteers? And what are the geopolitical implications of the success or failure of these events?

Candle

SOTT Focus: Vladimir Putin: Resistance Fighter Against Imperialism, Savior of Syria and Beacon of Hope

The Empire of Chaos threatened to throw the world into an unfathomable darkness. Instead, an Axis of Resistance has arisen
Putin praying
© Unknown
The New American Century project was supposed to extend the original American century (the 20th) by thwarting Eurasian integration (including Africa) and maintaining US hegemony. Rather than sit back as economic development transforms vast swathes of Asia and Africa, anglo-American imperialists wrecked country after country and used the chaos produced to justify their sales pitch of the world being one big war zone that must be 'managed' by the world's policeman. Nice work if you can get it.

But this modus operandi has suffered a heavy defeat. Islamic State (IS) - a geopolitical chess piece of the US - lies in ruins two years after the Russian intervention in Syria and the world's bully is walking around with a black eye. 16 years after 9/11 unleashed the imperialist reign of terror, Vladimir Putin has made the first decisive move to halt it. The US and its proxy forces can no longer terrorize the world with impunity.

Brain

SOTT Focus: If You've Got "Adrenal Fatigue", There's Likely Nothing Wrong with Your Adrenals

Stress
© American Psychological Association
For those unfamiliar with the term 'adrenal fatigue', it's a popular buzzword used often by those in alternative health and wellness circles to informally diagnose people who display any (or all) of the following symptoms:
Fatigue, insomnia, depression, anxiety, low libido, poor stress tolerance, dry skin, poor quality sleep, apathy, sugar and salt cravings, repeated infections, headaches, slow wound healing, menstrual irregularities, diarrhea, constipation, hair loss, palpitations, cold hands and feet, poor body temperature regulation, low blood sugar, increased effort to perform daily tasks, lack of energy, food intolerances, allergies, etc...
Chiropractor and naturopath Dr James Wilson, building upon the previous work of pioneers in the field of stress physiology, including Hans Selye, claims to have coined the term "adrenal fatigue" in 1998. Since then, a whole host of books have been published on the topic, and a simple google search brings up more than 403,000 results.

Toys

SOTT Focus: Social Justice Targets Personal Trainers: Check Your Thin Privilege and Anti-Fat Bias

personal trainer stock image
"Oh, crap! I was so busy using my thin privilege to fat oppress you, I forgot what I was writing!"
PJ Media posted a report on a new academic article written by two professors at the Oregon State University, and published in the journal Fat Studies (yes, apparently there's an academic journal thoughtfully named Fat Studies. Who knew?). The article, written by Vicki Ebbeck, a professor in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences at OSU, and Shannon Austin, a graduate teaching assistant at the same school, informs us that gym instructors and personal trainers are guilty of perpetuating "fat oppression" and "anti-fat bias".

The article is titled "Burning off the fat oppression: Self-compassion exercises for personal trainers," and right off the bat I've been triggered by that 'O-word', leading me to believe I know exactly what's coming - an SJW screed pigeon-holing all fat people into an oppressed category who have power held over them by a powerful group of fit people (mostly that most oppressive of oppressive power-holders, personal trainers). I wasn't disappointed.

That said, this one took a bit of effort to tease apart. On the one hand, this seems like a total 'snowflake libtard' academic take decrying what should be obvious - being overweight is not healthy and making efforts, through diet and exercise to control for excess weight, is beneficial - by recasting the overweight as an oppressed group. And make no mistake, that's exactly what this article is.

Palette

SOTT Focus: Feminist Artist Thinks Painting Giant Penis on Wall Will Create a Healthy, Non-Violent World

giant penis grafitti
© carolinafalkholt / Instagram
Self proclaimed feminist and graffiti artist Carolina Falkholt shocked the public when she painted a 40ft penis on the side of a residential NYC building on Christmas eve.

The "work of art" was commissioned by a street art collective called The New Allen which was created by Baby Brasa, a Peruvian restaurant. Fortunately, this was later removed by contractors hired by the landlord.

While some members of the public weren't particularly bothered by the mural and agreed that it was a form of " artistic expression", others blasted Falkholt for her lack of creativity and inconsideration for minors who would inevitably lay eyes on the giant phallus.

Comment: See also:


Pirates

SOTT Focus: Trump Claims US Defeated ISIS, But Terrorists Still Emerging from US Bases in Syria

US supplied Syrian rebels
© Associated Press/Hammurabi's Justice NewsDodgy alliance: Syrian 'rebels' side-by-side US troops
Last Thursday, US president Donald Trump posted what appeared to be a self-congratulatory tweet on the achievements of the US military in the war against ISIS:

These numbers may or may not be accurate, but the implicit message is that they are the result of the efforts of the US-led coalition rather than the combined Russian, Iranian/Hezbollah and Syrian/Iraqi forces.

Trump's Pentagon numbers conflate the operations against ISIS in both Syria and Iraq, thereby overwriting the more specific numbers produced by the Russian military intervention in Syria alone, which changed the tide of the war in both countries: 60,318 jihadists killed, including 813 commanders; the destruction of 718 clandestine arms factories; and the liberation of 1,024 cities and settlements.

In pursuing its goals of eliminating Western-backed jihadist mercenaries in Syria, Russian forces took extreme care to safeguard civilian lives and minimize damage to infrastructure. This was in stark contrast to US policy in both Syria and Iraq, which involved little if any attacks on ISIS forces in the field, concentrating instead on 'liberating' strategic cities like Mosul and Raqqa by way of massive and indiscriminate bombing (compare the painstaking liberation of Aleppo with the flattening of Mosul). This difference in military strategy was, of course, to be expected given that Russia has a vested interest in maintaining Syria as a viable and independent nation state under Assad, while the US, from the very onset of the conflict, was interested only in the ruin of Syria and the overthrow of Assad.

Sherlock

SOTT Focus: Luke Harding: The Latest Media Shill Trying to Prove Russian Collusion Where There Is None

Luke Harding
Luke Harding is an obsequious and insufferable Englishman and long-term foreign affairs hack with The Guardian. He was also the paper's correspondent in Russia from 2007-2011 before he was kicked out for breaking the rules of his press accreditation by visiting the area of counter-terrorism operations without informing the relevant security authorities aka 'spying'. As a self-styled 'Russia expert', Harding claims to know a lot about what really goes on behind closed Kremlin doors. In reality however, his track record of belligerent and spurious allegations against Russia suggests his real bosses are located in MI6 HQ in London.

It's no surprise then that in his recent interview on MSNBC Harding can be seen plying his trade-craft and spreading more lies and nonsense about Trump's 'collusion' with Russia. It's the same old tripe that has been force-fed to the general public ever since Trump won the U.S. Presidential elections last year. Even though the 'Russiagate' scandal has been the most widely reported event of the last year, with CNN mentioning Russia on-air almost 16,000 times since Trump's inauguration, it still amounts to one big 'nothing-burger' packed full of no evidence and lots of hearsay and innuendo.

None of this bothers people like Harding however, as they seek to capitalize on the paranoia and hysteria surrounding the supposed Russia/Trump connection, and in Harding's case, flog copies of his gutter-press new book - supposedly an in-depth expose of how Russia helped Donald Trump win the election.

Comment: To learn more on how the United States Congress is attempting to push a largely made-up story of Russian collusion and hacking into the American political system and last years elections, read Joe Quinn's recent article:


Bullseye

SOTT Focus: The American People Are Coming to Terms With The Fact That Their Government Is A Dictatorship

pulling the strings
Gallup headlined on December 18th, "Americans View Government as Nation's Top Problem in 2017". Their report made clear that though this finding was unprecedented, it's part of a longer-term trend, toward Americans naming America's own "government as the most important problem facing the nation." In a democracy, the public do not view the nation's government to be (as in America) their enemy (which is the case if they view the "government as the most important problem facing the nation"). Americans increasingly view the Government as their enemy.

In a dictatorship, only the people who control the government are satisfied with the government; but, in a democracy, the public are satisfied with the government - or else that government will be replaced in elections by people who control the government and who do provide government that the public approve of. In the United States, we're instead moving in the exact opposite direction: steadily going from one government to another, none of which wins the public's approval; and the present American government winning the public's approval even less than its predecessors did. This is not the situation that exists in authentic democracies. It's what one expects to find in a country that's ruled by a dictatorship. Dictators don't need to worry so much about polls, because they don't represent the public; they exploit the public - they use the public.

Bacon n Eggs

SOTT Focus: New Study Finds Same Thing Past Studies Have Found: Dietary Guidelines on Fat Consumption NOT Supported by Science

church of bacon
© Las Vegas WeeklyIt's divine. And you know it is.
This Christmas I got one of the best gifts I could ask for - a study that rips to shreds government Dietary Guidelines. Santa, you know me so well.

The study is reported on here, or if you have a Medscape account (which is free) you can find the original study here. Interestingly, one of the researchers in the study was Dr. Zoë Harcombe, author of The Harcombe Diet and big name in the low-fat, high-carb scene. Her Twitter feed is generally very informative.

The study is actually the fourth in a series that have each shown the complete lack of evidence for government dietary guidelines (specifically the US and the UK) in regards to association between coronary heart disease (CHD) deaths and total fat consumption. This series of studies are great for many reasons, but the one that tops the list for me is the fact that it shows that there never was any scientific basis for the dietary guidelines to recommend restriction of total fat consumption, or specifically, saturated fat consumption, based on the stated purpose of those guidelines: to stem the tide of increasing CHD.

Russian Flag

SOTT Focus: Do you have Russian ancestry? If so, the Senate Intel Committee may want to interrogate you for being a Russian spy

russians meme
The witch-hunt otherwise known as Russiagate just descended to a new low. In a letter to GotNews Editor-in-Chief Charles C. Johnson's lawyer, the Senate Intelligence Committee requested Johnson hand over access to all his communications with anyone who Johnson knows, or has reason to believe, is Russian, or has Russian ancestry.

You read that right. Being a Russian national isn't enough. Even having Russian ancestry isn't enough (the descendants of Russians who fled the revolution a century ago are all agents of Putin, after all). No, anyone who Johnson might even have reason to believe might have a bit of those "deceptive" Russian genes is fair game.

When did we leave planet Earth and enter George Orwell's nightmare?

Even left-leaning journalists are horrified - and they should be. Michael Tracey posted the letter on Twitter, which was sent on December 19.