Fuck Joe Biden
https://justthenews.com/accountability/russia-and-ukraine-scandals/hillary-factor-evidence-now-shows-russia-collusion-lie
''Hillary Factor: Evidence now shows false Russia collusion story began and ended with Clinton''
justthenews.com/accountability/russia-and-ukraine-scandals/hillary-factor-evidence-now-shows-russia-collusion-lie
In an era where the hunt for disinformation has become a political obsession, Hillary Clinton has mostly escaped having to answer what role she played in spreading the false Russia collusion narrative that gripped America for nearly three years.
On Friday, that dodge ended with a most unlikely witness: her former campaign manager Robby Mook, who was supposed to be a witness helping the defense of her former campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann on a charge of lying to the FBI.
Instead, under cross-examination by Special Counsel John Durham's team, Mook was forced to concede two extraordinary facts.
First, the Clinton campaign wasn't "totally confident" about the accuracy of computer data suggesting Donald Trump had a secret communications channel to the Kremlin via Russia's Alfa Bank.
And second, Hillary Clinton herself personally approved of spreading the story to the news media, despite the concerns about its accuracy.
"I discussed it with Hillary as well," Mook testified. "I don't remember the substance of the conversation, but notionally, the discussion was, hey, we have this and we want to share it with a reporter," Mook said.
Prosecutors asked Mook if Clinton approved leaking the story to the media.
"She agreed," Mook testified.
The testimony confirms what CIA Director John Brennan told President Barack Obama secretly in July 2016 and what the CIA later told the FBI two months later: There was intelligence that Clinton had approved a plan to dirty up Trump with Russia allegations to distract from her own email server scandal.
Kevin Brock, the FBI’s former assistant director for intelligence, called Mook’s revelation a “startling piece of testimony, particularly since he was a defense witness.”
“On the surface, it looks like a major victory for John Durham,” Brock said. “Don't forget he's trying to paint an overall picture here. Sussmann is just one pixel on that photo.
“The trial is the vehicle that Durham is using to help bring out the truth, to tell a story of a political campaign that in two instances pursued information that was totally fabricated or at least misinterpreted with the Alfa Bank connection to Trump and use that disinformation to mislead the American voter,” he added.
Slowly over six years, the Russia collusion story has been exposed for what it was: a three-legged political dirty trick in which highly credible figures with deep law enforcement, intelligence, and news media ties were paid by the Clinton campaign to flood the FBI, the CIA, and the public with unproven allegations that Trump was secretly colluding with Russia to steal the election from Clinton.
1/
The first leg of the collusion narrative was run by the former British spy Christopher Steele, who used his MI6 credentials and his prior ties to the FBI and high-ranking DOJ official Bruce Ohr to walk in his infamous dossier to U.S. law enforcement and intelligence in the summer of 2016. The FBI ultimately concluded Steele's dossier was riddled with Russian disinformation and disproved evidence.
The second leg was Sussmann, who crafted information from computer experts supporting Clinton into the tale of the Alfa Bank server back door. That narrative was flagged by Sussmann's team as unlikely even before he pitched it to the FBI, according to the indictment, and the theory was ultimately dismissed by the FBI and Russia Special Counsel Robert Mueller. "It wasn't true," Mueller testified to Congress in 2019.
The third leg of the dirty trick consisted of the efforts of federal bureaucrats inside the FBI, State Department and intelligence community — many of whom disliked Trump — who managed to deceive the FISA court, the Congress and the American public, often by using leaks to news media outlets to sustain a collusion story that had fallen apart within weeks of Steele's first approach.
And now multiple releases of evidence show Hillary Clinton herself was in on the false narrative — from start to finish.
By end of July 2016 as the plan was being set in motion, the CIA had enough evidence from Russian intercepts for Brennan to go to Obama and warn Clinton herself had approved the Russia collusion plan.
According to Brennan's notes from that briefing, Obama was told about intelligence that Clinton has personally approved a plan "from one of her foreign policy advisors to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian security services" in the election.
File
ENCLOSURE_1__Brennan_Notes__U.pdf
https://justthenews.com/sites/default/files/2020-10/ENCLOSURE_1__Brennan_Notes__U.pdf
By early September 2016, the CIA sends FBI Director James Comey and others the same warning it gave Obama, namely that Clinton has approved a plan to tie Trump to Russia to distract from her email scandal.
File
ENCLOSURE_2__DCIA_Memo_09-07-16__U.pdf
https://justthenews.com/sites/default/files/2020-10/ENCLOSURE_2__DCIA_Memo_09-07-16__U.pdf
Mook confirmed Clinton's affirmation, which set in motion a leak to news media in September and October 2016, just weeks before Election Day, of computer data allegedly showing Trump had a secret communications channel to Putin through the Alfa Bank.
2/
An FBI agent dismissed the evidence as not credible in just 24 hours, according to the testimony of an FBI agent this week. The CIA by early 2017 feared the data was worse, perhaps contrived, Durham has said in court filings. The CIA called the data "not technically plausible" and "user created," the filings stated.
But Clinton and her top foreign policy adviser, now Biden National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, pitched the story hard on social media just days before Trump was elected.
"Computer scientists have apparently uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank," Clinton tweeted after the first article on the allegations appeared in the press, sharing a statement from Sullivan. "This could be the most direct link yet between Donald Trump and Moscow," Sullivan said of the allegations in the article. "This secret hotline may be the key to unlocking the mystery of Trump's ties to Russia. … We can only assume that federal authorities will now explore this direct connection between Trump and Russia as part of their existing probe into Russia's meddling in our elections."
In the ensuing months, the FBI repeatedly knocked down the Alfa Bank story as not true. And yet, remarkably, an entire year later, after Clinton herself had set the false story in motion, she doubled down on it in an interview with USA Today's Susan Page.
"There certainly was communication, and there certainly was an understanding of some sort," the former first lady declared.
When Page pressed further on whether the collusion story was real, Clinton said she was convinced.
"I think the evidence is very compelling that somebody had to help direct and coordinate the actions by the Russians," she added. "And that's what members of Congress and the special counsel are trying to get to the bottom of it. I'm convinced of it."
The evidence is now complete that Hillary Clinton was at the beginning and the end of the Russia collusion false story.
History will now add it to her biography of scandal, a three-decade legacy that includes the Whitewater S&L scandal, the White House travel office firings, the China fundraising scandal, and the subpoenaed law firm records secreted away in the White House residence, and the pay-to-play schemes of the Clinton Foundation.
3/3
https://www.newsweek.com/monkeypox-cased-uk-massachusetts-case-vaccine-ordered-us-1708075
U.S. Buys Millions of Monkeypox Vaccines As Massachusetts Man Infected
newsweek.com/monkeypox-cased-uk-massachusetts-case-vaccine-ordered-us-1708075
Ed BrowneMay 19, 2022
''The U.S. government has ordered millions of doses of a vaccine that protects against monkeypox. The news follows the first confirmed case in the states''
—a man in Massachusetts
—following an outbreak in the U.K.
The order amounts to a $119 million order for Jynneos vaccines, which are used for the prevention of both smallpox and monkeypox. It was announced by biotechnology company Bavarian Nordic, which makes the vaccine, on Wednesday.
The order will convert bulk vaccines, which have already been made and invoiced under previous contracts with the U.S. government, into freeze-dried versions which have an improved shelf-life.
The total government contract with Bavarian Nordic amounts to $299 million, which would provide 13 million freeze-dried doses.
It's expected that the first doses will be manufactured by next year with further doses made in 2024 and 2025.
The order comes amid concern about monkeypox cases that have been reported in the U.K. with one case also being reported in Massachusetts.
Monkeypox is a viral disease first discovered in 1958 among colonies of monkeys that were being kept for research. The first human case was recorded in 1970.
Symptoms in humans may include fever, headache, body aches, swollen lymph nodes, chills, and exhaustion. Within a day or a few days of the fever, patients then develop a rash that spreads across the body.
The illness tends to last for two to four weeks and has been shown to cause death in as many as 10 percent of people who catch it.
On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) confirmed a single case of monkeypox in an adult male who had recently traveled to Canada. The health department said the case "poses no risk to the public" and that the individual is hospitalized in good condition.
It is the first case of monkeypox to be detected in the country this year. In 2021, two U.S. cases were reported.
"DPH is working closely with the CDC, relevant local boards of health, and the patient's health care providers to identify individuals who may have been in contact with the patient while he was infectious," the DPH said in a statement.
Elsewhere, though, there have been bigger outbreaks. This month alone, the U.K. Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has detected a total of nine monkeypox cases in the country with more recent cases predominantly in gay or bisexual men.
Notably, the two latest cases had no travel links to another country where monkeypox is endemic, so it's possible they were transmitted locally.
Monkeypox has not previously been described as a sexually transmitted infection, but the UKHSA has advised people, especially those who are gay or bisexual, to be alert to unusual rashes or skin marks on their body, particularly on the genitals.
The monkeypox virus is transmitted via contact with an infected person or animal.
According to the CDC, the virus can infect people by entering the body through broken skin, entering the respiratory tract, entering mucous membranes such as the eyes, nose, or mouth, and through direct contact with body fluids. Animals may infect people via bites or scratches and through bush meat preparation.
SAINT PETERSBURG
https://youtu.be/GxnJ2ERO4jc
WHY Sanctions have FAILED against RUSSIA - Inside Russia Report
https://thesaker.is/russia-rewrites-the-art-of-hybrid-war/
Russia Rewrites the Art of Hybrid War
thesaker.is/russia-rewrites-the-art-of-hybrid-war
''Hybrid War is being fought predominantly in the economic/financial battleground – and the pain dial for the collective West will only go up.''
By Pepe Escobar, posted with the author’s permission and widely cross-posted.
The ironclad fictional “narrative” imposed all across NATOstan is that Ukraine is “winning”.
So why would weapons peddler retrofitted as Pentagon head Lloyd “Raytheon” Austin literally beg since late February to have his phone calls answered by Russian Defense Minister Shoigu, only to have his wish finally granted?
It’s now confirmed by one of my top intel sources. The call was a direct consequence of panic. The United States Government (USG) by all means wants to scotch the detailed Russian investigation – and accumulation of evidence – on the US bioweapon labs in Ukraine, as I outlined in a previous column.
This phone call happened exactly after an official Russian statement to the UN Security Council on May 13: we will use articles 5 and 6 of the Convention on the Prohibition of Bioweapons to investigate the Pentagon’s biological “experiments” in Ukraine.
That was reiterated by Under Secretary-General of the UN in charge of disarmament, Thomas Markram, even as all ambassadors of NATO member countries predictably denied the collected evidence as “Russian disinformation”.
Shoigu cold see the call coming eons away. Reuters, merely quoting the proverbial “Pentagon official”, spun that the allegedly one-hour-long call led to nothing. Nonsense. Austin, according to the Americans, demanded a “ceasefire” – which must have originated a Siberian cat smirk on Shoigu’s face.
Shoigu knows exactly which way the wind is blowing on the ground – for Ukrainian Armed Forces and UkroNazis alike. It’s not only the Azovstal debacle – and Kiev’s all-around army breakdown.
After the fall of Popasnaya – the crucial, most fortified Ukrainian stronghold in Donbass – the Russians and Donetsk/Luhansk forces have breached defenses along four different vectors north, northwest, west, and south. What’s left of the Ukrainian front is crumbling – fast, with a massive cauldron subdivided in a maze of mini-cauldrons: a military disaster the USG cannot possibly spin.
1/
Now, in parallel, we can also expect full exposure – on overdrive – of the Pentagon bioweapons racket. The only “offer you can’t refuse” left to the USG would be to present something tangible to the Russians to avoid a full investigation.
That’s not gonna happen. Moscow is fully aware that going public with illegal work on banned biological weapons is an existential threat to the US Deep State. Especially when documents seized by the Russians show that Big Pharma – via Pfizer, Moderna, Merck and Gilead – was involved in several “experiments”. Fully exposing the whole maze, from the start, was one of Putin’s stated objectives.
More “military-technical measures”?
Three days after the UN presentation, the board of the Russian Foreign Ministry held a special session to discuss “the radically changed geopolitical realities that have developed as a result of the hybrid war against our country unleashed by the West – under the pretext of the situation in Ukraine – unprecedented in scale and ferocity, including the revival in Europe of a racist worldview in the form of cave Russophobia, an open course for the ‘abolition’ of Russia and everything Russian.”
So it’s no wonder “the aggressive revisionist course of the West requires a radical revision of Russia’s relations with unfriendly states.”
We should expect “a new edition of the Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation” coming out soon.
This new Foreign Policy Concept will elaborate on what Foreign Minister Lavrov once again stressed at a meeting honoring the 30th Assembly of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy: the US has declared an all-round Hybrid War on Russia. The only thing lacking, as it stands, is a formal declaration of war.
Beyond the disinformation fog veiling the application of Finland and Sweden – call them the Dumb and Dumber Nordics – to join NATO, what really matters is another instance of declaration of war: the prospect of missiles with nuclear warheads stationed really close to Russian borders. Moscow already warned the Finns and Swedes, politely, that this would be dealt with it via “military-technical measures”. That’s exactly what Washington – and NATO minions – were told would happen before the start of Operation Z.
And of course this goes much deeper, involving Romania and Poland as well. Bucharest already has Aegis Ashore missile launchers capable of sending Tomahawks with nuclear warheads at Russia, while Warsaw is receiving the same systems. To cut to the chase, if there’s no de-escalation, they will all eventually end up receiving Mr. Khinzal’s hypersonic business card.
NATO member Turkey, meanwhile, plays a deft game, issuing its own list of demands before even considering the Nordics’ gamble. Ankara wants no more sanctions on its purchase of S-400s and on top if be re-included in the F-35 program. It will be fascinating to watch what His Master’s Voice will come up with to seduce the Sultan. The Nordics engaged in a self-correcting “clear unequivocal stance” against the PKK and the PYD is clearly not enough for the Sultan, who relished muddying the waters even more as he stressed that buying Russian energy is a “strategic” issue for Turkey.
Counteracting
2/
Counteracting financial Shock’n Awe
By now it’s evidently clear that open-ended Operation Z targets unipolar Hegemon power, the infinite expansion of vassalized NATO, and the world’s financial architecture – an intertwined combo that largely transcends the Ukraine battleground.
Serial Western sanctions package hysteria ended up triggering Russia’s so far quite successful counter-financial moves. Hybrid War is being fought predominantly in the economic/financial battleground – and the pain dial for the collective West will only go up: inflation, higher commodity prices, breakdown of supply chains, exploding cost of living, impoverishment of the middle classes, and unfortunately for great swathes of the Global South, outright poverty and starvation.
In the near future, as insider evidence surfaces, a convincing case will be made that the Russian leadership even gamed the Western financial gamble/ blatant robbery of over $300 billion in Russian reserves.
This implies that already years ago – let’s say, at least from 2016, based on analyses by Sergey Glazyev – the Kremlin knew this would inevitably happen. As trust remains a rigid foundation of a monetary system, the Russian leadership may have calculated that the Americans and their vassals, driven by blind Russophobia, would play all their cards at once when push came to shove – utterly demolishing global trust on “their” system.
Because of Russia’s infinite natural resources, the Kremlin may have factored that the nation would eventually survive the financial Shock’n Awe – and even profit from it (ruble appreciation included). The reward is just too sweet: opening the way to The Doomed Dollar – without having to ask Mr. Sarmat to present his nuclear business card.
Russia could even entertain the hypothesis of getting a mighty return on those stolen funds. A great deal of Western assets – totaling as much as $500 billion – may be nationalized if the Kremlin so chooses.
3/
So Russia is winning not only militarily but also to a large extent geopolitically – 88% of the planet does not align with NATOstan hysteria – and of course in the economic/financial sphere.
This in fact is the key Hybrid War battleground where the collective West is being checkmated. One of the next key steps will be an expanded BRICS coordinating their dollar-bypassing strategy.
None of the above should overshadow the still to be measured interconnected repercussions of the mass surrender of Azov neo-Nazis at UkroNazistan Central in Azovstal.
The mythical Western “narrative” about freedom-fighting heroes imposed since February by NATOstan media collapsed with a single blow. Cue to the thunderous silence all over the Western infowar front, where no mutts even attempted to sing that crappy, “winning” Eurovision song.
What happened, in essence, is that the creme de la creme of NATO-trained neo-Nazis, “advised” by top Western experts, weaponized to death, entrenched in deep concrete anti-nuclear bunkers in the bowels of Azovstal, was either pulverized or forced to surrender like cornered rats.
Novorossiya as a game-changer
The Russian General Staff will be adjusting their tactics for the major follow-up in Donbass – as the best Russian analysts and war correspondents incessantly debate. They will have to face an inescapable problem: as much as the Russian methodically grind down the – disaggregated – Ukrainian Army in Donbass, a new NATO army is being trained and weaponized in western Ukraine.
So there is a real danger that depending on the ultimate long-term aims of Operation Z – which are only shared by the Russian military leadership – Moscow runs the risk of encountering, in a few months, a mobile and better weaponized incarnation of the demoralized army it is now destroying. And this is exactly what the Americans mean by “weakening” Russia.
As it stands, there are several reasons why a new Novorossiya reality may turn out to be a positive game-changer for Russia. Among them:
The economic/logistics complex from Kharkov to Odessa – along Donetsk, Luhansk, Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Nikolaev – is intimately linked with Russian industry.
By controlling the Sea of Azov – already a de facto “Russian lake” – and subsequently the Black Sea, Russia will have total control of export routes for the region’s world-class grain production. Extra bonus: total exclusion of NATO.
All of the above suggests a concerted drive for the development of an integrated agro-heavy industry complex – with the extra bonus of serious tourism potential.
Under this scenario, a remaining Kiev-Lviv rump Ukraine, not incorporated to Russia, and of course not rebuilt, would be at best subjected to a no-fly zone plus selected artillery/missile/drone strikes in case NATO continues to entertain funny ideas.
This would be a logical conclusion for a Special Military Operation focused on precision strikes and a deliberate emphasis on sparing civilian lives and infrastructure while methodically disabling the Ukrainian military/logistics spectrum. All of that takes time. Yet Russia may have all the time in the world, as we all keep listening to the sound of the collective West spiraling down.
4/4
fuck joe biden
WEF meet for an entire week in Davos starting tomorrow
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/05/davos-2022-preview/
Davos 2022 - what to expect from this meeting like no other, on Radio Davos
weforum.org/agenda/2022/05/davos-2022-preview
Davos 2022
Davos 2022 is set, not in the snow and ice, but amid the spring flowers.
This article is part of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting
The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2022 takes place in Davos, Switzerland on May 23-26.
For the first time, it is not in January, but the war in Ukraine and global economic upheaval will also make it, in many ways, an unprecedented event.
Radio Davos is podcasting daily from Davos 2022. Subscribe here.
The World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting, bringing leaders and experts together from around the world, usually happens at the start of the year. COVID-19 prevented an in-person event for the last two years, and, for the first time, the Davos meeting is being held in May. But as Forum President Borge Brende says in this preview podcast, the absence of snow is not the main reason this Davos will be like no other.
This is a transcript of the episode.
Robin Pomeroy: As I record this, I'm packing my bag for Davos - a long train ride up into the Swiss Alps.
I won't be packing my snow boots or warm coat, as would be de rigueur for any other Davos meeting, because the pandemic meant the traditional January meeting where the World Economic Forum hosts leaders from around the world, didn't happen this year or the year before that in person.
It's happening now in spring, but the absence of snow won't be the only obvious difference at this Davos that is like no other.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been a game changer, not least for the Forum, which sees itself as a place to bring people together to seek agreement on ways to, in its own words, 'improve the state of the world'.
The main part of this episode is an interview I grabbed with World Economic Forum President Børge Brende before he headed up the mountain. But first, here's Klaus Schwab, who founded the Forum more than 50 years ago and remains its executive chairman. Here he is speaking at a press conference days ahead of the Annual Meeting, explaining why the theme of this year's event is 'History at a turning point'.
Klaus Schwab: Our first thoughts are with the war in Ukraine. Russia's aggression on the country will be seen in future history books as the breakdown of the post-World War Two and post-Cold War order. This is the reason why we speak about 'the turning point in history'. In Davos, our solidarity is foremost with the people suffering from the atrocities of this war.
Robin Pomeroy: Klaus Schwab, the World Economic Forum founder and executive chairman. So as well as Ukraine, what will be the other big issues at Davos? Saadia Zahidi, head of the Forum's Centre for the New Economy and Society.
Saadia Zahidi: The Global Economic Outlook is one of the 60 or so sessions that are addressing where the global economy is headed and how to ensure that the economy works for people.
A few things there. One is, of course, trying to understand what are the headwinds, what are the tailwinds that are currently facing this very deeply uncertain economic context. So trying to understand more about the outlook for inflation, what that means for the cost of living crisis. Understanding more about the outlook for debt, the broad macroeconomic picture, and much more when it comes to the current picture of the economy.
But what matters in the longer term is the set of economic trends that were already under way, and we saw that happen during the pandemic, and now, of course, that is getting worsened due to the current conflict context. So that includes things like education, like jobs, like inclusion - a number of areas that were already facing a complex situation, particularly with the technological changes that were under way. That became much more complicated during the pandemic, and so a large part of the programme will also look at jobs, how to ensure that we create not just better jobs and the jobs that are needed in the future, but also ensure that these are jobs that pay a living wage.
Robin Pomeroy: But it's not just the economy. Far from it. Here's Gim Huay Neo, head of the forum's Centre for Nature and Climate.
Gim Huay Neo: So you will see panel discussions around decarbonisation across industries, especially the hard-to-abate sectors. And by this I mean shipping, aviation, trucking, the mobility sectors, materials, steel, aluminium, concrete, cement, as well as chemicals, and not forgetting agriculture, which is also a key source of emissions today.
So we will have conversations that line up to explore solutions and also new technologies that we could invest into and scale so that we can actually accelerate the transition process.
Robin Pomeroy: To tell us more about what's coming up at Davos 2022. I spoke to Børge Brende, the president of the World Economic Forum. I started by asking him simply, what is this 'Annual Meeting' in Davos?
Børge Brende: It is the foremost gathering of leaders from business and government and civil society coming together. 2,500 participants trying to make the world a little bit better place to live, and also to make sure that we can find some solutions to the most pressing challenges that we are facing.
Of course, this is more difficult when we are faced with such a polarised world where we see also so much infighting, but we know that there are still opportunities there. It will be great when we have, for example, Secretary [John] Kerry from the US, the climate envoy, coming again together with the climate envoy from China, Minister Xie [Zhenhua], they did wonderful work at COP26 where we got the deal at the last moment and we are now, at least on paper, on track if everyone implements what they have committed to towards the 1.5 degrees Celsius track.
Robin Pomeroy: Davos, traditionally it's always in January. It kind of sets the global agenda on policy issues. It's in May this time. How much of a difference do you think that will make?
Børge Brende: I think the biggest difference from this Davos compared to the 50 Davoses that have been in the past, is that it is happening at a time where we're seeing more geopolitical and economic turmoil than in decades.
That we will not be facing snow will, of course, also change a little bit of the atmosphere, but we are in a very difficult global situation: war in Ukraine; we see unparalleled heatwaves already in the spring in many places in the world - in India, close to 50 degrees [Celsius]; and we are seeing a slowing global recovery just when we thought we were out of it, and we are not out of the woods when it comes to the pandemic wither - see the challenges that the most populous country in the world now, China, is faced with.
So Davos will be different, but not mainly because of the lack of snow, but because of lack of global cooperation to solve these most pressing challenges. Global challenges need global solutions, and we're not seeing these global solutions. And that's where we have to push in Davos. Governments, business, civil society have to push the envelope so we make sure that we get that a more inclusive, job-creating and sustainable recovery; that we walk the talk on climate change, and that we also are better prepared for the new challenges that we know will come, for example, potentially new pandemics, post-COVID.
Robin Pomeroy: And the theme of this meeting is history at a turning point. I'm guessing that's not least because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Can you tell us a bit about the Forum's position on that conflict and whether Russia will have any representation at this meeting?
Børge Brende: So we decided that there will be no Russian companies in Davos this year, and we will not have representatives from Russia either this year. So of course, we do want to see an end of this war, but that is now up to the Kremlin and Mr Putin. Mr. Putin started the war and he can end it by, again, accepting what he has accepted in the past, the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Russia also has to, again, go back to the obligations they have in the UN charter, something that they're not complying with today as a member of the UN Security Council, as a permanent member with a veto. It is very, very sad. But we do hope that Russia can in the future choose a different path. But I'm not optimistic short term, I have to say, unfortunately.
Robin Pomeroy: So back to the meeting. It's over four days. There are dozens, if not hundreds of sessions, very high level discussions going on. Are there any things at this point, a few days ahead of it, you can kind of pick out as what you expect might be the highlights?
You mentioned climate change as one, with John Kerry coming and the US and the Chinese meeting again to talk about climate change. Are there any other things, perhaps on the economy or the pandemic? What do you expect could be the highlights?
Børge Brende: So the opening in Davos will be a dialogue with President Zelenskyy from Kyiv.
Robin Pomeroy: Down the line, I assume?
Børge Brende: Yes, on a video link. But after that, there will be a panel with five women leaders from Ukraine, parliamentarians, also deputy prime minister, young leaders also from Ukraine.
And the amount of atrocities and the challenges that the people in Ukraine now are faced with, I am really thinking that this will be a very consequential session for all the participants in Davos.
When it comes to the economy. We will have 47 finance ministers and economy ministers there. And I do hope that we can agree on measures that can keep the economy growing. We know that without economic growth, there will be no new jobs, and without inclusive green growth there will also not be a possibility to solve the inequality challenges that we are faced with in many countries, and also where without the green growth, we will continue to see a planet on fire.
We also know that there will be no real recovery without trade and investment recovery. And we're having close to 30 ministers with the trade portfolio, with Dr Ngozi [Okonjo-Iweala] and the WTO, and I do hope that we will see then less tariffs, that we will see also more openness for trade moving forward because many developing countries and emerging economies are really hurt by this protectionist approach.
We cannot continue to 'beggar thy neighbour', we have to 'prosper our neighbour'. And what is incredibly important is that we can see an end of all this ban of export of food because that, if continued, we will see a perfect storm and it will end with a massive food crisis later this year.
So I was very pleased to just learn before I came into the studio here that, for example, Indonesia as one of the key exporters of cooking oil, has decided to lift the ban on export that they just introduced a week ago. So that's the way to go.
Robin Pomeroy: You've done many Davos meetings before. How confident are you that meetings like this with all those senior people discussing the kind of issues you've just mentioned, that you can actually make some kind of progress in a week or two's time, people will say: 'that happened at Davos and things are moving forward because of that'?
Børge Brende: I do hope that we will end the week with clear results. We've always been able to do so in the past. Nelson Mandela coming to Davos as the president of South Africa and on his way back he said that he understood more deeply how important it is also to receive investments in South Africa. And his leadership was so important. You also saw the Global Fund and GAVI, the global vaccination programmes, being launched in Davos.
So I do hope that this year we can come out of Davos with real confirmation of the climate positions and the commitments that countries took on at Glasgow. I also hope that we can come out of Davos agreeing that we should not think [of] decoupling of trade and introduce new tariffs. We should be thinking win-win. I also hope that we can have the CEOs for Ukraine committing that business will also help and support in the rebuilding of Ukraine. A global Marshall Plan for Ukraine would be something very, very important.
Robin Pomeroy: Finally, you were at a press conference yesterday where one journalist asked you this question: after COVID-19 meant that Davos couldn't happen in January as usual, will this be 'Davos business as usual'? I think you gave him quite the response to that.
Børge Brende: I said there is no business as usual anymore. We just have to internalise that the world has changed and is changing very fast and new. We need new business models and not the old ones, to address climate change, inequality, the war in Ukraine, but also the food crisis and also oceans being filled with plastic litter.
We just need to think differently. We have to care about our planet. We have to care about people, and we have to, again, find global solutions on global challenges.
>Quick! Drone Davos!
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/07/17/secret-service-agent-traveling-trump-dies-scotland/794653002/
Secret Service agent traveling with Trump dies in Scotland after suffering a stroke
usatoday.com/story/news/2018/07/17/secret-service-agent-traveling-trump-dies-scotland/794653002
Christal Hayes
USA TODAY
A Secret Service agent traveling as part of President Donald Trump's security detail died Tuesday in Scotland after suffering a severe stroke.
The Secret Service said in a statement the agent died Tuesday morning surrounded by family and coworkers — his "extended Secret Service family."
His name was not immediately released to allow for notification of family and to respect their privacy.
Trump arrived in Scotland Friday evening to massive crowds of protesters. He stayed at his Turnberry golf resort in between a NATO summit in Brussels and a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/18/politics/secret-service-agent-dies/index.html
Secret Service agent dies after suffering stroke on the job
cnn.com/2018/07/18/politics/secret-service-agent-dies/index.html
By Noah Gray, CNNJuly 18, 2018
Washington CNN —
A United States Secret Service agent died after suffering a stroke while supporting President Donald Trump’s trip to Scotland over the weekend, the Secret Service said Wednesday.
The 42-year-old agent, who is now being identified as Special Agent Noel E. Remagen, was working on protection for national security adviser John Bolton on the midnight shift when he was found to be unresponsive by colleagues at Trump’s Turnberry resort Saturday night.
Remagen was quickly attended to by a White House doctor and Secret Service colleagues before being rushed to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, where he passed away on Sunday, a law enforcement source told CNN.
Remagen is survived by a wife and two small children, and was the son of a retired Secret Service employee.
The President and first lady Melania Trump departed for Joint Base Andrews Wednesday afternoon to see Remagen’s family, the White House said.
“Melania and I are deeply grateful for his lifetime of devotion, and today, we pause to honor his life and 24 years of service to our Nation,” the President said in a statement.
The Secret Service said in a statement that he had served for 19 years with the agency and was a “dedicated professional of the highest order.” The agency said he was surrounded by members of his immediate family and colleagues when he died.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a tweet Wednesday, “Prayers for the Remagen family. We are all forever grateful for the service and sacrifice of the men and women of the United States Secret Service, some of the greatest and bravest people in the country. We are sorry for your loss and are grieving with you.”
The agent’s body is being flown back to Washington on a military plane Wednesday and fellow Secret Service personnel will remain with his body until he is buried, another law enforcement source told CNN.
“Special Agent Remagen’s repatriation to the United States represents the return of a fallen Secret Service Special Agent who exemplified the core values of the Secret Service - Justice, Duty, Courage, Honesty and Loyalty,” the Secret Service said in a statement Wednesday.
CNN’s Sarah Hallam contributed to this report.
>please please please make this into a song… The Monkey Pox Blues. Can almost hear it but anon is no singer.
https://youtu.be/nEP1vnYwCNU
>please please please make this into a song… The Monkey Pox Blues. Can almost hear it but anon is no singer.
https://youtu.be/nEP1vnYwCNU>>16319694