NATO Supreme Commander: US Carrier Off Norway's Coast Puts Russia 'On Notice'

The USS Harry Truman, a 104,000 ton Nimitz-class aircraft carrier capable of deploying some 90 combat and support aircraft, has entered the North Sea in preparation for Trident Juncture, a series of drills which are expected to become the largest alliance exercises in the region since the Cold War.

NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe Curtis Scaparrotti has characterized the deployment of the USS Harry Truman in the North Atlantic "a demonstration of our capabilities" to Moscow.

"We are ready and we are trained and we will protect the Atlantic," Scaparrotti said, speaking to Sky News.

Pointing to Russia's efforts to modernize its military, the general noted that the alliance needs "to continue to increase" its "capabilities and to train so that we remain dominant in war-fighting capabilities. Strength is how we deter conflict, and our job is actually to prevent [it] and we will do that with a strong alliance," he said.

Accusing Russia of conducting "illegal activities" and engaging in "malign influence below the level of war," Scaparrotti said he was "glad" that the US was "calling it out because we need to put them on notice."

Escorted by nine other warships, the massive US carrier will deploy some 49 jets in the upcoming Trident Juncture drills, which are expected to run between October 25 and November 7 in and around Norway. The drills, NATO's largest in the region since the Cold War, will involve some 50,000 troops from NATO countries, as well as Finland and Sweden.

The USS Harry Truman's deployment for the drills will be the first time a US aircraft carrier has been deployed to the Norwegian Sea since 1987.

Last week, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Moscow has no reason to consider the drills provocative. Earlier, Norwegian opposition politicians indicated their concerns regarding the carrier's deployment, calling the decision "unwise in relation to Russia," and warning that it may affect Oslo's traditionally good relations with Moscow.

Commissioned in 1998, the USS Harry Truman has been deployed in multiple US military operations around the world, including Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, and Operation Iraqi Freedom, i.e. the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Over the last several years, Russia has committed substantial resources to modernizing its navy, coastal defenses and air defenses, as well as arming navy cruisers, missile boats and other vessels with cruise missiles such as the Kalibr, capable of striking targets at ranges up to 2,500 km away from the Baltic and Black seas and the Pacific Ocean.

https://sputniknews.com/europe/201810131068859627-nato-carrier-norway-drills/

>>3466941

Well Russia won't attack unless it fires first but I wouldn't put it past NATO to try and manufacture a war. In fact i think are more than likely too.

>>3466972

Well NATO drill on Russia border. Several drones reported in the last few days skirting the Russian border. This is all driven by the UK who must know they are in deep shit and need war to hide their crimes

Family of Pakistani Christian Mother Sentenced to Death for Blasphemy Prays for Deliverance

The family of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother who faces execution for blasphemy in Pakistan, said they hoped the Supreme Court would free her.

But in any case they feared for their future living in Pakistan under the blasphemy laws, they told AFP.

Bibi, who has been on death row since 2010, is at the centre of the high-profile case that has divided Pakistan and drawn prayers from the Vatican.

On Monday the Supreme Court heard her last appeal and said it had reached a judgement, which it has yet to reveal.

“We are hopeful that whatever the court proceedings are it will come out as positive for us,” her husband Ashiq Mesih told AFP.

Her daughter Eisham Ashiq added: “I will be very happy the day my mother will be released. I will hug her and will cry meeting her and will thank God that he has got her released.”

Bibi’s family are in London on a visit organised by Aid to the Church in Need, a charity which helps repressed and persecuted Christians.

Bibi, a labourer, was accused of blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed in 2009 by Muslim women she was working with in a field.

The charge is punishable by death under legislation that rights groups say is routinely abused to settle personal vendettas.

Her family said that if Bibi is released, it would be difficult to stay in her homeland.

“Pakistan is ours: we were born there, raised there,” Mesih said.

“The only tension we have is the blasphemy law. It is imposed on Christians. When it is imposed on us our [Muslim] brothers should think that the Christians never say anything bad about the Koran.

“Asia Bibi, after her release, can’t stay there in the presence of this law.

“Living in Pakistan for us is very difficult. We don’t go out of our home and if we go, we come out very carefully.”

Life in Pakistan “for us is very difficult”.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2018/10/13/family-pakistani-christian-woman-sentenced-death-blasphemy-pray/

A Handful of Corporations Control Everything–Who Controls Them?

Many Americans are keenly aware of the influence of transnational conglomerates clustered under monikers like “Big Oil”, “Big Tech”, and “Big Pharma.”

Their CEOs regularly reap praise and criticism for the companies’ accomplishments and transgressions.

But CEOs like Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Apple’s Tim Cook are hardly sovereign masters of their companies.

Corporations are run by boards of directors and boards get appointed by shareholders. The trick is, these shareholders are not exactly who one might imagine.

Researchers from the Swiss university ETH Zurich probed all 43,060 transnational corporations and were able to identify and map their ownership structures.

The Top

As it turned out, 737 corporations controlled 80 percent of the combined value of all the others.

Who’s on the list? As one may expect, the top names include banks, insurance companies, investment funds, and wealth managers.

These hundreds of key corporations were each connected to the average of 20 other corporations, which allowed the top players to “hold a control ten times bigger than what could be expected based on their wealth,” the researchers stated in their 2011 paper (pdf).

Who, then, owns these super-influential companies?

“About 3/4 of the ownership of firms in the core remains in the hands of firms of the core itself,” the researchers noted. “In other words, this is a tightly-knit group of corporations that cumulatively hold the majority share of each other.”

Yet the rabbit hole goes deeper still.

The Top of the Top

The researchers assumed that to control a corporation one has to hold a majority stake. In reality, many corporations are set up in such a way, that a part of its board of directors is directly appointed by the top shareholders, who usually hold nowhere near the majority stake—their share could be as low as 5 percent or even less.

In addition to the direct appointments, the top shareholders hold major sway over the vote on other board members.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/a-handful-of-corporations-own-everything-who-owns-them_2688769.html

>>3467221

it's BS

>>3467236

NICE

Washington State Ends Capital Punishment

Around one-third of world nations impose the death sentence in judicial rulings.

Of all known state-sponsored executions, 12 nations carry out most of them: America, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and Sri Lanka, – according to deathpenaltyinfo.org.

Capital punishment flagrantly violates the Eight Amendment, prohibiting “cruel and unusual punishments.”

On October 11, Washington because the 20th US state, along with the District of Columbia, to prohibit it.

In State of Washington v. Allen Eugene Gregory, its Supreme Court unanimously ruled to end the practice, calling it unconstitutional, arbitrary and racially discriminatory, adding:

“The most important consideration is whether the evidence shows that race has a meaningful impact on imposition of the death penalty. We make this determination by way of legal analysis, not pure science.”

“As noted by appellant, the use of the death penalty is unequally applied — sometimes by where the crime took place, or the county of residence, or the available budgetary resources at any given point in time, or the race of the defendant.”

“The death penalty, as administered in our state, fails to serve any legitimate penological goal; thus, it violates article I, section 14 of our state constitution.”

“All (outstanding death) sentences are hereby converted to life imprisonment.”

“We leave open the possibility that the legislature may enact a ‘carefully drafted statute’ to impose capital punishment in this state, but it cannot create a system that offends constitutional rights.”

In 2014, Washington imposed a capital punishment moratorium.

In May 2002, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty alliance of NGOs, bar associations, local bodies and unions designated October 10 as the annual World Day Against the Death Penalty beginning in 2003.

There’s nothing just about state-sponsored murder, notably when against wrongfully accused victims.

In America, they’re mostly poor Blacks and Latinos, denied due process and judicial fairness. The system is rigged against them – internationally famous Mumia Abu-Jamal’s wrongful conviction best known.

Many others in America languish unfairly on death row – innocent of what they’re accused of.

In 2000, former Illinois Gov. George Ryan declared a moratorium on capital punishment after 13 prisoners were found innocent and released.

On January 11, 2003, two days before leaving office, he cleared death row, commuting sentences for 163 men and four women to life imprisonment – declaring a moratorium on future executions, saying:

“The facts that I have seen in reviewing each and every one of these cases raised questions not only about (their innocence), but about the fairness of the death penalty system as a whole.”

“Our capital system is haunted by the demon of error: error in determining guilt and error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die.”

Calling Illinois’ death penalty system “arbitrary, capricious, and therefore immoral,” he ended his gubernatorial tenure by pardoning four men and issuing a blanket commutation for all state prisoners on death row, adding “The legislature couldn’t reform it. Lawmakers won’t repeal it, and I won’t stand for it. I must act.”

In January 2011, both Houses of Illinois’ legislature voted to end capital punishment, Gov. Pat Quinn officially abolishing it in March, saying it’s impossible “to create a perfect, mistake-free death penalty system.”

The Campaign to End the Death Penalty (CEPD) has chapters in California, Delaware, New York, Texas, and Chicago.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/washington-state-ends-capital-punishment/5656863

>>3467279

Posted yesterday strange huh

>>3467312

Assholes avoiding death

>>3467349

They have gone full retard