Detailed U.N. Report on Israeli Occupation of Golan Heights

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Detailed U.N. Report on Israeli Occupation of Golan Heights

contact@ifamericansknew.org March 22, 2019

Detailed U.N. Report on Israeli Occupation of Golan Heights

Israeli tanks in the Golan Heights during Israel’s 1967 invasion of Syria.

Occupied Syrian Golan

Section V of the “UN Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rightsof the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories” [photos added]

During its visit to Damascus, the Special Committee received from the Director of the International Organizations Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Syrian Arab Republic the text of the report entitled “ Report of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Syrian Arab Republic on Israeli practices affecting the human rights of Syrian citizens in the occupied Syrian Arab Golan”. The Special Committee reproduces below the English translation of the report, as presented in Arabic, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

“Due to the ongoing Israeli occupation of the Golan, its Syrian Arab population are continuing to suffer from violations of the most fundamental principles of law, justice and human rights by the Israeli occupation authorities, which are using every means of repression, coercion and terrorism against the Syrian Arab population, who have been suffering under the yoke of occupation since 1967, in total disregard of international law and the series of resolutions adopted by the Security Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations and in flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property of 1954.

“Your distinguished Committee is visiting the Syrian Arab Republic for the thirty-third time pursuant to the relevant General Assembly resolutions, the most recent of which was resolution 55/130 of 8 December 2000, while Israel is still refusing to receive and cooperate with your Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories, which was established under the terms of General Assembly resolution 2443 (XXIII) of 19 December 1968.

https://israelpalestinenews.org/detailed-u-n-report-on-golan-heights/

Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories

https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/9DF193391DD7C18A85256AFC00530DE6

A Very Incomplete List of Sinister Things Vladimir Putin/Russia/‘the Russians’ Have Been Accused of Doing

According to the finest minds of Western media and political life, “The Russians” have been responsible for everything from sowing discord with sex toys to weaponizing humor, sexual assault allegations, and “black America’s experiences.”

Editor’s note: A friend of the site has been keeping tabs on everything that Russia, “The Russians,” and Vladimir Putin have been blamed for in the past two years or so. We thought this list was a perfect window into the hysteria of Russiagate and published it with a few additions of our own.

Forcing Donald Trump to hire Rex Tillerson (Laurence Tribe, Harvard Law professor).

Forcing Donald Trump to fire Rex Tillerson (Laurence Tribe, Harvard Law professor, eight days later).

Forcing Donald Trump to give concessions to North Korea (Rachel Maddow, MSNBC anchor).

Meddling in the 2018 Italian parliamentary election (George Soros, billionaire; Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former president of Denmark, former secretary general of NATO; and Michael Chertoff, former U.S. secretary of homeland security).

Winning the 2018 Italian parliamentary election (Haaretz, The Hill).

Hacking the 2017 French presidential election (Michael Rogers, NSA director, Politico, numerous other outlets).

No, really, hacking the 2017 French presidential election (Jamie Raskin, U.S. congressman, after French government denied Russian involvement, stating the hack was “so simple it could have practically been anyone”).

Brexit (New York Times, numerous other outlets).

Helping rise of far-right AfD party in the 2017 German election (Time).

Causing the 2019 U.S. government shutdown (Haaretz).

Making the New York Times editorial board criticize Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko (Petro Poroshenko, president of Ukraine).

Weaponizing sexual assault accusations in order to attack Kremlin critics (George Takei, Kremlin critic accused of sexual assault).

Weaponizing information (Theresa May, UK prime minister).

Weaponizing misinformation (NPR).

https://thegrayzone.com/2019/03/27/a-very-incomplete-list-of-sinister-things-vladimir-putin-russia-the-russians-have-been-accused-of-doing/

None Dare Call It Treason: President Trump Must Fight Fire With Fire And Hold The 'Coup D'Etat' Leaders Responsible For Their Crimes Against America

• With Others Watching, Justice Against The Coup Plotters Is Absolutely Necessary For Reasons Of National Security

"Treason doth never prosper. What’s the reason? Why, if treason doth prosper. None dare call it treason." –Sir John Harrington (1561-1612)

I don’t care what the Mueller Report says.

Conservatives should not be applauding the Mueller Report for finding no collusion with Russia by President Trump during his election campaign or after.

The Mueller investigation itself was never legitimate.

It was part of a conspiracy by the Obama administration, the Democratic Party, and their minions in the FBI and Justice Department against Mr. Trump, his allies, voters, and the Constitution.

Any intelligent person, not wholly blinded by fanatical anti-Trump partisanship, should have understood all along that the Mueller investigation, a stacked deck, staffed with highly partisan activist Democratic lawyers, was biased and bogus.

Any intelligent person, not rendered insane by anti-Trump hatred, should have understood all along that vociferous accusations by Democrats and the liberal mainstream media that President Trump colluded with Russia to win election — that President Trump is a traitor — was and is utter nonsense.

Indeed, these false accusations against President Trump, that seek to delegitimize his administration and cancel the ballots cast by Trump voters, is the real act of treason.

http://allnewspipeline.com/None_Dare_Call_It_Treason_Dr_Pry.php

STRATCOM Commander Wants to Put Low Yield Nuclear Missiles on U.S. Submarines

CAPITOL HILL – If the U.S. opts to develop low-yield nuclear missiles, expect the Navy to deploy these weapons as part of the nation’s undersea nuclear deterrent, the commander of U.S. Strategic Command told lawmakers Thursday.

If developed, the U.S. low-yield nuclear weapons would fall within limits set by the New START nuclear arms treaty, Air Force Gen. John Hyten, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, told the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee. New START, signed in 2010 by the U.S. and the Russian Federation, caps the number of nuclear warheads each nation deploys.

“We’ll actually remove big weapons from the submarines and put small ones in,” Hyten said. “We’re going to have still the same number weapons, they just going to give us a smaller yield. But we think that smaller yield actually gives us a better chance to deter our primary adversary.”

Pentagon leaders and members of Congress worry Russia, China and others already are developing low-yield nuclear weapons in an attempt to gain an advantage over the U.S. or allied nations protected by the U.S. nuclear umbrella, said the subcommittee’s ranking member, Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio).

“There is a concern that we might not retaliate, because if all of our weapons are such a large size, that we would be deterred because we’d be seen as escalating to their escalate,” Turner said.

However, not all lawmakers agree that low-yield nuclear weapons dramatically increase the ability of the nation’s nuclear triad to deter adversaries. Their worry is developing low-yield nuclear weapons will result in a low-yield nuclear arms race.

“I continue to be unconvinced of the value of low-yield weapons,” Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.) said.

Several of Davis’ colleagues share her skepticism, including HASC chair Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.). Smith is a frequent critic of the low-yield nuclear weapons plan. In September, he was among a group of lawmakers from the House and Senate who sought to prohibit the development of low yield nuclear weapons for submarines.

“We should not fund President Trump’s request for new low-yield nuclear weapons. His proposal dangerously lowers the threshold to nuclear use and siphons money away from genuine military readiness needs,” Smith said at the time. “We already have a nuclear deterrent that is more than adequate to achieve our national security goals. Funding new, low-yield weapons would only draw us further into an unnecessary nuclear arms race and increase the risks of miscalculation.”

Meanwhile, as the Pentagon waits for approval to develop low-yield nuclear weapons, military leaders are also developing hypersonic weapons. However, if created, the Columbia-class SSBN submarines will not carry hypersonics.

“There is no plan to put a conventional weapon on an SSBN,” said Vice Adm. Johnny Wolfe, the Navy’s director of Strategic Systems Programs.

Wolfe did leave the door open for deploying hypersonic missiles aboard a proposed Columbia-class follow-on submarine that would not be designed to carry nuclear weapons. The Navy is considering shifting Columbia-class production into a guided missile submarine program (SSGN) as the final of the 12 planned Columbia-class boomers are built.

The Navy’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget request asks for about $593 million to pay for additional hypersonic flight testing, booster development and evaluating how to integrate hypersonic missiles into various Navy platforms, Wolfe said. He only offered to give lawmakers a timeline for flight testing in a classified hearing.

“The whole goal of these weapons is to not use them,” Hyten said. “The key is by being ready, by being obviously ready, and communicating that with the adversary, we will not cross that line, and we will not have to use them. If we’re not ready, that’s why we’re concerned somebody will cross that line.”

https://news.usni.org/2019/03/28/42238

With Mueller Done, Now is the Time for Better Relations With Russia

The shrieking pundits have been quieted. Trump should seize the opportunity and work for peace.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is over, and the results could not be more of a relief for President Donald Trump: no collusion with the Russian government and not enough evidence for an obstruction of justice charge. It was unquestionably good news for the president and for Republicans on Capitol Hill who have lashed their own political futures to Trump.

The report is also a plus for the country—not only because Washington won’t be consumed with a constitutional crisis anytime soon, but also because it provides the Trump administration with its first opportunity to settle on a Russia policy without the risk of an extreme political backlash.

U.S.-Russia relations were already in the tank before Trump was sworn into office. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s return to the Kremlin after a four-year hiatus as prime minister was like a wet blanket over the fire of an otherwise productive detente between the two former Cold War adversaries. Putin took what had been a relatively productive period with the Americans (deals had been struck on a variety of issues, including New START, the use of Russian air routes into Afghanistan, counterterrorism cooperation, ever-stronger U.N. Security Council sanctions on Iran) into a deep freeze in less than a year. Russia’s annexation of Crimea, military support to separatists in Eastern Ukraine, campaign on behalf of the Assad regime in Syria, and interference in European politics all contributed to the unhealthy discourse. Putin’s active measures operation during the 2016 U.S. presidential election reaffirmed what so many officials in Washington already believed: Putin is out to attack American democracy and challenge the U.S. in multiple theaters.

Trump’s desire to get along with Putin was not a bad idea at its core. Russia may be a weakling compared to its Soviet ancestor (its GDP is about $400 billion less than recession-threatened Italy), but it remains a major power in Eurasia. Moscow has demonstrated on three separate occasions over the last decade—Georgia in 2008, Ukraine in 2014, and Syria in 2015—that it’s willing to use military force when its interests are threatened. Of course, Russia is also the world’s largest nuclear power, with thousands of nuclear warheads in its arsenal. Nobody, not even John Bolton, would suggest that getting into a military confrontation with Russia is smart.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/with-mueller-done-now-is-the-time-for-better-relations-with-russia/

Salesforce Sued For Sex Trafficking… Because Backpage Used Salesforce's CRM

In the latest insane lawsuit regarding the internet and sex trafficking, a group of women who were tragic victims of sex trafficking have decided not to sue those responsible for trafficking them… but online customer relationship management (CRM) provider Salesforce.com. What? Huh? Why? You might ask? Well, apparently it's because everyone's favorite sex trafficking bogeyman, Backpage.com, used Salesforce.com for its CRM. Yup.

While most of the reports on this don't show the lawsuit, CNBC thankfully posted a copy (though it's locked up in Scribd, so we can't embed our own version, unfortunately). The lawsuit makes a bunch of leaps to argue that Salesforce is somehow magically responsible for people doing illegal things on Backpage. The levels of separation between the criminal actions and the liability here are simply ridiculous. Much of the lawsuit tries to suggest that because Salesforce is good at its job in customizing its offerings to its customers, that's proof that it's magically responsible for sex trafficking:

In public, including on Twitter, Salesforce boasted about fighting human trafficking using its data tools.

But behind closed doors, Salesforce’s data tools were actually providing the backbone of Backpage’s exponential growth.

Salesforce didn’t just provide Backpage with a customer-ready version of its data and marketing tools. Salesforce designed and implemented a heavily customized enterprise database tailored for Backpage’s operations, both locally and internationally.

With Salesforce’s guidance, Backpage was able to use Salesforce’s tools to market to new “users”—that is, pimps, johns, and traffickers—on three continents.

Backpage could also use Salesforce’s custom tools to remarket to those pimps, johns, and traffickers who had been underusing its trafficking services.

It is inconceivable that the technologies used world-round to manage customer and marketing databases would be put to the immoral and illegal purposes engineered by Backpage and Salesforce.

It should not be our tax dollars, charities, and churches that carry the burden of the catastrophic harms and losses to sex trafficking survivors. That responsibility should fall to companies like Salesforce, that have facilitated and profited from sex trafficking.

Incredibly – and obnoxiously – the complaint uses Salesforce's own efforts to help in the fight against sex trafficking against the company. It highlights some of Salesforce's promotional efforts, concerning the fight against sex trafficking, such as this tweet:

https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/71873/salesforce-sued-for-sex-trafficking-because-backpage-used-salesforces.html

Spy found dead in Alps after being accused of plot to assassinate exiled opposition leader

The former agent was charged with “criminal conspiracy” and “possession of explosives” last year, following an attempt on Mr Mbahou’s life in 2015.

Speaking to Euronews, Mr Forestier’s lawyer, Cedric Huissoud, said his client had “firmly contested” the charges against him and accusations of his involvement in the plot were unfounded.

This connection has however led to speculation his apparent execution may be linked to the failed assassination attempt and detectives reportedly believe the killing may have been a revenge attack.

“It’s hard to believe that this murder bore no connection with his implication in the Mbahou affair,” an anonymous source close to the investigation told French news agency AFP.

However, another unnamed investigator told Le Parisien links to “parallel activities in Russia and Asia” were also being probed.

Mr Mbahou served as director of security to then-Congolese president Pascal Lissouba until 1997, when both were ousted by forces loyal to socialist leader Denis Sassou Nguesso.

https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/71874/spy-found-dead-in-alps-after-being-accused-of-plot-to-assassinate-exiled-opposition.html

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/france-spy-dead-alps-assassination-congo-opposition-daniel-forestier-a8843566.html

Duke University to pay $112.5 million for faking scientific research data

Duke University has agreed to pay $112.5 million to the US government for scientific research misconduct, the Department of Justice announced in a press release on Monday. The fine comes as a result of the university falsifying research on federal grants.

The Department of Justice lays out the background and extent of the fraud. Duke received millions of dollars from the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency every year, but it turns out that the university engaged in over two dozen acts of fraud against the government.

“The settlement resolves allegations that between 2006 and 2018, Duke knowingly submitted and caused to be submitted claims to the NIH and to the EPA that contained falsified or fabricated data or statements in thirty (30) grants, causing the NIH and EPA to pay out grants funds they otherwise would not have,” the release states.

The release also points to “certain research related to mice conducted by a Duke research technician in its Airway Physiology Laboratory” as falsified or fabricated.

The payment is a result of allegations brought by a former employee-turned-whistleblower. Joseph Thomas, previously employed by Duke as a lab analyst, brought the original suit against the university, which was then taken over by the government under the Fair Claims Act, which allows whistleblowers to bring legal action on behalf of the government. The government is then able to take over the suit, and the whistleblower can share in the settlement.

https://www.thecollegefix.com/duke-university-to-pay-112-5-million-for-faking-scientific-research-data/

Spanish Judge Seeking Ringleader of North Korea Embassy Attack, Believed to Be in U.S.

The February 22 attack on the North Korean embassy in Madrid is turning into an international incident involving the CIA, FBI, and a Spanish judge who has issued international arrest warrants for the ringleaders who are believed to be in the United States.

In the attack, a group of ten men broke into the embassy, assaulted and handcuffed personnel, smashed photos of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, and stole computers. The men fled to Portugal, where they split up.

Judge José de la Mata, of Spain’s High Court, the Audiencia Nacional, is charging them with six crimes, including unlawful detention, violent robbery and criminal association.

The Washington Post reports that the group has offered to share information with the FBI, an odd action for a fugitive.

The US State Department deputy spokesman, Robert Palladino, said on Tuesday that “the government of the United States had nothing to do” with the break-in.

But with the alleged ringleader in America, the United States is now involved whether it likes it or not.

After EL PAÍS revealed that at least two of the assailants had been identified and had ties with the CIA, The Washington Post published an article ruling out the agency’s involvement and pointing at a small North Korean dissident group called Cheollima Civil Defense or Free Joseon, which had not claimed responsibility for the attack at that time.

https://deepstateblog.org/2019/03/28/spanish-judge-seeking-ringleader-of-north-korea-embassy-attack-believed-to-be-in-u-s/

Why is the Pentagon flexing it’s nuclear muscles when the U.S. Military poses all the threats worldwide?

US says it won’t rule out nuclear first strike, because allies wouldn’t trust it otherwise

A Pentagon official has said that the US will retain the right to carry out a nuclear strike in response to a conventional attack. A ‘no-first-use’ policy would erode US allies’ belief that they are protected, he said.

Washington has no plans to reverse its policy of “no first use” of nukes, which means it can bomb its adversaries with nuclear weapons under “extreme circumstances,” Deputy Undersecretary of Defense David Trachtenberg said in his prepared remarks to the Senate Armed Service Committee hearing on Thursday.

Trachtenberg claimed that if the US changes its take on the issue, which he described as “constructive ambiguity,” it “would undermine US extended deterrence and damage the health of our alliances because it would call into question the assurance that the United States would come to the defense of allies in extreme circumstances.” This uncertainty might prompt these countries to arm themselves with nuclear weapons, he said.

The hawkish Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) commissioned by President Donald Trump in 2018 lists a range of circumstances under which the US might consider striking first, such as significant strategic attacks on the US, allied or partner civilian infrastructure, forces, their command and control, as well as warning and assessment capabilities with conventional weapons.

That clause represents a major shift from the previous US nuclear doctrine, and has drawn strong criticism from Moscow, which accusedWashington of lowering the nuclear threshold and exacerbating the nuclear arms race. In addition to threatening nuclear annihilation, the review sets the stage for upgrading and expanding the already vast US nuclear arsenal. The nuclear build-up envisions developing new types of low-yield warheads that could be placed on submarine-launched ballistic missiles and on sea-launched cruise missiles.

The “mini-nuke” produced by the Pantex plant in Texas has the relatively small explosive power of around five kilotons of TNT, in an attempt to make the US deterrent more “flexible.” According to some experts, it can be launched from the B-21 Raider heavy bomber, which is being developed, making a preemptive nuclear raid more of a probability.

Russia and its weapons modernization program has been singled out in the review as one of the reasons for a major build-up of the US nuclear triad. But unlike the American one, the Russian military doctrine allows the use of nukes only if under attack by weapons of mass destruction or when Russia’s sovereignty is at stake.

Russia has repeatedly warned Washington that the deployment of the new bombs would violate the Non-Proliferation Treaty.While reinforcing its own nuclear deterrent, the US plans to spend billions of dollars upgrading its 150 B61 nuclear bombs scattered across its four European allies: Germany, Belgium, Italy, and the Netherlands – as well as Turkey.

http://themillenniumreport.com/2019/03/why-is-the-pentagon-flexing-its-nuclear-muscles-when-the-u-s-military-posing-all-the-threats-worldwide/

https://www.rt.com/news/455022-strike-preemptive-nuclear-pentagon/

Tom Cruise is Considered a "Deity" Among Scientology Members, Defector Says

According to recent interviews from defectors of the Church of Scientology, Tom Cruise is considered a god among the lower level parishioners in the church.

Bree Mood, a Scientology defector who recently left the church said that Tom Cruise is considered a “god” or “deity” among practitioners of the religion. Mood also revealed that Scientology churches bus their members to theaters every time one of the actor’s films is released, and regularly take them back for second and third screenings.

“Tom Cruise was a god in the lower ranks … every time a Tom Cruise movie came out they’d buy all his tickets. It could be 500, 1,000, up to 2,500 people. I’m not kidding,” Mood said.

After her escape from the church, Mood described the abuse that she endured in an interview with the Daily Mail. Mood says that she was forced to have an abortion and was punished with hard labor for breaking the rules of the church.

Despite its enduring popularity in Hollywood, the Church of Scientology has been riddled with scandals involving terrible human rights violations. For a long time, the things that went on inside the church were mostly unknown, but in recent years the unethical practices of the church have been exposed by numerous whistleblowers.

In many cases, some of the high profile defectors were family members of current church leader David Miscavige. Both David’s father and niece have come forward to speak out against the organization, and have each written books about what goes on behind the scenes at the Church of Scientology.

https://themindunleashed.com/2019/03/tom-cruise-a-deity-among-scientology-members.html

IDF issues clear warning to Gazans as it draws up battle plans for mass protest

Army makes direct appeal to residents of Hamas-run Strip in bid to avoid provoking troops deployed to area into using deadly force to stop feared border breach

As the Israeli military prepares for mass Land Day protests planned for the Gaza border on Saturday and for the potential that these demonstrations could spark a bloody conflict in the coastal enclave, it has begun warning Palestinians — on pain of death — not to cross its “red line”: approaching or breaching the security fence.

Through phone calls, messages, public statements and pamphlets dropped from aircraft, the Israel Defense Forces has told Palestinians in the Strip that any attempts to break through the border fence will be met with live fire.

“The IDF will not accept attempts to harm (Israeli) civilians, soldiers or the security fence,” Col. Iyad Sarhan, the Head of the IDF Coordination and Liaison Administration for Gaza, said in an Arabic-language video directed at Gaza residents on Friday, telling them that if they abide by the rules they could end the weekend “safe with your families.”

More

https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-issues-clear-warning-to-gazans-as-it-draws-up-battle-plans-for-mass-protest/

This will likely turn into a massacre

Pentagon Audit: Evidence Proving $21 Trillion Unaccounted For – Opening Statement

According to United States government documents, since 1998, the Office of the Inspector General has reported $21 Trillion in unaccounted for money.

As unbelievable and absurd as that sounds, the actual total of unaccounted for money at the Pentagon is most likely significantly more than $21 trillion.

Researchers are unable to get data for every year of military spending, many Pentagon agencies do not have any publicly available records, hundreds of thousands of transactions have been erased, and an estimated millions of transactions do not have any traceable record.

As you will see in detail throughout this series of reports, not only have trillions of taxpayer dollars been knowingly dumped into a shockingly unaccountable black hole, Congress is not even sure how much money has been appropriated and given out in the first place.

United States government officials who work for the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) have been reporting on this stunning issue for years.

The fact that this mind-blowing amount of missing tax money has not been a lightning rod for mainstream media coverage, congressional investigations, and a lead issue for all political representatives, particularly those who claim to care about our skyrocketing national debt, calls into serious question the integrity and legitimacy of all leadership and responsible parties.

Beyond the outright disregard for the rule of law and lack of consequences for ignoring an annual audit legal requirement, the Pentagon is also flagrantly in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

The U.S. Constitution in Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 specifically states:

“No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.”

https://www.globalresearch.ca/pentagon-audit-evidence-proving-21-trillion-unaccounted-for-opening-statement/5669206

Syria’s Rukban Now Little More than a US-Controlled Concentration Camp – and the Pentagon Won’t Let Refugees Leave

The United States military has rejected offers to resolve the growing humanitarian crisis in the Rukban refugee camp in Syria, which sits inside a 55 km zone occupied by the U.S. along the Syria-Jordan border. The U.S. has also refused to let any of the estimated 40,000 refugees — the majority of which are women and children — leave the camp voluntarily, even though children are dying in droves from lack of food, adequate shelter and medical care. The U.S. has also not provided humanitarian aid to the camp even though a U.S. military base is located just 20 km (12.4 miles) away.

The growing desperation inside the Rukban camp has received sparse media coverage, likely because of the U.S.’ control over the area in which the camp is located. The U.S. has been accused of refusing to let civilians leave the area — even though nearly all have expressed a desire to either return to Syrian government-held territory or seek refuge in neighboring countries such as Turkey — because the camp’s presence helps to justify the U.S.’ illegal occupation of the area.

Though the U.S. has long justified its presence in al-Tanf as necessary to defeat Daesh (ISIS), the U.S. government has also acknowledged that al-Tanf’s true strategic importance lies in U.S. efforts to “contain” Iran by blocking a connection from Iran to Syria through Iraq. Al-Tanf lies near the area where the borders of Syria, Iraq and Jordan meet. Thus, in the U.S.’ game of brinkmanship with Iran, Rukban’s estimated 40,000 inhabitants have become pawns whose basic needs are ignored by their occupiers.

U.S. shows no interest in meeting

On Tuesday, delegations from Russia, Syria, the UN, and the Rukban refugee camp met to discuss the fate of the camp’s inhabitants after a UN survey found that 95 percent of the camp’s inhabitants wanted to leave the camp, while 83 percent wanted to return to their hometowns in areas of Syria now under Syrian government control.

However, the U.S. military and State Department officials in nearby Jordan rejected an invitation to Tuesday’s meeting. The U.S. military also prohibited a Syrian-Russian delegation from entering the Rukban camp on Tuesday. The delegation had sought to assess conditions in the camp, which have become increasingly desperate according to reports from a variety of outlets, including U.S. government-funded outlets like Voice of America.

The U.S.’ refusal to attend the meeting or allow the delegation passage comes less than a month after the U.S. military blocked the entry of evacuation buses overseen by Russian and Syrian forces that would have allowed refugees to leave the camp.

The buses would have entered through the “humanitarian corridors” that were recently opened on the Syrian-controlled side of the U.S.-occupied enclave. While camp inhabitants can, in theory, leave the camp through the corridors on foot, the barren area’s remoteness makes such evacuations unfeasible without vehicle transport. Although some families have left this way, the lack of record keeping within the camp has made it impossible to know how many have tried leaving this way since the corridors were opened last month.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/syrias-rukban-us-controlled-concentration-camp-pentagon-wont-let-refugees-leave/5673032

AG Barr: Public Release Of Mueller Report Coming "Mid-April If Not Sooner" - No Plan For White House Review

Attorney General William Barr wrote a Friday letter in response to Senate Judiciary Chair Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) notifying them that a redacted copy of the Mueller report will be delivered to Congress, then available to the public, by mid-April "if not sooner."

"Everyone will soon be able to read it on their own," wrote Barr.

Barr says that his office is working with Special Counsel Robert Mueller to redact sensitive information which could affect ongoing matters, infringe on someone's personal privacy or information which could comproimse the DOJ's sources and methods of investigation.

The report will be nearly 400 pages, while Barr writes that there is no plans to let the White House review it beforehand.

"Although the president would have the right to assert privilege over certain parts of the report, he has stated publicly that he intends to defer to me and, accordingly, there are no plans to submit the report to the White House for a privilege review."

Barr also disputes the characterization that a four-page letter released on Sunday was a "summary" of Mueller's report.

"My March 24 letter was not, and did not purport to be, an exhaustive recounting of the Special Counsel’s investigation or report," writes Barr. "As my letter made clear, my notification to Congress and the public provided, pending release of the report, a summary of its “principal conclusions” — that is, its bottom line. The Special Counsel’s report is nearlyl 400 pages long (exclusive of tables and appendices) and sets forth the Special Counsel’s findings, his analysis, and the reasons for his conclusions. . . . I do not believe it would be in the public’s interest for me to attempt to summarize the full report or to release it in serial or piecemeal fashion."

Barr then says he will be available to testify in front of Congress on May 1 and 2.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-03-29/ag-barr-public-release-mueller-report-coming-mid-april-if-not-sooner-no-plan-white

Link to Barr letter

https://www.scribd.com/document/403649157/Barr-Letter-on-Mueller#from_embed

Regulators Knew Of 737 MAX Trim Problems - Certification Demanded Training That Boeing Failed To Deliver

A recently discovered document proves that Boeing ignored requirements international regulators made when they certified Boeing's 737 MAX airplane.

After the recent Boeing 737 MAX incident in Ethiopia we explained why it happened. Even before the plane type was grounded by the FAA we wrote:

Boeing, The FAA, And Why Two 737 MAX Planes Crashed

Our early take was confirmed by the reporting of other media which we also discussed:

Flawed Safety Analysis, Failed Oversight - Why Two 737 MAX Planes Crashed

The basic problem:

For commercial reasons Boeing wanted the new 737 version to handle like the old ones. But changes in the new version required an additional system to handle certain flight situations. The development of that system and the safety analysis of its implications were rushed through. Pilots were not informed of it and not trained to counter its failure.

The added 'maneuver characteristics augmentation system' (MCAS) depended on only one sensor. When the sensor provided false data MCAS engaged and pointed the planes towards the ground. Manual trim using the plane's trim wheel was required to regain flight stability. The pilots were not aware of that. The regulators who certified the plane as safe were unaware of the extend of the problem:

The MCAS system is poorly engineered and the design should never have been certified in the first place. But the issue is even worse. The certification that was given relied on false data.

The first MCAS design, on which the safety analysis and certification was based, allowed for a maximum trim movement by MCAS of 0.6 degree of a maximum of 5 degree. Flight tests proved that to be too little to achieve the desired effects and the maximum movement was changed to 2.5 degree.

No safety analysis for the much greater movement was conducted. The FAA and foreign regulators were not informed of it. Their certification of the 737 MAX was based on misleading data.

But even those certifications were only conditional. They required from Boeing to include relevant training material that explained the MCAS trim system and its potential problems to the pilots.

The original certification for the 737 MAX was issued by the U.S. regulator FAA. The European regulator EASA based its certification on the one the FAA provided but it added several of its own requirements. There is now documentary evidence that Boeing neglected to fulfill at least one of those requirements.

The one page document, first described by Reuters, is included in the Explanatory Note Issue 10 (pdf) to the EASA Boeing 737 type certification which was issued in February 2016.

Page 15 of the Explanatory Note discusses "Longitudinal trim at Vmo". Vmo is the maximum operational speed. The trim sets the nose of the plane up or down, independent of other pilot input. Too high up and the plane with lose lift and stall, too low down and the plane will hit terrain.

A failure of the MCAS system could trim the nose down. As a countermeasure the pilots would have to switch the trim system off. They would then manually trim the plane back into a level flight. This was a concern. The EASA note says:

Subsequent to flight testing, the FAA-TAD expressed concern with compliance to the reference regulation based on an interpretation of the intent behind “trim”. The main issue being that longitudinal trim cannot be achieved throughout the flight envelope using thumb switch trim only.

EASA considered the need to use manual trim "unusual". But it allowed it to pass because the required training material would "clearly explain" the issue:

The need to use the trim wheel is considered unusual, as it is only required for manual flight in those corners of the envelope.

The increased safety provided by the Boeing design limits on the thumb switches (for out-of-trim dive characteristics) provides a compensating factor for the inability to use the thumb switches throughout the entire flight envelope. Furthermore, the additional crew procedures and training material will clearly explain to pilots the situations where use of the trim wheel may be needed due to lack of trim authority with the wheel mounted switches.

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2019/03/regulators-knew-of-737-max-trim-problems-certification-demanded-training-that-boeing-failed-to-deliv.html#more

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