JOHN SOLOMON: IG Report Lays Out “Incontrovertible Evidence” Obama FBI Misled FISA Court

According to award-winning investigative reporter John Solomon, the DOJ Inspector General’s report into Spygate lays out “incontrovertible evidence” that Obama’s FBI misled the FISA court with false information and omissions.

The IG report is expected to be released Monday at 1 PM ET, however sources have told John Solomon that the lies and omissions were so egregious that Attorney General Bill Barr may actually withdraw the FBI’s application for the FISA warrants on Carter Page that began in October of 2016.

Via John Solomon:

The evidence that the judges were misled is so sweeping that it could provide grounds, if Attorney General William Barr chooses, to withdraw the FBI’s application for the surveillance warrants that began in October 2016 to target ex-Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, the sources added.

“The evidence of false statements, false information, deception through omission is going to raise an important debate about FISA,” one source told me.

The report is expected to conclude the FBI’s decision to open a counterintelligence probe of the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia in 2016 was adequately predicated but that its subsequent reliance on the so-called Steele dossier and execution of FISA warrants to assist the probe were problematic.

That reliance became even more troubling in early 2017 when the FBI conducted an interview with one of Christopher Steele’s sources that raised further concerns about the reliability of a dossier that was funded by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

One question, the sources said, is whether FBI officials with access to the facts failed to adequately divulge issues in the case to those officials who signed the warrant, which was approved Oct 21, 2016 and renewed three times in 2017.

According to investigative reporters Sara Carter and Paul Sperry, the IG report is expected to have several criminal referrals.

It is important to note that IG Michael Horowitz does not have the power to indict or impanel a grand jury, he can only criminally refer people for investigation.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/12/john-solomon-ig-report-lays-out-incontrovertible-evidence-obama-fbi-misled-fisa-court/

Ukrainian Official Reveals Six Criminal Cases Opened in Ukraine Involving the Bidens

President Trump spoke to the press Saturday at the White House as he departed for Florida for speeches before the Israeli-American Council National Summit in Hollywood and a Republican fundraising dinner in Aventura.

Trump told the waiting reporters that his personal attorney former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani “found plenty” of “good information” during his recent trip to Ukraine and Europe.

Trump then added that he believes Giuliani wants to present a report to the Attorney General William Barr and to Congress. Trump added Giuliani has not told him what he found.

Giuliani reportedly traveled to Budapest and Ukraine this past week to meet with several Ukrainian officials about corruption.

OAN reporter Chanel Rion has been traveling with Rudy Giuliani and reporting on his investigations in Hungary and Kiev, Ukraine.

In her report released on Sunday night Chanel Rion mentioned that Ukrainian officials showed her six criminal cases involving the Bidens, Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/12/breaking-ukrainian-official-reveals-six-criminal-cases-opened-in-ukraine-involving-the-bidens/

"Undeniable Evidence": Explosive Classified Docs Reveal Afghan War Mass Deception

n what's already being hailed as a defining and explosive "Pentagon papers" moment, a cache of previously classified documents obtained by The Washington Post show top Pentagon leaders continuously lied to the public about the "progress" of the now eighteen-year long Afghan war.

The some 2,000 pages of notes from interviews of senior officials who have shaped US strategy in Afghanistan confirm that “senior US officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false… hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable," according to the bombshell Post report.

The internal interviews and statements were unearthed via Freedom of Information Act request and span the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations. The trove further confirms that US leaders knew vast amounts of money was being wasted in a futile attempt to "Westernize the nation".

Watchdog groups commonly estimate total US spending on the war has hit $1 trillion by end of 2019. More importantly, America's 'endless war' has cost at least 2,351 American lives and over 20,000 wounded.

The internal Pentagon project conducted by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) had sought to get as honest assessment as possible as to the status of America's longest running quagmire panning multiple administrations. It was to be a classified "Lessons Learned" assessment of sorts to prevent future missteps.

“What did we get for this $1tn effort? Was it worth $1 trillion?” one retired Navy SEAL who had advised the Bush and Obama administrations observed in one of the documents. “After the killing of Osama bin Laden, I said that Osama was probably laughing in his watery grave considering how much we have spent on Afghanistan.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/unearthed-pentagon-docs-reveal-afghan-war-deception-new-pentagon-papers-moment

Iran ready for big prisoner exchange with Washington but ‘ball is in US’ court’ – Zarif

Tehran is open to exchanging more prisoners with the US, but it is now time for Washington to make a move on it, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, after a recent swap left more room for optimism.

“After getting our hostage back this week, fully ready for comprehensive prisoner exchange,” Zarif tweeted on Monday.

The ball is in the US’ court.

His words came after a two-person Swiss-brokered prisoner swap with Washington concluded over the weekend. Tehran released a Persian history scholar Xiyue Wang, a naturalized American national who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2017 over espionage charges.

The US, in return, freed Iranian stem-cell researcher Massoud Soleimani who was held after being accused of violating trade sanctions by trying to “smuggle” vials of proteins into Iran.

The successful exchange provided an extremely rare example of a goodwill gesture between the Washington and Tehran, which have been locked in a tense diplomatic conflict since US President Donald Trump had abandoned the 2015 agreement on the Iranian nuclear program last year and re-imposed sanctions on Iran. The swap was met with optimism from both sides, offering some hope that a similar transaction may happen in the future.

Zarif has floated the idea of a larger prisoner exchange in the past. In October, he told reporters that he gave the US officials a list of the names of people Iran would like to see freed. Trump’s National Security Advisor, Robert O’Brien, meanwhile, told NPR that the recent swap serves as a good sign for the release of Americans held by Iran.

https://www.rt.com/news/475402-zarif-us-prisoner-exchange/

FIREWORKS at Sham Impeachment Hearing: Lawless Democrats Led by Jerry Nadler REFUSE GOP Lawmakers’ Right to Hold Minority Hearing Day (VIDEO)

FIREWORKS!

The House Judiciary Committee led by Chairman Jerry Nadler met on Monday morning to continue their sham impeachment hearing.

Before the two lawyers and “witnesses” were able to deliver their testimony several Republican committee members interrupted the proceedings to question Chairman Nadler about the minority day to call witnesses.

On Friday GOP Ranking member Doug Collins (R-GA) sent off a letter to House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) demanding the Republican minority hearing day before the committee decides on articles of impeachment.

This is their right!

Republicans are owed a day to call in their own witnesses.

Rep. Collins called on Nadler to contact his office immediately to schedule the GOP day to call witnesses.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/12/fireworks-at-sham-impeachment-hearing-lawless-democrats-led-by-jerry-nadler-refuse-gop-lawmakers-right-to-hold-minority-hearing-day-video/

Controversy Erupts After Elizabeth Warren Reveals Millions In Corporate Consulting Income

After months of dodging questions over her income, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) revealed on Sunday night that she made nearly $2 million from legal consulting for corporate clients while she was a law professor at Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and other law schools, starting in 1995.

The income included $212,000 for representing Travelers Indemnity Co. in 2009, $190,000 for representing a department store chain, and $80,000 doing bankruptcy work for Enron creditors.

The Washington Post immediately framed the disclosure as an example of hypocrisy, saying Warren's past income "doesn't fit neatly with her current presidential campaign brand as a crusader against corporate interests."

For instance, the documents released Sunday show that Warren made about $80,000 from work she did for creditors in the energy company Enron’s bankruptcy and $20,000 as a consultant for Dow Chemical, a company that was trying to limit the liability it faced from silicone breast implants that were made by a connected firm. -Washington Post

Warren's critics, such as Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, seized on the opportunity to suggest that "While she advocates for socialism she hypocritically lives a millionaire lifestyle."

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/controversy-erupts-after-elizabeth-warren-reveals-millions-corporate-consulting-income

Amazon Accuses Trump Of "Seeking To Harm Political Enemy Jeff Bezos" In Awarding JEDI Contract To MSFT

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/amazon-accuses-trump-seeking-harm-political-enemy-jeff-bezos-awarding-jedi-contract-msft

Goldman Bails-Out Softbank With $1.75 Billion Loan To Bail-Out WeWork

In what appears to be an expensive game of three-card-Monte, Bloomberg reports that Goldman Sachs has agreed to bail-out Softbank's huge money-losing bail-out of its investment in WeWork… saving Goldman's money-losing bet on the office-space-leasing company.

Bloomberg reports that, according to people with knowledge of the matter, Goldman is arranging a $1.75 billion line of credit as the first step in SoftBank’s pledge to put together $5 billion in debt financing for WeWork as part of its bailout package.

The new credit line will replace existing facilities that total about $1.1 billion, and is designed to free up cash that’s being used as collateral in the existing letters of credit.

For now, WeWork's bond price has limped higher in recent days…

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/goldman-bails-out-softbank-175-billion-loan-bail-out-wework

Turkey illegally transfers German tanks to jihadists in Syria

Recep Erdogan’s Turkish government has transferred German-made Leopard 2 tanks to a Turkish-backed “rebel group” fighting in northeastern Syria, violating the end-user terms of the sales agreement and German law regarding arms exports.

The Turkish military has transferred an unknown number of Leopard 2 tanks to the Syrian National Army (SNA), a rebel group composed of radical Islamists who have been accused of committing multiple war crimes, Bild reports.

The Turkish-backed jihadists are said to have already deployed the German-made tanks against the US and German-backed Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeastern Syria.

Bild writes:

“Since 2016, the Turkish army has used Germany’s main Leopard 2 tank in the Syrian war. But: After Bild’s investigations, it turns out that the Turkish government has now also transferred Leopard 2 tanks to Syrian rebels – illegally! ”

Hamsa Birakdar, a spokesman for the Turkish-backed SNA, has confirmed to the German newspaper that they were now using the advanced tanks.

“Turkey provided us with military equipment including tanks,” Birakdar said.

“We received three heavily armored vehicles and troop transport vehicles,” Birakdar added while confirming that the SNA had been trained on how to use the Leopard 2.

Recently, the Syrian National Army (SNA) published a video that shows a Leopard 2 tank firing upon a village in northern Syria.

Tobias Linder, a defense expert for the Green party, has stated that there’s no doubt about the genuineness of the video. He has called on the Turkish government to provide an immediate response.

“If Turkey actually passed ‘Leopard-2’ on, it must have serious consequences! Anyone who violates such agreements and violates international law must not receive German arms exports or any other military support, “Lindner told Bild.

https://voiceofeurope.com/2019/12/turkey-illegally-transfers-german-tanks-to-jihadists-in-syria/

Russia Banned From Olympics, World Cup Over Doping Violations

In an unprecedented ban that could see Russia barred from officially competing in the Tokyo Summer Olympics and the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the World Anti-Doping Authority decided to slap Russia with a four-year ban from international sports. The ban was handed down Monday during a special meeting of the WADA board in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Under the terms of the ban, Russia won't be allowed to field a national team during any events governed by the WADA rules for international sport. Russia's doping activity at the Sochi Winter Olympics helped trigger an investigation, aided by at least one major whistleblower, that eventually led to a stunning series of leaks to the New York Times that made Russian cheating at the Olympics an international story.

As a result, Russia was barred from competing officially during the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang (though Russian athletes were allowed to compete wearing a neutral kit). Restrictions were supposed to be lifted if Russia's doping program showed no signs of corruption, but unfortunately, investigators recently found evidence of tampering, and the board has decided to move ahead with the next harshest punishment.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/russia-banned-olympics-world-cup-over-doping-violations

Two Officers Arrested for Molesting Children While Working as Pastors at Church

Tulare, CA — Two California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) officers, one retired and one on active duty, were arrested last month and charged with sex crimes dating back to the 1990’s. Steven Arey,48, and Kevin Sandoval, 56, were both charged with molesting children when they worked as youth pastors in their church.

A now adult person presented themselves at the Tulare Police Department and said they had been molested on multiple occasions by youth pastors at Valley Bible Church in Visalia when they were just 8 or 9 years old.

Detectives began to investigate the person’s claim and quickly identified Arey as the suspect in the alleged crimes. Sandoval also reportedly worked at the same church with Arey and was also mentioned as an alleged perpetrator of the sex crimes against children.

On November 21st, Sandoval was arrested and charged on multiple counts of child molestation. Sandoval is a retired sergeant with CDCR. He was arrested in Rancho Cordova but lived in Tulare at the time the crimes were allegedly committed.

The next day, the 22nd of November, detectives went to Arey’s workplace, the High Desert Prision in Los Angeles county, and placed him under arrest. Both men were booked into the Tulare County Jail on multiple counts of child molestation.

Following the arrests, on Monday, the Tulare County District Attorney’s office has compiled 5 counts of child molest on Sandoval and 15 counts on Arey. It’s unclear if either man has secured an attorney and police and prosecutors alike believe there are more victims.

At his arraignment, it was revealed Ayer had at least 3 victims, all under the age of 14, between the years 1997 and 2002. As a result, Arey has been charged with 15 felony counts of lewd acts on a child. His bail was set at $250,000. Tulare County Judge Ricky Tripp stated:

The two concerns I have are the victims themselves-any future harm they could be caused because of the nature of the charges…And I think in this case since there are three alleged victims-that’s significant on the court. Then, based on the amount of time you could be facing if convicted, (there are also) concerns whether you would come back to court if I were to release you.

According to the Department of Justice, pedophiles and child molesters victimize on average 260 children during their lifetimes. Over 90% of convicted pedophiles are arrested again for the same offense after their release from prison.

As a result, the Tulare Police Department’s Detective Matt Muller believes there are more victims and wants such individuals to come forward to tell their story and be heard. Muller can be reached at (559) 685-2300 extension 2157. If you or someone you know has been victimized by Ayer or Sandoval, please call and leave a message even if you do not speak with Muller directly.

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/two-officers-arrested-for-molesting-children-while-working-as-pastors-at-church/

Paul Volcker, Central Banker Who Defeated Inflation, Dead At 92

Paul A. Volcker, who helped shape American economic policy for more than six decades, and who will forever be etched in the history books for leading the Federal Reserve’s brute-force campaign to subdue inflation in the late 1970s and early ’80s, has died on Sunday in New York, the NYT reported. He was 92.

Volcker, a literally towering, he was known as "Tall Paul" at 6 foot 7 inches, "taciturn and somewhat rumpled figure", arrived in Washington as America’s postwar economic hegemony was beginning to crumble. He would devote his professional life to wrestling with the consequences, the NYT writes in its obit of the last US central banker to do the right thing.

Paul Volcker was the last of the great US central bankers. He was followed by such intellectual midgets as Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke who unleashed the now infamous cycle of Fed-inspired booms and busts, the outcome of which will have devastating consequences for the US economy and the world.

In recent years, Volcker was instrument in crafting the "Volcker Rule" which prohibited banks from engaging in prop trading, which however banks promptly circumvented by pretending that prop trading was, in fact, hedging.

More from the NYT below:

As a Treasury Department official under Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon, Mr. Volcker waged a long, losing struggle to preserve the postwar international monetary system established by the Bretton Woods agreement.

As a senior Federal Reserve official from 1975 to 1987, in addition to battling inflation, he sought to limit the easing of financial regulation and warned that the rapid growth of the federal debt threatened the nation’s economic health.

In his last official post, as chairman of President Barack Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, formed in response to the 2008 financial crisis, he persuaded lawmakers to impose new restrictions on big banks — a measure known as the “Volcker Rule.”

Mr. Volcker interlaced his long stretches of public service with a lucrative career on Wall Street, most prominently as chief executive of the investment bank Wolfensohn & Company.

His reputation for austere integrity also made him a popular choice as an independent arbiter. In one instance he oversaw the reclamation of deposits that Swiss banks had failed to return to the families of Holocaust victims.

His defining achievement, however, was his success in ending an extended period of high inflation after President Jimmy Carter chose him to be the Fed’s chairman in 1979.

He prevailed by delivering shock therapy, driving the economy into a deep recession to persuade Americans to abandon their entrenched expectation that prices would keep rising rapidly.

The cost was steep. As consumers stopped buying homes and cars, millions of workers lost their jobs. Angry homebuilders mailed chunks of two-by-fours to the Fed’s marble headquarters in Washington. But Mr. Volcker managed to wring most inflation from the economy.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/paul-volcker-central-banker-who-defeated-inflation-dead-92

InfoWars Host Disrupts Impeachment Hearing: ‘America’s Sick of the Treason Committed by the Democrat Party’

InfoWars host Owen Shroyer interrupted Monday’s impeachment hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, shouting it is Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and the Democrat Party who are “committing treason against this country,” adding they are trying to remove President Trump “because they don’t like him.”

Within minutes of the session, shouts from Shroyer filled the room as Nadler spoke.

“Jerry Nadler and the Democrat Party are committing treason against this country! You can kick me out, but he’s the one committing crimes. You are Jerry Nadler,” Shroyer shouted.

“You’re the one committing treason. America’s done with this! America’s sick of the treason committed by the Democrat Party. We’re not going to sit here and watch you run an impeachment scam and remove our vote,” he continued, live-streaming his protest.

“We voted for Donald Trump, and they’re simply removing him because they don’t like him,” he added. “Americans are sick of your impeachment scam. They’re sick of the Democrat treason. We know who committed the crimes, and it wasn’t trump. Trump is innocent”:

The protest came amid House Judiciary Committee’s second public impeachment hearing – dubbed an “evidence hearing” – into the impeachment of the president. Staff counsels from the House Judiciary Committee and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence are expected to present evidence for and against impeachment.

The Judiciary Committee’s report, laying out the legal and constitutional framework for impeachment, does not necessarily rule out “treason,” as Breitbart News extensively detailed.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/12/09/watch-infowars-host-disrupts-impeachment-hearing-americas-sick-of-the-treason-committed-by-the-democrat-party/

Mega-Rich Environmentalists Respond To Questions About Their Use Of Private Jets

Billionaire Bill Gates and former Vice President Al Gore responded to criticism that their use of jets somehow conflicts with their desire to fight global warming, Axios reported Monday.

Gates suggested to Axios’s Amy Harder that his heavy investments in green energy are effectively enough to outweigh his private jet usage. The Microsoft founder owns a private jet and is one of the wealthiest people in the world.

“I am investing in climate change very broadly and substantial amounts of money,” Gates, who heads a coalition of billionaires who are investing in clean energy tech, said in an interview with Axios over the summer.

He added: “I don’t think there is anyone doing more, but if there is, congratulations to whoever that is.”

Gore, a politician-turned well-healed activist and vegan, made a similar point when confronted. “He recognizes how important these everyday choices are, while spending most of his time working to catalyze a global effort to change laws and policies,” a Gore representative told Harder.

The former vice president told CNN in 2017 he didn’t own a private jet, but in 2013 admitted to “sometimes” chartering a private jet. Gore has also been criticized for his enormous home energy usage, which is estimated to be 34 times the average American household.

Representatives for Gore did not respond to a request for comment when the Daily Caller News Foundation asked him in 2018 if he would be willing to ban the of use of private jets to help address climate change. The Gates Foundation also did not respond when the DCNF reached out.

https://dailycaller.com/2019/12/09/climate-change-gates-gore/

Nadler Failed to Swear in Witnesses at Judiciary Impeachment Hearings

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) failed to swear in the two counsels for both the Democrats and Republicans prior to their opening statements in Monday’s impeachment inquiry hearing.

Though staff members are not typically sworn in, witnesses must be sworn in and deliver testimony under oath.

Both Democrat counsel Barry Berke and Republican Counsel Stephen Castor delivered opening statements. Berke in particular made several factual assertions — many of which were dubious at best, and outright false at worst.

For example, Berke claimed that State Department staffer David Holmes had “heard it from the president himself” when he testified that President Donald Trump was interested in Ukraine conducting investigations.

In fact, Holmes had not heard anything directly from the president. Rather, he claimed to have overheard part of a conversation on a mobile phone between U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and the president. Sondland was at an outdoor table at a restaurant at the time, and Holmes had been drinking wine with him and two other staffers. Despite a habit of taking notes, and despite the fact that he later emailed the U.S. embassy in Sweden about a part of the conversation dealing with then-jailed U.S. rapper A$AP Rocky, Holmes never wrote down what he later claimed he heard the president telling Sondland. Burke suggested, however, that he heard the president first-hand.

In addition, Berke played a deceptively edited clip of President Trump speaking at a Turning Point USA conference, claiming that the president believed he could do “whatever I want.” In fact, as the full context of the president’s statement — a fragment of a sentence — made clear, Trump was talking specifically about his power to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, which he did not ultimately do.

Nadler’s failure to swear in the witnesses was significant because it allowed the counsels to make claims without fear of perjuring themselves.

It was also significant for another reason: when Republicans raised a point of order, objecting to Berke impugning the president’s motives, which is forbidden under House rules, Nadler ruled that the point of order was invalid because Berke was not a witness.

Later, Nadler described Berke and Castor as witnesses, prompting Republican objections that he had contradicted himself.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/12/09/nadler-failed-to-swear-in-witnesses-at-judiciary-impeachment-hearings/

Farage Registers ‘Reform Party’ to Hold Johnson to Account Post-Brexit

Nigel Farage has registered a new party, the Reform Party, should Boris Johnson take the UK out of the European Union under his proposed withdrawal agreement, which Farage says will plunge the country “back in crisis by June”.

The new Reform Party would set its sights on addressing structural issues in British politics, such as abolishing the House of Lords and making changes to the voting system. The party’s other main focus would be to ensure that Prime Minister Johnson delivers a proper Brexit.

“It’ll have to re-form into the Reform Party; it’ll have to campaign to change politics for good, get rid of the House of Lords, change the voting system. You’ll see on Thursday a turnout much lower than the pundits expect because people have lost faith in politics,” Mr Farage told Sky News.

As to whether it was the final name of the party, Farage said: “Absolutely, I’ve registered it already.”

The Brexit Party leader also took aim at Johnson’s Brexit deal, saying: “If it goes through unamended, we will find it virtually impossible to make trade deals with any other part of the world.”

“We will be back in crisis by June unless this Withdrawal Agreement is amended,” he added.

While predicting that the Brexit Party would win a “handful” of seats in the upcoming election, Mr Farage also called into question the prime minister’s commitment to cutting immigration.

“Boris Johnson has always been very soft on the immigration issue. But you know what? There’s an election on so tell people what they want to hear,” he said.

He added that the Tories “will make no real commitment to cut the numbers coming in and this is the fourth Conservative manifesto in a row promising to reduce numbers”.

The former UKIP leader, who has been campaigning to leave the European Union for over two decades, launched the Brexit Party in April. The Brexit Party has already achieved some electoral success, dominating the European Parliament elections in May, winning 29 seats, the most of any party.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/12/09/nigel-farage-registers-reform-party/

Strike-Hit Finland Appoints World’s Youngest Prime Minister, Moves Further Left

Sanna Marin of Finland’s left-wing Social Democratic Party is to be the next Prime Minister of the sparsely populated Nordic nation of Finland, and will be the youngest serving head of government worldwide.

The elevation to Prime Minister is the culmination of Marin’s swift rise in Finnish politics, with the 34-year-old going from local mayor, to member of parliament, to transport minister, to government leader in less than a decade.

Finnish broadcaster YLE reports Marin, who addresses her party colleagues as “comrades”, will move the already left-wing government further to the left, and is a “red-green and liberal ideologue”.

Marin will now be confirmed as Prime Minister and leader of the Finnish government, an increasingly fractious left-green coalition of five small parties, in the coming days. The focus of the new government will be “restoring trust” after a series of scandals and strikes, and will continue to be comprised of Marin’s Social Democrats, the Left Alliance, the Green League, the Centre Party, and a left-liberal leaning party representing the interest of Finland’s Swedish-speaking minority.

As well as being the youngest serving head of government worldwide, Marin will also be Finland’s youngest ever leader, and their third female Prime Minister. All government parties in Finland are presently led by women.

The outgoing Prime Minister, former union leader Antti Rinne, was pushed out of office last week after losing a vote of no confidence in his leadership. He was blamed for a poorly handled pay dispute at Finland’s national post office. His government was only six months old, having been formed after the previous centre-right coalition government collapsed over its failure to deliver a programme of public reform including improving health care provision while reducing the government budget.

Reuters reports Finland is facing a new wave of strikes starting today, with major factories shutting down production which follows strikes by the postal service and sympathy strikes in other industries in recent months.

Marin’s Social Democrats grabbed headlines last month after one of its politicians was discovered to have faked a racist incident, claiming he had been told to “go back to Somalia”. He subsequently claimed that while he had indeed lied and created the hoax, it was only because he was “angry” and wanted to reflect on something “real” in society.

While the coalition of cooperating small left-parties presently rules Finland, the anti-mass migration and anti-European Union True Finns (Perussuomalaiset) party presently tops the polls as the most popular in Finland, enjoying nearly a quarter of national support and a clear ten-point lead over the much smaller but governing Social Democrats.

Despite it having the broadest support of any single Finnish party, the True Finns remain unable to form a national government, as they lack a network of other, smaller parties to build a governing coalition as the Social Democrats do in their centrist and green allies.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/12/09/strike-hit-finland-appoints-worlds-youngest-prime-minister-moves-further-left/