Catalog broken

Press Freedom Groups Defend Assange, Call Prosecution a ‘Dangerous Precedent’

“Using the draconian wartime powers of the Espionage Act against Assange undermines journalists’s rights and sets dangerous precedents that cast journalists and publishers as criminals.”

Press freedom advocates slammed the U.S. over its pending espionage charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Monday as the first phase of Assange’s extradition trial began in London.

Groups including Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) joined supporters of Assange gathered at demonstrations around the world in demanding the U.K. not allow the Wikileaks founder’s extradition to the U.S., where he faces espionage charges for publishing thousands of classified materials regarding U.S. activities—including evidence of war crimes—in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere.

On social media, the #DontExtraditeAssange hashtag was being used worldwide by those opposed to the treatment of the now famous journalist and publisher.

The trial, supporters said, is about not just Assange’s individual fate, but concerns the future of press freedom all over the world.

“The extradition of Julian Assange to the United States to stand trial for his groundbreaking work with WikiLeaks would deal a body blow to First Amendment rights and press freedom. The U.K. should deny this request,” said CPJ deputy executive director Robert Mahoney. “Using the draconian wartime powers of the Espionage Act against Assange undermines journalists’s rights and sets dangerous precedents that cast journalists and publishers as criminals.”

The first phase of the trial is set to last a week and is aimed at determining whether U.S. efforts to extradite Assange are politically-motivated, which would make it illegal under a 2003 treaty between the two countries.

If extradited, Assange could face a prison sentence of up to 175 years for working with former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, who leaked documents to WikiLeaks and who has been held for nearly a year in a prison in Virginia for refusing to cooperate with a grand jury subpoena.

Demonstrators assembled outside Belmarsh Prison, where Assange has been held since September, and at other protests around the world, holding signs reading, “Assange’s freedom is my freedom” and “Free Assange.”

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/press-group-defend-assange-dangerous-precedent/

AIPAC blasts 'truly shameful' Bernie Sanders in blistering statement over claims of 'bigotry'

'Senator Sanders is insulting his very own colleagues and the millions of Americans who stand with Israel'

American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobbying group, released a blistering statement on Sunday targeting socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders after the Vermont senator accused the organization of illuminating "bigotry."

Sanders announced Sunday that he would not attend AIPAC's annual conference because AIPAC "provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights."

Chris Enloe

American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobbying group, released a blistering statement on Sunday targeting socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders after the Vermont senator accused the organization of illuminating "bigotry."

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Sanders announced Sunday that he would not attend AIPAC's annual conference because AIPAC "provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights."

"As president, I will support the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians and do everything possible to bring peace and security to the region," Sanders added.

In response, AIPAC called Sanders' decision "truly shameful," noted that he has never attended the annual AIPAC conference, and accused Sanders of turning his back on those who support U.S.-Israeli relations.

Senator Sanders has never attended our conference and that is evident from his outrageous comment. In fact, many of his own Senate and House Democratic colleagues and leaders speak from our platform to over 18,000 Americans from widely diverse backgrounds — Democrats, Republicans, Jews, Christians, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, progressives, Veterans, students, members of the LGBTQ+ community—who participate in the conference to proclaim their support for the U.S.-Israel relationship.

By engaging in such an odious attack on this mainstream, bipartisan American political event, Senator Sanders is insulting his very own colleagues and the millions of Americans who stand with Israel.Truly shameful.

Despite coming from Jewish origins, Sanders is often openly critical of Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In fact, Sanders has called Netanyahu "racist," and condemned President Donald Trump's decision to move the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Sanders has said he would likely return the embassy to Tel Aviv to help bring peace between Israel and Palestine.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/aipac-blasts-truly-shameful-bernie-sanders-in-blistering-statement-over-claims-of-bigotry

1 Thessalonians 5:3

While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

More than 10 injured after car rams into crowd during parade in Volkmarsen, Germany, 1 man arrested

A silver Mercedes was intentionally driven into a crowd during a parade in the central German town of Volksmarsen on Monday, according to police, injuring around a dozen people. One suspect has been arrested.

The incident unfolded at around 2:30pm local time during a Carnival procession in the town, when the silver station wagon ran through a barrier and plunged into the crowd, German media reports.

The male driver was arrested at the scene, with police telling local media he is a 29-year-old German from the region.

A police spokesman said that the suspect drove his car into the crowd “deliberately,” according to newspaper Die Welt.However, the driver’s motives remain unclear.

Meanwhile, Bild cites police as saying that although they assume it was an attack, there are no indications it was a politically motivated crime.

Eyewitnesses told HNA that it sounded like the vehicle drove faster as it was approaching the people.

The town was celebrating Rose Monday, a traditional event held annually on the Monday before the start of the Christian period of Lent. Volkmarsen has a population of around 6,800 people, of whom some 1,500 were expected to attend the parade.

All other carnivals in the state of Hesse have been cancelled as a “precautionary measure,” police said on Twitter, adding that they currently have no information about the possibility of similar ramming incidents taking place elsewhere in Germany.

The incident comes less than a week after a gunman carried out mass shootings at two hookah bars in Hanau, Germany, killing nine people. The suspect was later found dead at his home along with the body of his mother.

https://www.rt.com/news/481569-car-rams-crowd-germany/

Dow Dumps 1000 Points, Back Below 28k As Stocks Break Key Technical Levels

The Dow just broke below 28,000, falling over 1000 points from Friday's close…

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/dow-dumps-1000-points-back-below-28k-stocks-break-key-technical-levels

US proposals to start dialogue with terrorists in Idlib are unacceptable – Russian FM

Moscow will resist any attempts to whitewash the terrorists holed up in Idlib, Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, adding that engaging in talks with them as the US is hinting is out of question.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Al-Qaeda offshoot previously known as Al-Nusra, which controls Idlib, has been designated as a terrorist organization not only by the UN, but by the US itself, Lavrov said.

However, officials in Washington, including the special envoy for Syria, James Jeffrey, “allow themselves statements, from which a conclusion can be made that ‘it’s not such a terrorist organization anymore’ and that dialogue with it can be established under some circumstances,” he said.

It’s not the first time we hear such hints and we consider them absolutely unacceptable.

The foreign minister also said that another round of consultations between Russia and Turkey is currently being prepared in ordered “to agree on ways of turning Idlib into a real de-escalation where the terrorists aren’t in charge.”

Tensions are high between Moscow and Ankara after Turkey sent troops to Idlib a few weeks ago amid a large-scale offensive by the Syrian military on the last terrorist stronghold in the country.

The move provoked clashes between the Turkish and Syrian forces, with casualties on both sides. Ankara is demanding that Moscow pressure Damascus into ceasing its operation, while Russia has told Turkey that its promise to separate the ‘moderate opposition’ from the terrorists still remains unfulfilled.

On Thursday, Turkish artillery backed a militant attack on the Syrian positions, forcing Russian bombers to intervene. The Turks only stopped the shelling after Moscow contacted Ankara on the military hotline.

Lavrov insisted that it was no surprise for the Turkish military that the terrorists were being targeted. Earlier Russian-Turkish agreements on Idlib never envisaged that strikes against Hayat Tahrir al-Sham would stop, he added.

https://www.rt.com/news/481568-russia-us-turkey-syria-idlib/

Delingpole: Eco-Loon Boris’s £3 Trillion Net-Zero Scheme Will Bankrupt Britain, Reports Warn

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s net zero policy will cost taxpayers the equivalent of a £100 billion HS2 project every year till 2050. The final bill will surpass £3 trillion – the equivalent of £100,000 per household.

These are the shock findings of a series of reports into the true cost of Boris’s scheme to decarbonise the UK economy by 2050.

The summary, by Andrew Montford of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, finds that no credible attempt has been made by the government to cost its ‘Net Zero by 2050’ scheme, which was bequeathed to it by Theresa May in the dog days of her failing premiership.

But the costs are in fact astronomical – far, far greater than the government’s green advisory body the Committee on Climate Change has been prepared to admit.

There are two main factors — the cost of decarbonising the electricity supply (mainly through the use of expensive, intermittent offshore wind power) and the cost of decarbonising domestic heat through retrofitting of insulation. Each of these issues is covered in a separate report, the first by former grid engineers Colin Gibson and Capell Aris; the second by Professor Michael Kelly.

Decarbonising the electricity supply will cost around £1.4 trillion more than if Britain had stuck to reliable, cheap gas generation. The extra cost per household will be around £50,000. Some of these costs will be borne via more expensive goods and services, some through higher energy prices. Electricity will — as President Obama once infamously put it when he tried to impose a similar eco-fascist scheme on the US economy — necessarily skyrocket.

Retrofitting of insulation in every household will, of course, reduce energy demand. But not nearly enough to offset the dramatic increase in costs created by rising electricity prices. Montford’s report draws on a study by Cambridge engineering professor Michael Kelly, who found that retrofitting insulation is an extremely cost-ineffective way of cutting CO2 emissions.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/02/24/boriss-net-zero-scheme-will-cost-taxpayers-3-trillion/

>>8235000

Nice trips

Yeah looks like the commies and being pitted against the Zionists

BBC: Having a Family with Children Supports Slavery

Deciding to have children in the First World supports slavery, according to a BBC Three segment pushed on social media.

In a segment for the ‘Blindboy Undestroys the World’ programme on BBC Three, the publicly-funded broadcaster’s youth-oriented channel, the eponymous “Blindboy” tells the viewer: “You think slavery is a thing of the past, but you own slaves”.

To demonstrate the point, the alleged satirist throws to “A fellow at the Africa department of SOAS [The School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London], Visual sociology researcher at Goldsmiths [University of London], and author of the book Don’t Touch My Hair, and a bleedin’ legend from Dublin, Ireland, Miss Emma Dabiri!”

Dabiri, who does appear to be a legitimate academic — at least insofar as she does hold posts at SOAS and Goldsmiths — is cast in the role of a host on the mock ‘Modern Slavery Gameshow’, with fictional upper-middle-class social justice warriors Atticus and Jemima going head to head in a battle to see who owns the most slaves.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/02/24/bbc-starting-a-family-first-world-supports-slavery/

Boris Govt: Releasing Report on Ethnicity of Rape Gangs ‘Not in Public Interest’, Ministers Need ‘Safe Space’

Boris Johnson’s government has refused to release a report on the ethnic background of grooming gangs, saying it is not in “the public interest” and would deprive ministers of a “safe space” to shape policy.

The groomings gangs investigation was announced by Sajid Javid, the former Home Secretary, in 2018, with a pledge that he would “not let cultural or political sensitivities get in the way of understanding the problem and doing something about it”.

The promised transparency soon evaporated, however, with Home Office bureaucrats deciding that the report would in fact remain “internal” — and top-level politicians and parliamentarians representing constituencies plagued by grooming gangs questioning whether a real investigation was even carried out.

Now attempts by the left-wing Independent news website to have the report disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act have foundered, with the Home Office, now led by Priti Patel, insisting it is not in “the public interest”.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/02/23/boris-govt-releasing-report-on-rape-gangs-not-in-public-interest/

U.S. Issues Travel Warning After Mexican Border City Grenade Attack

MATAMOROS, Tamaulipas – The U.S. Department of State is warning travelers about visiting this border city after gunmen threw a grenade at a municipal building. The advisory follows shortly after gunmen shot up a nearby military building.

The security warning advises U.S. Consulate employees against attending public gatherings in the area, shortly before the city is to host sister events with Brownsville, Texas, as part of the Charro Days celebration.

The grenade attack took place Sunday at approximately at 1:30 A.M. at Matamoros City Hall. The grenade did not explode; however, it did cause a large deployment of military and police forces to cordon off the area for secure removal.

The incident follows days after a group of Gulf Cartel gunmen carried out a drive-by attack against the Mexican Navy offices in Matamoros, blocks from one of the international bridges that connects to Brownsville. That attack took place Thursday afternoon when gunmen in a white sedan fired an AR-15 numerous times at the front of the building before speeding away. One Mexican Marine was struck in his back.

Matamoros is seeing a rise in shootings, kidnappings, and other cases of violence–sparking concern among locals.

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2020/02/24/u-s-issues-travel-warning-after-mexican-border-city-grenade-attack/

The CIA Admits Psychic Abilities Are Real, But Cannot Figure Out The Science Behind It

According to a CIA document declassified on 08/07/2000 titled “Coordinate Remote Viewing (CRV) Technology 1981–1983,” submitted to the organization August 4 of 1983, coordinate remote viewing “utilized through the methodologies that have been developed…works with remarkable precision,” but the individuals who submitted it admitted that they were “unable to explain in conventional terms why it is that the co-ordinate serves as a stimulus in the manner it does.” Nevertheless, they were convinced that David Bohm’s model of quantum mechanics provided a potentially plausible explanatory hypothesis for the mechanisms that make it possible.

David Bohm was a controversial yet brilliant luminary in physics who argued that the entirety of the cosmos is populated with quantum black holes that lead from the “explicate order” of spacetime to a realm that transcends space and time which he referred to as the “implicate order.” These black holes were termed “holospheres,” and hypothesized as the mechanism which connects the implicate order to the explicate order. From the perspective of the remote viewer, it is possible that the signal line we acquire is mediated by these holospheres, which connects us with an implicate order that is conceptually more or less identical to the Eastern concept of “Akasha” or the “Akashic records,” as articulated in the work of writers such as Swami Vivekananda. The explicate order in which we ordinarily live and move and have our being is “unfolded” from this implicate order and houses the world of ordinary objects and consciousness, which includes what remote viewers known as the liminal, subliminal and subconscious orders.

Bohm’s “implicate order,” he hypothesized, contained sub-quantum variables that were responsible for the alleged “hidden variables” that made quantum phenomena so unpredictable. In this respect, he was not merely engaging in quantum mechanics, but sub-quantum mechanics, which he believed contained the key to understanding how the universe unfolded from a kind of Universal Mind that pervades the entire cosmos at all times. According to this model, data is unfolded from the non-spatiotemporal implicate order, which forms within the explicate order, at which point the explicate order then once again communicates with the implicate order in a way that impacts subsequent unfoldings within the explicate order from the implicate order.

Bohm used the term “implicate order” because of the etymological roots of the word “implicate,” meaning “to fold inward.” Indeed, the implicate order is “implicit” in that it underlies all of reality. Everything in the universe, for Bohm, is enfolded into everything else; a position which informs his highly relational and holistic worldview according to which all vectors necessarily impact all other vectors. This view, of course, is quite contrary to the more atomistic physics that preceded the quantum model within the Western world.

https://governmentslaves.news/2020/02/23/the-cia-admits-psychic-abilities-are-real-but-cannot-figure-out-the-science-behind-it/

Coordinate Remote Viewing (CRV) Technology

https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R001100520001-3.pdf

Saudis Transfer Hundreds of Al-Qaeda Terrorists to Yemen

RIYADH/SANA’A – The Saudi-led coalition has transferred hundreds of al-Qaeda terrorists to Ma’arib province in northern Yemen as a desperate measure in an attempt to hold the area for as long as possible. The Wahhabi kingdom and its coalition partners have recently suffered a series of defeats in Yemen.

RevContent InArticle SOLO

The Saudi-led coalition resorted to al-Qaeda terrorists after heavy defeats in the 9th Front which cleansed their forces and liberated a large number of points in Ma’arib and al-Jouf provinces by the Yemeni army, the Arabic-language al-Masirah news channel quoted an informed source as saying on Wednesday.

The source added that over 250 al-Qaeda terrorists, commanded by Abu Hajar al-Hazrami, were transferred to Ma’arib from Hadhramaut province in eastern Yemen.

“100 al-Qaeda terrorists are from al-Bayda province (in southern Yemen) commanded by Ahmed Ibad al-Khabzi and 70 others are from Abyan province (in southern Yemen) commanded by al-Marfadi and they were relocated to Ma’arib,” he noted.

A Yemeni news website had disclosed earlier this month that Saudi Arabia and the UAE were using al-Qaeda in Yemen again despite claims that the terrorist group has ended its presence in the Arab country. The Arabic-language al-Khabar al-Yamani news website reported that the UAE is making use of al-Qaeda again in al-Shabwah province in southern Yemen to restore its influence which was almost gone last year.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is correcting the structure of the resigned government’s forces which allows the al-Qaeda leaders to remain at the top of the rank.

According to the report, the Saudi-led coalition is attempting to deploy new forces, commanded by Zaki al-Haji who is linked with al-Qaeda in Lahij, to act as a wall stretching from Lahij to the west, from Yafe and Zale’ to the central parts of the country and from Baiza and Ma’arib to the east to prevent advance of the Yemeni army and Ansarullah forces.

https://www.fort-russ.com/2020/02/major-saudis-transfer-hundreds-of-al-qaeda-terrorists-to-yemen/

Trump's new intel chief makes immediate changes, ousts top official

President Trump's new acting director of national intelligence, Richard Grenell, has already made major changes at the agency, including ousting the No. 2 official.

Former acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire and his deputy, Andrew Hallman, resigned on Friday. According to The New York Times, Grenell told Hallman, who has worked for national intelligence and the CIA for three decades, that his service was no longer needed.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) praised both Maguire and Hallman for their service after their resignations were announced.

“For nearly four decades, Joe Maguire has dedicated his career to securing our country, both in and out of uniform," Burr said. "I’ve valued Joe’s advice and counsel during his tenure as Director of National Intelligence and at the National Counterterrorism Center, and I wish him the best.”

Of Hallman, Burr added he appreciated "his extensive knowledge of intelligence matters and his deep respect for the men and women of our [intelligence community]."

The Times also reported that Grenell — who was only officially tapped into the role on Thursday and who says he will not be the nominee for the full-time role — also made a slew of his own new hires on Friday, including an expert on Trump conspiracy theories.

One hire is Kashyap Patel, a senior member of the National Security Council and former top aide to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the former House Intelligence Committee chairman. Patel was a lead author of a 2018 memo that accused FBI and Justice Department officials under former President Obama of overstepping their surveillance authority ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Patel has reportedly been given permission to "clean house" at the agency.

Grenell's tenure may only last a few months as Trump announced a list of possible nominations Friday for the permanent director of national intelligence.

The shakeup comes as reports say Trump was frustrated with Maguire and alleged his disloyalty after House lawmakers were briefed last week on Russian interference in the 2020 election to help reelect Trump.

Grenell has reportedly asked for the intelligence information behind the briefing given to lawmakers.

Trump has since denied the reports Russia is interfering on his behalf in the 2020 election, accusing Democrats of "trying to start a rumor" as well as a "disinformation campaign."

Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) revealed Friday that he was briefed by U.S. intelligence officials about Russian interference aiming to help him win the Democratic primary.

https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/484154-trumps-new-intel-chief-makes-immediate-changes-ousts-top-official

Netanyahu looks ready to do ‘anything’ to win next month’s General Election

It is a fact that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in a fight for his political life, and doing everything possible to remain in the top job. Apart from anything else, he doesn’t want to go to prison for fraud and corruption.

He has thus started to orchestrate mergers among small right-wing parties which do not cross the electoral threshold, so that he can get them in the Knesset and bolster his chance of being asked to form the next government. For example, he got Bayit Yehudi and Otzma Yehudit together despite their clear extremism and racism.

Netanyahu has also adopted controversial polices and measures to keep himself in power. Israeli writer Herb Keinon said last April that “[Netanyahu] has the political antennae to know what it takes to win, what is needed to enthuse his base and then goes after it – no matter what, no holds barred.” The most notable of his actions has been sold as US President Donald Trump’s so-called deal of the century.

Writing in Haaretz, Yossi Verter said that the deal of the century “was marketed to us as a historic development, virtually equal in significance to Israel’s Declaration of Independence… [It] was described by his people as the crowning glory of his 14 years as prime minister, the fulfilment of the dream of the nations of the world and the triumph of Zionism.” However, said Verter, the “peace plan” did not have the impact that Netanyahu wanted. The Likud leader has been “going crazy with frustration.”

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200224-netanyahu-looks-ready-to-do-anything-to-win-next-months-general-election/

UNESCO: Climate Denial To Be Criminalized And Prosecuted

The Technocrat tango is shifting into high gear to force the world to dump Capitalism and Free Enterprise and adopt Sustainable Development in its place. Global warming deniers would face penalties comparable to war crimes.When climate alarmist Al Gore said in 2015 that “deniers deserve to be punished” everybody chuckled. Well, chuckle no more. Under this proposal, President Trump could be prosecuted for withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord; leaders of “Conservative think-tanks” and other activist organizations that question climate science would be included; widely-read journalists who influence the public to question phony climate science would be individually prosecuted – that would ostensibly include Technocracy News & Trends and its publisher, Patrick Wood.

This proposal is pointedly directed at the United States, but I can also see Australia and Brazil in the cross-hairs as well. Technocrats know that their plan for global Technocracy will NOT WORK until the US is neutralized, which is why we are under a full spectrum attack by climate fanatics.

This is a deadly serious matter that should immediately rejected by national leaders. Readers are strongly urged to read my books, Technocracy: The Hard Road to World Order and Technocracy Rising: The Trojan Horse of Global Transformation.

Note that the article below appears on the official UNESCO website but the author is not writing as an employee of UNESCO. A tiny Disclaimer link in the footer of the UNESCO page states, “UNESCO does not warrant that the information, documents and materials contained in its website is complete and correct and shall not be liable whatsoever for any damages incurred as a result of its use.” ⁃ TN Editor

https://www.activistpost.com/2020/02/unesco-climate-denial-to-be-criminalized-and-prosecuted.html

List of 71 Clinton Associates Who Died Mysteriously or Committed Suicide Before Testimony

http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=202875

What We’re Not Allowed To Know About the Afghan War

Tune in to Episode#46 of the SIGAR (Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction) show, folks – at least those (few) who still care about America’s longest, ongoing, war. The latest installment just dropped, and I promise it’s a gem: replete with the all the dramatic suspense of “Homeland,” the dark comedy of a rebooted "Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and the sappy tear-jerking of "This Is Us.” OK, maybe I’m overselling that; it’s a pretty abstruse government document, at root. Still, this particular segment from the congressionally-appointed organization charged with "independent and objective oversight of Afghanistan reconstruction projects and activities," is pretty darn profound if anyone bothered to read it. But few will.

See, Americans will binge watch anything – no matter how banal – put in front of them by Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime, especially if it means they can avoid (gasp) any of that messy face-to-face human interaction stuff. Sure, there are now 46 SIGAR installments, but what’s that compared to 201 episodes of the beloved "Office?” But read even the 1-2 page executive summaries of quarterly reports that increasingly, and vehemently, conclude that the nation’s longest war – which still kills American troops – is failing? Fat chance. Never happen. That, like "voluntary” service in the war itself, is somebody else’s job. Not that reading even the entire (most relevant) "Security” section would take very long. After all, the current top New York Times bestseller, Open Book – by the always riveting and relevant pop star Jessica Simpson – clocks in at 416 pages, compared to just 26 (with ample pictures and charts) in this security report.

Now, luckily for you, the reader, I’ve neither the space, energy, nor inclination to recount, again, the holistic failures, obfuscations, and contradictions of this absurd, endless war. Rather, in this moment – well into year 19 of a war Americans now ignore – the real story is SIGAR#46 itself: specifically what this remarkable (if insipid) report contains. See, what’s profound about the document is threefold: what it says, what it doesn’t say, and (most fascinating / disturbing of all), what it says it can’t say. No need, even, to read between the lines – the document literally lists what it won’t let out.

https://original.antiwar.com/danny_sjursen/2020/02/23/what-were-not-allowed-to-know-about-the-afghan-war/

The Lima Group Is More than Just About Venezuela. Scheduling More Coups and Color Revolutions in Latin America?

At the behest of Donald Trump and Chrystia Freeland, the Lima Group met in Ottawa on February 20th, 2020. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne dutifully mouthed their set lines and good Samaritan posturing in the pretense of democracy, humanitarianism and the rule of law. Ostensibly, the purpose of this meeting was to devise and orchestrate ways to oust the vile, murderous dictator, as Washington has sought to cast the duly elected President Nicolás Maduro.

Progressive chroniclers and activists have almost exclusively been concerned with the notion that a dismembered Venezuela is the main, or even the only, labor of love of this nefarious little band of economic fundamentalists, death-incanting, democratically-challenged member regimes of the Lima Group. I fear that we may not fully appreciate what this cartel is up to.

Let’s face it. As an aspirational objective, the overthrow of the Maduro Government, and more specifically, the pulverization of the Bolivarian Revolution and the feudalization of the masses of Venezuelans carrying it has been a laughable failure. The US and large corporations’ objective is not mere regime change; it’s the obliteration of the State, its structures, processes and programs, its most ingrained social values and its cultural and racial fabric. It is a wet dream in which Trump is finding less and less solace; it turns out that this political mirage does not meet his puerile need for instant gratification.

In spite of the immensity and criminality of the pain, suffering and death that Trump, Trudeau and the other corrupt Lima Group troubadours have inflicted on the Venezuelans, the people stand tall and resist; their social, political and economic system, although weakened and under constant attack, endures.

Selected Articles: Venezuela: US Blockade Is Next?

The discussions of the Lima Group on February 20th touched on more than Venezuela because there are many other pressing issues and perceived threats to the oligarchs of Latin America and the contemptuous, hegemonic impulses of the North American white-supremacist, get-every-last-drop-of–blood ($$$) corporate/billionaire complex.

We can bet that this gabfest included the planning of concerted action re the ongoing coup and US-dictated election process in Bolivia. And how to deal more effectively, from their point of view, with the pesky resistance movements in each of their countries. Lest we forget, all of the South American members of this cartel (and Canada) intervened and co-parented the Coup d’État in Bolivia. Also, when Mexican President Manuel Obrador sent a rescue plane to extricate President Evo Morales from certain violence if not worse, as if by magic, all of the Lima Group regimes refused that plane’s access to their airspace. You need a well-oiled machine to succeed in such instantaneous action in the dead of night. The US has its vassals everywhere and its vessels (Lima Group, for instance) for the execution of its nefarious wishes.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/lima-group-more-than-just-about-venezuela/5704461

Lest We Forget – Hillary Clinton: We Must Destroy Syria for Israel

A leaked Hillary Clinton email confirms that the Obama administration, with Hillary at the helm, orchestrated a civil war in Syria to benefit Israel.

The new Wikileaks release shows the then Secretary of State ordering a war in Syria in order to overthrow the government and oust President Assad, claiming it was the “best way to help Israel”.

Newobserveronline.com reports:

The document was one of many unclassified by the US Department of State under case number F-2014-20439, Doc No. C05794498, following the uproar over Clinton’s private email server kept at her house while she served as Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013.

Although the Wikileaks transcript dates the email as December 31, 2000, this is an error on their part, as the contents of the email (in particular the reference to May 2012 talks between Iran and the west over its nuclear program in Istanbul) show that the email was in fact sent on December 31, 2012.

The email makes it clear that it has been US policy from the very beginning to violently overthrow the Syrian government—and specifically to do this because it is in Israel’s interests.

“The best way to help Israel deal with Iran’s growing nuclear capability is to help the people of Syria overthrow the regime of Bashar Assad,” Clinton forthrightly starts off by saying.

Even though all US intelligence reports had long dismissed Iran’s “atom bomb” program as a hoax (a conclusion supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency), Clinton continues to use these lies to “justify” destroying Syria in the name of Israel.

She specifically links Iran’s mythical atom bomb program to Syria because, she says, Iran’s “atom bomb” program threatens Israel’s “monopoly” on nuclear weapons in the Middle East.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/hillary-clinton-we-must-destroy-syria-israel/5704483

==

Israeli bulldozer dragging Palestinian's body in Gaza sparks outrage==

Israel says jets strike Islamic Jihad targets near Damascus and dozens of targets in Gaza after rockets fired from enclave in response to 'war crime'

Israeli forces shot dead one Palestinian in the blockaded Gaza Strip on Sunday, then extracted his body with a bulldozer in an incident caught on camera that has sparked outrage.

The army said it opened fire on two Palestinian men suspected of placing a bomb next to the fence separating the besieged enclave from Israel in the southern Gaza Strip.

"Following the successful thwarting of the attack near the Gaza Strip fence earlier this morning, an IDF [Israeli army] bulldozer extracted the body of one of the attackers," a military spokeswoman told AFP.

Footage widely shared and condemned by Palestinians and others on social media showed an Israeli army bulldozer, escorted by a Merkava battle tank, confronting young men who tried to evacuate the wounded. The bulldozer is then seen carrying a dead man's body along by his clothes.

The Gaza health ministry confirmed that two men were transferred to the European hospital in Khan Younis. One of them had been shot in his legs, it said.

The Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel (Adala) has demanded a criminal investigation into the incident.

In a letter to Israeli Chief Military Advocate General Sharon Afek, the centre cited international laws that could classify the incident as a "war crime". It also said the action violates Israeli laws.

"The Israeli Supreme Court has likewise recognised in past rulings that harm to the dignity of the deceased is a violation of Israel's basic law: human dignity and liberty," the centre said.

Islamic Jihad vows retaliation

Islamic Jihad, a militant group in Gaza, said in a statement on Sunday that the dead man was one of its members.

"Mohamed Ali al-Naem, 27, has been martyred in the Israeli crime," a statement said. The group vowed retaliation.

Fawzi Barhoum, the spokesman for the Hamas movement that governs the Gaza Strip, said the man who was killed was unarmed.

"Desecrating the dead body of a young unarmed man on the borders of the Gaza Strip in front of the cameras of the whole world is a heinous crime that adds to the occupation's list of crimes against our Palestinian people," he said in a statement.

Late on Sunday, Israeli media said that rockets had been fired from Gaza into Israeli neighbourhoods near the separation fence, but no casualties were reported.

Sirens have been activated in the areas, where residents reported seeing Iron Dome defence interceptors being fired, according to a Times of Israel military correspondent. No Palestinian group had claimed responsibility for the rockets.

Following the barrage of rockets, the Israeli army carried out air strikes against Islamic Jihad in Syria, it announced.

A statement said Israeli "fighter jets struck Islamic Jihad terror targets south of Damascus, as well as dozens of Islamic Jihad terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip," in response to more than 20 rockets and mortars fired from the Palestinian enclave throughout the day.

Israeli-Palestinian tensions have increased since 28 January, when US President Donald Trump released his vision for addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - a plan firmly rejected by the Palestinian leadership in both the occupied West Bank and Gaza who described it as "a gift" to Israel.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/video-israeli-bulldozer-dragging-body-palestinian-after-gaza-border-incident-sparks-outrage

Jewish ‘hero’ in US Hanukkah attack refused $20,000 reward over Zionism

An Orthodox Jewish man hailed as a hero for stopping a machete-wielding man from causing further harm, having stabbed five people during a Hanukkah celebration at a rabbi’s home in Monsey, New York, has refused to accept a $20,000 reward from established Jewish organisations because he considers them Zionists.

Officials with the Jewish Federation and the Anti-Defamation League told the Journal News on Friday that they were caught off guard by Josef Gluck’s decision to turn down the reward.

“The reward would have been for anybody who offered information that would lead to an arrest,” said Miriam Allenson, spokesperson for the Jewish Federation & Foundation of Rockland County. “That was what was on our minds.” Allenson said that there were no strings with the money and that the groups had “no idea” regarding Gluck’s decision to turn away the funds.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200224-jewish-hero-in-us-hanukkah-attack-refused-20000-reward-over-zionism/

Navy and Marine Corps to Ban Personal Firearms for Foreign Troops

The Navy and Marine Corps will prohibit foreign troops from buying and carrying personal weapons as the military continues rolling out new restrictions after a Saudi officer carried out a terrorist attack on a U.S. military base.

International service members training with sailors and Marines at bases in the U.S. or its territories face a host of new rules on personally owned firearms and ammunition, the services announced last week. The restrictions also apply to foreign troops' family members accompanying them.

Foreign troops assigned to Navy and Marine Corps bases, regardless of their country of origin, will be prohibited from possessing, storing, using, transporting, carrying, purchasing, selling or transferring personally owned firearms, weapon components or ammunition, the new policies state.

All international military students will have to sign agreements on the new rules or risk getting booted out of the U.S. Those training with the Navy must do so by April 15 and those training with Marines by May 1.

International troops' family members over the age of 18 must also sign the agreements.

"Failure to do so will result in immediate expulsion from training or school, and orders generated for immediate transfer back to their home country, to include accompanying family members," the Marine Corps' message states.

Foreign service members and their families will have no access to personally owned weapons or ammunition "until after returning to their home country," according to the Navy's policy.

The new restrictions are part of a Pentagon-wide review of security measures following a Dec. 6 shooting on a Navy base in Pensacola, Florida. A Saudi officer training there lawfully purchased a semiautomatic handgun with an extended magazine through a hunting-license loophole.

The exception allows non-immigrant visa holders who otherwise are not permitted to buy firearms or ammunition to purchase them if they have a valid state-issued hunting license permit or other required documentation, David Bowdich, deputy director of the FBI, said last month.

The Saudi lieutenant used the weapon he bought to open fire on a classroom, killing three sailors and injuring several more.

International students who were previously given permission to carry their own weapons and ammunition will have to transfer them to a base armory or other authorized officials for the duration of their assignment, ship them to someone outside the U.S., or dispose of them in accordance with local policies and laws.

The new rules won't apply to government-issued firearms and ammunition foreign troops use while under the supervision of the Navy or Marine Corps as they train, the messages add.

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly on Jan. 31 instructed the Navy and Marine Corps to update their policies prohibiting foreign troops from carrying their own weapons.

This is the third update the Marine Corps has made to base security in the wake of the Pensacola shooting. Earlier this month, the Marine Corps announced that foreign troops will be allowed to access only the base to which they are assigned. Previous policy allowed international military students to move between bases more freely.

The Marine Corps also recently announced it would allow about 3,000 law enforcement personnel to carry concealed weapons on base, even when off duty.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/02/24/navy-and-marine-corps-ban-personal-firearms-foreign-troops.html

Russia to conduct observation flight over Turkey this week

The flight will be carried out by the Russian surveillance plane Tu-154M-LK-1

MOSCOW, February 24. /TASS/. Russian inspectors will perform an observation flight over Turkey in the framework of the Open Skies Treaty, Head of the Russian Defense Ministry’s National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center Sergey Ryzhkov said.

"The observation flight over the territory of Turkey will be performed on February 25-28, 2020 from the Open Skies airfield of Eskisehir. The maximum flight range will be 1,900 km," Ryzhkov said.

The flight will be carried out by the Russian surveillance plane Tu-154M-LK-1.

The aircraft will be strictly following the route earlier approved by Turkey and Turkish specialists onboard the plane will be controlling the use of the surveillance equipment and observation of the Treaty provisions, the military official stated.

Flights under the treaty are performed in order to ensure more transparency in military activity of the member-states and enhance security through confidence building measures," he noted.

The Open Skies Treaty was signed in 1992 and has 34 member states. It entered into force in 2002. Surveillance flights are conducted over Russia, the United States, Canada and European countries.

The key tasks of the treaty are to develop transparency, monitor the fulfillment of armament control agreements, and expand capabilities to prevent crises in the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and other international organizations.

https://tass.com/defense/1123293

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