Al-Moallem: The real goal behind the so-celled Caesar Act is to open the door for the return of terrorism

Damascus, SANA_ Deputy prime Minister, Foreign and Expatriates Minister, Walid Al-Moallem said that the real goal behind the so-called “Caesar Act” is to open the door for terrorism to return to Syria as in 2011 and to force Syria to give up its alliance with the resistance.

In a press conference on Tuesday, al-Moallem said that the statements made by Mike Pompeo and James Jeffery about the so called “Caesar Act” prove that they are all liars because if they wanted the good for the Syrian people, they wouldn’t conspire against their livelihood.

He stressed that there are no exceptions in the so-called “Caesar Act” and that the Americans lie when they claim that this Act doesn’t include medical supplies and food.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that the Syrian people are used to dealing with unilateral sanctions that have been imposed on them since 1978 under several terms.

He added that the act should be turned into an opportunity for the Syrian people to perk up their economy, achieve self-sufficiency and deepen cooperation with friends and allies in all domains, underlining that Syria’s war on terrorism will not stop.

Al-Maollem wondered if the presence of US forces around Syrian oil fields, the burning of wheat fields and the US threat to friendly countries that want to contribute to reconstructing in Syria serve the interests of the Syrian people.

He said that the US occupation forces are investing in terrorism and this was proven in transporting leaders of Daesh terrorist organizations by their helicopters to Iraq and in supporting Jabhat al-Nusra and the Turkish regime in their aggression on Syria.

He said that the US defends Israeli interests and its withdrawal from the region is inevitable.

Al-Moallem added that Turkey occupies territories from Syria and the lessons of history have thought that the peoples which struggle for the sake of their freedom and sovereignty will win at the end.

https://sana.sy/en/?p=195383

SDF Head Spotted Alongside With ISIS-Affiliated Tribe Leader

The Kuridsh-led Syrian Democratic Fores (SDF), with a direct support from the United States, continue their ‘fight for democracy’ in northeastern Syria. At least, they want others to think this way.

In fact, the SDF leadership, which sabotaged the negotiation process with Damascus by making overextended demands, is openly cooperating with ISIS-affilated persons. Just recently, the SDF head Ferhat Abdi Sahin (nom de guerre: Mazloum Kobani Abdi) was recently photographed alongside with an ISIS-affiliated tribe leader.

The SDF cooperation with tribes and local militias that once declared their allegiance is no secret. Nonetheless, the mainstream Western media narrative prefers to ignore these facts.

https://southfront.org/sdf-head-spotted-alongside-with-isis-affiliated-tribe-leader/

Fighting Between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham And Other Radicals Erupted In Idlib Countryside

On June 23, an intense fighting between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) and the recently formed coalition of al-Qaeda-linked groups, Fa Ithbatu, erupted in the countryside of the Syrian city of Idlib. The village of Arab Said and the area near Idlib central prisons reportedly became the main hot points of the fighting.

According to pro-militant sources, the fighting broke because of the recent tensions between the sides caused by arrests of some members of Fa Ithabatu by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham security forces.

Some sources claim that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham even limited the movement a prominent pro-militant journalist, Bilal Abdul Kareem, who is known for his radical view

Fa Ithabatu demands to release all its prisoners and, according to its supporters, already captured the Idlib prison.

Tensions between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and one more al-Qaeda-linked group, the Turksitan Islamic Party, were also reported in the town of Jisr al-Shughur in southern Idlib.

Fa Ithabatu and the Turksitan Islamic Party may have been unhappy with the recent actions of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which indirectly supported the implementation of the Turkish-Russian de-escalation agreement on southern Idlib that includes joint Russian-Turkish patrols along the M4 highway there.

While the close cooperation with Turkey allows Hayat Tahrir al-Sham to increase its military and financial capabilities, the impelementation of the de-escalation deal first of all poses a threat to interests of smaller radical grroups such ones from Fa Ithabatu. Therefore, there is a clear conflict of interests that may turn into a full-scale military confrontation.

https://southfront.org/fighting-between-hayat-tahrir-al-sham-and-other-radicals-erupted-in-idlib-countryside-videos/

>>9724572

Really? Bought to you by the DS Obama and Hilldog

Mel Gibson axed from next film over Winona Ryder’s disturbing claims

Mel Gibson has been swiftly axed from his next film after actress Winona Ryder repeated disturbing claims about him in a new interview.

Mad Max has been given the axe.

Mel Gibson won’t be reprising his role in Netflix’s highly anticipated Chicken Run sequel, sources with knowledge of the production told The Wrap.

The decision comes after Winona Ryder accused the 64-year-old Braveheart star of levelling anti-Semitic remarks at her during a 1995 Hollywood soiree – and subsequent calls for his cancellation on social media.

Ryder has alleged that the 64-year-old actor made an anti-Semitic slur at her while they were at a party in 1995. The Stranger Things star dropped the bombshell, which was first reported by GQ in 2010, while discussing her experiences with anti-Semitism in Hollywood in an interview with the UK-based Sunday Times.

“We were at a crowded party with one of my good friends, and Mel Gibson was smoking a cigar,” Ryder, 48, told the news outlet. She added that something came up about the Jewish faith, at which point the Mad Max actor said, “You’re not an oven dodger, are you?” – an apparent reference to the way Jewish prisoners were incinerated in Nazi death camps.

At the same industry soiree, Ryder claims Gibson asked her friend, who is gay, “‘Oh, wait, am I gonna get AIDS?’” She’s also alleged that he later tried to apologise for his offensive statements.

The Oscar-winning director’s representatives have since denied Ryder’s allegations in an emailed statement to The Post.

“This is 100 per cent untrue,” they said, also claiming that the Stranger Things star lied in the 2010 GQ article in which she first mentioned the alleged incident.

But in a statement of her own tendered to Variety today, Ryder stood by her claims.

“I believe in redemption and forgiveness and hope that Mr. Gibson has found a healthy way to deal with his demons, but I am not one of them. Around 1996, my friend Kevyn Aucoin and I were on the receiving end of his hateful words. It is a painful and vivid memory for me. Only by accepting responsibility for our behavior in this life, can we make amends and truly respect each other, and I wish him well on this lifelong journey,” she said, as per Variety.

Aucoin, a celebrity make-up artist, died in 2002.

https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/mel-gibson-axed-from-next-film-over-winona-ryders-disturbing-claims/news-story/152b13f8b81f86b9e455ec2de0174963

Mel outed for telling the truth again!

Former judge nicknamed 'Dirty Dyson' hit with fresh harassment claims

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/dirty-dyson-former-judge-heydon-s-nickname-at-oxford-amid-fresh-harassment-claims-20200623-p555df.html

Judicial Watch Obtains Records Showing FDA Paid for ‘Fresh and Never Frozen’ Human Fetal Parts for Use In ‘Humanized Mice’ Creation

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it received 165 pages of records from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) showing the FDA between 2012 and 2018 entered into 8 contracts worth $96,370 with Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR) to acquire “fresh and never frozen” tissue from 1st and 2nd trimester aborted fetuses for use in creating “humanized mice” for ongoing research.

ABR is a non-profit firm which has been the subject of criminal referrals from House and Senate committees investigating whether Planned Parenthood or any other entity was illegally profiting from the handling of fetal tissue from aborted babies.

Federal law regulates the purchase and acceptance of human fetal tissue for research purposes. It is unlawful to knowingly transfer fetal tissue for profit.

Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department Health and Human Services (No. 1:19-cv-00876)) after HHS failed to respond adequately to a September 28, 2018, FOIA request seeking:

All contracts and related documentation between FDA and Advanced Biosciences Resources (ABR) for the provision of human fetal tissue to be used in humanized mice research.

All records reflecting the disbursement of funds to ABR for the provision of human fetal tissue to be used in humanized mice research.

All guidelines and procedural documents provided to ABR by FDA relating to the acquisition and extraction of human fetal tissue for its provision to the FDA for humanized mice research.

All communications between FDA officials and employees and representatives of ABR related to the provision by ABR to the FDA of human fetal tissue for the purpose of humanized mice research.

The new production of records shows a June 28, 2017, email exchange with the subject line “FDA RFQ” (Request for Quotation) between a redacted FDA contract specialist and an ABR official named Ms. Larton, in which the FDA official tells the ABR official, “I am tasked with the purchase of tissues suitable for HM [humanized mice] research. I would like to request a quote. Please review the Statement of Work and quote your pricing as outlined.” She then includes a table for 16 “Human Fetal Tissue – Liver”, 16 “Human Fetal Tissue – Thymus”, 16 HIV, HepA, HepB, HepC tests, and shipping and delivery. The Statement of Work notes:

The Division of Applied Regulatory Science (DARS) OCP/OTS/CDER is conducting a research program to evaluate the usefulness of humanized mice (HM) for regulatory purposes. The HM are created by surgical implantation of human tissue into mice that have multiple genetic mutations that block the development of the mouse immune system at a very early stage. The absence of the mouse immune system allows the human tissues to grow and develop into functional human tissues. As part of this process DARS needs to repeatedly acquire the proper type of tissues. In order for the humanization to proceed correctly we need to obtain fetal tissue with a specific set of specialized characteristics.

Among the specific characteristics are that the tissue be “Age range 16-24 weeks” and “Tissue must be fresh and never frozen.” An ABR official responds, saying “Your quote is attached.

In a June 12, 2017, email thread related to a “contract closeout” of a $24,500 contract between the FDA and Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR) in a project titled “Human Tissue”. An FDA official emails an ABR official asking to “confirm all the items/services requested under this order were delivered and all payments processed, so that I may close out this contract…. Our records indicate funds in the amount of $15,090.00 to be de-obligated as a result of this closeout.” A screen shot of a database (called UFMS) print-out indicates a “Matched Amount” of $9,410. The difference between the “matched amount” and the contract value is $15,090. An ABR official responds on June 26, 2017, saying, “I confirm there are no outstanding invoices or [redacted] P.O. #HHSF223201510746P, and it is my understanding that there are no pending requests for tissue procurements on this P.O. at this time.”

https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-releases/fda-humanized-mice/

Thousands gather in Tel Aviv to protest Jordan Valley annexation

"Don't be fooled, annexation is an economic catastrophe for both sides. It will ruin everything we've worked to build together".

About 2,500 people gathered in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening to protest the planned annexation of 30% of Judea and Samaria, which the Israeli government said will take place in July.

Red and green 'X's marked the ground to help the protesters maintain social distancing as police scanned the crowd for unmasked individuals, issuing verbal warnings and the occasional fine in an attempt to curb Israel's recent rise in coronavirus cases,

Celebrities, activists, entrepreneurs and security experts spoke at the protest,

Actor Lior Ashkenazi, who regularly plays Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz on the long-running satire Eretz Nehederet hosted the event, introducing the first speaker of the evening, former head of the IDF's Military Intelligence Directorate and the current head of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) Amos Yadlin.

Yadlin explained the security-related risks to annexation, saying that Israel is "on a path to a one state solution, for two nationalities [Jewish and Arab]. Our goal is a country that is Jewish, Democratic, safe, legitimate and ethical."

"The only map we've seen so far which predicts what annexation will look like is a conceptual map which was a part of the Trump plan", he said.

"Trump's plan is a plan for a two-state solution, meant as a starting point for negotiations, not as a plan for a one sided annexation."

Some in the crowd began booing as Yadlin began praising the US president's plan's potential security benefits for Israel, before moving back to cheering as he explained that the current map is problematic and does not lead to a two state solution, and that a one sided annexation would render such a plan strategically useless.

"I can assure you, one-sidedly annexing 30% of Judea and Samaria will not bring any strategic advantages, but it will bring with it grave security risks, international pressures and failures of legitimacy and morals."

"Annexation will hurt the peace agreement and the security cooperation with Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, while drawing vital military force away from the northern front with Iran and Hezbollah", he said.

No country in the world other than Trump's America supports this version of a deal. [What will happen] If, in 5 months, the democrats win the election, and we lose their support of this move?" He asked the crowd.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/thousands-gather-in-tel-aviv-to-protest-jordan-valley-annexation-632572

Israel Leverages Dubious ‘Nuclear Archives’ to Re-enlist IAEA in Campaign Against Iran

The International Atomic Energy Agency has once again lent itself to the political interests of the United States and Israel, provoking a needless conflict with Iran

The approval by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of a June 19 resolution calling on Iran to comply fully with agency demands for cooperation marks a new stage in the long-running Israeli campaign to isolate Iran over alleged covert nuclear weapons activities.

The IAEA has demanded that Iran provide “clarifications” regarding “possible undeclared nuclear material and nuclear-related activities,” as well as access to two sites in question.

Those demands are based on alleged Iranian documents that Israeli intelligence supposedly stole from Iran in 2018. And as The Grayzone has reported, their authenticity is highly questionable, and their theft may have never occurred.

The Israeli pressure campaign gains way with US help

The latest phase of the Iran crisis erupted in June 2018, when the Israeli government informed the IAEA that its intelligence services had discovered a new “secret atomic warehouse” in the Turquzabad district of Tehran. In his September 2018 United Nations speech announcing the find, Netanyahu demanded that IAEA Director General, Yukio Amano “do the right thing. Go inspect this atomic warehouse, immediately, before the Iranians finish clearing it out.”

Amano pushed back publicly against the Israeli pressure in October 2018, however, asserting his independence from Netanyahu’s agenda. Under his watch, the IAEA also failed to accede to Israeli pressure to publicize documents from the “archive” they had provided.

When Brian Hook, a neoconservative operative serving as the State Department’s lead official on isolating Iran, visited Israel in November 2018, the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s political director told him his government was furious with the IAEA for failing to take the documents seriously. Hook assured the Israelis that his administration would apply pressure on the IAEA to take action. He assigned the new U.S. Ambassador to the IAEA, a protege of John Bolton named Jackie Walcott, as his point person.

In January 2019, as an apparent result of the pressure campaign, the IAEA asked Iran to visit the warehouse that Netanyahu had identified and take environmental samples. Iran agreed, suggesting that Iranian officials did not believe the agency would find anything supporting the Israeli allegations.

Months later, laboratory results showed the presence of what the IAEA called “natural uranium particles of anthropogenic origin.” That meant that the particles had been subject to a process of uranium conversion but not enrichment. The most likely explanation for the finding was that that a part of retired equipment or other material that had been used in Iran’s fully-monitored uranium conversion program had ended up in that warehouse.

The logical next step for the IAEA at that point would have been to have to request visits to sites where Iran’s declared conversion program has operated so the results could be compared with the those of the samples found at the warehouse. That was what precisely Iran proposed to the Agency in January 2020. The IAEA did carry out the sampling, but the laboratory tests on those samples are not yet available.

While the IAEA stalled on requesting environmental samples from the declared uranium conversion sites for several months, when it would have made the most sense to do so, the Israeli government exploited the lab results to resume its political offensive against Iran. With backing from the US, they pushed a dubious argument that particles of natural uranium confirmed their claim that Iran had run an undeclared program to process natural uranium for use in covert nuclear weapons-related testing.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/israel-leverages-dubious-nuclear-archives-re-enlist-iaea-campaign-against-iran/5716759

Every Federal Reserve Board Member Is A Multi-Millionaire

Why it's a problem that a central bank whose job is to organize credit only has creditors in charge.

Every Single Member of the Fed Board Is a Millionaire

The Federal Trade Commission just did something… good?

Trump DOJ Intervening in Foreign Antitrust Cases

Apple Relents, Slightly

Supermarket Consolidation and Black America

Facebook Buys a Mapping Company

Big Tech and Trade Agreements

Who Does the Federal Reserve Notice?

There are five Senate-confirmed members of the Federal Reserve. It won’t surprise you to know that all five of them are millionaires. Here’s a list, with links to their financial disclosure forms. (If you have some time to poke around and find anything interesting, let me know or put it in the comments.)

The Chair, Jay Powell, 67, is worth between $20 million and $55 million, the richest Fed Chair in history.

Randal Quarles, 62, is worth between $24.7 million and $125 million.

Richard H. Clarida, 63, is worth between $9 million and $39 million.

Michelle Bowman, 49, is worth between $2 million and $11 million.

Lael Brainaird, 58, is worth between $3 million and $11 million.

I’ve gone over the financial disclosure forms of all five of these members, and they are all invested in various forms of indexes. Some are invested in private equity funds, Blackrock iShares, or various other assets referencing financial corporations. These strike me as a violation of Section 10, part 5 of the Federal Reserve Act, which says:

No member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System shall be an officer or director of any bank, banking institution, trust company, or Federal Reserve bank or hold stock in any bank, banking institution, or trust company;

It’s been decades since anyone took conflicts of interest seriously, and I suspect that the Fed has lawyers who can weasel their way into ensuring that Fed board members get to invest in the financial services industry without violating this law. But the statute is there for a reason, which is that the Fed was created in 1913 to take power from Wall Street banks, not to place them on a publicly sanctioned monetary throne. (The original House passed version of the Federal Reserve Act had the Secretary of Agriculture as a Fed Governor, because farmers were the main labor force and borrowing group in the economy back then.)

There’s a more fundamental problem with the arrangement of having an all-millionaire Fed board, aside from any pecuniary gain that might result from all members of the Fed having public positions in which their policy decisions affect their portfolios in similar ways. The Fed is supposed to manage lending and borrowing conditions, but the only people represented among decision-makers are lenders, as opposed to a balance of lenders and borrowers.

https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/every-federal-reserve-board-member

Rhode Island May Shorten Its Full Name Due to Slavery Connotations

In the wake of anti-racism protests following the death of black Minneapolis resident George Floyd, the word "plantations" in the state's name has come also under harsh criticism.

Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo signed an executive order on Monday that will remove the second part of the state's full name, "The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations", in official communications.

"This morning I signed an executive order removing the phrase Providence Plantations from gubernatorial orders and citations, all executive branch agency websites, all official correspondence, and state employee pay stubs and paychecks", Raimondo announced on Tuesday.

The Rhode Island Senate passed a bill last week paving the way for a statewide referendum on changing the state's name.

Rhode Island got its full name due to Roger Williams, an advocate of abolishing slavery himself, who fled religious prosecution in 1636 and is believed to be the founder of the Rhode Island colony, which would later turn into the 13th US state. Back then, the context of the "Providence Plantations" portion of the name did not refer to slavery.

Harold Metts, the black senator who introduced the bill, told the Providence Journal on Thursday that no matter what historical meaning the term "plantations" carried for Rhode Island specifically, it is now associated with "the tragic and racist history of our nation".

https://sputniknews.com/us/202006241079702555-rhode-island-may-shorten-its-full-name-due-to-slavery-connotations/