"Chief Obamatrade proponent House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) admitted during Congressional testimony on Wednesday evening that despite tons of claims from him and other Obamatrade supporters to the contrary, the process is highly secretive.

"He also made a gaffe in his House Rules Committee testimony on par with former Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) push to pass Obamacare, in which she said infamously said: 'we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.'

"'It's declassified and made public once it's agreed to,' Ryan said of Obamatrade in Rules Committee testimony on Wednesday during questioning from Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX).

"What Ryan is trying to convince House Republicans to do is vote for Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) which would fast-track at least three highly secretive trade deals-specifically the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP)-and potentially more deals.

"Right now, TiSA and T-TIP text are completely secretive and unavailable for even members of Congress to read while TPP text is available for members to review-although they need to go to a secret room inside the Capitol where only members of Congress and certain staffers high-level security clearances, who can only go when members are present, can read the bill."

"Discovered inside the huge tranche of secretive Obamatrade documents released by Wikileaks are key details on how technically any Republican voting for Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) that would fast-track trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal would technically also be voting to massively expand President Obama's executive authority when it comes to immigration matters.

"The president's Trade in Services Act (TiSA) documents, which is one of the three different close-to-completely-negotiated deals that would be fast-tracked making up the president's trade agreement, show Obamatrade in fact unilaterally alters current U.S. immigration law. TiSA, like TPP or the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) deals, are international trade agreements that President Obama is trying to force through to final approval. The way he can do so is by getting Congress to give him fast-track authority through TPA.

"TiSA is even more secretive than TPP. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill can review the text of TPP in a secret, secured room inside the Capitol-and in some cases can bring staffers who have high enough security clearances-but with TiSA, no such draft text is available.

"Voting for TPA, of course, would essentially ensure the final passage of each TPP, T-TIP, and TiSA by Congress, since in the history of fast-track any deal that's ever started on fast-track has been approved.

"Roughly 10 pages of this TiSA agreement document leak are specifically about immigration.

"'The existence of these ten pages on immigration in the Trade and Services Agreement make it absolutely clear in my mind that the administration is negotiating immigration - and for them to say they are not - they have a lot of explaining to do based on the actual text in this agreement,' Rosemary Jenks, the Director of Government Relations at Numbers USA, told Breitbart News following her review of these documents."

"Wikileaks has warned that governments negotiating a far-reaching global service agreement are 'surrendering a large part of their global sovereignty' and exacerbating the social inequality of poorer countries in the process.

"... Wikileaks says that corporations would be able to use the law in its current form to hold sway over governments, deciding whether laws promoting culture, protecting the environment or ensuring equal access to services were ‘unnecessarily burdensome’, or whether knowledge of indigenous culture or public services was essential to achieve ‘parity’."

"Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, has written a scathing new letter to President Barack Obama pressuring him to explain why Obamatrade has been so secretive.

"'On May 6th of this year, I sent you a letter (enclosed) regarding your request for Congress to grant you fast-track executive authority,' Session wrote to Obama on Friday in a letter provided exclusively to Breitbart News ahead of its public release. 'Under fast-track, Congress transfers its authority to the executive and agrees to give up several of its most basic powers.

"'These concessions include: the power to write legislation, the power to amend legislation, the power to fully consider legislation on the floor, the power to keep debate open until Senate cloture is invoked, and the constitutional requirement that treaties receive a two-thirds vote.

"'The latter is especially important since, having been to the closed room to review the secret text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, it is clear it more closely resembles a treaty than a trade deal.

"'In other words, through fast-track, Congress would be pre-clearing a political and economic union before a word of that arrangement has been made available to a single private citizen.'"

"The Healthcare Annex, according to WikiLeaks, 'seeks to regulate state schemes for medicines and medical devices. It forces healthcare authorities to give big pharmaceutical companies more information about national decisions on public access to medicine, and grants corporations greater powers to challenge decisions they perceive as harmful to their interests.'

"For Americans, it means Congress wouldn’t be able to reform Medicare, reported WikiLeaks.

"WikiLeaks reports the document isn’t released until four years after the TPP is passed into law.

"'The TPP is the world’s largest economic trade agreement that will, if it comes into force, encompass more than 40 percent of the world’s GDP. Despite the wide-ranging effects on the global population, the TPP and the two other mega-agreements that make up the “Great Treaty”, (the TiSA and the TTIP), which all together cover two-thirds of global GDP, are currently being negotiated in secrecy,' notes WikiLeaks.

"The draft of the agreement isn’t even available to some of the negotiating countries’ governments.

"However, WikiLeaks reported, 'Hundreds of large corporations, however, have been given access to portions of the text, generating a powerful lobby to effect changes on behalf of these groups.'

"WikiLeaks is offering a $100,000 reward to anyone who can provide the rest of the TPP. At this time, WikiLeaks has raised $62,000 of that reward money."

"Two members of House GOP leadership — Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Rules Committee chairman Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) — refused to admit through spokespersons to Breitbart News whether they have read the text of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) Pacific Rim trade deal, but they still support granting President Barack Obama the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) to fast track it.

"... there is essentially no way to stop a trade deal once it has been fast-tracked. Since fast track was created in the Richard Nixon administration, not one trade deal that started on fast track has been thwarted. As such, a vote for TPA is a vote for TPP, since passing TPA will all but guarantee the successful passage of TPP."

"In a speech on the Senate floor on May 22, Democratic senator Ron Wyden of Oregon ridiculed those who thought climate change regulation would be part of Obamatrade:

"'We’ve heard suggested, for example, that it’s a backdoor route to immigration reform or action on climate change…. My sense is that the rate these hypotheticals are going, you’re bound to hear that a future president working on a trade deal might have second thoughts about the Louisiana purchase.'

"But in an interview on NPR’s Marketplace yesterday (June 3), President Obama said that enforcing climate change regulations will indeed be part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Obamatrade pact that he is currently negotiating with Malaysia and 10 other countries. He said:

"'If we want to solve something like climate change, which is one of my highest priorities, then I’ve got to be able to get into places like Malaysia, and say to them, this is in your interest. What leverage do I have to get them to stop deforestation? Well part of the leverage is if I’m in a trade relationship with them that allows me to raise standards.'"

"Under the draft provisions of the latest trade deal to be leaked by Wikileaks, countries could be barred from trying to control where their citizens’ personal data is held or whether it’s accessible from outside the country.

"Wikileaks has released 17 documents relating to the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), currently under negotiation between the US, the European Union and 23 other nations. These negotiating texts are supposed to remain secret for five years after TISA is finalized and brought into force.

"The deal, which has been under discussion behind closed doors since early 2013, is intended to remove barriers to trade in services. It’s a sort of companion piece to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which cover trade in goods – but potentially far bigger, with Wikileaks claiming that ‘services’ now account for nearly 80 per cent of the US and EU economies.

"Like TTIP and TPP, TISA could be sped through Congress using Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), also known as fast-track authority, which has been passed by the US Senate and may be taken up in the House this month. Under TPA, Congress is barred from making amendments to the trade deals, and most simply give yes-or-no approval."

"Speaking from his 'prison' in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange explains the Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty, which would link his home country of Australia with the U.S. economically. "It is mostly not about trade," Assange says. "Only 5 of the 29 Chapters are about traditional trade."

"The others are about regulating the internet, and what information internet service providers have to collect, they have to hand it over to companies under certain circumstances, the regulation of labor conditions, regulating the way you can favor local industry, regulating the hospital, health care system, privatization of hospitals, so essentially every aspect of a modern economy, even banking services are in the TPP.

"So that is erecting and embedding new ultramodern neoliberal structure over U.S. law and the laws of other countries. And putting it in treaty form.

"By putting it in a treaty form, there are 14 countries involved, that means it is very hard to overturn, so if there is a desire, a democratic desire to do it on a different path. For example, to introduce more public transport. Then you can't easily change the TPP treaty, because you have to go back to the other nations involved."

"President Obama won a big victory for his trade agenda Friday with the Senate’s approval of fast-track legislation that could make it easier for him to complete a wide-ranging trade deal that would include 11 Pacific Rim nations.

"... TPA’s fast-track provisions would allow Congress, under strict timelines, to consider trade deals with a simple up-or-down vote without any amendments or requirements of a Senate super-majority to end debate. That would help Obama complete the final details of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), with the other 11 nations, a bloc that represents about 40 percent of the global economy.

"If TPA clears Congress, Obama’s negotiators will push to conclude the Pacific trade pact and then send it to Congress for final approval, possibly later this year or early next year. The legislative package also includes new funding for labor training for workers that are certified for having lost their jobs because of foreign competition.

"... On the final roll call, five Republicans joined 32 Democrats in opposing TPA — an odd collection that ranged from Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and his top two lieutenants to staunch conservatives such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). “Congress is forgetting its duty: to improve jobs and wages for Americans,” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), one of the most conservative senators, said in a statement."

"Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Joe Manchin of West Virginia introduced S.1381 on May 19, 2015, which would have required President Obama to de-classify the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement for at least 60 days before being voted on by Congress.

"The battle between organized labor, progressive Democrats and President Obama over the Trans Pacific Partnership continued on Thursday when U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Joe Machin filed the Trade Transparency Act, a bill requiring that the public and Congress have at least 60 days to review and debate any trade legislation before being moved to the floor for a vote. The move was intended to highlight the issue many Americans see with continuing to categorize trade negotiations as classified, especially when it effects the personal finances of millions of workers and business owners alike.

"Senators are forced to go into a classified viewing room in order to read the full text of the document, but are not allowed to bring in key staff or take notes on what is included in the bill text. Not only this, but as you would assume for classified documents, elected officials are unable to speak to anyone without proper security clearance about the specific details of the trade negotiations without suffering potential criminal legal ramifications. This becomes a serious issue when dealing with complicated and technical negotiations regarding the largest trade deal in American history. It also raises serious questions about the legislative process and democracy generally when the public is unable to view the content of a bill introduced in Congress, but foreign government officials and private corporations are.

"S. 1381; the Trade Transparency Bill, was introduced as part of a unanimous consent request, a procedural move intended to limit debate and structure the amendment process depending on the complexity of the circumstances being negotiated and allowing for tailor made agreements traditionally. But even one opposing vote can derail the tactic, and that is exactly what happened when Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Arizona voted no."

"The 62-38 vote to end debate on the bill, moving it toward a vote, was a victory for Obama, who had linked with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, to push the bill despite opposition from Senate Democratic leaders.

"... The measure would hand the President six years' worth of "trade promotion authority" --- the power to submit trade deals to Congress for an up-or-down vote with limited debate and no amendments.

"... Even though Senate passage is now much more likely, the House could be tougher, though. There, tea party conservatives are linking up with liberals to form a broader populist opposition than what existed in the Senate.

"... The House overwhelmingly passed the USA Freedom Act, a bipartisan bill to reform the Patriot Act and effectively end the National Security Agency's bulk collection of phone data on millions of Americans."

"U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, on Tuesday took procedural steps aimed at bringing a debate on a fast-track trade bill to a close, moving the controversial bill a step closer to a vote on passage."

"There needs to be a real analysis about the results of global trade agreements, but for some the sanctity of trade relationships have become tantamount to a religion, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)says.

"Speaking on the Senate floor Monday, the Alabama Republican highlighted the decline in American’s real hourly wages, median incomes, and shrinking middle class — arguing that while big government policies have had a big impact, so too have trade deals.

"'It is time to begin a vigorous analysis of our conduct of trade,' Sessions said. 'Do our policies and TPP concede too much to our mercantilist competitor allies?'

"According to the Alabama lawmaker, there has not been enough consideration of the impact of trade agreements on the American worker and American incomes — so long as consumer prices decline with the deals.

"'At bottom, we must ask whether or not our aggressive trading partners, using a mercantilist philosophy, may be gaining unfair advantage. These countries—good nations, good allies—are not religious about free trade,” Sessions said. “In general, while they assert their desire is for expanded free trade, their actual policies seek fewer U.S. exports to them using non-tariff as well as tariff barriers. Our trade competitors use currency manipulation, subsidies, and other actions to expand their exports to us. Their goal is, naturally, to seek full employment in their countries while exporting their unemployment to the United States.'"

"Recent developments confirm what is known and documented: Washington is behind the Islamic State (ISIS) and at the same time it is behind the moderate Al Qaeda terrorists, which the Obama administration is supporting as part of America’s campaign against the Islamic State (ISIS). And they expect us to believe that they are committed to waging a campaign against terrorists.

"The Islamic State (ISIS) was until 2014 called al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI)."

"Barack Obama's repeated insistence that Bashar al-Assad must leave office - and that there are 'moderate' rebel groups in Syria capable of defeating him - has in recent years provoked quiet dissent, and even overt opposition, among some of the most senior officers on the Pentagon's Joint Staff. Their criticism has focused on what they see as the administration's fixation on Assad's primary ally, Vladimir Putin. In their view, Obama is captive to Cold War thinking about Russia and China, and hasn't adjusted his stance on Syria to the fact both countries share Washington's anxiety about the spread of terrorism in and beyond Syria; like Washington, they believe that Islamic State must be stopped.

"... Obama now has a more compliant Pentagon. There will be no more indirect challenges from the military leadership to his policy of disdain for Assad and support for Erdogan ... The Joint Chiefs and the DIA were constantly telling Washington's leadership of the jihadist threat in Syria, and of Turkey's support for it. The message was never listened to. Why not?"

"... an explosive investigation by Seymour Hersh has revealed that the Pentagon was engaged in a secret revolt against the Obama White House.

"A highly classified DIA and Joint Chiefs of Staff report predicted that arming the rebels and toppling Assad would lead to the rise of ISIS.

"The Pentagon knew that Obama was arming Islamic extremists and that the so-called moderate Free Syrian Army had evaporated.

"But the Obama administration didn't want to hear the truth and deliberately buried the report.

"So the Pentagon bypassed the White House entirely and handed intelligence on the same jihadists who Obama was arming to Germany, Israel and Russia.

"This intel was then passed directly to Assad, who used it to turn the tide against the jihadists, almost certainly saving Syria from being completely taken over by the Islamic State.

"The bottom line is that many of the top brass in the Pentagon knew Obama's policy would lead to an even bigger disaster than we have now, and they took decisive action to derail it.

"The secret measure was also partly a payback after Assad had helped fight Al-Qaeda after 9/11 and Syrian intelligence had stopped an Al-Qaeda attack on the headquarters of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet in Bahrain."

"There is so much debate over how the U.S. and other nations will stop ISIS but can these leaders be trusted? Ben Swann exposes secret DOD documents that prove the U.S. wanted ISIS to emerge in Syria."

"Leaked Department of Defense documents prove that the U.S. purposely allowed ISIS to take hold of Syria."

"This video from LiveLeak purports to be an Apache attack helicopter following a huge ISIS convoy of white pickup trucks crossing from Iraq to Syria … and – instead of attacking – more or less “escorting” it across the border."

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"The US Treasury has recently opened an inquiry about the so-called “Islamic State’s” (ISIS/ISIL) use of large numbers of brand-new Toyota trucks. The issue has arisen in the wake of Russia’s air operations over Syria and growing global suspicion that the US itself has played a key role in arming, funding, and intentionally perpetuating the terrorist army across Syria and Iraq."

"U.S. counter-terror officials have launched an investigation into how ISIS got so many of those identical Toyota pickup trucks which they use in their convoys.

"They don’t have to look very far ...

"The Spectator reported last year:

"The [Toyota] Hilux [pics] is light, fast, manoeuvrable and all but indestructible (‘bomb-proof’ might not, in this instance, be a happy usage). The weapons experts Jane’s claimed for the Hilux a similar significance to the longbows of Agincourt or the Huey choppers of Nam. A US Army Ranger said the Toyota sure ‘kicks the hell out of a Humvee’ (referring to the clumsy and over-sized High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle made by AM General).

"The fact is the Toyotas were supplied by the US government to the Al Nusra Front as ‘non-lethal aid’ then ‘acquired’ by ISIS."

"In early 2015, Yousaf al Salafi, a man believed to be the Pakistani commander of Islamic State, confessed during investigations that he has been receiving money through the United States.

"A few months after al Salafi revealed the funding he was receiving was routed through the United States, Michael Flynn, former director of Obama's Defence Intelligence Agency, said he warned the Obama administration three years ago that the groups they were funding in Syria were actually Islamic jihadists. Now, a group of 50 intelligence analysts working out of the U.S. military's Central Command have complained that their reports on Islamic State and the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda were being incorrectly changed by senior officials.

"... A recently declassified 2012 document shows that "Salafist, the Muslim Brotherhood and AQI [Al-Qaeda in Iraq]" were listed as the "major forces driving the insurgency in Syria." The document also revealed that "the West, Gulf countries and Turkey support the opposition while Russia, China and Iran support the regime." According to the declassified document, the Obama administration was warned in 2012 that these Islamic jihadists wanted to create a "Salafist principality in eastern Syria" and that ISI [Islamic State of Iraq] could declare an Islamic State through its union with other terrorist organizations in Iraq and Syria, which will create grave danger in regards to unifying Iraq and the protection of its territory."

"Now, over 50 intelligence analysts have formally claimed their reports on Islamic State and al-Qaeda's branch in Syria were altered by senior officials, The Daily Beast reported. An investigation into the alleged manipulation of intelligence has been opened."

"To take down the so-called Islamic State in Syria, the influential former head of the CIA wants to co-opt jihadists from America’s arch foe.

"Members of al Qaeda’s branch in Syria have a surprising advocate in the corridors of American power: retired Army general and former CIA Director David Petraeus.

"The former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan has been quietly urging U.S. officials to consider using so-called moderate members of al Qaeda’s Nusra Front to fight ISIS in Syria, four sources familiar with the conversations, including one person who spoke to Petraeus directly, told The Daily Beast.

"... The American war on terror began with an al Qaeda attack on 9/11, of course. The idea that the U.S. would, 14 years later, work with elements of al Qaeda’s Syrian branch was an irony too tough to stomach for most U.S. officials interviewed by The Daily Beast. They found Petraeus’s notion politically toxic, near-impossible to execute, and strategically risky."

"Five years into the Syrian Civil War, a media blackout is settling over the conflict as The United Nations, a supposed Moderate rebel army and a 2015 Bilderberg Agenda priority carve a path to topple Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. After collapsing the Libyan economy, unseating and killing Gaddaffi, and pilfering the Libyan stockpile of weapons to arm ISIS by means of the Benghazi debacle. The Obama White House’s next task was to execute a duplicate illegal hit job on Assad’s Syria. Assad has been fighting the New World Order cancer ever since.

"Recently, a U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura launched a disinfowar attack on Syrian President Assad’s character. Mistura condemned the Syrian governments air raids in the Rebel held Syrian city of Douma. For the time being, The United States has dropped $41 million on equipping and training the New Syria Force. An army made up of soldiers ebbing from the factions linked directly to ISIS.

"As the Obama administration once again assumes the public is stupid enough to buy the proxy Syrian army’s putative mission to fight ISIS. It remains conspicuously obvious that Turkish interests have already begun sealing Syria’s economic fate. Assad’s back is up against the wall as the malevolent claws of the New World Order mutilate his reputation and devour his nation’s sovereignty.

"Infowars.com and the alternative media have repeatedly pointed out the indisputable fact the Islamic State is a creation of the United States.

"In May declassified US Defense Intelligence Agency documents from 2012 revealed the United States and its partners in the Gulf states and Turkey supported the Islamic State and planned to establish a Salafist principality in Syria.

"In September General Thomas McInerney admitted the United States “helped build ISIS” as a result of the Obama administration backing “some of the wrong people” in Syria and also said “weapons from Benghazi (ended) up in the hands of ISIS.”

"In 2012 it was discovered that the US, Turkey and Jordan were jointly operating a Special Forces command training base for Syrian rebels out of the Jordanian town of Safawi. According to Aaron Klein of WND, many of the rebels were “future ISIS members.”

"Now the former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Michael Flynn, has confirmed the conclusion of the DoD document and states it was “a willful decision” by the United States to support ISIS and al-Nusra."

"In the scramble to access Kurdistan's oil and gas wealth, the US and UK are turning a blind eye to complicity in 'Islamic State' oil smuggling

"Key allies in the US and UK led war on Islamic State (ISIS) are covertly financing the terrorist movement according to senior political sources in the region. US and British oil companies are heavily invested in the murky geopolitical triangle sustaining ISIS' black market oil sales.

"The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq and Turkish military intelligence have both supported secret ISIS oil smuggling operations and even supplied arms to the terror group, according to Kurdish, Iraqi and Turkish officials.

"One British oil company in particular, Genel Energy, is contracted by the KRG to supply oil for a major Kurdish firm accused of facilitating ISIS oil sales to Turkey. The Kurdish firm has close ties to the Iraqi Kurdish government.

"Genel operates in the KRG with the backing of the British government, and is also linked to a British parliamentary group with longstanding connections to both the British and KRG oil industries.

"The relationship between British and Kurdish energy companies, and senior British politicians, raises questions about conflicts of interest?-?especially in the context of a 'war on terror' that is supposed to be targeting, not financing, the 'Islamic State.'"

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"John McCain pictured meeting with an individual who is now the leader of ISIS forces in Libya – Abdelhakim Belhadj – who worked directly with U.S. and NATO forces during the overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi."

"Senator John McCain has responded to a staged ISIS beheading video which pro-Russian hackers claim was found on one of his staffer’s electronic devices, with the Senator asserting that he is “proud” to be the target of “America’s enemies”.

"As we reported yesterday, pro-Moscow hacktivist outfit CyberBerkut released the video, which they claimed was evidence that the U.S. was supporting ISIS and was responsible for releasing Islamic State execution videos.

"CyberBerkut has previously took credit for hacking NATO websites and obtaining correspondence from within the United States Embassy in Ukraine.

"The group insisted that the footage was hacked from a device belonging to one of McCain’s assistants during a trip to Ukraine last month, but there was no accompanying evidence for this claim."

• Staged ISIS Beheading Video Released by Russian Hackers / Video

• Charles Krauthammer: We allied with Stalin during WWII, why not ally with al-Qaeda today? / Video

"Islamic paramilitary camps have been set up in the United States and Canada to train African American Muslims in guerilla warfare. After months of training on firing ranges and obstacle courses, the black Muslims are sent to Pakistan where they receive advanced training in explosives. Many never return.

"Stories about these camps are not new. They have been reported by the main stream media, including Fox News.

"... After 9/11, the Agency continued to cultivate Islamic holy warriors to maintain the “strategy of tension” in the Middle East, the Balkan states, and Central Asia and to mount new uprisings in Africa to expandU.S.hegemony. The grand purpose of these enterprises wasUSeconomic and political control ofEurasia.

"... In accordance with the strategy of keeping “the barbarians from coming together,” ISIS forces were and are trained at a secret U.S. military base in the Jordanian town of Safawi.[16] The weapons for ISIS came, compliments of the Agency, from the arsenal of deposed Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi. The shipment of these weapons to ISIS in Syria was supervised in 2012 by David Petraeus, the CIA director who would soon resign when it was alleged that he was having an affair with his biographer.

"... Investigators, including Patrick Walsh and William Krayer, who have visited Islamberg and other paramilitary settlements, believe that the next major attack on US soil will emanate from Gilani’s jamaats of homegrown terrorism. Based on the history of the CIA’s involvement in the creation of these camps, such an attack may occur in accordance with the Agency’s own design."

"The United States has blocked attempts by its Middle East allies to fly heavy weapons directly to the Kurds fighting Islamic State jihadists in Iraq, The Telegraph has learnt.

"... High level officials from Gulf and other states have told this newspaper that all attempts to persuade Mr Obama of the need to arm the Kurds directly as part of more vigorous plans to take on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) have failed. The Senate voted down one attempt by supporters of the Kurdish cause last month.

"The officials say they are looking at new ways to take the fight to Isil without seeking US approval.

"'If the Americans and the West are not prepared to do anything serious about defeating Isil, then we will have to find new ways of dealing with the threat,” said a senior Arab government official. 'With Isil making ground all the time we simply cannot afford to wait for Washington to wake up to the enormity of the threat we face.'"

"The US House of Representatives acted irresponsibly by defeating an amendment to officially authorize the US war against the Islamic State on Thursday, Congressman Adam Schiff said."

"While the Western mainstream media and even independent gatekeepers like Noam Chomsky for years spread the lie that any suggestion that the United States and NATO were supporting ISIS was a 'conspiracy theory,' recently uncovered and declassified documents from the Defense Intelligence Agency have proven the Western press and the likes of Chomsky wrong and, yet again, the so-called 'conspiracy theorists' right.

"This is because, on May 18, Judicial Watch published a selection of recently declassified documents that were obtained from the US Department of Defense and the US State Department as a result of a lawsuit filed against the US government. The lawsuit and most of the documents contained within the release revolved around the Benghazi scandal but a deeper look into the documents dating back to 2012 reveal an even bigger story – that the US and NATO have admitted in their own documents to supporting al-Qaeda and ISIS in Syria and Iraq."

"Administration knew three months before the November 2012 presidential election of ISIS plans to establish a caliphate in Iraq

"Administration knew of arms being shipped from Benghazi to Syria

"Judicial Watch announced today that it obtained more than 100 pages of previously classified 'Secret' documents from the Department of Defense (DOD)and the Department of State revealing that DOD almost immediately reported that the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was committed by the al Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood-linked “Brigades of the Captive Omar Abdul Rahman” (BCOAR), and had been planned at least 10 days in advance. Rahman is known as the Blind Sheikh, and is serving life in prison for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and other terrorist acts. The new documents also provide the first official confirmation that shows the U.S. government was aware of arms shipments from Benghazi to Syria. The documents also include an August 2012 analysis warning of the rise of ISIS and the predicted failure of the Obama policy of regime change in Syria.

"The documents were released in response to a court order in accordance with a May 15, 2014, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against both the DOD and State Department seeking communications between the two agencies and congressional leaders 'on matters related to the activities of any agency or department of the U.S. government at the Special Mission Compound and/or classified annex in Benghazi.'

"... A Defense Department document from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), dated September 12, 2012, the day after the Benghazi attack, details that the attack on the compound had been carefully planned by the BOCAR terrorist group 'to kill as many Americans as possible.' The document was sent to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Obama White House National Security Council. The heavily redacted Defense Department 'information report' says that the attack on the Benghazi facility 'was planned and executed by The Brigades of the Captive Omar Abdul Rahman (BCOAR).' The group subscribes to 'AQ ideologies:'"

"Following a report that proves the United States created ISIS to destabilize Syria, the U.S. government is now trying to claim that Assad is working with ISIS."

"The U.S. watched Islamic State fighters, vehicles and heavy equipment gather on the outskirts of Ramadi before the group retook the city in mid-May. But the U.S. did not order airstrikes against the convoys before the battle started. It left the fighting to Iraqi troops, who ultimately abandoned their positions.

"... The Islamic State had been contesting territory in and around Ramadi for more than a year and had spoken of the importance of recapturing the city. The U.S. intelligence community had good warning that the Islamic State intended a new and bolder offensive on Ramadi because it was able to identify the convoys of heavy artillery, vehicle bombs and reinforcements through overhead imagery and eavesdropping on chatter from local Islamic State commanders. It surprised no one, one U.S. intelligence official told me."

"WAR is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

"A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.

"... For a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a racket; not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it. Now that I see the international war clouds gathering, as they are today, I must face it and speak out.

"... Yes, all over, nations are camping in their arms. The mad dogs of Europe are on the loose. In the Orient the maneuvering is more adroit. Back in 1904, when Russia and Japan fought, we kicked out our old friends the Russians and backed Japan. Then our very generous international bankers were financing Japan. Now the trend is to poison us against the Japanese. What does the "open door" policy to China mean to us? Our trade with China is about $90,000,000 a year. Or the Philippine Islands? We have spent about $600,000,000 in the Philippines in thirty-five years and we (our bankers and industrialists and speculators) have private investments there of less than $200,000,000.

"Then, to save that China trade of about $90,000,000, or to protect these private investments of less than $200,000,000 in the Philippines, we would be all stirred up to hate Japan and go to war – a war that might well cost us tens of billions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of lives of Americans, and many more hundreds of thousands of physically maimed and mentally unbalanced men.

"Of course, for this loss, there would be a compensating profit – fortunes would be made. Millions and billions of dollars would be piled up. By a few. Munitions makers. Bankers. Ship builders. Manufacturers. Meat packers. Speculators. They would fare well.

"Yes, they are getting ready for another war. Why shouldn't they? It pays high dividends.

"But what does it profit the men who are killed? What does it profit their mothers and sisters, their wives and their sweethearts? What does it profit their children?

"What does it profit anyone except the very few to whom war means huge profits?

"... Take our own case. Until 1898 we didn't own a bit of territory outside the mainland of North America. At that time our national debt was a little more than $1,000,000,000. Then we became 'internationally minded.' We forgot, or shunted aside, the advice of the Father of our country. We forgot George Washington's warning about 'entangling alliances.'

"... It would have been far cheaper (not to say safer) for the average American who pays the bills to stay out of foreign entanglements. For a very few this racket, like bootlegging and other underworld rackets, brings fancy profits, but the cost of operations is always transferred to the people – who do not profit.

"... The normal profits of a business concern in the United States are six, eight, ten, and sometimes twelve percent. But war-time profits – ah! that is another matter – twenty, sixty, one hundred, three hundred, and even eighteen hundred per cent – the sky is the limit. All that traffic will bear. Uncle Sam has the money. Let's get it.

"Of course, it isn't put that crudely in war time. It is dressed into speeches about patriotism, love of country, and 'we must all put our shoulders to the wheel,' but the profits jump and leap and skyrocket – and are safely pocketed.

"... WHO PAYS THE BILLS? Who provides the profits – these nice little profits of 20, 100, 300, 1,500 and 1,800 per cent? We all pay them – in taxation. We paid the bankers their profits when we bought Liberty Bonds at $100.00 and sold them back at $84 or $86 to the bankers. These bankers collected $100 plus. It was a simple manipulation. The bankers control the security marts. It was easy for them to depress the price of these bonds. Then all of us – the people – got frightened and sold the bonds at $84 or $86. The bankers bought them. Then these same bankers stimulated a boom and government bonds went to par – and above. Then the bankers collected their profits.

"But the soldier pays the biggest part of the bill.

"If you don't believe this, visit the American cemeteries on the battlefields abroad. Or visit any of the veteran's hospitals in the United States. On a tour of the country, in the midst of which I am at the time of this writing, I have visited eighteen government hospitals for veterans. In them are a total of about 50,000 destroyed men – men who were the pick of the nation eighteen years ago. The very able chief surgeon at the government hospital; at Milwaukee, where there are 3,800 of the living dead, told me that mortality among veterans is three times as great as among those who stayed at home.

"Boys with a normal viewpoint were taken out of the fields and offices and factories and classrooms and put into the ranks. There they were remolded; they were made over; they were made to "about face"; to regard murder as the order of the day. They were put shoulder to shoulder and, through mass psychology, they were entirely changed. We used them for a couple of years and trained them to think nothing at all of killing or of being killed.

"Then, suddenly, we discharged them and told them to make another "about face" ! This time they had to do their own readjustment, sans [without] mass psychology, sans officers' aid and advice and sans nation-wide propaganda. We didn't need them any more. So we scattered them about without any "three-minute" or "Liberty Loan" speeches or parades. Many, too many, of these fine young boys are eventually destroyed, mentally, because they could not make that final "about face" alone.

"... HOW TO SMASH THIS RACKET! WELL, it's a racket, all right.

"A few profit – and the many pay. But there is a way to stop it. You can't end it by disarmament conferences. You can't eliminate it by peace parleys at Geneva. Well-meaning but impractical groups can't wipe it out by resolutions. It can be smashed effectively only by taking the profit out of war.

[STEP ONE]

"The only way to smash this racket is to conscript capital and industry and labor before the nations manhood can be conscripted. One month before the Government can conscript the young men of the nation – it must conscript capital and industry and labor. Let the officers and the directors and the high-powered executives of our armament factories and our munitions makers and our shipbuilders and our airplane builders and the manufacturers of all the other things that provide profit in war time as well as the bankers and the speculators, be conscripted – to get $30 a month, the same wage as the lads in the trenches get.

"Let the workers in these plants get the same wages – all the workers, all presidents, all executives, all directors, all managers, all bankers – yes, and all generals and all admirals and all officers and all politicians and all government office holders – everyone in the nation be restricted to a total monthly income not to exceed that paid to the soldier in the trenches!

"Let all these kings and tycoons and masters of business and all those workers in industry and all our senators and governors and majors pay half of their monthly $30 wage to their families and pay war risk insurance and buy Liberty Bonds.

"... Give capital and industry and labor thirty days to think it over and you will find, by that time, there will be no war. That will smash the war racket – that and nothing else. Maybe I am a little too optimistic. Capital still has some say. So capital won't permit the taking of the profit out of war until the people – those who do the suffering and still pay the price – make up their minds that those they elect to office shall do their bidding, and not that of the profiteers.

[STEP TWO]

"... Only those who would be called upon to risk their lives for their country should have the privilege of voting to determine whether the nation should go to war.

[STEP THREE]

"... A third step in this business of smashing the war racket is to make certain that our military forces are truly forces for defense only.

"At each session of Congress the question of further naval appropriations comes up. The swivel-chair admirals of Washington (and there are always a lot of them) are very adroit lobbyists. And they are smart. They don't shout that "We need a lot of battleships to war on this nation or that nation." Oh no. First of all, they let it be known that America is menaced by a great naval power. Almost any day, these admirals will tell you, the great fleet of this supposed enemy will strike suddenly and annihilate 125,000,000 people. Just like that. Then they begin to cry for a larger navy. For what? To fight the enemy? Oh my, no. Oh, no. For defense purposes only.

"Then, incidentally, they announce maneuvers in the Pacific. For defense. Uh, huh.

"The Pacific is a great big ocean. We have a tremendous coastline on the Pacific. Will the maneuvers be off the coast, two or three hundred miles? Oh, no. The maneuvers will be two thousand, yes, perhaps even thirty-five hundred miles, off the coast.

"The Japanese, a proud people, of course will be pleased beyond expression to see the united States fleet so close to Nippon's shores. Even as pleased as would be the residents of California were they to dimly discern through the morning mist, the Japanese fleet playing at war games off Los Angeles.

"... victory or defeat will be determined by the skill and ingenuity of our scientists. If we put them to work making poison gas and more and more fiendish mechanical and explosive instruments of destruction, they will have no time for the constructive job of building greater prosperity for all peoples. By putting them to this useful job, we can all make more money out of peace than we can out of war – even the munitions makers."

• Video: The Fascist Plot to Overthrow FDR (FULL Documentary)

"In 1933, Marine Corps Maj.-Gen. Smedley Butler was approached by a wealthy and secretive group of industrialists and bankers, including Prescott Bush (George W. Bush's grandfather) who asked him to command a 500,000 strong rogue army of veterans that would help stage a coup to topple then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In 1934 Butler testified to the McCormack--Dickstein Congressional committee on these claims. In the opinion of the committee, these allegations were credible. One of the purported plotters, Gerald MacGuire, vehemently denied any such plot. In their report, the Congressional committee stated that it was able to confirm Butler's statements other than the proposal from MacGuire which it considered more or less confirmed by MacGuire's European reports. No one was prosecuted.

"In 1936, William Dodd, the U.S. Ambassador to Germany, wrote a letter to President Roosevelt in which he stated,

"A clique of U.S. industrialists is hell-bent to bring a fascist state to supplant our democratic government and is working closely with the fascist regime in Germany and Italy. I have had plenty of opportunity in my post in Berlin to witness how close some of our American ruling families are to the Nazi regime.... A prominent executive of one of the largest corporations, told me point blank that he would be ready to take definite action to bring fascism into America if President Roosevelt continued his progressive policies. Certain American industrialists had a great deal to do with bringing fascist regimes into being in both Germany and Italy. They extended aid to help Fascism occupy the seat of power, and they are helping to keep it there. Propagandists for fascist groups try to dismiss the fascist scare. We should be aware of the symptoms. When industrialists ignore laws designed for social and economic progress they will seek recourse to a fascist state when the institutions of our government compel them to comply with the provisions."

"The proven record of Prescott Bush's involvement in financing the Nazi war machine dovetails with the fact that he was part of a criminal cabal that actively sought to impose a fascist coup in America.

"President George Walker Bush's grandfather (Prescott Bush) and great grandfather (George Herbert Walker) were among Wall Street's ultra-right wing elite. Before WWII, they were among the key players who coordinated the flow of investments from American multimillionaires into Germany. They profited by helping to coordinate the American financing behind Hitler's rise to power. During the war, they even profited from companies that armed the Nazi war machine and used slave labour at Auschwitz. Then, after the war, Prescott Bush was instrumental in helping to launder Nazi loot for Fritz Thyssen, who was one Hitler's earliest and richest industrialist backers."

• Video: Major General Smedley Butler & The Fascist Takeover Of The USA - A Warning From History

• Video: Major General Smedley D. Butler Expose Fascist Coup in US. (1934)

"On Memorial Day, Americans honor the soldiers who have died in the defense of our country. There is one big problem though: Those soldiers didn’t die in the defense of our country. Instead, they died in the defense of empire and hegemony.

"For obvious reasons, U.S. officials, as well as many of the family members of the deceased, can’t bring themselves to admit that and so they settle for just mindlessly repeating the mantra, 'They died defending our country,'

"... The soldiers we honor today died for empire and hegemony."

"... the nationalist Global Times, a paper owned by the ruling Communist Party’s official newspaper, the People’s Daily, said in a Monday editorial that war was “inevitable” between China and the United States unless Washington stopped demanding Beijing halt the building of artificial islands in the disputed waterway.

"... A war between the United States and China is “inevitable” unless Washington stops demanding Beijing halt its construction projects in the South China Sea, a Chinese state-owned newspaper warns.

"If the United States’ bottom line is that China has to halt its activities, then a US-China war is inevitable in the South China Sea,” The Global Times, an influential newspaper owned by the ruling Communist Party’s official newspaper the People’s Daily, said in an editorial Monday."

"On Wednesday we showed what happens when US spy planes carrying CNN reporters get too close to China’s land reclamation project in the South China Sea. In short, the Chinese Navy not-so-politely advises them to 'Go now!'

"China is working diligently to construct man-made islands atop reefs in the Spratly archipelago where Beijing shares disputed waters with the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. For its part, Washington is none too pleased with the effort and in a fantastic example of ironic rhetoric and American hypocrisy, The White House is shouting about violations of territorial sovereignty and Chinese 'bullying'.

"The Pentagon meanwhile has said the US may consider confronting China in the region with surveillance aircraft (and CNN crews apparently) and war ships, a move China has gently advised against, telling Washington that it might be in everyone’s best interest if the US 'refrains from risky and provocative actions ...'"

"The Chinese government gave a stern warning Wednesday that it will protect its sovereignty in the South China Sea after a cat-and-mouse pursuit of a U.S. warship by a Chinese frigate.

"'The Chinese side will take resolute measures to safeguard national sovereignty and safety. We will keep an eye on the situation in relevant waters and airspace and respond to any violation of China's sovereignty and threat to China's national security," said Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry."

"The biggest surprise in the Pentagon’s latest annual report on Chinese military power is the claim that China’s ICBM force now includes the 'multiple independently-targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV)-equipped Mod 3 (DF-5).'

"... If so, China joins the club of four other nuclear-armed states that have deployed MIRV for decades: Britain, France, Russia and the United States."

"While admitting that reaching agreement between the two countries will be difficult to achieve, George Soros - speaking at The World Bank's Bretton Woods conference this week - warned that unless the U.S. makes 'major concessions' and allows China's currency to join the IMF's basket of currencies, 'there is a real danger China will align itself with Russia politically and militarily, and then the threat of world war becomes real.'"

1. Ask your two US senators to vote against renewing the PATRIOT ACT and any renamed or repackaged act or amendment that extends the provisions of the PATRIOT ACT such as this farce known as the USA FREEDOM ACT.
2. Both of these acts are unconstitutional.
3. The PATRIOT ACT was not read by members of congress before its passage. Sound familar?
4. Americans were told that it was for terrorists, and that it would not be used against Americans.
5. Time and events have how clearly shown that the American people were blatantly lied to by our government and our members of congress regarding the PATRIOT ACT.
6. Americans are concerned about our national security, our sovereignty, our prosperity and our constitutional form of government being destroyed by our very own elected officials.
7. We are facing challenges from all directions in a dangerous world.
8. The greatest challenge to our sovereignty, our freedom and our prosperity is posed by our own government. This is intollerable.
9. The question is, will your very own senators, supposedly representing us, side with us and the constitution ... or will they side with the growing police state and surveilance state that evidently knows no bounds in the scale and scope of their intrusions into our personal and private lives as they shred our constitution?

"In a rare early morning Saturday vote, the Senate blocked a popular House bill that would rein in controversial government surveillance programs. The vote was 57-42, and it needed 60 votes to advance. Immediately after that vote, the Senate also rejected a straight 60-day extension of the Bush-era national security law on a 45-54 vote — leaving the Senate with no immediate options to ensure the programs don’t expire before the end of the month.

"'It’s not about making a point, it’s about trying to prevent the bulk collection of data,' Paul told reporters ...

"... The Senate reconvenes at 4 p.m. on May 31, just eight hours before the PATRIOT Act provisions will lapse.

"... Two of Paul’s closest allies in the House — GOP Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Justin Amash of Michigan — were on the floor for the Saturday vote. Amash said he would oppose even a one-week extension of the current PATRIOT Act provisions, if the Senate were to pass one and send it to the House for quick passage before May 31."

"The National Security Agency has begun winding down its collection and storage of American phone records after the Senate failed to agree on a path forward to change or extend the once-secret program ahead of its expiration at the end of the month.

"Barring an 11th hour compromise when the Senate returns to session May 31, a much-debated provision of the Patriot Act — and some other lesser known surveillance tools — will sunset at midnight that day. The change also would have a major impact on the FBI, which uses the Patriot Act and the other provisions to gather records in investigations of suspected spies and terrorists.

"In a chaotic scene during the wee hours of Saturday, Senate Republicans blocked a bill known as the USA Freedom Act, which would have ended the NSA's bulk collection but preserved its ability to search the records held by the phone companies on a case-by-case basis. The bill was backed by President Barack Obama, House Republicans and the nation's top law enforcement and intelligence officials."

"FBI agents can’t point to any major terrorism cases they’ve cracked thanks to the key snooping powers in the Patriot Act, the Justice Department’s inspector general said in a report Thursday that could complicate efforts to keep key parts of the law operating.

"Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz said that between 2004 and 2009, the FBI tripled its use of bulk collection under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allows government agents to compel businesses to turn over records and documents, and increasingly scooped up records of Americans who had no ties to official terrorism investigations.

"... Increasingly, that meant scooping up information on those who weren’t targets of a terrorism investigation, Mr. Horowitz said. He said that while Section 215 authority allows the government to do that, the FBI needed more checks to make sure it was using the power properly.

"The report was heavily redacted, and key details were deleted. The entire chart showing the number of Section 215 requests made from 2007 through 2009 was blacked out, as was the breakdown of what types of investigations they stemmed from: counterintelligence, counterterrorism, cyber or foreign intelligence investigations.

"Section 215 of the Patriot Act is slated to expire at the end of this month. The House, in an overwhelming bipartisan vote, passed a bill to renew it but also to limit it so the government could no longer do bulk collection such as the NSA phone data program. That legislation is known as the USA Freedom Act."

"Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul commandeered the Senate floor Wednesday to deliver a nearly 11-hour protest against renewal of the Patriot Act, calling the post-Sept. 11 law government intrusion on Americans' privacy.

"Congress faces a June 1 deadline for the law's expiration, and Paul's speech underscored the deep divisions over the National Security Agency's (NSA's) bulk collection of Americans' phone records, which was revealed by former contractor Edward Snowden.

"'There comes a time in the history of nations when fear and complacency allow power to accumulate and liberty and privacy to suffer,' the Kentucky senator said at 1:18 p.m. EDT when he took to the Senate floor. 'That time is now, and I will not let the Patriot Act, the most unpatriotic of acts, go unchallenged.'

"... The House overwhelmingly passed a bill to end the bulk collection and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, has said the Senate will act on the issue before beginning a Memorial Day recess scheduled for week's end."

"Snowden ... proceeded to discuss the cost-benefit analysis that whistleblowers must consider before leaking information.

"'I certainly paid for it,' he said. 'I lived in Hawaii, had a wonderful girlfriend, a home, a happy family, a successful career. To walk away from that it does require a real commitment to something ... I think the driving principle is that you have to have a greater commitment to justice than a fear of the law.'

"Perry and Taylor asked whether Snowden was reluctant to 'break the law.' Discussing his personal motivations for leaking the NSA documents, Snowden said he was motivated more by 'self-interest' than altruism, as he felt that he would improve societal wellbeing by revealing and ultimately dismantling the NSA’s metadata collection programs. He added that he feels there are moral obligations to act when the law no longer reflects the morality of the society it governs."

"The intelligence alliance known as 'Five Eyes' comprising the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Australia—exploited security weaknesses in one of the world’s most popular browsers to obtain data about users and planned to use links to Google and Samsung app stores to infect smartphones with spyware, a top secret National Security Agency (NSA) document published Wednesday has revealed."

"The Syrian air defense shot down an Israeli warplane violating the Arab country's air space, an Iranian news agency reported.

"The Israeli fighter jet was targeted over the city of Al-Quneitra on Friday, Iran’s Fars news agency reported on Saturday.

"Israel regularly violates the Syrian airspace and launches missile attacks against the country.

"On Friday, the Israeli Air Force resumed airstrikes on Western Syria, targeting a government army base at Khan Al-Sheih in Damascus province and another in the al-Quneitra province after a six-hour halt in attacks that followed their multiple air raids over the Golan Heights."

"Israel said the IDF “targeted 14 Syrian military posts in the Syrian Golan Heights” – without further explanation. Israeli media reported artillery batteries, army outposts and communications antennae struck.

"The attack was perhaps the largest one since the 1967 Six Day War. Is it a possible prelude to US/Israeli/Turkish full-scale war on Assad? Things have been heading toward it for many months.

"Israel has multiple objectives – eliminating Syria as a rival regional state, balkanizing the country for easier control, blocking the Iran nuclear deal, blaming nonexistent Tehran-orchestrated rocket fire on northern Israel to influence Congress, and ultimately replace Islamic State sovereignty with pro-Western governance."

"Israel is not responsible for the lives of Iranian nuclear scientists, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said in an interview published Friday, making a less-than-veiled threat that covert assassination missions blamed on Israel could resume.

"'Ultimately it is very clear, one way or another, Iran’s military nuclear program must be stopped,' Ya’alon said, according to a retranslation from an interview published in the German daily. 'We will act in any way and are not willing to tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran. We prefer that this be done by means of sanctions, but in the end, Israel should be able to defend itself,' the defense minister said.

"He added that he was “not responsible for the lives of Iranian scientists,” according to Der Speigel, which will publish the full interview on Saturday.

"Ya’alon further stated that Israel was considering carrying out airstrikes on Iranian military facilities, the German paper reported."

Image by Panorama from interview.

"[86-year-old] Ursula Haverbeck is now facing criminal hate speech charges after debating how many Jews died in the Holocaust on national television. The debate was aired on German public television and broadcast all over Europe. It was the first time anyone has been allowed to question the official holocaust death toll on German television.

"Police stormed and ransacked her home along with the homes of three of her supporters. Prosecutors are preparing the charges. She will face five years in prison if convicted."

Watch the interview video as broadcast in Germany, in German with English subtitles: "Ursula Haverbeck: The Panorama Interview, with English Subtitles".

German Police Storm Home of Ursula Haverbeck / Fig Trees and Vineyards A blog by Richard Edmondson, June 6, 2015

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Image credit unknown for French comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala doing the quenelle gesture

"STYLO France, an International literary and human rights group announced today that it will award its 2015 Free Speech prize to controversial French comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala in recognition of his exercise of free speech in defiance of repressive laws forbidding it.

"'Dieudonné lives in a society where almost unlimited offensive language and artistic expression may be used against some religious and ethnic groups but not others,' said STYLO France spokesperson Paul Larudee at the group’s headquarters in Berkeley, California. 'In spite of the consequences, Dieudonné has criticized and ridiculed persons and subjects that are protected from free speech rights under French law. And he has paid dearly for his defiance of these prohibitions.'

"Dieudonné has been arrested eight times for anti-Semitism – a criminal offense in France – and has been fined a total of €39,500 ($44,240). His crimes have included comparison of Israeli and Nazi military practices, criticism of the Zionist and Jewish lobbies in France, and inviting convicted “holocaust deniers” on his shows. (It is a crime in France to question or produce evidence contrary to the historical accuracy of standard holocaust accounts.)

"Asked whether the STYLO France award is a reaction to the 5 May, 2015 PEN America award to the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo, Mr. Larudee responded, 'Most definitely. Charlie Hebdo never risked breaking French law for the sake of free speech, which is why they avoided criticism of protected groups in France. They paid a high price for insulting Islam but it was totally unexpected, since this is tolerated by the government, so it is hard to say that they showed courage in the face of repression. We think that the STYLO France award to Dieudonné corrects this omission and and also the omission in France of satirical treatment and criticism of protected subjects and classes of persons.'"

"The French telecoms giant Orange has indicated that it intends to terminate its relationship with the Israeli company that licenses its brand in the country – and would end the relationship “tomorrow” if it could.

"The comments – made by the company’s CEO, Stephane Richard – have emerged amid a sharp push back by the Israeli government against growing calls for an international boycott of Israel over its continuing occupation of Palestinian territories.

"... Although Orange only licenses its name to the Israeli company Partner, the threat – if carried through – will be seen as a major success for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement which has been campaigning on the issue in both France and Egypt."

"An Israeli minister has asked the French government to dismiss the 'anti-Semite' chief executive of the French telecommunications company Orange over its plans for severing business ties with Israeli mobile firm Partner.

"'... The French government must show zero tolerance for anti-Semitism,' the Israeli minister said.

"The latest comments are in line with Israel's policy of labeling its critics as 'anti-Semite.'"

"In a development that has largely been missed by mainstream media, the Pentagon early last month quietly declassified a Department of Defense top-secret document detailing Israel's nuclear program, a highly covert topic that Israel has never formally announced to avoid a regional nuclear arms race, and which the US until now has respected by remaining silent.

"But by publishing the declassified document from 1987, the US reportedly breached the silent agreement to keep quiet on Israel's nuclear powers for the first time ever, detailing the nuclear program in great depth."

"... It also comes on the heels of a quiet climb in the number of parents opting out of some or all vaccinations ...

"When United Torah Judaism inked its coalition agreement with Likud on April 29, party members triumphantly hailed the reversal of a slew of legislative measures implemented by arch-nemesis Yair Lapid, including an increase in monthly child allowances — but it came with one caveat.

"Under the terms of the coalition deal, which appointed party member Yaakov Litzman deputy health minister, 'the National Insurance law will be amended, such that child allowances will not be given in cases where a parent refuses to vaccinate their child.'

"... some Israeli rights groups are fuming at the decision, accusing the government of discriminating against its weakest populations amid deepening poverty rates ..."

"The new law would put Jews and civil society groups on trial for anti-Semitism.

"... in Canada ... the totally pro-Israeli Conservative government of Stephen Harper intends to list the boycotting of Israel as a 'hate crime'. This is not only ludicrous, stupid, pointless and racist because it assumes that anyone opposed to Israel’s vicious and iniquitous policies of land-grabbing in the West Bank is an anti-Semite, but it is also anti-democratic. Those who believe in non-violence have always espoused boycott movements on the grounds that economic pressure rather than bombs is a moral way of putting pressure on a country that violates international law.

"... Harper, who would surely be elected to the Knesset if he were an Israeli, went so far as to suggest on a recent visit to Jerusalem that merely to criticise Israel can be a form of anti-Semitism."

"An RT Arabic TV crew was attacked by Israeli police while covering the Jerusalem Day march in the Old City. Although the journalists had all documents permitting them to cover the event, the police prevented them from going live.

"'After a terrible time we had to pass through check points that they erected everywhere along the Old City, they asked us to move away from the Damascus gate point. They didn't do it gently, they pushed us and broke our camera,' RT Arabic reporter Dalia Nammari later told RT International.

"... Dalia Nammari and the cameraman Muhammad Aishu were filming the march of settlers, which they had been accredited to, when the police interfered with their work and took away the camera. The crew continued to report from the scene using a smart phone and going on air live via Skype, when the police attacked them again.

"'They took away my earpiece ... they are demanding from everyone – even journalists, to evacuate the area. Even Palestinians who live in the city can’t be present here because of the settlers’ march,' Nammari said.

"The Israeli settlers took to the streets of Jerusalem to mark the day when Israel occupied the eastern side of Jerusalem in 1967, Nammari reported. Many were carrying posters reading “Jerusalem for Israelis.”

"The controversial Israeli march through Jerusalem and its Muslim quarters is an annual event, marking the anniversary of Israel's capture of East Jerusalem."

Image: Reuters / Baz Ratner

"Israel is offering illegal immigrants $3,500 and a one-way ticket home as it begins to crack down on refugees, who face prison if they don’t take up the deal.

"... A government program has offered those without legal papers the chance to return home with $3,500 in cash, the option of going to a third country, or spend an indefinite time in an Israeli prison.

"... As deterrents it has built a steel fence along the border with Egypt, houses migrants in a detention camp in the middle of a desert, and has stopped issuing work permits to deter would-be migrants

"... On Tuesday, hundreds of Ethiopian Jews rallied peacefully against the discrimination and racism they claim they are experiencing. This followed a national outcry after a video emerged of an Israeli man of Ethiopian descent being beaten by police."

"Israel has struck a deal to deport up to 2,000 illegal Eritrean immigrants to an unnamed African country in return for supplying it with military aid, daily newspaper Yediot Aharonot said on Wednesday.

"... The scores of illegal Eritrean and Sudanese infiltrators, who enter Israel to find employment, have sparked protests in Israeli society and have increased concerns among residents of southern Tel Aviv over the rise in violent attacks caused by the infiltration of foreigners.

"Hundreds of Ethiopian Jews have rallied peacefully against discrimination and racism in the Israeli port city of Haifa, a week after Tel Aviv witnessed violent street clashes that left 65 people injured.

"The main point of contention in weeks-long protests lies in the discretionary treatment of dark skinned Ethiopian Jews, that sparked nationwide outcry against police brutality following the earlier publication of a video showing police beating an Israeli man of Ethiopian descent.

"... One of the organizers of the demonstration told Ynet news, that 'after 30 years, the country should provide answers to the question of how it's possible that members of the community continue to suffer from discrimination and crime in the neighborhoods they live in.'"

"Forgive me, Ms. Warwick, but I have done a little research, and know that you crossed the picket line to play Sun City at the height of the anti-apartheid movement. In those days, Little Steven, Bruce Springsteen and 50 or so other musicians protested against the vicious, racist oppression of the indigenous peoples of South Africa. Those artists allowed their art to cross boundaries, but for the purpose of political action. They released a record that struck a chord across the world. That record, "I Ain't Gonna play Sun City," showed the tremendous support of musicians all over the world for the anti-apartheid effort.

"Those artists helped win that battle, and we, in the nonviolent Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, will win this one against the similarly racist and colonialist policies of the Israeli government of occupation. We will continue to press forward in favor of equal rights for all the peoples of the Holy Land. Just as musicians weren't going to play Sun City, increasingly we're not going to play Tel Aviv. There is no place today in this world for another racist, apartheid regime.

"... Remember, "Operation Protective Edge," the Israeli bombing of Gaza last summer, resulted in the deaths of over 2,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, including more than 500 Palestinian children. It is hard for us over here to imagine what it is like to be exiled, disenfranchised, imprisoned, rendered homeless and then slaughtered, with no place to flee. Hopefully, in the end, love will triumph. But love will not triumph unless we stand up to such injustice and fight it tooth and nail, together.

"... When global pressure finally forces Israel to end its occupation, when the apartheid wall comes down, when justice is served to Palestinian refugees and all people there are free and equal, I will gladly join you in concert in the Holy Land, cross all the boundaries and share our music with all the people."

"In 2005, Palestinian civil society issued a call for a campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law and Palestinian rights. A truly global movement against Israeli Apartheid is rapidly emerging in response to this call."

"United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has strongly condemned Tel Aviv’s latest plans to construct illegal settlement units in Palestinian territories, calling on the Israeli regime to scrap the projects.

"... The UN chief reiterated that Israeli settlements are “illegal under international law” and urged Tel Aviv “to halt and reverse such decisions in the interest of peace and a just final status agreement."

"'The international community will not recognize unilateral actions on the ground and that the status of Jerusalem can only be resolved through negotiations,' Ban added.

"... More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories in 1967."

"A new flotilla with humanitarian aid on board is going to help people in Gaza; the mission is beyond political polarization and in full compliance with international law, Osama Qashoo, member of the first flotilla to Gaza, told RT’s In The Now.

"A flotilla carrying humanitarian aid has set out from Sweden on its way to Gaza which is under and Israeli maritime blockade. The ships are carrying pro-Palestinian activists aiming to break the blockade. Two other vessels are expected to join them later."

"The Vatican has officially recognized the state of Palestine in a new treaty.

"The treaty, which was finalized Wednesday but still has to be signed, makes clear that the Holy See has switched its diplomatic relations from the Palestinian Liberation Organization to the state of Palestine.

"The Vatican had welcomed the decision by the U.N. General Assembly in 2012 to recognize a Palestinian state. But the treaty is the first legal document negotiated between the Holy See and the Palestinian state and constitutes an official recognition."

Web search: Vatican officially recognizes Palestine

"Sweden ... on Thursday officially recognized the state of Palestine, becoming the first major European country to do so.

"The EU member country joined only two other Western European countries -- Malta and Cyprus -- that have officially recognized a Palestinian state.

"Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said the Scandinavian country had decided on the move because the criteria of international law required for such recognition had been fulfilled.

"'There is a territory, a people and government,' she told reporters in Stockholm."

"In January, the state of Israel admitted that it had been administering birth control injections to Ethiopian Jewish immigrant women without their consent or their knowledge. “The government had previously denied the practice but the Israeli Health Ministry’s director-general has now ordered gynecologists to stop administering the drugs,” reported The Independent.

"The women were injected with the contraceptive, Depo Provera, every three months and were misleadingly told that the injections were 'inoculations.' Some women who rejected these injections were forced or coerced into taking the drug anyway. The drug was administered while these women were still in transit camps in Ethiopia.

"... Why were these women being subjected to such treatment? And, where had their right of consent gone, the right to decide what enters their body?

"Well the answer is horrifyingly clear: they and ‘their kind’ were obviously not welcome in Israel, to the point that the Israeli government felt that it was necessary to forcibly control their population growth."

"Israel has admitted for the first time that it has been giving Ethiopian Jewish immigrants birth-control injections, often without their knowledge or consent.

"The government had previously denied the practice but the Israeli Health Ministry’s director-general has now ordered gynaecologists to stop administering the drugs. According a report in Haaretz, suspicions were first raised by an investigative journalist, Gal Gabbay, who interviewed more than 30 women from Ethiopia in an attempt to discover why birth rates in the community had fallen dramatically.

"... Nearly 100,000 Ethiopian Jews have moved to Israel under the Law of Return since the 1980s, but their Jewishness has been questioned by some rabbis. Last year, the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who also holds the health portfolio, warned that illegal immigrants from Africa 'threaten our existence as a Jewish and democratic state.'"

April 14, 2015

America v BLM
One Year Later


Click to watch the video.

"Although no gunshots were fired, what happened at the Bundy Ranch was a shot fired across the bow using the most powerful weapon in the infowar, the camera. It captured the iconic moment of the people taking on an aggressive government tyranny, a snapshot that still reverberates one year later. We look at the lies, the spin and the reality of a federal government openly defying The Posse Comitatus Act as it threatened and brutalized citizens of the community. Although the sheriff did nothing to protect the community, neighbor stood with neighbor in true posse comitatus, the 'power of the community', to expel the federal army from the community."


Photos by AP from the article by Daily Mail.


Photo by Jason Bean/Las Vegas Review-Journal/AP.

• Read the archived Bundy / BLM Standoff news articles.

"The miners from the Galice Mining District have been arguing over who has the rights to the minerals in the ground around Galice Creek. For the past several years, the miners from the Galice Mining District, about 3o minutes west of Grants Pass, Oregon, have been arguing over who has the rights to the minerals in the ground around Galice Creek. The Galice mining district is compiled of a number of claims, owners and miners and has been in continuous operation since the early 1870’s, which makes it one of the longest running operations in the US. This specific operation predates the BLM bureaucracy by many decades in fact.

"... Late last week, BLM officials accompanied by Josephine County Sheriff deputies issues a cease and desist order to the district without any official ruling by the courts. Specifically, the issue is not even scheduled to be heard in court until later in the year. The order has given the mine until April 25th to remove all equipment, buildings and supplies from the location. Local BLM officials have threatened to burn the buildings down if they are not removed by the date.

"The owners of the sugar pine have stated that they will fully disobey the order as they claim that it is illegal and invalid. A call for assistance to the Oath Keeper’s has been made and there is no intention to leave the area by the deadline."

"... The agreement has reduced the chance of a US attack on Iran, which is a great development ... the elimination of sanctions, which are an act of war, will open up opportunities for trade with Iran ...

"... Our unwise policy with Iran is a perfect example of what the interventionists have given us—60 years of needless conflict and fear for no justifiable reason. This obsession with Iran is bewildering. If the people knew the truth, they would strongly favor a different way to interact with Iran.

"Let’s not forget that the Iran crisis started not 31 years ago when the Iran Sanctions Act was signed into law, not 35 years ago when Iranians overthrew the US-installed Shah, but rather 52 years ago when the US CIA overthrew the democratically-elected Iranian leader Mossadegh and put a brutal dictator into power. Our relations with the Iranians are marked by nearly six decades of blowback.

"... It is unfortunate that Iran was forced to give up some of its sovereignty to allow restrictions on a nuclear energy program that was never found to be in violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. But if the net result is the end of sanctions and at least a temporary reprieve from the constant neocon demands for attack, there is much to cheer in the agreement. Peace and prosperity arise from friendly relations and trade – and especially when governments get out of the way."

"USS Theodore Roosevelt and USS Normandy left Persian Gulf on Sunday and are steaming through the Arabian Sea and heading towards Yemen ... They will join seven other US vessels that are prepared to block Iranian ships potentially carrying weapons for Houthi rebels fighting in Yemen ...

"Navy officials said there are about nine U.S. warships in the region, including cruisers and destroyers carrying teams that can board and search other vessels. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ship movement on the record. But speaking to Reuters on Monday, a Pentagon spokesman denied the ships were on a mission to intercept Iranian arms shipments."

"[Speaking at the New Hampshire Republican Party’s 'First in the Nation' leadership summit in Nashua on Friday] former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton [said], 'So, the spotlight is on Israel as twice before in their history they've struck nuclear weapons programs in the hands of hostile states ... Their decision now is enormously speeded up by [Russian President] Vladimir Putin’s decree on Monday to allow the sale of the S-300 anti-aircraft missile defense system' to the Islamic Republic ..."

"US Republican presidential hopefuls have ratcheted up their rhetoric against Tehran and denounced the Obama administration’s efforts to reach an agreement with Iran over its nuclear energy program, with Senator Marco Rubio calling on Washington to bomb Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.

"Rubio, the first-term senator from Florida and a candidate for the 2016 presidential elections, told participants at a Republican Party reception in New Hampshire on Friday that ... 'We may have to decide at some point what is worse: a military strike against Iran or a nuclear-armed Iran ...'"

Note: Rubio's campaign slogan is, "A New American Century."

"Outspoken congressional hawks, including GOP Senators Tom Cotton and Lindsey Graham, made it clear that this was their objective as well.

"Kristol, Cotton, and Graham are not reticent about the alternative they prefer. Unless Tehran is willing to capitulate on the nuclear issue, renouncing any right to uranium enrichment and dismantling all aspects of its nuclear infrastructure, those hawks and their ideological allies favor resorting to military action.

"Indeed, it appears that even such unrealistic demands regarding Iran’s nuclear program are little more than a pretext. When pushed even slightly, the neoconservatives bring up other, unrelated demands. To avoid a U.S. military assault, Tehran would apparently have to end its support for Hezbollah and other clients, greatly improve its domestic human rights record, and recognize Israel. The chances of an Iranian government accepting any of those demands, much less all of them, are midway between slim and none."

"PM calls Putin, tells him sale of advanced missile system will shake regional security; system could nix strike on nuclear facilities.

"The S-300 system is considered to be a game-changer, in that it would allow Iran to shoot down ballistic missiles aiming to strike its covert nuclear program, which a deal being sealed with world powers will leave completely intact.

"The system is also able to shoot down planes, meaning it could destroy jets trying to strike the nuclear facilities."

Image by PressTV of a Russian S-300 missile system

"Virtuoso pianist Valentina Lisitsa has been replaced by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and accused of engaging in public incitement of hatred after she posted political opinions critical of the Ukrainian government's conduct in the country's civil war.

"... The TSO canceled Lisitsa's concerts after the pianist drew attention to the plight of citizens in eastern Ukraine, who have been the victims of bombing raids carried out by the Ukrainian military. Lisitsa originally supported the Maidan uprising but later realized that it had been hijacked by corrupt interests.

"... 'I took to Twitter in order to get the other side of the story heard, the one you never see in the mainstream media-the plight of my people, the good and bad things that were happening in Ukraine,' she writes. 'I translated news stories from Ukrainian language websites, I translated eyewitness accounts of atrocities…. I became really good in unmasking fakes published by Western media in order to make one side of the civil war look whiter and softer than the Easter bunny, and the other-like sub-humans, not worthy of mercy, the 'collateral damage' ... If they do it once, they will do it again and again, until the musicians, artists are intimidated into voluntary censorship. Our future will be bleak if we allow this to happen.'"

• Part One is to Boycott the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. This will be hard on the other musicians, but they have not offered support for the principle of freedom of speech in general or for fellow musician Valentina Lisitsa for exercising her free speech in particular. Artists in particular should understand the importance of the principle of free expression. The members of the orchestra should, as a group, stand up and walk out of their next performance. Those in charge of the TSO who fired Valentina Lisitsa need to feel the repercussions of their disrespect for the freedom of speech (expression) and for the bravery and commitment of Valentina Lisitsa to the betterment of the human condition and her fellow countrymen. She was born in Kiev.
  
  We can live full and enriched lives without the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, but we will all live frustratingly dimenished lives without the freedom to express ourselves. The members and supporters of the TSO should consider this.
  
  
• Part Two is to let the TSO know how you feel directly.
  • By phone: Toronto Symphony main number is 416-593-7769
  • By web comment.
  
  
• Part Three is to support Valentina Lisitsa until she can find employment. We can do this and enjoy her music by buying it.

Another New World Order
in the never ending series of power transitions

"Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too."
-- Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 161AD-180AD


Image by: DownHouse.info

"We live in a transition period. The modern world can be compared to the Soviet Union, circa 1989. It is clear that what used to be, will never be. But it is not yet clear how it will be.

"... What are we leaving behind? We are moving away from the American uni-polar world, which finally took shape after the collapse of the USSR, but in its main features, formed in the 1980's. This model has no chance to survive, even if the US can somehow win in the global confrontation.

"... The U.S. did not take into account that the nominal paper GDP generated using bank speculation, is good for propaganda. It also justifies the existence of such a financial instrument as the US dollar, not guaranteed by anything, working as a global reserve currency. But in crises and global confrontations, real tangible assets gain value: minerals, plants, agricultural products, etc. - all that what in recent decades the U.S. economy had been actively shedding ... It is enough to acknowledge that the US owns assets which have only nominal value, while their opponents, including Russia have real resources. And Washington cannot change this situation overnight.

"... Last chance for the U.S. to avoid defeat is to ignite Europe (if the latter is unwilling to stand up against Russia on the side of Washington) and hope that a continent of half a billion will attract quite a lot of Russian (and Chinese) resources ...

"... the US is forced to destroy the world, which was the base of their military-political and financial-economic domination. But that is like burning down your own house ... countries will not rebel against a world hegemon, able to send gunboats, if at least their ruling class is guaranteed a certain stability and a minimal level of prosperity and independence in making internal decisions ... But when all this disappears and the hegemon itself ignites his world, he becomes a threat for its partners, allies and vassals ...

"... a hypothetical American victory can be achieved only with the full burning down by America of their own world. Otherwise it can not compensate for resource deficiency."

-- Read the full excellent article at the link in above.

"At first sight, things look very different now. When President Xi Jinping of China took pride of place next to Vladimir Putin of Russia on Saturday, they looked like any other modern world leaders: pragmatic men-in-suits, full of smiles, temporary possessors of power rather than dictators-for-life.

"... the Russia-China axis is the main threat to the West's vision of peaceful and prosperous international relations ...

"... China has been railing against a 'unipolar world' for a decade. Mr Putin and his allies all have their reasons for disliking the West's tendency to set a high store on open elections, a free press and 'cooperative' foreign policies."

• Comment by David Sadler
2015.05.10

In the Telegraph article above, author Richard Spencer is calling President Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin dictators-for-life in the first paragraph. Putin already hints that he will not be at the helm of Russia for many more years. He faces elections. How can Spencer write such outlandish and obvious propaganda as this?

"... the Russia-China axis is the main threat to the West's vision of peaceful and prosperous international relations."

"China has been railing against a "unipolar world" for a decade. Mr Putin and his allies all have their reasons for disliking the West's tendency to set a high store on open elections, a free press and "cooperative" foreign policies."

"In early 2014, Justin Yifu Lin, the former World Bank Chief Economist, blamed the dominance of the US dollar for global economic crises and said it should be eliminated as the world's reserve currency. According to Lin, the solution would be to replace the national currency with a global currency.

"In the recent months, several countries, including Russia, China, India and Turkey, have decided to ditch the US dollar in their foreign trade, often paying for products in gold or other agreed on currencies."

"... The United States became an empire in 1945 ... Circumstance, history and geopolitics have created an entity [the United States] that, if it isn't an empire, certainly looks like one ... But two things must be faced: First, the United States cannot give away the power it has ... Second, given the vastness of that power, it will be involved in conflicts whether it wants to or not.

"... A global power cannot afford to be directly involved in the number of conflicts that it will encounter around the world. It would be exhausted rapidly. Using various tools, it must create regional and global balances without usurping internal sovereignty. The trick is to create situations where other countries want to do what is in the U.S. interest.

"This endeavor is difficult. The first step is to use economic incentives to shape other countries' behavior. It isn't the U.S. Department of Commerce but businesses that do this. The second is to provide economic aid to wavering countries. The third is to provide military aid. The fourth is to send advisers. The fifth is to send overwhelming force."

"Canada broke its silence on Tuesday over whether it would take part in the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, signalling it was actively considering joining the institution despite U.S. and Japanese reservations.

"... Britain surprised some allies last month in deciding to join the AIIB, and was quickly followed by Germany, France and Italy. Among the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized countries, only the United States, Japan and Canada remain as absentees.

"... Regarding China, another live issue this year is Beijing’s desire to have its yuan included in the basket of currencies that make up the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights.

"But the official said the IMF Executive Board would only start discussing this in May, with no decisions before the autumn, and he said Canada would take a position once it had the IMF’s assessment."

"This past month may be remembered as the moment the United States lost its role as the underwriter of the global economic system. True, there have been any number of periods of frustration for the U.S. before, and times when American behaviour was hardly multilateralist, such as the 1971 Nixon shock, ending the convertibility of the dollar into gold. But I can think of no event since Bretton Woods comparable to the combination of China’s effort to establish a major new institution and the failure of the US to persuade dozens of its traditional allies, starting with Britain, to stay out of it."

-- former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers

"For several years I did not write a forecast for Russia. First of all, because there was no point - nothing changed, the main trends continued, no changes were noticeable. Today, the situation began to change - and this requires a new forecast."

"It's official: everyone has caught onto the fact that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank story is extremely important. We've covered this exhaustively over the past month, but to summarize, the China-led development bank essentially marks an epochal shift away from traditionally US-dominated multinational institutions like the IMF and the ADB.

"... To be sure, this is a delicate time for the US in terms of its position on the world stage. The petrodollar is dying, Russia is reasserting itself in Eastern Europe, US-Israeli relations are quickly deteriorating, and now, the world is shifting away from ineffectual US-dominated multinational institutions that, in one way or another, have defined the post WW2 world. The US would be wise to adjust its foreign policy to reflect this new reality rather than desperately cling to the notion that world history is and always will be written by Washington."

"... when the United Kingdom said they were going to join it, there was a lot of pressure from the United States for them not to join it and yet they did anyway. There are now 35 initial members and it's ready to launch ... after the UK, we had France, Germany and Italy join. Now it appears that even South Korea is going to join ...

"... When you look at the development of the BRIC nations as well, going with their banking systems, you can see this is more and more of a move away from the United States and the dollar as a reserve currency and the United States as a world power. It's a new millennium shift to the East that's being overlooked by the mainstream media, but the implications of this are enormous."

"... Instead of fighting the new China-led development bank, the US was forced to add its support to the development bank after allies jumped ship to join the $100 billion China-led project that could rival the World Bank.

"... US officials had voiced displeasure when the UK, Germany, France and Italy agreed to work with the Bank, but now, in an apparent concession, the US will work with, and not against, the new global development fund. The White House wants to co-finance projects with Beijing along with existing banks such as the World Bank, the WSJ reported Monday.

"... Similar to the World Bank, the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will offer financing for infrastructure projects, but mostly in the Asia, especially in developing economies."

"NATO's new Secretary General is in Washington this week, but despite repeated requests, has been refused a meeting at the White House. Could this be another indication of rising tension between President Obama and European leaders over the proposed EU army?

"... as Stoltenberg continues a three-day trip to Washington, President Obama has failed to respond to multiple requests to meet with the secretary general.

"The snub could be the latest example of the White House's strained ties with European allies over the proposed EU army, which could effectively weaken the continent's reliance on the United States."

R U S S I A
With all the western propaganda demonizing Russia,
what's really going on with Russia since the dissolution
of the Soviet Union on December 26, 1991?


Click for full sized map at Ezilon.com.

The Kremlin - Russia
Who is Vladimir Putin?
Interactive map: Russia, Eastern Europe, Baltics, Scandinavia

"The S-400 Triumf mobile multiple anti-aircraft missile system (AAMS) ...

"... capable of hitting targets at a height of up to 300 kilometers (186 miles) ... over the horizon targeting ... fire and forget ... ECM hardened ...

"... China signed a contract for the deliveries of the cutting-edge missile defense system but many are likely to follow."

Question: Why would Russia export its cutting-edge anti-aircraft missile system?

"Mikhail Lesin, the former head of media affairs for the Russian government ... had been staying at Hotel Dupont when he was found Thursday, according to officials.

"... Russian officials are now working with American authorities to determine the circumstances of the death, the embassy told ABC News in a statement.

"... Lesin is credited with creating Russia Today, the English-language news network backed by the Russian government. Now known as RT, the network “provides an alternative perspective on major global events, and acquaints an international audience with the Russian viewpoint,” according to its website."

"A noise was heard in the final second of the cockpit voice recording on Metrojet Flight 9268 as it ascended on autopilot before apparently breaking up about 23 minutes after takeoff, the head of Egypt's investigation, Ayman al-Muqaddam, said Saturday.

"The Russian passenger jet crashed in the Sinai Peninsula last weekend, killing all 224 people aboard.

"... Debris from the plane was scattered over an area more than 13 kilometers long, suggesting an in-flight break-up, according to Muqaddam.

"... Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended Russian air traffic with Egypt on Friday until the cause of the crash is determined, the Kremlin said."

"Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has hit out at American and European Ukraine policy, saying it ignores Russia’s relationship with its neighbor, and has called for cooperation between the White House and the Kremlin on the issue.

"“Breaking Russia has become an objective [for US officials] the long-range purpose should be to integrate it,”

"The diplomat, who is most famous for serving in the Nixon administration, and controversially being awarded the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize, for negotiating the Vietnam ceasefire, accused the West of failing to recognize the historical context in which the fallout occurred between Moscow and Kiev.

"“The relationship between Ukraine and Russia will always have a special character in the Russian mind. It can never be limited to a relationship of two traditional sovereign states, not from the Russian point of view, maybe not even from Ukraine’s. So, what happens in Ukraine cannot be put into a simple formula of applying principles that worked in Western Europe.”

"Kissinger lays the blame for sparking the conflict at the door of the EU, which proposed a trade deal in 2013, without considering how it would alienate Moscow, and divide the Ukrainian people.

"“The first mistake was the inadvertent conduct of the European Union. They did not understand the implications of some of their own conditions. Ukrainian domestic politics made it look impossible for [former Ukrainian president Viktor] Yanukovych to accept the EU terms and be reelected or for Russia to view them as purely economic,” said Kissinger.

"... “While Ukraine slid into the Maidan uprising right in the middle of what Putin had spent ten years building as a recognition of Russia’s status. No doubt in Moscow this looked as if the West was exploiting what had been conceived as a Russian festival to move Ukraine out of the Russian orbit.”"

"As long as we’re talking about a war close to Russia’s borders - conversely defense-minded Russia military is no threat to the US or western Europe."

"The US State Department’s decision to hand its Human Rights Defenders Award to Azimzhan Askarov, who is sentenced to life imprisonment in Kyrgyzstan for inciting inter-ethnic discord, organizing mass riots and complicity in killing a police officer during mass protests, is an attempt to create "controlled chaos" in the country, President Almazbek Atambayev told journalists on Monday.

"US State Department’s actions "look like they are aimed at inciting inter-ethnic discord," Atambayev said. "I would not want such situation [protests] to happen again, and I am displeased with attempts to create controlled chaos here," the president noted.

"Atambayev also said he supports the Kyrgyz government’s decision to denounce 1993 cooperation agreement with Washington that allowed the US to export products for fulfilling Washington’s programs to Kyrgyzstan customs-free. "I, as a president, have only one vector in foreign policy — everything should be done in the interests of our country. I support our government in this matter," he stressed."

"The US MacArthur Foundation is closing its branch office in Moscow. According to a statement posted on its website on Tuesday, the move stems from the foundation’s inclusion on the patriotic "stop-list" of the Russian Federation Council.

"'... The recent passage and implementation of several laws in Russia make it all but impossible for international foundations to operate effectively and support worthy civil society organizations in that country. These laws, public statements by Russian legislators, and the vote by the Federation Council to include MacArthur on a ‘patriotic stop-list’ of organizations recommended for designation as ‘undesirable’ make it clear that the Russian government regards MacArthur’s continued presence as unwelcome,' it says.

"The Federation Council earlier proposed the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Prosecutor-General’s Office and the Ministry of Justice "to consider a patriotic ‘stop-list’ including a number of foreign or international NGOs notorious for their anti-Russian slant" with a view to extending to them the existing provisions of the law on undesirable organizations. According to members of the upper house of the Russian parliament, among such organizations are the Soros Foundation, the National Endowment for Democracy, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and the MacArthur Foundation. Head of the Federation Council Defence and Security Committee Viktor Ozerov noted that this "stop-list" was not directed against the international and foreign organizations that came to Russia 'with clear conscience'."

"Russian Parliament member Yevgeny Fedorov claims that Russian oligarchs are in negotiations with top American corporations and the White House to foment an astroturf revolution that will lead to the ouster of President Vladimir Putin and the collapse of the Russian Federation within two years.

"'... They are conducting a negotiation process with the Russian elites for the extradition of Putin,' said Fedorov, noting that the same process was undertaken before the coup in Kiev which ousted Viktor Yanukovyc. He identified John F. Tefft, the United States Ambassador to Russia, as being the figurehead behind this conspiracy.

"'... We see a conspiracy forming in Russia against Putin on the basis of the sanctions and the corporations which are dependent on the Americans – we don’t have any others,' added Fedorov, noting that the flash point is likely to come in August, after which there will be a push for “early elections” to oust Putin.

"Russian state officials with close ties to businesses will be the “weak link” the Americans use to foment the conspiracy, claims Fedorov, adding that such individuals will become emboldened to defy Putin to a much greater degree. American companies and the IMF already hold significant power over Russia’s laws and economy, argues Fedorov, meaning that a coup is far easier to achieve given the country’s lack of sovereignty.

"'After August, through the winter, I think, by the drop of living standards, they will be able to bring out several hundred thousand people onto the streets ... .simply because, with the help of the government, they will severely crash people’s living standards, this will be especially felt after winter,' said Fedorov, adding that Spring 2016 could be the time period in which the coup is initiated."

"The Russian Federation Council (parliament’s upper house) has expanded the list of foreign non-commercial organizations (NCOs) whose activities are undesirable in Russia. They include the Soros Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, Freedom House, the World Congress of Ukrainians and another eight organizations, a draft document received by TASS said.

"The Russian "stop list" of foreign NCOs also mentions the National Endowment for Democracy foundation, the International Republican Institute, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Education for Democracy foundation, the East European Democratic Center, the Ukrainian World Coordinating Council and the Crimean field mission on human rights."

"Russia’s Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu said at the Army 2015 forum the military will conduct research to prevent the recurrence of of a “color revolution” in Russia, or events similar to what occured between 1991 and 1993

"... The Defence Minister reminded the audience that color revolutions have caused conflict and misery in most nations where they have occurred, such as in Serbia and Ukraine, and more recently with the Arab Spring."

"Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered officials to draw up plans to prevent a “color” revolution from taking place in the country.

"Revolutions in other countries offered Russia a lesson, Putin told a meeting of the state Security Council in Moscow today. The authorities needed a long-term plan to fight extremism and prevent upheavals caused by outside interference.

"'In the modern world, extremism is used as an instrument of geopolitics and altering spheres of influence,' Putin said. 'We see the tragic consequences of the wave of so-called color revolutions, the shocks people have experienced and are experiencing.'

"... Ukraine had its so-called “Orange Revolution” in 2004, which brought the pro-western Viktor Yushchenko to the presidency after the pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych won a disputed election. Georgia’s former President Mikheil Saakashvili came to power after leading its “Rose Revolution” in 2003. The authorities must do everything to ensure a color revolution “never happens in Russia,” Putin told the security council."

"Countering the threat of Russia’s intercontinental ballistic missiles is too hard and too costly for the United States, Vice Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral James Winnefeld stated on Tuesday.

"... 'We will use the cost imposition piece to deter Russia by keeping all three legs of our nuclear deterrent strong and our nuclear command and control system robust.'

"By the end of 2015, the United States will install the Aegis Ashore Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system in Romania, completing Phase 2 of the European Phased Adaptive Approach, Winnefeld said."

"On April 26 [2015] Russia’s main national TV station, Rossiya 1, featured President Vladimir Putin in a documentary to the Russian people on the events of the recent period including the annexation of Crimea, the US coup d’etat in Ukraine, and the general state of relations with the United States and the EU. His words were frank. And in the middle of his remarks the Russian former KGB chief dropped a political bombshell that was known by Russian intelligence two decades ago."

"Kerry, Nuland and a large State Department delegation have traveled to Sochi were they met with Foreign Minister Lavrov and then with President Putin. With the latter they spent over 4 hours. Not only that, but Kerry made a few rather interesting remarks, saying that the Minsk-2 Agreement (M2A) was the only way forward and that he would strongly caution Poroshenko against the idea of renewing military operations."

Photo credits unknown

"... Russia's vast celebrations Saturday to mark the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany had nearly everything: 16,000 marching soldiers, medal-bedecked veterans and families carrying photographs of those who died long ago. But conspicuously absent from the memorial of the Soviet Union’s joint victory with the West were the leaders of those wartime allied nations." -- Washington Post

"... Nearly every family in the Soviet Union lost someone in their effort to defeat Hitler’s Germany. Many families, including Putin’s, lost most of an entire generation. An estimated 27 million Soviet citizens perished, an unparalleled toll." -- Washington Post

"... We lost 27 million people so that we could live in peace ..." -- Col. Andrei Pavlenko, 87, Washington Post

"... On the streets of Moscow, the term 'fascist' now refers not just to a cruel regime defeated 70 years ago but also to Ukraine's current leadership and to Kremlin critics more generally." -- Washington Post

"... We are grateful to the people of the United Kingdom and France, and the United States of America for their contribution to this victory ... But during the last decade, the basic fundamental principles of international cooperation were increasingly ignored ... We saw attempts to set up a unipolar world order. We see the use of force. This kind of mentality undermines global stability." -- Russian President Vladimir Putin during Victory Day speech, Washington Post

"... As if to bolster the greatly diminished ranks of surviving veterans, thousands of people marched down a central Moscow boulevard after the parade Saturday carrying photos of departed veterans in their families." -- Washington Post




Photo credits unknown
Putin holds the picture of his father during the Immortal's March.

"... The orange-and-black-striped St. George's Ribbons that are a symbol here of the World War II victory are also an emblem of the rebels in eastern Ukraine and an expansionist Russian nationalism ... Within the Soviet Eastern bloc, Victory Day has long been a fraught occasion, where some people resent that the celebrations paper over a moment that for some people exchanged Nazi brutality for nearly a half-century of ­Communist repression." -- Washington Post

Related Articles:

• Russian music scene not immune from the wave of Russian patriotism sweeping the country

"The 'Russian spring' fueled by Western support for aggression against the Russian population and culture in Ukraine, and attempts to create the ring of hostility around Russia and to destabilize the country from within, is increasingly finding it's expression in the contemporary Russian culture and music, in particular.

"The latest music video from the Russian singer Oleg Gazmanov "Go, Russia!" is one such example.

"The Russian people who wanted nothing more then to be equal partners of the world community, are finding new strength, motivation and riding a wave of patriotism not seen since WWII, after facing the latest Western hostility."

• Russian Music Video: Oleg Gazmanov performs 'Forward, Russia!' / Fort Russ, May 13, 2015

• Complete Video of Victory Day Parade! Plus selected photos [video+photos]
#Victory70: Largest May 9 parade in Russian and Soviet history since WW2 (FULL VIDEO)
Note the wearing of the St. George's Ribbons, even by the visiting nations in the parade.

• Stolen childhood: Russian children in WWII (photos)

• May 9th: All Those for Whom it is a Victory Day have gathered in Moscow. The Aggrieved Parties Stayed Home.

• Putin Holds his Father's Picture: The Immortal's March (photos + video)

• President Vladimir Putin held Russia's largest ever Victory Day military parade in Red Square in Moscow today

• Remembering the Soviet Union's sacrifices and triumphs in World War II

• Don’t forget how the Soviet Union saved the world from Hitler

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• Why Russia’s President Is ‘Putin the Great’ in China
"Putin is a bold and decisive leader of a great power, who’s good at achieving victory in a dangerous situation ... These features are worthy of our praise and learning. Russia has been a great world power for hundreds of years and a superpower in the bi-polar order: It’s much more skilled than us at playing great power games."
-- Chinese Maj. Gen. Wang Haiyun, a former military attaché to Moscow, in an interview with the Chinese website of the Global Times newspaper.

"... Much depended on the EU until the summer of last year, when the war could have been prevented or stopped at the outset. A tough, principled antiwar stance by the EU was needed. It could have blocked U.S. initiatives to start the war and would have turned the EU into a significant independent geopolitical player. The EU passed on that opportunity and instead behaved like a faithful vassal of the United States. As a result, Europe stands on the brink of frightful internal upheaval.

"... In fact, today the EU can choose whether to remain a tool of the United States or to move closer to Russia. Depending on its choice, Europe can get off with a slight scare, such as a breakup of parts of its periphery and possible fragmentation of some countries, or it could collapse completely. Judging by the European elites' reluctance to break openly with the United States, collapse is almost inevitable.

"What should interest us is the opinions of the two main players that determine the configuration of the geopolitical front and in fact are fighting for victory in the new generation of war - the network-centric Third World War. These players are the United States and Russia ... the war will last until one side wins.

"... With every passing year, the United States became weaker while Russia became stronger. This process was natural and impossible to arrest, and we could have projected with a high degree of certainty that by 2020 to 2025, without any confrontation, the period of U.S. hegemony would have ended, and the United States would then be best advised to think about not how to rule the world, but how to stave off its own precipitous internal decline ... An economic collapse and a social explosion are likely to occur before Washington (even with the support of Moscow and Beijing) has time to introduce the necessary reforms, especially when we consider that the EU will have to undergo reform at the same time. Moreover, the political elite who have emerged in the United States in the past 25 years have become accustomed to their status as the owners of the world. They sincerely don't understand how anyone can challenge them.

"... now the United States is employing the second option. It's as old as the hills. That which cannot be held, and will be taken by the enemy, must be damaged as much as possible so that the enemy's victory is more costly than defeat, as all its resources are used to reconstruct the destroyed territory. The United States has therefore ceased to assist the Ukraine with anything more than political rhetoric while encouraging Kiev to spread civil war throughout the country.

"... If the Ukraine catches fire, it will burn quickly, and if the EU has become an unreliable partner that is ready if not to move into Russia's camp then at least to take a neutral position, Washington, faithful to its strategy, would be obliged to set fire to Europe.

"... Thus, regardless of Putin's wishes and Russia's interests, given the overall balance of power, as well as the protagonists' priorities and capabilities, a war that should have ended last year within the borders of the Ukraine will almost certainly spill over into Europe."

"Translator's note: News of this warning from the generals of the former DDR has been all over the European press ... The leadership of the former East German Forces warns of war and calls for cooperation rather than confrontation with Russia.

"As military personnel who held responsible positions in the DDR armed forces, we have turned to the German public in great concern over the maintenance of peace and the survival of civilization in Europe.

"... It is worth remembering that the Soviet Army bore the brunt of the demolition of fascism in the Second World War. Alone 27 million Soviet citizens gave their lives for this historic victory. We owe them, and the allies, our gratitude here on this 70th anniversary of the liberation.

"Now we note that war has again become mankind’s constant companion. The new world order run by the US and her allies has in recent times led to wars in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and Sudan, in Libya and Somalia. About two million people are victims of these wars, and millions have become refugees.

"... It is plain to see that the US strategy is to eliminate Russia as a competitor and to weaken the EU. In recent years NATO has crept ever closer to Russia’s borders. With the attempt to put Ukraine into NATO, the cordon sanitaire would be locked in from the Baltic States to the Black Sea, in order to isolate Russia from the rest of Europe. By the American planning, any German-Russian alliance would be difficult or impossible.

"... Putting the spurs to the militarization of eastern Europe is not playing with fire, it is playing with war!

"... Don’t we understand what a military conflict in the densely populated continent of Europe would mean? Should it come to this? No, a thousand times, NO! Therefore we turn to the German public: Any such scenario must get stopped. We don’t need any rhetoric of war, we need instead polemics of peace. We don’t need any missions abroad for the Bundeswehr, and we don’t need any EU Army. We don’t need more funding for military goals; we need funding for social needs and humanitarian needs. We don’t need any war fever against Russia; we need more mutual understanding, coexistence and neighborliness. We don’t need any military dependence on the US; we need our own answerability for peace. Instead of a “NATO Rapid Reaction Force” on the eastern borders, we need more tourism, youth exchanges, and steps toward peace with our neighbors to the east. We need a peaceful Germany in a peaceful Europe. May our children, our grandchildren, our great grandchildren, remember us this way.

"Because we know all too well what war means, we raise our voice against the war; we raise our voice for peace.

"Signed:

Armeegeneral a.D. Heinz Keßler

Admiral a.D. Theodor Hoffmann

Die Generaloberste a.D. Horst Stechbarth; Fritz Streletz; Fritz Peter

Die Generalleutnante a.D. Klaus Baarß; Ulrich Bethmann; Max Butzlaff; Manfred Gehmert; Manfred Grätz; Wolfgang Kaiser; Gerhard Kunze; Gerhard Link; Wolfgang Neidhardt; Walter Paduch; Werner Rothe; Artur Seefeldt; Horst Skerra; Wolfgang Steger; Horst Sylla; Ehrenfried Ullmann; Alfred Vogel; Manfred Volland; Horst Zander"

"Russian President Vladimir Putin is the winner of this year’s TIME 100 reader’s poll.

"... The TIME 100 is an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, spanning politics, entertainment, business, technology, science, religion and other fields. Chosen by the editors of TIME, this year’s list will be unveiled April 16. Voting for the reader’s poll closed April 10.

"... More than half of the votes — 57.38% — were cast within the United States. Canada and the United Kingdom followed with 5.54% and 4.55% respectively."

"Probably the most prominent proponents of this group that didn’t think nuclear war necessarily means mutual suicide, at that time, were Henry Kissinger and Herman Kahn. In their books‚ Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy (Kissinger) and On Thermonuclear War (Kahn), they advocated a more ‘active’ nuclear strategy in order to more effectively defend the national interests of the United States. They argued that a new military strategy and doctrine should be based on assertions that:

Nuclear war is possible.

A nuclear war can and should be won, although a new definition of the level of ‘acceptable losses’ is needed. For Kahn even 40 million dead Americans would have been ‘acceptable losses’. (At that time the U.S. had a population of 200 million.)

A nuclear first strike capability would enable a disarming surprise attack, thus limiting the retaliation possibilities of the adversary.

Limited nuclear war should be part of military strategy (this last point wasn’t really new, since, during the Taiwan Strait crisis, Eisenhower threatened to use nuclear weapons as ‘bullets’ to destroy Chinese army bases).

"... Kahn and his book inspired Stanley Kubrick to produce Dr. Strangelove.

"... although Russia is not preparing for nuclear war, much less a nuclear first strike capability - a nuclear war is not ‘winnable’ for the U.S., and that the ‘Imbalance of Terror’ period is over, if it ever existed."

"Andrei Soldatov's beat is Russian spies ... As editor of agentura.ru ...

"QUESTION: Where was Putin during his 11-day 'disappearance'?

"ANSWER: I think some sort of power struggle exists. It’s already evident. Just today [April 8], there was a new chief of counterintelligence appointed inside the FSB. The whole thing is very interesting because Oleg Syromolotov was a longstanding chief of the counterintelligence department. He was appointed in 2000 and was a very powerful figure, very well-connected. He was in charge of security at Sochi, which was a big success. And all of a sudden he is moved to the Foreign Ministry with very unclear ideas of what he might do there ...

"So today we got his replacement, Vladislav Menshchikov, from the Main Directorate of Special Programs. It is another security service, in charge of underground bunkers to keep the Russian leadership safe in case of a nuclear attack. During the Soviet period it was known as the 15th Department of the KGB."

"More than 30 UK Royal Air Force planes took to the skies for Rising Panther, Britain’s largest aerial exercises in more than a decade. Military sources confirmed the drills were in response to increased Russian presence around UK shores."

"114TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. RES. _______

"RESOLUTION Calling on the President to provide Ukraine with military assistance to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

"... Whereas the Russian Federation under President Vladimir Putin has engaged in relentless political, economic, and military aggression to subvert the independence and violate the territorial integrity of Ukraine;

"... Whereas the United States and its allies need a long-term strategy to expose and challenge Vladimir Putin’s corruption and repression at home and his aggression abroad: Now, therefore, be it
1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives strongly 2 urges the President to fully and immediately exercise the 3 authorities provided by Congress to provide Ukraine with 4 lethal defensive weapon systems to enhance the ability of 5 the people of Ukraine to defend their sovereign territory 6 from the unprovoked and continuing aggression of the 7 Russian Federation."

Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL 12) votes Yea.
This vote violates The Minsk II Agreement and directly threatens to overthrow the democratically elected government of Russia.

Bost: The Southern Illinois Report for April 5, 2015

"The United States House of Representatives passed a resolution on Monday to send military aid to Ukraine. In the resolution, US lawmakers stated that while providing lethal aid to Ukraine would help the country defend itself, it would also serve as part of a long-term strategy to “expose and challenge” Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"The bill, which was titled, “Calling on the President to provide Ukraine with military assistance to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” passed 348-48. The resolution stated that the Russian Federation under Putin has “engaged in relentless political, economic, and military aggression to subvert the independence and violate the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” which includes the “illegal and forcible occupation of Crimea by Russian military and security forces.”"

"Aside from the usual Congressional lust for war, so as to secure their billions in military industrial complex campaign donations (slush funds), the key part of the House's bill, calling for lethal aid to Ukraine, has nothing to do with Ukraine at all. The resolution gets to the root of what America's elite really want ... the dismantling, and subsequent resource plundering of the Russian Federation.

"As taken from the US House Resolution: Whereas the United States and its allies need a long-term strategy to expose and challenge Vladimir Putin’s corruption and repression at home and his aggression abroad;

"Let that sink in for a second. The United States Congress has put, in writing, their goal to formulate a "long term strategy" to challenge the democratically elected President of Russia, Vladimir Putin."

"The US House Resolution to send lethal arms to Ukraine also calls for a long-term strategy for the overthrow of Vladimir Putin ...

"H. Res. 162, the bill demands that President Obama send lethal military equipment to the US-backed government in Kiev and makes it clear that the weapons are to be used to take military action to return Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine to Kiev's rule. Congress wants a war in Ukraine and will not settle for a ceasefire! The real world effect of this Resolution must be made clear: The US Congress is giving Kiev the green light to begin a war with Russia, with the implicit guarantee of US backing.

"Not a single Member of Congress took the Floor to oppose this dangerous Resolution.

""

"Russia has called on the United States, as a NATO member, to withdraw its nuclear weapons from Europe, saying their deployment in the continent violates the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"'We have repeatedly drawn NATO's attention to the fact that such practices directly run counter to the spirit and the letter of NPT,' said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Alexander Lukashevich, on Tuesday.

"... 'We have repeatedly drawn NATO's attention to the fact that such practices directly run counter to the spirit and the letter of NPT,' said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Alexander Lukashevich, on Tuesday."

"There is a great risk the United States may use the "colour revolution" know-how against Russia, the Security Council has said in its analysis of the new US security strategy.

"'Advanced colour revolution technologies will be employed ever more widely for the purpose of ousting political regimes disliked by the United States, and the probability of their use against Russia is rather high,' the Russian Security Council said in the analysis published on its website."

"An alarming development is that Stephen F. Cohen, the internationally prominent scholar of Russia, is acknowledging that (1:35 on the video) 'for the first time in my long life (I began in this field in the 1960s), I think the possibility of war with Russia is real,' and he clearly and unequivocally places all of the blame for it on the U.S. leadership. He calls this 'possibly a fateful turning-point in history.' He also says 'it could be the beginning of the end of the so-called trans-Atlantic alliance ... Europe is splitting on this ... '"

"... We thought, some of us [Americans] when we got together and talked in 2014, that you would come to our rescue — 'you' I mean Europe — ... we thought that Europe being part of the same history as Russia, closer to Russia, economically embedded in Russia to an extent that the United States isn't, would put an end to this crisis. But instead most countries in the EU went along with Washington's policies."

"Now the countries with nuclear weapons include the U.S., Russia, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel. In Germany, Italy, Turkey, Belgium, Netherlands, Canada there are American nuclear weapons. According to some data nuclear weapons are present in Japan and South Korea. South Africa had nuclear weapons, but after independence voluntarily gave them up. Iran and Myanmar are suspected of developing nuclear weapons. At one time, the countries suspected of building its nuclear weapons or nuclear programs were Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Spain in late Franco period, Libya, Mexico, Romania under Ceausescu, Saudi Arabia, Syria in the late Asad period, Taiwan, Switzerland, Sweden, Yugoslavia in the period of Tito, South Korea. There is information about the interest of Turkey in the creation of nuclear weapons.

"... the only guarantor of sovereignty and survival of small countries is the possession of nuclear weapons. High-tech precision weapons and space technologies are too expensive for the poor countries. This leads to the spread of nuclear weapons. One day a critical threshold in the number of nuclear countries will be exceeded. The system becoming too complex will cease to be stable.

"... The spread of nuclear weapons is fueled by instability in the world. Attempts [by] 'civilized countries' to subdue the weaker states, to start revolutions to replace undesirable regimes, leads to other states seeking to acquire nuclear weapons ... The system of equilibrium, which was established in 1940's-50's is rapidly falling apart ... superpowers possessing mobile launching pads (on the railway tracks, submarines, air-launched cruise missiles, nuclear artillery) complicate monitoring several times. All this greatly increases the load on the detection devices and the personnel working with this technology. A moment may arrive when the system will produce a fatal error only due to over-complicating the problem. World nuclear war."

Maps below of targets designated for nuclear strike from US Government sources per the article.

"The Russian Ambassador to Denmark has warned that Copenhagen will face grave consequences if it joins the NATO missile defense shield.

"'I do not think that the Danes are fully aware of the consequences if Denmark joins the US-led missile defense shield. If that happens, Danish warships become targets for Russian nuclear missiles,' [Russian Ambassador to Denmark Mikhail Vanin] said.

"He added that Denmark would become 'part of the threat to Russia and [its] relations with Russia will be damaged.'"

"'Russia is progressing toward its goal of deploying long-range, conventionally-armed cruise missiles with ever increasing stand-off launch distances on its heavy bombers, submarines, and surface combatants, augmenting the Kremlin's toolkit of flexible deterrent options short of the nuclear threshold,' Adm. William Gortney, Northcom chief who heads the U.S.-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said ...

"The Russians describe the KH-101 as a 5,000-kilometer [3,106-mile] range conventional cruise missile ... The KH-102 is the nuclear version ... China also has a new long-range cruise missile called the DH-10, and Iran's land-attack cruise missile is the 1,242-mile-range Meshkat.

"'There is a very large asymmetry in cruise missile capability developing between the U.S. and Russia,' [former Pentagon nuclear strategist Mark Schneider] said. 'We have eliminated our only nuclear submarine-launched cruise missile, are ending production of our Tomahawk conventional ship launched cruise missile and the range of our air-launched conventional cruise missile is less than 1,000 kilometers,” he said. “Our follow-on nuclear air-launched cruise missile is not until late 2020s. All of this reflects the fact that the Russians are preparing to fight us while we are preparing to fight terrorists.'"

"Russian military exercises, the latest in a series across the country, have taken on a threatening posture. While the most recent installment is not the largest exercise Russia has conducted, the areas involved and the forces included seem to have been deliberately chosen to send a warning to NATO; the exercise itself seems to simulate a full-scale confrontation with NATO through the forward deployment of nuclear armed submarines, theater ballistic missiles and strategic bomber aircraft. Strategic weapon systems, including assets that are part of Russia's nuclear capabilities, have also been deployed to locations near NATO's borders."

Map source NaturalEarthData and STRATFOR

"United Launch Alliance President Tory Bruno said that the Delta IV space launch vehicle would be replaced by the Atlas V that uses the Russian made RD-180 rocket to launch US national security payloads into space ...

"The 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) prohibits the US Department of Defense from awarding or renewing contracts for launch vehicles that use Russian-made rockets. Under the NDAA, the current ULA contract to use the Russian RD-180 rocket runs until 2019 and will not be affected."

"... the Friday edition of the "Münchner Merkur" which cites a letter from German Minister of Defence Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) to the Vice-President of the Bundestag Johannes Singhammer (CSU).

"'US President Barack Obama has ordered the deployment of 800 tracked and wheeled vehicles. Some of which are to be stationed in the Bavarian town of Grafenwoehr close to the former inner German border.'

"The US has decided to move vehicles and large equipment to Europe, in around the quantity needed to equip a brigade," writes Ms. von der Leyen. With this decision the US is supporting, "a clear commitment to transatlantic relations and to the assumption of responsibility for the security of Europe even given the national security challenges."

"It so happens that the fate of the world is now being decided in Ukraine, not so much by the Ukrainians themselves as by the US, EU and Russia, whose geopolitical interests have clashed in this region ... The bloody chaos in Ukraine was devised not to help its people, but to weaken Russia geopolitically and topple the current leadership while mouthing noble slogans of promoting freedom, democracy and other fine Western values ...

"After the collapse of communism and the Soviet Union's disintegration, the Russian elite and a vast majority of the public were only too eager to join the Western world ... It is true that there is no signed document to confirm Bush's promise to Gorbachev that NATO would not expand eastward. However, there are lots of reliable and trustworthy witnesses who offer convincing evidence to the effect that Washington broke at least its oral pledge to Moscow.

"Nevertheless NATO expansion proceeded apace, even though Russia was devastated by the 1990s economic crisis. Its unexpected recovery in the 2000s caught its opponents unawares, and George W. Bush continued carrying on with NATO enlargement and staging "color revolutions" in former Soviet republics."

Image captured from CNN Video
Russian president Vladimir Putin, March 16, 2015 meeting with President Almazbek Atambayev of Kyrgyzstan

"... all eyes were turned to St. Petersburg on Monday for Putin's scheduled meeting with Atambayev of Kyrgyzstan.

"Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said the President had ordered Russia's Northern Fleet to be placed on full combat alert from Monday morning for snap checks, Russia's state-run Tass news agency reported ...

"Also on alert are Russia's Western Military District and certain airborne units, with some 38,000 military personnel involved in total."

Morris interviews Joaquin of Fort Russ on Putin's "disappearance."

"'It would be boring without gossip,' Putin said, smiling easily before television cameras and looking relaxed, if pale ...

"His spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, mocked the press for its interest, referring sarcastically to the various rumors: 'So you've seen the broken, paralyzed president, who has been captured by generals? He's only just flown in from Switzerland, where he attended a birth as you know.'"

"Russia was ready to bring its nuclear weapons into a state of alert during last year's tensions over the Crimean Peninsula and the overthrow of Ukraine's president, President Vladimir Putin said in remarks aired on Sunday ...

"Putin's comments, in a documentary ('[Crimea. A Way Home]') being shown on state TV (Russia 1 TV), highlight the extent to which alarm spread in Russia in the weeks following Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's ouster in February 2014 after months of street protests that turned increasingly violent ...

"Putin says of the nuclear preparedness, 'We were ready to do this ... (Crimea) is our historical territory. Russian people live there. They were in danger. We cannot abandon them.'

"... Russia initially denied that the unmarked forces who took control in Crimea were Russian, but Putin later admitted they were. In the Sunday documentary, he said he ordered the defense ministry to deploy military intelligence special forces, marines and paratroopers 'under the cover of strengthening the protection of our military facilities.'

"Putin, however, claimed in the documentary that troops weren't sent from Russia into Crimea even though the upper house of parliament had authorized such a move and said the number of forces there never exceeded the 20,000 authorized under the agreement on basing the Black Sea Fleet there ...

"Putin also said Russian forces helped Yanukovych escape to Russia ... He said Russian security forces had tried to keep contact with Yanukovych as he moved through Ukraine and eventually "we brought him to Russian territory."

"Moscow. Russian Russia 1 television is to air tonight the Crimea. [Crimea. A Way Home] documentary film, which describes the events around Crimea's annexation to Russia. The documentary will start at 10 p.m. (Russian time) on Sunday. It will be available online on the following link: live.russia.tv.

"The documentary film includes interviews with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other direct witnesses of the events. It tells about how 193 units of the Ukrainian forces were neutralised without bloodsheds, how the Ukrainian ships were blocked at the bays and why the shooting in Feodosia was avoided.

"The audience will learn how much time the operation carried out on February 27, [2014] when all key institutions in Crimea were captured, took. The documentary will also reveal the talks held between Putin and US President Barach Obama and how Russian Bastion missiles entered into Crimea and how they changed the pace of the events.

"'Crimea. A Way Home' is an important public diplomacy message from Russia on the Ukraine crisis

"To mark the first anniversary of the referendum in Crimea that paved the way to reunification with Russia (or annexation by Russia, depending on your point of view) on 15 March, Russia's state Channel One released a remarkable documentary film entitled “Crimea. A Way Home.” A version of this film on Youtube with English subtitles can be found here."

"They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power."

-- Patrick Henry

"George Friedman [Stratfor founder & director] published an article titled "American strategy after Ukraine: from Estonia to Azerbaijan". There, among other points, particular focus was on the military strategy of the United States against Russia after the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis. In particular, Friedman rightly argued that at this point in time, NATO is not able to wage war against the Russian Federation due to the long stretch of its Western front line and the length of communications for the supply of food, fuel and ammunition for the battle units.

"The solution for this problem Friedman proposed by moving military bases directly to the Russian border at several points, as the only possible condition for full deployment of a punitive campaign against Russia, which is rapidly getting out of control of the United States.

"And, by the end of the year, this process took place in reality.

"So, in mid-December of last year for several days the skies were closed over Zaporozhye, Kharkov and Dnepropetrovsk, and witnesses reported that a large number of transport aircraft, the type of "Hercules" and others landed in Ukrainian airports, bringing the equipment, vehicles and troops, consisting mainly of soldiers of private military companies. The numbers mentioned were about the size of a division from 10 to 15 thousand people, mostly mercenaries from PMC "Academi" (until 2009 it was called Blackwater, owned by Eric Prince, executing orders from the Pentagon)."

"BRICS Development Bank is slated to become one of the largest multilateral financial development institutions in the world ...

"Following the Duma, or Russian Parliament, President Vladimir Putin has signed the ratification of a law that sanctions Russian participation in the $100 billion BRICS Bank ...

"... The BRICS Bank launched last year will fund infrastructure projects in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and challenge the dominance of the Western-led World Bank and the IMF."

"Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has pledged to give the "required response" to NATO's increasing military buildup near Russia's borders.

"Amid concerns over the implementation of the fragile Minsk truce concerning Ukraine, the U.S. sent heavy equipment Monday to Latvia, which will be followed by U.S. soldiers who will be deployed in the Baltics next week, according to the Pentagon.

"The expanding military presence near the Russian border is not contributing to the restoration of trust with NATO," said Lavrov in a joint press conference with his Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo on Tuesday."

"Something remarkable is taking place in Russia, and it's quite different from what we might expect. Rather than feel humiliated and depressed Russia is undergoing what I would call a kind of renaissance, a rebirth as a nation. This despite or in fact because the West, led by the so-called neo-conservatives in Washington, is trying everything including war on her doorstep in Ukraine, to collapse the Russian economy, humiliate Putin and paint Russians generally as bad. In the process, Russia is discovering positive attributes about her culture, her people, her land that had long been forgotten or suppressed.

"My first of many visits to Russia was more than twenty years ago, in May, 1994. I was invited by a Moscow economics think-tank to deliver critical remarks about the IMF. My impressions then were of a once-great people who were being humiliated to the last ounce of their life energy. Mafia gangsters sped along the wide boulevards of Moscow in sparkling new Mercedes 600 limousines with dark windows and without license plates. Lawlessness was the order of the day, from the US-backed Yeltsin Kremlin to the streets. “Harvard boys” like Jeffrey Sachs or Sweden's Anders Aaslund or George Soros were swarming over the city figuring new ways to rape and pillage Russia under the logo “shock therapy” and “market-oriented reform” another word for “give us your crown jewels.”

"The human toll of that trauma of the total collapse of life in Russia after November 1989 was staggering. I could see it in the eyes of everyday Russians on the streets of Moscow, taxi-drivers, mothers shopping, normal Russians.

"Today, some two decades later, Russia is again confronted by a western enemy, NATO, that seeks to not just humiliate her, but to actually destroy her as a functioning state because Russia is uniquely able to throw a giant monkey wrench into plans of those western elites behind the wars in Ukraine, in Syria, Libya, Iraq and well beyond to Afghanistan, Africa and South America.

"Rather than depression, in my recent visits to Russia in the past year as well as in numerous discussions with a variety of Russian acquaintances, I sense a new feeling of pride, of determination, a kind of rebirth of something long buried."

Read the full article at the link above.

"The dissolution of the Soviet Union was formally enacted on December 26, 1991, as a result of the declaration no. 142-H of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, acknowledging the independence of the erstwhile Soviet republics and creating the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) – although five of the signatories ratified it much later or not at all. On the previous day, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union, resigned, declared his office extinct, and handed over its powers – including control of the Soviet nuclear missile launching codes – to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. That evening at 7:32 p.m., the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin for the last time and replaced with the pre-revolutionary Russian Flag."

March 9, 2015

[US | NATO | Baltics | Scandinavia] Go After Russia
Destablizing Russia on the Western Front


Map by Russia Ukraine Travel
Interactive map of region

NATO Undermining 'NATO Russia Founding Act' of 1997

"... The Russian Foreign Ministry issued its warning on Monday against military presence on its western border after the New York Times and other media organizations reported that the U.S. had offered to store military equipment for up to 5,000 troops—including battle tanks and heavy weapons—in allied eastern European countries.

"'The emergence of such information confirms that the U.S., in cooperation with its allies, apparently has serious sights on ultimately undermining key provisions in the 'NATO Russia Founding Act' of 1997, in which the alliance pledged not to deploy substantial combat forces on the territory of the countries mentioned in the permanent basis,' the ministry said in a statement on its website.

"'We hope, however, that reason will prevail and that the situation in Europe will be able to keep from sliding to a new military confrontation that could have dangerous consequences.'

"... Moscow warned that any stationing of military equipment along its border with Europe could have 'dangerous consequences' and President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would add more than 40 ballistic missiles to its nuclear arsenal this year."

"The U.S. military has proposed pre-positioning heavy weaponry like tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles in three Baltic countries to facilitate the ongoing regular training of U.S. military forces in eastern Europe.

"Neither the Pentagon nor the White House has signed off on the proposal, which would also send a message to Russia about NATO's commitment to the region in the wake of Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine and Crimea.

"... According to a U.S. official, the proposal from U.S. European Command would place enough tanks and other heavy infantry vehicles needed to equip an Army heavy brigade combat team, which typically consists of 4,000 soldiers.

"The official said that under the proposal the equipment would be pre-positioned in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to enable a regular training rotation of U.S. military forces in the region.

"... If the proposal is agreed to, it would mark the first time that the United States has permanently placed such weapons in NATO countries in eastern Europe.

"... Earlier this year hundreds of U.S. Army tanks and other armored fighting vehicles were shipped from the United States to the Baltics for one such exercise.

"Pre-positioning the heavy weaponry in the Baltic countries would eliminate the need to ship heavy weapons from either the United States or pre-positioned stocks in Germany."

"About 600 paratroopers from the Army’s 173rd Infantry Brigade were headed to Poland and the Baltic states Tuesday to shore up NATO allies during the Ukraine crisis. Pentagon officials said that 150 of the "Sky Soldiers" from the 173rd based in Vicenza, Italy, would deploy to Poland on Wednesday. By the weekend, additional 150-troop units were to be on the ground in each of the Baltic states -- Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia -- for joint training with local forces, the officials said."

"Gotland is a big worry for us. It could be overrun by Russia in minutes and then all of us would be highly vulnerable to an attack," warned one politician recently as it appears NATO fear-mongering and Russia sabre-rattling is having a significant effect on many of the Baltic Sea's border nations. As The FT reports, Sweden will put troops back on the strategic Baltic Sea island of Gotland after a decade-long absence and will also step up military exercises around the island involving the army, navy and air force. “Hunting submarines is a priority area," Sweden's defense minister explained, adding that "everything we do is a part of underlining Swedish sovereignty."

"About 3,000 U.S. soldiers from the Georgia-based 3rd Infantry Division will deploy to Eastern Europe beginning next week, to conduct training exercises with forces from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania [the Baltics] ... Army Col. Steve Warren told reporters that about 750 U.S. military tanks, helicopters, and other vehicles and equipment arrived in Riga, Latvia, on Monday, as part of the deployment."

"The United States on Monday delivered more than 100 pieces of military equipment to vulnerable NATO-allied Baltic states in a move designed to provide them with the ability to deter potential Russian threats.

"The delivery included Abrams tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, Scout Humvees as well as support equipment ..."

Image source: Global Research, US Tanks on Russia's Border in Narva, Estonia
Map of Narva, Estonia in relationship to Russia here.

"... a long column of military vehicles, including tanks and armored cars. This column, according to the caption, was filmed on 23 February in the border city of Narva, Estonia, The city is located on a reservoir that provides St. Petersburg [electric] power ... Of course, NATO military exercises can occur anywhere. But why specifically are they taking place in Estonia [at Russia's doorstep]? And why are they displaying American flags right on the Russian border? And why now, with the resurgence of war in Ukraine?"

"The Pentagon is sending tanks, armored vehicles and containers full of other military gear to caves in Norway. It's all for the U.S. Marine Corps, which wants to update and expand its Scandinavian stockpile."

Photo: US Marine Corps

"Despite several attempts to derail the proposal, everything is still on track for the United States to cede control of the Internet, according to the man who essentially runs the web.

"... The web is a global system, after all. To manage such a vast network, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was established, mostly to work with the Domain Name System.

"Since its creation in 1998, ICANN has been overseen by the United States. It’s an arrangement that has left the rest of the world uneasy, especially given the US government’s role in digital surveillance. And despite attempts by Republican lawmakers to block the move, President Obama has led a plan to cede US control."

"The head of the nonprofit group that oversees the world's Internet addresses expressed confidence Thursday that it would be privatized and out of US government control by year's end.

"Fadi Chehade's comments came despite criticism in the US Congress, where some lawmakers have resisted the plan to end Washington's key management role in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

"... Chehade said some 150 countries now support the shift of ICANN oversight away from the US government to a globally representative group of governments, civil society and businesses."

"The open Internet drives the American economy and serves, every day, as a critical tool for America's citizens to conduct commerce, communicate, educate, entertain, and engage in the world around them. The benefits of an open Internet are undisputed. But it must remain open: open for commerce, innovation, and speech; open for consumers and for the innovation created by applications developers and content companies; and open for expansion and investment by America's broadband providers."

"No blocking: In other words, an ISP, such as Comcast or Verizon, for example, can't take action to keep ordinary customers away from certain websites (or stop them from downloading certain movies or music, for that matter), unless the content in question and the act of obtaining it is otherwise illegal. So while the new rules prohibit ISPs from blocking access to blogs that might be critical of their corporations, web service providers can still take action if a customer is somehow caught downloading illegal content ... Throughout the report, the FCC notes that, notwithstanding rules such as the “no blocking” provision, certain custodial efforts (or “reasonable network management”) might affect access to the internet. As long as the management is reasonable, however, the FCC says it will find no fault.

"No throttling: According to the FCC, 'With the no-throttling rule, we ban conduct that is not outright blocking, but inhibits the delivery of particular content, applications or services, or particular classes of content, applications or services.'"

"No paid prioritization: 'Paid prioritization occurs when a broadband provider accepts payment (monetary or otherwise) to manage its network in a way that benefits particular content, applications, services or devices,' the FCC says, and allowing for it would indeed enable the creation of 'fast lanes' feared by net neutrality advocates. 'To protect against 'fast lanes,' this Order adopts a rule that establishes that: A person engaged in the provision of broadband Internet access service, insofar as such person is so engaged, shall not engage in paid prioritization,' reads another one of the FCC's new rules.

"Well, almost no paid prioritization: 'According to the FCC, the ban on paid prioritization may be waived “only if the petitioner demonstrates that the practice would provide some significant public interest benefit and would not harm the open nature of the Internet.'

"The Federal Communications Commission has finally published its full net neutrality rules on its Web site. And they're not for the faint of heart. Together with the dissents from the agency's Republican commissioners, the document adds up to 400 pages."

"... The FCC's net neutrality order seeks to prevent Internet providers from blocking Web traffic, slowing it down or setting up paid fast lanes."

"The activist group has big money behinds its effort. It has received $2.2 million in donations from progressive billionaire George Soros' Open Society Foundations and $3.9 million from the Ford Foundation.

"And one of Free Press' co-founders, Robert McChesney, a communications professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, has not been shy about his desire to see the internet regulated heavily.

"“In the end, there is no real answer but to remove brick by brick the capitalist system itself, rebuilding the entire society on socialist principles,” McChesney wrote in a 2009 essay.

"“Only government can implement policies and subsidies to provide an institutional framework for quality journalism,” he said."

"Today the FCC voted three to two to reclassify broadband Internet access as a common carrier service under Title II of the Communications Act, and forbear from the parts of the Act that aren't necessary for net neutrality rules. This reclassification gives the FCC the authority to enact (and enforce) narrow, clear rules which will help keep the Internet the open platform it is today.

"As expected, the FCC's new rules forbid ISPs from charging Internet users for special treatment on their networks ... the FCC has banned ISPs from blocking or throttling their customers' traffic based on content, applications or services—which means users, hackers, tinkerers, artists, and knowledge seekers can continue to innovate and experiment on the Internet, using any app or service they please, without having to get their ISP's permission first ...

"Even better, the rules will apply to wireless and wired broadband in the same way, so you don't have to worry that your phone switching from Wi-Fi to a 4G network will suddenly cause apps not to work or websites to become inaccessible ...

But ...

"The problem with the ["general conduct rule"] ... is that neither ISPs nor Internet users can know in advance what kinds of practices will run afoul of the rule. Only companies with significant legal staff and expertise may be able to use the rule effectively. And a vague rule gives the FCC an awful lot of discretion, potentially giving an unfair advantage to parties with insider influence. That means our work is not yet done. We must stay vigilant, and call out FCC overreach."

"After FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler released a proposal in 2014 to allow pay-to-play fast lanes online, Comcast and its pals thought they'd won the fight. But Free Press members and millions of people across the country proved them wrong.

"After a year of relentless activism, Wheeler reversed course — leading to the historic Feb. 26 vote.

"The cable and phone companies will do everything they can to knock this victory down, but our message is clear: Mess with the Internet, and you'll lose."

"Today the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), a non-elected federal government agency, voted three-to-two to reclassify broadband Internet as a common carrier service under Title II of the Communications Act. This means that – without the vote of Congress, the peoples' branch of government – a federal agency now claims the power to regulate the Internet ...

"The FCC's newly adopted rule takes the most dynamic means of communication and imposes the regulatory structure designed for public utilities."

"Net neutrality revolves around a key question: Should internet bandwidth be treated equally for everyone? Here's a look at the debate."

"This Thursday, Feb. 26, will be a fateful day for the future of the Internet. In the nearly 40 years that I have been involved in communications law and policy, including serving as the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) associate general counsel, this action, without a doubt, is one of the agency's most misguided.

"The sad reality is that, without any convincing evidence of market failure and consumer harm, the FCC is poised, on a 3-2 party-line vote, to expand its control over Internet providers in ways that threaten the Internet's future growth and vibrancy."

"Pai explains his opposition to Title II reclassifcation to Reason's Nick Gillespie. Citing independent studies of American competitiveness and booming investment in telecommunications infrastructure compared to Europe, Pai argues that consumers are thriving and the market is doing its job.

"Regulating the internet like a utility company, says Pai, will threaten the kind of innovation we've taken for granted over the past 20 years. 'Do you trust the federal government to make the Internet ecosystem more vibrant than it is today?' Pai asks. 'Can you think of any regulated utility like the electric company or water company that is as innovative as the Internet?'"

"For many months, EFF has been working with a broad coalition of advocates to persuade the Federal Communications Commission to adopt new Open Internet rules that would survive legal scrutiny and actually help protect the Open Internet. Our message has been clear from the beginning: the FCC has a role to play, but its role must be firmly bounded.

"Two weeks ago, we learned that we had likely managed the first goal—the FCC is going to do the right thing and reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service, giving it the ability to make new, meaningful Open Internet rules. But we are deeply concerned that the FCC's new rules will include a provision that sounds like a recipe for overreach and confusion: the so-called “general conduct rule."

"Clyburn's changes would leave in place the central and most controversial component of Wheeler's rules — the notion that broadband Internet service should be reclassified so that it can be treated as a “telecommunications” service under Title II of the Communications Act, similar to utilities like phone lines.

"Proponents of net neutrality have said that move is the surest way to prevent Internet service providers from interfering with people's access to the Web.

"However, she wants to eliminate a new legal category of “broadband subscriber access services,” which was created as an additional point of legal authority for the FCC to monitor the ways that companies hand off traffic on the back end of the Internet.

"Those deals, known as “interconnection” arrangements, became a point of contention last year, when Netflix accused Comcast and other companies of erecting “Internet tolls” before easily passing Web traffic from one network to another."

"Last April, a dozen New York-based Internet companies gathered in the Flatiron Building boardroom of the social media website Tumblr to hear dire warnings that broadband providers were about to get the right to charge for the fastest speeds on the web.

"The implication: If they didn't pay up, they would be stuck in the slow lane.

"What followed has been the longest, most sustained campaign of Internet activism in history, one that the little guys appear to have won. On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission is expected to vote to regulate the Internet as a public good."

There's more propaganda swirling about pending changes to Internet laws and regulations in the USA than there is swirling around US / NATO / Western interference in Ukraine.

Are you confused yet regarding the war on the Internet being waged in Washington, D.C.? Who are the good guys? Who's wearing the white hats? Is it FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler wanting to base new Net Neutrality rules on Title II of the Communications Act? Or is it Sen. John Thune and Rep. Fred Upton pushing their new regulations of the Internet called, 'Title X?'

Who owns Congress? Who owns the Executive White House? Who do we believe? The Wall Street Journal? USA Today? The UK's Daily Caller? Do we trust the FCC and Congress? Or do we listen to Save the Internet that has been fighting for a free and open Internet for over a decade? Has Save the Internet been taken over, or is it once again telling us the truth?

"'FUTURE OF ENTIRE INTERNET AT STAKE'

"'We respectfully request that FCC leadership immediately release the 332-page Internet regulation plan publicly and allow the American people a reasonable period of not less than 30 days to carefully study it,' Republican Commissioners Ajit Pai and Michael O'Rielly said in a statement Monday. 'Then, after the commission reviews the specific input it receives from the American public and makes any modifications to the plan as appropriate, we could proceed to a final vote.'

"The commission is set to vote on Wheeler's aggressive proposal — which will regulate Internet service providers as public utilities and set new standards for speed and pricing — on Thursday, when it is expected to pass by a partisan vote of 3-2."

"US Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker promised in a nationally televised debate to arm Ukraine and deploy US troops in Poland and the Baltic states if he won the 2016 election.

"'... I would send weapons to Ukraine,' Walker said in the debate of 10 leading Republican candidates hosted by Fox News and Facebook in Cleveland, Ohio on Thursday night.

"'... I would put forces on the eastern border of Poland and the Baltic nations, and I would re-instate, put back in place the missile defense system in the Czech Republic,' Walker said."

"Canadian scholar Ivan Katchanovski keeps finding new and new publicly available supporting evidence on basically a weekly basis.

"My study contains evidence that Maidan snipers shot at the police from the Trade Union building shortly before the police units fled at 8:50am and that this building remained one of the locations of the Maidan “snipers” or their coordinators during the massacre of the protesters."

"The events in Ukraine are developing in a dangerous scenario and their consequences could pose a threat to Europe, Willy Wimmer said.

"Clashes between the ultranationalist Right Sector group and police in western Ukraine are a sign that the country is divided into several parts, a former vice-president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) told SNA Radio Wednesday.

"On July 11, a shootout between police officers and Right Sector militants in Ukraine's western Zakarpattia region left three people dead and 13 injured. Right Sector leader Dmytro Yarosh called for protests in large Ukrainian cities until the policemen who opened fire on group members in the western Ukrainian town of Mukacheve are detained and Interior Minister Arsen Avakov is dismissed.

"'The actions of the Right Sector, primarily in the west of the country, signify that the country is divided into several parts,' Willy Wimmer said."

"A German journalist spent a few days in a training camp of the Ukrainian extremist group Right Sector. Its members are rushing to war ‘against Russia’ and want to get rid of the Ukrainian authorities responsible for the chaos in the country, Das Erste reported.

"A new anti-government front formed in Ukraine among radical nationalist groups, united by the far-right Ukrainian nationalist political party Right Sector.

"Its members seek to launch an offensive against militias in eastern Ukraine and get rid of the country’s political leadership.

"... The fighters do not obey to the orders of the Ministry of Defense and thus do not recognize the decisions made by the Kiev government. They consider themselves as ‘patriots’ and think that the revolution is yet not over. Many of them do not believe that the current government is able to improve the situation in Ukraine and seek to eliminate it by force.

"... Right Sector is a Ukrainian association of radical, ultranationalist organizations that took an active part in the anti-government protests that led to the ousting of former President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014.

"The group was declared an extremist organization in Russia in November 2014 and subsequently banned."

"During WW2, Ukrainian Nazis committed the most extreme atrocities against the Poles, murdering about 80,000 mostly defenseless civilians - children, women, etc. Babies on pitchforks, torture, terror - extreme stuff. Now it is going to be immortalized on film.

"When the Red Army finally ran these Nazis out of Ukraine the hardest core emigrated to the UK, US, and most of all Canada, welcomed by the CIA in their fight against Communism.

"These people were never “de-nazified”, as the population of the Germany was after the war, which explains why they popped up like a fiendish jack-in-the-box when the USSR dissolved. These people are no figment of Russian propaganda, they are for real.

"... In Poland the filming of the movie “Volyn” about the atrocities of Bandera is almost completed. It was reported by “Politnavigator” referring to a Ukrainian blogger Vladimir Kornilov.

"Feature film “Volyn” about the atrocities of Ukrainian nationalists was filmed by a Polish director Wojciech Smarzowski, whom critics rightly call the “king of modern Polish cinema”. The film is scheduled for opening in the spring of 2016, and after that it will be impossible for the European Union not to notice the banderism in Ukraine."

Image from video 'I Am A Ukrainian'	Image source here.

"Siding with foreign interests to destroy your country's economy and constitution pays off ... The girl from "I am Ukrainian" video, Yulia Marushevskaya, has been appointed 3rd in command for Saakashvili's team in Odessa, at just 25 years old.

• I Am a Ukrainian / Feb 10, 2014
"Yulia Marushevska filmed by Graham Mitchell in Kyiv. Some Maidan footage thanks to Babylon 13. All other footage captured from various Internet sources.

• 'I am a Ukrainian' Video Exposed As Kony-Style Scam / Paul Joseph Watson for InfoWars, Feb 20, 2014
"The video is meant to push the idea that the Ukrainian revolt is grass roots, but its origins can be traced back to the U.S. State Department."

"The dismissed SBU head Nalivaichenko started giving up his accomplices. The former press service director clearly understands that the Prosecutor General could "hang" all the junta's crimes, starting from the Maidan shootings and ending with the Odessa burnings. Therefore Nalivaichenko started to deliver suitcases of incriminating evidence. One of the first published dossier concerned his predecessor Aleksandr Turchinov who currently heads the SNBO."

Image by Hungarian website Karpathir
NATO vehicles crossing into Ukraine?

"UNCOFIRMED, FOR YOUR INFORMATION

"Hungarian website "Karpathir" associated with the Hungarian diaspora in Transcarpathia, posted a photo of a military convoy crossing the border. The website writes: "One of our readers sent to the Carpathian journal the photos below. Images were taken at the border crossing Zahon on June 9, 2015 at noon on the Hungarian side. We tried to request information from the border police, but, unfortunately, we have not yet received a reply."

"The photo clearly shows military vehicles, several trucks, Humvee, petroleum truck. For what purpose and where the convoy was headed is unknown. One version is, similar trucks are used to transport MLRS "Hurricane", which could be removed and installed on trucks, and the trucks returned back."

WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO in this news story.

"A shocking video shows US-backed militants in Ukraine hanging a pregnant woman and her husband, yet more evidence of atrocities being committed by pro-Kiev forces.

"The chilling clip shows two individuals with bags over their heads strung up to a rudimentary gallows in a forest as three militants pose with the bodies and take photographs. The ropes around their necks are attached to a nearby vehicle. The woman is clearly heavily pregnant.

"The car then drives in the opposite direction as the two victims are brutally hung while they writhe and struggle.

"The militants then pose with the bodies for a second time and take more video footage and photographs.

"According to reports, the video was discovered on the cellphone of one of the militants after the group was liquidated by people’s militia of the Lugansk Republic. The rest of the militants managed to escape."

"Kerry, Nuland and a large State Department delegation have traveled to Sochi were they met with Foreign Minister Lavrov and then with President Putin. With the latter they spent over 4 hours. Not only that, but Kerry made a few rather interesting remarks, saying that the Minsk-2 Agreement (M2A) was the only way forward and that he would strongly caution Poroshenko against the idea of renewing military operations."

"Former US President Jimmy Carter, in an interview with radio station "Voice of America", ??said that the reunification of Russia and the Crimea was an inevitable event.

"... Carter and other former global leaders met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for 2.5 hours Wednesday in Moscow. The group, called the Elders, visited at a time when Russia's relations with the West are severely strained over Moscow's seizure of Crimea and the deadly conflict in eastern Ukraine."

"The silence of the West over the deaths of Kiev’s opponents - in contrast to the outcry following Russian politician Nemtsov’s death - yet again shows extraordinary double standard and its complicity in the destruction in Ukraine of the very standards of law and morality it claims to believe in."

"After the latest round of mysterious murders of Ukrainian opposition figures, Western governments have remained conspicuously silent. Yet those same governments were up in arms over the death of Boris Nemtsov. What’s the connection? As Ron Paul explains, the silence may have something to do with the US training Ukrainian troops."

"Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned Israel against a possible supply of lethal weapons to the Ukrainian government, following Moscow’s decision to deliver S-300 surface-to-air missile system to Iran.

"He issued the warning in an interview aired on Rossiya 1 TV on Saturday, saying that the move by Tel Aviv would be 'counterproductive' and 'only cause a new round of hostility.'

"'The death toll would rise, but the result would not change,' Russia Today quoted the Russian leader as saying.

"The remarks came after some Israeli politicians suggested that the regime might send lethal weapons to Ukraine in retaliation for Russia’s planned supply of S-300 missile system to Iran.

"'It’s a choice for the Israeli leadership to make, they can do what they see necessary,' Putin said."

"Russia never prepared a military incursion into Ukraine, informed the deputies of the National Assembly the head of French intelligence, General Christophe Gaumard, reported news portal Sputnik.

"'We had indeed established that the Russians did not set up any command points, no rear infrastructure, including field hospitals, which are necessary for a military intervention, meanwhile the divisions of the second echelon never left their location,' - said the General."

"Virtuoso pianist Valentina Lisitsa has been replaced by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and accused of engaging in public incitement of hatred after she posted political opinions critical of the Ukrainian government's conduct in the country's civil war.

"... The TSO canceled Lisitsa's concerts after the pianist drew attention to the plight of citizens in eastern Ukraine, who have been the victims of bombing raids carried out by the Ukrainian military. Lisitsa originally supported the Maidan uprising but later realized that it had been hijacked by corrupt interests.

"... 'I took to Twitter in order to get the other side of the story heard, the one you never see in the mainstream media-the plight of my people, the good and bad things that were happening in Ukraine,' she writes. 'I translated news stories from Ukrainian language websites, I translated eyewitness accounts of atrocities…. I became really good in unmasking fakes published by Western media in order to make one side of the civil war look whiter and softer than the Easter bunny, and the other-like sub-humans, not worthy of mercy, the 'collateral damage'.

"... 'The TSO's decision to silence Valentina's music because she has exercised her inviolable right to express her beliefs is a message to all artists that the next time it could be them,' warns Luzanova ... 'If they do it once, they will do it again and again, until the musicians, artists are intimidated into voluntary censorship. Our future will be bleak if we allow this to happen.'"

"Heinz-Christian Strache, leader of Austria's Freedom Party, posted online a photo alleged to be of Bradley tanks now on rail-cars in Linz Austria en-route to Ukraine; he estimated 50 of them ... Then, Berlusconi's Milan newspaper Il Giornale posted this article on Wednesday March 25th: Sighted in Austria, American tanks: 'I direct in Ukraine.'"

Image by: Heinz-Christian Strache

"Between 2009 and 2013, including when Mrs. Clinton was secretary of state, the Clinton Foundation received at least $8.6 million from the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, according to that foundation, which is based in Kiev, Ukraine."

"Vice President Joe Biden's youngest son Hunter Biden has joined the board of directors of Ukraine's largest oil company at a time that the U.S. is urging Ukraine to develop energy independence from Russia and just days after the vice president visited Ukraine."

"Several large international investors are buying out Ukrainian government's securities. Franklin Templton is one of them ... According to a recent Bloomberg report, the investment fund acts under US jurisdiction and is controlled by the Rothschilds, the family known for its death grip ... The vultures purchase the securities with low, almost junk, ratings at low prices to demand full payment from issuer afterwards. Argentina is a good example of vultures' destructive activities.

"The Rothschild family has come up with an initiative to create a group of Ukrainian bond holders to shape a common policy on debt settlement. Rothschild & Cie Banque, a French bank belonging to Rothschild Group, offered its service in the capacity of 'go-between' in the talks of Ukraine's Ministry of Finances and creditors on restructuring the debt. Now creditors are waiting for Kiev to put forward the proposals in mid-March, according to Giovanni Salvetti, Co-head of Russia and CIS at Rothschild Inc., who handles central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States."

"A month after the Minsk agreement the masks are off. New weapons are coming, American instructors are in Ukraine, the IMF credit is approved. Time to get back to killing the kids of Donbass. Where are the sanctions on Kiev?

"... The only reason they paused the war is because they were annihilated, and couldn't physically go on. But that's no longer a problem, thanks to the Americans, who can't wait to start killing the Russians."

"Russia was ready to bring its nuclear weapons into a state of alert during last year's tensions over the Crimean Peninsula and the overthrow of Ukraine's president, President Vladimir Putin said in remarks aired on Sunday ...

"Putin's comments, in a documentary being shown on state TV, highlight the extent to which alarm spread in Russia in the weeks following Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's ouster in February 2014 after months of street protests that turned increasingly violent ...

"Putin says of the nuclear preparedness, 'We were ready to do this ... (Crimea) is our historical territory. Russian people live there. They were in danger. We cannot abandon them.'"

"Moscow. Russian Russia 1 television is to air tonight the Crimea. Road to the Motherland documentary film, which describes the events around Crimea's annexation to Russia. The documentary will start at 10 p.m. (Russian time) on Sunday. It will be available online on the following link: live.russia.tv.

"The documentary film includes interviews with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other direct witnesses of the events. It tells about how 193 units of the Ukrainian forces were neutralised without bloodsheds, how the Ukrainian ships were blocked at the bays and why the shooting in Feodosia was avoided.

"The audience will learn how much time the operation carried out on February 27, [2014] when all key institutions in Crimea were captured, took. The documentary will also reveal the talks held between Putin and US President Barach Obama and how Russian Bastion missiles entered into Crimea and how they changed the pace of the events.

"'Crimea. A Way Home' is an important public diplomacy message from Russia on the Ukraine crisis

"To mark the first anniversary of the referendum in Crimea that paved the way to reunification with Russia (or annexation by Russia, depending on your point of view) on 15 March, Russia's state Channel One released a remarkable documentary film entitled “Crimea. A Way Home.” A version of this film on Youtube with English subtitles can be found here."

"One should nurse no illusions about the intentions of the American leadership: they want war. A war that will take place on the old continent and that should involve as many Europeans as possible in confrontation with Russia. The Ukrainians, short of some mass uprising, must resign themselves to seeing their country serve as the long term battlefield for this conflict of the great powers, since their stakes got out of hand when they lost control of the demonstrations at Maidan Square one night in February 2014.

"In any case, the latest developments in the United States are hardly reassuring. One year after the demonstrations of the Maidan, hatefully guided by the Atlanticists, the US has officially announced the decision to send 600 parachutists of the 173rd Airborne Brigade to Ukraine. The announcement was made last Monday by Colonel Michael Foster, brigade commander, and confirmed by Ben Hodges, supreme commander of US forces in Europe.

"The first combat units are expected to arrive from here in Ukraine March 8."

"FSB source to 'Komsomolskaya Pravda': 'the customer of Nemtsov's murder was preparing an assassination of Vladimir Putin' ... The main suspect in the organization of the high-profile crime - is a commander of the Ukrainian battalion in the name of Dzhokhar Dudayev, Adam Osmayev."

"... Zaur Dadaev pulled the trigger. He first made a confession, and then, on the advice of his lawyers, took it back. But it changes nothing, the investigation has already collected compelling evidence of his guilt. I will not give details of how this was done. The pistol was thrown into the river after the crime, it was later recovered by divers. That Zaur Dadaev immediately said to the TV cameras: "I love prophet Muhammad" - is just a cover. There was no religious motive for the killings. They cynically carried out an order. They are far from devout Muslims. In fact, just real gangsters."

"KIEV, Ukraine – Ukraine's interior minister says he sees no links between a series of recent alleged suicides of officials who served during the regime of deposed President Viktor Yanukovych.

"Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said Friday that any suggestion that the deaths were connected was 'speculation.'"

"Died from a gunshot wound to the throat. Declared suicide.

"A former governor of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya region has been found dead with a gunshot wound to his throat, the latest in a string of violent deaths of officials with ties to ousted leader Viktor Yanukovych. Police officials said Oleksandr Peklushenko, governor of the southeastern region from 2011 until March 2014, most likely committed suicide."

"For months, Breedlove has been commenting on Russian activities in eastern Ukraine, speaking of troop advances on the border, the amassing of munitions and alleged columns of Russian tanks. Over and over again, Breedlove's numbers have been significantly higher than those in the possession of America's NATO allies in Europe. As such, he is playing directly into the hands of the hardliners in the US Congress and in NATO.

"The German government is alarmed. Are the Americans trying to thwart European efforts at mediation led by Chancellor Angela Merkel?"

"CONCLUSION: A combined strike from a Su-25 M1 attack jet was performed against the Malaysian Boeing. The first attack from the Su-25M1 was performed on the course of the 'Boeing' flight in pursuit — most likely the attack jet was located on the right side of the tail of the Malaysian airplane and fired while moving towards the right engine — in this direction the jet made several shots using its 23 mm or 30 mm aircraft cannon.

"The pilots died after the first attack, a large-scale decompression occurred in the cabin, the electronics went out of order, the plane turned right and the “Boeing” was probably attacked by the attack jet again, but this time on the left side, in the cabin area from the side of the crew commander using the aircraft cannon and a R-60M rocket in the area of the left engine and the left door, on which the traces of penetration by rod-shaped sub-projectiles remained."

"Former deputy commander of the battalion regiment "North," Zaur Dadaev practically accepted the responsibility in organizing the murder of Boris Nemtsov. According to him, the crime was committed due to repeated negative statements of the politician about Muslims and their religion. The other four of those arrested were involved in the operation, because they lived in Moscow region and knew the city. Seems like no other "organizers" will be found.

"... According to the source of "Rosbalt" in law enforcement, Dadaev stated that in January 2015 he learned that Boris Nemtsov repeatedly made negative remarks about Muslims residing on the territory of Russia, about prophet Muhammad, as well as the Islam religion itself. Being a strong believer, Zaur could not tolerate it."

"Since the current US ambassador arrived in Russia, they killed Nemtsov, while he was in Georgia they killed Zhvaniya, and in Ukraine—Gongadze. Coincidence?

"Each of the three was a prominent opposition figure, and in each case his death had led to political upheaval. To quote Ian Fleming, 'once is a happenstance, twice--a coincidence, three times--enemy action.'"

"The US Army is preparing to send approximately 300 troops at a time to train Ukrainian forces in western Ukraine, according to documents posted on a government contracting site ... The plan to train four companies of the Ukrainian National Guard comes as part of a US State Department initiative "to assist Ukraine in strengthening its law enforcement capabilities, conduct internal defense, and maintain rule of law," Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Vanessa Hillman told Defense News this year ... "

"... the 128th Brigade abandoned the latest US counter-mortar radar which was supplied to us only recently. It was the first delivery of precision US weaponry to Ukraine. The radar was well packed, and I hope that at least they had some opportunity to use it."

"On February 12th, on the day Minsk II was signed by the contact group as agreed to by the Normandy 4, we wrote:

"These are the relevant factors which produce the strong sense that these Normandy 4 meetings involve some very serious things and some complex levels that are beyond the scope of what is reported. Russia conducts itself in these meetings from a position of strength.

"Critical events since the February 12th ceasefire tell us what the real underlying factors beyond the scope of what was reported indeed were. With the Ukrainian Army having been encircled in the Debaltsevo region and without provisions, mass surrenders are already underway. There are already reports of thousands of UAF dead. Close fighting in the town itself have resulted in the UAF being pushed out, with the town now under Novorossiyan control. The UAF had nowhere to go, and were out of ammo."

Image source: Voicesevas
• More images of Kiev's Debaltsevo Debacle / Voicesevas, February 19, 2015

"The U.S. has never gone a decade without war. The only time the U.S. went five years without war (1935-40) was during the isolationist period of the Great Depression."

See the article for a year-by-year timeline of America's wars.

"General Sir Adrian Bradshaw, Nato's deputy supreme allied commander in Europe, says Vladimir Putin could try to invade and seize Nato territory"

"Charges of aggression and crime against Russia and Putin are daily proclaimed with no evidence, but together provide a pretext for why 'Russia must be stopped' and the US-led West Ukraine regime armed with US weapons to 'teach Putin a lesson.'"

"If Kiev violates Minsk-2, Russia will consider itself freed from the obligation to recognize Ukraine's territorial integrity. During a plenary meeting of the State Duma on February 17, the United Russia Party deputy Vyacheslav Nikonov noted that the Minsk-2 agreement is a chance for peace in Ukraine, and a chance for Ukraine to exist as a state.

"If they don't want to take advantage of it, it will be only their fault. If the agreement is violated, Russia can also consider itself free from its provisions, which include the recognition of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, so I would not advise Poroshenko, Yatsenyuk, Turchinov, and company to take this matter lightly."
-- Translated from Russian by J.Hawk

J.Hawk's Comment:
"to continue the war Poroshenko would have to abrogate the Minsk-2 agreement, which now faces no obstacles since the Debaltsevo Pocket has been practically reduced. Poroshenko's hyperbolic statements concerning UAF's heroic withdrawal from Debaltsevo confirm that the battle there is over. What Nikonov is doing is sending a signal (which has been picked up and amplified by other Russian officials, though not a single senior foreign policymaker—so far) that should Ukraine continue to look for ways to escalate the situation, Russia will see it and raise it."

Translated from Russian by J.Hawk
"Today the Ukrainian media, apparently nationally conscious patriots one and all, as well as the C-in-C Poroshenko, were trying to outdo one another in convincing the Ukrainian people there is no problem in Debaltsevo. They published some fake photographs purporting to show the “planned withdrawal of columns of Ukrainian equipment.” Even Ukrainian patriots saw through this blatant lie."

"90% of Debaltsevo captured, we can't communicate with our HQ."

"Ukrainian punitive troops are surrendering in large numbers. Journalists have filmed the surrender of one of the punitive units in the Debaltsevo cauldron ... The main reward for their conscience and their refusal to continue the war is that their lives will be spared."

"Several thousands of Kiev soldiers currently remain encircled in the key town of the Donetsk region ...

"The head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Alexander Zakharchenko suggested Ukrainian troops leave Debaltseve without weapons and military equipment, the Donetsk News Agency said Sunday."

"According to a translation of the 13 points, point number ten reads:

"All foreign troops, heavy weapons and mercenaries are to be withdrawn from Ukraine. Illegal armed groups would be disarmed, but local authorities in Donetsk and Lugansk would be allowed to have legal militia units.

"What about US troops, including CIA and Special Forces, that are said to be assisting the US-backed government in Kiev? Would Kiev not have the same obligation to expel these foreign troops? And, most importantly, what of the 600 US paratroopers that are to be sent by President Obama to train the Ukrainian military starting next month?

"Would it not be a violation of "Minsk II" ceasefire agreement for the US to go through with sending 600 troops into Ukraine?"

Translated from Russian by Kristina Rus

"These documents were signed, let me remind you, with representatives of Ukraine - a failed state whose leaders are known for having never completed a single contract in their life ... Europeans, who were present there, previously had deceived Yanukovych, and their predecessors simply killed Qaddafi, to not have to pay back the debt. That is, their word is not worth much more then Poroshenko, Fox or Sonka the Golden hand. Putin and Zakharchenko with Plotnitsky, and any old grandma on a bench are well aware of this. Well, this is hilarious ...

"Regarding the remains of Ukraine, the time of their final burial will probably come when the Nazis will overthrow Poroshenko. Then it will be immediately announced, that Nazi criminals came to power, instituted terror, there are nuclear power plants, it is extremely dangerous, we cannot quietly watch this, and so on - after that the failed state, foolishly created by grandpa Lenin, will cease to exist and its territory will be divided between Russia and Poland. Perhaps Romania and Hungary will also be thrown a small piece or an independent Transcarpathian Republic will be recognized."

Translated from Russian by J.Hawk

"Comment by Yurasumy: The real problem, in Kasyanov's estimate, is that the military is running out of ammunition and heavy equipment because it does not produce either on its own, at least not in sufficient quantities to make up for the heavy usage, and this has led to the loss of Uglegorsk and the Debaltsevo encirclement ...

"J.Hawk's Comment: I suspect the main cause of Poroshenko's sudden willingness to have an 'unconditional' ceasefire was the inevitability of sizable military defeat should the fighting continue for much longer ... nobody is willing to replenish UAF's stocks of armored vehicles and ammunition that have been expended in two bloody campaigns. Even in the US it seems to have dawned on everyone that Novorossia will not be defeated militarily, and any NATO intervention will be met by a Russian escalation which will simply end the Ukrainian state before the NATO aid has any effect on the ground ...

"The prospect of military catastrophe is likely what Poroshenko had in mind when he said at Minsk that if no agreement is reached ... Ukraine has burned up its gold and currency reserves, it is facing strict IMF-imposed austerity, so it's rapidly running out of the means, military and financial, for fighting the war."

From the article:

"The Obama administration on Saturday released satellite images [commissioned from the private Digital Globe satellite company] that it said showed that the Russian army had joined rebels to mount a full-scale assault [artillery systems, multiple-rocket launchers, air defense systems] on surrounded government troops in eastern Ukraine [Ukrainian-held railway hub of Debaltseve], hours before a cease-fire set to take effect at midnight ...

"A Russian military spokesman, Gen. Igor Konashenkov, dismissed the images as 'reading the coffee grounds,' the Interfax news agency reported ...

"Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said as much Saturday, warning that if the cease-fire failed to take hold, he would declare martial law and step up military mobilization across his nation."

The propaganda is fierce.

Are Ukrainian government troops really surrounded at Debaltseve? YES / NO

"As Washington is not a partner to the Minsk peace deal, how can there be peace when Washington has made policy decisions to escalate the conflict and to use the conflict as a proxy war between the US and Russia?"

"The United States and the rest of NATO gambled when they took sides in Ukraine's 2014 political crisis. American fingerprints were clearly seen on the coup which sent an elected president into exile. The West succeeded in putting Petro Poroshenko in the presidency, then showered his nearly bankrupt country with money and sat back hoping to see a puppet regime firmly in place on Russia's border.

"The machinations haven't paid off exactly as they hoped. The people of the Donbass region didn't give NATO permission to tear their country apart and fought back against the newly installed regime ...

"From the beginning, the so-called separatists in the eastern Donbass region of Ukraine proved themselves superior to Ukraine's army ... The situation has gone from bad to worse for government forces and the increased desperation shown by western leaders proves that point."

"First, I would remind everybody that the junta as broken every single agreement it committed to. Every single one. And there is absolutely no reasons at all to believe that this time around this will change.

"Second, Poroshenko can promise all he wants, but the real power in the "independent Ukraine" is held by Uncle Sam and by the "Maidanites" he controls.

"Third, why do you think that Merkel and Hollande suddenly felt a powerful urge to "scratch their diplomatic itch" and decided to intervene? Could that sudden urge to negotiate have a little something to do with a place called Debaltsevo? If yes, what does the M2A say about Debaltsevo? Exactly. *Nothing*.

"Fourth, the agreement not even signed by Poroshenko, but by Kuchma on behalf of the Ukraine.

"Fifth, check out this section ... "

"A battalion of around 600 American paratroopers will be heading to Ukraine next month to train national guard troops there, a Pentagon spokesman told Fox News Wednesday.

"The unit heading to the war-torn country is from the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, based out of Vicenza, Italy. The training is to take place at the Yavariv training center in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, U.S. Army Europe Commander Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges said, according to The Associated Press.

"Hodges said the Americans will train the Ukrainians how to better defend themselves against "Russian and rebel artillery and rockets." Training also will include securing roads, bridges and other infrastructure and treating and evacuating casualties."

"Árpád Pusztai and Ignacio Chapela have two things in common. They are distinguished scientists and their careers are in ruins. Both scientists choose to look at the phenomenon of genetic engineering. Both made important discoveries. Both of them are suffering the fate of those who criticise the powerful vested interests that now dominate big business and scientific research.

"Statements made by scientists themselves prove that 95% of the research in the area of genetic engineering is paid by the industry. Only 5% of the research is independent. The big danger for freedom of science and our democracy is evident. Can the public -- we all -- still trust our scientists?"

• See the trailer here.

"I retired 10 years ago after a long career as a research scientist for Agriculture Canada. When I was on the payroll, I was the designated scientist of my institute to address public groups and reassure them that genetically engineered crops and foods were safe. There is, however, a growing body of scientific research – done mostly in Europe, Russia, and other countries – showing that diets containing engineered corn or soya cause serious health problems in laboratory mice and rats.

"I don’t know if I was passionate about it but I was knowledgeable. I defended the side of technological advance, of science and progress.

"In the last 10 years I have changed my position. I started paying attention to the flow of published studies coming from Europe, some from prestigious labs and published in prestigious scientific journals, that questioned the impact and safety of engineered food.

"I refute the claims of the biotechnology companies that their engineered crops yield more, that they require less pesticide applications, that they have no impact on the environment and of course that they are safe to eat."

"The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently classified glyphosate, the active substance of Monsanto's RoundUp herbicide, as “probably causing cancer in human beings”. Germany is charged by the EU with the safety review of glyphosate: yet three scientists sitting on its scientific panel on pesticides are employees of BASF and Bayer, two major pesticides producers. Meanwhile, the UK has simply privatised its governmental Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA) outright, and France's experts in charge of assessing the safety of medicines have been shown to have been selling undeclared advisory services to pharmaceutical companies on how to best to file their market authorisation applications.

"Glyphosate, the active ingredient present in Monsanto's weed killer Roundup, again hit the headlines when the WHO recently classified it as probably causing cancer in human beings. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) – WHO’s cancer research agency – published their study in The Lancet Oncology on 20 March 2015."

"Following the World Health Organization’s report declaring that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup, likely causes cancer, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday that regulators may begin testing food for residue of the pesticide chemical.

"Given increased public interest in glyphosate, EPA may recommend sampling for glyphosate in the future," the EPA said in an email to Reuters.

"... After the reclassification, Monsanto fired off an extremely contentious press release stating that they have asked to meet with the World Health Organization to challenge their findings, as half of the agro giant’s revenue reportedly comes from Roundup and Roundup Ready Seeds.

"... The pressure to begin the testing is not likely to relent, as people become more concerned about where their food is coming from, and many preferring their dinners to not have been grown with poisons."

"... 'It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.' – Dr. Marcia Angell, a physician and longtime editor-in-chief of the New England Medical Journal (NEMJ), (source)

"'The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness.' – Dr. Richard Horton, the current editor-in-chief of the Lancet – considered to be one of the most well respected peer-reviewed medical journals in the world. (source)

"... In 2005 Dr. John P.A. Ioannidis, currently a professor in disease prevention at Stanford University, published the most widely accessed article in the history of the Public Library of Science (PLoS) entitled Why Most Published Research Findings Are False. In the report he states: 'There is increasing concern that most current published research findings are false.'

"... We now have a large amount of evidence, and statements from experts that come directly from the field, which paint a very concerning picture. The science used to educate doctors and develop medicine is flawed. We are only ever exposed to studies that have been sponsored by big pharmaceutical companies, but these studies are not designed to take the long view. They are not designed to detect problems that can occur years or even decades after a treatment, or examine the risks of taking a drug for long periods of time. Nobody ever seems to mention or acknowledge the many studies which clearly show significant risk associated with many of the products that pharmaceutical companies are manufacturing to help fight disease.

"What is even more concerning is the general population’s lack of awareness when it comes to these facts. This issue is definitely not going to be addressed in the mainstream news, and despite plenty of evidence to support it, some people will refuse to even look at or acknowledge that it exists. This is a big problem, our world is changing and we must keep an open mind and be open to new possibilities regarding the nature of our world. It’s 2015, and as we keep moving forward there will be more information coming out that challenges the deeply held, engrained belief systems of many. It’s okay to look at information that goes against what you believe, in fact, it’s needed if we are going to move forward and create a better world for ourselves.

"... You would think the statements above the video, from longtime editors of such major, peer-reviewed scientific journals (apparently, the best in the world) would at least get some mainstream attention ... This is why alternative media is important, especially in a time where more and more people are waking up to what is really happening on our planet."

"7 year volunteer for Senator Pan bedridden after Tdap vaccine

"A close friend of mine is struggling for his life after mysteriously coming down with Guillain-Barre Syndrome and a stroke after receiving a Tdap vaccine. He is a former 7-year volunteer and nemesis of Dr. Richard Pan. In this video we venture to Sutter Roseville to hear what John has to say about Dr. Pan and SB277."

"In a brief mention in the mainstream media that as far as we can tell only Reuters reported, former Merck vaccine scientists, who have become whistleblowers and have had a federal lawsuit pending against Merck since 2010 for vaccine fraud, have filed another court document in their case accusing Merck of withholding evidence and not complying with court orders.

"... Mainstream Media Virtually Silent on 5 Year Old Fraud Case Against Mumps Vaccine

"... Merck is the only manufacturer licensed by the FDA to sell the mumps vaccine in United States, and if it could not show that the vaccine was 95 percent effective, it risked losing its lucrative monopoly, according to the complaint.

"That’s why Merck found it critically important to keep claiming such a high efficacy rate, the complaint states.

"And, Chatom claims, that’s why Merck went to great lengths, including “manipulating its test procedures and falsifying the test results,” to prop up the bogus figure, though it knew that the attenuated virus from which it created the vaccine had been altered over the years during the manufacturing process, and that the quality of the vaccine had degraded as a result."

"Parents who refuse to vaccinate their children can lose up to $11,000 of welfare benefits a year under a new government policy, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced.

"Currently parents can choose to opt out of vaccinations for medical or religious reasons, or by stating they are 'conscientious objectors,' and still receive taxpayer funded child care benefits.

"Under the new 'no jab, no pay' policy, the exemption as a conscientious objector will be removed starting January 2016."

"... It also comes on the heels of a quiet climb in the number of parents opting out of some or all vaccinations ...

"When United Torah Judaism inked its coalition agreement with Likud on April 29, party members triumphantly hailed the reversal of a slew of legislative measures implemented by arch-nemesis Yair Lapid, including an increase in monthly child allowances — but it came with one caveat.

"Under the terms of the coalition deal, which appointed party member Yaakov Litzman deputy health minister, 'the National Insurance law will be amended, such that child allowances will not be given in cases where a parent refuses to vaccinate their child.'

"... some Israeli rights groups are fuming at the decision, accusing the government of discriminating against its weakest populations amid deepening poverty rates ..."

"'Vaccinate All Children Act' does not contain exemptions for reasons of conscience or religion.

"A bill introduced at the federal level earlier this month would require all children attending public and secondary schools nationwide to be immunized as prescribed by the CDC.

"The current version of the bill does not allow vaccine exemptions for reasons of conscience or religion, only providing for medical exemptions to be certified by 'duly registered and licensed physicians.'

"... The administration’s failure thus far to respond to a White House petition signed by over 130 thousand people, seeking the prohibition of 'any laws mandating the force and requirement of vaccinations of any kind' – which met the required signature threshold more than a month ago – is indeed telling."

"To amend the Public Health Service Act to condition receipt by States (and political subdivisions and public entities of States) of preventive health services grants on the establishment of a State requirement for students in public elementary and secondary schools to be vaccinated in accordance with the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and for other purposes."

"For nearly ten years, Brian Hooker has been requesting documents that are kept under tight wraps by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). His more than 100 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests have resulted in copious evidence that the vaccine preservative Thimerosal, which is still used in the flu shot that is administered to pregnant women and infants, can cause autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

"Dr. Hooker, a PhD scientist, worked with two members of Congress to craft the letter to the CDC that recently resulted in his obtaining long-awaited data from the CDC, the significance of which is historic. According to Hooker, the data on over 400,000 infants born between 1991 and 1997, which was analyzed by CDC epidemiologist Thomas Verstraeten, MD, 'proves unequivocally that in 2000, CDC officials were informed internally of the very high risk of autism, non-organic sleep disorder and speech disorder associated with Thimerosal exposure.'"

"The research is hard to ignore, vaccines can trigger autoimmunity with a laundry list of diseases to follow. With harmful and toxic metals as some vaccine ingredients, who is susceptible and which individuals are more at risk?

"... something strange is happening in the world of immunology lately and a small evidence of it is that the Godfather of Autoimmunology [Yehuda Shoenfeld] is pointing to vaccines – specifically, some of their ingredients including the toxic metal aluminum – as a significant contributor to the growing global epidemic of autoimmune diseases. The bigger evidence is a huge body of research that's poured in in the past 15 years, and particularly in the past five years. Take for example, a recent article published in the journal Pharmacological Research in which Shoenfeld and colleagues issue unprecedented guidelines naming four categories of people who are most at risk for vaccine-induced autoimmunity."

"The Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund provides funding for the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program to compensate vaccine-related injury or death claims for covered vaccines administered on or after October 1, 1988."

"Infowars reporter David Knight talks with Michelle Rowton of Nurses Against Mandatory Vaccines about what they aren't telling you about vaccines."

"Disney, who owns Marvel and was coincidentally ground zero for the measles outbreak, is now weaving vaccine propaganda into their screenplays."

"GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is in the news again making headlines after having to settle another major lawsuit bringing the latest total to over $9.1 billion since 2003. This time, it is due to GSK’s product Pandemrix, which was the swine flu vaccine forced upon the public during the pandemic of 2009. According to the International Business Times U.K. Edition, each of the victims is “expected to receive £1 million each.” Peter Todd, a lawyer who represented many of the claimants, told the Sunday Times (U.K.): 'There has never been a case like this before. The victims of this vaccine have an incurable and lifelong condition and will require extensive medication.'"

"Has Mercury Caused One of the Worst Health Crises in American History? During the past 20 years, the frequency of autism occurring in children has skyrocketed from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 68, and the scientific community is no closer to determining a cause. Trace Amounts is the true story of Eric Gladen’s painful journey through mercury poisoning that he believes resulted from a thimerosal-loaded tetanus shot. His discoveries led him on a quest for the scientific truth about the role of mercury poisoning in the Autism epidemic."

Watch the trailer.

"Affirming Kirchhoff's Law of thermal emission, Max Planck conferred upon his own equation and its constants, h and k, universal significance. All arbitrary cavities were said to behave as blackbodies ...

"... Arbitrary cavities do not contain black radiation. Kirchhoff's formulation is invalid. As a direct consequence, the constants h and k do not have fundamental meaning and along with “Planck length”, “Planck time”, “Planck mass”, and “Planck temperature”, lose the privileged position they once held in physics ...

"... For Max Planck, as for his teacher Gustav Kirchhoff, cavity radiation was independent of the nature of the enclosure. In reality, such ideas were not supported by experiment, as arbitrary cavities do not contain black, or normal, radiation. By applying his law to all cavities, the father of quantum theory detached his equation from physical reality itself."

"Scientists [from the University of Glasgow and Heriot-Watt University] have managed to slow photons in free space for the first time. They have demonstrated that applying a mask to an optical beam to give photons a spatial structure can reduce their speed.

"... The work demonstrates that, after passing the light beam through a mask, photons move more slowly through space. Crucially, this is very different to the slowing effect of passing light through a medium such as glass or water, where the light is only slowed during the time it is passing through the material -- it returns to the speed of light after it comes out the other side. The effect of passing the light through the mask is to limit the top speed at which the photons can travel."

"We’re been told that Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his younger brother Dzhokhar, are guilty of detonating two bombs at the Boston Marathon finish line on April 15, 2013. After such a long trial, followed by lengthy sentencing and penalty phases, are we any closer to knowing what really happened that day?

"... As we will demonstrate, there is a strong forensic case to be made for Dzhokhar ‘s innocence."

"Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the man charged with the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013, has been found guilty of all 30 charges he faced. The guilty verdicts mean he is eligible for the death penalty.

"... Tsarnaev’s lawyer, Judy Clarke, has acknowledged that her client 'fully participated' in the bombing, conceding that it was her client shown in surveillance footage leaving behind a bomb hidden in a backpack ...

"... 'We don't deny that Dzhokhar participated in these events, but if not for Tamerlan it would not have happened,' Clarke said in her closing statements."

"In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, public officials including the former Special Agent in Charge of the Boston FBI office Richard DesLauriers and the former governor of the state of Massachusetts told the public about a "chilling" video that all but proved the young Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's guilt. Speaking on NBC's Face the Nation, Governor Deval Patrick said the video shows Tsarnaev placing a backpack down and walking away, just before it explodes.

"Defense attorney David Bruck today told a federal court that what authorities have described as a central piece of the prosecution's evidence against his client "does not exist."

"Attorneys for the accused Boston Marathon bomber opened his trial Wednesday with a stunning statement about their client, charged with killing three people and injuring 264: 'It was him.'

"It was Tamerlan Tsarnaev - whom Dzhokhar killed days after the April 15, 2013 attack by inadvertently running him over with a car as they were trying to flee police - who was the mastermind, defense attorney Judith Clarke told the jury in her opening statement.

"It was Tamerlan Tsarnaev who self-radicalized. It was Dzhokhar who followed him," Clarke said. "The evidence will show that Tamerlan planned and orchestrated and enlisted his brother into this series of horrific acts."

• Susan Smith [convicted of murdering her two sons; sentenced to life imprisonment with a possibility of parole after 30 years]
• Theodore Kaczynski [accused of seven explosions connected to the Unabomber; pleaded guilty; serving life in prison]
• Buford Furrow [accused of the Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting; pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five life terms]
• Zacarias Moussaoui [9/11 suspect, plead guilty, serving a life sentence without parole]
• Eric Rudolph [charged in the Centennial Olympic Park bombing from 1996; pleaded guilty; currently serving life in prison without the possibility of parole]
• Jared Lee Loughner [ January 8, 2011 Tucson, Arizona shooting of congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords; pleaded guilty; serving life in prison without parole]
• Dzhokhar Tsarnaev [Boston Marathon bombing suspect]
  
  Source here.

January 19, 2014

American Sniper Exposed As Giant Hoax


by The Alex Jones Channel
• On YouTube: American Sniper Exposed As Giant Hoax.
• On YouTube: Chris Kyle's Stories Do Not Add Up.

December 31, 2014

HAPPY
NEW
YEAR!
1525 ... 2014 2015 2016 ... 2525


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