#Nato Latest News and Top Stories

[ammg-old2]

The Wagner head, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has accused Moscow’s leadership of lying to the public about the justifications for invading Ukraine, in the latest sign of conflict between Vladimir Putin’s government and one of his most important allies.

In an explosive 30-minute video posted on his Telegram channel, Prigozhin dismissed Moscow’s claims that Kyiv was planning to launch an offensive on the Russian-controlled territories in eastern Ukraine in February 2022.

“There was nothing extraordinary happening on the eve of February 24,” Prigozhin said.

“The ministry of defence is trying to deceive the public and the president and spin the story that there was insane levels of aggression from the Ukrainian side and that they were going to attack us together with the whole Nato block,” the Wagner head said.

Shortly after Russia attacked Ukraine, Putin claimed Moscow’s invasion had thwarted Ukraine’s own plans for “a massive attack on the Donbas, and then on the Crimea”.

Prigozhin also said Russia’s leadership could have avoided the war by negotiating with Ukraine’s president, Volodomyr Zelenskiy.

“When Zelenskiy became president, he was ready for agreements. All that needed to be done was to get off Mount Olympus and negotiate with him,” he said.

Prigozhin has been arguing with top military officials for months, blaming the minister of defence, Sergei Shoigu, for battlefield failures.

However, his latest tirade appeared to be a new escalation, as the warlord directly contradicted Putin’s rationale for the invasion, implying it was based on lies in what amounts to the harshest criticism by any prominent Russian war figure of the decision to attack Ukraine.

“What was the war for? The war needed for Shoigu to receive a hero star … The oligarchic clan that rules Russia needed the war,” he said.

“The mentally ill scumbags decided: ‘It’s OK, we’ll throw in a few thousand more Russian men as cannon fodder. They’ll die under artillery fire, but we’ll get what we want,’” Prigozhin continued.

While the warlord was careful not to directly attack the Russian president, Prigozhin did question several decisions made by Putin, including the Kremlin’s decision to exchange more than 100 captured Azov fighters for Viktor Medvedchuk, a close ally of Putin.

And in one instance, Prigozhin appeared to criticise the Russian president for continuing to self-isolate.

“We still have self-isolation in our country, and therefore none of the decision-makers have yet met [with military generals and discussed how to win the war]. They all talked on the phone.”

Prigozhin, whose Wagner troops have pulled back from Bakhmut, also attacked Russia’s current war efforts in the face of Ukraine’s counteroffensive.

Directly contradicting Putin’s claims that Moscow has fended off Kyiv’s counterattack, Prigozhin also accused the Russian military leadership of lying to the public about the scale of its losses and setbacks in Ukraine.

“The Russian army is retreating in all directions and shedding a lot of blood … What they tell us is the deepest deception.”

[dwestfieldblog]

HEXAGRAM 2023

‘With Love and Knowledge drove out innocence, the key of Joy is disobedience’.

The foul war crimes continue care of dwarf slaphead Vlad and his fat Nosferatu wannabe president Prigozhin of the despicable Wagner group. The latter have just legally registered themselves as a company concerned with ‘management consulting’. Yevgeny was a former petty violent criminal and is now a serious professional criminal, (the scum also rises.) Shame there is nothing possible in democracies as a slow public execution broadcast live. The Russian Chuckle brothers have a vast amount of truly innocent blood on their hands and their degrading end cannot come soon enough. 

The angry irrelevant like me still dream of the day when such bastards are righteously punished. Start at the top and work right down to culpable cretins like Trump, Boris and Matt Hancock. In-between Bolsanaro, Erdogan, above them Myanmar’s army, Kim Wrong ‘Un and Xi. Perhaps just the stocks and rotten cabbages for the Scottish leader and Farage. And castration for the execrable Tate brothers.

Expel Chang Frick from Sweden immediately and let him live in Russia.

Shock news…Brexit seems to be failing (the writer almost gloats…(but he is living inside the nightmare now, not observing from a safe distance) on every level other than the one where the rich keep their untaxable loot safe offshore and command poor hugely replaceable drones to do their bidding. And unless I am not careful/lucky, I will become one of the latter’s ranks very soon. ‘England awakes, England expectorates, all hope evaporates’. Land of hopeless stories…the untied kingdom with an abundance of food banks. This country is worse off than all the other G7 nations in terms of health care, work, pay, time off, culture…fill in the blanks with live ammunition.

A three-day weekend for the king’s coronation to show Britain ‘as it is today’. Diverse, multicultural, woke, vapid, amoral, racist and disintegrating? If the prison island is still floating after the nuclear tsunami from Putin’s submarines. And some cretins are proposing Boris ‘Let the bodies pile high’ Johnson as leader of NATO. Yes, that would be a GOOD idea, wouldn’t it?

And oh, get me OUT of this ridiculous country, a trigger warning has been placed on The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge… a content warning of ‘animal death’, ie ‘I shot the albatross’.  For feck’s sake, really? Aside from the fact the poem is a classic masterpiece and the action heralds a long stream of disaster and bad luck for the sailor (and thus its own warning perhaps), this is the latest in a heart crippling list of utter cow manure ideas from MORONS for the new generation of the weak. Sooner or later…obituaries themselves will come with a trigger warning. Death is inevitable you lily livered wusses.

‘Religion is a business and in business you have to protect your copyright’

‘When trade stops, war starts’ Chinese saying. Indeed, and their recent pronouncements at Davos economic Forum indicate a desire to re-join and open up in the high holy name of business. Covid rampant, birth-rate falling there for the first time in sixty years but nothing good for all those murdered or ‘ re-educated’ for the sake of noble Communist ideas…and the unwilling donors of Falun Gong members who had their clean organs harvested for the rich. Winnie the Pooh is a pig, four legs good, two legs better,eh? All the blank paper protestors vanishing, forced to sign a blank arrest warrant. ‘Picking quarrels and provoking trouble’ is the charge against silent protests. 10 years max. Cant rule without being cruel eh? Fk the Chinese government. Good luck Cao Zhixin.

Elon Musk the saviour of Twitter and reinstating Trump, quoted ‘The people have spoken, vox populi, vox dei’…interesting to note the full version from which that Latin comes is ‘And those people should not be listened to who keep saying the voice of the people is the voice of God, since the riotousness of the crowd is always very close to madness’. Reminds me again of Churchill’s quote ‘the best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with an average voter’. The apparent all powering desire of Boris to be seen as a latter-day Winston rather than what he is, a pound shop Trump is somewhere between hilarious and terrifying. But aren’t most things?

Pronoun badges. An advert which proudly announces you are a tosser. Oh I am not in a good enough mood to follow my principles but in the safe space neophobes verses the it’s fun to explore neophiles, I despise both extreme left and right, the woke and anyone else dumb enough not to think for themselves. The Dalai Lama (goddess bless him) I am not. Be yourself, everyone else is taken. Explore, experiment, harm none but do what you Will.

‘For a Fuhrer to exist, there must be masses with a submissive imprint on that circuit’. Reality is What You Make It. R.A.W. Hail Victory, arf.

‘And since we’re all quantum systems, we’re in all possible states until we take our measurements, as it were’.Geddit? More Robert Anton Wilson.

San Francisco’s Open AI, backed by Q Onan’s favourite antichrist Bill Gates has unleashed ChatGPT…which, amongst other drear functions, has been set to task writing songs. A machine writing of emotions and images it will never experience might almost qualify as a type of psychopath with a good imagination (and there are a few such famous folk who have had their books published) but cold pure logic and random word play will never inspire any humans other than those most similar to machines. Poetry, fascination and longing expressed without a soul of light or a mind of lust, fire and loss. It does however make sense in these times of virtual Meta reality tv that certain types of primates might attain a numb thrill as their spirit slows to inertia. Souls in total stasis.

Oh God, ‘How art thou Nothing when thou art most of all?’  

Carer’s Breakdown Diary …Five weeks ago I came downstairs at 7 am to find my mother kneeling on the carpet with her head on the bed, leggings and pants down, surrounded by excrement and broken glass because of falling from the commode. I carried her over the mess, took her to the freezing kitchen, washed her feet and checked for cuts, washed her legs, got her dressed. Carried her back into the sitting room, brought her pills and a drink and spent two hours cleaning the carpet. The glass of water had been on her bedside table and I was an idiot to have left it there. Just luck there were no cuts. She hadn’t called for help. Just waited for me, could have been there for thirty mins.  After hospital, thirty eight days at the home she bought 33 years ago and still asking me ‘When can I go home?’

Mum goes walkabout at night, swears she is unaware of the care with which she removes obstacles which I later set up to hear if she left the room. Three months ago I woke at 5am to hear the landing creaking and stopped her just as she was stepping into the darkness of the top stair. Got a baby gate and was told it impinged on her civil liberties by a social worker. Moved her bed downstairs and woke early to hear her trying to come upstairs. I put Christmas lights around the commode and 4 sensor lights and this still didn’t help enough at night to remember. Maximum of four hours sleep every night, sleeping with one ear open for thumps. I have said exhausted angry things to mum that if I heard anyone saying to their ill, elderly mother, I would punch them into a hospital.  

Her phases of not knowing me at all are increasing. Two weeks of mum in a care home…respite they call it, or Carers Break, to give me a break. (She lost 3kg there and already looked emaciated before going.) I visited mum last week; she was sitting in the hall in pyjamas I did not know. Did not recognise her with head slumped, had to get on my knees to look carefully. Spent thirty mins with mum then went to her room to unpack some extra clothes I had brought. Returned ‘You can’t sit there, David will be back soon’.  

Today I spent an hour looking at all the photos mum saved of my life in Prague and for the first time since coming back in June, I felt the pang of missing Czech. Half of my life in Bohemia. I also found many photos I had never seen of mum at all stages of her life, actually smiling in many of them in our old garden or her on holiday in Guernsey and happy. A small but detailed diary she had kept of her two weeks there which I found in a box next to my childish diary of a holiday in the same place along with many many other memories. I spent over an hour howling with tears and making animal noises. Guilt and pain. Death cannot exist but decay seems to be bloody real. Fk cancer.

Was administering oral morphine at home in drops after having to call district nurses to come at 4am to inject. My mother is eating and drinking less and less, closing down. I will stop here for this one. February 3rd, mum in a hospice for four days, refusing all pills, so only morphine pump slow release. Visiting tomorrow and will be unlikely to want to re edit or revisit this piece. 

Stay well and Love more. Much more.

[timesofocean]

NATO commits to defending territory of alliance: Scholz

New Post has been published on https://www.timesofocean.com/nato-commits-to-defending-every-centimeter-of-territory-of-alliance-scholz/

NATO commits to defending territory of alliance: Scholz

Brussels (The Times Groupe)- Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday that the military alliance (NATO) is committed to defending every inch of its territory.

Olaf Scholz said Germany would bolster NATO’s eastern flank through its contribution.

“We will create a strong brigade, we discussed that with each other and will have to work on that,” Scholz said at a news conference alongside Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins, and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.

Scholz said that Germany’s decision to allocate a $107.3 billion (€100 billion) “special fund” to modernize its armed forces will strengthen NATO and make the country “the strongest armed forces in Europe and one of the strongest in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).”

EU countries and Germany will continue to support Ukraine as long as it is needed.

“Germany is one of the main supporters of Ukraine in terms of military, and probably only the United States provides greater support than us,” said Scholz.

Nauseda said the leaders discussed Russia’s war on Ukraine and how Europe should respond.

“We must build a strong response and strengthen our defenses in the face of Russian aggression,” said Nauseda, adding “we agreed on the need to reinforce defense capabilities in the Baltic states by increasing the number of deployed troops, strengthening air and sea defense.”

We must realize that Russia’s military threat won’t go away. It will remain a long-term threat to the entire Euro-Atlantic area,” he said.

[republicansaredomesticterrorists]

No kidding. The Chinese navy is a disaster that is completely lacking in command and control capabilities. Studies have shown they have the almost complete inability to operate, or even navigate, outside of their home waters. China never had a naval tradition and their giant fleet is a paper tiger, no pun intended. Their ships are obsolete before they are even completed and their electronics are practically unserviceable. They carry massive quantities of bottled water because they lack even the most basic desalination technology. Nearly every attempt to operate outside of territorial waters has ended in embarrassment with their ships being towed by foreign ships to foreign harbors for repairs. Their aircraft are decades behind ours in terms of avionics and would be no match whatsoever for our planes and missiles. Essentially the Chinese and Russians are at about a 1980 level of technology in the skies and not even that at sea. The main reason every bad actor is rushing to acquire nuclear weapons is because their militaries have become hilariously outclassed by ours. The rapid invasion and defeat of Iraq, at the time the #4 military, sent shockwaves through China, Russia, and every non-NATO country when they realized how impossibly they were outgunned.

So why the lecture? Our military industrial complex wants us to believe the Chinese, Russians, North Koreans, etc are a dire threat so we will continue to throw trillions of dollars into defense procurement. Now I’m a realist and rightly believe we need a large and technologically advanced military with a two ocean navy. That being said, our current level of spending is out of control and detracts from every sector of government and prevents us from having a modern compassionate society. Even reducing our military budget by a few percent could vastly improve virtually every aspect of American life. That reduction in spending should not come out of payroll either as our servicemen and women already live below the poverty line. This is one of the factors in their disenchantment and easily radicalization by the right.

The F-35 fighter program cost as much as the stimulus package but is regarded as a failure and massive waste of money. Why, because the defense industry wants contracts and gets them. The plane was made to be a one size fits all multi-purpose weapon that could fulfill all the roles needed by the military; ground attack, fighter, tactical bomber, anti-radar strike, etc. It was supposed to supplant many different planes and be the sole combat aircraft used by the Air Force, Navy, and Marines. Not too digress but the very existence of the Marines is redundant and a waste trillions doing tasks that can be performed by the other branches. The F-35 is a Jack of all trades, master of none aircraft. It lacks the speed necessary to be an interceptor, the armament and maneuverability to be an air superiority fighter, the range and armaments to be a ground attack fighter, the payload to be a bomber, etc. It was also supposed to be simpler in repair and parts procurement since it would be the only plane in use but skyrocketing costs negated that. It’s actually inferior to the F-16 which was designed in the late 70’s and kept current with the latest avionics instrumentation and weapons systems. The whole F-35 project was deemed obsolete before it began when the Air Force refused to give up it’s F-22’s which are by far and away the most technologically advanced and best performing air superiority craft in the skies. Faster, more maneuverable, longer ranged, better armed, and with the best avionics package available.

The F-35 is just the latest in Republikkkan boondoggling to divert massive amounts of money into an overpriced and insatiable military industrial complex. This traces its roots back to Reagan who essentially put the country on a war footing to increase national prestige and attempt to bring us out of a recession. Reagan had mixed results but remains the architect of the right wing neo-Confederate racist/corporate fascist state we currently inhabit. To give the F-35 some credit, it has been making some money back through sales to foreign governments, minus the avionics that give us the cutting edge. However the profits from said sales are going to the defense contractors and not the government.

In summation, or long story short, we do need an advanced military but there needs to be realistic limits on defense spending. The Republikkkans are owned by, or in some cases the owners/investors in, the defense contractors. Again to be fair there are a few Dems who have defense plants in their districts and pander to them but they are in the minority and just opportunists. The Republikkkans are the enemy of everything we want and need. Profits over people. War for profit. Racism and evangelical perverted fascism to control the deplorable foot soldiers. Outright fascism when everything else doesn’t go to plan.

Progressives, liberals, Dems, we are all fighting a well funded and coordinated vast network that has been operating like a well oiled machine for decades. We must take back the state houses to end the repressive conservative social agenda. We must take back the federal government to end the backwards heartless laws that punish the poor and middle class. We must restructure red state educational systems. We must get Fox News off of every single Department of Defense tv. Once we have control we can reduce defense spending by just enough to fund our entire social agenda while still remaining strong and secure. We have to be realistic as bad foreign actors will not sit back if we become weak but will terrorize their neighbors and disrupt the world economy. Frankly I can’t believe China didn’t try to take Taiwan, or Russia take the Ukraine, while T-rump was president. I think they were unprepared for how weak, compliant, and disorganized he was. Had he made it into a second term we could have seen massive warfare worldwide.

Rant concluded thanks for reading and following. All constructive comments are welcome in the notes. I do make an effort to read all comments from all posts. This also serves as a good way to locate and block MAGAt infiltrators.

[newstfionline]

Monday, April 26, 2021

California ponders slow growth future (AP) In 1962, when California’s population of more than 17 million surpassed New York’s, Gov. Pat Brown celebrated by declaring a state holiday. In the coming days, when the U.S. Census Bureau is expected to release the state’s latest head count, there probably will be no celebrations. Over the past decade, California’s average annual population growth rate slipped to 0.06%—lower than at any time since at least 1900. The state is facing the prospect of losing a U.S. House seat for the first time in its history, while political rivals Texas and Florida add more residents and political clout. The reality behind the slowed growth isn’t complicated. Experts point to three major factors: declining birth rates; a long-standing trend of fewer people moving in from other states than leaving; and a drop in international immigration, particularly from Asia, which has made up for people moving to other states. California is in the throes of a yearslong housing crisis as building fails to keep up with demand, forcing more people onto the streets and making home ownership unattainable for many. The state has the nation’s highest poverty rate when housing is taken into account. Its water resources are consistently taxed, and the state has spent more than half of the past decade in drought. Freeways are jammed as more people move to the suburbs, and worsening wildfires are destroying homes and communities.

Armenians Celebrate Biden’s Genocide Declaration as Furious Turkey Summons US Ambassador (Newsweek) Armenia celebrated President Joe Biden’s recognition of the massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during World War I as genocide on Saturday, as Turkey summoned the U.S. ambassador and strongly condemned the move. In acknowledging of the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians as genocide, Biden went further than his predecessors in the White House after years of careful language on the issue. The move risks fracturing America’s relationship with Turkey, a longtime U.S. ally and NATO partner. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sent Biden a letter praising his statement. Meanwhile, officials in Turkey quickly denounced Biden’s remarks and summoned the US Ambassador to Ankara. In a statement, Turkey said its foreign minister, Sedat Onal, has told ambassador David Satterfield that Biden’s remarks caused “wounds in ties that will be hard to repair.” Onal also reportedly told Satterfield that Turkey “rejected it, found it unacceptable and condemned in the strongest terms.”

Ahead of Geneva talks, Cypriots march for peace (Reuters) Thousands of Cypriots from both sides of a dividing line splitting their island marched for peace on Saturday, ahead of informal talks in Geneva next week on the future of negotiations. With some holding olive branches, people walked in the bright spring sunshine around the medieval walls circling the capital, Nicosia. The United Nations has called for informal talks of parties in the Cyprus dispute in Geneva on April 27-29, in an attempt to look for a way forward in resuming peace talks that collapsed in mid-2017. Prospects for progress appear slim, with each side sticking to their respective positions. Greek Cypriots say Cyprus should be reunited under a federal umbrella, citing relevant United Nations resolutions. The newly-elected Turkish Cypriot leader has called for a two-state resolution. Cyprus was split in a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek-inspired coup, though the seeds of separation were sown earlier, when a power-sharing administration crumbled in violence in 1963, just three years after independence from Britain.

World’s Biggest Covid Crisis Threatens Modi’s Grip on India (Bloomberg) As India recorded more than 234,000 new Covid-19 infections last Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held an election rally in the West Bengal town of Asansol and tweeted: “I’ve never seen such huge crowds.” The second wave of the coronavirus has since grown into a tsunami. India is now the global coronavirus hotspot, setting records for the world’s highest number of daily cases. Images of hospitals overflowing with the sick and dying are flooding social media, as medical staff and the public alike make desperate appeals for oxygen supplies. The political and financial capitals of New Delhi and Mumbai are in lockdown, with only the sound of ambulance sirens punctuating the quiet, but there’s a growing chorus of blame directed at Modi over his government’s handling of the pandemic. “At this crucial time he is fighting for votes and not against Covid,” said Panchanan Maharana, a community activist from the state of Odisha, who previously supported Modi’s policies but will now look for alternative parties to back. “He is failing to deliver—he should stop talking and focus on saving people’s lives and livelihoods.” Modi is seen by many as a polarizing leader whose brand of nationalism that promotes the dominance of Hindus has appalled and enraptured the nation. Whether the pandemic will dent his appeal remains unclear.

ASEAN leaders tell Myanmar coup general to end killings (AP) Southeast Asian leaders demanded an immediate end to killings and the release of political detainees in Myanmar in an emergency summit Saturday with its top general and coup leader who, according to Malaysia’s prime minister, did not reject them outright. The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations also told Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing during the two-hour talks in Jakarta that a dialogue between contending parties in Myanmar should immediately start, with the help of ASEAN envoys. Daily shootings by police and soldiers since the Feb. 1 coup have killed more than 700 mostly peaceful protesters and bystanders, according to several independent tallies. The messages conveyed to Min Aung Hlaing were unusually blunt and could be seen as a breach of the conservative 10-nation bloc’s bedrock principle forbidding member states from interfering in each other’s affairs. But Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said that policy should not lead to inaction if a domestic situation “jeopardizes the peace, security, and stability of ASEAN and the wider region” and there is international clamor for resolute action.

Sunken missing Indonesian submarine found broken into pieces (Reuters) A missing Indonesian submarine has been found, broken into at least three parts, at the bottom of the Bali Sea, army and navy officials said on Sunday, as the president sent condolences to relatives of the 53 crew. Navy chief of staff Yudo Margono said the crew were not to blame for the accident and that the submarine did not experience a blackout, blaming “forces of nature”. A sonar scan on Saturday detected the submarine at 850 metres (2,790 feet), far beyond the Nanggala’s diving range.

At least 82 die in Baghdad COVID hospital fire (Reuters) A fire sparked by an oxygen tank explosion killed at least 82 people and injured 110 at a hospital in Baghdad that had been equipped to house COVID-19 patients, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on Sunday. “We urgently need to review safety measures at all hospitals to prevent such a painful incident from happening in future,” spokesman Khalid al-Muhanna told state television, announcing the toll.

Struggling to stay afloat during the pandemic, people turn to strangers online for help (Washington Post) The pandemic has been disastrous for millions of families across the United States. Roughly 8.5 million jobs have not returned since February 2020. Meanwhile, more than 564,000 people have died of the coronavirus, and 100,000 small businesses closed permanently in just the first three months of the crisis. The government has provided help, including through multiple relief packages that sent out three rounds of stimulus checks and extended unemployment benefits. But for many people it hasn’t been enough—or come quickly enough—to avoid eviction, put food on the table and cover a growing pile of monthly bills. Enter crowdfunding, which has taken off more than ever in the past year as a way to supplement income. Sites like GoFundMe, Kickstarter or even Facebook allow people and businesses to establish a cause—or set up a page laying out why they (or someone they are raising the money for) need money, and what the cash will go toward. After demand spiked last year, GoFundMe in October formalized a new category specifically for rent, food and bills. More than $100 million had been raised at that time year-to-date for basic living expenses in tens of thousands of campaigns during 2020—a 150 percent increase over 2019. But a year into the pandemic, some individual crowdfunding campaigns are reporting little success raising donations to cover basic expenses. As pandemic fatigue worsens, it’s getting hard to raise cash for basic expenses this way. Daryl Hatton, CEO and founder of FundRazr said when he browsed through the campaigns for basic expenses, most were getting little or no donations. “I saw a whole bunch of zeros,” he said. Crowdfunding still tends to work best when people have a compelling story to tell.

Older people are the one group egalitarians discriminate against (Quartz) Young people have always been critical of their elders. What’s noteworthy about the way millennials and Zoomers talk about Baby Boomers today isn’t their disdain but its particulars: They resent the older generation because they feel shortchanged, deprived of promising futures. Gen Z, for example, famously channeled their frustration with the generation they hold responsible for issues like climate change and wealth inequality into the simple, sarcastic meme “OK boomer.” Vaccines aside, these economic frustrations are grounded in reality. At the same time, younger people’s systemic objections to the distribution of wealth and power in the US can wind up curdling into ageism. A new paper, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, highlights the importance of guarding against this bias. Over 80% of Americans between the ages of 50 and 80 say they experience ageism in their everyday lives, according to a 2020 poll from the University of Michigan. “I think many people overlook ageism as a form of prejudice in American society,” says Ashley Martin, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at Stanford University, who co-authored the paper with Michael North, an assistant professor at New York University. “It is often overlooked as an “ism” altogether, not only being condoned but often even promoted.” The paper identifies a surprising link between ageism and egalitarianism. The more participants in the study supported the principle of equality for all, the more likely they were to be biased against older people.

[alexsmitposts]

Russia – Nord Stream 2 vs. Poisoning of Alexei Navalny Wednesday, 2 August – all German TV channels – mainstream media were focused unilaterally on the alleged poisoning of Russian opposition critique, Alexei Navalny. Two weeks after he has been flown from Tomsk in Siberia to Moscow, when he fell ill on the plane and the airliner had to make an emergency landing in Omsk. Navalny was hospitalized in Omsk, put in an artificial coma and closely observed. His family wanted him immediately to be flown out of Russia to Berlin, Germany, to get western attention and western treatment. So, the story goes. At first the medical staff at Omsk hospital said that Navalny’s health was not stable enough for a transport of this kind. A few days later they gave the green late for a transport. Berlin sent a hospital plane – at German taxpayer’s cost – to fly the “poisoned” patient to Berlin, where during the last 12 days he has been in an artificial coma in Berlin’s University Hospital “Charité”. At least that’s what the government reports. After 11 days, finally “scientists” – supposedly military toxicologists, have discovered that Navalny was poisoned with military grade nerve gas Novichok. Military grade! – It reminds vividly of the other bizarre Novichok case – Sergei and Yulia Skripal, father and daughter, who were found in 2018 on a park bench unconscious, about 12 km down the road form the British top-secret military lab Porton Down in Wiltshire, one of the few labs in the world that still produce Novichok. The immediate reaction of Britain and the world then, like today: Putin did it! Sergei Skripal was a Russian double agent, who was released from Russia a decade earlier and lived peacefully in England. Russia claims having stopped producing the chemical weapon after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Isn’t it strange that the Skripals as well as Navalny survived? And that after having been poisoned with what military expert claim to be the deadliest nerve agent ever? Although nobody has seen the Skripals after they were hospitalized 2 years ago, it seems they are still alive. Were they perhaps given US-British shelter under the guise of the so-called US-witness protection program – a full new identity, hiding in plain view? The immediate question is, why would Mr. Putin poison his adversary? That would be the stupidest thing to do. Everybody know much too well that Mr. Putin is not stupid. Alexei Navalny wasn’t even a serious contender. His popularity was less than 5%. Compare this with Mr. Putin’s close to 80% approval rating by the Russian population. Navalny is known as a rightwing activist and troublemaker. Anybody who suggests such an absurdity is outright crazy. If there would have been a plot to get rid of Navalny – why would he be poisoned with the deadliest nerve gas there is – and, as he survives, being allowed to be flown out to the west- literally into the belly of the beast? That would be even more crazy. Who in the world could be stupid enough to believe this absurdity? Yet the mainstream media keep hammering it down without mercy, without even allowing for the slightest doubt – down into the brains of the suspected brainwashed Germans and world populations. But the German population is the least brainwashed of all Europe. In fact, Germans are the most awaken of the globe’s wester populace. It clearly shows when they resist their government’s (and the 193 nations governments’ around the world) covid tyranny with a peaceful Berlin protest of 1 August of 1.3 million people in he streets. Nevertheless, Madame Merkel’s reaction was so ferocious on September 2 on TV and with the media, as well as talking to leaders from around the world on how to react to this latest Russian atrocity and how to punish and sanction President Putin, that even conservative politicians and some mainstream journalist started wondering – what’s going on? It’s a debateless accusation of Russia. There are not even alternatives being considered. The simplest and most immediate question one ought to ask in such circumstances is “cui bono” – who benefits? – ut no. The answer to this question would clearly show that President Putin and Russia do not benefit from this alleged poisoning. So, who does? The evolving situation is so absurd that not a single word coming out of the German Government can be believed. It all sounds like a flagrant lie; like an evil act of smearing Russia without a reason, and that exactly at the time when Europe, led by Germany was about to improve relations with Russia. The gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 is a vivid testimony for closer relations between Germany, and by association Europe – with Russia – or is it? One of Joseph Goebbels (Hitler’s propaganda Minister) famous sayings is when a lie is repeated enough it becomes the truth. Peculiarly enough, and without any transit-thought, the German rightwing, the CDU-party in particular came immediately forward with recommending, no, demanding – an immediate halt of the Nord Stream 2 project – canceling the contract with Russia. The “biggest punishment” for Putin. “It will hurt Russia deep in their already miserable down-trodden economy”. Those were the angry anti-Russian voices. Another lie. The Russian economy is doing well, very well, as compared to most western economies, despite covid. None of members of other German parties were interviewed, for example Die Linke (the Left), or the SPD – the Social Democratic party. None. None of the medical doctors or “scientists” who were treating Navalny at Charité and who discovered the deadly poison (but not deadly enough) in Navalny’s body, were interviewed. Nor was the former Canceller, Gerhard Schröder (1998-2005) interviewed about his opinion. Schroeder, a member of the SPD, is one of the master minds of Nord Stream 2 and is currently the Board of Nord Stream AG and of Rosneft. Would he think that Mr. Putin was stupid enough to kill this unifying project by poisoning a right-wing activist, a non-adversary? Of course not. Therefore, who benefits? The United States has for years been objecting vividly and voraciously against this pipeline. Trump: “Why should we pay for NATO to defend Germany, when Germany buys gas from Russia and makes herself dependent on Russia?” – He added, “We offer Germany and Europe all the gas and energy they need.” Yes, the US is offering “fracking gas”.There are countries in Europe whose Constitution would not allow buying fracking gas, due to the environmentally damaging fracking process. Is it possible that this was another one of these brilliant acts of the CIA or another US intelligence (sic) agency? – Or a combination of the German Bundesnachrichtendienst(German Federal Intelligence Service) – or an EU-NATO trick? By now it’s no longer a secret that NATO runs Brussels, or at least calls the shot on issues of US interests concerning the European Union or its member states. Think about it. Killing (or – so far – poisoning) a Russian opposition leader to kill the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 project? – This is certainly a crime within the realm and “competence” of the US Government in general and its western allies.

[ckentdaily]

Welcome to the World

“Gosh, I’m awful sorry,” Clark coughed, after inhaling half of the finishing powder that the makeup artist, Alice, just applied. Alice was nice. Alice only asked him questions about Bruce Wayne and whether or not the little husky mix he adopted was as cute as she seemed in the photos. After Clark had reassured her that, yes, Ace was adorable and Bruce was spoiling her, he shook her hand with both of his and thanked her twice.

The dressing room was silent again. He stood up and stretched his legs, after prying the narrow wooden chair from his hips. No one on set had expected him to be this big, which resulted in some last minute seating changes... but only once he was in front of the camera. A little discomfort now was fine. He just didn’t want to be remembered backstage for breaking a chair.

“Ok, Clark. Let’s decide who you’re gonna be today.” He squinted at himself in the mirror, not liking how the powder obscured the pores in his face. He leaned against the vanity and scrunched up his nose, then rolled his shoulders back. With his tie tucked and a confident smile, he stared at his reflection. One hand in his pocket. Feet shoulder width apart.

Too much like Superman.

He rolled his shoulders forward, higher by his ears, and let his weight shift to the right. He hunched forward and made sure his glasses were high on the bridge of his nose, with the black rim obscuring the space between his eyelids and brow. The lens were thick enough that his eyelashes would barely be seen, much less noticed.

Too much like Clark. Old Clark.

The Clark that hid from opportunities like these, and only scraped by in job interviews, scuttling through parties along the back wall until he faded into the background.

Clark didn’t want to be that Clark today. He didn’t want to be that Clark ever again if it meant he couldn’t be effective.

He straightened up, and took his hand out of his pocket, but he smiled again. Just a disarming, shy one, but enough that he didn’t look like he was prepared to jump out of his skin at any moment.

Better.

He buttoned his blazer and opened the door, just as he heard one of the crew telling Brandon, from sound, to grab the guest and bring him out.

“Showtime, huh?”

--

“If you’re just joining us, I’m Chuck Wilton, and as the Ukraine scandal unfolds, WGBS is bringing you an exclusive interview with the journalist, Clark Kent, who broke the story. Welcome Clark.” The introduction rolled off the older, gaunt looking man’s tongue with a practiced ease. Chuck appeared on millions of screens across Metropolis and the country for more than a decade. He was a familiar, no nonsense face in American homes.

And he was still too conservative for Clark’s liking. He could respect the man’s commitment to his work while disagreeing with his personal politics. Clark couldn’t relax entirely, even as he shook Chuck’s hand and sat down in the appropriately sized swivel chair, on his side of the desk. He knew not to close his eyes when the pitcher’s planning a curveball. Clark just didn’t know when it would come.

“Thanks for havin’ me, Chuck. I’m glad to be here,” Clark kept the drawl in his voice, as he let the button loose and set down his typed notes in front of him.

Chuck first asked about Clark’s conversations with Ambassador William Taylor, envoy to Ukraine, who returned stateside to testify in front of Congress about the President’s international transgressions. Clark answered calmly, laying out the timeline of the President withholding national aid to force another government to investigate his political opponents.

“That’s correct. President Trump asked for Kiev to investigate former Vice President Biden and would not release security aid until this was done. Requesting that a foreign government conduct a politically motivated investigation with the promise of something in return is not only illegal, but it’s not how the United States conducts foreign affairs.”

“And this single phone call, that we don’t have access to the transcript for, is enough for Speaker Pelosi to file the articles of impeachment? The testimony of a single civil servant has launched these closed door hearings in the SCIF?”

“Not just any civil servant, Chuck. Mr. Taylor is a decorated veteran who has served in nonpartisan roles under both Democratic and Republican administrations since 1985. He worked for the Department of Energy and NATO, ‘fore he began working internationally for the State Department.” Clark pushed back, still smiling, but dropping his hands to his lap to keep from gesturing as he spoke. “I think that in the coming days, you’ll see more and more folks comin’ forward, but this is on top of the previous and documented abuses of power by this administration since 2016.”

“Pelosi has hemmed and hawwed about keeping the scope narrow. If this is the event that finally lights the spark of impeachment, why couch it in the context of those other allegations? Isn’t the public ready to move on from the spectacle of the Speaker grasping at straws?” Chuck fixed Clark with a look over his glasses.

“I think that the latest Pew polls showing public support for a removal of the President from office answers that question better than either of us could. I think it can be argued that it may not have been politically viable to move to impeachment before now, ‘specially in light of the GOP’s shameful display yesterday in the SCIF.”

“Don’t they have the right to protest peacefully, as any other American group?”

Clark’s smile grew tight. “They’d have that right if it was an actual protest, but you’ve got to call it like it is, Chuck. They committed a federal crime. The two dozen or so elected officials barged into the SCIF, brought their cellphones in with them and tweeted from inside. The SCIF is a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility. These rooms are designed to handle sensitive materials while matters of national security’re bein’ discussed.”

“They weren’t protesting, Mr. Wilton,” Clark took a deep breath, “They were obstructing justice and protesting the very rules they put into place durin’ the era of the filibuster, under President Obama. Electronics weren’t supposed to be in that room, because of the high risk of compromise by foreign agencies. Representative Gaetz knows that."

Chuck hummed unhappily, “Even if they simply wanted to be in the room during the hearing? Isn’t that a reasonable request?”

“If they were one of the Republicans on the congressional Intelligence committees that were supposed to be there? Certainly. But the fact is that those representatives-- from both parties, I might add-- were already in the room. Closed-door testimonies were standard practice durin’ the impeachment inquiries into former Presidents Clinton and Nixon.” Clark worked his jaw and continued. “Just because our current President might act like he’s above the law, doesn’t mean that his party should feel entitled to do the same.”

“I see. It says here that you’ve been at the Planet for two years?” Chuck opted to pivot, leaning back in his chair.

“Yessir, two years this December.” Clark clasped his hand in front of him, on top of the desk. His smile brightened again.

“Where have they been hiding you? Welcome to the world, Mr. Kent.”

“Aha, thank you, Chuck,” Clark laughed nervously.

“Why haven’t we heard from you before? It says here that this is the first time you’ve written on national politics for them. The last time your name was in the news, you were the news. A puff piece from a gossip columnist in Gotham about your current relationship.”

“I’m grateful to my editor, Perry White, for giving me the opportunity to inform the American people about what’s happening on Capitol Hill. I think that they want to hear more about if our Congress is going to impeach a sitting president in an election year, than they do about my personal life.” Clark glanced away and then forced himself to meet Chuck’s gaze again. Old Clark wouldn’t be allowed to finish this interview. “Wouldn’t you agree, Chuck?”

“I would.” Chuck smiled for the first time. His teeth were straight, but yellowed. “But they would also like to know if they’re receiving their news from a reliable source. What would you say to those that might think you’re just trying to keep your name in the papers?”

“The Daily Planet prides itself on integrity. That’s been true since the paper was founded. I think that this story could have been written by any of its reporters. My answer to those folks would be simple, Chuck: the article speaks for itself. Our investigative team has complied page by page summaries of the ambassador’s testimony, cross-referenced with additional witnesses since the probe began.”

Clark paused and turned away from Chuck to stare directly at the camera.

“Stories like this aren’t meant to catapult any one person into stardom or notoriety, they’re meant to keep hard-working Americans abreast of the issues that will have profound impacts on their lives. Make no mistake, Chuck, the American people have asked for the president to be held to the same standards as any other citizen. They have a right to know that some of the men and women that they voted into office aren’t only talkin’ the talk, they’re walkin’ the walk, and they’re ready to check the Executive Branch.”

“Powerful words from a new face. I’d like to thank today’s guest, Clark Kent, from The Daily Planet. I’m sure this won’t be the last we’ll see of him.” Chuck gestured to Clark, who nodded and waved, and then a relieved looking woman with a clipboard and a large headset gave the cue to cut to commercial.

[dharmishi-blog]

Top 5 Website Designing Companies in India

Top 5 Website Designing companies in India, who can help you in starting your online business by designing a dazzling website according to your business model.

A Good website reflects not only your business but also it is one of the main factors why a potential customer would convert into Client. Good website design helps increase traffic and  Drive new clients that lead to growing business. A wisely designed landing page serves better than any poorly made website. Good SEO techniques and highly optimized websites make a good impression of your business process.

Below are some of India’s best website design companies which are highly recommendable, if you are planning for a boost in your business.

Dharmishi Technologies

WE MAKE BUSINESSES LOOK BETTER

2012 | Kanpur| India

Dharmishi Technologies is a web design and branding agency based in India, providing world-class creative digital services to businesses that want to grow online. Focusing on excellent results, we use our skills and resources to help you meet your digital requirements. We believe in providing the services that you and your business deserve. Using the latest tools and technologies and streamlined process, we Guarantee 100% Customer Satisfaction. From the initial idea to the launch of your website, from a startup to a well-established business, we help you grow your business online. Get in touch with us now to know more about us.

Bianor

Custom Software Development

1998 | Pune | India

For about 21 years, we have been designing and developing unique software solutions for leading technology, media, and telecommunication companies. Bianor employs highly skilled staff in its Sofia and New York offices. Certifications and Awards: Bianor is NATO AQAP 2110 & 2210 and ISO 9001:2015 certified.

WebFX

Digital Marketing That Drives Results

1996 | Mumbai | India

WebFX, Inc offers a wide array of website design, SEO services, web development, and Internet marketing services aimed at establishing a unique and highly effective online presence for our clients. As a result of our knowledge, experience, and passion, we’ve become a leading force in redesigning the web as we know it.

DockYard, Inc

Custom Software, Mobile and Web Apps

2010 | Delhi | India

The DockYard is a digital product agency offering custom software, mobile, and web application development consulting.  We provide exceptional professional services in strategy, user experience, design, and full-stack engineering to bring brilliant digital ideas into being for innovative brands such as Netflix, Apple, Zipcar, McGraw-Hill, Nasdaq, Harvard, Fidelity Investments, Constant Contact, CollegeVine, and WNYC.

Lounge Lizard

1998 | Mumbai | India

Best of Breed Websites & Digital Marketing

Lounge Lizard has been perfecting user experience Web design for 21 years. Our proven methodologies of Website design yield high sales lead conversions, lead capture, and increase sales. All designs are 100% custom. We never use templates. The Websites we produce are created from powerful brand communication strategies that tell “the right” brand story.

Conclusion

With the sudden increase in demand for having a one of a kind web presence, the demand for Web design companies has also increased. Now choose the right Web Design Company from the top 5 list, who design search engine friendly and innovative website that brings great online success for your business.

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

Every time some high-level member of the Trump administration leaves, the staff at FiveThirtyEight debate whether it’s a big deal — and therefore whether we should cover it. Sometimes the consequences of these departures are over-hyped. Sometimes the consequences aren’t clear, so there’s not much to do but speculate. But Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis’s resignation on Thursday is a big deal. A really big deal.

First and foremost, Mattis quit in protest, naming Trump’s Russia policies along the way. The reasons behind most departures from the Trump administration up to now have been kind of opaque. A person quits or resigns, and we’re not totally sure why. They rarely give direct reasons for their departure — we’re left only with unnamed sources speculating in news stories. Mattis’s exit was different. On Department of Defense letterhead, he explained that he was stepping down not because he was tired of government service or wanted to spend more time with his family, but because he disagreed with Trump on significant policy issues. Mattis said that the U.S. needed to be more confrontational with countries who embrace an “authoritarian model,” and named Russia and China as those countries. The obvious implication is that Mattis basically agrees with Trump’s critics outside of the administration who believe the president is insufficiently critical of Russia in particular.

Thinking about U.S-Russia policy, the timing of this resignation is especially interesting. Trump — reportedly over Mattis’s objections — announced on Wednesday that all American troops would leave Syria. Trump may have other policy reasons for this shift (more on that below), but the U.S. withdrawal was something Putin wanted and subsequently embraced. It was the latest instance of Trump aligning U.S. policy with Russian interests — and was perhaps a final step too far for Mattis.

Second, the Secretary of Defense is a hugely powerful job, and Mattis leant the Trump administration gravitas in foreign policy. Ultimately, if the U.S. were to be attacked or to attack another nation, the Defense Secretary would be coordinating U.S. actions along with the president. We are not talking about who’s in charge of White House PR, or who’s responsible for taking questions from reporters at White House briefings. Secretary of Defense is a big, important role. And Mattis had credibility with some of Trump’s critics who doubted the president’s judgment and ability to make key foreign policy decisions. That credibility is gone now.

More generally, Mattis is the last to leave among a group of generals who were perceived as restraining Trump. It was never clear how much of Trump’s unorthodox foreign policy views were truly restrained by former National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, outgoing Chief of Staff John Kelly or Mattis. But it’s safe to say there was some restraining going on. Mattis and other senior officials took a much more antagonistic stance toward Russia rhetorically than the president, for example, and even pushed official government policy in that direction. Mattis, in particular, seemed to favor a more traditional U.S. foreign policy, allying with NATO and Europe and being more distant from Russia.

Third, Mattis’s resignation is the latest sign of a fissure between Trump and the Republican establishment. In filling out his government in early 2017, Trump made several appointments that showed powerful constituencies in the Republican Party — the military, congressional Republicans, Wall Street — that he respected and would work with them. He picked generals to run his foreign policy. He named the Republican National Committee chair, Reince Priebus, as his chief of staff and a former top executive of Goldman Sachs, Gary Cohen, as his top economic adviser. But Trump seems less interested these days in placating establishment interests. He is pushing towards a government shutdown, an idea GOP leaders on the Hill haven’t embraced. He is rewriting U.S trade deals, despite Wall Street’s opposition. Now, he is parting ways with Mattis, who is well-regarded by the Washington establishment.

Trump has benefited from strong support from Republicans on Capitol Hill, particularly the collective GOP decision to basically shrug off many of the scandals surrounding Trump and his current or former allies. But parting ways with someone like Mattis, who is well-respected among congressional Republicans, is not helpful in maintaining those alliances, particularly with some Republicans already questioning Trump’s political judgment after the 2018 midterms. Mattis sailed through his Senate confirmation process more easily than all but one of Trump’s Cabinet nominees:

Mattis enjoyed bipartisan support in Congress

U.S. Senate vote for Trump Cabinet secretaries who were confirmed

Votes Appointee Secretary of … No Yes Shulkin Veterans Affairs 0

–

100 Mattis Defense 1

–

–

98 Chao Transportation 6

–

–

93 Kelly Homeland Security 11

–

–

88 Perdue Agriculture 11

–

–

87 Wilkie Veterans Affairs 9

–

–

86 Ross Commerce 27

–

–

72 Zinke Interior 31

–

–

68 Perry Energy 37

–

–

62 Nielsen Homeland Security 37

–

–

62 Acosta Labor 38

–

–

60 Carson Housing & Urban Development 41

–

–

58 Pompeo State 42

–

–

57 Tillerson State 43

–

–

56 Azar Health & Human Services 43

–

–

55 Mnuchin Treasury 47

–

–

53 Price Health & Human Services 47

–

–

52 DeVos Education 50

–

–

51

Source: u.s. senate

Trump is losing one of Congress’s favorite members of his administration.

Moreover, Trump is reportedly removing about half of the U.S. forces currently in Afghanistan, in addition to pulling American troops out of Syria. In wanting fewer U.S. forces deployed abroad, Trump is angering more hawkish figures in his own party — not only Mattis, but also congressional Republicans such as Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Trump campaigned on deploying the U.S military in fewer places around the world, an unusual stand for a Republican presidential nominee. And he may be acting on that now, after previously embracing Graham and Mattis’s more hawkish vision.

Finally, and relatedly, Mattis’s exit fits a pattern of Trump getting rid of internal rivals and promoting loyalists. Ever since Trump assumed office, there’s been this idea that certain officials serving in his administration viewed their job as resisting Trump. One of them even wrote an anonymous op-ed in the New York Times laying out this view. But those wary of Trump’s agenda may not be long for his administration. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, Cohn and McMaster were all among those with reported policy disagreements with Trump. They are all now former members of the administration To replace them, Trump seems to be picking people who agree with him — or at least people who are more careful to make sure their disagreements don’t show up in Axios or The Times.

All these points reinforce an overarching fact of U.S. politics at the moment: Trump, despite midterm results that suggest American voters are broadly unhappy with this leadership, is not looking to rethink his approach as president. His post-midterm actions have included:

Firing his attorney general, then picking a temporary and then permanent replacement who both had voiced skepticism of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation;

Temporarily revoking the credentials of a reporter he dislikes;

Embracing the possibility of a government shutdown;

And now, disagreeing with his Secretary of Defense enough that he resigned.

Trump may win or lose reelection in 2020. But whatever happens, he is doing it his way.

[libertariantaoist]

This October, Facebook and Twitter deleted the accounts of hundreds of users, including many alternative media outlets maintained by American users. Among those wiped out in the coordinated purge were popular sites that scrutinized police brutality and U.S. interventionism, like The Free Thought Project, Anti-Media, and Cop Block, along with the pages of journalists like Rachel Blevins.

Facebook claimed that these pages had “broken our rules against spam and coordinated inauthentic behavior.” However, sites like The Free Thought Project were verified by Facebook and widely recognized as legitimate sources of news and opinion. John Vibes, an independent reporter who contributed to Free Thought, accused Facebook of “favoring mainstream sources and silencing alternative voices.”

In comments published here for the first time, a neoconservative Washington insider has apparently claimed a degree of credit for the recent purge — and promised more takedowns in the near future.

“Russia, China, and other foreign states take advantage of our open political system,” remarked Jamie Fly, a senior fellow and director of the Asia program at the influential think tank the German Marshall Fund, which is funded by the U.S. government and NATO. “They can invent stories that get repeated and spread through different sites. So we are just starting to push back. Just this last week Facebook began starting to take down sites. So this is just the beginning.”

Fly went on to complain that “all you need is an email” to set up a Facebook or Twitter account, lamenting the sites’ accessibility to members of the general public. He predicted a long struggle on a global scale to fix the situation, and pointed out that to do so would require constant vigilance.

Fly made these stunning comments to Jeb Sprague, who is a visiting faculty in sociology at the University of California-Santa Barbara and co-author of this article. The two spoke during a lunch break at a conference on Asian security organized by the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik in Berlin, Germany on Oct. 15 and 16.

The remarks by Fly — “we are just starting to push back” — seemed to confirm the worst fears of the alternative online media community. If he was to be believed, the latest purge was motivated by politics, not spam prevention, and was driven by powerful interests hostile to dissident views, particularly where American state violence is concerned.

Read More

[timesofocean]

Biden, Trudeau vow to hold Russia accountable for war in Ukraine

New Post has been published on https://www.timesofocean.com/biden-trudeau-vow-to-hold-russia-accountable-for-war-in-ukraine/

Biden, Trudeau vow to hold Russia accountable for war in Ukraine

Washington (The Times Groupe)- US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged Thursday to hold Russia accountable for its war in Ukraine, according to the White House.

The two leaders met on the margins of the 9th Summit of the Americas Thursday in Los Angeles, California, and discussed a range of topics, including regional economic cooperation, the COVID19 pandemic, migration, and food insecurity.

“The President and Prime Minister (Trudeau) underscored their commitment to continue holding Russia accountable for its brutal actions in Ukraine and reviewed their ongoing efforts to provide economic, development and humanitarian aid to the millions of Ukrainians affected by the violence, as well as to provide security assistance to the government of Ukraine,” said the White House in a statement.

During the meeting, Biden praised Canada for its “close partnership” with Washington “throughout this crisis and its leadership in enacting comprehensive sanctions and restrictions on Russia.”

“The President also stated he looks forward to seeing the Prime Minister in Madrid for the NATO Summit,” said the statement, which is scheduled to take place from June 28-30.

They also discussed the possibility of developing critical minerals in both countries, as well as how to make supply chains and economies more resilient to external shocks, including through the work of the US-Canada Supply Chain Working Group.

“As major energy producers, both Canada and the United States play key roles in supporting security and resilience of supply chains, but Leaders also emphasized a shared commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 to decrease our reliance on fossil fuels,” said the statement.

“The President thanked the Prime Minister for Canada’s support to bolster democracy in the Americas and throughout in the world, and for Canada’s support of the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity and the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection,” it added.

[newsreportinglive]

Afghans confront uneasy reality as Taliban tighten grip on Afghanistan | 10 pointsvia India Today | World

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Merriam-Webster’s top word of 2020 not a shocker: pandemic (AP) If you were to choose a word that rose above most in 2020, which word would it be? Ding, ding, ding: Merriam-Webster on Monday announced “pandemic” as its 2020 word of the year. “That probably isn’t a big shock,” Peter Sokolowski, editor at large for Merriam-Webster, told The Associated Press. “Often the big news story has a technical word that’s associated with it and in this case, the word pandemic is not just technical but has become general. It’s probably the word by which we’ll refer to this period in the future,” he said. Pandemic, with roots in Latin and Greek, is a combination of “pan,” for all, and “demos,” for people or population. The latter is the same root of “democracy,” Sokolowski noted. The word pandemic dates to the mid-1600s, used broadly for “universal” and more specifically to disease in a medical text in the 1660s, he said. That was after the plagues of the Middle Ages, Sokolowski said.

Biden breaks foot while playing with dog, to wear a boot (AP) President-elect Joe Biden will likely wear a walking boot for the next several weeks as he recovers from breaking his right foot while playing with one of his dogs, his doctor said. Fractures are a concern generally as people age, but Biden’s appears to be a relatively mild one based on his doctor’s statement and the planned treatment. At 78 he will become the oldest president when he’s inaugurated in January.

Borrowing and debt bonanza (WSJ) Companies and governments have issued a record $9.7 trillion of bonds and other debt this year, as extraordinary support from the Federal Reserve and other central banks has fueled a borrowing bonanza. The total covers the year to Nov. 26 and includes nearly $5.1 trillion of corporate bonds, as well as some kinds of loans, including riskier leveraged loans, according to Refinitiv. Both figures already exceed those for any prior full year. More broadly, the Institute of International Finance recently said global debt had risen $15 trillion to $272 trillion in the first nine months of this year, and is set to hit $277 trillion by year-end—a record 365% of world gross domestic product. The IIF is an industry group representing hundreds of financial institutions. Its figures are broader, and include household debt.

Newsom says stay-at-home order likely if COVID-19 surge continues (SFGate) California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a Monday press conference the state is considering a new stay-at-home order in purple-tier counties if cases continue to surge. The state is experiencing the highest rate of increase in COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic. With 51 of the state's 58 counties in the most restrictive tier, 99% of the population could fall under a lockdown. The governor didn't outline the details of the potential new order, but when the state issued one in March it required people to stay indoors except for essential services and exercise.

The pandemic is forcing some men to realize they need deeper friendships (Washington Post) It took a global pandemic and a badly timed breakup for Manny Argueta to realize just how far he had grown apart from his guy friends. In the spring, after the 35-year-old had left the home he shared with his former girlfriend and moved into a studio in Falls Church, Va., on his own, he would go an entire week without saying a word. There were no more game days with the guys, no more Friday nights in D.C. bars, and Argueta was starved for social interaction. For more than a decade, psychologists have written about the “friendship crisis” facing many men. Male friendships are often rooted in “shoulder-to-shoulder” interactions, such as watching a football game or playing video games, while women’s interactions are more face-to-face, such as grabbing a coffee or getting together for a glass of wine. “The rules for guys pursuing other guys for friendships are not clear,” one man said. “Guys don’t want to seem too needy.” But the pandemic might be forcing this dynamic to change. In emails and interviews with The Washington Post, dozens of men shared stories about Zoom poker games, backyard cigar nights, and neighborhood-dad WhatsApp chains where casual chats about sports and politics have suddenly led to deep conversations. The moment feels heavier and so do the conversations. Some men said their friendships have begun to look more like those of their wives and girlfriends. “We are so used to finding a distraction to help us when we should be addressing what’s in front of us,” Argueta said. “The world needed to slow down … we should slow down, too.”

Another idyllic Italian village selling $1 houses (CNN) Italy’s €1 homes are back—and this time, what’s up for grabs is a collection of houses in the southern region of Molise. Castropignano—a village topped by a ruined medieval castle, 140 miles southeast of Rome—is the latest community to offer up its abandoned buildings to newcomers. It follows in the steps of Salemi in Sicily and Santo Stefano di Sessanio in Abruzzo, both of which have launched initiatives to encourage newcomers in the last month. So what’s the catch? There are, of course, conditions. Buyers must renovate the property within three years from the purchase and cough up a down payment guarantee of €2,000 ($2,378), which will be returned once the works are finished. And Castropignano isn’t exactly a lively place—it has just one restaurant, a bar, a pharmacy and a few B&Bs.

Pakistani nuclear program (New Scientist) Sleuthing with satellite images on Google Earth has revealed a substantial and undocumented expansion to a suspected nuclear processing plant in Pakistan. Researchers say it is a possible sign of the country boosting the capacity of its nuclear weapons program. Pakistan has possessed nuclear weapons since 1998, but isn’t a signatory to key international treaties on nuclear proliferation and tests. The country’s secretive nuclear weapons program is closely watched due to tensions with neighboring India, which also has a nuclear arsenal.

Turkey’s military campaign beyond its borders is powered by homemade armed drones (Washington Post) As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wages a widening military campaign for influence from North Africa to the Caucasus, his forces have relied on a potent weapon to gain a battlefield edge while drumming up domestic support for foreign interventions: homemade armed drones. Their impact has been substantial. The drones played a central role in recent months in shifting Libya’s civil war in favor of the Turkish-backed government based in the capital, Tripoli, and they helped Azerbaijan, an ally of Turkey, prevail over Armenian forces in the fighting over the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region, according to military analysts. In northern Syria, Turkish drones played a major part this year in a series of devastating attacks on Syrian armored forces that caught some military observers by surprise and helped bring a Syrian government offensive against rebel areas to a halt. At home, the drones have become a symbol of Turkish technological innovation and self-sufficiency, boosting national confidence amid a severe economic downturn and friction with some other NATO countries. But the battlefield successes pose an urgent foreign policy challenge for the incoming Biden administration: what to do about Ankara’s expansionist policies, which have put Turkey in conflict with a range of other U.S. allies.

Thai protesters march to royal guard barracks in Bangkok (The Guardian) Thousands of protesters marched to a barracks belonging to Thailand’s royal guards in Bangkok on Sunday, demanding that King Maha Vajiralongkorn give up control of some army regiments, the latest show of defiance against the country’s powerful monarchy and the military. The protest came after days of rallies in the Thai capital, where a student-led pro-democracy movement that emerged in July has intensified pressure on the establishment. Over recent months, demonstrators have shaken the country by criticising the monarchy, an institution protected by a harsh defamation law, and demanding the king relinquish some of his vast power and wealth.

Brazen Killings Expose Iran’s Vulnerabilities as It Struggles to Respond (NYT) The raid alone was brazen enough. A team of Israeli commandos with high-powered torches blasted their way into a vault of a heavily guarded warehouse deep in Iran and made off before dawn with 5,000 pages of top secret papers on the country’s nuclear program. Then in a television broadcast a few weeks later, in April 2018, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel singled out the scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh as the captain of Iran’s covert attempts to assemble a nuclear weapon. Now Mr. Fakhrizadeh has become the latest casualty in a campaign of audacious covert attacks seemingly designed to torment Iranian leaders with reminders of their weakness. His killing was the latest in a decade-long pattern of mysterious poisonings, car bombings, shootings, thefts and sabotage that have afflicted the Islamic Republic. Most have hit largely anonymous scientists or secretive facilities believed to be linked to its nuclear program, and almost all have been attributed by both American and Iranian officials to Tehran’s great nemesis, Israel. Israeli officials—without formally acknowledging responsibility—have all but openly gloated over the repeated success of their spies. Never, however, has the Islamic Republic endured a spate of covert attacks quite like in 2020. In January, an American drone strike killed the revered general Qassim Suleimani as he was in a car leaving the Baghdad airport (an attack facilitated by Israel’s intelligence, officials say). And Iran was humiliated in August by an Israeli hit team’s fatal shooting of a senior Al Qaeda leader on the streets of Tehran (this time at the behest of the United States, its officials have said).

'Christmas will not be cancelled' says Bethlehem (Reuters) Bethlehem is shaping up for a dismal Christmas: most of the inns are closed, the shepherds are likely to be under lockdown and there are few visitors from the east, or anywhere else. Just 12 months ago, the Palestinian town was celebrating its busiest festive season for two decades, amid a sustained drop in violence and a corresponding surge in the number of pilgrims and tourists. But hotels that were adding new wings in 2019 are now shuttered because of the coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, town leaders say the traditional birthplace of Jesus will go ahead with its celebrations, aware that the world’s eyes are upon it at this time of year. “Bethlehem is going to celebrate Christmas. And Christmas will not be cancelled,” said Mayor Anton Salman, as workers behind him erected a huge Christmas tree in Manger Square. “This Christmas from Bethlehem there will be a message of hope to the whole world, that the world will recover from this pandemic.” The newly-appointed Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, on Monday said, “This Christmas will be less festive than usual as there will be restrictions, I suppose like any other part of the world, but none will stop us from expressing the true meaning of Christmas which is to make an act of love.”

At least 110 dead in Nigeria after suspected Boko Haram attack (The Guardian) At least 110 people have been killed in an attack on a village in north-east Nigeria blamed on the Boko Haram jihadist group, according to the UN humanitarian coordinator in the country. “At least 110 civilians were ruthlessly killed and many others were wounded in this attack,” Edward Kallon said in a statement after initial tolls indicated 43 and then at least 70 dead from the massacre on Saturday by suspected Boko Haram fighters. The attack took place in the village of Koshobe near the main city of Maiduguri, with assailants targeting farmers on rice fields.

Malaria death toll to exceed COVID-19’s in sub-Saharan Africa (Reuters) Deaths from malaria due to disruptions during the coronavirus pandemic to services designed to tackle the mosquito-borne disease will far exceed those killed by COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa, the World Health Organization warned. More than 409,000 people globally—most of them babies in the poorest parts of Africa—were killed by malaria last year, the WHO said, and COVID-19 will almost certainly push that toll higher in 2020.

[rauthschild]

Russia Starts Criminal Probe Of Biden After US Warplanes Ordered To Attack American Citizens

By: Sorcha Faal, 

An in-depth new Security Council (SC) report circulating in the Kremlin today first noting the “signal received” from Washington that Supreme Socialist Leader Joe Biden would like to meet with President Putin sometime in June, says that there is no discussion about such a summit occurring at a working level, and in reply to this issue Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov stated: “Of course, we will make a decision depending on many factors”.

In addressing these “many factors” under consideration regarding this issue Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov further stated: “Everything was said in our response to the latest unfriendly US steps…We announced all measures, which have been taken and are ready to take more if this escalation continues”—a statement quickly followed by Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova revealing: “What are those unfriendly states?...The list is being compiled now...As you understand, and I can confirm it, the United States is, obviously, present on it”—and in solidarity with Russia against the United States then saw Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin stating: “We strongly oppose the use of unilateral sanctions… China and Russia maintain relations of comprehensive partnership with each other…China and Russia will support each other in matters of protecting state sovereignty”.

Events all occurring in the aftermath of the Federal Security Service (FSB) having smashed the CIA colour revolution coup plot to assassinate Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, along with his family and other top Belarus leaders and their entire families—and in chilling detail, yesterday, it saw President Lukashenko describing to his citizens the exact details of this assassination plot, to include CIA snipers being paid $10-million, with the one tasked to assassinate him and his family being paid $1-million—his then revealing how these CIA coup plotters planned to black out the city of Minsk, and whose ultimate plan he described as being: “They betrayed us a long time ago, and they were supposed to allegedly come to power here for 24 hours and declare that we are in power…What for?...To ask NATO to send troops in to Belarus and to deploy them on the eastern border near Smolensk…It was a springboard - I have always told you - to attack Russia…It was the first step”.

To cover up this crime against humanity and keep it from being known to the American people, the socialist Biden regime made their NATO ally Czech Republic falsely accuse Russia of being responsible for an explosion at one of their ammunition factories in 2014—a false accusation that caused Russia to severely retaliate against the Czech Republic—that in turn caused Czech President Milos Zeman to deliver an extraordinary televised address to his citizens yesterday, wherein he admitted that Russia had nothing to do with the ammunition factory explosion, and then revealed he has no idea where this crazy story even came from—and because President Zeman was being honest, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova asked him to reveal to the world what exactly was being manufactured in this ammunition factory—an important question as the Czech Republic is a signatory to The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction—with Zakharova exactly stating: “This is a question the world community should receive an answer to from Prague - what exactly was stored there...According to German mass media, and, again, this is a question to Prague, the depots held landmines”.

After an extensive review of this CIA assassination coup plot and the vile actions forced on the Czech Republic by socialist leader Biden to cover up this crime, Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov has just announced: “This issue is being examined as part of a criminal case, which is being investigated by the State Security Committee and the Belarusian investigative bodies”—a criminal case against Biden and his socialist regime whose crimes against humanity now beyond shockingly include US warplanes being issued orders to attack innocent American citizens, as revealed by the Los Angeles Times, who reported that according to four sources the California National Guard was told to put an F-15C fighter jet on alert status – fueled up and ready to go – to frighten citizens protesting Governor Newsom’s Covid lockdown orders.  [Note: Some words and/or phrases appearing in quotes in this report are English language approximations of Russian words/phrases having no exact counterpart.]

Crime families don’t win elections, they steal them.

According to this report, with the leftist NBC News releasing a new national poll yesterday showing that a whopping 82% of Americans believe that the nation remains divided, it was quickly countered by a leftist ABC News –Washington Post poll claiming that 52% of Americans approve of socialist leader Biden—but buried within the details of how this poll was conducted, it saw Democrats being oversampled by 9-points, with some 33% of respondents identified as Democrats, 24% as Republicans, and 35% as independents.

With propped up fake news polling Biden and his demonic socialist forces now said to be targeting libertarians for total destruction, and it being warned “the de facto definition of terrorism seems to be anything that frightens politicians”, this report details, few Americans seem to realize that the marriage of their leftist media with radical leftism distorts their nation’s self-image—a distortion of truth and reality so complete, American reporters are now banned from using the word “crisis” when describing Biden’s destruction of his nation’s borders—and in substituting lies for facts, this past week it saw New York Times columnist Paul Krugman actually saying that the leftist riots that caused up to $2-billion in damage across America last year never happened and were lies made up by Republicans.  

Because the American leftist corporate media has made itself the propaganda arm of socialist leader Biden and his godless Democrats, this report notes, it makes it no surprise to have seen last week Deep State mouthpiece Washington Post columnist David Ignatius launching an all-out attack against former US intelligence official Kashyap Patel because he exposed the Russian collusion claims about President Trump as being all lies—that was quickly followed by the leftist Washington Post launching an all-out “hit piece” attack on black Republican Party leader US Senator Tim Scott, wherein it vilely attacked Senator Scott’s grandfather because he rose from picking cotton to being able to buy his own land—but whose real truth underlying this vicious leftist attack was explained by top Republican Party leader US Congressman Steve Scalise, who said: “Tim Scott’s a wonderful person, a dear friend…But he’s also a rising star, and there is nothing that scares the left more than a conservative African American leader who’s gaining respect nationally, on his own, not pushing the false narrative of the left, but talking about individual opportunity”.

Rather then celebrating those African-Americans refusing to be idiot leftist victims, this report concludes, Biden and his socialist forces are determined to drive their nation into racial chaos no matter what—with this being best exampled last week by the article “Big Tech Giants From Twitter, Facebook and Netflix Donated $7.5 Million to BLM Cofounder — Then Censored Stories About Her Real Estate Spree”—that was followed by the warning article “Hidden Threats - 3 Things To Worry About That Mainstream Media Refuses To Discuss”, that factually states: “The U.S. is increasingly alone, broke, and overweight”—and in glimpsing the grim future that awaits these Americans, saw it being exampled last week when one of these leftists’ most praised singers, Sam Smith, was cheered after he showed off his insanely demonic tattoo of a little boy child looking in a mirror while wearing high heels and underwear—though to notice, is a display of leftist wokeness not being celebrated by the American cats that are now striking back against this demonic insanity.