Trump era: Fascist dawn, or road to liberation?

U.S. pulls out of Soviet-era nuclear missile pact with Russia
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Ronald Reagan (R) and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev sign the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty in the White House December 8 1987. REUTERS//File Photo

The United States formally withdrew from a landmark nuclear missile pact with Russia on Friday after determining that Moscow was in violation of the treaty, something the Kremlin has repeatedly denied.

Russia asks U.S. for missile moratorium as nuclear pact ends
Russia said on Friday it had asked the United States to declare and enforce a moratorium on the deployment of short and intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe as a landmark arms control pact banning such a move formally ended.

After INF treaty's demise, U.S. seeks funds for missile tests
National flags of Russia and the U.S. fly at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia April 11, 2017.  REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

The United States will no longer be prohibited from having ground-launched intermediate-range missiles once it pulls out of an arms control treaty with Russia on Friday, but funds to test and develop the missiles may soon run out, officials say.

Russian request for missile freeze has 'zero credibility': Stoltenberg
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg gives a news conference on the day the United States is set to pull out of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Force Treaty (INF), in Brussels, Belgium, August 2, 2019. REUTERS/Francois Walschaerts

A Russian request to declare a moratorium on the deployment of short and intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe was not credible because Moscow had already deployed such warheads, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday.

UK blames Russia for nuclear treaty collapse, says threatens European security
Dominic Raab is seen at the Foreign and Commonwealth building after being appointed as the Foreign Secretary by Britain's new Prime Minister Boris Johnson in London, Britain, July 24, 2019. Dan Kitwood/Pool via REUTERS
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Russia was to blame after the United States withdrew from the landmark nuclear missile pact (INF) between the two countries, saying the United Kingdom fully supported NATO's response.

Poland says Russia responsible for nuclear treaty collapse
Poland's foreign ministry said on Friday that Russia bears full responsibility for the collapse of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), after the United States formally withdrew from the landmark 1987 pact.

China is reticent about new nuclear missile treaty as INF ends: Germany
A new international treaty, replacing the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) which ends on Friday, should include China, Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said, but added that Beijing was acting reticently on the matter.

Iran says ready for worst in battle to save nuclear deal amid standoff with U.S.
.Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (R) and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif attend a meeting with Muslim leaders and scholars in Hyderabad, India, February 15, 2018. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui
President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday that Iran was ready for the worst in an uphill struggle to salvage its nuclear deal with world powers abandoned by the United States, but that he was sure Tehran would eventually prevail.
 
Maybe Trump got lucky, or did he play another '5D chess' move :-P?

The recent release of rap star ASAP Rocky (never heard of him!), who was charged in Sweden, is now trending like wild fire on Twitter, and most are crediting Trump for getting him home. In just a few hours, Trump's tweet has now been liked over 200K and retweets are approaching 100K. In the midst of all racist accusations, this was quite a 'home run' for Trump, intentionally or not.

 
Trump may have replaced Shanahan but it seems, his replacement Mark Esper, is following the same detrimental script? Placing more missiles in Asia - only boosts NATO's position ... and brings the U.S. - one step closer to wide spread War? (Idiots!)

U.S. Defense Secretary says he favors placing missiles in Asia
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper meets with Egypt's Defense Minister General Mohamed Zaki at the Pentagon in Washington, U.S., July 29, 2019. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper meets with Egypt's Defense Minister General Mohamed Zaki at the Pentagon in Washington, U.S., July 29, 2019. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Saturday that he was in favor of placing ground-launched, intermediate-range missiles in Asia relatively soon, a day after the United States withdrew from a landmark arms control treaty.

Esper’s comments are likely to raise concern about an arms race and could add to an already tense relationship with China.

“Yeah, I would like to,” Esper said, when asked whether he was considering placing such missiles in Asia.

“I would prefer months ... but these things tend to take longer than you expect,” he told reporters traveling with him to Sydney when asked about a timeline for when the missiles could be deployed.

The United States formally left the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty with Russia on Friday after determining Moscow was violating the treaty, an accusation that the Kremlin has denied.

On Friday, senior U.S. officials said that any deployment of such weaponry would be years away.

Within the next few weeks, the United States is expected to test a ground-launched cruise missile, and in November, the Pentagon will aim to test an intermediate-range ballistic missile.

Both would be tests of conventional weapons - and not nuclear.

The 1987 pact banned ground-launched nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 310 to 3,400 miles (500-5,500 km).

U.S. officials have been warning for years that the United States was being put at a disadvantage by China’s development of increasingly sophisticated land-based missile forces, which the Pentagon could not match due to the U.S. treaty with Russia.

The United States has so far relied on other capabilities as a counterbalance to China, like missiles fired from U.S. ships or aircraft. But advocates for a U.S. land-based missile response say that is the best way to deter Chinese use of its muscular land-based missile forces.
 
Missing American scientist found dead in Crete
ATHENS July 9, 2019 - An American scientist who disappeared a week ago on the island of Crete was found dead on Tuesday, her employers said.

Suzanne Eaton, 60, a molecular biologist at the world-renowned Max Planck Institute in Dresden, Germany, was attending a conference in the town of Chania when she was reported missing on July 2.

Missing British scientist Natalie Christopher found dead in Greece: TV
A 2018 photo shows Natalie Christopher, a 35-year-old British scientist who went missing on the Aegean island of Ikaria.

A 2018 photo shows Natalie Christopher, a 35-year-old British scientist who went missing on the Aegean island of Ikaria.PHOTO: AFP

The body of a missing British scientist has been found in a ravine on the Greek island of Ikaria two days after she disappeared, Greek public television reported on Wednesday (Aug 7).

The cause of death of Nicosia-based astrophysicist Natalie Christopher, who had been on holiday with her partner, was not yet determined, the ERT channel said.

Greek police had been searching for the 35-year-old after she reportedly failed to return from a run on Monday.

A Greek police spokeswoman earlier told AFP that a police had late Tuesday joined Ikaria port patrols, firefighters and volunteers already looking for the scientist.

According to Greek and Cypriot media, Christopher and her 38-year-old Cypriot partner had arrived on the Aegean island on Saturday and stayed near the port of Agios Kirykos.

She left their hotel for a jog on Monday morning but never returned, her partner told media.

"The couple talked by phone around 10am (3pm Singapore time) and she said she had gone for a run in the neighbourhood," a police spokesman told Cypriot television.

The Cyprus Mail website said Christopher's companion notified the police that she had not returned at around 12.40pm, while other press reports said her phone has been traced to the island of Fournoi, about 10km away, without saying how it might have got there.

Greek media reports also said traces of blood had been found in the couple's hotel room and were being examined.

Christopher, well known in Cyprus as an active sportswoman, was involved in several social media projects, including one - "Cyprus Girls Can" - which aims to break down barriers between Greek and Turkish youngsters on the divided island.

The incident comes three weeks after the murder of US molecular biologist Suzanne Eaton on the Greek island of Crete.

The 59-year-old had been attending a conference near the city of Chania and gone out on July 2 without taking her mobile phone, the police said.

Her body was found six days later in an abandoned World War II bunker near the town of Hania.

A 27-year-old farmer confessed to raping and killing Eaton, who had worked for the Max Planck Institute at Dresden University.

Uncertain welcome awaits Trump in Ohio and Texas after deadly mass shootings
A photo taken on Aug 6, 2019 shows a memorial for victims of the shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. Mr Donald Trump's plan to visit the city was controversial, with the case being investigated as a hate crime and domestic terrorism.

A photo taken on Aug 6, 2019 shows a memorial for victims of the shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. Mr Donald Trump's plan to visit the city was controversial, with the case being investigated as a hate crime and domestic terrorism.PHOTO: AFP

WASHINGTON Aug. 7, 2019 - United States President Donald Trump, whose racially incendiary rhetoric critics blame for stoking violence, faced an uncertain welcome on Wednesday (Aug 7) as he headed for the sites of the two latest deadly mass shootings, one of them being investigated as a hate crime.

Mr Trump was scheduled to visit Dayton, Ohio, scene of a rampage early on Sunday in which nine people and the suspect were killed, and then travel on to El Paso, Texas, where 22 people were killed at a Walmart store on Saturday before the gunman was taken alive.

The back-to-back massacres, occurring just 13 hours apart, have reopened the national debate over gun safety and led protesters in Dayton to heckle Ohio's Republican governor, Mr Mike DeWine, at a vigil for the shooting victims with chants of "Do something!"

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, a Democrat, said on Tuesday that she would welcome the Republican President, who has said he wants to meet law enforcement, first responders and survivors.

But Ms Whaley said she planned to tell Mr Trump "how unhelpful he's been" on the issue of gun violence, referring to the speech he gave on Monday focusing on mental health reform, tighter Internet regulation and wider use of the death penalty.

Democrats have accused Mr Trump of hiding behind talk of mental illness and the influence of social media rather than committing to laws they insist are needed to restrict gun ownership and the types of weapons that are legal.

Mr Trump's plan to visit the predominantly Hispanic west Texas border city of El Paso was especially controversial for another reason.

The authorities in Texas have said they are investigating Saturday's shooting spree as a hate crime and an act of domestic terrorism. They cited a racist manifesto posted online shortly before the shooting, which they attributed to the suspect.

In it, the author called the Walmart attack "a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas", echoing Mr Trump's frequent use of the word "invasion" to describe waves of Central Americans travelling through Mexico to the US border seeking asylum from turmoil in their home countries.

'SINISTER IDEOLOGIES'
Mr Trump, in his televised White House speech on Monday, condemned "sinister ideologies" and hate. His supporters say Democrats are unfairly blaming him for the behaviour of criminals.

Democrats say Mr Trump's own anti-immigrant, racially charged language at rallies and on Twitter has done much to fan racist, white nationalist sentiments, creating a political climate more conducive to hate-based violence.

US Representative Veronica Escobar, a Democrat whose congressional district includes El Paso, declared that Mr Trump "is not welcome here". Mr Trump staged his first political rally of 2019 in El Paso in February.

"Six months later, a gunman came into our community... this tranquil, loving place, to do us harm," Ms Escobar said on MSNBC. "The President has made my community and my people the enemy."

She said on Twitter on Tuesday that she declined a White House invitation to join Mr Trump in El Paso after being told he was too busy to speak with her by phone in advance. "I refuse to be an accessory to his visit," Ms Escobar later told CNN.

Former Texas congressman and El Paso native Beto O'Rourke, who is seeking the 2020 Democratic nomination for president, said Mr Trump "helped create the hatred that made Saturday's tragedy possible" and thus "has no place here".

In an apparent answer to his criticism, Mr Trump said on Twitter late on Tuesday that Mr O'Rourke "should respect the victims & law enforcement - & be quiet!"

Not everyone agreed that Mr Trump should stay away. "This is not a political visit," El Paso Mayor Dee Margo told reporters. "He is President of the United States. So in that capacity, I will fulfil my obligations as mayor of El Paso to meet with the President and discuss whatever our needs are in this community."

Residents were likewise divided. Some sided with the mayor, while activists attending a vigil for the victims on Monday evening saw Mr Trump's visit as inappropriate. "He's complicit in this violence and all the terror that we're seeing," said Ms Rachel Cheek, 26.

Death toll from Texas shooting rampage rises to 22, Trump to visit El Paso
Community members carry doves at a vigil in honor of Javier Rodriguez, who was killed while shopping at Walmart, two days after a mass shooting at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, U.S. August 5, 2019.  REUTERS/Callaghan O'Hare

Two more victims of a shooting rampage at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, died of their wounds on Monday, police said, raising the death toll to 22 in the massacre as U.S. President Donald Trump planned a visit to the stricken community.

Mexico to open first terrorism probe of an event on U.S. territory
People gather to pay their respects at a growing memorial site two days after a mass shooting at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, U.S. August 5, 2019.  REUTERS/Callaghan O'Hare

Mexico will investigate the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, that killed 22 people, including eight Mexican citizens, as an act of terrorism and may request the suspected shooter be extradited to Mexico for trial, the country's foreign minister said on Monday.
 
House Speaker Pelosi in Central America as Trump seeks asylum deals
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi listens to U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala Luis Arreaga upon her arrival at the Guatemalan Air Force base in Guatemala City, Guatemala August 8, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi listens to U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala Luis Arreaga upon her arrival at the Guatemalan Air Force base in Guatemala City, Guatemala August 8, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a congressional delegation to Central America on Thursday as the Trump administration presses countries there to stop U.S.-bound asylum seekers before they reach the U.S. border.

Pelosi, a Democrat, began in Guatemala, which late last month under threat of economic sanctions struck a deal with Republican President Donald Trump to become a so-called “safe third country.” That will require migrants to seek refuge in Guatemala rather than in the United States.

But critics question whether Guatemala has the resources to handle the potential surge in asylum applications, and the country faces its own instability.

U.S. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said this month that the United States wants similar agreements with Honduras and El Salvador, where Pelosi will also visit.

After the visit to Central America, Pelosi and the bipartisan congressional delegation will visit of U.S. detention centers in McAllen, Texas, the speaker’s office said. Democrats have said Trump’s policies have sparked a humanitarian crisis at border facilities.

With an eye on Russia, China and a horse, Pentagon chief visits Mongolia
U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper is gifted a horse in Ulan Bator, Mongolia August 8, 2019. REUTERS/Idrees Ali

U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper is gifted a horse in Ulan Bator, Mongolia August 8, 2019. REUTERS/Idrees Ali

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper met senior Mongolian leaders on Thursday in a rare visit to the strategically important nation as the Pentagon seeks to implement its strategy of focusing on countering China and Russia.

This is the first visit to the country by a defense secretary since 2014, when Chuck Hagel spent about four hours there. Esper spent a night in Ulaanbaatar.

Mongolia is eager for investment from the United States and other countries it considers “third neighbors” to help it reduce its economic dependence on China, through which most of its exports of cashmere and other goods move.

Late last month, Mongolian President Battulga Khaltmaa visited Washington to meet with President Donald Trump.

Battulga, a businessman often described as “Mongolia’s Trump”, was elected in 2017 on a populist and sometimes anti-Chinese platform, with the country increasingly wary of Beijing’s growing regional dominance.

“They have been a good ally that punches above its weight, and I think Secretary Esper wants to acknowledge (that) and see if there are ways to grow the partnership further,” said a senior U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The official said that while this trip was not about promoting any specific initiative, the United States was keen to look at expanding ties, potentially in areas such as military training, which could take advantage of Mongolia’s cold weather.

REGIONAL IMPORTANCE
Esper’s trip to Mongolia comes at a particularly tense time in relations between the United States and China, which are locked into an escalating trade war.

Last year, the U.S. military put countering China and Russia at the center of a new national defense strategy, shifting priorities after more than a decade and a half of focusing on the fight against Islamist militants.

Mongolia has been a consistent U.S. military partner, providing troops to U.S.-led missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, where it still has about 200 troops.

It also has a relationship with North Korea that Washington could leverage as Trump seeks to revive stalled denuclearization talks with Pyongyang. The country is accessible by rail from North Korea.

“Mongolia is not going to side entirely with anybody against anybody,” said Abraham Denmark, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia.

“But they are looking to bolster their relationships with the United States because possibly they want American economic engagement and political engagement, but also because it gives them a bit more breathing space in their relations with Beijing and Moscow,” Denmark said.

Mexico minister says 107 Mexicans detained in Mississippi operations
Mexico's Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard speaks at the Mexican consulate, two days after a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, U.S. August 5, 2019. REUTERS/Julio-Cesar Chavez

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Thursday that 107 Mexicans had been detained in the southern U.S. state of Mississippi, part of sweeping U.S. immigration operations.

U.S. immigration authorities arrested nearly 700 people at seven agricultural processing plants across the state on Wednesday in what federal officials said could be the largest worksite enforcement operation in a single state.

Canada's point man in Washington, key Trudeau advisor, resigns
Canadian Ambassador to the United States David MacNaughton and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, arrive for a meeting with U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch (R-ID) at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., February 6, 2019.      REUTERS/Mary F. Calvert

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unexpectedly announced on Thursday that the Canadian ambassador to the United States, who played a pivotal role in the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), will leave Washington at the end of August.
 
It was rather predictable that Huawei wasn't going to go away defeated after Trump demonised them. 1000 jobs have been relocated from the US to Italy, and they're now launching their own operating system called HarmonyOS. Interesting name choice given the circumstances that led to its creation:


Huawei has rolled out its long-rumored Hongmeng operating system (OS), known as the HarmonyOS. The company says it can switch to the new system at any time, including on phones, if it is unable to use Android.

The Chinese tech giant officially unveiled the new platform on Friday. The operating system can be used on various smart devices and will be launched on “smart screen products,” such as televisions, later this year. After the launch in China, the OS can become available on global markets, Huawei announced.


While the company said that it currently prefers to power its smartphones with Google’s Android, it did not rule out the future use of its own system on smartphones.

“If we cannot use [Android] in the future we can immediately switch to HarmonyOS,” CEO of the Chinese tech giant’s consumer division, Richard Yu, told the Huawei Developer Conference in Dongguan. He added that the switch would take just one or two days.

Among its features, HarmonyOS can adapt to any device to create a “seamless cross-device experience” to build the basis for a “shared developer ecosystem,” according to Huawei. The tech giant also stresses that the new platform will officially be open source, which could be a part of the firm’s efforts to fend off US spying allegations.

The possibility of losing access to world’s most popular mobile OS arose after the US placed Huawei on its so-called “Entity List,” effectively barring American companies from doing business with the Chinese tech giant. Complying with the trade blacklisting, Google decided to suspend some business activity with Huawei.

The restrictions were later eased, including 90-day licenses for companies to continue working with Huawei, as well as further permission from US President Donald Trump to sell some equipment. However, Huawei still remains blacklisted and the US-China trade war has only escalated since then.
 
It was rather predictable that Huawei wasn't going to go away defeated after Trump demonised them. 1000 jobs have been relocated from the US to Italy, and they're now launching their own operating system called HarmonyOS. Interesting name choice given the circumstances that led to its creation:


Could this new OS by Huawei possibly be good news regarding less spying on our privacy? We know Microsoft, Google and Apple are ‘in kahoots’ with many intelligence agencies, so would one reason for demonizing Huawei be that ‘they’ are afraid of loosing control?

I would gladly switch to a Huawei if it would increase privacy.
 
Could this new OS by Huawei possibly be good news regarding less spying on our privacy? We know Microsoft, Google and Apple are ‘in kahoots’ with many intelligence agencies, so would one reason for demonizing Huawei be that ‘they’ are afraid of loosing control?

I would gladly switch to a Huawei if it would increase privacy.


I'm actually not too hopeful about increased privacy although I do enjoy seeing someone not give in to the global bully, aka the US and Co.

China has its own track record of surveillance, take their social credit system for example. They do what the West does, except that they're more overt about it. I think Huawei is good at preventing commercial espionage, which is one of the reasons why America doesn't like them.

Choosing the lesser of two evils is not a fun choice to have at all, and in this case it's either being spied on by a rising superpower that has quite a few shameful pages in its history, or a psychopathic evil empire on its way down.
 
It was rather predictable that Huawei wasn't going to go away defeated after Trump demonised them. 1000 jobs have been relocated from the US to Italy, and they're now launching their own operating system called HarmonyOS. Interesting name choice given the circumstances that led to its creation:

Aug 09 2019 - China Calls US Ban on Tech Firms ‘Abuse of State Power’
China lashed out at the United States over issuing an interim rule that bans American federal entities from working with a number of Chinese telecommunication technology giants, including Huawei.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying reacted to the move in an online statement, saying, "The abuse of state power by the United States to unscrupulously and deliberately throw mud at and suppress specific Chinese enterprises seriously undermines the image of the United States and its own interests", Asia News reported.

"We firmly support the relevant Chinese companies in taking up legal weapons to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests," she noted.

The ruling was announced on Wednesday, preventing contacts between the US government bodies and Huawei, as well as China’s ZTE, Hytera Communications Corporation, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company, and Dahua Technology Company.

The move came after Huawei overtook Apple as the world’s second most prolific smartphone producer.

Scores from Mexico, Guatemala detained in Mississippi raids
FILE PHOTO: Officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) look on after executing search warrants and making some arrests at an agricultural processing facility in Canton, Mississippi, U.S. in this August 7, 2019 handout photo.    Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Handout via REUTERS

The governments of Guatemala and Mexico said on Thursday that between them, almost 300 of their citizens had been detained in the southern U.S. state of Mississippi as part of sweeping U.S. immigration operations.

In Guatemala, Pelosi says migrant treatment 'shameful', worries about Trump deal
U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi holds a news conference in Guatemala City, Guatemala August 8, 2019. REUTERS/Luis Echeverria

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticized U.S. treatment of migrants during a visit to Guatemala, and raised doubts about whether the Central American country could cope with a migration deal agreed with the Trump administration.
 
Bolton and Pompeo are America’s disastrous duo
US National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) and National Security Adviser John Bolton [Timmy Boyle/Facebook]

It never ceases to amaze me how some of the most mediocre and uninspiring people somehow manage to reach the top of their profession. Among the most asinine, in my opinion, are ... the lacklustre US National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, men who are to international diplomacy what Boris Johnson is to honesty and fidelity.


Not only do they manage to blunder their way around the world insulting a variety of rulers and presidents on the way, but they also insult our intelligence with alarming regularity by assuming that our collective memory leaves much to be desired. Banging the drum for war in Iran, these diplomatic dingleberries seem to forget that exactly the same arguments were used to promote the now discredited 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Incredibly, Pompeo is now briefing the US Congress about what he believes are alarming ties between Iran and Al-Qaeda. Really? The folks on Capitol Hill must have a sense of déjà vu; the same argument was used against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The fact that the terrorist organisation wouldn’t be seen dead in the company of either Saddam or his counterparts in Tehran is neither here or there, though. Bolton and Pompeo don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story. It is obvious that the White House is trying to build a case for Congress to authorise war using legislation originally passed in 2001 to take on terrorists. They are desperate to obtain a legal fig leaf for military action against Iran. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is trying to portray himself as a man of peace who does not really want a war. This is the same President who ordered 2,500 extra US troops to be deployed in the region to respond to what he saw as a “heightened threat”.

Tensions between the United States and Iran are rising as Bolton and Pompeo try to convince anyone who will listen that Iran is in league with Al-Qaeda. We shall no doubt soon see images of 9/11 all over again as the disastrous duo dance themselves into a frenzy while they blur the lines and bury the truth. Contacts at the CIA in Virginia reckon that any talk of links between senior Iranian leaders and Al-Qaeda should be treated with “extreme caution”. Despite this, Bolton and Pompeo are also briefing gullible journalists and politicians about alleged links between the Taliban and Tehran.

I remember going to the Iranian Embassy in London back in 1998, the day after the Taliban had slaughtered more than 20 Iranian diplomats. The mood was dark but Iran is a long game player; embassy staff said there would be no immediate retaliation. Payback came when the Taliban regime was routed from Kabul in November 2001… with assistance from Iran.

It is therefore ludicrous to suggest that there is an alliance forming between the two; almost as ludicrous, in fact, as claiming that Al-Qaeda, a fundamentalist Sunni organisation, is in league with the Shia Islamic State of Iran. The two are currently hitting each other at every opportunity in Syria, where Iran is backing the Bashar Al-Assad regime and Al-Qaeda has aligned itself with rebel fighters and militias.

Nevertheless, the unstoppable Bolton continues to up the rhetoric against the Iranian regime: “If you cross us, our allies, or our partners, if you harm our citizens, if you continue to lie, cheat, and deceive, yes, there will indeed be hell to pay… we will come after you.”

This is hardly the language of international diplomacy, but this former US Ambassador to the United Nations — yes, really — has been a constant thorn in Tehran’s side for more than ten years expanding on the same warnings and threats that Tehran is building a nuclear weapon. He has never offered any credible evidence or even in-depth analysis to prove this, while simultaneously and very conveniently forgetting about the eight-year war which was started by US-backed Iraq’s invasion of its neighbour, costing more than a million casualties by the time it ended in 1988 when Iran accepted a UN-brokered ceasefire. That was when Saddam was Washington’s man.

Standing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Bolton has warned Iran not to test Trump, while Pompeo met with Saudi leaders in Jeddah pushing a similar message. They believe that Iran’s leadership is under severe political and economic pressure at home and may look for relief by agreeing to renegotiate a nuclear deal. Trump, remember, pulled the US out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreed by the Obama administration in 2015.

US National Security Adviser John Bolton (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) hold a joint press conference after their meeting at the Prime Ministry office in West Jerusalem on June 23, 2019. [Haim Zach / GPO / Handout - Anadolu Agency]
US National Security Adviser John Bolton (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) hold a joint press conference after their meeting at the Prime Ministry office in West Jerusalem on 23 June 2019 [Haim Zach/GPO/ Handout/Anadolu Agency]

However, if that is the message being fed to the US President, he is being misled. The Iranians are measured political gamblers; they know that Trump will not want to get into a war just ahead of a re-election campaign. Tehran can also see that Europe has no stomach to join the US in such iron-fist diplomacy. My guess is that the Iranian regime is hoping that Trump will lose in 2020, paving the way for a Democrat President who will want to return to the original Obama deal.

Other factors that the hot heads in the Trump camp seem to have overlooked include the fact that, unlike Saddam’s Iraq of 2003, Iran is armed and dangerous, and is more likely to retaliate if it is attacked. It is also quite close to Russia and China at the moment and is not quite the international pariah that the US would like it to be.

Sadly, Washington is very poor at reading diplomatic language on an international level. The Bush administration expected the Iraqis to rise up and overthrow Saddam as soon as “shock and awe” was unleashed. They thought that new Iraqi leaders would emerge and consolidate control, giving US troops the chance to leave after a year. That plan worked out well, didn’t it?

The war in Iraq was a disaster, just as a war in Iran will be. The Americans have got to learn from their recent history to see that both Bolton and Pompeo are amateurs when it comes to understanding the Middle East and Asia.

Moreover, many of my journalist colleagues who got it so wrong about the war in Iraq are, sadly, also in danger of making the same mistakes all over again. I would urge them to be more critical and hold the likes of Bolton and Pompeo to account when their rhetoric is devoid of facts and detail.

One article definitely worth a read, though, is by Ilan Goldenberg, who paints a horrific picture of what conflict with Iran would look like. His focus is more on the global cost in terms of hundreds of billions of dollars, although some of us would want to reflect more on the human cost. A chill went up my spine when I read that, “The Islamic Republic can use proxy forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen to attack the United States and its partners. It has an arsenal of ballistic missiles that can target US bases in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

“Its mines and land-based anti-ship missiles can wreak havoc in the Strait of Hormuz and drive up global oil prices. Iran has the capacity to shut down a significant portion of Saudi oil production with aggressive sabotage or cyberattacks, and with its paramilitary unit known as the Quds Force, Iran can attack US targets around the globe.”

As around a million Iraqi widows and orphans have learned to their cost, starting a war is the easy part, but ending the large scale violence, poverty and hardship which continues long thereafter is much more difficult. What the reckless Bolton and Pompeo want us to forget is that Iraq didn’t have weapons of mass destruction, but Iran does. We have to remind them of this and get them to pull back from the brink, or we will all pay a terrible price.

U.S. adviser Bolton to urge tougher UK stance on Iran and China
U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton walks to give an interview to Fox News outside of the White House in Washington, U.S. July 31, 2019. REUTERS/Leah Millis

John Bolton, U.S. President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, arrived in London on Sunday for talks at which he is expected to urge Britain to toughen its stance on Iran and Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei.

Germany must up defense spending, relying on U.S. "offensive" - U.S. envoy
Richard Grenell U.S. Ambassador to Germany attends the Rally for Equal Rights at the United Nations (Protesting Anti-Israeli Bias) aside of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 18, 2019.  REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
Richard Grenell U.S. Ambassador to Germany attends the "Rally for Equal Rights at the United Nations (Protesting Anti-Israeli Bias)" aside of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 18, 2019. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

BERLIN August 9, 2019 - Germany’s reluctance to spend more on defense and its continued reliance on U.S. troops for protection is offensive, Richard Grenell, the U.S. Ambassador to Germany said on Friday.

Grenell’s comments signal U.S. President Donald Trump’s impatience with Germany’s failure to raise defense spending to 2% of economic output as mandated by the NATO military alliance.

"It is offensive to assume that the US taxpayers continue to pay for more than 50,000 Americans in Germany but the Germans get to spend their (budget) surplus on domestic programs", Grenell told the dpa news agency.

Germany’s fiscal plans foresee the defense budget of NATO’s second-largest member rising to 1.37% of output next year before falling to 1.24% in 2023.

Eastern European countries like Poland and Latvia, fearful of Russia after it annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, have raised their military spending to the 2% target, drawing praise from Trump who wants Germany to do the same.

U.S. complaints about Germany’s defense spending pre-date Trump but relations with the United States have deteriorated since he became president.

The two allies do not see eye-to-eye on a range of issues, including Iran, trade tariffs and the NordStream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.

Trump said in June he would deploy 1,000 U.S. troops from Germany to Poland, which sees the measure as deterrence against possible aggression from Russia.

Georgette Mosbacher, U.S. Ambassador to Poland, has made a similar criticism of Germany’s reluctance to commit more financial resources to NATO.

“Poland meets its 2% of GDP spending obligation toward NATO. Germany does not. We would welcome American troops in Germany to come to Poland,” she wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

The United States has more than 33,000 soldiers in Germany and an additional 17,000 U.S. civilian employees to support them. It is believed the United States also has nuclear warheads in Germany.

“President Trump is right and Georgette Mosbacher is right,” Grenell told dpa. “Multiple presidents have asked Europe’s largest economy to pay for its own defense. This request has been made over many years and by many presidents.”
 

US realizes China won’t join arms control initiative — Russian Foreign Minister
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Gavriil Grigorov/TASS

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov © Gavriil Grigorov/TASS

SOLNECHNOGORSK /Moscow Region/, August 15, 2019 - The United States is fully aware that China will not engage in the negotiating process on a new arms control system, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the Territoriya Smyslov (Territory of Meanings) National Education Youth Forum on Thursday.

"Overall, the US has set on a course to dismantle the whole arms control system, the whole system ensuring international strategic stability. The US first destroyed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in the beginning of the century and then moved on to demolish the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty [INF Treaty — TASS]. Statements are already put out there that the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty [New START — TASS], which expires in February 2021, has also become outdated, that it does not meet American interests, that there is no need to preserve any bilateral communication channels on arms control with Russia. [They say that] China needs to be involved, being perfectly aware that China will not agree to this," Lavrov said.

Moreover, the minister mentioned Washington’s plan to deploy intermediate-and shorter-range missiles in Asia Pacific. "It was announced that these intermediate-and shorter-range missiles will be deployed in the Asia-Pacific Region, after Americans destroyed the treaty banning these very land-based missiles. At the same time, it is clear that when this announcement was made no one asked [for the opinion of] the countries where the Americans are planning to deploy these new intermediate-and shorter-range missiles," Lavrov underscored.

The foreign minister also stressed that the US’ intention to deploy weapons in outer space would be categorically unacceptable for the majority of countries and would run counter to the stance to prevent the arms race in space, promoted by the majority of the UN members.

INF Treaty
On August 2, 2019 the INF Treaty was officially terminated at the US side’s request. In December 2018, the US sent an ultimatum to Russia, demanding that the new Russian 9M729 cruise missiles, which as the US and NATO allies believed, violated the INF Treaty, be destroyed. Russia rejected these demands, saying that the technical parameters of 9M729 cruise missiles are complying with the norms allowed by the treaty, and laid counterclaims to Washington. The United States and NATO ignored all the submitted information, including the presentation of this missile.

Trump, Trudeau discussed developments in Hong Kong, Canadians held in China
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., June 20, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau discussed the Hong Kong protests and the ongoing detention of two Canadians by the Chinese government, a statement from Trudeau's office said on Friday.

Trump gets update from aides on Afghan peace plan with troop pullout possible
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives aboard Air Force One at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in Manchester, New Hampshire U.S. August 15, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
President Donald Trump was briefed on Friday by top national security advisers on the status of negotiations with the Taliban on a U.S. troop pullout from Afghanistan and the potential for a political settlement between the warring sides.

Greenland tells Trump it is open for business but not for sale
General view of Upernavik in western Greenland, Denmark July 11, 2015. Picture taken July 11, 2015.   Ritzau Scanpix/Linda Kastrup via REUTERS

Greenland on Friday dismissed the notion that it might be up for sale after reports that U.S. President Donald Trump had privately discussed with his advisers the idea of buying the world's biggest island.
 
The Anglo-American Origins of Color Revolutions & NED
Arms Control

August 17, 2019 - A few years ago, very few people understood the concept behind color revolutions.

Had Russia and China’s leadership not decided to unite in solidarity in 2012 when they began vetoing the overthrow of Bashar al Assad in Syria- followed by their alliance around the Belt and Road Initiative, then it is doubtful that the color revolution concept would be as well-known as it has become today.

At that time, Russia and China realized that they had no choice but to go on the counter offensive, since the regime change operations and colour revolutions orchestrated by such organizations as the CIA-affiliated National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and Soros Open Society Foundations were ultimately designed to target them as those rose, orange, green or yellow revolution efforts in Georgia, Ukraine, Iran or Hong Kong were always recognized as weak points on the periphery of the threatened formation of a great power alliance of sovereign Eurasian nations that would have the collective power to challenge the power of the Anglo-American elite based in London and Wall Street.

Russia’s 2015 expulsion of 12 major conduits of color revolution included Soros’ Open Society Foundation as well as the NED was a powerful calling out of the enemy with the Foreign Ministry calling them “a threat to the foundations of Russia’s Constitutional order and national security”. This resulted in such fanatical calls by George Soros for a $50 billion fund to counteract Russia’s interference in defense of Ukraine’s democracy. Apparently the $5 billion spent by the NED in Ukraine was not nearly enough (1).

(1) Undoubtedly President Trump’s gutting of NED funding by two thirds in 2018 only re-enforced Soros’ accusations that Putin is the guiding hand in America while pouring millions into anti-Trump regime change operations in America. While neocons such as Bolton, Pompeo and Senate leader Mitch Mcconnell have taken a hardline stance against China in support of the color revolution, it should be noted that Trump has continuously taken an opposite line Tweeting on August 14 that “China is not our problem” and that “the problem is with the FED”.

In spite of the light falling upon these cockroaches, NED and Open Society operations continued in full force focusing on the weakest links the Grand Chessboard unleashing what has become known as a “strategy of tension”. Venezuela, Kashmir, Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjian (dubbed East Turkistan by NED) have all been targeted in recent years with millions of NED dollars pouring into separatist groups, labour unions, student movements and fake news “opinion shapers” under the guise of “democracy building”. $1.7 million in grants was spent by NED in Hong Kong since 2017 which was a significant increase from their $400 000 spent to coordinate the failed “Occupy HK” protest in 2014.

The Case of China
In response to over two months of controlled chaos, the Chinese government has kept a remarkably restrained posture, allowing the Hong Kong authorities to manage the situation with their police deprived of use of lethal weapons and even giving into the protestors’ demand that the changes to the extradition treaty that nominally sparked this mess be annulled. In spite of this patient tone, the rioters who have run havoc on airports and public buildings have created lists of demands that are all but impossible for mainland China to meet including 1) an “independent committee to investigate the abuses of Chinese authorities”, 2) for china to stop referring to rioters as “rioters”, 3) for all charges against rioters to be dropped, and 4) universal suffrage- including candidates promoting independence or rejoining the British Empire.

As violence continues to grow, and as it has become an increasing reality that some form of intervention from the mainland may occur to restore order, the British Foreign Office has taken an aggressive tone threatening China with “severe consequences” unless “a fully independent investigation” into police Brutality were permitted. The former Colonial Governor of China Christopher Patten attacked China by saying “Since president Xi has been in office, there’s been a crackdown on dissent and dissidents everywhere, the party has been in control of everything”.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry responded saying “the UK has no sovereign jurisdiction or right of supervision over Hong Kong… it is simply wrong for the British Government to exert pressure. The Chinese side seriously urges the UK to stop its interference in China’s internal affairs and stop making random and inflammatory accusations on Hong Kong.”

The British have not been able to conduct their manipulation of Hong Kong without the vital role of America’s NGO dirty ops, and in true imperial fashion, the political class from both sides of the aisle have attacked China with Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi making the loudest noise driving the American House Foreign Affairs Committee to threaten “universal condemnation and swift consequences” if Beijing intervenes. This has only made the photographs of Julie Eadeh, the head of Political Office at the American Consulate in Hong Kong meeting with leaders of the Hong Kong demonstrations that much more disgusting to any onlooker.

While both Britain and America have been caught red handed organizing this colour revolution, it is important to keep in mind who is controlling who.

The Foreign Origins of the NED
Contrary to popular opinion, the British Empire did not go away after WWII, nor did it hand over the “keys to the kingdom” to America. It didn’t even become America’s Junior Partner in a new Anglo-American special relationship. Contrary to popular belief, it stayed in the drivers’ seat.

The post WWII order was largely shaped by a British coup which didn’t take over America without a fight. Nests of Oxford-trained Rhodes Scholars, Fabians and other ideologues embedded within the American establishment had a lot of work ahead of them as they struggled to purge all nationalist impulses from the American intelligence community. While the most aggressive purging of patriotic Americans from the intelligence community occurred during the dissolution of the OSS and creation of MI6 in 1947 and the Communist witch hunt that followed, there were other purges that were less well known.

As an organization which was beginning to take form which was to become known as the Trilateral Commission organized by Britain’s “hand in America” called the Council on Foreign Relations and international Bilderberg Group, another purge occurred in 1970 under the direction of James Schlesinger during his six month stint as CIA director. At that time 1000 top CIA officials deemed “unfit” were fired. This was followed nine years later as another 800 were fired under a list drafted by CIA “spymaster” Ted Shackley. Both Schlesinger and Shackley were high level Trilateral Commission members who took part in the group’s 1973 formation and fully took power of America during Jimmy Carter’s 1977-1981 presidency which unleashed a dystopian reorganization of American foreign and internal policy outlined in my previous report.

Project Democracy Takes Over
By the 1970s, the CIA’s dirty hand funding anarchist operations both within America and abroad had become too well known as media coverage of their dirty operations at home and abroad spoiled the patriotic image which the intelligence community then desired. While the internal resistance to fascist behaviour from within the intelligence Community itself was dealt with through purges, the reality was that a new agency had to be created to take over those functions of covert destabilization of foreign governments.

What became Project Democracy herein originated with a Trilateral Commission meeting in May 31, 1975 in Kyoto Japan as a protégé of Trilateral Commission director Zbigniew Brzezinski named Samuel (Clash of Civilizations) Huntington delivered the results of his Task Force on the Governability of Democracies. This project was supervised by Schlesinger and Brzezinski and presented the notion that democracies could not function adequately in the crisis conditions which the Trilateral Commission was preparing to impose onto America and the world through a process dubbed “the Controlled Disintegration of Society”.

The Huntington report featured at the Trilateral meeting stated: “One might consider… means of securing support and resources from foundations, business corporations, labor unions, political parties, civic associations, and, where possible and appropriate, governmental agencies for the creation of an institute for the strengthening of democratic institutions.”

It took 4 years for this blueprint to become reality. In 1979 three Trilateral Commission members named William Brock (RNC Chairman), Charles Manatt (DNC Chairman) and George Agree (head of Freedom House) established an organization called the American Political Foundation (APF) which attempted to fulfil the objective laid out by Huntington in 1975.

The APF was used to set up a program using federal funds called the Democracy Program which issued an interim report “The Commitment to Democracy” which said: “No theme requires more sustained attention in our time than the necessity for strengthening the future chances of democratic societies in a world that remains predominantly unfree or partially fettered by repressive governments. … There has never been a comprehensive structure for a non-governmental effort through which the resources of America’s pluralistic constituencies . .. could be mobilized effectively.”

In May 1981, Henry Kissinger who had replaced Brzezinski as head of the Trilateral Commission and had many operatives planted around President Reagan, gave a speech at Britain’s Chatham House (the controlling hand behind the Council on Foreign Relations) where he described his work as Secretary of State saying that the British “became a participant in internal American deliberations, to a degree probably never practiced between sovereign nations… In my White House incarnation then, I kept the British Foreign Office better informed and more closely engaged than I did the American State Department… It was symptomatic”. In his speech, Kissinger outlined the battle between Churchill vs FDR during WWII and made the point that he favored the Churchill worldview for the post war world (And ironically also that of Prince Metternich who ran the Congress of Vienna that snuffed out democratic movements across Europe in 1815).

In June 1982, Reagan’s Westminster Palace speech officially inaugurated the NED and by November 1983, the National Endowment for Democracy Act was passed bringing this new covert organization into reality with $31 million of funding under four subsidiary organizations (AFL-CIO Free Trade Union Institute, The US Chamber of Commerce’s Center for International Private Enterprise, the International Republican Institute and the International Democratic Institute) (2).

(2) At the beginning of 1984, a similar re-organization had occurred in Canada under the guidance of Privy Council Clerk/Trilateral Commission member Michael Pitfield who created CSIS when the RCMP’s “dirty operations” during the FLQ crisis were made known in a series of newspaper reports.

Throughout the 1980s, this organization went to work managing Iran-Contra, destabilizing Soviet states and unleashing the first “official” modern color revolution in the form of the Yellow revolution that ousted Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos. Speaking more candidly than usual, NED President David Ignatius said in 1991 “a lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA”.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the NED was instrumental in bringing former Warsaw Pact nations into NATO/WTO system and the New World Order was announced by Bush Sr. and Kissinger- both of whom were rewarded with knighthoods for their service to the Crown in 1992 and 1995 respectively.

Of course, the vast web of NGOs permeating the geopolitical terrain can only be effective as long as no one says the truth and “names the game”. The very act of calling out their nefarious motives renders them impotent and this simple fact has made the recently announced China-Russia arrangement to formulate a proper strategic response to color revolutions so important in the current fight.
 
These Are The Dates That Destroyed America, 1865 - 2016
These Are The Dates That Destroyed America, 1865 - 2016
a-new-york-destroyed-.jpg


April 9, 1865
This is the date when General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Regardless of where one comes down on the subject of the War Between the States, one fact is undeniable: Abraham Lincoln seriously dismantled the Jeffersonian model of federalism in America.

Ever since Lincoln’s presidency, virtually every battle that free men have fought for the principles of limited government, State sovereignty, personal liberty, etc., has stemmed directly from Lincoln’s usurpation of power and subjugation and forced union of what used to be “Free and Independent States” (the Declaration of Independence). In fact, the philosophical battles being waged today regarding every encroachment upon liberty and State autonomy by our federal government have their roots in Lincoln’s autocracy.

July 9, 1868
This is the date when the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified. This amendment codified into law what Lincoln had forced at bayonet point. Until then, people were deemed citizens of their respective states. The Constitution nowhere referred to people as “U.S. citizens.” It only recognized “the Citizens of each State.” Notice also that citizenship was only recognized among the “several States,” not among people living in non-State territories. Until the Fourteenth Amendment, people were “Citizens of each State.” (Article. IV. Section. 2. Paragraph. 1.) The Fourteenth Amendment created a whole new class of persons: “citizens of the United States.” This false notion of “one nation” overturned the Jeffersonian principle that America was a confederated republic, a voluntary union of states.

February 3, 1913
This is the date when the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified and the personal income tax and IRS were instituted. This was a flagrant repudiation of freedom principles. What began as a temporary measure to support the War of Northern Aggression became a permanent income revenue stream for an unconstitutional--and ever-growing--central government.

April 8, 1913
This is the date when the Seventeenth Amendment was ratified. This amendment overturned the right of the State legislatures to elect their own senators and replaced it with a direct, popular vote. This was another serious blow against State sovereignty. The framers of the Constitution desired that the influence and power in Washington, D.C., be kept as close to the people and states as possible. For example, the number of representatives in the House of Representatives was to be decided by a limited number of voters. In the original Constitution, the ratio of “people of the several States” deciding their House member could not exceed “one for every thirty thousand.” (Article. I. Section. 2. Paragraph. 3.) And when it came to the US Senate, the framers recognized the authority of each State legislature to select its own senators, thereby keeping power and influence from aggregating in Washington, D.C.

The Seventeenth Amendment seriously damaged the influence and power of the states by forcing them to elect their U.S. senators by popular vote. Senators who answered to State legislators, each answering to a limited number of voters, were much more accountable to the “citizens of the several States” than those who are elected by a large number (most states now numbering into the millions) of people. For all intents and purposes, U.S. senators are more like “mini-presidents” than representatives of sovereign states.

December 23, 1913
This is the date when the Federal Reserve Act was passed. This Act placed oversight of America’s financial matters into the hands of a cabal of private international bankers who have completely destroyed the constitutional principles of sound money and (for the most part) free enterprise. No longer would the marketplace (private consumption, thrift, growth, etc.) be the determinant of the U.S. economy--which is what freedom is all about. But now a private, unaccountable, international banking cartel would have total power and authority to micromanage (for their own private, parochial purposes) America’s financial sector. Virtually every recession, depression, and downturn this country has ever had (including the Great Depression) was the direct result of the Fed’s manipulation of the financial markets. 1913 was not a good year for the United States or for freedom.

June 26, 1945
This is the date when the United Nations Charter was signed and America joined the
push for global government. It is no accident that America has not fought a constitutionally declared war since we entered the UN--and neither have we won one.
Furthermore, it is America’s involvement in the United Nations that has spawned this pathetic push for a New World Order that George H.W. Bush, Henry Kissinger, Tony Blair, Walter Cronkite, et al., have talked so much about.

The United Nations is an anti-America institution that works aggressively and constantly against the interests and principles of the United States. But it is an institution that is ensconced in the American political infrastructure. Like a cancer, the UN eats away at our liberties and values, and both major political parties in Washington, D.C., are equally culpable in allowing it to exert so much influence over our country.

May 14, 1948
This is the date that the Zionist State of Israel was created. Nothing has blinded America's pastors and Christians like the advent of the modern State of Israel. And I was just as blinded as anyone about this subject for most of my life. And anyone who wants to better understand why I have taken the position on Israel that I have now should be sure to read my postscript at the end of this column.

Many--if not most--pastors and Christians believe that modern Israel is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy preceding the appearance of Christ (as I used to believe). But it is much more likely that this faux Israel is a devilish counterfeit preceding the appearance of antichrist.

Since the creation of the Zionist State of Israel in 1948, nothing has influenced and even dominated American politics, government, business (especially banking), the mainstream media, and the entertainment industry more--and all for the WORSE.

August 16, 1954
This is the date that the infamous Johnson Amendment to the 501c3 tax code was signed into law by President Dwight David Eisenhower. This review from Regent University accurately summarizes the Johnson Amendment:

“The Amendment appears to be nothing more than an attempt by a powerful senator [Lyndon Johnson, D-TX] to silence political opponents that he feared were hurting his chances for reelection. Johnson knew how to work the system and inserted his Amendment into a large tax overhaul bill. There was no referral to a committee for further study and hearings. There was no legislative analysis of the effect of the Amendment on tax-exempt organizations. And there was certainly no attempt to understand the effect that the Amendment might have on constitutional rights, especially those of churches and other religious organizations. The Johnson Amendment plainly targets speech because it prohibits statements that are published or distributed, yet Congress made no attempt to reconcile the Johnson Amendment with the First Amendment. There was absolutely no discussion at all of the First Amendment, and Johnson’s Amendment simply sailed through Congress as a small addition to a popular tax overhaul bill.” (Regent University Law Review, Volume 24, 2011-2012, Number 2)

Nothing has done more to gag America’s pulpits and churches like the repressive speech restrictions of the 501c3 non-profit tax status instituted under the Johnson Amendment. And nothing has done more to destroy America than these gagged and muted pulpits and churches.

June 25, 1962, and June 17, 1963
These are the dates when the U.S. Supreme Court removed prayer (’62) and Bible reading (’63) from public schools. Think of it: since the time that our forebears settled this continent, children had been free to pray and read the Scriptures in their various schools. We’re talking about a period of more than 300 years.

Of course, the State legislatures--and the vast majority (if not all) of municipal and county governmental meetings--still open their sessions in prayer, as do the U.S. House and Senate and even the U.S. Supreme Court. But this same liberty is denied the students of America’s public schools.

There is no question that America has not recovered from these two horrific Supreme Court decisions. And since the federal government expelled God from our public schools, it has been methodically expelling God from virtually all of our public life.

November 22, 1963
This is the date that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. As I wrote previously in this column:
For all intents and purposes, the American people lost control of their government with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. With the exception of Ronald Reagan, every President since Kennedy has been completely controlled by the establishment elite that ordered Kennedy’s murder.
A retired Air Force Brigadier General friend of mine (who, before he retired, probably flew every jet the Air Force had and who had been assigned to both the White House and Pentagon during his illustrious career) told me in no uncertain terms that he was convinced that President Kennedy was assassinated by government insiders (with the help of the mob, of course) for two reasons: 1) he intended to disband the CIA, and 2) he intended to dismantle the Federal Reserve.
The assassination of President Kennedy and subsequent cover-up was much more than a killing; it was a coup.
October 22, 1968
This is the date when President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Gun Control Act of 1968. Before this Act, the Second Amendment was alive and well in the United States. The Gun Control Act of 1968 turned a right into a privilege and forever forced the American people to bow at the altar of government when seeking to exercise their God-ordained duty of self-defense. Interestingly enough, Johnson’s Gun Control Act of 1968 borrowed heavily from Hitler’s Gun Control Act of 1938.

Our Founding Fathers could have never imagined that the American people would ever allow their right to keep and bear arms be infringed as they are today. In fact, it was the attempted confiscation of firearms cached at Concord, Massachusetts, that triggered the War of Independence on April 19, 1775. Pastor Jonas Clark and his Lexington Minutemen must be turning over in their graves at the egregiously restrictive gun control laws imposed in their beloved State of Massachusetts today.

The hundreds and hundreds of draconian gun control laws that currently plague the American people--and that have cost thousands of American lives (including the 1993 Brady Bill)--have all come about as a result of Johnson’s Gun Control Act of 1968.

January 22, 1973
This is the date when the U.S. Supreme Court issued the Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions, which, in effect, legalized abortion-on-demand and has resulted in the legal murders of nearly 60 million innocent, unborn babies. Imagine: since these two Supreme Court decisions, more innocent human beings have been killed in the United States than were killed in the holocaust of Nazi Germany or in the great purges of Stalin’s Russia or in the communist revolution of Mao’s China.

The Roe and Doe decisions expunged the Jeffersonian principle that all men are endowed by their Creator with the unalienable right to life (Declaration). These decisions opened the door to a host of big-government programs and policies that have resulted in the wanton destruction of human life both in the United States and overseas. It has created an entire industry whose express purpose for existing is the destruction of human life. It has desensitized the conscience and soul of America. Furthermore, it has forced men of decency and good will to finance--with their tax dollars--the unconscionable act of killing unborn children.

And, once again, another Jeffersonian principle was eviscerated. He said, “To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.” The Roe and Doe decisions violate this principle in the most egregious manner possible.

December 8, 1993
This is the date that President Bill Clinton signed the job-killing, manufacturing industry-gutting, anything-but-free-trade bill, The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), into law. NAFTA had been ceremonially signed by President George H.W. Bush on December 17, 1992. The U.S. House of Representatives passed it on November 17, 1993, and the U.S. Senate passed it on November 20, 1993.

According to the Economic Policy Institute, “The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was the door through which American workers were shoved into the neoliberal global labor market.

“By establishing the principle that U.S. corporations could relocate production elsewhere and sell back into the United States, NAFTA undercut the bargaining power of American workers, which had driven the expansion of the middle class since the end of World War II. The result has been 20 years of stagnant wages and the upward redistribution of income, wealth and political power.”

“Second, NAFTA strengthened the ability of U.S. employers to force workers to accept lower wages and benefits.”

“Third, the destructive effect of NAFTA on the Mexican agricultural and small business sectors dislocated several million Mexican workers and their families, and was a major cause in the dramatic increase in undocumented workers flowing into the U.S. labor market.”

“Fourth, and ultimately most important, NAFTA was the template for rules of the emerging global economy, in which the benefits would flow to capital and the costs to labor. The U.S. governing class--in alliance with the financial elites of its trading partners--applied NAFTA’s principles to the World Trade Organization, to the policies of the World Bank and IMF, and to the deal under which employers of China’s huge supply of low-wage workers were allowed access to U.S. markets in exchange for allowing American multinational corporations the right to invest there.”

September 11, 2001
This is the date that the Twin Towers in New York City and Pentagon in Washington, D.C., were attacked. It is very difficult to not notice the Orwellian reaction by the federal government in Washington, D.C., to the 9/11 attacks--whoever was responsible--including:

*The creation of the Department of Homeland Security
*The passage of the USA Patriot Act
*The passage of the Military Commissions Act
*The invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan
*The exponential escalation of the global (and endless) “war on terror”
*The rise of burgeoning Police State within the United States

But many people (including experts) are firmly convinced that the attacks on 9/11 were carried out or at least facilitated by elements within our own government. Which, if that is the case, would constitute the greatest conspiratorial hoax against the American people since Kennedy’s assassination.

October 26, 2001
This is the date when President George W. Bush signed the USA Patriot Act and the federal government’s war against individual liberty began in earnest. This is the exact same bill that Bill Clinton and Al Gore tried to push through a Republican Congress during the 1990s but were unable to do, because Republicans said the bill was “unconstitutional.” But it was those same Republicans who passed this same bill in 2001, because it was now being proposed by a Republican administration. That’s how these pathetic politicians from both parties play this game, folks.

Most of the unconstitutional eavesdropping, snooping, wiretapping, phone-call-intercepting, email-reading, prying, financial-records-tracking, travel-watching, ad infinitum, ad nauseam by federal police agencies began with the implementation of the Patriot Act.
The Department of Homeland Security, the “war on terror,” and the usurpation of local and State power at home have all come about as an outgrowth of the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act forever shifted the focus of American law and jurisprudence away from constitutional government and individual liberty and toward a police-state mentality.

March 20, 2003
This was the date that President George W. Bush launched his moronic invasion of Iraq--a nation that had absolutely NOTHING to do with the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon on September 11, 2001. In fact, the invasion of Iraq had been planned since Bush first became President. The events of 9/11 were merely the excuse George Bush and Dick Cheney needed to launch their preconceived invasion.

The invasion of Iraq led to the destabilization of the entire Middle East, the rise of ISIS, America's phony war on terror, and unprecedented Muslim immigration in Europe and the U.S--not to mention the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent victims.

October 17, 2006, and October 9, 2009
These are the dates when President G.W. Bush signed and President Barack Obama re-signed the Military Commissions Act. This Act is another outgrowth of the Patriot Act and has, in effect, terminated the fundamental protections of individual liberty, which are found in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. For all intents and purposes, the Patriot Act and Military Commissions Act (along with the indefinite detention sections of the NDAA) eviscerated the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and do serious injury to several others. The Military Commissions Act also expunged the constitutional right of Habeas Corpus.

March 21 and 23, 2010
These are the dates when Congress passed and President Obama signed into law the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” the so-called “health care reform” bill--aka Obamacare. While Social Security and various Welfare programs have toyed with socialism in the United States, this bill is the largest and most expansive endorsement of socialism in American history. By socializing the healthcare industry in America, some 18% of the U.S. economy has been socialized. The fallout and ramifications of this bill are going to be horrific. Costs of this medical monstrosity are already skyrocketing and care is already suffering. Left standing, Obamacare will destroy the finest medical system the world has ever known.

June 26, 2015
This is the date that the U.S. Supreme Court attempted to officially redefine marriage as being between same-sex couples via their hideous Obergefell v. Hodges decision. This decision forces states nationwide to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Not only is this dreadful decision an assault against State sovereignty, it is an assault against the sanctity of marriage itself.

Of course, in reality, it doesn’t matter to a tinker’s dam what the Supreme Court said; God is the creator of marriage, and, therefore, He is the only One Who can define it--and He already determined that marriage can only exist between a man and a woman. But what this decision does is open the doors of criminal and civil prosecution against any person of faith (such as Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore) who refuses to recognize this immoral, unconstitutional, and blasphemous ruling.

As I have written before, marriage is much more than a civil contract; it is a spiritual union and, therefore, is outside the boundary of civil government. In other words, the government should never have been in the marriage licensing business to begin with. However, this does not excuse or justify the Supreme Court’s effort to give Almighty God the middle finger and attempt to desecrate this most holy of all institutions.

There is no historical record of a nation long surviving after having legitimized and normalized the un-natural act of sodomite behavior. And an unrepentant America will NOT be the first exception.

November 8, 2016
This is the date that the final nail might be put in the coffin of America should Hillary Clinton be elected President.

When future historians review the demise of our once great republic, they will observe that the above dates were the dates that destroyed America.
 
Go to Israel, see ‘cruel reality of the occupation’: Ilhan Omar
1719871-908935005.jpg

US Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) hold a news conference on August 19, 2019 in St. Paul, Minnesota. (AFP)

The Republican president subjected them to a series of racist tweets last month in which he called on them to “go back” to their “broken” countries.

August 20, 2019 - ST. PAUL, Minnesota: Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib sharply criticized Israel on Monday for denying them entry to the Jewish state and called on fellow members of Congress to visit while they cannot.

Omar, of Minnesota, suggested President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were suppressing the lawmakers’ ability to carry out their oversight role.

“I would encourage my colleagues to visit, meet with the people we were going to meet with, see the things we were going to see, hear the stories we were going to hear,” Omar said at a news conference. “We cannot let Trump and Netanyahu succeed in hiding the cruel reality of the occupation from us.”

At Trump’s urging, Israel denied entry to the first two Muslim women elected to Congress over their support for a Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions global movement. Tlaib and Omar, who had planned to visit Jerusalem and the Israeli-occupied West Bank on a tour organized by a Palestinian group, are outspoken critics of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.

Tlaib, a US-born Palestinian-American from Michigan, had also planned to visit her aging grandmother in the West Bank. Israeli officials later relented and said she could visit her grandmother after all.

But Tlaib got emotional as she told how her “Sitty” — an Arabic term of endearment for one’s grandmother that’s spelled different ways in English — urged her during a tearful late-night family phone call not to come under what they considered such humiliating circumstances.

“She said I’m her dream manifested. I’m her free bird,” Tlaib recalled. “So why would I come back and be caged and bow down when my election rose her head up high, gave her dignity for the first time?“

Tlaib and Omar were joined Monday by Minnesota residents who said they had been directly affected by travel restrictions in the past. They included Lana Barkawi, a Palestinian-American, who lamented that she has never been able to visit her parents’ homeland.

Barkawi said she had a chance to visit her father’s village in the West Bank near Nablus during a family visit to Jordan about 25 years ago, but her parents decided not to risk crossing the border. “My father could not put himself to be in a position where an Israeli soldier is the person with control over his entry into his homeland,” Barkawi said. “This is an enduring trauma that he and my mother live.”

Before Israel’s decision, Trump tweeted it would be a “show of weakness” to allow the two representatives in. Israel controls entry and exit to the West Bank, which it seized in the 1967 Mideast war along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, territories the Palestinians want for a future state.

White House spokesman Hogan Gidley kept up the administration’s criticism of the two lawmakers.

“Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar have a well-documented history of anti-Semitic comments, anti-Semitic social media posts and anti-Semitic relationships,” he said in a statement. “Israel has the right to prevent people who want to destroy it from entering the country — and Democrats’ pointless Congressional inquiries here in America cannot change the laws Israel has passed to protect itself.”

Supporters say the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is a nonviolent way of protesting Israel’s military rule over Palestinians, but Israel says it aims to delegitimize the state.

The two congresswomen are part of the “squad” of four liberal House newcomers — all women of color — whom Trump has labeled as the face of the Democratic Party as he runs for reelection. The Republican president subjected them to a series of racist tweets last month in which he called on them to “go back” to their “broken” countries. They are US citizens — Tlaib was born in the US and Omar became a citizen after moving to the US as a refugee from war-torn Somalia.

“There is no way that we are ever, ever going to allow people to tear us down, to see us cry out of pain, to ever make us feel like our (citizenship) certificate is less than theirs,” Omar said. “So we are going to hold our head up high. And we are going to fight this administration and the oppressive Netanyahu administration until we take our last breath.”

Omar: US must reconsider billions of dollars of aid to Israel
PressTV-Ilhan Omar questions billions in US aid to Israel-
US Muslim Congresswoman Ilhan Omar

US Muslim Congresswoman Ilhan Omar

Tue Aug 20, 2019 - Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar has said that billions of dollars of US aid to Israel should be tied to its treatment of Palestinians, urging Washington to reconsider the funds to the Tel Aviv regime which is engaged in oppression of the Palestinian people.

Omar on Monday said that Congress should reconsider the annual US aid allocated to Israel, after the regime banned Muslim Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from travelling to Jerusalem al-Quds and the occupied West Bank.

"We give Israel more than $3 [billion] in aid every year. This is predicated on them being an important ally in the region and the only democracy in the Middle East. But denying a visit to duly elected members of Congress is not consistent with being an ally, and denying millions of people freedom of movement or expression or self-determination is not consistent with being a democracy," Omar said at the press conference in St. Paul, Minn.

Omar, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also stated that US aid should be contingent upon Israel's activity in Palestine.

"We must be asking, as Israel's ally, that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s government stop the expansion of settlements on Palestinian lands and ensure full rights for Palestinians if we are to give them aid," Omar said.

US military aid to Israel has skyrocketed over the past several years while the regime’s forces are engaged in blatant human rights violations against Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere.

The United States and Israel signed an agreement in September 2016 to give Israel $38 billion in military assistance over the next decade, the largest such aid package in US history.

Israel announced on Thursday that it would prevent a visit by Tlaib and Omar, both Democratic members of the US House of Representatives, over their criticism of Israel.

The decision by Israel appears to be an unprecedented move against American members of Congress. Even AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobbying group in Washington, criticized Israel for barring the pair from traveling there.

Omar on Monday expressed gratitude for the "solidarity" from other Democrats who have expressed outrage at Israel's decision to ban her and Tlaib. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) have called for refraining from visiting Israel until all members of Congress can go.

But Omar urged fellow lawmakers to visit Israel to conduct congressional oversight to see what happens with “millions of dollars” the US sends to Israel in aid.

"It is my belief that, as legislators, we have an obligation to see the reality there for ourselves. We have a responsibility to conduct oversight over our government's foreign policy and what happens with the millions of dollars we send in aid. So I would encourage my colleagues to visit," Omar said.
 
Greenland tells Trump it is open for business but not for sale
General view of Upernavik in western Greenland, Denmark July 11, 2015. Picture taken July 11, 2015.   Ritzau Scanpix/Linda Kastrup via REUTERS

Greenland on Friday dismissed the notion that it might be up for sale after reports that U.S. President Donald Trump had privately discussed with his advisers the idea of buying the world's biggest island.

'A cowboy charm doesn't work, try with sanctions.' :lol:

20 Aug, 2019
 
Back
Top Bottom