News, Views and Opinions from the Alternative Media .... week ending September 4

Dingding Chen at TheDiplomat
With the Hangzhou G20, China Demonstrates Its Global Leadership Credentials
It is never easy to be a global leader, but China is determined to become one.

There is little doubt that Hangzhou city this weekend will be a very nice place to visit. After more than a year’s hard work in preparation, Hangzhou will welcome world leaders for a G20 gathering to talk about pressing global issues, including global imbalances, climate change, the refugee crisis, and sovereignty. China, as the host of the G20, will seek to demonstrate its global leadership at a time of global uncertainties.

First on the agenda this year will be the question of how to achieve sustainable global growth. Interestingly, as globalization comes under attack from across the world, China has been the biggest beneficiary of the trend over the last three decades. The unfortunate fact is that, this year, unequal distribution of globalization’s benefits has cause political upheavals in Europe and the United States, prompting far right forces to rise up politically. China certainly will not be the white knight to reserve the declining popularity of globalization, but it still enjoys a moderately high level of growth despite its own domestic economic problems. Thus, China’s President Xi Jinping has proposed a new idea of an “inclusive world economy,” spurring the pursuit of more equality among world economies, regardless of rich or poor country status.

Whether or not this new slogan will resonate with other G20 members is a different matter. The fact that it is China now calling for new ideas and concepts of world economy is notable. Remember the “Washington Consensus” back in the 1980s? While ideas like the market economy........

Philippine blast leaves 12 dead, 24 wounded in market: By The Canadian Press DAVAO, Philippines — An explosion… https://t.co/tZx0jJOlJg

— Saskatoon Buzz (@saskatoonbuzz) September 2, 2016

Kareem El-Assal and Sonia Takhar at NewCanadianMedia
The Billion Dollar Immigration Question

Canada’s immigration minister John McCallum recently announced that the federal government is evaluating the merits of launching a new program to attract investor immigrants to the country.

Entrepreneur and investor (“business”) immigration programs aim to stimulate economic growth by attracting investment capital, business savvy, and high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) to Canada.

On the one hand, the programs draw talent, investment capital, and spending power to Canada. Yet, they have met with mixed success since Canada began to open its doors to business immigrants in 1978. In addition, public concerns have been raised about the impact of programs on housing affordability, the ‘sale’ of Canadian citizenship, and the extent to which the programs benefit Canada’s economy and society.

These issues raise a billion dollar question: does Canada need dedicated business immigration programs?

According to most Canadian jurisdictions, the answer appears to be ‘yes’. Today, such programs exist federally, and in eight out of 13 provinces and territories. 

Measure of success
To what extent have business immigration programs benefitted Canada’s economy? The answer depends on one’s benchmark of success.

If the primary objective is to draw investment capital and more spending to Canada, the federal government’s Immigrant Investor Program (IIP), which was terminated in 2014, and the Quebec Immigrant Investor Program, which continues to operate, have been successful.

Between 2007 and 2011, the programs raised $6.42 billion in investment capital for the governments of Canada and Quebec. 

A 2010 study argued that the main economic benefit of the IIP was the purchasing power of immigrants who spent significantly on homes, education, and goods and services in Canada.....

Allowing #Saudi to remain on the @UN_HRC makes the org complicit in the very violations they're supposed stop#Yemenhttps://t.co/bRrxuQlj8A

— Get up Stand up (@RiseUp75) September 4, 2016

From TheSaker
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin Interview to Bloomberg

John Micklethwait: Mr President, thank you very much for talking to Bloomberg. We are in Vladivostok, at the border of Russia, practically the Pacific Coast is its border, and this is already the second Eastern Economic Forum that is about to start. What are you planning to achieve at the Forum?

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: We would like to draw the attention of our partners, of potential investors to the Russian Far East. In this sense, the Forum as an event is similar to other regional forums of this kind. Russia hosts a lot of such forums, including the International Economic Forum in St Petersburg, (usually in the beginning of summer), as well as the Economic Forum in Sochi.

The Far East is of particular significance for us in terms of this region’s priority development. Over the last few years, let us say even over the last decades, we were faced with many problems here. We paid little attention to this territory although it deserves a lot more of it, because it concentrates great wealth as well as opportunities for Russia’s future development. Not only for Russia alone, but also for the development of the entire Asia-Pacific region (APR), because this land is very rich in natural and mineral resources.

When we talk about the Far East we usually mean the Far East itself, including Primorye Territory, Khabarovsk Territory, Kamchatka, and Chukotka, as well as Eastern Siberia. All this area contains tremendous resources, including oil and gas, 90 percent of Russian tin, 30 percent of Russian gold, 35 percent of forest, 70 percent of Russia’s fish is harvested in the local waters.

This is a region with a substantially developed transport and railroad infrastructure. In recent years we have been actively developing road connection. .......

China's Zhangjiajie glass bridge


Ruth Gledhill at ChristianToday
Syrian Christian leader tells West: 'Stop arming terror groups 
who are massacring our people'
The world leader of Syria's besieged Christians has issued a heartfelt plea to the West to "stop arming and supporting terrorist groups that are destroying our countries and massacring our people."

The Patriarch of Antioch, Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, said he was not asking the West for military intervention to defend Christians.

If the West wants to do something about the present crisis, the most effective thing would be to support local governments, which need sufficient armies and forces to maintain security and defend respective populations against attacks.

"State institutions need to be strengthened and stabilised. Instead, what we see is their forced dismemberment being fuelled from the outside," he told Vatican Insider.

Patriarch Aphrem, head of the Syrian Orthodox Church, said the most blasphemous thing a person can do is to call suicide bombers "martyrs".....

Suraj Sharma and Alex MacDonald at MiddleEastEye
British volunteers in Syrian Kurd forces are 'terrorists', Turkey says

Senior Turkish officials say they see no difference between Kurdish 'terrorists' of YPG and foreigners who joined group to fight IS

Senior Turkish officials said their armed forces will confront as "terrorists" British and foreign volunteers fighting with the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria, and that any casualties will be the responsibility of their own governments.

In comments to Middle East Eye an adviser to the Turkish prime minister, Binali Yildirim, said British, French, American and other citizens fighting alongside the YPG would be treated as "terrorists... regardless of whether they are members of allied countries".

The statement came after the Turkish government rejected a US-brokered ceasefire between Turkish forces and the Kurdish militias in northern Syria, a week after Turkey invaded the Syrian border town of Jarabulus to eject the Islamic (IS) State group. ....

From ZeroHedge ...source Paul Craig Roberts
Are You A Mind-Controlled CIA Stooge?

...The term “conspiracy theory” was invented and put into public discourse by the CIA in 1964 in order to discredit the many skeptics who challenged the Warren Commission’s conclusion that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by a lone gunman named Lee Harvey Oswald, who himself was assassinated while in police custody before he could be questioned. The CIA used its friends in the media to launch a campaign to make suspicion of the Warren Commission report a target of ridicule and hostility. This campaign was “one of the most successful propaganda initiatives of all time.”

So writes political science professor Lance deHaven-Smith, who in his peer-reviewed book, Conspiracy Theory in America, published by the University of Texas Press, tells the story of how the CIA succeeded in creating in the public mind reflexive, automatic, stigmatization of those who challenge government explanations. This is an extremely important and readable book, one of those rare books with the power to break you out of The Matrix.

Professor deHaven-Smith is able to write this book because the original CIA Dispatch #1035-960, which sets out the CIA plot, was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Apparently, the bureaucracy did not regard a document this old as being of any importance. The document is marked “Destroy when no longer needed,” but somehow wasn’t. CIA Dispatch #1035-960 is reproduced in the book.....

Justin Raimondo at AntiWar
The Other Speech: Hillary the Hawk Spreads Her Wings
Did she threaten to attack Russia?

While the media and the American people were avidly watching and commenting on Donald Trump’s much-awaited immigration speech, another peroration by a presidential candidate somehow got overlooked: Hillary Clinton’s appearance before the American Legion. Overshadowed by Trump’s visit to Mexico, and his subsequent stem-winder, Hillary’s performance was greeted with tepid applause by her military audience, and pointedly ignored by her media cheering section. The reason for the latter’s silence is perhaps due to the fact that it underscores one of her biggest vulnerabilities: her militant interventionism in an age when the American people are sick and tired of foreign wars.

She didn’t waste any time getting down to her basic theme. Once through the preliminaries, she said:

“Thanks for your service in our armed forces. You wore the uniform. You took an oath. You put your life on the line to protect the greatest country on Earth. There are some who may argue with that, but not around me.”

Who is she talking about? I’ve never heard anyone dispute that our soldiers put their lives on the line: and while a few old-fashioned Marxists and so-called “social justice warriors” may disagree that this is the greatest country on earth, they’re all supporting her, if I’m not mistaken, rather than Trump. So whom is she arguing with?

Incredibly, she is trying to characterize her opponent – someone who has adopted “America First” as his campaign slogan – as being somehow anti-American. ....
 
USA's employees are also headchoppers

GRAPHIC 18+: Syrian Rebels behead 2 Syrian soldiers who were captured in North #Hama pic.twitter.com/EBr3tFFV7i

— The 'Nimr' Tiger (@Souria4Syrians) September 2, 2016

Mark Taliano at AHT
Which country holds the legal and moral high ground, Canada or Syria?

In terms of international law, human rights, the fight against terrorism, and common decency, Syria wins, hands down.

Syria, which ranked amongst the top 5 countries globally as a “safe” destination prior to the pre-planned western-launched dirty war, puts Canada to shame.

It has been well-documented for years that the pre-planned war on Syria is illegal according to international laws, resolutions, and conventions. Not only does the Canadian Defence Minister’s earlier pronouncement that “President Assad, he does need to go ….” amount to an endorsement for illegal regime change against a sovereign, non-belligerent, U.N member country, but Canada’s membership in NATO and Canada’s proven complicity in regime change operations amounts to the height of criminality according to Nuremburg standards.....

From ForeignPolicy
Can Russia Survive Washington’s Challenge?
The real danger for Russia lies in Russia’s desire for Western acceptance.
ews services abroad ask me if President Erdogan of Turkey will, as a result of the coup attempt, realign Turkey with Russia. At this time, there is not enough information for me to answer. Speculation in advance of information is not my forte.

Moreover, I do not know if it is true that Moscow warned the President of Turkey of the coup, and I do not know if Washington was behind the coup. Therefore, I do not know how to weigh the scales. As I see it, whether Turkey stays with Washington or realigns with Moscow depends first of all on whether or not Moscow warned Turkey and whether or not Washington was behind the coup. If this is what Erdogan believes, whether true or false, Erdogan is likely to align with Russia. However, other factors will also influence Erdogan’s decision. For example, Erdogan’s belief about how resolute Putin is to standing up to Washington....

Erdogan will not want to align with Russia if he thinks Russia is not up to Washington’s challenge. Erdogan sees Putin endlessly asking for Washington’s cooperation, and Erdogan understands that Washington sees this as a sign of Russian weakness. Washington slaps Putin in the face, and Putin replies by asking for cooperation against ISIS. I understand why Putin responds this way. He wants to avoid a war between US/NATO and Russia that neither side can win. Putin is a man of peace and accepts affronts in order to save life. This is admirable. But that might not be the way Erdogan sees it. Erdogan might see it like Washington sees it: weakness.....
From AntiMedia
In this episode of Reality Check,
journalist Ben Swann explores the origins of the National Anthem and debunks the outrage directed at Colin Kaepernick for not standing up for it. This video may leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about the situation.

From Telesurtv
After Coup, OAS Finally Says It's Worried About Due Process

The Organization of American States, instead of denouncing the coup before and during the trial, issues a bland statement after.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said Friday it was concerned about a lack of due process in the trial that ousted Dilma Rousseff as president of Brazil, a statement that comes much too late for the South American nation's last elected head of state.
The commission is part of the Organization of American States (OAS), an institution intended to protect democracy in the region.

The parliamentary coup in Brazil violates the first four articles of the OAS, which call for the protection of democracy in all its member states, and the protection of the legitimate exercise of power, as well as protecting the population’s right to choose their government. Rousseff was elected in 2014 while her Senate-imposed successor, Michel Temer, is legally barred from standing in an election. ....

Ray McGovern at ConsortiumNews
Georgetown’s Gesture on Slavery’s Evils

Better late than never, Jesuit-run Georgetown University has acknowledged that the school has “been able to hide from the truth” that it was built, literally, on the institution of slavery, according to its president John DiGioia.

Yet, decades ago, when a small group of us asked the Maryland Jesuits to confess openly to those crimes of their predecessors, we were rebuffed (apparently out of financial liability concerns). We saw the crucial role of slavery (and the sale of African-American slaves to help Georgetown meet its financial needs) as a moral issue. We also saw a scandal in the Jesuits’ refusal to show moral leadership before they were finally forced to this year by a public shaming.

I dealt with the backstory of this sorry affair last spring when the “news” about Georgetown University’s Jesuits’ callous treatment of their slaves “broke” in the mainstream media, with a New York Times report about the 1838 sale of 272 slaves into the Deep South.

On Thursday, DiGioia announced that Georgetown will implement a number of remedial (though clearly belated) steps, including the creation of an institute to study slavery, the dedication of a public memorial honoring the slaves whose sacrifices benefited Georgetown, and granting descendants of the 272 slaves admissions preference if they seek to attend the university in Washington, D.C.

Below is the article that I wrote last April:.....

Corbett Report and Media Monarchy on the EpiPen price gouge


Ben Norton at Salon
Israeli think tank: Don’t destroy ISIS; it’s a “useful tool” against Iran, Hezbollah, Syria 
Head of a right-wing think tank says the existence of ISIS serves a "strategic purpose" in the West's interests
According to a think tank that does contract work for NATO and the Israeli government, the West should not destroy ISIS, the fascist Islamist extremist group that is committing genocide and ethnically cleansing minority groups in Syria and Iraq.

Why? The so-called Islamic State “can be a useful tool in undermining” Iran, Hezbollah, Syria and Russia, argues the think tank’s director.

“The continuing existence of IS serves a strategic purpose,” wrote Efraim Inbar in “The Destruction of Islamic State Is a Strategic Mistake,” a paper published on Aug. 2.

By cooperating with Russia to fight the genocidal extremist group, the United States is committing a “strategic folly” that will “enhance the power of the Moscow-Tehran-Damascus axis,” Inbar argued, implying that Russia, Iran and Syria are forming a strategic alliance to dominate the Middle East.

“The West should seek the further weakening of Islamic State, but not its destruction,” he added. “A weak IS is, counterintuitively, preferable to a destroyed IS.”....

From Larouchepac
The Start of An Historic Week

On Sunday, Sept. 4, Chinese President Xi Jinping kicked off the G-20 heads of state summit in Hangzhou, China.  The opening ceremony included a stirring performance of the Ode to Joy, which set the inspiring tone for the entire summit.  President Xi, in his opening remarks, reiterated his call from the previous day at the B-20 business leaders forum, that the entire global financial system must be overhauled to reverse the current global crisis, and that the G-20 must take the lead in bringing about the needed changes, driven by innovation and cooperation among nations.

President Xi’s B-20 speech on Saturday was a strong echo of the policies developed over decades by Lyndon and Helga LaRouche, including her most recent call for the G-20 meeting to move to fully realize the World Landbridge.  The significance of the performance of the Ode to Joy, poem by Friedrich Schiller and music by Ludwig von Beethoven, was a further indication of Xi’s commitment to the principles of scientific and technological progress and “win win” cooperation among all of the nations of the world.

The G-20 meeting was preceded by an informal meeting of the heads of state of the BRICS nations, where further preparations were made for the Oct. 15-16 BRICS summit, hosted by Indian Prime Minister Modi in Goa.  The BRICS and G-20 events began immediately after the conclusion of the East Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, hosted by President Vladimir Putin, where the same agenda of Eurasian development and a spirit of cooperation among leading nations of the world was promoted.  The two guests of honor at the Vladivostok forum were Japan’s Prime Minister Abe and South Korea’s President Park, thus broadening the alliance for cooperation.....

Stranded #Yemen-is spend their nights outdoors at Alwadea crossing,which controlled by so-called legitimacy& #Saudis pic.twitter.com/jY387IgUcz

— I4Yemen (@I4Yemen) September 4, 2016