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Thursday, December 27, 2018

The inside story on the Next Generation 5G cellphone network


Leaps in technology can only be taken by the US and the "five eyes" countries.  No one else.
OR this happens !!

Prof Michel Chossudovsky at GlobalResearch
Next Generation 5G and the US-China "Cellphone War": The Arrest of Meng Wanzhou

Updated, December 20, 2018
The unspoken US policy objective behind the arrest of  Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou on trumped up charges, consists in breaking China’s technological lead in wireless telecommunications. 
What is at stake is a coordinated US and allied intelligence initiative to ban China’s Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd from the “next generation” state of the art 5G global mobile phone network.
The intelligence operation is led by “Five Eyes”, a so-called “intelligence-sharing alliance to combat espionage” between the US and its four (junior) Anglo-Saxon partners: UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand.  

Western media tabloids repeatedly refer to legitimate “national security concerns” as a justification for the banning of China’s telecom equipment.
What is at stake is a fierce battle in the global wireless telecom industry. 

Spy Chiefs Meet Behind Closed Doors in Nova Scotia 
On July 17, the spy chiefs from the “Five Eyes” nations travelled from Ottawa to Nova Scotia for a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. (who was on a Nova Scotia tour including meetings with NS Premier Stephen McNeil)

The meeting with the “Five Eyes” spy chiefs hosted by Trudeau was held at an (unnamed) coastal resort in Nova Scotia. It was casually described by The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) as “an informal evening after intense talks in nearby Ottawa”. Nearby?
The encounter with Canada’s Prime Minister was neither informal nor spontaneous. His presence at that meeting served to provide a “political green-light” to the “Five Eyes”  “intelligence campaign” against China:
“Trudeau, …  dropped in on the gathering to share some thoughts about geopolitical threats [from China and Russia].
In the months that followed that July 17 dinner, an unprecedented campaign has been waged by those present – Australia, the US, Canada, New Zealand and the UK – to block Chinese tech giant Huawei from supplying equipment for their next-generation wireless networks.
This increasingly muscular posture towards Beijing culminated in last week’s arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, in Vancouver, over alleged breaches of US sanctions with Iran. (Sidney Morning Herald, December 13, 2018)
 https://www.globalresearch.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Screen-Shot-2018-12-16-at-13.35.45.png





 CIA Director Gina Haspel and Britain’s MI6 Chief Michael Younger were in attendance. The intent of this meeting was crystal clear. The arrest of Meng Wanzhou was part of a broad intelligence strategy directed against China which had been planned well in advance....................




Cartoon: Birds of a Feather


Cartoon from the Toronto Star
https://www.thestar.com



The US + gang have been in wars in the Middle East the last 17 years. WHY?


Check out the chart below to see which country has been bombed the most often the last seven years (and maybe even from earlier  on pretext of going after terrorists fleeing Iraq and into Syria), whether directly from above its skies or from Iraq or other neighbouring countries, and you will surmise that the powers-that-be have been doing nothing but going intensely after ISRAEL's arch enemy, SYRIA.  Go to link below for the whole gory tale.  One would have thought that the last 17 years of US+gang's wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan, most of their WMDs would have polluted the grounds of Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya .... but you would have guessed wrong.  The country they have been poisoning the most is Syria.

Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J S Davies
Bring the Troops Home But also Stop the Bombing
 
As our nation debates the merits of President Donald Trump’s call for withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan, absent from the debate is the more pernicious aspect of US military involvement overseas: its air wars. Trump’s announcement and General James Mattis’ resignation should unleash a national discussion about US involvement in overseas conflicts, but no evaluation can be meaningful without a clear understanding of the violence that US air wars have unleashed on the rest of the world for the past 17 years.
By our calculations, in this “war on terror,” the US and its allies have dropped a staggering 291,880 bombs and missiles on other countries – and that is just a minimum number of confirmed strikes.
As we contemplate that overwhelming number, let’s keep in mind that these strikes represent lives snuffed out, people maimed for life, families torn apart, homes and infrastructure demolished, taxpayer money squandered, and resentment that only engenders more violence.
After the horrific crimes of September 11, 2001, Congress was quick to pass a sweeping Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF). While three presidents have claimed that the 2001 AUMF legally justifies these endless wars as a response to the crimes of 9/11, no serious reading of the authorization could interpret it that way. What it actually says is:
That the president is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.
As former Nuremberg prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz told NPR a week after 9/11: “It is never a legitimate response to punish people who are not responsible for the wrong done… We must make a distinction between punishing the guilty and punishing others. If you simply retaliate en masse by bombing Afghanistan, let us say, or the Taliban, you will kill many people who don’t believe in what has happened, who don’t approve of what has happened.”
And yet here we are, 17 years later, mired in wars in which we are bombing ever more “nations, organizations, (and) persons” who had absolutely nothing to do with the crimes committed on September 11. We don’t have a single real or lasting success we can point to in 17 years of war in 7 countries and “counterinsurgency” operations in a dozen more. Every country the US has attacked or invaded remains trapped in intractable violence and chaos.
Please look at this chart, and take a few moments to reflect on the mass destruction it represents:





Stock Market, Scandals, Tariffs, Neverending wars, Foreign Policy Mayhem, etc, etc, etc.




Cartoon by Signe Wilkinson -




Cartoon by Jimmy Margulies -

Saturday, December 22, 2018

Peacemaker Sergey Lavrov


Best Foreign Minister ever.  Hope he never proves me wrong in my firm estimation of this giant among men. 
This is a "must read" interview.  It's long, but you will understand why our planet needs more people like Lavrov and less people like Nikki Haley, Chrystia Freeland, John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, Boris Johnson, Jeremy Hunt, etc.etc.etc.

Lavrov's Interview with Radio Komsomolskava Pravda
Question: Mr Lavrov, we met with you in the same format one and a half year ago.
We began by stating that the foreign policy situation surrounding Russia at the time was growing alarming. But you assured us that there would be no war because the Russian leaders were absolutely against it. Our partners, as you said, were certainly not interested in it either. Now, one and a half year later, we can see no improvements. On the contrary, things are growing increasingly alarming. Some of our listeners even feel scared. Others compare the current situation with the late 1930s. One of the readers even asks: “Please be honest and say what we should expect? Will we be attacked?”

Sergey Lavrov: There are comparisons that go farther back into history. Both in this country and elsewhere, there are figures who predict that a situation will arise resembling that on the eve of World War I. They are referring to the pent-up antagonisms existing in Europe, including, by the way, in the Balkans. But it is my strong, firm conviction that the politicians in the key countries cannot allow a big war to happen. The public opinion and the nations themselves will not let them. I hope that the parliaments in each Western country will also display maximal responsibility.
But I absolutely agree that tensions are being fomented in an unprecedented way. We see international agreements collapsing. Not so long ago, the United States unilaterally disrupted the ABM Treaty. We had to adopt measures that would prevent this extremely negative event from undermining strategic stability. Next in line is the INF Treaty, which Washington believes to be outmoded, while accusing us of violating it. In so doing, they are hinting in no uncertain terms that they would like to extend the restriction identical to that assumed by the USSR and the United States to China and a number of other countries, including North Korea and Iran.
We are categorically against this initiative. We are in favour of keeping the INF Treaty. The entire international community has repeatedly recognised it as a cornerstone of international security and strategic stability. Today at the UN, we will make a second attempt to submit a General Assembly resolution in support of preserving this Treaty.
Apart from that, we have presented the US with our concerns regarding how it implements this Treaty. These concerns are based on concrete facts and developments in the military technical sphere, specifically the deployment of a US military base in Romania and deployment plans for Poland. We hear statements by our US colleagues that the only way to save the Treaty is to destroy the 9M729 missile, which Russia has allegedly developed with a range exceeding the limit imposed by the Treaty. In response, Minister of Defence Sergey Shoigu, following similar steps at the expert level, has officially suggested that he and US Secretary of Defence James Mattis meet and start a professional discussion. The US did not even reply or at least formally acknowledge the receipt of the invitation. Possibly, if they had done this, they would have had to explain why they are evading a professional discussion and continue to act in the notorious “highly likely” style, as though wishing to say that what remains for us is to repent because we are allegedly to blame for everything.
While we are on this subject, I would like to say this. I have no doubt that US President Donald Trump was sincere when he said during his election campaign that he wanted good relations with the Russian Federation. Regrettably, the consequences of Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton have caused a tsunami in US domestic political life, primarily because the so-called system elites have felt uncomfortable. They saw the current developments as something that was putting power within reach of ordinary voters. Since then, no one has ever corroborated with facts the repeated charges of Russian meddling in the US elections, hacker attacks on the Democratic Party and other US agencies, etc.
Let me note that this Russophobia, as we are convinced, is to a decisive degree linked to the....

Some of my tweets ... December 13 - 21
























































































What is 5G and why is the US so terrified that China has leapfrogged ....


over everybody else in this dynamic breakthrough technology in the communications field?
Go to link  to read about the whole  sorry affair.

Prof Michel Chossudovsky at GlobalResearch
Next Generation 5G and the US-China Cellphone War
 
Updated, December 20, 2018
The unspoken US policy objective behind the arrest of  Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou on trumped up charges, consists in breaking China’s technological lead in wireless telecommunications. 
What is at stake is a coordinated US and allied intelligence initiative to ban China’s Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd from the “next generation” state of the art 5G global mobile phone network.
The intelligence operation is led by “Five Eyes”, a so-called “intelligence-sharing alliance to combat espionage” between the US and its four (junior) Anglo-Saxon partners: UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand.  
Western media tabloids repeatedly refer to legitimate “national security concerns” as a justification for the banning of China’s telecom equipment.
What is at stake is a fierce battle in the global wireless telecom industry. 
Spy Chiefs Meet Behind Closed Doors in Nova Scotia 
On July 17, the spy chiefs from the “Five Eyes” nations travelled from Ottawa to Nova Scotia for a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. (who was on a Nova Scotia tour including meetings with NS Premier Stephen McNeil)
The meeting with the “Five Eyes” spy chiefs hosted by Trudeau was held at an (unnamed) coastal resort in Nova Scotia. It was casually described by The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) as “an informal evening after intense talks in nearby Ottawa”. Nearby?
The encounter with Canada’s Prime Minister was neither informal nor spontaneous. His presence at that meeting served to provide a “political green-light” to the “Five Eyes”  “intelligence campaign” against China:
“Trudeau, …  dropped in on the gathering to share some thoughts about geopolitical threats [from China and Russia].
In the months that followed that July 17 dinner, an unprecedented campaign has been waged by those present – Australia, the US, Canada, New Zealand and the UK – to block Chinese tech giant Huawei from supplying equipment for their next-generation wireless networks.
This increasingly muscular posture towards Beijing culminated in last week’s arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, in Vancouver, over alleged breaches of US sanctions with Iran. (Sidney Morning Herald, December 13, 2018)

Cartoons ... Canada's woes with China ... all because of arrogant bully USA


From Globe and Mail
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/gallery-editorial-cartoons-for-december-2018/












Cutting losses at "Russian Roulette"



Is the madness of the American, UK, Canada and Australian MSM harping on  Trump's collusion with the Russian government finally dying down?   If so, the idiotic "journalists" are realizing that it was FAKE news from word "GO".

Ray McGovern at ConsortiumNews
"> Michael Isikoff Cuts His Losses at ‘Russian Roulette

Last Saturday, veteran Washington journalist Michael Isikoff began a John Ehrlichman/Watergate-style “modified limited hangout” regarding the embarrassing overreach in his Russia-gate “collusion” reporting. He picked an unctuous, longtime fan, radio host John Ziegler, to help him put some lipstick on the proverbial pig. Even so, the interview did not go so well.
Those who can muster some residual empathy for formerly serious reporters who have gotten Russia-gate so wrong, may feel genuine sadness at this point. Those fed up with pretense, unprofessionalism, and dodging, however, will find it hard to listen to the audible squirming without a touch, or more, of Schadenfreude — the word Germans use to denote taking joy at the misfortune of others.
In a word, it proved hard to square the circle inside which Isikoff and other Russia-gate aficionados have been living for more than two years after last week’s disclosures. Ziegler’s repeated expressions of admiration for Isikoff’s work, plus his softball questions, utterly failed to disguise Isikoff’s disappointment that Robert Mueller’s Russia-gate investigation is “not where a lot of people would like it to be.”
A lot of people” includes Isikoff.
Commenting on the trove of legal and other documents now available, Isikoff pretty much conceded that he and his co-writer, journalist David Corn were, in effect, impersonating serious investigative journalists when they published in April 2017 their gripping Russia-gate chef d’oeuvre: “Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump.”


Steele Dossier
Isikoff:   Steele not verified.  (Twitter)
Aware of the credulity given by Isikoff and Corn to the “Steele dossier,” Ziegler began with what he apparently thought was a soft-ball observation/question. “Would you agree that a lot of what is in the Steele Dossier has been at least somewhat vindicated?”
No,” said Isikoff flatly.
The conversation turned to so-called “logical” explanations for leaps of faith rather than analysis. Such as unsubstantiated accusations, like the so-called “pee-tape” that Isikoff now says is “likely false.”
A “modified limited hangout” is when someone’s cover story is blown and some truth needs to be divulged to deflect further inquiry. Isikoff’s begins at the 26:50 mark and goes on, churning one’s stomach for 30 minutes.
A better subtitle for Isikoff and Corn’s book might be “Based on What We Wanted to Believe Was a True Story.”
Isikoff told Ziegler that unless “Saint” Robert Mueller, as Democrats see him, can summon a Deus ex Machina to provide some actual evidence linking Trump or his campaign to collusion with Russia, former Isikoff acquaintances, like me, might legitimately ask, “What the hell happened to you, Mike?”......

Friday, December 14, 2018

What's eating Yellow Vest protestors?


Their grievances are many.  How long before these spread all over the EU?  Should USA be taking note?





Thursday, December 13, 2018

Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer and Baby it's Cold Outside


Enjoy!!!





I like this version on the old take.

Christmas Snowflakes ... the unwanted kind



John Whitehead at Rutherford Publications
To a nation of snowflakes, Christmas has become yet another trigger word

To a nation of snowflakes, Christmas has become yet another trigger word.

The latest Christmas casualties in the campaign to create one large national safe space are none other than the beloved animated classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (denounced for promoting bullying and homophobia) which first aired on television on December 6, 1964, and the Oscar-winning tune “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” (accused of being a date rape anthem) crooned by everyone from Dean Martin to Will Ferrell and Zooey Deschanel in the movie Elf.
Also on the endangered species Christmas list are such songs as “Deck the Halls” (it supposedly promotes “gay” apparel), “Santa Baby” (it has been denounced for “slut shaming”), and “White Christmas” (perceived as being racist).
One publishing company even re-issued their own redacted version of Clement Clarke Moore’s famous poem “Twas the night before Christmas” in order to be more health conscious: the company edited out Moore’s mention of Santa smoking a pipe (“The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, / And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath.”)
Oh the horror.
After a year plagued with its fair share of Scrooges and Grinches and endless months of being mired in political gloom and doom, we could all use a little Christmas cheer right now.
Unfortunately, the politically charged Right and Left have been trying to score points off each other for so long, using whatever means available, that even Christmas has been weaponized.
Yet just because the War on Christmas has been adopted as a war cry by Donald Trump doesn’t mean that it’s not real.
Look around you.
When I was a child in the 1950s, the magic of Christmas was promoted in the schools. We sang Christmas carols in the classroom. There were cutouts of the Nativity scene on the bulletin board, along with the smiling, chubby face of Santa and Rudolph. We were all acutely aware that Christmas was magic.
Fast forward to the present day, and there is a phobia surrounding Christmas that has turned it into fodder for the politically correct culture wars.
Indeed, in its “Constitutional Q&A: Twelve Rules of Christmas,” The Rutherford Institute points out that some communities, government agencies and businesses have gone to great lengths to avoid causing offense over Christmas.
Examples abound.
Schools across the country now avoid anything that alludes to the true meaning of Christmas such as angels, the baby Jesus, stables and shepherds.
In many of the nation's schools, Christmas carols, Christmas trees, wreaths and candy canes have also been banned as part of the effort to avoid any reference to Christmas, Christ or God. One school even outlawed the colors red and green, saying they were Christmas colors and, thus, illegal. .......

Professor Vladimir Pozner at Yale University talking about Russia and USA


I thought I had posted this video in one of my tweets last week, but my Samsung tablet has been acting up recently and tends to not pick up my latest saved link and instead  skips back one step to the last one viewed. Happens only when I access YouTube. Irritating!!

IMO, this is a valuable video, especially for students of Political Science.  Before watching this video I had no idea that Putin had requested membership in NATO and also in EU ... but his requests were declined and every peaceful move he made towards the West prior to 2008, were thwarted at every turn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X7Ng75e5gQ


What folks joining military service on their government's thirst for wars should ask themselves


Worth a read.... especially by those parents who push their offspring into the armed forces just  because it's a "family tradition" and also by those who are looking for government jobs  just because it would mean an income and an attractive pension.  Is your life worth it?  Is the life-long guilt of having killed strangers (only if you are a conscientious person) worth the money from your lying and war-loving government elite?   There are too many questions, especially questions of conscience that you should be asking yourself before you sign up to join the war machine.  

On the other hand if you are a born killer, go for it.  War is meant for psychos like you anyway.

Gary D Barnett
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/50752.htm   
Selling Murder as The Greater Good

 What is absurd and monstrous about war is that men who have no personal quarrel should be trained to murder one another in cold blood. – Aldous Huxley
 
War is the scourge of mankind, the death of sanity, and oftentimes exists when armies of consenting soldiers band together in a military formed and controlled by those among us bent on killing for profit and power. War can only be justified for actual self-defense in a time of aggressive invasion. Sadly, today’s U.S. wars are pure aggression, offensive in nature, and not waged due to any foreign invasion.

What could drive soldiers to kill simply on orders from the state? Why would normal men risk all for the murderous desires of others?

There are many factors of course but the primary incentive necessary for men to voluntarily risk their lives in war boils down to a dangerous ideological mindset referred to as “the greater good.”  This refers to the notion that one is killing not for himself, but for the benefit of community, country, or the entire human race. This can be disguised as patriotism, nationalism, or love of country, but those false justifications are purposely embedded into the weak minds of brainwashed citizens throughout their lifetimes. Some progressive leftists describe the greater good as “actively participating with accountability in the positive growth of social, economic, and political change. “ This is absurd, and is meaningless poppycock. Wars are sold to the common man by using fear and guilt as motivations, all under the guise of this idiotic politically correct ideology.....

Some of my tweets .... December 6 - 12