Speed dating .... the jihadi way

The new normal.  We will soon get used to the many more new "normals"  coming our way.

From AlAlam:
ISIL 5-Minute Speed Dating Service  to Help Militants Find Brides 

The ISIL terrorist organization is now offering 5-minute speed dating services to attract more western women to the takfiri terrorist group and to become militant brides.
According to media a British ISIL militant named Abu Qa'qa al-Britani, who lives in Raqqa-Syria, has recently published, on the online social site Tumblr, a guide that is designed to help encourage women to travel to Syria by making the husband-finding process seem more simple.
The guide outlines that women who have a desire to travel to join the takfiri terrorist group can contact militants who specialize in "marriage affairs" in order to be matched up with militant suitors. Meetings between the woman and her potential suitors can be arranged in the form of a speed dates.
"They have five minutes to speak to each other and are given the ability to see one another if they both desire to do so," al-Britani's post states. "Then they have the choice to marry or refuse one another and Allah knows best."
If the paired couple refuse one another, the bride will continue looking for another militant to marry. Al-Britani's post indicates that newlywed terrorist couples will be given a home to live in as well as cash.

Colonial America 1497 - 1763

The CIA's "bought" journalists

This article is from a couple of months ago.  If Kim Kardashian's butt had been mentioned in the article, it might have had a much wider coverage.

Eric van de Beek writing at RussiaInsider:
Exclusively for RI,  Dutch journalist Eric van de Beek interviews the senior German editor who is causing a sensation with his allegations that the CIA pays German media professionals to spin stories to follow US government goals.  

We wrote about this two weeks ago, and the article shot up in views, becoming one of the most read articles on our site.

Udo Ulfkotte reveals in his bestseller Bought Journalists, how he was "taught to lie, to betray and not to tell the truth to the public."

The former editor of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which is one of Germany’s largest newspapers, was secretly on the payroll of the CIA and German secret service, spinning the news in a way that was positive for the United States and bad for its opponents.

In his latest interview, Ulfkotte alleges that some media are nothing more than propaganda outlets of political parties, secret services, international think tanks and high finance entities.

Repenting for collaborating with various agencies and organisations to manipulate the news, Ulkotte laments, "I'm ashamed I was part of it. Unfortunately I cannot reverse this."

Some highlights from the interview: 

"I ended up publishing articles under my own name written by agents of the CIA and other intelligence services, especially the German secret service."

"Most journalists from respected and big media organisations are closely connected to the German Marshall Fund, the Atlantik-Brücke or other so-called transatlantic organisations...once you're connected, you make friends with selected Americans. You think they are your friends and you start cooperating. They work on your ego, make you feel like you're important. And one day one of them will ask you 'Will you do me this favor'..."

"When I told the Frankfurter Allgemeine that I would publish the book, their lawyers sent me a letter threatening with all legal consequences if I would publish any names or secrets – but I don’t mind."

"[The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung] hasn't sued me. They know that I have evidence on everything."

"No German mainstream journalist is allowed to report about [my] book. Otherwise he or she will be sacked. So we have a bestseller now that no German journalist is allowed to write or talk about."

Here's more from the interview:
"Bought journalists", who are they?

"We’re talking about puppets on a string, journalists who write or say whatever their masters tell them to say or write. If you see how the mainstream media is reporting about the Ukraine conflict and if you know what's really going on, you get the picture. The masters in the background are .........

French-Algerian war of 1954-62

More here  
here
here
and here.  

Our "ally" Saudi Arabia flogs the husband of woman living as refugee in Canada

How disgusting that Canada along with the USA, United Kingdom, France, Germany and so many other Western nations who profess to be against  the kind of human indignities Saudi Arabia takes pleasure in, continue to remain allied to the most horrible nation on this planet !!!

From CBC:
Raif Badawi flogged in Saudi Arabia  for activism, Amnesty International says
Wife and 3 children feared for safety before settling in Sherbrooke, Que.

An activist who has a wife and three children in Sherbrooke, Que., underwent the first round of 50 lashes in public after morning prayers today in Saudi Arabia, human rights group Amnesty International says.

Raif Badawi was sentenced last year to 10 years in prison, 1,000 lashes and a fine of one million Saudi Arabian riyals (about $315,000 Cdn) for offences including creating an online forum for public debate and insulting Islam.

The flogging will be carried out over a period of 20 weeks, Amnesty International said.

“We received confirmation that the 50 first lashes were given this morning," Mireille Elchacar told the CBC Radio show Quebec AM, adding that Badawi spoke with his wife not long after receiving his first 50 lashings.

"Of course she is devastated. I think he was not very fond of giving details to his wife to not scare her, so he did not give any more details."

Elchacar, who is a spokeswoman for Amnesty International, said Badawi is not in good health.

"They decided to make him see a doctor before the lashing — to make sure he is in good health to receive the lashing ... After the lashing, he was sent directly to his prison cell."........

Documentary on the American Civil War

Let's take a look at a small part of that civil war as the next one is looming over that war-loving nation. 

Veterans, used and discarded .....

or if they still have a mind to play war games,  there are vacancies in the Police Force and organizations working for the war machine who need mercenaries. Ukraine is hiring, I am told.

From Stripes:
Female veterans battling PTSD from sexual trauma fight for redress.

Thousands of female veterans are struggling to get health-care treatment and compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs on the grounds they suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder caused by sexual trauma in the military. The veterans and their advocates call it "the second battle" — with a bureaucracy they say is stuck in the past.

Judy Atwood-Bell was just a 19-year-old Army private when she says she was locked inside a barracks room at Fort Devens in Massachusetts, forced to the cold floor and raped by a fellow solider.

For more than two decades, Atwood-Bell fought for an apology and financial compensation from VA for PTSD, with panic attacks, insomnia and severe depression that she recalls started soon after that winter day in 1981. She filled out stacks of forms in triplicate and then filled them out again, pressing over and over for recognition of the harm that was done.

VA labels it "military sexual trauma" (MST), covering any unwanted contact, including sexual innuendo, groping and rape.

A recent VA survey found that 1 in 4 women said they experienced sexual harassment or assault. And the problem is growing more pressing because female veterans represent the military's fastest-growing population, with an estimated 2.2 million, or 10 percent, of the country's veterans. More than 280,000 female veterans have returned home from deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

About two weeks ago, when Atwood-Bell checked the VA website, as she does every day, she was stunned to discover that the agency had accepted her claim for compensation.

"It's taken over 20 years, and that should've never happened," said Atwood-Bell, who retired as a sergeant first class and lives in New Hampshire, her voice cracking with emotion. "My fight is not over. It's not done for so many other women out there. I want to help them to get what we are entitled to.".....

Let's welcome 1000s of refugees/Trojan Horses from Middle East wars coming to Canada

I hope this will be my last post in criticism of  import of Trojan Horses from Muslim countries.  I will restrain myself as much as possible from throwing blame at these poor folks who are running away from wars for which the West is solely responsible.  I will put myself in their shoes and wonder how it would feel to be like them.

Did I ever mention how a Lebanese Christian boyfriend of one of my dear friends walked out from a get together at a restaurant after throwing an expletive at moi  because I said something in defence of Israel?  That was the day I started delving into why even Christians of the Middle East hate Israeli Jews with a deep vengeance but stop short of violence unlike the Muslims.   

I tell you this because when we think deeply and research meticulously on the ongoing conflicts in that part of the world it is very difficult not to see Israel and Saudi Arabia at the bottom of the entire misery.  The people of the Middle East, be they Muslims, Christians, Kurds, whatever .... they know.   They know why they are in wars, why they have been uprooted, why they have lost their  family members, their homes, their livelihood, their all.  And then when somebody like myself in all my ignorance chooses to say something positive about the people of a nation whose best export is brainwashing, the people in the know see red.  It took me months of research and soul searching but in the end I realized the Lebanese bloke was right and I was wrong.



So .... I for one won't criticize our government for importing more Trojan Horses into Canada.  It's the least Canada can do for these people whose misery is a result of Canada helping USA in her never-ending zest to obey the commands of Israel and Saudi Arabia ... commands that want the USA to destroy Iran and Iran's allies so as to prevent Iran from becoming the top dog in that region.   So ... let's welcome the mostly illiterate refugees and hope they won't turn against us for what we have done to them and their countries.  In the same stroke, let's also completely destroy the reputation we used to have, that of being a nation with the most educated immigrant population.

Oh ... BTW,  I think when you see a number for the immigrants/refugees, it's usually the number for the adults not the kids.  I might be mistaken, but I sort of recall that only the main applicant(s) of the family are counted for these tabulations and not the minors.

Steven Chase writing at Globe&Mail:
Canada vows to accept 13,000 more refugees  from Syria and Iraq

Canada is opening its doors wider for refugees fleeing a Middle East civil war and the Islamic State’s reign of terror, announcing it will accept another 10,000 Syrians over three years and 3,000 more Iraqis in 2015.

Ottawa is expecting private organizations, such as church groups, to shoulder the majority of the burden for resettling these newcomers – a decision expected to strain the capacity of these sponsors.



Immigration Minister Chris Alexander, who announced the pledge Wednesday, said the measure is about “doing the right thing” for “Syrians and Iraqis who face the worst forms of violence in the world today.”

The Harper government says the priority for refugees will be persecuted groups, specifically religious minorities – which would include Christians – sexual minorities and victims of rape. This has prompted concern among some refugee advocates that Muslims, a majority in the region, would get short shrift in selection.

Canada’s refugee commitment represents a major increase in the number of Syrians headed to Canada. It comprises 10 per cent of the latest appeal from United Nations Refugee Agency, which has asked nations to resettle 100,000 more Syrians worldwide.

Canada has already accepted 20,000 Iraqis and since mid-2013 has brought 1,060 Syrian refugees to Canada. Total approvals for resettled Syrian refugees now exceed 1,275, with thousands more applications still being processed. This number does not include the many more Syrians who’ve been accepted as refugees after making “inland claims” from within Canada.

The government also announced another $90-million in humanitarian assistance for people affected by the intensifying violence in both Iraq and Syria, home to a long-running civil war as well as battles between Islamic jihadis and government forces. The assistance will be distributed via UN agencies, the Red Cross and aid groups............

We have all become Charlie Hebdo now thanks to our nitwit, braindead politicians

Here's what I had said about Charlie Hebdo on September 19, 2012 when France had decided to close its embassies and

schools in 20 Muslim countries fearing a backlash in those countries after publication of a batch of cartoons showing the plague of  islam insanity.  And, today, I stand by everything I said then. It is becoming more and more apparent that the unbridled immigration of illiterate refugees and immigrants from Muslim countries is the cause of terrorism and loss of personal freedoms, especially the freedom of speech, in Judeo-Christian countries.  Moreover, the damn political correctness from the damn ruling elite is one of the main causes we are in this mess. 

I am feeling sorry for the anguish and survivor guilt the woman who let in the murdering muslim scum must be going through. Hopefully, there's more to that story which will come out later and we will learn that there was nothing she could have done different.  

From France24:
French, world leaders condemn attack at Charlie Hebdo.
 French and world leaders have strongly condemned a shooting at the offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in which at least 12 people were killed. Thousands turned out across French cities Wednesday night in solidarity with the victims.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack at the Charlie Hebdo weekly, whose caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed have frequently drawn protest from Muslims.

The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed that 12 people had so far been killed, including four of France’s best-known cartoonists and the magazine’s director, Stéphane Charbonnier (also known as Charb). A further 11 people were reportedly injured, four of them critically.

France has raised its security alert to its highest level and reinforced protective measures at houses of worship, stores, media offices and on public transportation while government officials convened for an emergency meeting.

In a televised address on Wednesday evening, Hollande said the attack was an attack on all of France and on the ideal of freedom of expression. He declared a day of national mourning on Thursday for the victims.

Police said that some 15,000 people had gathered at Place de la République in Paris Wednesday evening in a show of solidarity with the slain and injured journalists. People also flocked to Twitter to show their support online using the #JeSuisCharlie hashtag.

Tens of thousands braved the cold night in other cities across France. The police prefecture estimated that between 13,000 and 15,000 paid homage to the Charlie Hebdo victims in Rennes while another 10,000 turned up in both Toulouse and Lyon, local authorities said.......

America ... always too late to the party

After almost a decade and a half,  some from the lousy ineffectual politicians in the American government are beginning to question the Saudi relationship in connection to 9/11, a connection that millions of Americans and millions around the world knew about long before these same lousy politicians are now trying to question in the hope of making themselves look less guilty.

Wonder when those same lousy politicians will begin to question the Israeli relationship in connection to America's foreign policy.  Will it be when America has fallen to her knees and no longer able to pick herself up?

Worth a full read.  Some journalists are coming awake and throwing aside the political correctness which was corrupting their work.

Neil Macdonald writing at CBC:
New questions raised  about U.S.-Saudi relationship
The 28 pages. U.S. legislators pushing to know more about alleged Saudi role in 9/11....

....In Washington's view, Saudi Arabia is all that Venezuela is not. It disapproves of violent Islamists (or at least the ones in other countries). It's allowed to buy all sorts of advanced American weaponry. It's described as a "force for regional stability."

The advice of Saudi leaders is publicly cherished by American presidents: "I thought it was very important to come to the place where Islam began and to seek his majesty's counsel," Obama gushed during a 2009 visit.

George W. Bush was once photographed, to the amusement of some Republicans, holding hands with the Saudi monarch.

Anyway, back to the two suspects arrested at the border in December.

The pair, both women, were whisked off to face the country's anti-terror court.

What punishment they might eventually receive is unclear, but given Saudi's reputation for torturing and scourging and beheading, suffice it to say you wouldn't want to be Loujain al Halthoul or Maysa al Hathmoudi right now.

Their crime? Driving. Or, to be precise: driving while female.....

........Saudi Arabia has consistently denied any advance knowledge of, or connection to the hijackers, but some information in the 28 pages has already leaked.

According to multiple reports here, the FBI and CIA suggest Saudi Arabia provided at least indirect support and funding for the attackers.

And the report isn't talking about the usual "wealthy Saudi sympathizers," we so often hear about. No, the pages reportedly describe consular and financial support by officials of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

It is a long-established fact that 15 of the 19 attackers were Saudi citizens. That in itself, let alone official complicity, would likely have provoked a pestilence of drone-launched missiles on any other country.......

Ron Paul ....true patriotic American

Great speech by Ron Paul during his 2008 presidential bid. Too bad the powers-that-be in the USA saw to it that he did not get the kind of exposure the traitorous MSM afforded to the other candidates. The "royal family" of the USA is the Federal Reserve and to know who or what is behind the inception of that concept is to let yourself delve into the bottomless pit of  the most complicated labyrinth-like secret society ever known to man. IMO, those who control the Federal Reserve make or break presidential candidates in the USA.  Now, the same evil forces are hard at work to get either Hillary Clinton or Jeb Bush become the next president.  
Also, remember this:  No matter who becomes the next president of the USA, Obama will be back either in 2020 or 2024 either as prez of an entire nation or as prez of a broken up nation representing the Black America portion of it.  

BRICS news and updates .... January 6

While the NATO warlords and witches dream of enriching the armaments makers and themselves by dropping missiles and bombs which cost anywhere between $70,000 to $1 M+ a pop .... on every nook and corner of the world they take a dislike to,  the BRICS have been hard at work improving the lot of their own countrymen and the lot of their neighbouring nations as well.

From BRICSpost:
China neighbours laud $3.09 bn aid from Beijing  
China’s neighbours, including Cambodia, have lauded the $3.09 billion Chinese aid announced during a regional summit in Thailand on Friday.
“China plays a very important role in assisting GMS countries to boost economy and reduce poverty,” said Kao Kim Hourn, Cambodian Minister and aide to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

“China’s financial support is vital to expediting the development of physical infrastructure in the GMS member countries. All countries in the GMS highly appreciate China’s active contributions to the development of their respective countries,” he added.
China has offered infrastructure funds and production aid to five neighboring countries which sharing the Mekong River.
The offer includes $1 billion for infrastructure inter-connectivity, $490 million in grant for poverty alleviation and $1.6 billion in special loans for China’s production capacity export.

China also promised to invest $16.4 million to dredge waterways along the Mekong River and prevent natural disasters, said Li.
The five beneficiary countries are Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar which, along with China, form the GMS bloc.......

From Itar-tass:
 Russia boosts oil reserves by 550 million tons in 2014.
Russia boosted its hydrocarbon reserves by 550 million tons of oil, 900 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 100 million tons of gas condensate in 2014, Natural Resources Minister Sergey Donskoy said on Tuesday, citing specified data.........

From CelebrityYahoo:
South African woman wins Miss World  beauty pageant in London
A 22-year-old South African woman, Rolene Strauss, won the Miss World 2014 beauty pageant in London on Sunday, the organizers said in a statement....


From ChinaBriefing:
China Announces Location of New Free Trade Zones, Expands Shanghai FTZ - 
At a bi-monthly meeting on December 28, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress mapped out the specific locations of the three new Free Trade Zones (FTZ) announced earlier. The meeting also announced the expansion of the Shanghai FTZ, as well as the simplification of a number of investment procedures in these zones.

It was announced that the Guangdong FTZ will include the Nansha New Area in Guangzhou, Shenzhen Qianhai and Zhuhai Hengqin New Area, covering a total of 116.2 square kilometers. The Tianjin FTZ, with a total area of 119.9 square kilometers, will be comprised of Tianjin Port, Tianjin Airport and the Binhai New Area industrial park. Lastly, the 118.04-square-meter Fujian FTZ will include industrial areas in the provincial capital of Fuzhou, the whole of Xiamen and Pingtan, a new industrial park targeting investment from Taiwan. ......

From BRICSpost:
India manufacturing sector output hits 2-yr high in Dec: HSBC
In encouraging signs that the Indian Prime Minister’s “Make In India” campaign may gain momentum in the coming months, HSBC says India’s manufacturing sector grew at its fastest pace in two years in December.
The sector ended 2014 on a high note on strong orders flows, including from abroad, according to an HSBC survey released on Friday.
The headline HSBC India Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) — a composite gauge designed to give a single-figure snapshot of manufacturing business conditions — stood at 54.5 in December, up from 53.3 in November.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pushing the “Make in India” campaign, designed to attract foreign investment by highlighting ongoing changes.........

From Bloomberg:
Defying the rout in oil prices, the coffee and sugar markets are rallying because of supply concerns in Brazil, the world’s top producer and exporter of the so-called soft commodities.
Those raw materials helped prevent the Bloomberg Commodity Index of 22 energy, agriculture and metal prices from slumping to a 12-year low amid a collapse in crude and fuel. The broad gauge has tumbled to the lowest since March 2009, and a drop of an additional 1.4 percent will send the measure to a level last seen in November 2002. In 2014, arabica coffee soared 50 percent, the most among index components, amid the most-severe drought in decades...........

From BRICSpost:
Chinese locomotives reach Thailand, to replace GE  
As China attempts to establish itself as a credible rival to sector leaders such as Germany’s Siemens, Canada’s Bombardier and Japan’s Kawasaki, the first batch of Chinese locomotives were delivered on Sunday to Thailand.
China’s CSR locomotives will replace the General Electric locomotives which have hauled Thai cargo trains since 1995. Thailand has never used any other locomotive since.
Officials of the State Railway of Thailand on Monday said two China-made locomotives, shipped from southwest China to Laem Chabang port in Chonburi province, were the first consignment of a fleet of 20 locomotives, the rest of which will be gradually shipped to the Thai railway firm..........

Russia to build nuclear plants for India


Below is link to a Reuters article on "doubts" about the canal being built by a Chinese billionaire businessman in Nicaragua.  Instead of focusing on how the project will create  thousands of jobs in one of the poorest countries in South America, the journalist prefer to shower doubts on the completion of the project and wonders if  Washington had been consulted.  Why would a sovereign country consult Washington for permission to build a canal in its own land and waterways which would primarily benefit its own citizens? 
From Reuters: 
 .... "The aim is the canal," said Cruz, the ex-ambassador. "But even if they only build a Caribbean port, this country will have achieved something it hasn't managed in 500 years.".....

From TheEconomist:
ON DECEMBER 22nd an odd couple  —Nicaragua’s left-wing government and a Chinese-born telecoms magnate—say they will begin the realisation of a dream that has captivated Nicaraguans for generations: the construction of an inter-oceanic canal to rival Panama’s. According to Manuel Coronel, an octogenarian who runs the canal authority, their intentions are now beyond dispute. “When the bride and groom set a date, you know it’s serious,” he says......

From Reuters via MailOnline;
U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua voices concerns  over Chinese-led canal
The U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua said on Tuesday it was concerned by a lack of information surrounding the planned $50 billion, Chinese-led canal that would bisect the poor Central American nation.
Work began in late December on the 172-mile (278-km) waterway, which its Hong Kong-based developer HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co Ltd (HKND Group) says will be operational by 2020, but so far it has been met with widespread skepticism......

From Bloomberg:
Brazil Iron-Ore Exports Surge   as Vale Boosts Production
Brazil, the world’s second-largest iron-ore exporter, said shipments of the steelmaking raw material jumped to the highest in at least nine years as Vale SA (VALE5) boosted output.
Exports gained 18 percent last month to 37.4 million metric tons compared with 31.8 million tons a year earlier, the country’s ministry of Development, Industry and Trade said on its website today. That’s the highest monthly iron-ore volume since at least April 2005 when Bloomberg started compiling data.....

US Consulate security personnel in Israel pelted with rocks and threatened with axes ....

and no, the killers-in-training were not Palestinian kids.

Do you see any difference between the stone throwing Israelis and the Palestinians?  The only difference of note is that the Israelis are not shot at nor arrested nor are they manhandled by the IDF and neither are they thrown in prison like the Palestinians when they resort to throwing stones.

Conclusion to draw from this incident is one and only one. American consular personnel are worth ZERO in the eyes of the Israeli government under warlord Netanyahu.



Peter Enav and Mohammed Daragmeh writing at Globe&Mail:
Jewish settlers attacked American consular officials Friday during a visit the officials made to the West Bank as part of an investigation into claims of damage to Palestinian agricultural property, Israeli police and Palestinian witnesses say.....

......“There were six security guards from the consulate riding in two cars,” Abu Samra said. “When they got out of the cars they were attacked by young settlers from the outpost who were carrying clubs and axes. They struck the cars with clubs but the security guards did not respond with their weapons.”

Abu Samra said that after the attack began the American security guards returned to their vehicles and drove away, explaining that they were under strict instructions not to engage the settlers in any way. He said that the planned visit of the additional officials from the consulate was called off after the incident.

Abu Samra said that last spring he and his family planted some 10,000 olive tree saplings on land the family owns in the village, but that since then, settlers have uprooted most of them.....

The EEU is born ... January 1, 2015

To negate the influence of the warmongering satanic cult known as NATO,  the peace-loving inhabitants of planet Earth can take solace in organizations like the BRICS,  EEU  and the Silk Road masterminds.... countries that have governments who strive to create jobs and elevate the poverty-ridden instead of burying them six feet under in bits and pieces after killing them off in wars.

From Xinhuanet:
The founding of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) is a first step toward a more unified Eurasian region, Alexander Gusev, director of the Center for Strategic Development of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Countries, has said.

"Based on the Customs Union (CU) and Common Economic Space, the EEU is only the starting point of the big work of creating a unified Eurasian Union," Gusev told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

The EEU is a regional organization founded by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. It officially came into effect on Wednesday, and was enlarged on the following day by Armenia's accession.

The EEU's main objectives are to form a single market, create more opportunities for the free movement of goods, services, investment and labor forces within the borders of the member countries by 2025, as well as introduce a coordinated economic policy.

The establishment of the EEU has already brought tangible benefits to its member states, said Gusev, adding that low gas prices from Russian energy producers, as well as favorable conditions for economic development and customs, are guaranteed to member states.

The EEU is an important step for Russia to fulfill the dream of a unified Eurasia, and an energetic booster to other economic or political associations in the region like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and China's Silk Road Economic Belt initiative, Gusev said, noting that the EEU and the Silk Road Economic Belt are not competitors.

"The initiative of Silk Road aims to integrate Central Asian countries into a common economic space," which is welcomed by the EEU members, Gusev said.

Moscow and Beijing can work together to promote economic development, social stability and regional security in Central Asia and Eurasia, added Gusev..........

World War III News and Updates .... January 4

Some of the countries in it, either in major or minor roles:
USA, UK, Canada,  Australia, New Zealand, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Jordan, UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Syria, Turkey, Kurdistan, Yemen, Nigeria, France with (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad ) Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Albania, Estonia, Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Japan, Republic of Korea, Ireland, Spain, Slovakia, Norway, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Novorussia, Ukraine, Russia, Chechnya, Somalia, Iran, India, South Korea, North Korea,  Central African Republic, Kenya, Tunisia, The Philippines, Egypt,  Albania, Serbia, China, Sudan, South Sudan, Bukina Faso, Palestine, Georgia, Chad, Spain, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Nepal, Congo, Uganda, Romania, Mexico, Gambia.....

From BBC
Boko Haram seizes army base    in Nigeria town of Baga
The militant group Boko Haram has seized a town and key multinational military base in north-eastern Nigeria, officials and eyewitnesses say.
A senator in Borno state said troops had abandoned the base in the town of Baga after it was attacked on Saturday.
Residents of Baga, who fled by boat to neighbouring Chad, said many people had been killed and the town set ablaze.
Baga, scene of a Nigerian army massacre in 2013, was the last town in the Borno North area under government control.
It hosted the base of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), made up of troops from Nigeria, Chad and Niger..........

From FarsNews:
Syrian Army Repels Terrorists' Attack on Abu Zohour Airport in Idlib
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorists were pushed back from the surrounding areas of Abu Zohour military airport as they were trying to launch a fresh wave of offensive on army positions at the airport in the Eastern parts of the city of Saraqeb in Idlib countryside.
Abu Zohour Airport located in the Northern parts of Idlib countryside is Syria's second largest military airport which is located in an area of 8 square kilometers and it has the capacity for 22 helicopters and Mig fighter jets...........



From Reuters:
Gambia president returns home after reports of coup attempt
Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh returned to Banjul on Wednesday and shops and banks reopened, a day after gunfire erupted around the presidential palace in an apparent coup attempt led by a former commander of the presidential guard.
In a sign of heightened security, government forces set up three checkpoints on the Denton Bridge into the capital to search people as they headed into work and check identity papers, witnesses said.....

From AlAkhbar:
Libya militants abduct 20 Egyptians, kill 14 soldiers  
slamist militants abducted 20 Egyptian Christians in Libya in recent days, a source close to the government said on Saturday, while militants who claimed to belong to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) extremist group killed 14 Libyan soldiers.
The Ansar al-Sharia militant group abducted 13 Egyptians on Saturday in the coastal city of Sirte, the source said, adding that seven others were also abducted last week.
Their identity was not immediately clear, except that they were said to be Coptic Christians.....

From Independent:
One of Germany’s most famous landmarks will go dark on Monday night as thousands people are expected to flood the streets in anti-Islam demonstrations.
As the Pegida movement against the so-called “Islamification of the West” has grown, so has opposition to it and Cologne Cathedral’s silent protest is set to be one of the most symbolic so far.
It will turn its lights off for almost three hours during the rally, following the example of the Semperoper concert hall in Dresden, where the protests have been centred...........

Growing support in Germany for protests against immigration http://t.co/1T9SMeshB3
— The WorldPost (@TheWorldPost) January 2, 2015

From BBC
North Korea has described    new sanctions imposed in response to a major cyber-attack against Sony Pictures as part of a hostile and inflammatory US policy.
The US placed sanctions on three North Korean organisations and 10 individuals after the FBI blamed Pyongyang for the cyber-attack.......

From IBTimes
Pro-democracy protests in Bahrain  over the detention of the country's opposition leader, Sheikh Ali Salman Ahmed Salman, have reached the fifth day, as police and demonstrators clash in Sitra and other villages.
Sheikh Salman, head of the Shi'ite al-Wefaq Islamic Society, was arrested on Sunday and charged with seeking to promote "political change using illegal forceful means and threats", according to a government statement.....



From Antiwar:
Iranian General Among 292 Killed in Iraq  At least 292 people were killed today. Almost all of them were militants. More than six people were wounded.
An Iranian general was shot dead near the al-Askari Shrine in Samarra. He was in charge of Iranian forces guarding holy sites in the city. Several others were wounded.
A woman and a girl were killed in Abu Saida during a bombing that also injured three children.
In Mosul, two doctors were executed.
Militants executed two members of the Albu Hardan tribe in Qaim on Saturday, resulting in battles today.
Heavy fighting is reported in Sinjar (Shengal), but Peshmerga forces were able to capture new territories nearby.
A car bomb exploded in Iskandariya.
Continuing mortar attacks in Muqdadiya forced the evacuation of 60 families. Three people were wounded today.
In Yathrib, 180 militants were killed in battles.....

1st bank in #Mosul #Iraq starting to deal with the new #ISIS coins (Gold, silver & copper) via @EjmAlrai pic.twitter.com/Xrqfk78hLl
— Conflict News (@rConflictNews) January 3, 2015

From RT
Airstrikes against Islamic State top $1bn, kill over 1,100 people
US and coalition airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria have killed nearly 1,200 people ‒ including 52 civilians ‒ and wounded at least 800 others at a cost of more than $1 billion since the bombings began in September.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said Thursday that airstrikes in Syria over the last three months have killed 1,046 fighters from the Islamic State – most of whom were non-Syrian fighters.
An additional 72 jihadists from Jabhat al-Nusra, a rival group, were killed in bombing raids against their headquarters in the western countryside of Aleppo and the northern countryside of Idlib.
Of the 52 dead civilians, eight were women and five were children. They died during coalition airstrikes on oil fields and refineries in the al-Hasakah and Der-Ezzor countrysides, as well as al-Raqqa, Menbej – located northeast of Aleppo – and the Idlib countryside.......

“We, in SOHR, believed that the real number of casualties in ISIS is more than our number, because there is absolute secrecy on casualties and due to the difficulty of access to many areas and villages that have witnessed violent clashes and bombardment,” the group said in a Tuesday statement, expressing “strong condemnation” of the civilian deaths as a result of coalition activities.
While casualty figures are impossible to verify, the Britain-based SOHR is considered to be the most reliable resource “in a sea of misinformation” from both sides of the conflict, NPR reported........

From AlJazeera:
Yemen report highlights   turmoil's human cost
Violence claimed 7,000 lives in 2014, with Houthis gaining control of 70 percent of army capabilities, think-tank says.

At least 7,000 people were killed in Yemen in 2014, including at least 1,200 civilians, three times the level of deaths from when the current turmoil began in 2011, according to a Yemeni think-tank's report.
It is now thought that Shia Houthi fighters are controlling about 70 percent of army's capabilities, the Abaad Centre for Strategic Studies says in a report.......

From SaharaReporters:
Mali: Anderaboucane Mayor, Son Killed In Mounting Violence  
Arougdeyni Ag Hamatou, his son, who died hours after the assault, and driver were severely injured in the attack said to have been committed by gunmen on a motorcycle.
The mayor of Mali’s northern town of Anderaboucane has died as a result of gunshot wounds he suffered when gunmen attacked his vehicle on Thursday.....

From Mobile apps:
An Afghan official says  insurgents killed five policemen, including their commander, in the volatile eastern province of Logar, a day after four policemen who were abducted in the same region were found dead.
Din Mohammad Darwesh, spokesman for the provincial governor, says insurgents ambushed the five men early Sunday in Baraki Barak district, where the Taliban launch frequent attacks on government security forces.

From AlJazeera
India army hunts rebels  after Assam massacre
Military helicopters deployed in northeastern state after rebels slaughter 75 people, including children.
India has deployed military helicopters to hunt down tribal fighters in the northeastern state of Assam after rebels killed 75 people this week.
Tuesday's attack was the deadliest in the remote area in years.
A military official said helicopters were scouring the jungles of Assam to track down fighters trying to flee to Bhutan and the neighbouring Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, which has thickly forested mountains, reported the Reuters news agency.
About 5,000 additional soldiers have been deployed to Assam in response to this week's attacks, the government said........

From Yahoo:
IS seizes dozens in northern Iraq
The Islamic State jihadist group seized dozens of men from two villages in northern Iraq on Friday while searching for people who burned its flag, officials and residents said.
An intelligence officer said that a total of 170 men were taken from the villages of Al-Shajara and Gharib in Kirkuk province, after two IS flags were burned in the area, an account confirmed by other officials from the province............

From BBC:
Mexico missing students: 10 more police officers held
Mexican authorities investigating the disappearance of 43 student teachers in Guerrero state have arrested a further 10 municipal police officers.
Around 90 people in total, including 58 police officer, have been detained so far.
The students disappeared in September after clashes with police in the city of Iguala.

National prosecutors say police handed them to criminal gangs who murdered them and burnt their bodies.
Parents of the students dispute this, arguing the authorities are hiding what happened to them.
The remains of only one student, Alexander Mora, have been identified so far.....

From TheGuardian:
Boris Johnson has been accused  of using Parliament Square as his “private back garden” in an attempt to crush the fledgling Occupy Democracy movement.
Lawyers have written to London’s mayor threatening legal action after he sanctioned the construction of “unlawful” fences around the square, which campaigners claim are a deliberate attempt to stop them protesting peacefully. Parliament Square is considered to be one of the most important sites in the country for demonstrators and is maintained by Johnson’s Greater London Authority (GLA). Protesters argue that the square was conceived as a place for public meetings, focusing particularly on issues that they believe are being ignored by MPs......

#NOW: African Israelis march against police brutality, harassment (via @activestills) #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/OPbLVKG01G
— +972 Magazine (@972mag) January 4, 2015

Shipping containers as homes

Wouldn't this be a great idea if the project is extended to convert recycled shipping containers into homes for the poor and needy at the most reasonable rates possible?  

Jeff Karoub of AP via TMXmoney:
Shipping container home seen as seed for renewal, not cure for all of Detroit's housing ills.

An unusual home taking shape inside General Motors' sprawling Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant is intended to be part of a movement to rebuild the city's economy and deteriorating, disappearing housing stock.

Skilled-trades workers, taking breaks from their tasks at the factory that produces the electric Chevrolet Volt and other vehicles, dart in and out to do door, window and wall installation and framing, as well as electrical and plumbing work. Meanwhile, a non-profit urban farming group is preparing property a few miles away that will welcome the project, what's believed to be the city's first occupied shipping container homestead.

Come spring, the house-in-progress will be delivered to Detroit's North End neighbourhood and secured on a foundation where a blighted home once stood. After finishing touches and final inspections, the 40-foot-long former container will feature 320 square feet of living space with two bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen, and will serve as home base for a university-student caretakers of a neighbourhood farm and agricultural research activities.

One shipping container home won't turn around Detroit's housing woes. The city emerging from bankruptcy has roughly 40,000 vacant homes waiting to be demolished. But it's a start and, organizers hope, a model to lure and keep residents as Detroit removes blight and recovers from bankruptcy.

Shipping containers converted into living or working spaces are common in some other cities. For instance, in Salt Lake City's rundown warehouse district, a non-profit group last year converted them into "micro-retail" spaces. A Seattle-based company designs and builds houses out of reclaimed containers.

Containers have been modified for both basic and luxury living elsewhere. But Tyson Gersh of the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative is unaware of another project involving a major manufacturer and non-profit designed to serve many socio-economic needs through what he calls "social innovation."

Organizers hope the container project can lure millennials .....

So .... how's the new American Revolution coming along ?

Silence of the collective MSM on the protests, both in the USA and Canada, is not gonna stop the uprising in the USA. The injustice dealt out to citizens of all colors and creed by those in authority, whether that authority be passive like we see inside the halls of the ruling elite in Washington DC or aggressive like we see with the majority of  those in the police force, has reached a boiling point. 

The ongoing protests in the USA are up in intensity and  the movement is growing.  Amazingly, so far, almost all the protests have been peaceful and orderly.  Wait for that to change because no matter how much the organizers try to contain uprisings within their own acceptable level of outrage and disruption, crowd control is never ever something that goes according to plan.  

2015 is the Year of the New Revolution in the USA.   
The bully nation has had its zenith, will this be the year it drops down to its nadir?

American media releases propaganda against South Korea ....

yes,  I said South Korea, not North Korea. And, if you are wondering why all of a sudden the Empire is carrying nasty tales about her ally, you will recall that a few days ago we heard that the two Koreas have  been making friendly overtures towards each other.  If those overtures blossom into forgiveness and friendship, the Empire's war machine will lose a sizeable chunk of its blackmailing contractual monopoly in those waters.  The Emipire has more than a dozen army, navy and air bases in South Korea and a significant portion of the the Empire's war machine is funded by South Koreans' tax money.

I am predicting there will be much more dirty laundry from South Korea that the US media outlets will take turns to air from now on.  Wait and see. 

The Empire's motto is, was and always will be: "If you don't walk the walk we have mapped out for you, we will destroy you PERIOD"

Moreover, like the good neighbour that  Canada is to America, we carry all the propaganda dished out from there to feed the gullible here too.

At Yahoo thru Canadian Press: Foster Klug writing at AP 
SINUI ISLAND, South Korea - He ran the first chance he got.
The sun beat down on the shallow, sea-fed fields where Kim Seong-baek was forced to work without pay, day after 18-hour day mining the big salt crystals that blossomed in the mud around him. Half-blind and in rags, Kim grabbed another slave, and the two disabled men headed for the coast.
Far from the glittering steel-and-glass capital of Seoul, they were now hunted men on this remote island where the enslavement of disabled salt farm workers is an open secret.
"It was a living hell," Kim said in a recent series of interviews with The Associated Press whose details are corroborated by court records and by lawyers, police and government officials.
Lost, they wandered past asphalt-black salt fields sparkling with a patina of thin white crust. They could feel the islanders inspecting them. Everyone knew who belonged and who didn't.
Near a grocery, the store owner's son rounded them up and called their boss, who beat Kim with a rake and sent him back to the salt fields.

Slavery thrives on rural islands off South Korea's rugged southwest coast, nurtured by a long history of exploitation and the demands of trying to squeeze a living from the sea..........

A reading by Chris Hedges on how hate and revenge result in wars ...

and how the elite take advantage of those raw feelings to start wars.

I want to end this year with once again posting this great reading from Chris Hedges.  It does not matter in the least whether you are Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist, Zorastrian or whatever .... as long as you are a resident of planet Earth, wars can affect 99% of us.  Caste, creed, color has no defence against the war machine, a machine whose driver's seat is occupied solely by the 1% of this planet's population.  Why do we let the 1% use us as pawns for enriching themselves?????????

Chess moves with a Poker face

Poking the Bear will come to no good but when has the West ever listened to any of the good advice its citizens throw at the elite, free of charge?  If the advice came from those fat-salaried consultants then there's a possibility our dumb politicians would perhaps think about it.  From citizens though?  No ... shoo...go away.

Now here below is someone giving some pointers to the man, the man who is designated by the powers-that-be  to be the most evil human being ...... Vladimir Putin.  Will Putin even know or care what's being said of him or how some well-meaning folks want him to act.  Of course not!   All politicians are of the same color and creed, including Putin.  They are in those high positions for one thing and one thing only.  To enrich themselves and to enrich their friends and family. Everything else is secondary. 

Ron Holland of Daily Bell at ZeroHedge:
........The entire world is watching Putin play poker  with the Western politicians lead by Obama and followed by Washington quislings in London, Brussels and Berlin. America's goal since the end of the Cold War has been to weaken by financial, economic and, if necessary, military means any real competition to its global financial and resource domination through the petrodollar and dollar world reserve currency status........

.......Is This Just a Repeat of the Versailles Treaty, Russian-style?

This has all happened before. It's the same old game with different players. I fear we are watching a repeat of the Versailles Treaty, Russian-style. If you look closely at real history rather than the establishment-directed propaganda dished out to the public, you'll realize that the Western financial elites and central banking cartel seldom change tactics. Why should they? Their financial empires continue to grow during all major wars and financial crises and if they should guess wrong, then they get taxpayers to bail them out.

The Goldman Sachs, Rothschild and Soros types control the Western democracies as well as the financial markets and use paid or blackmailed cheerleaders and front men to advance their best interests to the populace as acceptable economic or political policies.........

.........So Where Does Russia Go from Here?

First, the US cable pundits are suggesting that Putin might retaliate by invading Ukraine. Why would Russia want Ukraine? Except for substantial agricultural resources that can be purchased on the open market, this is a bankrupt country with a long list of failed governments. The country has become a pawn in the battle between East and West, and its people have already suffered so much. Now Russia might move in the East to protect Russian-speaking areas and could be willing to suffer the additional economic consequences of creating a land bridge to Crimea but the military option appears quite limited and counter-productive at best.

No nation will win a shooting war between the US, UK and EU versus Russia and China. The consequences are too horrible to be contemplated but Russia has an ace in the hole that can win the financial and economic battle going on today.

First, Russia should join with China in a new gold, oil and natural resource backed monetary union as an alternative to the failed debt democracy model pushed by Wall Street, the central bank cartel and self-serving politicians in the West. It simply does not work in the long term to finance prosperity and improved standards of living through mountains of debt placed on future generations........

.......Second, Russia should act offensively rather than defensively on the financial front by creating corporate tax-free/low income tax zones and welcoming corporations, successful individuals and entrepreneurs to take up residence and create jobs and prosperity. The Hong Kong model does work to create industry, service industry and free-market prosperity and to win, Russia needs far more than a resource-based economy.

Russia needs more population and a larger middle class and should offer residency and citizenship opportunities to productive and successful workers, entrepreneurial businesses and corporations etc. with the right of reasonable financial and corporate privacy along with the low tax benefits.

Canada, the wonderful country I live and work in today, offers permanent residency benefits and citizenship to hundreds of thousands of foreigners wanting to work and immigrate to Canada together with low corporate tax benefits.

Russia can and should do the same, although the market will require bargain prices as Russia does not have the long history of rule of law, security and peace like Canada does. Russia should look at good climate areas like Crimea and other areas around the Black Sea and maybe Kaliningrad in the north directly in the middle of the EU.

Competititon, free markets, minimal regulation and low taxes are the 21st century solution to military aggression, over-indebted and resource-hungry empires. Putin said it best in his news conference last week.

"They won't leave [the bear] alone. They will always seek to chain it. And once it's chained, they'll rip out its teeth and claws. The nuclear deterrence, speaking in present-day terms. As soon as this happens, nobody will need [the bear] anymore. They'll stuff it. And start to put their hands on its Taiga [Siberian forest belt] after it. We've heard statements from Western officials that Russia's owning Siberia was not fair." – Vladimir Putin.....