Spare Me the American Tears for the Murder of Jamal Khashoggi
Robert Fisk | counterpunch.org | 2018-12-07
Can I be the only one — apart from his own sycophants — to find the sight of America's finest Republicans and Democrats condemning the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia for murdering Jamal Khashoggi a bit sickening? "Crazy". "Dangerous". A "wrecking ball". A "smoking saw". These guys are angry. CIA director Gina Haspel, who was…
counterpunch.org/2018/12/07/spare-me-the-american-tears-for-the-murder-of-jamal-khashoggi/
The McCain and Bush Death Tours: Establishment Rituals in How to be a Proper Ruler
Paul Street | counterpunch.org | 2018-12-07
The prolonged nationally televised commemorations of the racist, corporatist, and imperialist killers John McCain and George H.W. Bush — both privileged sons of the United States military industrial complex — have been nauseating for any decent and historically knowledgeable human being to behold. But the national rituals attached to the deaths of these monstrous butchers…
counterpunch.org/2018/12/07/the-mccain-and-bush-death-tours-establishment-rituals-in-how-to-be-a-proper-ruler/
Ecuadorian Ex-Diplomat: Report Claiming Assange Met Manafort Is False
Shared by Hezvo Mpunga | therealnews.com | 2018-12-07
The Guardian report claiming WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange met with Paul Manafort is fake news, says the former consul in Ecuador's London embassy, Fidel Narváez. But it is true that Trump's ex-campaign chairman met with new Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno to discuss handing Assange over to the US. | The post Ecuadorian Ex-Diplomat: Report Claiming Assange Met Manafort Is False appeared first on The Real News Network.
therealnews.com/stories/ecuadorian-ex-diplomat-report-claiming-assange-met-manafort-is-false
The Bomb that Did Not Detonate: Julian Assange, Manafort and The Guardian
Binoy Kampmark | counterpunch.org | 2018-12-07
"This is going to be one of the most infamous news disasters since Stern published the 'Hitler Diaries.'" — WikiLeaks, Twitter, Nov 27, 2018 Those at The Guardian certainly felt they were onto something. It would be a scoop that would have consequences on a range of fronts featuring President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul…
counterpunch.org/2018/12/07/the-bomb-that-did-not-detonate-julian-assange-manafort-and-the-guardian/
Dead of Night Redux: A Zombie Rises, A Spook Falls
Jennifer Matsui | counterpunch.org | 2018-12-07
Instead of participating in a televised gathering of un-dead presidents and plutocrats for a Deep State funeral, we should be watching 'Dead of Night' (1974). It's hard to think of another film that so precisely (and presciently) envisioned the unintended consequences of war, namely its pox on casualties and survivors alike. So just what does…
counterpunch.org/2018/12/07/dead-of-night-redux-a-zombie-rises-a-spook-falls/
Jury fails to agree on verdict in trial of Kurdish journalist
peter_b | greenleft.org.au | 2018-12-07
NSW Supreme Court judge Lucy McCallum discharged the jury on December 6 after it failed to agree on a verdict in the trial of Kurdish journalist Renas Lelikan on "foreign fighter" charges under Australia's draconian "anti-terrorism" laws. | Lelikan denied this charge, insisting he was not a combatant but a journalist reporting on the Kurdish liberation struggle. | A February 15 hearing will be told if the prosecution intends to ask for a re-trial. Lelikan remains free on bail, with relaxed conditions. | The case had been going on for nine weeks, four of which have been taken up with the jury's deliberation. | Phi…
greenleft.org.au/content/jury-fails-agree-verdict-trial-kurdish-journalist
Public Forum: The Indictment of Julian Assange, The Corporate Media and Left Media
SBAFJAA | indybay.org | 2018-12-07
518 Valencia St/16th St. | Near 16th St. BART San Francisco, California…
indybay.org/newsitems/2018/12/04/18819608.php
Ecuadorian president hints again at moves to renege on Julian Assange's asylum
WSWS | wsws.org | 2018-12-07
The fight for the freedom of Assange is a matter of fundamental political principle.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/12/07/assa-d07.html
US demands Russia 'end or modify' missile it doesn't like to save INF treaty
RT | rt.com | 2018-12-06
Washington is demanding that Moscow scrap or modify a missile dubbed "non-compliant" with the landmark INF nuclear arms treaty by US intelligence. Russia has repeatedly said the missile falls well within the range allowed. | …
rt.com/usa/445791-usa-demands-russia-scraps-missile-inf/
Artificial Intelligence Experts Issue Urgent Warning Against Facial Scanning With a "Dangerous History"
Sam Biddle | theintercept.com | 2018-12-06
Facial recognition has quickly shifted from techno-novelty to fact of life for many, with millions around the world at least willing to put up with their faces scanned by software at the airport, their iPhones, or Facebook's server farms. But researchers at New York University's AI Now Institute have issued a strong warning against not only ubiquitous facial recognition, but its more sinister cousin: so-called affect recognition, technology that claims it can find hidden meaning in the shape of your nose, the contours of your mouth, and the way you smile. If that sounds like something dredged up from the 19th cen…
theintercept.com/2018/12/06/artificial-intellgience-experts-issue-urgent-warning-against-facial-scanning-with-a-dangerous-history/
Saudi Crown Prince Loses Support of Key Republican Senators with CIA Briefing
Juan Cole | mintpressnews.com | 2018-12-05
Among the things Saudi Arabia wants from the United States is support for its war on Yemen and permission to buy from US arms corporations state-of-the-art military weaponry. Both things are now in peril, as key Republican senators reacted to a secret briefing by Gina Haspel, director of the Central Intelligence Agency. | Haspel gave her presentation to only 8, arbitrarily chosen senators. They included outgoing Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) and the senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham (R-SC), b…
mintpressnews.com/congressional-noose-may-tighten-around-saudi-crown-prince-as-cia-head-testifies/252563/
Trump's Timidity is Letting Comey Off the Hook
Consortiumnews | consortiumnews.com | 2018-12-05
With just a few days left before Congress adjourns, House Republicans, like their President, have pretty much let the clock run out. There's little chance now in "taking on the intelligence community," says Ray McGovern. By Ray McGovern Special to… Read more ?…
consortiumnews.com/2018/12/04/trumps-timidity-is-letting-comey-off-the-hook/
Greg Grandin: George H.W. Bush's 1989 Invasion of Panama Set the Stage for U.S. Wars to Come
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-12-04
The death of George H.W. Bush has dominated the U.S. news for days, but little attention has been paid to the defining event of Bush's first year in office: the invasion of Panama. On December 19, 1989, Bush Sr. sent tens of thousands of troops into Panama, ostensibly to execute an arrest warrant against its leader, Manuel Noriega, on charges of drug trafficking. General Noriega was once a close ally to Washington and on the CIA payroll. In a nationally televised address, Bush claimed the invasion was needed to defend democracy in Panama. During the attack, the U.S. unleashed a force of 24,000 troops equipped wit…
www.democracynow.org/2018/12/4/greg_grandin_george_hw_bushs_1989
The Guardian's Vilification of Julian Assange
Consortiumnews | consortiumnews.com | 2018-12-04
The Guardian did not make a mistake in vilifying Assange without a shred of evidence. It did what it is designed to do, says Jonathan Cook. By Jonathan Cook Johanthan-Cook.net It is welcome that finally there has been a little… Read more ?…
consortiumnews.com/2018/12/03/the-guardians-vilification-of-julian-assange/
Ariel Dorfman: George H.W. Bush Is Alive in His Many Victims Across the Globe, Including Me
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-12-04
George H.W. Bush was the only president in U.S. history to serve as CIA director, a role that would come to define his career and politics. He once described the intelligence agency as "part of my heartbeat." Bush Sr. was at the helm of the CIA from January 1976 to January 1977. We speak with Ariel Dorfman, best-selling author, playwright, poet and activist, who teaches at Duke University. In 1973, he served as a cultural adviser to Chilean President Salvador Allende's chief of staff. He says George H.W. Bush was "presiding over the CIA when Pinochet, the dictator of Chile, had concentration camps open. They were…
www.democracynow.org/2018/12/4/ariel_dorfman_george_hw_bush_is
The Effects of the Muslim Ban One Year Later
ACLU | aclu.org | 2018-12-04
We've had one year of the Muslim ban. Congress must ensure it's the last. | Exactly one year ago today, the Supreme Court allowed the full implementation of Trump's Muslim ban. It would be months still before it heard oral arguments in Hawaii v. Trump and issued its ruling on June 26, allowing the ban to remain in place. But on Dec. 4, 2017, America began to ban millions of Muslims from the United States, even if they have family members, jobs, academic spots, or other compelling connections here, and even if they would otherwise be fully…
aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/effects-muslim-ban-one-year-later
Mehdi Hasan on George H.W. Bush's Ignored Legacy: War Crimes, Racism and Obstruction of Justice
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2018-12-03
George H.W. Bush died in Houston on Friday night at the age of 94. Bush was elected the 41st president of the United States in 1988, becoming the first and only former CIA director to lead the country. He served as Ronald Reagan's vice president from 1981 to 1989. Since Bush's death, the media has honored the former president by focusing on his years of service and his call as president for a kinder, gentler America. But the headlines have largely glossed over and ignored other parts of Bush's legacy. We look at the 1991 Gulf War, Bush's pardoning of six Reagan officials involved in the Iran-Contra scandal and ho…
www.democracynow.org/2018/12/3/mehdi_hasan_on_george_hw_bushs
George H.W. Bush, the CIA and a Case of State-Sponsored Terrorism
Consortiumnews | consortiumnews.com | 2018-12-01
Forty-two years ago, a car-bomb exploded in Washington killing Chile's ex-Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier, an act of state terrorism that the CIA and its director George H.W. Bush tried to cover up, Robert Parry reported on Sept. 23, 2000. By… Read more ?…
consortiumnews.com/2018/12/01/george-h-w-bush-the-cia-and-a-case-of-state-sponsored-terrorism/
The Guardian/Politico Psyop Against WikiLeaks
Consortiumnews | consortiumnews.com | 2018-12-01
The claims made by Luke Harding and The Guardian that Assange met Manafort will never be proven true, and they know it. And we should never let them forget it, says Caitlin Johnstone. By Caitlin Johnstone Caitlinjohnstone.com For the first few hours… Read more ?…
consortiumnews.com/2018/12/01/the-guardian-politico-psyop-against-wikileaks/
On Julian Assange and the Political Economy & future of Europe
Yanis Varoufakis | zcomm.org | 2018-11-29
Interview on the socio-economic transformations taking place within the core of the European Union and how much time is left until it disintegrates…
zcomm.org/zvideo/on-julian-assange-and-the-political-economy-future-of-europe/
Crucifying Julian Assange
Chris Hedges | zcomm.org | 2018-11-26
Chris Hedges and Joe Lauria, journalist and editor-in-chief, Consortium, discuss efforts to force #WikiLeaks publisher, #JulianAssange, out of the Ecuador Embassy in London and extradite him to the USA to stand trial.
zcomm.org/zvideo/1015019/