Monthly Archives: April 2021

2021-04-20: News Headlines

_____ (2021-04-20). 'Western Media Jeopardizing Uyghurs Interests'. popularresistance.org Dan Cohen speaks with Gordon Gao, Director of Strategic Research at Tsinghua University Endowment Fund in Beijing and a native of Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Gao discusses growing up as a Mongolian ethnic minority in XUAR, and how the propaganda war against China hurts Uyghur interests, but will ultimately backfire on the United States. Gao and Coden also discuss the U.S.-China artificial intelligence arms race as well as the comparative strengths of the two countries.

Charlie Hogle (2021-04-20). The Public Should Have Access to the Surveillance Court's Opinions. aclu.org For decades, a special court—the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or "FISC"—has issued secret legal opinions authorizing the U.S. government to conduct sweeping programs of electronic surveillance. These opinions have had a profound impact on Americans' rights to privacy, free expression, and free association. But many of them are entirely hidden from public view. | Secret law undermines democracy and the legitimacy of the judicial system—especially when the law being withheld from the public affects the rights of millions of people. So today, the ACLU is asking the Supreme Court to o…

_____ (2021-04-20). Berlin: Protests Against End Of 'Rent Cap' And Real Estate Swindlers. popularresistance.org The repeal of the Berlin "rent cap" by the Supreme Court means massive rent increases, arrears payments and poverty for hundreds of thousands of people. The ruling, which exacerbates homelessness amid the coronavirus crisis, has a signal effect for the whole of Germany and is emblematic of the inhuman enrichment policies of the ruling elites in Germany and Europe. | Balakrishnan Rajagopal, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, spoke on Twitter on Thursday of a "deeply disturbing judgment" and, referring to the pandemic, warned, "The German government still has an international legal obligation to respect…

Anonymous765 (2021-04-20). Locations Of US Carrier Strike Groups — April 20, 2021. southfront.org This is the newest update of the 'U.S. Carrier Strike Groups Locations Map' exclusive series showing the approximate locations of U.S. Carrier Strike Groups. SouthFront: Analysis & Intelligence tracks locations of U.S. aircraft carriers using the available open-source information. No classified information was used in production of the map. | click to see the full-size image | Carrier strike group (CSG) is an operational formation of the United States Navy. It is centered on an aircraft carrier and a carrier ai…

RFE RL (2021-04-20). Amid A Czech Spy Scandal, A Meltdown Of Moscow's Atomic Ambitions? — Analysis. eurasiareview.com By Mike Eckel* | ( Now, a snowballing spy scandal in the Czech Republic, involving a pair of 7-year-old explosions and Russia's military intelligence agency, threatens to pull the plug on one of Rosatom's higher-profile i…

Paul Dobson (2021-04-19). El Nacional Newspaper to Pay Diosdado Cabello $13.6m Libel Damages. venezuelanalysis.com The Supreme Court ruled that the opposition newspaper landed unsubstantiated accusations that the socialist deputy was linked to drug cartels.

Prof. Marjorie Cohn (2021-04-19). The Supreme Court Is Also to Blame for Daunte Wright's Death. globalresearch.ca When veteran Minnesota police officer Kimberly Potter, who is white, …

Staff (2021-04-19). Poll Shows Support for Supreme Court Tenure Limits, Split Over Adding Justices. truthout.org A majority of Americans want to do away with lifetime appointments for Supreme Court justices, according to new polling data. The poll results are an indication that the public is open to reforming the highest court in the U.S. |

Robert S. Becker (2021-04-19). Hypocrite of the age prize to McConnell: 'Biden's commission will 'politicize' the Supreme Court'. nationofchange.org McConnell didn't just politicize the selection of justices—he corrupted the entire selection process for our highest court.

Editor2 (2021-04-19). CIA Assassination Plot Targeted Cuba's Raul Castro. orinocotribune.com As Castro Retires on 60th Anniversary of the Bay of Pigs, National Security Archive Posts Declassified Top Secret CIA Cables, Reports from 1960 | Agency Officials Willing to Pay Over $10,000 For 'Fatal Accident' | Another Assassination Plot against Fidel Castro Was Part of Bay of Pigs Invasion Strategy | Washington D.C., April 16, 2021 — In the earliest known CIA assassination plot against leaders of the Cuban revolution, high agency officials offered the pilot of a plane carrying Raul Castro from Prague to Havana "payment after successful completion of ten thousand dollars" to "incur risks in arranging acc…

Anonymous765 (2021-04-19). Big Bad SouthFront Is Once Again Threatening The Leadership Of The World's Sole Superpower. southfront.org | | |

Staff (2021-04-19). Intelligence forces seize weapons consignment SW Iran. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Apr. 19 (MNA) — Iranian intelligence forces seized a consignment of weapons at Khuzestan province borders.

Shabbir H. Kazmi (2021-04-19). US Intelligence Agencies Playing Mantra Orchestrated By Military Complexes — OpEd. eurasiareview.com I have often raised this point that the US foreign policy is driven by 'military complexes'. The survival of these conglomerates is dependent on internal conflicts and proxy wars, often created and proliferated by the US intelligence agencies. | If presence of weapons of mass destructions in Iraq was the biggest joke of the century, Iran getting ready to attack United States is another point to laugh. If you don't agree with me read the highlights of 'The Annual Threat Assessment Report'. | According to The Annual Threat Assessment Report — 2021 prepared by the office of the US Director of National Intel…

Eurasia Review (2021-04-19). Combining News Media And AI To Rapidly Identify Flooded Buildings. eurasiareview.com Artificial intelligence (AI) has sped up the process of detecting flooded buildings immediately after a large-scale flood, allowing emergency personnel to direct their efforts efficiently. Now, a research group from Tohoku University has created a machine learning (ML) model that uses news media photos to identify flooded buildings accurately within 24 hours of the disaster. | Their research was published in the journal Remote Sensing. | "Our model demonstrates how the rapid reporting of news media can speed up and increase the accuracy of damage mapping activities, accelerating disaster relief and response de…

_____ (2021-04-19). Hidden Russiagate Docs Expose More Misconduct, Evidentiary Holes: Ex-Investigator. strategic-culture.org Exclusive: Kash Patel, a former Russiagate investigator on the House Intel Committee and senior White House official, says US intelligence leaders blocked the release of documents that expose more malpractice and critical evidentiary holes in their claims of sweeping "Russian interference." Patel also singles out the FBI's "outrageous" reliance on Crowdstrike, and the burying of testimony that the firm had no concrete evidence.

_____ (2021-04-19). Learning From the Espionage Malpractice Behind the Steele Dossier. strategic-culture.org Mistakes like relying on Steele and his atrocious reporting must not be repeated | By Daniel N. HOFFMAN | Recently declassified notes of an FBI meeting in 2017 with former British MI6 agent Christopher Steele and his Orbis Business Intelligence partner Christopher Burrows add to the growing mountain of evidence discrediting Mr. Steele's infamous dossier — a virulent, self-injected virus in the U.S. political process. | According to the FBI, Mr. Steele said it was Fiona Hill, senior director for European and Russian affairs on the Trump White House's National Security Council from 2017 to 2019, who introd…

Updated: 2021-04-21 02:30 | 22:30 EST | 16 | 0 | 11 | 5 | 0

2021-04-19: News Headlines

Prof. Marjorie Cohn (2021-04-19). The Supreme Court Is Also to Blame for Daunte Wright's Death. globalresearch.ca When veteran Minnesota police officer Kimberly Potter, who is white, …

Paul Dobson (2021-04-19). El Nacional Newspaper to Pay Diosdado Cabello $13.6m Libel Damages. venezuelanalysis.com The Supreme Court ruled that the opposition newspaper landed unsubstantiated accusations that the socialist deputy was linked to drug cartels.

Robert S. Becker (2021-04-19). Hypocrite of the age prize to McConnell: 'Biden's commission will 'politicize' the Supreme Court'. nationofchange.org McConnell didn't just politicize the selection of justices—he corrupted the entire selection process for our highest court.

Staff (2021-04-19). Poll Shows Support for Supreme Court Tenure Limits, Split Over Adding Justices. truthout.org A majority of Americans want to do away with lifetime appointments for Supreme Court justices, according to new polling data. The poll results are an indication that the public is open to reforming the highest court in the U.S. |

Editor2 (2021-04-19). CIA Assassination Plot Targeted Cuba's Raul Castro. orinocotribune.com As Castro Retires on 60th Anniversary of the Bay of Pigs, National Security Archive Posts Declassified Top Secret CIA Cables, Reports from 1960 | Agency Officials Willing to Pay Over $10,000 For 'Fatal Accident' | Another Assassination Plot against Fidel Castro Was Part of Bay of Pigs Invasion Strategy | Washington D.C., April 16, 2021 — In the earliest known CIA assassination plot against leaders of the Cuban revolution, high agency officials offered the pilot of a plane carrying Raul Castro from Prague to Havana "payment after successful completion of ten thousand dollars" to "incur risks in arranging acc…

Anonymous765 (2021-04-19). Big Bad SouthFront Is Once Again Threatening The Leadership Of The World's Sole Superpower. southfront.org | | |

Shabbir H. Kazmi (2021-04-19). US Intelligence Agencies Playing Mantra Orchestrated By Military Complexes — OpEd. eurasiareview.com I have often raised this point that the US foreign policy is driven by 'military complexes'. The survival of these conglomerates is dependent on internal conflicts and proxy wars, often created and proliferated by the US intelligence agencies. | If presence of weapons of mass destructions in Iraq was the biggest joke of the century, Iran getting ready to attack United States is another point to laugh. If you don't agree with me read the highlights of 'The Annual Threat Assessment Report'. | According to The Annual Threat Assessment Report — 2021 prepared by the office of the US Director of National Intel…

Staff (2021-04-19). Intelligence forces seize weapons consignment SW Iran. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Apr. 19 (MNA) — Iranian intelligence forces seized a consignment of weapons at Khuzestan province borders.

_____ (2021-04-19). Hidden Russiagate Docs Expose More Misconduct, Evidentiary Holes: Ex-Investigator. strategic-culture.org Exclusive: Kash Patel, a former Russiagate investigator on the House Intel Committee and senior White House official, says US intelligence leaders blocked the release of documents that expose more malpractice and critical evidentiary holes in their claims of sweeping "Russian interference." Patel also singles out the FBI's "outrageous" reliance on Crowdstrike, and the burying of testimony that the firm had no concrete evidence.

_____ (2021-04-19). Learning From the Espionage Malpractice Behind the Steele Dossier. strategic-culture.org Mistakes like relying on Steele and his atrocious reporting must not be repeated | By Daniel N. HOFFMAN | Recently declassified notes of an FBI meeting in 2017 with former British MI6 agent Christopher Steele and his Orbis Business Intelligence partner Christopher Burrows add to the growing mountain of evidence discrediting Mr. Steele's infamous dossier — a virulent, self-injected virus in the U.S. political process. | According to the FBI, Mr. Steele said it was Fiona Hill, senior director for European and Russian affairs on the Trump White House's National Security Council from 2017 to 2019, who introd…

_____ (2021-04-18). The CIA Used To Infiltrate The Media. popularresistance.org Back in the good old days, when things were more innocent and simple, the psychopathic Central Intelligence Agency had to covertly infiltrate the news media to manipulate the information Americans were consuming about their nation and the world. Nowadays, there is no meaningful separation between the news media and the CIA at all. | Journalist Glenn Greenwald just highlighted an interesting point about the reporting by The New York Times on the so-called "Bountygate" story the outlet broke in June of last year about the Russian government trying to pay Taliban-linked fighters to attack US soldiers in Afghanistan.

P. K. Balachandran (2021-04-18). Powerful Buddhist Monk Throws Weight Behind Legal Challenge To China-Funded Colombo Port City Project. eurasiareview.com Government says Sri Lanka needs the project and assures that the envisaged legal structure will be under Lankan control.: | The politically influential head of the Abayarama temple in Colombo, Ven. Muruththetuwe Ananda Thero, has thrown his weight behind petitions in the Sri Lankan Supreme Court against the China-funded US$ 1.4 billion Colombo Port City (CPC) project. | The CPC is now at the crucial stage of getting a separate legal structure meant to get foreign investors. | Ven. Ananda Thero told a press conference on April 15 that his organization "Rata Rakina Jana Handa" had supported President Got…

Ryan Grim (2021-04-18). House and Senate Democrats Plan Bill to Add Four Justices to Supreme Court. zcomm.org The Constitution allows Congress to set the number of Supreme Court justices…

Anonymous669 (2021-04-18). In Video: Iraqi Security Forces Thwarted Terrorist Attack In Al-Anbar. southfront.org Screen grab from the attached video. | On April 17, Iraqi security forces thwarted a terrorist attack with a booby-trapped vehicle in the western province of al-Anbar."According to confirmed information, a force from the 4th Brigade and the 1st Intelligence Division in the Anbar Operations Sector detonated an abandoned vehicle al-Taba'at airport, which is located west of the H3 base in al-Anbar," the Iraqi Security Media Cell said in a statement. | According to the statement, the booby-trapped vehicle was prepared for a terror…

Anonymous103 (2021-04-18). Czechs Are Played In Geopolitical Chess Game. southfront.org Illustrative image | The Russian Foreign Ministry declared 20 Czech diplomats personae non-gratae. They must leave Russia before April 20. The decision was made after Czech officials expelled 18 diplomats to Moscow. | On April 17, citing allegations of the involvement of the Russian intelligence in a blast at a military depot in the Czech Republic that took place in 2014, the Czech government ordered 18 Russian diplomats out of the country during 48 hours. Initially, the blast was thought to be an accident. The Czec…

RT (2021-04-18). Russia tells 20 Czech diplomats to leave by Monday night in response to Prague's expulsions. rt.com Twenty Czech diplomats have been declared personae non-gratae and must now leave Russia before the end of April 19, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday, a day after Czech officials expelled 18 diplomats to Moscow. | Earlier on Sunday, the Czech ambassador to Moscow, Vítezslav Pivonka, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry, which expressed a "strong protest" over Prague's actions this weekend. Citing allegations of the involvement of the Russian intelligence in a 2014 blast at a military depot in the Czech Republic, which was initially thought to be an accident, the Czech government ordered 18 Rus…

RT (2021-04-18). Russia tells 20 Czech diplomats to leave by Monday night in response to Prague's expulsions. rt.com Twenty Czech diplomats have been declared personae non-gratae and must now leave Russia before the end of April 19, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday, a day after Czech officials expelled 18 diplomats to Moscow. | Earlier on Sunday, the Czech ambassador to Moscow, Vítezslav Pivonka, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry, which expressed a "strong protest" over Prague's actions this weekend. Citing allegations of the involvement of the Russian intelligence in a 2014 blast at a military depot in the Czech Republic, which was initially thought to be an accident, the Czech government ordered 18 Rus…

RT (2021-04-18). Wave of ridicule on Russian social media as alleged Salisbury poisoning suspects linked to explosion at Czech ammo depot. rt.com A wave of ridicule was unleashed on Russian social media after the Czech police identified two suspects, who appeared to be related to a 2014 blast. They are the same people the UK accused of the high-profile Skripal poisoning. | A diplomatic scandal rocked Russian-Czech relations this weekend just before a scheduled visit to Moscow by Czech Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek. Prague expelled 18 Russian diplomats and accused Moscow of sending intelligence agents to blow up a munitions depot a few years ago. | The news would have been received with much less amusement in Russia, were it not for the alleged identity o…

RT (2021-04-18). Russia's Rosatom likely to get barred from $7-bn Dukovany nuclear plant tender, Czech minister says, amid ammo depot blast scandal. rt.com Russia's Rosatom will likely be barred from tendering for refurbishing the Dukovany nuclear power plant, the Czech industry minister said, amid scandal over a 2014 munitions depot blast, blamed by Prague on Russian intelligence. | The Russian state-owned nuclear energy corporation will likely be kicked out of the pre-qualification round for the Dukovany project, Czech Industry Minister Karel Havlicek said on Sunday. | "I can't imagine that Rosatom would be in the safety assessment at this moment," he told local TV. | The move comes after Prague accused Russia's military intelligence of being involved in an inc…

CNA (2021-04-18). Society Of Catholic Scientists Prepares For Conference On Non-Human Intelligence. eurasiareview.com By Perry West | The Society of Catholic Scientists (SCS) will hold its 2021 conference in Washington D.C. on the subject of non-human intelligence. | The conference is titled "Extraterrestrials, AI, and Minds Beyond the Human" and will take place at the Hilton Hotel from June 4-6. The event will also be live-streamed. | Conference discussions will provide scientific and theological insights on the subjects of real and hypothetical intelligences, especially extraterrestrial and artificial intelligences. | "There'll be 13 talks. Half of the talks are going to be about extraterrestrial life, and there's going to…

RT (2021-04-18). Iran Says It's Identified Suspect Behind 'Explosion' At Natanz Nuclear Site. eurasiareview.com Iran's intelligence service has named a suspect in the 'explosion' that damaged the Natanz power plant last week. It says the culprit, identified as a man from a town near the nuclear facility, has already fled the country. | "Reza Karimi, the perpetrator of this sabotage… has been identified" by the intelligence ministry, Iranian state television announced on Saturday. | Karimi was described in the report as a 43-year-old male who was born in the town of Kashan, not far from the Natanz facility. | Tehran had earlier blamed the incident on its arch-rival Israel and promised to retaliate. The Jewish state, wh…

Updated: 2021-04-20 00:07 | 20:07 EST | 21 | 0 | 11 | 10 | 0