russiainsider--2020-02-18--BLOWBACK: Soleimani the Martyr Is Achieving More than Soleimani the General Ever Did

More than forty days ago a US drone assassinated Major General Qassem Soleimani , leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps ( IRGC ) – Quds Brigade and leader of the “ Axis of the Resistance ” .
He was killed after midnight at Baghdad airport between the second and the third of January along with his companions .
Has the “ Axis of Resistance ” been weakened by this event , and what has it achieved since then ?
On the Syrian front , in an outstanding gain , the Syrian Army along with its allies from the Zoul-fi-Qar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ km Damascus-Aleppo road for the first time since it was blocked in 2012 .
It enlarged the security perimeter on its western flank .
The strategic cities of Saraqeb , Rashedeen , Khan al-Asal have been liberated along with El-Eiss hil , a location that Major General Soleimani always wanted to free .
Hezbollah lost 23 officers buried at the hill and wants to recover them to bring them back home .
With the Russian command , the “ Axis of Resistance ” is sitting in an operational room in Aleppo that is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
These are directing the advance of the battle against jihadists and offer necessary intelligence and air support .
The Syrian Army managed to create a vast security perimeter along the M5 road ( Damascus-Aleppo ) that Turkey had promised – but failed – to secure since October 2018 .
This advance indicates a strategic path that relies on objectives and no specific leaders .
The aim in Syria , an essential member of the “ Axis of the Resistance ” , is to liberate the entire country , regardless of what leaders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prominent Syrian generals have been killed during these nine years of war , but Syria continues to be liberated .
Iran and Russia are talking to Turkey in order to maintain a dialogue with Syria , notwithstanding the consequences of the ongoing battle .
The loss of Major General Soleimani will not change or modify their objectives .
In Iraq , Major General Soleimani could hardly have dreamed of a political decision asking the US and all foreign forces to leave the country .
This is a significant decision Iraq has adopted , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forces into an occupation force because the agreed departure schedule and procedure is not respected .
raq has to keep a small number of NATO troops in the country for the purpose of training and securing spare parts because Iraq bought many weapons from NATO countries .
However , the government in Baghdad can now offer no guarantee of safety to these NATO officers , due to the popular hatred the US has incited by killing the high-ranking and popular Iraqi commander , Abu Mahdi al-Muhandes , in the unlawful US assassination attack @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Prime Minister is expected to form a government with the schedule for US-departure at the top of his priority plans .
Moreover , never in the history of Iraq since the 2003 occupation has the Iraqi resistance been united under one leader .
Moqtada al-Sadr ’ s call to demonstrate in the street against the US has brought him great popularity .
All groups , notwithstanding the initial disagreement of Nuri al-Maliki and Sayyed Ammar al-Hakim , accepted al-Sadr ’ s choice of Allawi as a Prime Minister .
Moqtada al-Sadr was a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was around .
The Iranian general did not agree with Moqtada ’ s continuous changes of political position .
Moreover , the Sadrist leader was against the Hashd al-Shaabi , ( even if he has a brigade of his own , the 313 brigade ) , and called for the disarmament of all Iraqi groups belonging to the “ Axis of the Resistance ” .
Moqtada is now working side by side with these groups , something Major General Soleimani failed to achieve .
In Lebanon , a new government has been formed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allies of the US in Lebanon .
The “ Axis of the Resistance ” managed to push forward the formation of the government and supported Diab in solving many problems on his path of forming the actual government .
Diab accepted suggestions of the “ Axis of the Resistance ” in forming his government , guaranteeing the legitimacy of Hezbollah to defend the country against any foreign aggression .
The Lebanese Parliament gave Mr. Diab the trust he needed to begin his mandate .
The “ Axis of the Resistance ” managed to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of chaos in Lebanon .
Today many countries are contacting the Prime Minister to support him in his difficult task of bringing the country out of its most critical economic crisis since independence in 1945 .
In Lebanon today Hezbollah militants continue to receive their full salaries , in US dollars , notwithstanding the “ maximum pressure ” on Iran and the harsh sanctions on Hezbollah .
In Palestine , the street was united against the “ deal of the century ” presented by the US administration .
All rejected it , including @ @ @ @ @ @ @ effect ended the Oslo agreement and all forms of security cooperation with Israel and the US .
Palestinians from all walks of life insist on their right to return home and rejected the “ deal ” that takes away all freshwater resources , access to the Dead Sea , and 30 % of land in the west bank .
It was rare to see similar unity among all Palestinian groups against one cause .
In Afghanistan , the US recognized the unusual activity of the Taliban since the beginning of the year .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ all US forces in the Middle East , acknowledged that “ there has been an increase in Iranian activity in Afghanistan that poses a risk to American and coalition troops there .
Iran sees perhaps an opportunity to get after us and the coalition here through their proxies ” .
McKenzie sees a “ worrisome trend of malign Iranian interference ” .
Taliban downed a US plane used by the CIA .
The Pentagon acknowledges the death of two officers on board but refrains from sharing additional information .
In Yemen , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ General Yahya Saree , revealed details of the most daring military operation against the Saudi-led coalition in Naham , Ma ’ reb under the name of “ Buniyan al-Marsus ” .
He claimed 17 brigades were attacked and the Yemeni forces managed to control a vast area in the province .
Moreover , Yemen is developing its military capability more than ever , hitting deep into Saudi Arabia and its oil resources .
The path of the “ Axis of the Resistance ” seems unstoppable notwithstanding Major General Soleimani ’ s assassination .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the north-east of Syria , in al Hasaka province , indicates a spontaneous new approach that the “ Axis of the Resistance ” can build upon .
The fertile ground in the Syrian village of Khirbet Ammo fostered a new wave of resistance in other communities against the US occupation forces whose objective is to steal Syrian oil , as President Donald Trump brazenly announced .
Unarmed men stood against a fully armed US convoy , asking them not to return .
This is a mentality and an objective that has been cultivated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ robustly integrated among the members of the “ Axis of the Resistance ” .
These events show that individual leaders are irrelevant ; the best leaders know that they will be killed on this path .
The Martyr Qassem Soleimani is achieving even more than the Major General did .

More than forty days ago a US drone assassinated Major General Qassem Soleimani, leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – Quds Brigade and leader of the “Axis of the Resistance”. He was killed after midnight at Baghdad airport between the second and the third of January along with his companions. Has the “Axis of Resistance” been weakened by this event, and what has it achieved since then?
On the Syrian front, in an outstanding gain, the Syrian Army along with its allies from the Zoul-fi-Qar brigade and other partners liberated the 432 km Damascus-Aleppo road for the first time since it was blocked in 2012. It enlarged the security perimeter on its western flank. The strategic cities of Saraqeb, Rashedeen, Khan al-Asal have been liberated along with El-Eiss hil, a location that Major General Soleimani always wanted to free. Hezbollah lost 23 officers buried at the hill and wants to recover them to bring them back home.
With the Russian command, the “Axis of Resistance” is sitting in an operational room in Aleppo that is coordinating with others in Damascus and Hmaymeem. These are directing the advance of the battle against jihadists and offer necessary intelligence and air support. The Syrian Army managed to create a vast security perimeter along the M5 road (Damascus-Aleppo) that Turkey had promised – but failed – to secure since October 2018. This advance indicates a strategic path that relies on objectives and no specific leaders. The aim in Syria, an essential member of the “Axis of the Resistance”, is to liberate the entire country, regardless of what leaders are killed on this path. Many prominent Syrian generals have been killed during these nine years of war, but Syria continues to be liberated.
Iran and Russia are talking to Turkey in order to maintain a dialogue with Syria, notwithstanding the consequences of the ongoing battle. The loss of Major General Soleimani will not change or modify their objectives.
In Iraq, Major General Soleimani could hardly have dreamed of a political decision asking the US and all foreign forces to leave the country. This is a significant decision Iraq has adopted, transforming the legal status of the US forces into an occupation force because the agreed departure schedule and procedure is not respected.
raq has to keep a small number of NATO troops in the country for the purpose of training and securing spare parts because Iraq bought many weapons from NATO countries. However, the government in Baghdad can now offer no guarantee of safety to these NATO officers, due to the popular hatred the US has incited by killing the high-ranking and popular Iraqi commander, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandes, in the unlawful US assassination attack on Baghdad airport. The newly elected Prime Minister is expected to form a government with the schedule for US-departure at the top of his priority plans.
Moreover, never in the history of Iraq since the 2003 occupation has the Iraqi resistance been united under one leader. Moqtada al-Sadr’s call to demonstrate in the street against the US has brought him great popularity. All groups, notwithstanding the initial disagreement of Nuri al-Maliki and Sayyed Ammar al-Hakim, accepted al-Sadr’s choice of Allawi as a Prime Minister. Moqtada al-Sadr was a source of concern when Major General Soleimani was around. The Iranian general did not agree with Moqtada’s continuous changes of political position. Moreover, the Sadrist leader was against the Hashd al-Shaabi, (even if he has a brigade of his own, the 313 brigade), and called for the disarmament of all Iraqi groups belonging to the “Axis of the Resistance”. Moqtada is now working side by side with these groups, something Major General Soleimani failed to achieve.
In Lebanon, a new government has been formed under Hassan Diab, without the closest allies of the US in Lebanon. The “Axis of the Resistance” managed to push forward the formation of the government and supported Diab in solving many problems on his path of forming the actual government. Diab accepted suggestions of the “Axis of the Resistance” in forming his government, guaranteeing the legitimacy of Hezbollah to defend the country against any foreign aggression.
The Lebanese Parliament gave Mr. Diab the trust he needed to begin his mandate. The “Axis of the Resistance” managed to prevent a power vacuum or the spread of chaos in Lebanon. Today many countries are contacting the Prime Minister to support him in his difficult task of bringing the country out of its most critical economic crisis since independence in 1945. In Lebanon today Hezbollah militants continue to receive their full salaries, in US dollars, notwithstanding the “maximum pressure” on Iran and the harsh sanctions on Hezbollah.
In Palestine, the street was united against the “deal of the century” presented by the US administration. All rejected it, including President Mahmoud Abbas, who has in effect ended the Oslo agreement and all forms of security cooperation with Israel and the US. Palestinians from all walks of life insist on their right to return home and rejected the “deal” that takes away all freshwater resources, access to the Dead Sea, and 30% of land in the west bank. It was rare to see similar unity among all Palestinian groups against one cause.
In Afghanistan, the US recognized the unusual activity of the Taliban since the beginning of the year. General Franck McKenzie, the commander of all US forces in the Middle East, acknowledged that “there has been an increase in Iranian activity in Afghanistan that poses a risk to American and coalition troops there. Iran sees perhaps an opportunity to get after us and the coalition here through their proxies”. McKenzie sees a “worrisome trend of malign Iranian interference”. Taliban downed a US plane used by the CIA. The Pentagon acknowledges the death of two officers on board but refrains from sharing additional information.
In Yemen, the spokesperson of the Yemen armed forces, General Yahya Saree, revealed details of the most daring military operation against the Saudi-led coalition in Naham, Ma’reb under the name of “Buniyan al-Marsus”. He claimed 17 brigades were attacked and the Yemeni forces managed to control a vast area in the province. Moreover, Yemen is developing its military capability more than ever, hitting deep into Saudi Arabia and its oil resources.
The path of the “Axis of the Resistance” seems unstoppable notwithstanding Major General Soleimani’s assassination. The birth of a new resistance in the north-east of Syria, in al Hasaka province, indicates a spontaneous new approach that the “Axis of the Resistance” can build upon. The fertile ground in the Syrian village of Khirbet Ammo fostered a new wave of resistance in other communities against the US occupation forces whose objective is to steal Syrian oil, as President Donald Trump brazenly announced. Unarmed men stood against a fully armed US convoy, asking them not to return. This is a mentality and an objective that has been cultivated throughout all these years and has become robustly integrated among the members of the “Axis of the Resistance”.
These events show that individual leaders are irrelevant; the best leaders know that they will be killed on this path. The Martyr Qassem Soleimani is achieving even more than the Major General did.


russiainsider--2020-02-18--American Citizens Killed and Tortured by Israel?

No one is ever held accountable One of the principal functions of a United States Embassy overseas is to provide citizen services , which includes coming to the assistance of Americans who are treated badly by the local government .
It is a responsibility that most embassies take seriously , with the exception of the facility currently located in Jerusalem .
One has to understand that that is so because the United States Embassy in Israel is like no other .
In other countries , the American Embassy exists to support American travelers , businesses and a broad range of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exists to support Israeli interests and to serve as an apologist every time the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu goes on a killing spree or does something else that is similarly outrageous , to include bombing neighboring Syria every other day .
America ’ s current ambassador , former Trump bankruptcy lawyer David Friedman , has funded Israel ’ s illegal settlements , which did not in any way complicate his confirmation as nearly everyone in Congress and the White House does not believe that the Palestinians actually are human beings .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ has defended Israel when its army sharpshooters have shot down scores of unarmed Gazans , including children , and has both praised and endorsed out-and-out theft by the Israeli government in Jerusalem , on the West Bank and the Golan Heights .
What the U.S. Embassy under Friedman will not do is put any real pressure on the Israeli government if its security forces or rampaging settlers kill , beat , maim or torture an American citizen , especially if said citizen happens to be of Palestinian descent .
Indeed , Friedman is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S .
Ambassadors , the rot having started inevitably with Bill Clinton , who appointed Australian citizen Martin Indyk as the first Jewish ambassador to Tel Aviv .
The two most recent ambassadors , Friedman and Daniel Shapiro , both political appointees , have also been Jewish .
Shapiro so enjoyed being an Israeli that he decided to remain in the country after his appointment as ambassador was completed .
He now works for an Israeli government funded think tank .
The Israeli army and police have in fact killed a number of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Department of State or White House .
The unwillingness to confront Israel on any level stems from the formidable Jewish power in the United States , which uses money and media control to corrupt the political system at national , state and local levels .
The media and the chattering political class worry about Russian interference while ignoring the implications of a Haaretz article that appeared on February 12th entitled “ AIPAC Must Stop Bernie Sanders – At All Costs !
” AIPAC is , of course , the American Israel Public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chief U.S. lobbying arm of the Jewish state .
And witness the fate of Congresswoman Betty McCollum from Minnesota , who fell afoul of the Israel Lobby when she introduced H.R.2407 , legislation that prohibits American taxpayer money from being used by Israel to arrest and detain Palestinian children .
She stated that “ Israel ’ s system of military juvenile detention is state-sponsored child abuse designed to intimidate and terrorize Palestinian children and their families .
It must be condemned , but it is equally outrageous that U.S. tax dollars in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ permitted to sustain what is clearly a gross human rights violation against children.
” She might have added that the estimated 10,000 Arab children who have been detained since 2000 are frequently tortured by the Israeli authorities .
The bill currently has 23 cosponsors and is unlikely to attract more due to fear of the Lobby .
It will never reach the House floor for a vote and will never become law .
McCollum ’ s courage was on display when she was viciously attacked by AIPAC , which posted Facebook ads that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” including a photo of McCollum , with the text stating that “ It ’ s critical that we protect our Israeli allies especially as they face threats from Iran , Hamas , Hezbollah ISIS and — maybe more sinister — right here in the U.S. Congress.
” McCollum stood her ground against being called “ more sinister ” than ISIS and released a statement that describes AIPAC as a “ hate group , ” which of course it is , but she will find few in the Democratic party brave enough @ @ @ @ @ @ @ willingness to kill Americans in support of what it perceives as its own interests goes back nearly to the founding of the state in 1948 .
The Lavon Affair of 1954 was an Israeli plot to bomb the U.S. Embassy Information Agency libraries in Alexandria and Cairo Egypt , blaming the attacks on the Egyptians to draw the United States closer to Israel .
The bombs were placed by Egyptian Jews acting for Israeli intelligence .
They exploded , but fortunately no one was killed .
In June 1967 Israel was at it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ naval vessel the U.S.S .
Liberty in international waters , killing thirty-four American sailors , Marines and civilians in a deliberate air and sea onslaught that sought to sink the intelligence gathering ship and kill all its crew .
It was the worst attack ever carried out on a U.S .
Naval vessel in peace time .
In addition to the death toll , 171 more of the crew were wounded in the two-hour assault .
The Israelis , whose planes had their Star of David markings covered up so Egypt could be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the air and with gunboats from the sea .
When one Israeli pilot hesitated , refusing to attack what was clearly an American ship , he was instructed to proceed anyway .
The most disgusting part of the tale relates to how U.S. warplanes sent to the Liberty ’ s aid from an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean were called back by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara acting under orders from President Lyndon Baines Johnson , who declared that he would rather see the ship go to the bottom of the sea than embarrass @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the first ship to reach the Liberty and offer assistance was from the Soviet Union , an offer that was declined .
More recently there have been a number of killings of Americans .
In a bizarre incident in August 1988 , an elderly Palestinian-American with a heart condition died after being forced to climb stairs to paint over anti-Israeli graffiti on a school wall .
Rebhi Barakat Kaid , 67 , of Columbus , Ohio , was on the West Bank visiting relatives .
He died of a heart attack after three @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chicago-born grandson at gunpoint to climb the 22 steep steps that led from the house to the street above without his being allowed to take his heart medicine first .
Much better known is the March 2003 killing of Washington State ’ s Rachel Corrie , who was deliberately run over by an Israeli military bulldozer when she was protesting the destruction of a Palestinian village .
A month later there was an incident in which Brian Avery , a 24-year-old from Albuquerque , New Mexico , was shot in the face in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by Israeli soldiers in an armored personnel carrier firing machine guns at protesters .
* ( Picture taken at 4:47PM on 16 March 2003 , Rafah , Occupied Gaza .
Rachel Corrie lies on the ground fatally injured by the Israeli bulldozer driver .
Rachel ’ s fellow activists have dug her a little out of the sand and are trying to keep her neck straight due to spinal injury .
Photo by Joseph Smith .
Credit : ISM Handout ) In March 2009 Tristan Anderson , a 37-year-old from Oakland , California @ @ @ @ @ @ @ soldiers shot him in the face with a tear gas canister as he watched a protest in the West Bank village of Nilin .
Another American citizen , Furkan Doğan , an 18-year-old born in Troy , New York , was killed aboard the Turkish flagged Mavi Marmara in the Mediterranean Sea in May 2010 as a flotilla of international activists attempted to break Israel ’ s illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian supplies .
The United Nations ’ General Assembly Human Rights Council determined that Doğan had been killed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ extra-legal , arbitrary and summary execution.
” He was shot five times , including once in the face from “ point blank range.
” The same day that Israel murdered Furkan Doğan , 21-year-old Emily Henochowicz of Potomac , Maryland , was protesting the attack on the flotilla at the Qalandiya checkpoint near Jerusalem , when an Israeli soldier shot her in the face with a teargas cannister , resulting in the loss of an eye .
And then there was in October 2014 the shooting by Israeli soldiers of Orwa Hammad , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Israeli army claimed that Hammad was throwing a Molotov cocktail at the time of his death , but witnesses stated that he was among a group of children throwing rocks at the heavily armed and armored soldiers .
And most recently , there is the case of Florida-born 16-year-old Palestinian-American Mahmoud Shaalan who was shot repeatedly at an Israeli check point on the West Bank on February 26 , 2016 while he was walking to a nearby village to visit his aunt .
He was still alive after the shooting , but Israeli @ @ @ @ @ @ @ three hours and he died before an ambulance was allowed to approach him .
Arrest of Palestinians and others without probable cause under “ administration detention ” guidelines followed by torture has also become a hallmark of Israel ’ s occupation of Arab land .
Torture methods used by Israel include stress positions , severe beatings , sleep deprivation , emotional blackmail , threats of torture of family members and the transfer of detainees to secret prisons where torture is constant .
In one case reported to a Human Rights Association “ The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to kill the detainee.
” In another reported case of torture , nineteen-year-old Mahmoud Zakarner ’ s testicles were smashed by soldiers in front of his uncle to force the man to provide the names of Palestinian resistance members .
Mahmoud is now paralyzed and unable to speak as a result .
Israeli expertise in torture is in demand from authoritarian regimes worldwide , creating a growth industry for the specialized “ advisers and technicians.
” Many are currently working with right wing regimes in South and Central America .
Several even showed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. interrogators and were able to suggest refinements like the “ Palestinian chair.
” Inside Israel torture of Palestinians is routine on the grounds of “ necessity ” and absurd “ ticking-bomb ” scenarios .
The courts and the medical profession aid and abet the practice .
Over 1200 complaints regarding the torture of Palestinians in Israeli prisons have not resulted in even a single indictment of the torturers .
So , killing Americans as well as many others and torturing prisoners are all in a day ’ s work for the Jewish @ @ @ @ @ @ @ course , is the fact that the United States government , which has the power to do something about it , instead chooses to do nothing to stop the bleeding or even to demand inquiries to find out who is to blame .
Instead , Washington lavishes money and praise on Israel , reportedly America ’ s best friend and closest ally , while it also avoids looking at the horrors that are evident to most of the rest of the world .
* ( Top image : Palestinian-American Mahmoud Shaalan was shot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ West Bank checkpoint .
Credit : Courtesy )

No one is ever held accountable
One of the principal functions of a United States Embassy overseas is to provide citizen services, which includes coming to the assistance of Americans who are treated badly by the local government. It is a responsibility that most embassies take seriously, with the exception of the facility currently located in Jerusalem. One has to understand that that is so because the United States Embassy in Israel is like no other. In other countries, the American Embassy exists to support American travelers, businesses and a broad range of national interests. In Jerusalem the Embassy exists to support Israeli interests and to serve as an apologist every time the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu goes on a killing spree or does something else that is similarly outrageous, to include bombing neighboring Syria every other day.
America’s current ambassador, former Trump bankruptcy lawyer David Friedman, has funded Israel’s illegal settlements, which did not in any way complicate his confirmation as nearly everyone in Congress and the White House does not believe that the Palestinians actually are human beings. Since taking up his position, Friedman has defended Israel when its army sharpshooters have shot down scores of unarmed Gazans, including children, and has both praised and endorsed out-and-out theft by the Israeli government in Jerusalem, on the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
What the U.S. Embassy under Friedman will not do is put any real pressure on the Israeli government if its security forces or rampaging settlers kill, beat, maim or torture an American citizen, especially if said citizen happens to be of Palestinian descent. Indeed, Friedman is only the latest manifestation of Israel-first-itis among U.S. Ambassadors, the rot having started inevitably with Bill Clinton, who appointed Australian citizen Martin Indyk as the first Jewish ambassador to Tel Aviv. The two most recent ambassadors, Friedman and Daniel Shapiro, both political appointees, have also been Jewish. Shapiro so enjoyed being an Israeli that he decided to remain in the country after his appointment as ambassador was completed. He now works for an Israeli government funded think tank.
The Israeli army and police have in fact killed a number of American citizens without any real pushback from the Department of State or White House. The unwillingness to confront Israel on any level stems from the formidable Jewish power in the United States, which uses money and media control to corrupt the political system at national, state and local levels. The media and the chattering political class worry about Russian interference while ignoring the implications of a Haaretz article that appeared on February 12th entitled “AIPAC Must Stop Bernie Sanders – At All Costs!” AIPAC is, of course, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, widely regarded as the chief U.S. lobbying arm of the Jewish state.
*(Betty McCollum U.S. Representative for Minnesota's 4th congressional district at a women's roundtable at Hillary for Minnesota Headquarters in St Paul, MN. Credit: Lorie Shaull/ Flickr)
And witness the fate of Congresswoman Betty McCollum from Minnesota, who fell afoul of the Israel Lobby when she introduced H.R.2407, legislation that prohibits American taxpayer money from being used by Israel to arrest and detain Palestinian children. She stated that “Israel’s system of military juvenile detention is state-sponsored child abuse designed to intimidate and terrorize Palestinian children and their families. It must be condemned, but it is equally outrageous that U.S. tax dollars in the form of military aid to Israel are permitted to sustain what is clearly a gross human rights violation against children.” She might have added that the estimated 10,000 Arab children who have been detained since 2000 are frequently tortured by the Israeli authorities. The bill currently has 23 cosponsors and is unlikely to attract more due to fear of the Lobby. It will never reach the House floor for a vote and will never become law.
McCollum’s courage was on display when she was viciously attacked by AIPAC, which posted Facebook ads that referenced “radicals in the Democratic party,” including a photo of McCollum, with the text stating that “It’s critical that we protect our Israeli allies especially as they face threats from Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah ISIS and — maybe more sinister — right here in the U.S. Congress.” McCollum stood her ground against being called “more sinister” than ISIS and released a statement that describes AIPAC as a “hate group,” which of course it is, but she will find few in the Democratic party brave enough to defend her.
Israel’s willingness to kill Americans in support of what it perceives as its own interests goes back nearly to the founding of the state in 1948. The Lavon Affair of 1954 was an Israeli plot to bomb the U.S. Embassy Information Agency libraries in Alexandria and Cairo Egypt, blaming the attacks on the Egyptians to draw the United States closer to Israel. The bombs were placed by Egyptian Jews acting for Israeli intelligence. They exploded, but fortunately no one was killed.
In June 1967 Israel was at it again, attacking the intelligence gathering U.S. naval vessel the U.S.S. Liberty in international waters, killing thirty-four American sailors, Marines and civilians in a deliberate air and sea onslaught that sought to sink the intelligence gathering ship and kill all its crew. It was the worst attack ever carried out on a U.S. Naval vessel in peace time. In addition to the death toll, 171 more of the crew were wounded in the two-hour assault. The Israelis, whose planes had their Star of David markings covered up so Egypt could be blamed, attacked the ship repeatedly from the air and with gunboats from the sea. When one Israeli pilot hesitated, refusing to attack what was clearly an American ship, he was instructed to proceed anyway.
The most disgusting part of the tale relates to how U.S. warplanes sent to the Liberty’s aid from an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean were called back by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara acting under orders from President Lyndon Baines Johnson, who declared that he would rather see the ship go to the bottom of the sea than embarrass his good friend Israel. Ironically, the first ship to reach the Liberty and offer assistance was from the Soviet Union, an offer that was declined.
More recently there have been a number of killings of Americans. In a bizarre incident in August 1988, an elderly Palestinian-American with a heart condition died after being forced to climb stairs to paint over anti-Israeli graffiti on a school wall. Rebhi Barakat Kaid, 67, of Columbus, Ohio, was on the West Bank visiting relatives. He died of a heart attack after three Israeli soldiers ordered him and his 14-year-old Chicago-born grandson at gunpoint to climb the 22 steep steps that led from the house to the street above without his being allowed to take his heart medicine first.
Much better known is the March 2003 killing of Washington State’s Rachel Corrie, who was deliberately run over by an Israeli military bulldozer when she was protesting the destruction of a Palestinian village. A month later there was an incident in which Brian Avery, a 24-year-old from Albuquerque, New Mexico, was shot in the face in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin by Israeli soldiers in an armored personnel carrier firing machine guns at protesters.
*(Picture taken at 4:47PM on 16 March 2003, Rafah, Occupied Gaza. Rachel Corrie lies on the ground fatally injured by the Israeli bulldozer driver. Rachel’s fellow activists have dug her a little out of the sand and are trying to keep her neck straight due to spinal injury. Photo by Joseph Smith. Credit: ISM Handout)
In March 2009 Tristan Anderson, a 37-year-old from Oakland, California, suffered permanent brain damage when Israeli soldiers shot him in the face with a tear gas canister as he watched a protest in the West Bank village of Nilin.
Another American citizen, Furkan Doğan, an 18-year-old born in Troy, New York, was killed aboard the Turkish flagged Mavi Marmara in the Mediterranean Sea in May 2010 as a flotilla of international activists attempted to break Israel’s illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian supplies. The United Nations’ General Assembly Human Rights Council determined that Doğan had been killed by Israeli naval commandos through an “extra-legal, arbitrary and summary execution.” He was shot five times, including once in the face from “point blank range.”
*(Furkan Doğan)
The same day that Israel murdered Furkan Doğan, 21-year-old Emily Henochowicz of Potomac, Maryland, was protesting the attack on the flotilla at the Qalandiya checkpoint near Jerusalem, when an Israeli soldier shot her in the face with a teargas cannister, resulting in the loss of an eye.
And then there was in October 2014 the shooting by Israeli soldiers of Orwa Hammad, a 14-year-old Palestinian-American from Louisiana. The Israeli army claimed that Hammad was throwing a Molotov cocktail at the time of his death, but witnesses stated that he was among a group of children throwing rocks at the heavily armed and armored soldiers.
And most recently, there is the case of Florida-born 16-year-old Palestinian-American Mahmoud Shaalan who was shot repeatedly at an Israeli check point on the West Bank on February 26, 2016 while he was walking to a nearby village to visit his aunt. He was still alive after the shooting, but Israeli soldiers denied him any medical treatment for three hours and he died before an ambulance was allowed to approach him.
Arrest of Palestinians and others without probable cause under “administration detention” guidelines followed by torture has also become a hallmark of Israel’s occupation of Arab land. Torture methods used by Israel include stress positions, severe beatings, sleep deprivation, emotional blackmail, threats of torture of family members and the transfer of detainees to secret prisons where torture is constant. In one case reported to a Human Rights Association “The harsh beating was committed with the intention to kill the detainee.”
In another reported case of torture, nineteen-year-old Mahmoud Zakarner’s testicles were smashed by soldiers in front of his uncle to force the man to provide the names of Palestinian resistance members. Mahmoud is now paralyzed and unable to speak as a result.
Israeli expertise in torture is in demand from authoritarian regimes worldwide, creating a growth industry for the specialized “advisers and technicians.” Many are currently working with right wing regimes in South and Central America. Several even showed up at Abu Ghraib as trainers for U.S. interrogators and were able to suggest refinements like the “Palestinian chair.”
Inside Israel torture of Palestinians is routine on the grounds of “necessity” and absurd “ticking-bomb” scenarios. The courts and the medical profession aid and abet the practice. Over 1200 complaints regarding the torture of Palestinians in Israeli prisons have not resulted in even a single indictment of the torturers.
So, killing Americans as well as many others and torturing prisoners are all in a day’s work for the Jewish state. What is disgraceful, of course, is the fact that the United States government, which has the power to do something about it, instead chooses to do nothing to stop the bleeding or even to demand inquiries to find out who is to blame. Instead, Washington lavishes money and praise on Israel, reportedly America’s best friend and closest ally, while it also avoids looking at the horrors that are evident to most of the rest of the world.
*(Top image: Palestinian-American Mahmoud Shaalan was shot five times by Israeli soldiers at a West Bank checkpoint. Credit: Courtesy)


russiainsider--2020-02-18--Putin on Globalization, Bonehead Elites and the Ever-Shrinking Middle Class

Globalization is one of the great issues of our time .
The erasure of national borders , the weakening of sovereign governments and the impoverishment of workers across the developed world has triggered a massive populist backlash that threatens to roll back the economic-integration scheme that places Capital at the head of a new global order .
Widespread social unrest , deepening political polarization , and the relentless rise of right-wing parties have put a damper on a process aimed at transforming the world into an unregulated free trade zone overseen by Central Bankers and corporate mandarins .
The future @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in doubt .
The basic problem with globalization is not hard to grasp .
The giant corporations have outsourced millions of high-paying manufacturing jobs to low wage platforms across Asia leaving behind thousands of shuttered factories and broken communities , a sharp spike in opiate addiction , and the steady erosion of living standards .
Author Paul Craig Roberts predicted Globalization ’ s devastating fallout 15 years ago in a series of articles at Counterpunch .
Here ’ s an excerpt from one of those articles : “ Corporations offshored or outsourced abroad @ @ @ @ @ @ @ incomes from the production of the goods that they consume .
The next step in the process took advantage of the high speed Internet to move professional service jobs , such as engineering , abroad .
The third step was to replace the remains of the domestic work force with foreigners brought in at one-third the salary on H-1B , L-1 , and other work visas .
This process by which financial capital destroyed the job prospects of Americans was covered up by “ free market ” economists , who received grants from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Americans would benefit from a “ New Economy ” based on financial services , and by shills in the education business , who justified work visas for foreigners on the basis of the lie that America produces a shortage of engineers and scientists… .
The immiseration of working people has not resulted from worsening crises of over-production of goods and services , but from financial capital ’ s power to force the relocation of production for domestic markets to foreign shores .
Wall Street ’ s pressures , including pressures from takeovers , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shareholders ’ earnings.
” This was done by substituting cheap foreign labor for American labor.
” ( “ Marx and Lenin Reconsidered ” Paul Craig Roberts , Counterpunch ) In 2016 , Trump ’ s hard-line anti-trade bombast buoyed him into the White House .
Unfortunately , his actions have not matched his rhetoric .
Trump sparked a furor with his trade war with China , but the gains have been minimal at best .
Trump ’ s supporters believed he would boost tariffs and bring manufacturing jobs back to the US , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ probably won ’ t .
In truth , Trump ’ s trade war isn ’ t really aimed at helping the little guy , it ’ s designed to discourage forced technology transfers and intellectual property theft .
It ’ s a gift to Silicon Valley not working people .
Trump also promised to renegotiate NAFTA which he called a “ nightmare ” and which led to massive job losses in the US .
But the new agreement makes only superficial changes to the bill that are unlikely to increase employment in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wall Street Journal summed it up : Trump ’ s rewriting of NAFTA is a card trick meant to fool his supporters , it ’ s not a serious attempt at preventing job-flight .
Nor has Trump changed the government ’ s position on globalization , in fact , he ’ s intensified it .
Just look at the way the administration has bullied Germany about buying gas from Russia ( Nordstream ) , or how the Huawei executive was arrested in Vancouver , or how countries have been slammed with unilateral sanctions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Wherever you look , Washington is using more coercive means to impose its own economic model on the rest of the world .
The problem is not the “ free market ” per say , but a model of economic integration that favors a small group of western corporations who reap an unfair share of the benefits and who want to maintain absolute control over the levers of power .
This is why globalization is experiencing such widespread rejection , because the rewards have mainly gone to the upper 1 percent of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scraps .
Russian president Vladimir Putin , who has spent a fair amount of time analyzing western-style globalization , had this to say : Putin makes a good point , but it ’ s a point that is mainly shrugged off in the mainstream media where the noxious downside of globalization is avoided like the plague .
The media has effectively banned any public discussion of a critical topic that is now driving our politics and fueling the rise of far-right populism .
Fortunately , the blackout has done nothing to blunt the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has inflicted severe damage on the nation .
Here ’ s Putin again : “ It seems like elites don ’ t see the deepening stratification in society and the erosion of the middle class… ( but the situation ) creates a climate of uncertainty that has a direct impact on the public mood .
Sociological studies conducted around the world show that people in different countries and on different continents tend to see the future as murky and bleak .
This is sad .
The future does not entice them , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , people see no real opportunities or means for changing anything , influencing events and shaping policy .
As for the claim that the fringe and populists have defeated the sensible , sober and responsible minority – we are not talking about populists or anything like that but about ordinary people , ordinary citizens who are losing trust in the ruling class .
That is the problem….
” Putin is right .
Recent surveys show that confidence in democracy and public institutions has never been lower .
Also , most older people now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to drop and that their children will face a bleaker reality than they did .
All this has added to the growing sense of desperation that has gripped large parts of the country and which expresses itself in feelings of powerlessness , hyper-nationalism , and seething resentment towards immigrants .
Putin again : Right again .
Trump ran against 7 career GOP politicians any one of who might have beaten him in normal times .
But after 7 years of Obama ’ s fake recovery , many voters started to reject traditional politicians @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like Trump .
Hillary faced the same anti-establishment furor .
Millions of Democrats flipped sides and voted for Trump not because they didn ’ t notice his glaring shortcomings but because their wretched financial situation required a more radical remedy .
Here ’ s Putin again : True , again .
Now that elites realize there is a broad-based rejection of their policies , particularly globalization , they wave away their critics saying ‘ they just don ’ t appreciate the wonderful things we ’ re doing for them.
’ Elites have gone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ beat .
But while their grasp of the problem is improving , they ’ re just as stubbornly opposed to changing the system as ever , which brings us back to Putin ’ s concluding remarks which ( surprisingly ) suggest the system ( globalization ) can be fixed with a little tweaking .
Here ’ s what he said : “ Back in the late 1980s-early 1990s , there was a chance not just to accelerate the globalization process but also to give it a different quality and make it more harmonious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ countries that saw themselves as victors in the Cold War , not just saw themselves this way but said it openly , took the course of simply reshaping the global political and economic order to fit their own interests .
In their euphoria , they essentially abandoned substantive and equal dialogue with other actors in international life , chose not to improve or create universal institutions , and attempted instead to bring the entire world under the spread of their own organizations , norms and rules .
They chose the road of globalization @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , for the select few , but not for everyone.
” ( Meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club ) This isn ’ t a failure of the market , it ’ s a failure of the particular “ hybrid ” iteration of globalization that emerged following the dissolution of the Soviet Union .
That exploitative economic-integration model is gradually being replaced by a China-Russia model that will connect the main metropolitan cities in Asia with Europe , the Middle East and parts of Africa .
The new multipolar system will safeguard nation-state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ social shock-absorbers ( welfare state assistance , job training , etc ) that prevent the widespread wreckage that has walloped communities across the United States .
Putin and Xi are determined to create a free trade regime that distributes wealth more equitably and produces fewer losers .
Bravo for that .

Globalization is one of the great issues of our time. The erasure of national borders, the weakening of sovereign governments and the impoverishment of workers across the developed world has triggered a massive populist backlash that threatens to roll back the economic-integration scheme that places Capital at the head of a new global order. Widespread social unrest, deepening political polarization, and the relentless rise of right-wing parties have put a damper on a process aimed at transforming the world into an unregulated free trade zone overseen by Central Bankers and corporate mandarins. The future of that project is now very much in doubt.
The basic problem with globalization is not hard to grasp. The giant corporations have outsourced millions of high-paying manufacturing jobs to low wage platforms across Asia leaving behind thousands of shuttered factories and broken communities, a sharp spike in opiate addiction, and the steady erosion of living standards. Author Paul Craig Roberts predicted Globalization’s devastating fallout 15 years ago in a series of articles at Counterpunch. Here’s an excerpt from one of those articles:
“Corporations offshored or outsourced abroad their manufacturing output, thus divorcing American incomes from the production of the goods that they consume. The next step in the process took advantage of the high speed Internet to move professional service jobs, such as engineering, abroad. The third step was to replace the remains of the domestic work force with foreigners brought in at one-third the salary on H-1B, L-1, and other work visas. This process by which financial capital destroyed the job prospects of Americans was covered up by “free market” economists, who received grants from offshoring firms in exchange for propaganda that Americans would benefit from a “New Economy” based on financial services, and by shills in the education business, who justified work visas for foreigners on the basis of the lie that America produces a shortage of engineers and scientists…. The immiseration of working people has not resulted from worsening crises of over-production of goods and services, but from financial capital’s power to force the relocation of production for domestic markets to foreign shores. Wall Street’s pressures, including pressures from takeovers, forced American manufacturing firms to “increase shareholders’ earnings.” This was done by substituting cheap foreign labor for American labor.” (“Marx and Lenin Reconsidered” Paul Craig Roberts, Counterpunch)
In 2016, Trump’s hard-line anti-trade bombast buoyed him into the White House. Unfortunately, his actions have not matched his rhetoric. Trump sparked a furor with his trade war with China, but the gains have been minimal at best. Trump’s supporters believed he would boost tariffs and bring manufacturing jobs back to the US, but that hasn’t happened and probably won’t. In truth, Trump’s trade war isn’t really aimed at helping the little guy, it’s designed to discourage forced technology transfers and intellectual property theft. It’s a gift to Silicon Valley not working people. Trump also promised to renegotiate NAFTA which he called a “nightmare” and which led to massive job losses in the US. But the new agreement makes only superficial changes to the bill that are unlikely to increase employment in the US. Here’s how the Wall Street Journal summed it up:
“Not-So-New Nafta— At its core, U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA is an amended, rebranded version of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which took effect in 1994, along with some newer provisions that the Obama administration had negotiated in a Pacific trade pact that Mr. Trump exited. Both USMCA and Nafta essentially guarantee duty-free trade and economic integration in North America…. The bipartisan U.S. International Trade Commission said the deal will produce a tiny gain in the U.S. Gross Domestic Product—a boost of 0.35% total over the long term—in large part because USMCA removes trade-policy uncertainty for key industries.” (“USMCA: The Deal’s Been Signed, but the Debate Continue” Wall Street Journal)
Trump’s rewriting of NAFTA is a card trick meant to fool his supporters, it’s not a serious attempt at preventing job-flight. Nor has Trump changed the government’s position on globalization, in fact, he’s intensified it. Just look at the way the administration has bullied Germany about buying gas from Russia (Nordstream), or how the Huawei executive was arrested in Vancouver, or how countries have been slammed with unilateral sanctions that are clearly forbidden under WTO rules. Wherever you look, Washington is using more coercive means to impose its own economic model on the rest of the world. The problem is not the “free market” per say, but a model of economic integration that favors a small group of western corporations who reap an unfair share of the benefits and who want to maintain absolute control over the levers of power. This is why globalization is experiencing such widespread rejection, because the rewards have mainly gone to the upper 1 percent of the population while everyone else gets table scraps. Russian president Vladimir Putin, who has spent a fair amount of time analyzing western-style globalization, had this to say:
“Has anyone ever given a thought to who actually benefited and what benefits were gained from globalization, the development of which we have been observing and participating in over the past 25 years? China has made use of globalization to pull millions of Chinese out of poverty…. In the United States, the leading US companies, their managers, shareholders and partners – made use of these benefits. (But) The middle class in the United States has not benefited from globalization. It was left out when this pie was divided up.”
Putin makes a good point, but it’s a point that is mainly shrugged off in the mainstream media where the noxious downside of globalization is avoided like the plague. The media has effectively banned any public discussion of a critical topic that is now driving our politics and fueling the rise of far-right populism. Fortunately, the blackout has done nothing to blunt the growing public unease with a system that has inflicted severe damage on the nation. Here’s Putin again:
“It seems like elites don’t see the deepening stratification in society and the erosion of the middle class…(but the situation) creates a climate of uncertainty that has a direct impact on the public mood. Sociological studies conducted around the world show that people in different countries and on different continents tend to see the future as murky and bleak. This is sad. The future does not entice them, but frightens them. At the same time, people see no real opportunities or means for changing anything, influencing events and shaping policy. As for the claim that the fringe and populists have defeated the sensible, sober and responsible minority – we are not talking about populists or anything like that but about ordinary people, ordinary citizens who are losing trust in the ruling class. That is the problem….”
Putin is right. Recent surveys show that confidence in democracy and public institutions has never been lower. Also, most older people now accept that standards of living will continue to drop and that their children will face a bleaker reality than they did. All this has added to the growing sense of desperation that has gripped large parts of the country and which expresses itself in feelings of powerlessness, hyper-nationalism, and seething resentment towards immigrants. Putin again:
“People sense an ever-growing gap between their interests and the elite’s vision of the only correct course, a course the elite itself chooses. The result is that referendums and elections increasingly often create surprises for the authorities. People do not vote as the official and respectable media outlets advised them to, nor as the mainstream parties advised them to. Public movements that only recently were too far left or too far right are taking center stage and pushing the political heavyweights aside.”
Right again. Trump ran against 7 career GOP politicians any one of who might have beaten him in normal times. But after 7 years of Obama’s fake recovery, many voters started to reject traditional politicians and turned to more extreme candidates, like Trump. Hillary faced the same anti-establishment furor. Millions of Democrats flipped sides and voted for Trump not because they didn’t notice his glaring shortcomings but because their wretched financial situation required a more radical remedy. Here’s Putin again:
“At first, these inconvenient results were hastily declared anomaly or chance. But when they became more frequent, people started saying that society does not understand those at the summit of power and has not yet matured sufficiently to be able to assess the authorities’ labor for the public good. Or they sink into hysteria and declare it the result of foreign, usually Russian, propaganda.”
True, again. Now that elites realize there is a broad-based rejection of their policies, particularly globalization, they wave away their critics saying ‘they just don’t appreciate the wonderful things we’re doing for them.’ Elites have gone from denial to delusion without missing a beat. But while their grasp of the problem is improving, they’re just as stubbornly opposed to changing the system as ever, which brings us back to Putin’s concluding remarks which (surprisingly) suggest the system (globalization) can be fixed with a little tweaking. Here’s what he said:
“Back in the late 1980s-early 1990s, there was a chance not just to accelerate the globalization process but also to give it a different quality and make it more harmonious and sustainable in nature. But some countries that saw themselves as victors in the Cold War, not just saw themselves this way but said it openly, took the course of simply reshaping the global political and economic order to fit their own interests. In their euphoria, they essentially abandoned substantive and equal dialogue with other actors in international life, chose not to improve or create universal institutions, and attempted instead to bring the entire world under the spread of their own organizations, norms and rules. They chose the road of globalization and security for their own beloved selves, for the select few, but not for everyone.” (Meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club)
This isn’t a failure of the market, it’s a failure of the particular “hybrid” iteration of globalization that emerged following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. That exploitative economic-integration model is gradually being replaced by a China-Russia model that will connect the main metropolitan cities in Asia with Europe, the Middle East and parts of Africa. The new multipolar system will safeguard nation-state sovereignty from intrusive corporate power while creating social shock-absorbers (welfare state assistance, job training, etc) that prevent the widespread wreckage that has walloped communities across the United States. Putin and Xi are determined to create a free trade regime that distributes wealth more equitably and produces fewer losers. Bravo for that.


russiainsider--2020-02-18--The War on Dissent: FBI Gives Man 6 Months in Prison For His Political Beliefs

Fred C. Arena , a former employee of the Navy Yard in Philadelphia with no criminal record , has been sentenced to 6 months in prison for the process crime of `` lying to the FBI . ''
According to the indictment , Arena had filled out an electronic questionnaire to obtain a national security clearance for his job .
On it , there he answered `` no '' to a question asking if he was a member of a group or organization that uses violence to deny the constitutional rights of others .
The FBI claims that Arena was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nationalist group Vanguard America due to photographs they uncovered of him posing with alleged members .
Federal informants were also apparently in communication with Arena on Facebook , where he admitted to attending the 2017 Charlottesville march .
Vanguard America , by August 2018 , when Arena was interviewed about his supposed membership , was largely defunct and has never been officially designated a criminal or terrorist organization .
The FBI never provided any hard evidence that Arena was an official member of Vanguard , but FBI prosecutor William McSwain - a `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ group the Anti-Defamation League - decided to bring him up on federal charges of `` lying to the FBI '' over this supposed omission , along with stacking Arena with fillers like forgetting that he had a car repossessed six years ago in an interview .
What is most shocking about this case is that US Attorney McSwain called on Judge David R. Strawbridge to deny Arena bail , which the judge agreed to .
Arena had no criminal history and lying to the FBI is not a violent crime , but McSwain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ beliefs were `` dangerous , '' and that he should be stuck in solitary confinement , where he has remained since November 2019 .
The FBI and various unscrupulous judges enabling them have been using the denial of bail for minor offenses as a way to torture political dissidents in solitary confinement until they plea , or in other words , sign confessions for crimes they are not guilty of .
The FBI 's case against Arena was transparently political and testing it in open court would 've exposed this , but under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be finally allowed to go home by April , so he complied .
The inability of dissidents to access fundraising and banking platforms for crowd funded legal support has allowed the FBI a free hand to violate our constitutional rights .
This is how capital , the controlled media and the state have colluded since Trump 's election to make the Constitution and rule of law nothing more than a museum mantle piece in order to ensure a populist movement can never rise again .
Without erecting a powerful legal network to defend @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
With the abuse of Roger Stone by the FBI and its careerist prosecutors in the headlines , the public has been increasingly noticing that politically-motivated abuses like this are rampant .
The FBI has been exposed as little more than a secret police agency .
Just like the FBI has been using the criminal system to politically retaliate against Paul Manafort and Roger Stone for helping Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016 , they have gone off the rails in their paranoid crusade to terrorize critics of permanent Washington 's increasingly @ @ @ @

Fred C. Arena, a former employee of the Navy Yard in Philadelphia with no criminal record, has been sentenced to 6 months in prison for the process crime of "lying to the FBI."
According to the indictment, Arena had filled out an electronic questionnaire to obtain a national security clearance for his job. On it, there he answered "no" to a question asking if he was a member of a group or organization that uses violence to deny the constitutional rights of others.
The FBI claims that Arena was lying and was a member of the nationalist group Vanguard America due to photographs they uncovered of him posing with alleged members. Federal informants were also apparently in communication with Arena on Facebook, where he admitted to attending the 2017 Charlottesville march. Vanguard America, by August 2018, when Arena was interviewed about his supposed membership, was largely defunct and has never been officially designated a criminal or terrorist organization.
The FBI never provided any hard evidence that Arena was an official member of Vanguard, but FBI prosecutor William McSwain - a "partner" of the non-governmental Israeli lobby group the Anti-Defamation League - decided to bring him up on federal charges of "lying to the FBI" over this supposed omission, along with stacking Arena with fillers like forgetting that he had a car repossessed six years ago in an interview.
What is most shocking about this case is that US Attorney McSwain called on Judge David R. Strawbridge to deny Arena bail, which the judge agreed to. Arena had no criminal history and lying to the FBI is not a violent crime, but McSwain argued that Arena's constitutionally protected nationalist beliefs were "dangerous," and that he should be stuck in solitary confinement, where he has remained since November 2019.
The FBI and various unscrupulous judges enabling them have been using the denial of bail for minor offenses as a way to torture political dissidents in solitary confinement until they plea, or in other words, sign confessions for crimes they are not guilty of. The FBI's case against Arena was transparently political and testing it in open court would've exposed this, but under the plea agreement, the defendant may be finally allowed to go home by April, so he complied.
The inability of dissidents to access fundraising and banking platforms for crowd funded legal support has allowed the FBI a free hand to violate our constitutional rights. This is how capital, the controlled media and the state have colluded since Trump's election to make the Constitution and rule of law nothing more than a museum mantle piece in order to ensure a populist movement can never rise again. Without erecting a powerful legal network to defend the vulnerable, the purge will continue.
With the abuse of Roger Stone by the FBI and its careerist prosecutors in the headlines, the public has been increasingly noticing that politically-motivated abuses like this are rampant. The FBI has been exposed as little more than a secret police agency. Just like the FBI has been using the criminal system to politically retaliate against Paul Manafort and Roger Stone for helping Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016, they have gone off the rails in their paranoid crusade to terrorize critics of permanent Washington's increasingly unpopular state ideology.


russiainsider--2020-02-19--Putin Rejects Gay 'Marriage', Considers Amending Constitution to Protect Traditional Marriage

MOSCOW ( Reuters ) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia would not legalize gay marriage as long as he was in the Kremlin .
He made clear he would not allow the traditional notion of mother and father to be subverted by what he called `` parent number 1 '' and `` parent number 2 '' .
`` As far as 'parent number 1 ' and 'parent number 2 ' goes , I 've already spoken publicly about this and I 'll repeat it again : as long as I 'm president this will not happen .
There @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Putin said .
During his two decades in power , Putin has closely aligned himself with the Orthodox Church and sought to distance Russia from liberal Western values , including attitudes toward homosexuality and gender fluidity .
He made the comments as he met a state commission to discuss changes to Russia 's constitution .
The commission was set up last month after Putin announced sweeping changes to Russia 's political system that are widely seen as being designed to help him extend his grip on power after his scheduled departure from office @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been put forward and Putin was asked to comment on a proposal to add a line in the constitution defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman .
`` We need only to think in what phrases and where to do this , '' he replied .

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia would not legalize gay marriage as long as he was in the Kremlin.
He made clear he would not allow the traditional notion of mother and father to be subverted by what he called "parent number 1" and "parent number 2".
"As far as 'parent number 1' and 'parent number 2' goes, I've already spoken publicly about this and I'll repeat it again: as long as I'm president this will not happen. There will be dad and mum," Putin said.
During his two decades in power, Putin has closely aligned himself with the Orthodox Church and sought to distance Russia from liberal Western values, including attitudes toward homosexuality and gender fluidity.
He made the comments as he met a state commission to discuss changes to Russia's constitution.
The commission was set up last month after Putin announced sweeping changes to Russia's political system that are widely seen as being designed to help him extend his grip on power after his scheduled departure from office in 2024.
Other proposals have since been put forward and Putin was asked to comment on a proposal to add a line in the constitution defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. "We need only to think in what phrases and where to do this," he replied.


russiainsider--2020-02-20--Will the US Empire Last Longer than the Mongols? (162 Years) - Probably Not

A considerable spectrum of the liberal West takes the American interpretation of what civilization consists of to be something like an immutable law of nature .
But what if this interpretation is on the verge of an irreparable breakdown ?
Michael Vlahos has argued that the US is not a mere nation-state but a “ system leader ” – “ a civilizational power like Rome , Byzantium , and the Ottoman Empire.
” And , we should add , China – which he did not mention .
The system leader is “ a universalistic identity framework tied to a state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ United States clearly owns this identity framework today.
” Intel stalwart Alastair Crooke , in a searing essay , digs deeper into how this “ civilizational vision ” was “ forcefully unfurled across the globe ” as the inevitable , American manifest destiny : not only politically – including all the accouterments of Western individualism and neo-liberalism , but coupled with “ the metaphysics of Judeo-Christianity , too ” .
Crooke also notes how deeply ingrained the notion that victory in the Cold War “ spectacularly affirmed ” the superiority of the US @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Well , the post-modern tragedy – from the point of view of US elites – is that soon this may not be the case anymore .
The vicious civil war engulfing Washington for the past three years – with the whole world as stunned spectators – has just accelerated the malaise .
It ’ s sobering to consider that Pax Americana may be destined to a shorter historical existence than Pax Mongolica – established after Genghis Khan , the head of a nomad nation , went about conquering the world .
Genghis first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over the Silk Roads , crushing the Kara-Kitais in Eastern Turkestan , conquering Islamic Khorezm , and annexing Bukhara , Samarkand , Bactria , Khorasan and Afghanistan .
The Mongols reached the outskirts of Vienna in 1241 and the Adriatic Sea one year after .
The superpower of the time extended from the Pacific to the Adriatic .
We can barely imagine the shock for Western Christendom .
Pope Gregory X was itching to know who these conquerors of the world were , and could be Christianized ?
In parallel , only a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 1260 saved Islam from being annexed to Pax Mongolica .
Pax Mongolica – a single , organized , efficient , tolerant power – coincided historically with the Golden Age of the Silk Roads .
Kublai Khan – who lorded over Marco Polo – wanted to be more Chinese than the Chinese themselves .
He wanted to prove that nomad conquerors turned sedentary could learn the rules of administration , commerce , literature and even navigation .
Yet when Kublai Khan died , the empire fragmented into rival khanates .
Islam profited .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Mongols from China , Persia , Russia and Central Asia had nothing to do with their ancestors on horseback .
A jump cut to the young 21st century shows that the initiative , historically , is once again on the side of China , across the Heartland and lining up the Rimland .
World-changing , game-changing enterprises don ’ t originate in the West anymore – as has been the case from the 16th century up to the late 20th century .
For all the vicious wishful thinking that coronavirus will derail @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will actually be the Eurasian Century , and amid the myopic tsunami of New Silk Roads demonization , it ’ s always easy to forget that implementation of myriad projects has not even started .
It should be in 2021 that all those corridors and axes of continental development pick up speed across Southeast Asia , the Indian Ocean , Central Asia , Southwest Asia , Russia and Europe , in parallel with the Maritime Silk Road configuring a true Eurasian string of pearls from Dalian to Piraeus , Trieste , Venice , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the first time in two millennia , China is able to combine the dynamism of political and economic expansion both on the continental and maritime realms , something that the state did not experience since the short expeditionary stretch led by Admiral Zheng He in the Indian Ocean in the early 15th century .
Eurasia , in the recent past , was under Western and Soviet colonization .
Now it ’ s going all-out multipolar – a series of complex , evolving permutations led by Russia-China-Iran-Turkey-India-Pakistan-Kazakhstan .
Every player has no illusions about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to prevent Eurasia from uniting under one power – or coalition such as the Russia-China strategic partnership ; ensure that Europe remains under US hegemony ; prevent Southwest Asia – or the “ Greater Middle East ” – from being linked to Eurasian powers ; and prevent by all means that Russia-China have unimpeded access to maritime lanes and trade corridors .
In the meantime , a sneaking suspicion creeps in – that Iran ’ s game plan , in an echo of Donbass in 2014 , may be about sucking US neocons @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the regime-change obsession is turbocharged .
There is a serious possibility that under maximum pressure Tehran might eventually abandon the JCPOA for good , as well as the NPT , thus openly inviting a US attack .
As it stands , Tehran has sent two very clear messages .
The accuracy of the missile attack on the US Ayn Al-Asad base in Iraq , replying to the targeted assassination of Major General Qassem Soleimani , means that any branch of the vast US network of bases is now vulnerable .
And the fog @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the CIA Battlefield Airborne Communications Node ( BACN ) – essentially an aerial spook shop – in Ghazni , Afghanistan also carries a message .
CIA icon Mike d ’ Andrea , known as ‘ Ayatollah Mike ’ , The Undertaker , the Dark Prince , or all of the above , may or may not have been on board .
Irrespective of the fact that no US government source will ever confirm or deny that Ayatollah Mike is dead or alive , or even that he exists at all , the message @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spooks are also vulnerable .
Since Pearl Harbor , no nation has dared to stare down the system leader so blatantly , as Iran did in Iraq .
Vlahos mentioned something I saw for myself in 2003 , how “ young American soldiers referred to Iraqis as ‘ Indians ’ , as though Mesopotamia were the Wild West ” .
Mesopotamia was one the crucial cradles of civilization as we know it .
Well , in the end , that $ 2 trillion spent to bomb Iraq into democracy did no favors to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leader ’ .
Now let ’ s add aesthetics to our “ civilizational ” politics .
Every time I visit Venice – which in itself is a living metaphor for both the flimsiness of empires and the Decline of the West – I retrace selected steps in The Cantos , Ezra Pound ’ s epic masterpiece .
Last December , after many years , I went back to the church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli , also known as “ The jewel box ” , which plays a starring role in The Cantos @ @ @ @ @ @ @ custodian signora that I had come for “ The Sirens ” .
With a knowing smirk , she lighted my way along the nave to the central staircase .
And there they were , sculpted on pillars on both sides of a balcony : “ Crystal columns , acanthus , sirens in the pillar head ” , as we read in Canto 20 .
These sirens were sculpted by Tullio and Antonio Lombardo , sons of Pietro Lombardo , Venetian masters of the late 15th and early 16th century – “ and Tullio @ @ @ @ @ @ @ old custode says : so that since then no one has been able to carve them for the jewel box , Santa Maria dei Miracoli ” , as we read in Canto 76 .
Well , Pound misnamed the creator of the sirens , but , that ’ s not the point .
The point is how Pound saw the sirens as the epitome of a strong culture – “ the perception of a whole age , of whole congeries and sequence of causes , went into an assemblage of detail , whereof @ @ @ @ @ @ @ terms of magnitude ” , as Pound wrote in Guide to Kulchur .
As much as his beloved masterpieces by Giovanni Bellini and Piero della Francesca , Pound fully grasped how these sirens were the antithesis of usura – or the “ art ” of lending money at exorbitant interest rates , which not only deprives a culture of the best of art , as Pound describes it , but is also one of the pillars for the total financialization and marketization of life itself , a process that Pound brilliantly foresaw , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that , “ all things are a flowing , Sage Heracleitus says ; But a tawdry cheapness , shall reign throughout our days.
” La Dolce Vita will turn 60 in 2020 .
Much as Pound ’ s sirens , Fellini ’ s now mythological tour de force in Rome is like a black and white celluloid palimpsest of a bygone era , the birth of the Swingin ’ Sixties .
Marcello ( Marcello Mastroianni ) and Maddalena ( Anouk Aimee ) , impossibly cool and chic , are like the Last Woman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of “ tawdry cheapness ” .
In the end , Fellini shows us Marcello despairing at the ugliness and , yes , cheapness intruding in his beautiful mini-universe – the lineaments of the trash culture fabricated and sold by the ‘ system leader ’ about to engulf us all .
Pound was a human , all too human American maverick of unbridled classical genius .
The ‘ system leader ’ misinterpreted him ; treated him as a traitor ; caged him in Pisa ; and dispatched him to a mental hospital in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may have seen and appreciated La Dolce Vita during the 1960s , before he died in Venice in 1972 .
After all , there was a little cinema within walking distance of the house in Calle Querini where he lived with Olga Rudge .
“ Marcello !
” We ’ re still haunted by Anita Ekberg ’ s iconic siren call , half-immersed in the Fontana di Trevi .
Today , still hostages of the crumbling civilizational vision of the ‘ system leader ’ , at best we barely muster , as TS @ @ @ @ @ @ @ half-look , over the shoulder , towards the primitive terror .
”

Marcello (Marcello Mastroianni) and Maddalena (Anouk Aimee) in La Dolce Vita, impossibly cool and chic, are like the Last Woman and the Last Man before the deluge of ‘tawdry cheapness.’
A considerable spectrum of the liberal West takes the American interpretation of what civilization consists of to be something like an immutable law of nature. But what if this interpretation is on the verge of an irreparable breakdown?
Michael Vlahos has argued that the US is not a mere nation-state but a “system leader” – “a civilizational power like Rome, Byzantium, and the Ottoman Empire.” And, we should add, China – which he did not mention. The system leader is “a universalistic identity framework tied to a state. This vantage is helpful because the United States clearly owns this identity framework today.”
Intel stalwart Alastair Crooke, in a searing essay, digs deeper into how this “civilizational vision” was “forcefully unfurled across the globe” as the inevitable, American manifest destiny: not only politically – including all the accouterments of Western individualism and neo-liberalism, but coupled with “the metaphysics of Judeo-Christianity, too”.
Crooke also notes how deeply ingrained the notion that victory in the Cold War “spectacularly affirmed” the superiority of the US civilizational vision among the US elite.
Well, the post-modern tragedy – from the point of view of US elites – is that soon this may not be the case anymore. The vicious civil war engulfing Washington for the past three years – with the whole world as stunned spectators – has just accelerated the malaise.
Remember Pax Mongolica
It’s sobering to consider that Pax Americana may be destined to a shorter historical existence than Pax Mongolica – established after Genghis Khan, the head of a nomad nation, went about conquering the world.
Genghis first invested in a trade offensive to take over the Silk Roads, crushing the Kara-Kitais in Eastern Turkestan, conquering Islamic Khorezm, and annexing Bukhara, Samarkand, Bactria, Khorasan and Afghanistan. The Mongols reached the outskirts of Vienna in 1241 and the Adriatic Sea one year after.
The superpower of the time extended from the Pacific to the Adriatic. We can barely imagine the shock for Western Christendom. Pope Gregory X was itching to know who these conquerors of the world were, and could be Christianized?
In parallel, only a victory by the Egyptian Mamluks in Galilee in 1260 saved Islam from being annexed to Pax Mongolica.
Pax Mongolica – a single, organized, efficient, tolerant power – coincided historically with the Golden Age of the Silk Roads. Kublai Khan – who lorded over Marco Polo – wanted to be more Chinese than the Chinese themselves. He wanted to prove that nomad conquerors turned sedentary could learn the rules of administration, commerce, literature and even navigation.
Yet when Kublai Khan died, the empire fragmented into rival khanates. Islam profited. Everything changed. A century later, the Mongols from China, Persia, Russia and Central Asia had nothing to do with their ancestors on horseback.
A jump cut to the young 21st century shows that the initiative, historically, is once again on the side of China, across the Heartland and lining up the Rimland. World-changing, game-changing enterprises don’t originate in the West anymore – as has been the case from the 16th century up to the late 20th century.
For all the vicious wishful thinking that coronavirus will derail the “Chinese century”, which will actually be the Eurasian Century, and amid the myopic tsunami of New Silk Roads demonization, it’s always easy to forget that implementation of myriad projects has not even started.
It should be in 2021 that all those corridors and axes of continental development pick up speed across Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, Central Asia, Southwest Asia, Russia and Europe, in parallel with the Maritime Silk Road configuring a true Eurasian string of pearls from Dalian to Piraeus, Trieste, Venice, Genoa, Hamburg and Rotterdam.
For the first time in two millennia, China is able to combine the dynamism of political and economic expansion both on the continental and maritime realms, something that the state did not experience since the short expeditionary stretch led by Admiral Zheng He in the Indian Ocean in the early 15th century. Eurasia, in the recent past, was under Western and Soviet colonization. Now it’s going all-out multipolar – a series of complex, evolving permutations led by Russia-China-Iran-Turkey-India-Pakistan-Kazakhstan.
Every player has no illusions about the “system leader” obsessions: to prevent Eurasia from uniting under one power – or coalition such as the Russia-China strategic partnership; ensure that Europe remains under US hegemony; prevent Southwest Asia – or the “Greater Middle East” – from being linked to Eurasian powers; and prevent by all means that Russia-China have unimpeded access to maritime lanes and trade corridors.
The message from Iran
In the meantime, a sneaking suspicion creeps in – that Iran’s game plan, in an echo of Donbass in 2014, may be about sucking US neocons into a trademark Russian cauldron in case the regime-change obsession is turbocharged.
There is a serious possibility that under maximum pressure Tehran might eventually abandon the JCPOA for good, as well as the NPT, thus openly inviting a US attack.
As it stands, Tehran has sent two very clear messages. The accuracy of the missile attack on the US Ayn Al-Asad base in Iraq, replying to the targeted assassination of Major General Qassem Soleimani, means that any branch of the vast US network of bases is now vulnerable.
And the fog of non-denial denials surrounding the downing of the CIA Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) – essentially an aerial spook shop – in Ghazni, Afghanistan also carries a message.
CIA icon Mike d’Andrea, known as ‘Ayatollah Mike’, The Undertaker, the Dark Prince, or all of the above, may or may not have been on board. Irrespective of the fact that no US government source will ever confirm or deny that Ayatollah Mike is dead or alive, or even that he exists at all, the message remains the same: your soldiers and spooks are also vulnerable.
Since Pearl Harbor, no nation has dared to stare down the system leader so blatantly, as Iran did in Iraq. Vlahos mentioned something I saw for myself in 2003, how “young American soldiers referred to Iraqis as ‘Indians’, as though Mesopotamia were the Wild West”. Mesopotamia was one the crucial cradles of civilization as we know it. Well, in the end, that $2 trillion spent to bomb Iraq into democracy did no favors to the civilizational vision of the ‘system leader’.
The Sirens and La Dolce Vita
Now let’s add aesthetics to our “civilizational” politics. Every time I visit Venice – which in itself is a living metaphor for both the flimsiness of empires and the Decline of the West – I retrace selected steps in The Cantos, Ezra Pound’s epic masterpiece.
Last December, after many years, I went back to the church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli, also known as “The jewel box”, which plays a starring role in The Cantos. As I arrived I told the custodian signora that I had come for “The Sirens”. With a knowing smirk, she lighted my way along the nave to the central staircase. And there they were, sculpted on pillars on both sides of a balcony: “Crystal columns, acanthus, sirens in the pillar head”, as we read in Canto 20.
These sirens were sculpted by Tullio and Antonio Lombardo, sons of Pietro Lombardo, Venetian masters of the late 15th and early 16th century – “and Tullio Romano carved the sirens, as the old custode says: so that since then no one has been able to carve them for the jewel box, Santa Maria dei Miracoli”, as we read in Canto 76.
Well, Pound misnamed the creator of the sirens, but, that’s not the point. The point is how Pound saw the sirens as the epitome of a strong culture – “the perception of a whole age, of whole congeries and sequence of causes, went into an assemblage of detail, whereof it would be impossible to speak in terms of magnitude”, as Pound wrote in Guide to Kulchur.
As much as his beloved masterpieces by Giovanni Bellini and Piero della Francesca, Pound fully grasped how these sirens were the antithesis of usura – or the “art” of lending money at exorbitant interest rates, which not only deprives a culture of the best of art, as Pound describes it, but is also one of the pillars for the total financialization and marketization of life itself, a process that Pound brilliantly foresaw, when he wrote in Hugh Selwyn Mauberley that, “all things are a flowing, Sage Heracleitus says; But a tawdry cheapness, shall reign throughout our days.”
La Dolce Vita will turn 60 in 2020. Much as Pound’s sirens, Fellini’s now mythological tour de force in Rome is like a black and white celluloid palimpsest of a bygone era, the birth of the Swingin’ Sixties. Marcello (Marcello Mastroianni) and Maddalena (Anouk Aimee), impossibly cool and chic, are like the Last Woman and the Last Man before the deluge of “tawdry cheapness”. In the end, Fellini shows us Marcello despairing at the ugliness and, yes, cheapness intruding in his beautiful mini-universe – the lineaments of the trash culture fabricated and sold by the ‘system leader’ about to engulf us all.
Pound was a human, all too human American maverick of unbridled classical genius. The ‘system leader’ misinterpreted him; treated him as a traitor; caged him in Pisa; and dispatched him to a mental hospital in the US. I still wonder whether he may have seen and appreciated La Dolce Vita during the 1960s, before he died in Venice in 1972. After all, there was a little cinema within walking distance of the house in Calle Querini where he lived with Olga Rudge.
“Marcello!” We’re still haunted by Anita Ekberg’s iconic siren call, half-immersed in the Fontana di Trevi. Today, still hostages of the crumbling civilizational vision of the ‘system leader’, at best we barely muster, as TS Eliot memorably wrote, a “backward half-look, over the shoulder, towards the primitive terror.”


russiainsider--2020-02-20--Excellent New Book About the Bizarre UK Skripal Poisonings Gets to the Truth (John Helmer)

It is exactly two years since the case of two Russians , Sergei and Yulia Skripal , began with their collapse on a park bench in the middle of England on the afternoon of March 4 , 2018 .
On their anniversary it is necessary to tell this story .
But it isn ’ t the story of what happened .
This is because the only people who can tell that one , the Skripals , are locked away in isolation , guarded by determined men under secret government orders .
Instead , this is the story of what didn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t happen because it was quite impossible circumstantially ; and because the legal papers warranting that it did have not been signed by a judge , tested in a court of law , or released in public .
The facts which you have seen , heard or read about the incident of March 4 , 2018 , have been falsified .
Everything that has flowed from them is false too .
Understanding this is a start to the other story , and so something solid to work from – not missed until now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ As if the truth were fiction , and the fiction truth .
This is the story of how the largest and longest criminal investigation in modern British history ended in a prosecution without evidence of the crime , the weapon , the crime scene , and even of the crime victims .
Allegations there are ; evidence admissible in a British court of law there is not .
That ’ s to say , a prosecution which will not be presented in court , before no judge and jury ; with no witnesses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That is no prosecution at all .
To say otherwise , as do the British Government , its allies abroad , and every one of its mass circulation media without exception , is a lie .
The victims , it turns out , are held in a British prison , at a secret location , incommunicado , without access to lawyers to defend them , without contact with their families , or the consular representatives of the state whose passports they hold .
No court has judged them or sentenced them to this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rescue Sergei Skripal but were foiled in the attempt .
This is the story of what didn ’ t happen , and the truth of what did .
WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING • “ Other books will follow on the Skripals , but they will struggle to match the texture of Urban ’ s research , its knowledgeable hinterland ” — The Times • “ There are people out there who know exactly what happened and who are biding their time before revealing all .
I am not such a person , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but I believe that such people do exist ” — Rob Slane , The Blogmire • “ One of the most experienced foreign journalists in Moscow , John Helmer has lived in Russia for the last 30 years and knows more about it than necessary ” — Andrei Shitov , Chief Political Observer , Tass • “ The book explains why the truth , though known , has not been told ” — Katrina van den Heuvel , Editor , The Nation , New York .
• “ You are picking on a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for himself ” – Joe Lauria , Editor , Consortium News • “ [ John Helmer is ] a notorious conspiracy theorist ” — Jeremy Kinsman , former Canadian ambassador to Russia , foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau .

It is exactly two years since the case of two Russians, Sergei and Yulia Skripal, began with their collapse on a park bench in the middle of England on the afternoon of March 4, 2018.
On their anniversary it is necessary to tell this story. But it isn’t the story of what happened. This is because the only people who can tell that one, the Skripals, are locked away in isolation, guarded by determined men under secret government orders.
Instead, this is the story of what didn’t happen – provably didn’t happen because it was quite impossible circumstantially; and because the legal papers warranting that it did have not been signed by a judge, tested in a court of law, or released in public.
The facts which you have seen, heard or read about the incident of March 4, 2018, have been falsified. Everything that has flowed from them is false too. Understanding this is a start to the other story, and so something solid to work from – not missed until now; more like seen but disbelieved. As if the truth were fiction, and the fiction truth.
This is the story of how the largest and longest criminal investigation in modern British history ended in a prosecution without evidence of the crime, the weapon, the crime scene, and even of the crime victims. Allegations there are; evidence admissible in a British court of law there is not. That’s to say, a prosecution which will not be presented in court, before no judge and jury; with no witnesses on oath; and no verdict. That is no prosecution at all.
To say otherwise, as do the British Government, its allies abroad, and every one of its mass circulation media without exception, is a lie. The victims, it turns out, are held in a British prison, at a secret location, incommunicado, without access to lawyers to defend them, without contact with their families, or the consular representatives of the state whose passports they hold. No court has judged them or sentenced them to this punishment.
MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, lied.
The BBC lied.
The coroner broke the law.
The police and prosecutors faked the evidence.
The Prime Ministers, Theresa May & Boris Johnson, lied.
Russian intelligence agents tried to rescue Sergei Skripal but were foiled in the attempt. This is the story of what didn’t happen, and the truth of what did.
WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING
“You’ve lost me John” — Mark Urban, BBC
“Other books will follow on the Skripals, but they will struggle to match the texture of Urban’s research, its knowledgeable hinterland” — The Times
“There are people out there who know exactly what happened and who are biding their time before revealing all. I am not such a person, nor would I want to be, but I believe that such people do exist” — Rob Slane, The Blogmire
“One of the most experienced foreign journalists in Moscow, John Helmer has lived in Russia for the last 30 years and knows more about it than necessary” — Andrei Shitov, Chief Political Observer, Tass
“The book explains why the truth, though known, has not been told” — Katrina van den Heuvel, Editor, The Nation, New York.
“You are picking on a dead man who can’t answer for himself” – Joe Lauria, Editor, Consortium News