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Showing posts from February, 2018

UN feigns outrage over Ghouta while terrorist rockets rain down on Damascus

Eva Bartlett breaks down the dizzying array of information surrounding the mounting humanitarian crisis in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta. With accusations abound, parsing the reality on the ground is becoming more challenging by the day. by Eva Bartlett Part 1 On February 20, from Amman, Jordan, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Geert Cappelaere, issued a statement of “outrage” titled: “ The war on children in Syria: Reports of mass casualties among children in Eastern Ghouta and Damascus. ” The “statement” — consisting of blank lines with the preface “ No words will do justice to the children killed, their mothers, their fathers and their loved ones ” — dovetails with corporate media’s increasingly hysterical rhetoric on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, which has been plagued with chemical weapons attacks for over four years, perpetrated by U.S.-backed proxies allied with the Nusra Front attempting to frame the Syrian government with war crimes.

AI is about to entirely take over a hyper-automated, privatized US army and give birth to the worst Dystopian scenarios

globinfo freexchange In a recent article , Whitney Webb reveals the rapid developments in the technological field for the US army that may give birth to the worst Dystopian scenarios in the close future. As Webb reports: According to former U.K. intelligence officer John Bassett, DARPA’s investments in robotics and automated weapons will not only quickly become the norm in the U.S. military, they will soon replace humans, who are set to become a minority in the U.S. military in a matter of years. During a recent speech, Basset warned that the U.S.’ attempts to “ stay ahead of the curve ” will result in the Pentagon’s deployment of thousands of robot soldiers over the next few years. The upshot, according to Basset, is that the U.S. Army will have “ more combat robots than human soldiers by 2025 ” – just seven years from now. According to the Army’s official Robotic and Autonomous Systems (RAS) strategy, the Army plans to have autonomous “ self-aware ” syst

Report: Israel carried out extrajudicial executions, tortured children

Israeli authorities and armed forces carried out extrajudicial executions, tortured Palestinian prisoners and targeted human rights defenders, Amnesty International’s new annual report says. 2017 “ marked the 50th anniversary of Israel’s occupation of the [occupied] Palestinian Territories ” (OPT), Amnesty noted, “ and the 10th anniversary of its illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip. ” “ Israeli authorities intensified the expansion of settlements and related infrastructure across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and carried out a large number of demolitions of Palestinian property, forcibly evicting more than 660 people ” the reeport states. “ Many of these demolitions were in Bedouin and herding communities that the Israeli authorities planned to forcibly transfer. ” Meanwhile, Amnesty also slammed “ Israel’s air, land and sea blockade of the Gaza Strip ”, which it says is “ collectively punishing Gaza’s entire population of approximately 2 million

Unbelievable: lawyers for the DNC argue that primary rigging is protected by the first amendment!

The ongoing litigation of the DNC Fraud Lawsuit and the appeal regarding its dismissal took a stunning turn yesterday. The defendants in the case, including the DNC and former DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, filed a response brief that left many observers of the case at a loss for words. The document, provided by the law offices of the Attorneys for the Plaintiffs in the case, Jared and Elizabeth Beck, and appears to argue that if the Democratic Party did cheat Sanders in the 2016 Presidential primary race, then that action was protected under the first amendment. Twitter users were quick to respond to the brief, expressing outrage and disgust at the claims made by representatives of the DNC and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The Defense counsel also argued that because of Jared Beck’s outspoken twitter posts, the plaintiffs were using the litigation process for political purposes: “ For example, Plaintiffs’ counsel Jared Beck repeatedly refers to the DNC as

Intelligence Veterans warn of risk of US - Iran conflict based on false pretexts

As President Donald Trump prepares to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next week, a group of U.S. intelligence veterans offers corrections to a number of false accusations that have been leveled against Iran. by Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) MEMORANDUM FOR: The President FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) SUBJECT: War With Iran Part 1 – INTRODUCTION In our December 21st Memorandum to you, we cautioned that the claim that Iran is currently the world’s top sponsor of terrorism is unsupported by hard evidence. Meanwhile, other false accusations against Iran have intensified. Thus, we feel obliged to alert you to the virtually inevitable consequences of war with Iran, just as we warned President George W. Bush six weeks before the U.S. attack on Iraq 15 years ago. In our first Memorandum in this genre we told then-President Bush that we saw “ no compelling reason ” to attack Iraq, and warned “

Next stage of Net Neutrality conflict begins

by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers Part 1 On Thursday, the FCC’s net neutrality rule was published in the Federal Register. This was the official start of the next phase of the campaign to protect the open Internet as a common carrier with equal access for all and without prejudice based on content (net neutrality). There are multiple fronts of struggle to make net neutrality a reality: Congress, the courts, states and communities. This is part of a campaign to create an Internet for the 21st Century that is fast, reliable and available in all communities. Polls show widespread support for net neutrality. Last year, polling found 77% of people in the Unite States “support keeping the net neutrality rules, which are already in place” and 87% agree that “people should be able to access any websites they want on the internet, without any blocking, slowing down, or throttling by their internet service providers.” The FCC’s net neutrality rule does the opposite of the

Something for everyone: Mueller indictment a boon for partisan status quo

The bipartisan support Mueller’s appointment received is even more telling given that he is the definition of a Washington insider. The power elites across the political spectrum seemed to trust him to, above all, protect their position at the head of the table. by Whitney Webb Part 3 - No shutting Mueller down: the box Trump is in However, one of the more overlooked implications of this recent indictment is not in the indictment at all. Instead, it is related to the fact that – even though no collusion between the Russian government and the Trump campaign has been revealed after nine months of investigating with the help of the U.S. surveillance apparatus – the Mueller investigation will continue “for months.” As Bloomberg reports, Mueller is still actively investigating Trump-Russia collusion as well as obstruction and shady financial dealings of prominent Trump associates. According to that report, the recent indictment of 13 Russian nationals “ should be seen a

Τα φάρμακα και τα ψέματα

Ντάνι Βέργου Μέρος 5ο - Το παράπλευρο σκάνδαλο και οι αυθαίρετες τιμολογήσεις Το μεγαλύτερο έμμεσο σκάνδαλο και η αποτυχία των μέτρων των μνημονίων είναι ότι δεν μειώθηκε η κατανάλωση σε κουτιά φαρμάκων πρωτότυπων έναντι των γενόσημων. Η δημόσια φαρμακευτική δαπάνη είναι κουτιά επί μέση τιμή. Και πως να μειωθεί όταν δεν υπάρχει πλαίσιο ελέγχου της συνταγογράφησης. Οταν δεν θωρακίζεται το σύστημα με θεραπευτικά πρωτόκολλα, που διαχρονικά διαφήμιζαν οι προηγούμενες κυβερνήσεις αλλά ποτέ όμως δεν ενσωμάτωσαν στην ηλεκτρονική συνταγογράφηση. Σήμερα το υπουργείο Υγείας έχει κλειδώσει 15 θεραπευτικά πρωτόκολλα από τα συνολικά 25 που έχουν ενσωματωθεί και ετοιμάζονται άλλα 20, όπως δήλωσε πρόσφατα ο υπουργός Υγείας Ανδρέας Ξανθός. Η έλλειψη ελέγχου σε συνδυασμό με τις αυθαίρετες τιμολογήσεις των πολυεθνικών του φαρμάκου και μη έχοντας διαπραγματευτική ικανότητα είναι ένα μείγμα εκρηκτικό. Η δημιουργία Επιτροπής των χωρών του Ευρωπαϊκού Νότου για τη διαπ

Something for everyone: Mueller indictment a boon for partisan status quo

The bipartisan support Mueller’s appointment received is even more telling given that he is the definition of a Washington insider. The power elites across the political spectrum seemed to trust him to, above all, protect their position at the head of the table. by Whitney Webb Part 2 - A “show” indictment with something for everybody The indictment released last Friday really did have “something for everybody,” as McAdams noted. The indictment itself details an effort by Russian nationals to “ defraud the United States impairing, obstructing and defeating the lawful functions of the government […] for the purpose of interfering with the U.S. political and electoral processes. ” The establishment-left widely praised the indictment as the indictment asserted that the Russians charged “ were instructed […] to use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump […]), ” lending support the one of Clinton’s many “ What Happened ” narratives.

Τα φάρμακα και τα ψέματα

Ντάνι Βέργου Μέρος 4ο - Φάρµακα Υψηλού Κόστους Οσο για τα φάρµακα υψηλού κόστους, µπορεί µε τις πολιτικές των µνηµονίων που ο Αδ. Γεωργιάδης θεωρούσε «αυτονόητες», όπως έλεγε τότε, να έφυγαν από τα φαρµακεία και το χονδρεµπόριο και να διατίθενται µόνο από τα νοσοκοµεία, όµως και αυτό τελικά είχε ως αποτέλεσµα να αυξηθούν κι άλλο τα κέρδη της φαρµακοβιοµηχανίας. Και είναι εντυπωσιακό, διότι, βγάζοντας τα φαρµακεία και το χονδρεµπόριο από τη µέση, έφευγε και µια επιβάρυνση της τιµής περίπου 40%. Κι όµως η δαπάνη κατάφερε να υπερδιπλασιαστεί. Συγκεκριµένα, σε µία δεκαετία (2005 - 2015), εξακοντίστηκε από τα 420 εκατ. ευρώ στα 820 εκατ. ευρώ και χωρίς να εισαχθούν πολλές καινοτόµες θεραπείες. Ηδη ο υπουργός Υγείας, Ανδρέας Ξανθός, προς την κατεύθυνση της διαµόρφωσης µιας νέας πολιτικής φαρµάκου από το 2016, µεταξύ άλλων, ενεργοποίησε την επιτροπή διαπραγµάτευσης των τιµών των Φαρµάκων Υψηλού Κόστους (ΦΥΚ), η οποία έχει αναλάβει να επιτύχει «εκπτώσεις» από τους προµηθευτές

Iran, Russia consider developing own Cryptocurrencies

Iran's minister of Information and Communications Technology said the test model for a digital currency is currently under development Russia and Iran have expressed interest in developing their own digital currencies to help combat U.S.-imposed sanctions, following this week's successful launch of Venezuela's first cryptocurrency, the Petro. Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, head of Iran's Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, said the test model for a "cloud-based digital currency" is currently under development and will be submitted to the Iranian bank system soon. The Iranian official announced the move following a meeting with the state-owned Post Bank of Iran on Wednesday, according to NPR. The Central Bank of Iran, however, has denied the rumors. According to Iran Front Page News, the bank emphasized the " highly unreliable and risky " nature of the digital currency market, warning investors they &qu