Near mourning sight at Place de la Republique in Paris an unknown man drew much attention by blindfolding himself and putting out two signs reading “I’m a Muslim, but I’m told that I’m a terrorist” and “I trust you, do you trust me? If yes, hug me.”
Abby Martin interviews journalist and author Max Blumenthal on the current situation in Palestine and the Israeli occupation. This episode covers what is behind today’s rebellion, the rising dominance of far-right, ultra-racist ideology in Israel, eye-witness accounts of the aftermath of the Gaza war, and the Israeli government’s fear of Palestinian resistance.
Max Blumenthal is an award-winning journalist and New York Times Best Selling author. He has written two books on Palestine, “Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel”, and the recently-published “The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza.”
Also see: Miko Peled: Israeli Authorities Should be Taken to Int’l Court for War Crimes
The image called “Odhalená agresia” (Revealed aggression) by Viliam Weisskopf (* 1906 – † 1964) was published in the popular Slovakian satirical magazine Roháč back in 1958. Not much has changed since then.
First, Iceland jailed its crooked bankers for their direct involvement in the financial crisis of 2008. Now, every Icelander will receive a payout for the sale of one of its three largest banks, Íslandsbanki.
If Finance Minister Bjarni Benediktsson has his way — and he likely will — Icelanders will be paid kr 30,000 after the government takes over ownership of the bank. Íslandsbanki would be second of the three largest banks under State proprietorship.
“I am saying that the government take some decided portion, 5%, and simply hand it over to the people of this country,” he stated.
Because Icelanders took control of their government, they effectively own the banks. Benediktsson believes this will bring foreign capital into the country and ultimately fuel the economy — which, incidentally, remains the only European nation to recover fully from the 2008 crisis. Iceland even managed to pay its outstanding debt to the IMF in full — in advance of the due date.
Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson, Budget Committee vice chairperson, explained the move would facilitate the lifting of capital controls, though he wasn’t convinced State ownership would be the ideal solution. Former Finance Minister Steingrímur J. Sigfússon sided with Þórðarson, telling a radio show, “we shouldn’t lose the banks to the hands of fools” and that Iceland would benefit from a shift in focus to separate “commercial banking from investment banking.”
Plans haven’t yet been firmly set for when the takeover and subsequent payments to every person in the country will occur, but Iceland’s revolutionary approach to dealing with the international financial meltdown of 2008 certainly deserves every bit of the attention it’s garnered.
Iceland recently jailed its 26th banker — with 74 years of prison time amongst them — for causing the financial chaos. Meanwhile, U.S. banking criminals were rewarded for their fraud and market manipulation with an enormous bailout at the taxpayer’s expense.
Source: The Anti-Media
Erdogan wants to use the referendum to consolidate his power, establish one-man rule and terminate representative government in Turkey. He is a committed Islamist who wants to repeal democracy and create a Islamic regime that extends beyond Turkey’s present borders into Iraq and Syria. This is why he has been such an enthusiastic supporter of the jihadi groups fighting in Syria.
By Mike Whitney
The plan to annex sovereign Syrian territory and use it to launch attacks on the government of Syrian President Bashar al Assad dates back to 2012. In 2015, however, the strategy was expanded upon by Brookings analyst Michael E. O’Hanlon in a piece titled “Deconstructing Syria: A new strategy for America’s most hopeless war”. Here’s an excerpt:
“…the only realistic path forward may be a plan that in effect deconstructs Syria….the international community should work to create pockets with more viable security and governance within Syria over time… The idea would be to help moderate elements establish reliable safe zones within Syria once they were able. American, as well as Saudi and Turkish and British and Jordanian and other Arab forces would act in support, not only from the air but eventually on the ground via special forces. … Western forces themselves would remain in more secure positions in general—within the safe zones but back from the front lines—at least until the reliability of such defenses, and also local allied forces, made it practical to deploy and live in more forward locations.
Creation of these sanctuaries would produce autonomous zones that would never again have to face the prospect of rule by either Assad ….The interim goal might be a confederal Syria, with several highly autonomous zones… The confederation would likely require support from an international peacekeeping force….to make these zones defensible and governable,….and to train and equip more recruits so that the zones could be stabilized and then gradually expanded.”
This is the Obama administration’s basic blueprint for toppling Assad and reducing Syria into an ungovernable failed state run by regional warlords, renegade militias and Islamic extremists. US Secretary of State John Kerry confirmed our worst suspicions about this sinister plan in a speech he delivered to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace just last week. Here’s part of what he said:
“In northern Syria, the coalition and its partners have pushed Daesh (ISIS) out of more than 17,000 square kilometers of territory, and we have secured the Turkish-Syrian border east of the Euphrates River. That’s about 85 percent of the Turkish border, and the President is authorizing further activities to secure the rest…….
We’re also enhancing our air campaign in order to help drive Daesh, which once dominated the Syria-Turkey border, out of the last 70-mile stretch that it controls.”
Repeat: “That’s about 85 percent of the Turkish border, and the President is authorizing further activities to secure the rest.”
Why has Obama “authorized further activities to secure the rest”?
Because no one in Washington believes that the US-backed jihadis will beat the combined forces of the Russian-led coalition which is gradually annihilating the terrorist militias across Syria. So now, Obama is moving on to Plan B, the creation of a terrorist sanctuary on the Syrian side of the Syrian-Turkish border where the US and its partners can continue to arm, train and deploy their jihadi maniacs back into Syria whenever they choose to do so. Undoubtedly, Obama’s Special Forces will be used to oversee this operation and to make sure that everything goes according to plan.
There is, of course, a question about the Kurdish militias role in this strategy. Recently, the US has air-dropped pallet-loads of weapons and ammo to the Democratic Union Party (PYD) hoping the group could help the US secure the last stretch of land along the border west of the Euphrates thus keeping vital supplylines open for the jihadis while establishing a safe haven on Syrian territory. Erdogan violently opposes any operation that will create a contiguous Kurdish state on the Syrian side of the border.
So how will this situation be resolved? Will Obama stick with the Kurds or realign with Erdogan in exchange for Turkish boots on the ground?
No one knows just yet, but certainly a Turkish-US alliance would be more formidable than a PYD-US coalition. Judging by Washington’s long history of choosing the most expedient solution to achieve its policy goals, we expect Obama to align himself with Ankara.
[..]
These developments suggest that Putin will have to move fast if he wants to seal the border and derail Erdogan’s plan. The Russian president might have to deploy Russian Special Forces and armored divisions northward to discourage US-Turkey adventurism and to prevent the war from turning into a quagmire.
This is one situation where preemption could really pay off bigtime.
Read the full article at CounterPunch
Related: Towards a Reversal of the Situation in the Near East
In 1899 the journalist John Smith made a rare interview with Nikola Tesla which has never been published until now. Below a few highlights:
Journalist: In the hostility to the theory of relativity you go so far, that you hold lectures against its Creator [Albert Einstein] at your birthday parties..
Tesla: Remember, it is not curved space, but the human mind which cannot comprehend infinity and eternity! If relativity has been clearly understood by its Creator, he would gain immortality, even yet physically, if he is pleased.
I am part of a light, and it is the music. The Light fills my six senses: I see it, hear, feel, smell, touch and think. Thinking of it means my sixth sense. Particles of Light are written note. A bolt of lightning can be an entire sonata. A thousand balls of lightning is a concert. For this concert I have created a Ball Lightning, which can be heard on the icy peaks of the Himalayas.
About Pythagoras and mathematics a scientist may not and must not infringe of these two. Numbers and equations are signs that mark the music of the spheres. If Einstein had heard these sounds, he would not create theories of relativity. These sounds are the messages to the mind that life has meaning, that the Universe exists in perfect harmony, and its beauty is the cause and effect of Creation. This music is the eternal cycle of stellar heavens.
The smallest star has completed composition and also, part of the celestial symphony. The man’s heartbeats are part of the symphony on the Earth. Newton learned that the secret is in geometric arrangement and motion of celestial bodies. He recognized that the supreme law of harmony exists in the Universe. The curved space is chaos, chaos is not music. Einstein is the messenger of the time of sound and fury.
Journalist: Mr. Tesla, do you hear that music?
Tesla: I hear it all the time. My spiritual ear is as big as the sky we see above us. My natural ear I increased by the radar. According to the Theory of Relativity, two parallel lines will meet in infinity. By that Einstein’s curved will straighten. Once created, the sound lasts forever. For a man it can vanish, but continues to exist in the silence that is man’s greatest power.
No, I have nothing against Mr. Einstein. He is a kind person and has done many good things, some of which will become part of the music. I will write to him and try to explain that the ether exists, and that its particles are what keep the Universe in harmony, and the life in eternity.
[…]
Journalist: You often mentioned the power of visualization.
Tesla: I might have to thank to visualization for all that I invented. The events of my life and my inventions are real in front of my eyes, visible as each occurrence or the item. In my youth I was frightened of not knowing what it is, but later, I learned to use this power as an exceptional talent and gift. I nurtured it, and jealously guarded. I also made corrections by visualization on most of my inventions, and finish them that way, by visualization I mentally solve complex mathematical equations. For that gift I have, I will receive rank High Lama in Tibet.
My eyesight and hearing are perfect and, dare to say, stronger than other people. I hear the thunder of a hundred fifty miles away, and I see colors in the sky that others cannot see. This enlargement of vision and hearing, I had as a child. Later I consciously developed.
[…]
Journalist: Imagination is more real to you than life itself?
Tesla: It gives birth to the life. I have fed by my taught; I’ve learned to control emotions, dreams and visions. I have always cherished, as I nurtured my enthusiasm. All my long life I spent in ecstasy. That was the source of my happiness. It helped me during all these years to bear with work, which was enough for the five lives. The best is to work at night, because the stellar light, and close bond.
Journalist: You said that I am, like every being, the Light. This flatter me, but I confess, I do not quite understand.
Tesla: Why would you need to understand, Mr. Smith? Suffice it to believe it. Everything is light. In one its ray is the fate of nations, each nation has its own ray in what great light source we see as the sun. And remember: no one who was there did not die. They transformed into the light, and as such exist still. The secret lies in the fact that the light particles restore their original state.
Journalist: This is the resurrection!
Tesla: I prefer to call it: return to a previous energy. Christ and several others knew the secret. I am searching how to preserve human energy. It is forms of Light, sometimes straight like heavenly light. I have not looked for it for my own sake, but for the good of all. I believe that my discoveries make people’s lives easier and more bearable, and channel them to spirituality and morality.
Read the full interview at Health Nut News
See also: Nikola Tesla: The Master of Lightning
What causes addiction? Easy, right? Drugs cause addiction. But maybe it is not that simple. Check out Johann Hari’s book about drugs and addiction: Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs.
“It is now 100 years since drugs were first banned in the United States. On the eve of this centenary, journalist Johann Hari set off on an epic three-year, thirty-thousand-mile journey into the war on drugs. What he found is that more and more people all over the world are beginning to recognize three startling truths: Drugs are not what we think they are. Addiction is not what we think it is. And the drug war has very different motives to the ones we have seen on our TV screens for so long.”
Watch this exchange at the recent Senate Hearings on US strategy in Syria between Senator Lindsey Graham, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford.
By Jay Vogt
The chilling exchange basically consisted of Graham grilling Carter and Dunford about not having a plan to fight alongside the US-backed ‘moderate’ forces, and then repeatedly interrupting the hapless pair as they tried to negotiate with the bald fury coming their way.
The seriousness of this exchange should not be lost on anyone. This was nothing short of a senior US Senator – who happens to be running for president – openly calling for war with Russia.
There is no other way to interpret it. His words are crystal clear. Everyone in the world knows that Russia is openly fighting in support of Assad; and here we see Lindsey Graham hammering these two defense officials because the US does not have plans to join anti-regime fighters to ‘take down Assad’. This is nothing short of war with Russia.
Source: Russia Insider
Millions of Syrians rallied in support of President Bashar al-Assad in the capital Damascus.
June 4, 2014: Bashar al-Assad wins a landslide victory in the Syrian presidential poll with 88.7 percent of the vote. This will secure him a third seven-year term in office amidst a bloody civil war. Voters turned out at an amazing 73.4% and there were two other candidates running against him. The other two candidates for the top post were Hassan Abdullah Nouri, from the National Initiative for Administration and Change in Syria, and Maher Abd Al-Hafiz Hajjar, formerly from the People’s Will Party. No violations have been reported, Syria’s Higher Judicial Committee for Elections said.
According to an internal NATO study (dated June 2013), 70% of Syrians support President Bashar al-Assad, 20% adopt a neutral position and 10% support the so-called “moderate rebels.”
If the Russian’s successfully defeat all of the rebel factions in Syria, including ISIS, then all bets are off. They’ll be able provide full military support for Iraq, in which case their government will be able to kick our personnel out of the country, and welcome their new friends. The Russian-Iranian alliance will be able to finish what they started in Syria, and mop up what’s left of our proxy forces. At that point, everything our government has worked for in the Middle East will completely unravel, as well it should.
By Joshua Krause
Earlier this week I wrote about a strange occurrence in Iraq, involving a Russian machine gun loaded with Iranian ammunition, that was found mounted on an American tank. The Iraqi military had apparently lent this vehicle to a Shia militia (against the orders of the US Government), who wasted no time equipping it with the weapons they had acquired from their Iranian and Russian allies. All signs suggest that this event is a harbinger of things to come.
The Iraqi government happens to be an awkward transitory phase with their foreign policy. They are currently being supported by both the United States and the Russian-Iranian alliance. As we speak, there are two Russian generals stationed in an intelligence center in Baghdad, and Iranian advisers are helping the Iraqi military direct their war against ISIS. Iraqi officials have even said that they would welcome Russian airstrikes in their country, and they want a “full blown military alliance” with Russia, Iran, and Syria.
As you might expect, the United States isn’t taking this news very well. In fact, they’ve recently given the Iraqi government an ultimatum: It’s us or them.
The U.S. has told Iraq’s leaders they must choose between ongoing American support in the battle against militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and asking the Russians to intervene instead.
Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday that the Iraqis had promised they would not request any Russian airstrikes or support for the fight against ISIS.
Shortly after leaving Baghdad, Dunford told reporters traveling with him that he had laid out a choice when he met with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi earlier Tuesday.
“I said it would make it very difficult for us to be able to provide the kind of support you need if the Russians were here conducting operations as well,” Dunford said. “We can’t conduct operations if the Russians were operating in Iraq right now.”
Of course, this has less to do with our ability to work alongside the Russians, and more to do with our willingness. It’s also very telling. We didn’t tell the Iraqi’s that they can’t under any circumstances, work with the Russians. Like a scorned lover in an unfaithful relationship, we delivered a final, impotent demand to our former puppet regime. “You have to choose between him or me.”
Five years ago there wouldn’t have been a choice. We could just tell the Iraqi government what to do, and they had to fall in line because their country was such a mess. Our military was the only thing keeping the crazies from burning their nation to the ground.
But after we left, their country burned anyway. It was clear that they needed real help, and they’ve found it with Russia. We can longer tell them what to do because they’re in a desperate situation, and we no longer have the military prowess to boss them around, or to save them. That’s why our demands are so revealing. We’re no longer in a position to give orders. Russia’s campaign in the Middle East has revealed that our military is a paper tiger in the region.
So far the Iraqi government hasn’t made a decisive choice. They probably want to ditch the Americans, but they can’t quite bring themselves to do it. Here’s what Iraq’s Prime Minister had to say on the matter.
Reuters reports that the U.S. ultimatum to Iraq puts Abadi in a difficult position, as his own country’s ruling political alliance and some powerful Shiite groups have been pushing him to request Russian air support.
The news agency said a proposal to request Russian strikes had been put to Abadi last week, but that he was yet to respond.
“Abadi told the meeting parties that it wasn’t the right time to include the Russians in the fight because that would only complicate the situation with the Americans and could have undesired consequences even on long-term future relations with America,” Reuters quoted a senior Shiite politician close to Abadi as saying.
He says he wants to maintain a long-term relationship with the US, but his willingness to work with our government’s enemies would suggest otherwise. However, they can’t afford to lose America’s support, at least not yet.
I suspect that they’re trying to decide on which superpower to side with, but the Russian-Iranian alliance isn’t quite ready to give them their full support. Their military forces are still tied down in Syria. So for now, Prime Minister Abadi is stuck with the Americans and their limited help, while he quietly allows Iraq’s militias to work with our Cold War enemy. Some help is better than no help, I suppose.
However, if the Russian’s successfully defeat all of the rebel factions in Syria, including ISIS, then all bets are off. They’ll be able provide full military support for Iraq, in which case their government will be able to kick our personnel out of the country, and welcome their new friends. The Russian-Iranian alliance will be able to finish what they started in Syria, and mop up what’s left of our proxy forces. At that point, everything our government has worked for in the Middle East will completely unravel, as well it should.
Source: The Daily Sheeple
Against the Grain 