Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Wednesday, 23 July 2014

The European Union Times



Posted: 22 Jul 2014 02:53 PM PDT

European Union (EU) foreign ministers have agreed on imposing tougher sanctions against Russian entities and individuals nearly one week after the downing of a Malaysian Airlines plane in Ukraine.
On Wednesday, the ministers agreed to draft a new list of Russian entities and individuals by July 24 to be added to the 63 names already targeted by sanctions.
The 28-member bloc says that the new sanctions will target Moscow’s financial and defense sectors.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 went down on July 17 in the volatile Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine while en route from the Dutch city of Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 passengers and crew members on board.
Western powers are accusing pro-Russia protesters of having shot down the civilian airliner. The pro-Russians deny any involvement in the tragedy and, in turn, accuse Kiev of being responsible for the plane’s crash.
Moscow has argued that there is no evidence available to prove that the pro-Russians were involved in the incident.
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that new sanctions against Moscow by the US would hurt bilateral ties and Washington’s own interests.
In April, Ukraine launched military operations in the country’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk to quell the pro-Russia protests there. Violence intensified one month later after the two flashpoint regions held local referendums, in which their residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Ukraine.
Since the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine last year, the United States and the EU have imposed sanctions on numerous Russian officials for what they perceive as Moscow’s refusal to ease tensions in Ukraine.
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Posted: 22 Jul 2014 01:41 PM PDT


The establishment’s iron-fisted grip on media and information dissemination was irrevocably transformed when Matt Drudge launched his website in 1995.
Suddenly Americans and the world at large were no longer dependent on a skewered and politically-driven corporate media with its distorted establishment spin and agenda.
Alex Jones breaks down how this transformation occurred and how it resulted in a monumental sea change in the way news is reported and how citizens are now intimately involved in the process.
Since Matt Drudge launched his web site thousands of news sites have appeared to challenge the official globalist dominated political orthodoxy, its censorship and omissions, and offer humanity a truly more balanced and less bias examination of the world.
Drudge’s story exemplifies the power of the individual when access to the free market is truly unrestricted, and underscores why the establishment is so desperate to regulate the Internet at a time when the mainstream dinosaur media is in a state of rapid decline.
By proving that one man could break the monopoly of corporate press control of the narrative, Drudge led a media renaissance, blazing the trail for countless others to follow. Many of the statements Drudge made during his renowned National Press Club speech in 1998 remain just as prescient today, proving that he was way ahead of his time.
The Drudge Report website now drives more traffic than Facebook and Twitter combined, while trouncing the likes of CNN, Huffington Post and Slate by huge margins.
Drudge has completely redefined journalism in the modern age, proving, much to the chagrin of the likes of Dianne Feinstein, that anyone with a laptop can and should be considered a citizen journalist.
Thanks to Drudge, the fourth estate now has the potential to comprise virtually everyone in the world, enabling a mammoth check and balance to guard against government corruption and abuse.
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Posted: 22 Jul 2014 01:33 PM PDT

Why hasn’t Washington joined Russian President Putin in calling for an objective, non-politicized international investigation by experts of the case of the Malaysian jetliner?
The Russian government continues to release facts, including satellite photos showing the presence of Ukrainian Buk anti-aircraft missiles in locations from which the airliner could have been brought down by the missile system and documentation that a Ukrainian SU-25 fighter jet rapidly approached the Malaysian airliner prior to its downing. The head of the Operations Directorate of Russian military headquarters said at a Moscow press conference today (July 21) that the presence of the Ukrainian military jet is confirmed by the Rostov monitoring center.
The Russian Defense Ministry pointed out that at the moment of destruction of MH-17 an American satellite was flying over the area. The Russian government urges Washington to make available the photos and data captured by the satellite.
President Putin has repeatedly stressed that the investigation of MH-17 requires “a fully representative group of experts to be working at the site under the guidance of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).” Putin’s call for an independent expert examination by ICAO does not sound like a person with anything to hide.
Turning to Washington Putin stated: “In the meantime, no one [not even the "exceptional nation"] has the right to use this tragedy to achieve their narrowly selfish political goals.”
Putin reminded Washington: “We repeatedly called upon all conflicting sides to stop the bloodshed immediately and to sit down at the negotiating table. I can say with confidence that if military operations were not resumed [by Kiev] on June 28 in eastern Ukraine, this tragedy wouldn’t have happened.”
What is the American response?
Lies and insinuations.
On July 20, the US Secretary of State, John Kerry confirmed that pro-Russian separatists were involved in the downing of the Malaysian airliner and said that itwas “pretty clear” that Russia was involved. Here are Kerry’s words: “It’s pretty clear that this is a system that was transferred from Russia into the hands of separatists. We know with confidence, with confidence, that the Ukrainians did not have such a system anywhere near the vicinity at that point and time, so it obviously points a very clear finger at the separatists.”
Kerry’s statement is just another of the endless lies told by US secretaries of state in the 21st century. Who can forget Colin Powell’s package of lies delivered to the UN aboutSaddam Hussein’s “weapons of mass destruction” or Kerry’s lie repeated endlessly that Assad “used chemical weapons against his own people” or the endless lies about “Iranian nukes”?
Remember that Kerry on a number of occasions stated that the US had proof that Assad crossed the “red line” by using chemical weapons. However, Kerry was never able to back up his statements with evidence. The US had no evidence to give the British prime minister whose effort to have Parliament approve Britain’s participation with Washington in a military attack on Syria was voted down. Parliament told the prime minister, “no evidence, no war.”
Again here is Kerry declaring “confidence” in statements that are directly contradicted by the Russian satellite photos and endless eye witnesses on the ground.
Why doesn’t Washington release its photos from its satellite?
The answer is for the same reason that Washington will not release all the videos it confiscated and that it claims prove that a hijacked 9/11 airliner hit the Pentagon. The videos do not support Washington’s claim, and the US satellite photos do not support Kerry’s claim.
The UN weapons inspectors on the ground in Iraq reported that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. However, the fact did not support Washington’s propaganda and was ignored. Washington started a highly destructive war based on nothing but Washington’s intentional lie.
The International Atomic Energy Commission’s inspectors on the ground in Iran andall 16 US intelligence agencies reported that Iran had no nuclear weapons program.However, the fact was inconsistent with Washington’s agenda and was ignored by both the US government and the presstitute media.
We are witnessing the same thing right now with the assertions in the absence of evidence that Russia is responsible for the downing of the Malaysian airliner.
Not every member of the US government is as reckless as Kerry and John McCain.In place of direct lies, many US officials use insinuations.
US Senator Diane Feinstein is the perfect example. Interviewed on the presstitute TV station CNN, Feinstein said: “The issue is where is Putin? I would say, ‘Putin, you have to man up. You should talk to the world. You should say, if this is a mistake, which I hope it was, say it.’”
Putin has been talking to the world nonstop calling for an expert non-politicized investigation, and Feinstein is asking Putin why he is hiding behind silence. We know you did it, Feinstein insinuates, so just tell us whether you meant to or whether it was an accident.
The way the entire Western news cycle was orchestrated with blame instantly being placed on Russia long in advance of real information suggests that the downing of the airliner was a Washington operation. It is, of course, possible that the well-trained presstitute media needed no orchestration from Washington in order to lay the blame on Russia. On the other hand, some of the news performances seem too scripted not to have been prepared in advance.
We also have the advanced preparation of the youtube video that purports to show a Russian general and Ukrainian separatists discussing having mistakenly downed a civilian airliner. As I pointed out earlier, this video is twice damned. It was ready in advance and by implicating the Russian military, it overlooked that the Russian military can tell the difference between a civilian airliner and a military airplane. The existence of the video itself implies that there was a plot to down the airliner and blame Russia.
I have seen reports that the Russian anti-aircraft missile system, as a safety device, is capable of contacting aircraft transponders in order to verify the type of aircraft. If the reports are correct and if the transponders from MH-17 are found, they mightrecord the contact.
I have seen reports that Ukrainian air control changed the route of MH-17 and directed it to fly over the conflict area. The transponders should also indicate whetherthis is correct. If so, there clearly is at least circumstantial evidence that this was anintentional act on the part of Kiev, an act which would have required Washington’s blessing.
There are other reports that there is a divergence between the Ukrainian military and the unofficial militias formed by the right-wing Ukrainian extremists who apparently were the first to attack the separatists. It is possible that Washington used the extremists to plot the airliner’s destruction in order to blame Russia and use the accusations to pressure the EU to go along with Washington’s unilateral sanctions against Russia.We do know that Washington is desperate to break up the growing economic and political ties between Russia and Europe.
If it was a plot to down an airliner, any safety device on the missile system could have been turned off so as to give no warning or leave any telltale sign. That could be the reason a Ukrainian fighter was sent to inspect the airliner. Possibly the real target was Putin’s airliner and incompetence in implementing the plot resulted in the destruction of a civilian airliner.
As there are a number of possible explanations, let’s keep open minds and resist Washington’s propaganda until facts and evidence are in. In the very least Washington is guilty of using the incident to blame Russia in advance of the evidence. All Washington has shown us so far is accusations and insinuations. If that is all Washington continues to show us, we will know where the blame resides.
In the meantime, remember the story of the boy who cried “wolf!” He lied so many times that when the wolf did come, no one believed him. Will this be Washington’s ultimate fate?
Instead of declaring war on Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, and Syria, why did Washington hide behind lies? If Washington wants war with Iran, Russia, and China, why not simply declare war? The reason that the US Constitution requires war to begin with a declaration of war by Congress is to prevent the executive branch from orchestrating wars in order to further hidden agendas. By abdicating its constitutional responsibility, the US Congress is complicit in the executive branch’s war crimes. By approving Israel’s premeditated murder of Palestinians, the US government is complicit in Israel’s war crimes.
Ask yourself this question: Would the world be a safer place with less death, destruction and displaced peoples and more truth and justice if the United States and Israel did not exist?
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Posted: 22 Jul 2014 01:26 PM PDT

An American political commentator believes that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu benefits from the shooting down of a Malaysian passenger plane because he can continue his atrocities in Gaza.
In an interview with Press TV on Sunday, Veterans Today editor James Henry Fetzer also rejected Washington’s allegation that Moscow was behind the incident.
“The report that the Russian weapons were used to down the Malaysian plane in Ukraine does not mean that Russia was involved or the Russian separatists in Ukraine had anything to do with it. What could Russia have possibly stood to benefit in shooting down this airplane?” Fetzer said.
“Russia has nothing to gain from this. Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu had everything to gain because it was occurring by remarkable coincidence at the very same time Israel is launching its massive inhumane savage slaughter of the Palestinian people in Gaza,” he added.
The US accused Russia of being behind the crash that killed 298 people on board, saying the missile that brought down the plane was given by Moscow to pro-Russian militia in east Ukraine.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said that “It’s pretty clear that this is a system that was transferred from Russia in the hands of separatists.”
Kerry added that a sophisticated SA-11 system was used to down the plane.
“We know with confidence, with confidence that the Ukrainians did not have such a system anywhere near the vicinity at that point in time. So it obviously points a very clear finger at the separatists,” Kerry claimed.
However, Russia denied the accusation, slamming the US for blaming Moscow for the crash.
“The statements of representatives of the US administration are evidence of a deep political aberration of Washington’s perception of what is going on in Ukraine … despite an obvious and indisputable nature of the arguments provided by rebels and Moscow, the US administration is pushing its own agenda,” Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
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Posted: 22 Jul 2014 01:08 PM PDT

Unnamed US officials are telling Associated Press that their intelligence suggests Malaysia plane shot down by anti-Kiev militia, no link to Russia found.
Officials believe that the passenger aircraft was intercepted by an SA-11 surface-to-air missile, which was fired by Ukrainian militia members. One official said the likeliest explanation was the aircraft was shot down in error, an assertion that seem to be bolstered by the previous downing of 12 Ukrainian military aircraft by militants in the region.
Intelligence suggests that, although the US maintains that Russia “created the conditions” that led to the incident, officials were not aware of the presence of any Russians during the missile launch, and would not confirm that the missile crew was trained in Russia.
The crash of the airliner last week with 298 passengers aboard has only exacerbated the row between the US, European powers and Russia over the developing situation in eastern Ukraine.
The aircraft’s black boxes were turned over to Malaysian authorities late Monday night by Ukrainian militia. Access to the debris field, which is located within the restive Donetsk People’s Republic, has been limited and rumors have run rampant regarding the conduct of militia in the area.
One official said that, regarding as to who precisely fired the missile, “we don’t know a name, we don’t know a rank and we’re not even 100 percent sure of a nationality.” The official added that “there is not going to be a Perry Mason moment here,” referring to any likely absence of definitive conclusions.
Officials noted that their inquiry relied partly on social media postings, citing specifically video of a missile launcher purported to be a Buk system battery crossing into Russian territory, and appearing to be missing a missile. Following questions, intel officials admitted they had not verified the video’s origin or content.
The Tuesday briefing seemed to be a sharp departure from comments made by US President Barack Obama a day prior, who stated that the Malaysia Airlines aircraft had been “shot down over territory controlled by Russian-backed separatists” that had been both armed with anti-aircraft weapons and trained by Russia.
On Monday State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf was asked whether the US could back up claims that “common sense” indicated Ukrainian militia had sho9t down the Malaysian Airlines plane, along with evidence provided by social media. Harf responded that there was a “host of information” gathered by US intelligence on the incident.
“Sometimes you can’t get into all the specifics,” she said. “Based on open information which is basically common sense, right – we know where it was fired from, we know who has this weapon.”
“I certainly am blaming the Russians for the pro-Russian separatists’ behavior in general, but we need to get all the facts about this specific incident. We don’t – I don’t want to go out there and put culpability on anyone until we have all of those facts,” Harf told journalists.
The Russian military has presented information that a Ukrainian SU-25 fighter had been gaining altitude in the direction of the Malaysian Boeing prior to the catastrophe. According to military monitoring data outlined by chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces Lt. Gen. Andrey Kartopolov along with chief of the Air Force Main Staff Lt. Gen. Igor Makushev this week, Russia is concerned about a number of unanswered questions surrounding the downing of the jet.
“Russian monitoring systems registered that there was a Ukrainian Air Force jet, probably Su-25, climbing and approaching the Malaysian Boeing,” said Kartopolov.
“The Su-25 was 3-5 km away from the Malaysian plane. Su-25 is capable of climbing to the altitude of 10,000 meters for a short period of time. Its standard armament includes R60 air-to-air missiles, which are capable of locking and hitting targets from 12 km and which are guaranteed to hit the target from the distance of 5 km.”
The Russian military has also prompted Kiev to explain why MH17 seemed to deviate from its flightpath after reaching Donetsk, out of the international corridor over the country’s airspace, and why Buk missile systems had been deployed on the edge of militia-controlled territory by Ukraine prior to the plane’s downing.
Despite earlier claims that the media would be presented with unclassified evidence from intelligence sources, unnamed Obama administration officials mostly reiterated earlier claims based on social media posts and unverified audio and video recordings published by Ukrainian government.
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