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Joe Quinn
Sott.net 2015-08-14 19:55:00
On August 2nd, the UK's Express reported that British special forces were dressing up as ISIS jihadis and conducting operations in Iraq and Syria. Idiotically describing the tactic as "unorthodox", the Express journalists said that "more than 120 members of the elite regiment are currently in the war-torn country". Such a strategy can seem justified to those with only an official understanding of the Middle East conflict - where ISIS are the 'baddies' and Western operatives are the 'goodies' - and a hopelessly naive belief in the benevolence of the British military. But when viewed in the context of actual British military history in 'conflict zones' over the course of the 20th century, this story takes on a much more sinister form. Staying with the present for a moment, the claim that British special forces are in Iraq and Syria to "fight ISIS" is not credible. More than four years ago the anglo-American warmongers made it abundantly clear that they, in league with their head-chopping royal friends in Saudi Arabia, were determined to unseat Assad, even going as far as to fabricate WMD evidence (a la Saddam Hussein) to justify a NATO attack. When Russian diplomacy thwarted that effort, the US and British 'elite' fell back on the tried and tested 'civil war' of attrition by proxy forces, in an effort to oust Assad. But Assad, democratically elected by the Syrian people, is reluctant to leave just because Washington, Riyadh, Whitehall and Tel Aviv want him too. And while Russian, Iranian and Lebanese help is still available, it seems that the West's proxy army, aka the 'Syria rebels', are doomed to fight and die forever, or until the West's supply of hired guns (or money) runs out. Genetically averse to accepting the hard facts of any situation, the US and British 'elites' have recently declared their right to "attack ISIS positions" directly through manned US airstrikes from Turkish bases. The real point of these airstrikes however is revealed in the fact that the US claims the right to attack anyone who threatens the Pentagon-trained 'Syrian rebels', who are primarily fighting against Assad on behalf of the US, British and Saudi regimes. That, of course, is the main point of these airstrikes; a back-door attempt to justify US military attacks on the Syrian government and its military rather than "fighting ISIS". It's reasonable to conclude, therefore, that those British special forces dressed up as ISIS form part of the same strategy and are providing "boots on the ground" to support US airstrikes on Syria positions. | |
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The Saker
2015-08-13 19:15:00
(This interview was very kindly translated by Ghassan Kadi to whom I want to express my deepest gratitude. The Saker) The Saker: Please introduce yourself to your readers, education, professional experience, military experience, political leanings, religion, etc. General Htaite: My name is Amine Htaite, I am a retired general in the Lebanese Army, PhD in Law, a lecturer in the Lebanese University and Islamic University in Lebanon. I am the ex-chief of the Central College of Command in the Lebanese Army and I have been in charge of several Lebanese Army battalions, both combat and logistic. Nowadays I conducts strategic, military and legal studies dealing with pertinent issues in the Levant and their international ramifications. In this context, I write two journal articles per week and partake in meetings and discussions and analysis on television, radio discussion panels as well as strategic and technical conferences on a regular basis. | |
Comment: That last comment is a sobering picture of what is in store for Syria.
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RT
2015-08-14 18:48:00
Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush told an audience in Iowa that he would not rule out resuming the use of torture by the US government under some circumstances. He said he believed it was effective in producing critical intelligence. Bush was speaking before an audience of 250 Republican supporters at St. Ambrose University when asked if he would keep in place or repeal President Barack Obama's executive order banning torture. "I don't want to make a definitive, blanket kind of statement," Bush told the audience,according to the Associated Press. "When you are president your words matter." Bush said he believed torture is inappropriate and that he was glad his brother, former President George W. Bush, largely ended the CIA's use of torture before leaving office. He did not address the fact that the use of torture also began under George W. Bush's presidency. | |
Comment: Torture is effective? Another Bushie who's living in bizarro world: Ex-CIA officer: Torture great way to get false confessions
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Sputnik
2015-08-13 16:10:00
A politician from Finland's conservative Finns Party suggested implanting welfare recipients with satellite-tracking chips following news that some recipients continued receiving payments after leaving the country to join ISIL. A member of Finland's right-wing Finns Party, Pasi Maenranta, has suggested implanting all recipients of government assistance with satellite-tracked chips if they choose to leave the country. Maenranta made the proposal after Finnish media revealed that some recipients of government assistance continued to receive payments after leaving the country to join ISIL in Syria and Iraq. Maenranta does not believe that the idea raises privacy concerns because of existing tracking technology in services such as Facebook. "The law should be changed: To receive payments from Kela [the Social Insurance Institution], one has to tell exact data about your location using your personal code, read by a satellite. It is also possible to implant electronic chips to all going abroad, who for example receive medical welfare from Kela," Maenranta wrote on his Facebook page. | |
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RT
2015-08-13 17:31:00
US fighter jets struck Syrian targets in an operation launched against Islamic State militants from the Incirlik airbase in Turkey, the US military confirmed Wednesday. This news comes amid reports of a renewed rebel offensive on Syrian government forces. Six F-16 strike fighters were deployed to Incirlik Airbase near Adana in southeastern Turkey earlier this week. The US forces stationed there have already been conducting drone operations against Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS/ISIL), but Wednesday's strikes were the first manned missions staged from Turkey under an arrangement reachedwith the government of President Erdogan in July. "The United States and Turkey, as members of the 60-plus nation coalition, are committed to the fight against ISIL in the pursuit of peace and stability in the region," said a statement from the US mission to NATO announcing the fighters' deployment on August 9. No Turkish fighter jets were involved in the strikes, security sources told Reuters. Ankara has been reluctant to take part in the campaign against Islamic State militants, citing "fears of backlash." Western critics have slammed Ankara's stance, considering that Turkish planes are currently flying bombing sorties against the Kurdish militias based in Syria and Iraq, but not against IS militants on the same territory. Ankara considers the Kurds to be a threat to Turkey's integrity, labeling them as terrorists. However, they have been the only ground force in the region to have any success fighting Islamic State. | |
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Thomas Gaist
World Socialist Web Site 2015-08-14 00:00:00
During talks this week with Saudi Arabia and the Syrian opposition, Russian officials called for a political deal to lay the basis for the stabilization of Syria, proposing the formation of a new national unity government involving elements of the Assad regime, the Syrian opposition, and Kurdish and Iraqi forces. "The talks focused on coordinating all those who are already fighting terrorists so that they put their main focus on fighting terrorism and leave for later settling scores between themselves," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in public remarks after discussions with the Saudi leadership. Russia's intervention would aim to "help all Syrians unite over the core task of preserving their country, ensuring stability and preventing it from becoming a hotbed of terrorism and other threats," Lavrov said. "We agreed to continue thinking about steps that should be taken to create a suitable environment to resume dialogue between the Syrian government and all other Syrian groups," Lavrov said, referring to discussions with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir earlier this week. | |
Comment: See also: Lavrov lays out the obvious: Ousting Assad would let ISIS take over Syria
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Althia Raj
Huffington Post 2015-08-10 17:09:00
An NDP candidate whose controversial comments about Israel and Canada were featured on a Conservative attack website has resigned. On Monday, NDP senior campaign adviser Brad Lavigne confirmed Morgan Wheeldon had been given the boot: The Huffington Post Canada has learned that Morgan Wheeldon, who was set to run for the NDP in the Nova Scotia riding of Kings - Hants, handed his resignation on Sunday after the party asked him to resign or be fired. His name has vanished from the national party's website and his own website has been stripped of its content. Judy Swift, the riding president, told HuffPost: "We don't have any comment on that right now." Wheeldon's campaign manager, Ramona Jennex, said he had offered his resignation, but she declined to elaborate. "What I do know so far is that there has been an issue that has been brought forward, and Morgan is in the process now of making a decision on which way the campaign will go," she said. Wheeldon is featured on a Conservative Party of Canada website calling Israel's action against Palestinians a war crime — comments he made on a Facebook post in August 2014. | |
Comment: A selection of comments below the original article show that at least some the Canadian public is well versed in the ongoing atrocities committed by Israel and are not afraid to speak up about it...
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New Eastern Outlook
2015-08-13 16:00:00
Who would've thought it would come to this? Certainly not the Obama Administration, and their brilliant geo-political think-tank neo-conservative strategists. John Kerry's brilliant "win-win" proposal of last September during his September 11 Jeddah meeting with ailing Saudi King Abdullah was simple: Do a rerun of the highly successful State Department-Saudi deal in 1986 when Washington persuaded the Saudis to flood the world market at a time of over-supply in order to collapse oil prices worldwide, a kind of "oil shock in reverse." In 1986 was successful in helping to break the back of a faltering Soviet Union highly dependent on dollar oil export revenues for maintaining its grip on power. So, though it was not made public, Kerry and Abdullah agreed on September 11, 2014 that the Saudis would use their oil muscle to bring Putin's Russia to their knees today. It seemed brilliant at the time no doubt. | |
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Fort Russ
2015-08-14 15:09:00
Translated by Kristina Rus The level of the shadow economy in Ukraine in the first quarter of 2015 increased by 5 percentage points (PP) compared with the corresponding period of 2014 — to 47% of the total official GDP. Such preliminary calculations were made by the Economic Development Ministry on its website on Friday, August 14. "The loss of confidence of economic actors in the improvement of the economic and political situation in the near future caused them to actively use the schemes of income concealment, including such as increasing write-offs and losses", — notes the agency. | |
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Dick Teresi
The Wall Street Journal 2015-04-04 12:55:00
Giving away your organs sounds noble, but have doctors blurred the line between life and death? Corrections & Amplifications The article below quotes Robert Truog, professor of medical ethics, anesthesia and pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, about the possible pain felt by an organ donor who has been declared brain dead. Mr. Teresi writes that Dr. Truog "compared the topic of pain in an organ donor to an argument over 'whether it is OK to kick a rock.' " A review of Mr. Teresi's notes after the publication of the essay reflects that Dr. Truog, when asked whether a donor feels pain, said "it's like kicking a rock." Dr. Truog, however, denies that he used the analogy. "I can tell you in the strongest possible terms that I am certain I never said anything like this." In a separate issue, recipients of single-organ transplants—heart, intestine, kidney, liver, single and double lung and pancreas—are charged an average $470,000, ranging from $288,000 for a kidney transplant to $1.2 million for an intestine transplant, according to consulting firm Milliman. A previous version of this article incorrectly said that average recipients are charged $750,000 for a transplant, and that at an average 3.3 organs, that is more than $2 million per body. The last time I renewed my driver's license, the clerk at the DMV asked if she should check me off as an organ donor. I said no. She looked at me and asked again. I said, "No. Just check the box that says, 'I am a heartless, selfish bastard.'" Becoming an organ donor seems like a win-win situation. Some 3.3 people on the transplant waiting list will have their lives extended by your gift (3.3 is the average yield of solid organs per donor). You're a hero, and at no real cost, apparently. But what are you giving up when you check the donor box on your license? Your organs, of course—but much more. You're also giving up your right to informed consent. Doctors don't have to tell you or your relatives what they will do to your body during an organ harvest operation because you'll be dead, with no legal rights. The most likely donors are victims of head trauma (from, say, a car or motorcycle accident), spontaneous bleeding in the head, or an aneurysm—patients who can be ruled dead based on brain-death criteria. But brain deaths are estimated to be just around 1% of the total. Everyone else dies from failure of the heart, circulation and breathing, which leads the organs to deteriorate quickly. The current criteria on brain death were set by a Harvard Medical School committee in 1968, at a time when organ transplantation was making great strides. In 1981, the Uniform Determination of Death Act made brain death a legal form of death in all 50 states. | |
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Sputnik
2015-08-14 15:05:00
It has taken Russia and China some time, but in two decades they have learned how to counter "Washington's fifth column," an array of NGOs the US supports to destabilize Moscow and Beijing and force them to accept America's hegemony, a French media outlet reported. Washington's fifth column is sponsored by the US State Department and a multitude of private American organizations. It has been quite successful in some countries: it instigated color revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine, Boulevard Voltaire noted. Russians, according to the media outlet, are largely immune to the efforts of these organizations and the lies they spread. Some 89 percent of Russian citizens support President Vladimir Putin and his policies. | |
Comment: The elite's geopolitical warfare in the guise of colour revolutions is getting more exposure thus helping countries see the threat and learn how to prevent it's deadly effects.
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Sputnik
2015-08-14 14:56:00
Following its reunification with Russia, Crimea and Sevastopol were hit by Western economic restrictions. These sanctions hindered economic relations with Crimea, banning the export of agricultural goods, technologies and services. "If we speak about plants, then there is the delivery of plants from Italy and France that continue the supplies despite any sanctions," Polishchuk said at a press conference. He added that the Crimean agriculture sector had purchased agricultural equipment and supplies from European companies. | |
Comment: Looks like European companies have had enough of this silly sanctions game the US is forcing on Europe to no avail. European Parliament is also questioning the US position on Crimea.
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Sputnik
2015-08-14 14:42:00
A Polish member of the European Parliament wants to visit Crimea, taking a cue from a delegation of French MPs who last month visited the Black Sea peninsula. Janusz Korwin-Mikke said he wanted to discuss his plan to visit Crimea with other members of his right-wing party Coalition for the Renewal of the Republic - Freedom and Hope, which he established earlier this year after a conflict with his former party, Congress of the New Right (Nowa Prawica). | |
Comment: With more European Parliament members visiting Crimea and learning for themselves what went on there can help reduce believing in US rhetoric on Russia and Ukraine.
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Dahr Jamail
Truthout 2015-08-10 00:00:00
A dozen years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, that country, now effectively another Middle East failed state, remains a bloody, chaotic symbol of the failed US imperial project. Margaret Griffis, a journalist who has been covering casualty numbers in Iraq since 2006 for Antiwar.com, has published these recent headlines that give one an idea of how life is in today's Iraq: "Mass Executions Terrorize Mosul; 141 Killed in Iraq" "132 Killed across Iraq as Airstrikes Continue" "At Least 4,693 Killed across Iraq in July" "154 Killed in Iraq, including Dozens of Displaced Children" "Mass Grave Unearthed in Mosul; 194 Killed across Iraq" | |
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Huffington Post
2015-08-13 23:40:00
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spent the past month slamming the U.S.'s proposed nuclear deal with Iran. But even Israel's President Reuven Rivlin is calling on Bibi to tone down his rhetoric, for fears he's damaging U.S.-Israeli relations. | |
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South Front
2015-08-13 22:38:00
Moldova, a small country with strong ties to Russia, is an important component of the ongoing developments in Eastern Europe. Since the collapse of the USSR, the US and the European Union have been increasing their influence in Moldova by supporting political parties and social movements, encouraging Chisinau's participation in their trade blocs, or boosting security cooperation with it in their military alliances. Additionally, in 1992 Transnistria practically broke away from Moldova and has since administered itself as an independent territory. An important feature of the stability of the territory is a Russian peacekeeping mission located there. In this case Moldavian elites shifted between Russia and the West till 2009 to get the best terms for themselves.
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Comment: There is no such thing as national sovereignty. The politics of those countries unfortunate enough not to be empires is pretty much entirely a matter of selling themselves to the highest bidder (i.e., the U.S./EU), or struggling against the grain and meeting defeat. Whether Ukraine or Moldova, the U.S. tends to get its way, or kill thousands trying.
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| Society's Child |
What follows is a report from a resident of Aleppo whose identity is not revealed for reasons of security. Their reports delve deep into the terrorist underworld and expose many of the NGO and media narratives, as propaganda and hypocrisy. We are thankful to these brave, courageous people who bring us the truth from inside Syria, without them we would still be in the dark as to the extent of the terror they are forced to endure day after night at the hands of the US alliance funded and armed mercenary brigades. | |
Comment: The people always suffer in the geopolitical games of the psychopaths. For more analysis on the Syrian situation: Interview with General (Ret.) Amine Htaite of the Lebanese Armed Forces on Syria.
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RT
2015-08-13 19:38:00
Private phone companies are making a pretty penny by nickel-and-diming prison inmates and their families, sometimes to the tune of $2 a minute for in-state phone calls. Yet the exorbitant fees keep taxpayers from footing the bill. The prison phone industry has been booming since the 1990s. It's grown to a $1.2 billion-a-year industry dominated by a few private companies, as people made some 500 million calls totaling more than six billion minutes both to and from prisons and jails in 2014 alone, the New York Times reported. RT's Lindsay France called Global Tel*Link (GTL), which contracts with Los Angeles County, to set up an account to call a fictional friend at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility. "The nice lady on the phone told me that first off, I'd be hit with a nearly $5 sign-up fee, a possible service fee, possible facilities fee depending on where I wanted to call into," France said. "And when my fictional friend or loved one gets out and I ask for a refund on the money left inside my account, I get hit with a fee then too." On top of those fees, France learned that there was no way to determine the per-minute rate of a call until it had been made and paid for. | |
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Lou Colagiovanni
The Anti Media 2015-08-13 18:59:00
Two Lee's Summit, Missouri parents have found themselves in hot water for having a swing set for their children on their property. The Stout family is facing sanctions, fines, and possibly even jail time. Leading the charge against the family—which has been ongoing for over a year—is the most dubious of opponents: The Raintree Lake Neighborhood Homeowner's Association. The claim against the family swing set is that it infringed on HOA guidelines, which specifically state that play equipment must be "subdued and within harmony with other colors of the community." Let's note, for the record, that the definition of "harmony" is suspiciously missing from the HOA's guidelines. Marla Stout, speaking for her family, said the dispute originally began over the color of the swing set, which was red. That color was deemed not in "harmony" by the HOA, and the Stout family was fined. They fought the HOA on that charge and the decision was reversed. | |
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Scott McFetridge
AP 2015-08-13 19:27:00
Food banks across the country are seeing a rising demand for free groceries despite the growing economy, leading some charities to reduce the amount of food they offer each family. U.S. food banks are expected to give away about 4 billion pounds of food this year, more than double the amount provided a decade ago, according to Feeding America, the nation's primary food bank network. The group gave away 3.8 billion in 2013. While reliance on food banks exploded when the economy tanked in 2008, groups said demand continues to rise year after year, leaving them scrambling to find more food. "We get lines of people every day, starting at 6:30 in the morning," said Sheila Moore, who oversees food distribution at The Storehouse, the largest pantry in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and one where food distribution has climbed 15 percent in the past year. | |
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RT
2015-08-12 17:19:00
An opera singer from Slovenia was performing Schubert while undergoing a brain cancer surgery in a Dutch clinic, later posting the video from the operating room online. The doctors at the University Medical Center Utrecht asked Ambroz Bajec-Lapajne to sing in order to monitor his ability to vocalize and recognize the key change during the brain tumor surgery. The tenor opted for 'Gute Nacht' (Good Night) by Austrian 19th century composer, Franz Peter Schubert, performing the opening and the final couplets from the song. The doctors were clearly impressed by the young man's talent.
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RT
2015-08-13 17:14:00
As Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton turns over her private email server to the FBI, a new poll shows that just over half of registered voters want to see a criminal investigation over the incident. The Democratic frontrunner has been embroiled in controversy ever since it was revealed that she used a private server to conduct government business during her four years as secretary of state. Just this week, the intelligence community inspector general said that several emails stored on the server featured classified information. Clinton's use of a private server is particularly controversial because of the possibility that foreign hackers could have snooped on the emails. According to a new poll, registered voters don't necessarily suspect malicious intent behind Clinton's email use, but the majority still want a thorough accounting of the data stored on the server. "Even though most voters feel Clinton's intentions may have been acceptable, a majority (52%) say that her emails should be subject to a criminal investigation for the potential release of classified material," a poll conducted by Monmouth University. Forty-one percent said the emails shouldn't be looked into. | |
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Globe Gazette
2015-08-11 16:54:00
Children who read books to a local barber have received a free haircut as part of a community event in Dubuque to help families prepare for the upcoming school year. Barber Courtney Holmes traded the tales for trims on Saturday during the second annual Back to School Bash in Comiskey Park. Tayshawn Kirby, 9, of Dubuque, read from "Fats, Oils and Sweets," by Carol Parenzan Smalley, informing Holmes that the average person eats 150 pounds of sugar each year. Before Tayshawn's 10-year-old brother, Titan Feeney, took his turn in the barber chair, he told his brother the new look was great. "I just want to support kids reading," Holmes said. | |
Comment: Paying for a service in a currency other than fiat paper, what a 'novel' idea!
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RT
2015-08-13 17:05:00
The governor of Illinois signed a sweeping police reform law which establishes wide-ranging rules for body cameras, largely prohibits chokeholds, introduces bias-free policing, and demands more data collection on arrests. The measure, dubbed the Police and Community Improvement Act, is a compilation of 200 separate pieces of legislation intended to reform policing practices. It passed by a wide margin in the House and Senate and was signed into law on Wednesday by Governor Bruce Rauner. "Illinois has set the standard, set the standard nationally," State Senator Kawame Raoul, a Chicago Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill, said a press conference, according to the AP. The 174-page measure largely prohibits chokeholds except when deadly force is necessary. Deadly force is warranted under Illinois Criminal Code, 2012, article 7 when officers need to defend themselves or another person, or to protect property. Comment: That's basically a loophole to allow police to use deadly force. Eric Garner was killed by a chokehold and all he did was argue with police, but apparently even an argument is sufficient to invoke the deadly force excuse. The law also adds training guidelines to help officers become more aware of bias and achieve cultural competency. | |
Comment: Since the governor appears to want to get tough on police brutality and overall police accountability, perhaps he would like to do something about the ongoing torture center operating in Chicago for the last ten years:
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RT
2015-08-14 17:00:00
Whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who is serving a 35-year sentence for leaking thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks, faces indefinite solitary confinement after being charged with possessing prohibited materials in prison, according to her lawyer. Prison officials have brought four charges against Manning including disorderly conduct, possession of prohibited property, misusing medicine, and being disrespectful, according to a document posted on freechelsea.com, a Chelsea Manning support group website. Specifically, the charges involve four incidents. The disorderly conduct charge stems from an incident when she allegedly swept some food onto the floor and asked to speak to her lawyer when confronted by a guard. She is also accused of having books and magazines in her cell, and being in possession of a tube of toothpaste past its expiration date.
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Comment: The charges are ridiculous, and point to the high likelihood that Chelsea is being punished not for the offenses given, but for blowing the whistle on government surveillance.
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RT
2015-08-14 16:51:00
A public outcry has been raised after Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova's autistic younger sister was kicked out of a cafe in Nizhny Novgorod. The manager, who ordered her out to avoid "scaring off customers," now faces criminal charges. According to a Facebook post by Natalia Vodianova on Wednesday, her 27-year-old sister, Oksana Vodianova, who suffers from Kanner's syndrome and cerebral palsy, entered the cafe in her hometown of Nizhny Novgorod with her nurse. Instead of a hot chocolate, ordered by the nurse for Oksana, the cafe's manager came out and demanded that Oksana leave immediately. "Get out, will you," Natalia Vodianova reported the manager as saying. "You're scaring off all our customers. Go and get some treatment, cure your child. And then come to a public place." The nurse tried to explain that Oksana is a person with special needs, that she just needed to sit awhile and would quietly leave, but the manager called security to force the two women to leave. A security guard threatened to "call the nuthouse, call an ambulance" and even to lock them in the cellar.
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Sputnik News
2015-08-14 15:24:00
Western countries account for three quarters of the world's total debt, the website Alles Schall und Rauch wrote. The West accounts for about 75% of the world's total debt, while Russia's share is only 0.49%. The exact amount of the world's total debt is 60 trillion dollars. The statistics do not take into account the private debts of the population and enterprises, as well as planned payments for social benefits. | |
Comment: This system of debt is weaponized, in order to keep everyone in the West in line:
The Greek coup: Liquidity as a weapon of coercion | |
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Joshua Krause
Natural Blaze 2015-08-14 00:00:00
Ever since the EPA accidentally dumped 3 million gallons of toxic mine water into the Animas River, Colorado authorities have been keen on reopening the river for public use as soon as possible. The river is a significant source of tourist income in the region, and they don't want the toxic spill to put a damper on their summer. Governor John Hickenlooper is one of those authorities, and he's determined to prove that everything is back to normal. So on Tuesday, after being given the challenge by the Durango Herald, he decided to take a big gulp of river water for the cameras. After 24 hours, he reported that he was still in perfect health. However, that hardly proves that the river is safe, at least in the long-term. Granted, the EPA has tested the water and found that its toxicity has returned to pre-spill levels, but all of this is based on only a few days of water testing, which hardly enough time to draw a proper conclusion. Even the EPA admitted that during a recent public meeting between themselves and the Governor. | |
Comment: These bureaucrats seem to be more concerned with burying the news of this spill to facilitate the return of tourism, so aren't likely to inform the public of the real dangers. These toxins may persist in the environment and could have serious health consequences for those who are exposed to the river water. Heavy metals act as free radicals in the body, causing cellular damage, resulting in rapid aging and depletion of the body's natural capacities to heal itself, aggravating disease. Heavy metals slowly accumulate in the kidneys, liver, pancreas, bones, central nervous system and brain where they degrade health without being noticed or diagnosed.
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Jim Hoft
Gateway Pundit 2015-08-12 08:09:00
Last Wednesday, a small EPA-supervised work crew inspecting the Gold King mineaccidentally knocked a hole in a waste pit, releasing at least three million gallons of acidic liquid laden with toxic heavy metals. (ABC) This letter to editor, posted below, and written by Dave Taylor, from Farmington, New Mexico, was published in The Silverton Standard and The Miner local newspaper, authored by a retired geologist, one week before EPA mine spill. The letter detailed verbatim, how EPA officials would foul up the Animas River on purpose in order to secure superfund money. If the Gold King mine was declared a superfund site it would essentially kill future development for the mining industry in the area. The Obama EPA is vehemently opposed to mining and development. The EPA pushed for nearly 25 years, to apply its Superfund program to the Gold King mine. If a leak occurred the EPA would then receive superfund status. That is exactly what happened. The EPA today admitted they misjudged the pressure in the gold mine before the spill - just as this editorial predicted. The letter was included in their print edition on July 30, 2015. The spill occurred one week later. | |
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Maria Karnaukh
Russia Beyond The Headlines 2015-08-10 15:53:00
Sanctions against European food products are putting Russian farmers in the Kremlin's spotlight. Government grants to help farmers set up in business are growing. | |
Comment: Things are looking up for the small time Russian farmer.
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Roger Annis
Counterpunch 2015-08-12 02:06:00
The people of Ukraine are finding new and innovative ways to avoid compulsory military service and the vigilante military recruiters who enforce it. Deepening resistance to the draconian measure is now a significant impediment to the very prosecution of the war. Battle over public spaces Recruiters are routinely raiding public spaces to hunt down and grab men of conscription age (20-26) who fail to answer the call to war. They block exits to shopping centers, transit vehicles, parks and other public spaces and then conduct identification checks. Those found to have dodged service or whose call-up dates are approaching are hauled away or given strict instructions of when and where to report for duty. Vesti.com reports on the new phenomenon by Ukrainians of creating online maps to mark the public places where recruiters commonly hunt. Men and their families use the maps as a guide to public spaces to avoid. The first map appeared in the city of Dniepropetrovsk, reports Vesti. The phenomenon has quickly spread across the country. The maps are constantly updated. One such project uses Google Maps and calls itself "Hot Dances". "Before you go to a local shop, first check whether there is a patrol on your way, otherwise you may soon find yourself in the trenches of Donbass," reads the instruction accompanying one of the regional maps. Vesti also reports that people are using online social networks to inform on the locations and activities of the recruiters. It cites several such reports from Dniepetropetrovsk. "They captured young men at the entrance to the Orbit supermarket near the UMZ machine-building factory," says one report. "Twice they blocked the exits from the Caravan shopping center," reports another. One report has triggered a wave of jokes in Ukraine about the 'yellow submarine' being employed by the military. Referring to the famous song by The Beatles of the same name, the joke was sparked by a social network report that announced, "On July 23, they arrived at a local beach on a yellow catamaran and began to hand out military draft call-up notices." | |
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