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Sputnik News
2016-02-27 12:12:00
If NATO hadn't ruined Yugoslavia, the country would be on par with major European powers, US political analyst Phil Butler notes, adding that the dismantling of Yugoslavia was part of the West's bigger plan to convert potential rivals into Third World regions. Post-World War II socialist Yugoslavia was something of a European success story and it was that prosperity that prompted the Western political establishment to seek the country's dismantling, US political analyst Phil Butler emphasizes. "Can you imagine Europe today with Yugoslavia as a key player among nations? I can. Yugoslavia was in fact, one of the greatest cultural and human experiments in history. Formed in the crucible that was the conflict in between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, Yugoslavia melded together people of both cultures, and in ways not seen since the time of Alexander the Great's assimilation of peoples after immense conquest," Butler writes in his article for New Eastern Outlook. The political analyst underscores that the state was built on an idea that Southern Slavs should not remain a weak and divided people. | |
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TASS
2016-02-27 21:21:00
Ukraine's forces shelled from mortars the territory of the airport and Volvo Center in the northern suburb of Donetsk overnight, a source in law enforcement agencies of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic said on Saturday. "At around 10.30 p.m. Ukrainian forces opened fire from mortars with the calibers of 82 and 120 mm on the territory of the airport. Simultaneously, the forces began shelling the area of Volvo Center," the source said. The shelling was carried out from the positions in the villages Pesky and Opytnoye. Kiev forces also used grenade launchers and small arms, he added. | |
Comment: Further reading:
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RT
2016-02-27 15:15:00
Up to 45 people are feared killed in Sanaa, Yemen, after airstrikes reportedly carried out by the Saudi-led Arab coalition hit a market in the northeast of the city. There have been conflicting reports regarding the number of casualties. At least 30 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the airstrikes that targeted Shiite fighters but hit a market area in the Nihm district near the capital, AP reported, citing Yemeni security officials.Body parts were strewn across the area, said officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. About 45 civilians were killed in the market, Xinhua news agency reported, citing residents. "Several Saudi-led airstrikes directly struck people gathered in a crowded market in Nehm district of Sanaa province and killed about 45 civilians while 50 others were injured at the scene," a resident in Sanaa told Xinhua by phone. Reuters reported 40 deaths and 30 wounded, citing locals. Arab coalition forces led by Saudi Arabia have been fighting Houthi forces in Yemen, who are allied with Iran. Backing Yemeni government forces, the coalition has been providing air support for troops involved in fierce confrontations on the ground with Shiite Houthi fighters in a number of areas in and near Sanaa.
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Comment: A year has gone by and the European Parliament is just getting around to a formal arms embargo against Saudi Arabia. Over 6,400 killed while they twiddled their thumbs and pondered whether arms sales were too lucrative to give up. What happened to humanitarian law and the EU's binding code to not export arms to countries in violation. Saudi Arabia is in violation.
See also: Clueless Cameron: 'Bril' UK arms deal meanwhile EU embargoes Saudi Arabia | ||
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RT
2016-02-27 20:35:00
Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, has lashed out at remarks recently made by the US State Department's deputy spokesman, who urged Russia to "put up or shut up" over Syria's truce, calling them rude and offensive. Mark Toner made the remarks on Friday, stating Washington had received assurances from Moscow that it's ready to stop bombing the so-called "moderate opposition," as is called for by the landmark ceasefire deal reached between the two sides earlier this week. "I don't know how to put it any better than saying: 'It's put up or shut up time,'" Toner told reporters, adding it was time for Russia to demonstrate through actions, rather than words, that it is committed to the ceasefire plan for Syria. | |
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RT
2016-02-27 20:25:00
The anti-Serbian opposition failed to thwart a presidential vote in Kosovo's Parliament, where MPs elected the province's fourth leader. Opposing lawmakers threw tear gas canisters, decrying the president elect's intent to expand powers for ethnic Serbs. Scoring 71 votes in a 120-seat parliament, Foreign Minister Hashim Thaci, who had also served as prime minister, is now replacing Atifete Jahjaga as head of the breakaway province. "I will always work to serve the country, all its citizens and respect the constitution," Thaci reportedly told the parliament after the vote. Thaci's election has been, as expected, plagued by attacks by opposition parties, as well as mass protests outside the Parliament in Pristina. | |
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Matthew Allen
Russia Insider 2016-02-27 19:55:00
Hungary's outspoken prime minister says billionaire 'activist' George Soros is using the current refugee crisis to attack the 'traditional European lifestyle' Billionaire "democracy promoter" and certified slimebag George Soros uses every opportunity to accuse Putin of (magically) creating the Syrian refugee crisis, as part of his so-called master scheme to "destabilize Europe". But not everyone is on board with George's claptrap. Hungary's prime minister, Victor Orban, blames Soros for the crisis: | |
Comment: More than a creep: Soros exhibits all the traits of psychopathy. See more:
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RT
2016-02-27 19:20:00
Ukraine is training a special unit to help Kiev retake Crimea, the country's Interior Minister said, as President Poroshenko mulls building up its military along the peninsula's borders. In Crimea, officials warn the "unlawful" invasion would be repelled. "We have nothing. We need a new army, a new National Guard, a new police force. This is what the government of Ukraine is working on right now. We must restore all of this, and then, with enough will, Crimea will be ours," Arsen Avakov, Ukraine's Interior Minister, told the Ukrainian 1+1 TV Channel, asserting, "I have no doubt of that." | |
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RT
2016-02-27 05:14:00
Kurdish authorities say that, with the help of the US - led coalition, they are investigating yet another supposed chemical attack conducted by Islamic State militants (IS, former ISIS,ISIL) against Kurdish militia fighters in Iraq. Dozens of civilians and fighters in the Sinjar area suffered from nausea and vomiting after self-made missiles were fired at them on February 25, the Kurdistan Region Security Council claimed on its Twitter account. The shells supposedly contained a chemical substance that caused the symptoms, it added. The council is working on an investigation in cooperation with the US-led International Coalition for Operation Inherent Resolve, it said. The substance used in the rockets is suspected to be chlorine, a lethal agent dating back to World War I, secretary general of the Peshmerga, Jabbar Yawar, told Reuters. The use of poison and poisonous weapons in warfare was prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1997. "If confirmed this will be eighth ISIL weaponized chemical attack against Peshmerga. ISIL tactics continue to become more sophisticated," the Kurdish authority said. This is not the first time Kurdish authorities have blamed IS for resorting to the use of chemical weapons, such as chlorine and mustard gas. The news comes as the Iraqi militia discovered two sites with substantial stocks of plastic canisters containing Vinyltrichlorosilane (designated as "Corrosive" UN 1305) in central Iraq,not far from the city of Ramadi - a territory which was controlled by IS a short while ago. Some of the canisters were empty, meaning that they had probably already been used by the jihadists. | |
Comment: Islamic State is an organization that prides itself in creating shock and outrage, so the use of illegal chemical weapons fits with its equation as another dramatic means of death and torture that will hit the news headlines and hype fear. See also:
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RT
2016-02-27 18:59:00
The Syria truce coordinating center has detected shelling of residential areas in Damascus carried out by terror groups, said Sergey Kuralenko, the head of the center launched by Moscow at Khemim airbase earlier in the week. Over 20 blasts were registered earlier Saturday over a period of five hours, Kuralenko said. The information on the shelling was immediately passed to the US coordination center in Amman, the military said, RIA Novosti reported. | |
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South Front
2016-02-27 18:04:00
Russia Defense Report - Feb. 27, 2016: Russian Military Advisers in Syria
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Brad Hoff
Levant Report 2016-02-25 17:47:00
IT IS NO SECRET that Saudi Arabia, along with its Gulf and Western allies, has played a direct rolein fueling the fires of grinding sectarian conflict that has kept Syria burning for the past five years. It is also no secret that Russian intervention has radically altered the kingdom's "regime change" calculus in effect since at least 2011. But an internal Saudi government cable sheds new light on the kingdom's current threats of military escalation in Syria. Overthrow the Regime "by all means available" A WikiLeaks cable released as part of "The Saudi Cables" in the summer of 2015, now fully translated here for the first time, reveals what the Saudis feared most in the early years of the war: Russian military intervention and Syrian retaliation. These fears were such that the kingdom directed its media "not to oppose Russian figures and to avoid insulting them" at the time. | |
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RT
2016-02-27 17:34:00
Russia's military have stopped all airstrikes on those areas and armed groups which joined the ceasefire in Syria, the General Staff has said at a briefing. "Russia has fully stopped carrying out airstrikes in "the green zone" - those areas and armed units that have sent us requests for a ceasefire," the chief of the main operations department of the Russian General Staff, Sergey Rudskoy, has told reporters. The Syrian army and 17 armed units have pledged to abide by the ceasefire, he added. "On February 23, the Syrian army declared that they have agreed to stop military action, in accordance with the US-Russia deal. Seventeen armed units addressed the command of the Hmeimim air base, and signed the application sheets, also pledging to respect the ceasefire," Rudskoy said. Seventy Russian drones will be monitoring the ceasefire, it's been announced. | |
Comment: As a result of negotiations, the Syrian Army also was given control of three towns. On the humanitarian side, 2.5 tons of aid were delivered to areas in Homs and Latakia that signed the ceasefire agreement. You can watch the full press briefing below:
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Sputnik
2016-02-27 04:13:00
Militant groups in alliance with al-Nusra Front, which is excluded from the ceasefire agreement in force in Syria, have opened fire in civilian areas of Aleppo and Homs, a militia source told RIA Novosti on Saturday. The ceasefire took effect at midnight on Saturday, Damascus time (22:00 GMT on Friday). It does not apply to terrorist groups operating in the country, such as Islamic State (ISIL) and Nusra Front. "The militants opened mortar fire in the Sheikh, Ashrafiyeh and Kurdish neighbourhoods of Aleppo. The shelling was conducted from the Bin Ziyad area, which is where groups that do not agree with the truce are located. Shelling from their side started right after midnight," the source said, adding that in Homs "militants opened fire on [Syrian] army positions." According to the source, the militants are from the Liwa al-Sultan Murad group which has refused to comply with the ceasefire because of its alliance with al-Nusra Front. Liwa al-Sultan Murad controls one of Aleppo's central areas called Bustan al-Pasha. Russia and the United States reached an agreement on the ceasefire in Syria on February 22. The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing the Russia-US agreement on the cessation of hostilities in Syria on Friday. According to UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura,97 armed groups in Syria, plus the government and all the major regional and international stakeholders have expressed willingness to accept the framework of the cessation of hostilities. | |
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Joachim Hagopian
Sott.net 2016-02-27 00:00:00
As of this Saturday February 27th a peace proposal brokered by Russia and the United States is scheduled to take effect in Syria for one week. But if last Monday both the US and Russian presidentsexpressed hopeful optimism that the war in Syria might be coming to an end this Saturday, then why on Tuesday would Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain issue warnings to all its citizens in Lebanon to immediately evacuate as well as impose a travel ban to Lebanon. Beirut, Lebanon is located only 54 miles from Syria's capital Damascus. Hence, an invasion force through Lebanon seems a most plausible avenue given this scant piece of turf separating invading forces from their eyed prize - an overthrow of Assad. To add weight to the high probability that neither US ally Turkey nor Saudi Arabia has any intention of complying with the truce, on Thursday Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu stated: The Turkish leader in so many words is telling the world that the ceasefire only applies to Syria, not other nations like Turkey, Saudi Arabia or for that matter their 34-nation Sunni Arab coalitionsupplying 350,000 soldiers currently prepping in northern Saudi Arabia for the already declared Syrian invasion. The Machiavellian strategy of pure deception and attempted stealth deployed by a litany of US Empire lies and false flags would cunningly sign a truce just as its Arab allies pre-position themselves to move forward with a massive invasion by the Saudi-led Arab Antiterrorism Coalition (a misnomer if there ever was one) to invade Syria from all directions. This presentation examines the realistic and probable underlying plans still in place yet transparently masked by America's so called truce starting Saturday that the US will likely still permit its proxy nation allies Turkey and Saudi Arabia to spearhead their invasion of Syria already announced two week ago. It's the old "good cop-bad cop" strategy. While Empire signs agreements for peace, its bloodthirsty allies are lustfully preparing for war. | |
Comment: For an in-depth discussion of these developments, be sure to tune in to SOTT Radio:The Truth Perspective: Syrian Ceasefire - How Long Will It Last? Today at 2pm EST.
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Sputnik
2016-02-27 16:55:00
Despite a tentative ceasefire and truce negotiations being discussed by groups across Syria, terrorist groups not party to the ceasefire continued their attacks on Saturday, primarily aimed at civilians. Although the Russian-US negotiated ceasefire largely held on its first day, a series of blasts occurred across Syria by terrorist groups not party to the negotiations. In Damascus, the Jaysh al-Islam group, linked to al-Nusra Front and not subject to the ceasefire, shelled residential areas. Another group not subject to the ceasefire, Ahrar al-Sham, is also active in the area. | |
Comment: The peace and quiet in Syria, though very much deserved, was short-lived thanks to these psychopaths. But of course this is exactly what was expected. As a Syrian officer stated, "In some areas there may be a ceasefire, but in most of Aleppo and surrounding countryside, it's Al-Nusra and ISIS, and we won't stop fighting until we get rid of them."
Also see: More reports of today's terrorist attacks in Syria: | |
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Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture Foundation 2016-02-25 14:00:00
Britain will make a once-in-a-lifetime decision in the coming months on whether to leave the European Union. Both Washington and Moscow have a lot at stake. While the US needs Britain to remain within the EU in order to do its bidding, Russia's interests might be better served by a historic split. The referendum on the so-called 'Brexit' is to take place on June 23. It follows Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron announcing a reform package hammered out with other European leaders last week. Cameron is endorsing EU membership, claiming that his reforms have given Britons the 'best of both worlds' - that is, a measure of national independence while retaining economic benefits from being still part of the EU bloc. The last time Britain held a similar referendum was back in 1975, when a strong majority voted in favor of remaining in the then 12-member European Economic Community (EEC). Four decades on, the EEC has transformed enormously to become the European Union of 28 member states, with a single currency for most of those members and a series of treaties that enshrine a project for federal political union. Cameron's reforms have secured a British opt-out from the federal project of 'ever closer union' as well as limited curbs on EU migrants' social welfare rights. | |
Comment: See also: Fear the Brexit: Why the American Empire needs the UK to stay in the EU
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Hamilton Nolan
Gawker 2016-02-27 17:35:00
At the end of March, 22 states will begin imposing work requirements on people who want food stamps. Hundreds of thousands of people will likely lose their food aid. The Wall Street Journal reports that starting on April 1, all of those states plan to reinstate a rule that had been set aside after the financial crisis led to mass unemployment: that adults with no dependents or disabilities are limited to "three months of food stamps in any three-year period—unless they work at least 80 hours a month, or meet education and training or volunteer benchmarks." Food stamps, by the way, are a government program that works extremely well. If people are unable to find a job, it is cruel to force them to starve, and it is foolish to make a poor, unemployed, hungry person sit through classes that will not directly lead to a job, or spend their time volunteering, for no income, simply so they can have food to eat, but no money or free time to obtain it. The likely outcome of reinstating these rules: This is the human cost of all of those years of right-wing rhetoric about fairy tale "welfare queens" ripping off the system. That rhetoric was used only for momentary political gain. But it engendered a deep belief in certain parts of the public that even food is too gracious of a gift for our poorest citizens.So now, hundreds of thousands of people will go hungry, so that some other, smaller number of better-off people can believe that they are not being ripped off by people they do not know and will never see. Congratulations. | |
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RT
2016-02-27 03:49:00
Multiple cases of male corrections officers sexual abusing female prisoners were brought to light in a class action suit filed against the New York Department of Corrections, which alleges a "culture of indifference" has allowed sexual abuse to flourish. "Staff sexual abuse is a serious problem in New York's women's prisons," said Veronica Vela, staff attorney with The Legal Aid Society's Prisoners' Rights Project, in a released statement. The lawsuit describes cases of alleged sexual intercourse, harassment, and abuse in the three all-women's prisons operated by the department: the Bedford Hills, Taconic and Albion correctional facilities. | |
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Lea Vat Kens
Politicalo.com 2016-02-26 20:37:00
Another Republican lawmaker suggested women and girls are unlikely to become pregnant from rape or incest. Idaho State Rep. Pete Nielson (R-Mountain Home) spoke up during a legislative hearing Thursday to decide whether abortion providers should be required to give patients a list of facilities that offer free ultrasounds, reported The Spokesman-Review. Nielson expressed his doubts that post-rape pregnancies were medically possible. "Now, I'm of the understanding that in many cases of rape it does not involve any pregnancy because of the trauma of the incident," Nielson said. "Therefore, it is a logical conclusion that any woman who got pregnant after such a despicable and gruesome act must have, in fact, enjoyed it even on a small scale, which eventually led to the obvious consequences. Now, I don't have a problem with women who make a mistake and then regret it, but I do mind when people let something happen, pretend that it's disgusting, and then it turns out they lied." | |
Comment: That's obviously, medically, scientifically inaccurate. Where the heck did he get his education, and in the position to make laws?
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Sputnik
2016-02-27 20:34:00
Kurdish women continue to protest Ankara's ongoing atrocities against Kurds in the mainly-Kurdish town of Cizre in Turkey's southeast and elsewhere in the region. Kurdish women will continue to hold protest rallies in Strasbourg against Ankara's ongoing atrocities against Kurds living in the mainly Kurdish town of Cizre in southeastern Turkey's Sirnak province, according to Nursel Kilic, a representative of the Kurdish Women's Movement in Europe. In an interview with Sputnik, Nursel Kilic, who represents the Kurdish Women's Movement in Europe, said that the protests are being held in front of the buildings of the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights. She recalled that in addition to Cizre, the violence shows no sign of abating in other towns throughout southeastern Turkey, where Turkish irregular troops have stepped up their activity. | |
Comment: Erdogan continues to demonstrate his totalitarianism and relentless pursuit for power by murdering innocent Kurds. He and Netanyahu are clearly exchanging notes. See more:
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RT
2016-02-27 11:11:00
A loud explosion has taken place near a police headquarters in the Afghan capital, Kabul, local media reports. At least 12 people are feared to have been killed there - on top of another dozen killed by a suicide bombing in eastern Afghanistan. The explosion occurred hours after a suicide bomber killed at least another 12 people in the eastern province of Kunar. Provincial Governor Wahidullah Kalimzai said the attacker arrived on a motorcycle to the entrance of the government headquarters, and blew himself up. "Most of victims were civilians and children who were either passing by or playing in the park," he told Reuters. No organization immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but tribal elder and militia commander Haji Khan Jan was killed. He had participated in several operations against the Taliban over the last year. Violence in Afghanistan has been escalating since the US-led international coalition withdrew the majority of its troops fighting the Taliban Islamist movement in 2011-14. The US continues to provide the Afghan government with training and logistical assistance, as well as with air support. In October 2015, the US Air Force targeted a hospital in the city of Kunduz operated by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) killing at least 42 people, including 14 MSF staff. According to a UN report, last year the conflict in Afghanistan left more than 3,500 civilians killed and about 7,500 injured. | |
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RT
2016-02-27 19:05:00
Teens in the US state of New Mexico have been officially allowed to keep themselves busy sexting - sending or receiving sexually explicit messages, images through e-means, particularly between cell phones - without fear of paying the price and going to jail. A new bill has legalized sexting between 14 and 17 years old, who willingly send explicit images of themselves to one another. Before it was passed, New Mexico minors could face charges of possessing, distributing and manufacturing child abuse images, if caught sexting. From now on, a pair of youths sharing explicit photos with each other no longer risk facing child pornography charges, prison terms and a criminal record. "Kids will be kids, and they're going to make mistakes," state senator George Muñoz, a Democrat who pressed for an amendment to the child pornography bill. "You can't punish them for the rest of their lifetime with a charge of child pornography... if they're consensually sending photos back and forth," the Guardian quoted him as saying. | |
Comment: No, kids should not be charged for sexting each other. It's just disturbing that kids have become so hypersexualized in this warped society that they feel the need to do it in the first place. What happened to dating? Is that too passé?
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Sputnik
2016-02-27 19:08:00
Many residents of the eastern German state of Saxony are convinced that the only person capable of saving their country from political chaos, the refugee influx and their "corrupt, anti-popular government" is Russian President Putin; actually taking to the streets while chanting an invitation for him to come. Every Monday evening in Dresden, the capital of the the eastern German state of Saxony, thousands gather in front of the city's Opera House mostly in protest of the German government's refugee policies. | |
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Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project 2016-02-27 17:49:00
The US has been dumping so many weapons into the Syrian conflict that there is now an apparent surplus. ISIS has since taken to selling them online. Last year, the Free Thought Project reported on a video, apparently recorded just outside of Aleppo, Syria. The video illustrated just how insane the US "War on Terror" has become. In the video, the U.S. backed, armed, and financed Free Syrian Army, (aka moderate rebels, aka ISIS-linked terrorists) are firing a U.S. supplied anti-tank TOW guided missile. Of course, the 'moderate rebels' firing a US missile is nothing out of the ordinary. However, what makes this U.S. paid for missile so special is that it was fired at what is clearly a U.S. paid for Humvee. | |
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Justin Gardner
The Free Thought Project 2016-02-27 17:26:00
A former Bethel cop who claimed that he "kindly tried to assist" Alaska Native Wassillie Gregory into his cruiser is now facing criminal charges. Andrew Reid, 29, is charged with fourth-degree assault and official misconduct after a video surfaced which shows his treatment of Gregory was anything but kind. "The incident itself provoked outrage from some Bethel residents. Bethel's tribe, Orutsaramiut Native Council, said publicly that it was concerned for community members who felt threatened by police."In the video obtained from a store surveillance camera, Reid can be seen repeatedly picking up and slamming an inebriated Gregory to the concrete before arresting him. Gregory clearly has poor motor control and is pushed away from the cruiser before being tossed around like a sack of potatoes. He sustained a fractured rib and shoulder which needed surgery. | |
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Jay Syrmopoulos
Activist Post 2016-02-27 16:59:00
An uncontrollable radioactive flow from the Indian Point nuclear power plant continues leaking into groundwater, which leads to the Hudson River, raising the specter of a Fukushima-like disaster only 25 miles from New York City. The Indian Point nuclear plant is located on the Hudson River, approximately 25 miles North of NYC, and serves the electrical needs of an estimated 2 million people. Last month, while preparing a reactor for refueling, workers accidentally spilled some contaminated water, containing the radioactive hydrogen isotope tritium, causing a massive radiation spike in groundwater monitoring wells, with one well's radioactivity increasing by as much as 65,000 percent. Entergy, the Louisiana-based company that owns the plant, chalked up the readings to "fluctuations that can be expected as the material migrates." According to Entergy, the tritium contaminated water spill was contained within the plant, and never reached the Hudson or any other water source. | |
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The DailySheeple
2016-02-26 16:35:00
As sad as this story is, it also might restore your faith in humanity a little. Ten-year-old Kiera Larsen died Monday while saving the lives of two toddlers from an out-of-control SUV that was barreling down on them. A 1999 Mercedes parked on a sloping driveway near where the girl and toddlers were playing somehow went into neutral and took off backwards down the slope. Kiera's stepmom had run inside for just a second to grab a car charger. Kiera risked her life pushing the toddlers out of the way but was hit by the SUV and later succumbed to her injuries at the hospital. | |
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There is a growing and disturbing trend of anti-intellectual elitism in American culture. It's the dismissal of science, the arts, and humanities and their replacement by entertainment, self-righteousness, ignorance, and deliberate gullibility. Susan Jacoby, author of The Age of American Unreason, says in an article in theWashington Post,"Dumbness, to paraphrase the late senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, has been steadily defined downward for several decades, by a combination of heretofore irresistible forces. These include the triumph of video culture over print culture; a disjunction between Americans' rising level of formaleducation and their shaky grasp of basic geography, science and history; and the fusion of anti-rationalism with anti-intellectualism." | |
Comment: Professor Patrick Deneen explains how kids have become a generation of know-nothings
We have fallen into the bad and unquestioned habit of thinking that our educational system is broken, but it is working on all cylinders. What our educational system aims to produce is cultural amnesia, a wholesale lack of curiosity, history-less free agents, and educational goals composed of content-free processes and unexamined buzz-words like "critical thinking," "diversity," "ways of knowing," "social justice," and "cultural competence." | |
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Alfons Luna
Once the crucible of youthful rebellion, London's streets have been emptied of punks, skinheads and rude boys by the rise of the Internet, a lack of public spaces and protective parents.Yahoo! News 2016-02-26 00:00:00
"The police used to have to wait at Sloane Square and round up all the punks as they got off the Tube," recalled Westwood in her memoirs. "Once they had about 200 of them, they would escort them in a procession down the King's Road to the shop". | |
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Yurasumy; translated by Julia Rakhmetova and Rhod Mackenzie
Russia Insider 2016-02-27 05:33:00
If you experience it every day, you quickly get used to it; you no longer overreact. Figures turn into statistics and then into history. This history has become so familiar that it no longer surprises anyone, hardly affecting most people. But two years have passed since Ukraine's Euromaidan. In retrospect you start to realize how low the country has fallen during this period. What is the 'European' present, now? Territory and population The Ukraine lost 47,000 sq. km. or 7.2% of its territory. The population officially amounts to 42.7 million people, about 35-36 million without the Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics and citizens who emigrated to Russia. Taking into account whose who left for Europe, we get 33-34 million people. | |
Comment: Further reading:
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Russia Beyond the Headlines
2016-02-27 05:50:00
Russia has delivered nearly 60,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid to southeastern Ukraine since 2014, Russian Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations Sergei Voronov has said. "In the period between August 2014 and now, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry, jointly with interested Russian federal and regional executive authorities, charities and other organizations delivered humanitarian aid to the Donetsk and Luhansk republics," Voronov told the Federation Council Committee of public support for people in southeastern Ukraine on Feb. 25. "In all, to date, we have sent 49 columns of vehicles which delivered over 59,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid," he said. This included food and medications, in particular, he said. | |
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| Secret History |
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RT
2016-02-27 18:56:00
The CIA reportedly came up with some outlandish plots to kill former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, but this could just be the craziest yet. The US National Security Archive published information that Washington tried to give Castro a diving suit contaminated with tuberculosis. The National Security Archive alleges that the US government contacted lawyer James Donovan to conduct secret negotiations with Castro. Given Donavan's connections to the Cuban leader, the CIA believed they could use this to their advantage to try and assassinate Castro. "At some point during Donovan's negotiations with Castro" several officials in the covert operations division "devised a plan to have Donovan be the unwitting purveyor of a diving suit and breathing apparatus, respectively contaminated with Madura foot fungus and tuberculosis bacteria, as a gift for Castro," a passage from the National Security Archive reveals. | |
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| Science & Technology |
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RT
2016-02-26 17:17:00
Teleportation may stay in the realm of science fiction for the foreseeable future, but scientists say that our brains already react favorably to instantaneously being transported across space. In a study published in the journal Neuron on Thursday, neuroscientists from the University of California, Davis studied how the brain would react if it were to be "beamed up" from one place to another using a virtual simulation. When volunteers entered a virtual teleportation device ‒ similar to the ones made famous in the Star Trek franchise ‒ researchers found that that their brains gave off certain "rhythmic oscillations" of electric signals like the ones that a rat brain creates when the animal navigates a maze. | |
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| Earth Changes |
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Strange Sounds
2016-02-26 19:14:00
A biblical beetle invasion has started along the beaches of Mar de Ajó and San Bernardo in Argentina. The strange phenomenon surprised locals and tourists, but the cause of this insect plague remains unexplained.
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Jason Samenow
Washington Post 2016-02-26 18:53:00
Winds blowing over South Korea's Jeju island Thursday gave rise to a chain of magnificent swirling clouds known as von Karman vortex streets. Satellite images show beautiful whirlpool-shaped cloud formations downwind of the island in the East China Sea. The swirls are lined up one after another comprising the so-called "street" in the sky. "[W]hen fluids encounter obstacles, they can form spiral eddies," wrote NASA, in an explanation as to how these vortices form. The obstacle in this case is the volcanic high terrain on Jeju Island which the air flows around, leaving behind an area of low pressure downwind on the island's opposite side, where the air begins spinning counterclockwise forming a vortex. As one vortex forms and moves off to the south, another follows in its wake forming the vortex street. | |
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Volcano Discovery
2016-02-27 16:20:00
Two moderately large explosions occurred at the volcano yesterday noon from 12:12 local time. The first and larger explosion produced an ash plume that rose approx. 5000 meters above the summit. The ash plume dispersed mainly to the west and northwest where ash fall occurred in areas including Choglontús, Pillate, Cahuaji and El Manzano. According to IGEPN, the eruption - which came after a 3 months interval of quiet since last November - was most likely NOT the result of new magma, but instead of accumulated gas pressure in the upper conduit. Magmatic gasses (H2O, CO2 etc) still contained in older magma inside the conduit was being released quietly as the magma continued to cool and crystallize, but most of these gasses were being trapped beneath a solid plug. With time, the gas pressure increased to the critical point: the plug gave way in yesterday's explosions. The explosion itself, a typical so-called "vulcanian"-type eruption, was preceded only by a short (lasting little more than an hour), but intense seismic swarm of shallow earthquakes caused by internal fluid movements and rock fracturing as pressurized gasses started to disintegrate the overlying plug.
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Harriet Mallinson
Daily Mail, UK 2016-02-27 15:29:00
A religious festival went awry when an elephant began picking up vehicles and smashing them. The great creature, named Devidasan, was taking part in a festival at the Bhagavathi Temple in the south Indian state of Kerala on Thursday. However he proved to be at the end of the tether when he started destroying vehicles in his path. He picked up a motorbike with his trunk before proving his herculean strength by grabbing an auto-rickshaw as though it were a toy and smashing it on the ground. Devidasan then turned his violence on a nearby pick-up van, throwing it into the air three times before overturning it on its side. Two mahouts (people who work with elephants) were on the back of the animal throughout the ordeal trying to control him.
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The Moscow Times
2016-02-26 11:15:00
At least four miners were killed after a structural collapse at a coal mine in northern Russia, and the rescue operation was further complicated by a second explosion when emergency workers were trying to reach dozens of miners trapped underground, officials and media reports said Friday. About 110 coal miners were underground at the "Severnaya" coal mine — operated by the Vorkutaugol company in the northern region of Komi — when a seismic jolt caused part of the structure to collapse on Thursday, the regional branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry said in a statement. Shortly before midnight, 80 of the miners had been rescued, the ministry said. Eight of them had suffered injuries. Rescuers have also recovered the bodies of four more miners, while 26 others were listed as missing as of Friday afternoon, according to Russian media reports. About an hour after the initial jolt, when attempts to evacuate workers were already underway, the mine suffered a second "explosion," Vorkutaugol technical director Igor Paykin said, the Interfax news agency reported Friday. The second blast caused additional structural collapses in the mine, stoked a fire, and caused clouds of smoke to fill the mine shaft, Paykin was quoted as saying. "It appears impossible to extinguish it [the fire] through ordinary methods," he said, Interfax reported. "We will look into the option of temporarily isolating the combustion section." | |
Comment: According to Vorkutaugol, the mine's owner, a methane explosion was responsible for the tragedy. The company said:
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TVNZ
2016-02-26 19:25:00
The Sinabung volcano in Indonesia erupted twice yesterday, sending avalanches of smoke as high as 3,000 metres to the east. Authorities were closely monitoring Mount Sinabung on Sumatra, one of Indonesia's main islands, after putting it on the highest alert level in early June 2010. Agus Salihin, a volcanologist at the Sinabung observation post, said the eruption was one of the biggest since early last year. Sinabung volcano has been erupting continually since 2010 after being dormant for 400 years. The Indonesian government said an area as far as 3.5 kilometres away had been declared a high-risk danger zone. The government has set up an evacuation plan for civilians in the area and evacuated everyone in the high-risk danger zone.
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Comment: For more information check out SOTT's Earth Changes Monthly Summaries at the bottom of our front page.
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| Fire in the Sky |
No new articles.
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| Health & Wellness |
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Alex Mckechnie
Drexel University News Blog 2016-02-24 17:08:00
We all have that one snooty friend who is always talking about the ethical reasons for his vegetarianism. Well, now you can prove him wrong. A new book by Andrew Smith, PhD, an assistant professor of philosophy in Drexel's College of Arts and Sciences who specializes in environmental philosophy, makes the case that there isn't a morally defensible argument for vegetarianism, and in fact, you can't even actually be vegetarian. The book, "A Critique of the Moral Defense of Vegetarianism," was released by Palgrave Macmillan this month. Daniel Quinn, author of the award-winning philosophical novel "Ishmael," said of the book: "This is one of the most important books I've read in the past two decades, and I think you'll agree, whether you're vegetarian, vegan or neither. It will change your mind in significant ways (it did mine), and you'll enjoy the process, even if it means relinquishing some assumptions you once considered far too self-evident to be questioned." Himself a vegetarian — if he could be — for 25+ years, Smith draws on the latest research in plant science, systems ecology, environmental philosophy and cultural anthropology to eliminate the distinction between vegetarians and omnivores. He illustrates how the divisions we've constructed between plants and animals, and between omnivorism and vegetarianism, are emblematic of a way of thinking about ourselves and our eating practices that perpetuates an ecocidal worldview—one that destroys the natural environment. | |
Comment: Every argument in favor of vegetarianism (moral/ethical, nutritional, ecological, and spiritual) is simply not true. While many vegetarians are quite well-intentioned, they have been misled to believe a false story. Humans are integrated into the cycle of life and, as such, should eat a diet that nature intended for us; that diet undoubtedly includes meat and animal fat. For more information:
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Phillip Schneider
Prevent Disease 2016-02-26 17:41:00
Anxiety is one of the most commonly reported psychiatric disorders. In an increasingly stressful world, it is ever-more important to know how to remain cool and be able to let go of stress and worry. Not only does stress get in the way of your day to day life, but it also has been linked to shortened telomeres and accelerated aging. If you're having trouble with finding a remedy, here are four ways to combat stress and anxiety naturally. | |
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Rajie Kabli
Collective Evolution 2016-02-26 01:03:00
I'm going to start with one premise: Food is medicine. Everything we put into our bodies has an effect, and we can either support our health or diminish it. There are a number of superfoods out there that have awesome health benefits, like avocados for cancer prevention and blueberries for antioxidants, but what about super supplements? While there are many to choose from, Chlorella in particular is an absolute powerhouse. All natural and completely safe for consumption, it is a freshwater blue-green algae which boosts energy, supports fat loss, improves skin, and helps detox heavy metals like lead and mercury from the body. Chlorella gets it rich green colour because of the high concentration of chlorophyll, and it comes in both powder and pill form, making it easy to include into your routine. I've been taking 4-5 of these little green guys every day since mid-January and I can honestly see and feel a major difference in my health. | |
Comment: Additional information about the benefits of Chlorella:
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Martha Rosenberg
Alternet 2016-02-24 15:40:00
Robert Califf's ties to Big Pharma run deep and the Obama nominee just sailed through the U.S. Senate. It is hard to believe only four senators opposed the confirmation of Robert Califf, who was approved today as the next FDA commissioner. Vocal opponent Bernie Sanders condemned the vote from the campaign trail. But where was Dick Durbin? Where were all the lawmakers who say they care about industry and Wall Street profiteers making money at the expense of public health? Califf, chancellor of clinical and translational research at Duke University until recently, received money from 23 drug companies including the giants like Johnson & Johnson, Lilly, Merck, Schering Plough and GSK according to a disclosure statement on the website of Duke Clinical Research Institute. | |
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Brendan D. Murphy,
Global Freedom Movement 2016-02-23 15:46:00
Paternalism Prevails in the Strange Land of Oz At least two Australian politicians have recently weighed in loudly on the vaccine "debate,"1 with Jill Hennessy MP (Victoria) offering a firm - one might say patronising - word of advice for those who might not know how to direct their own learning process or how to look after their own families: "There's no excuse not to vaccinate your child. | |
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Eleni Roumeliotou
Unlike the popular belief that vaginal birth is the main way to populate a newborn´s body with maternal symbiotic bacteria, seeding actually begins with implantation and pregnancy and is further reinforced with vaginal birth and breastfeeding. A baby is not growing in a perfectly sterile environment until birth, but on the contrary is surrounded and supported by several different bacterial communities throughout pregnancy, which reside in different organs of the mother.Green Med Info 2016-02-09 15:21:00
Before Microbirth- Symbiotic bacteria in pregnancy Alternative health communities praise the benefits of vaginal birth for establishing a health bacterial flora in the body of newborn babies. The documentary "Microbirth" presents up-to-date scientific evidence about the long-lasting health effects that babies reap when delivered as nature intended or during a positive c-section [In a positive c-section, a sterile gauze is inserted into the mother´s vagina for up to an hour and upon surgical delivery is used to wipe the newborn´s body and head, in an effort to simulate vaginal birth and donate maternal bacteria]. Understanding the importance of seeding the baby with maternal symbiotic bacteria should be basic knowledge for doctors, midwives and parents alike because it truly has the potential to improve the health of the future generations. "Microbirth" is a grand and very necessary step into pushing this essential knowledge into mainstream medical practice. | |
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Laura Bliss
The Atlantic 2016-02-12 14:11:00
Flint is the latest outbreak in the country's longest-running child-health epidemic. Roughly 9,000 children under the age of six were exposed to high levels of lead in their drinking water in Flint, Michigan, between April 2014 and October 2015. Thanks to a series of government failures, some of their lives will be forever changed by diminished IQ, damaged hearing, learning disabilities, and possibly increased criminality—the hallmarks of lead poisoning. Sadly, those kids are not alone. Over the past century, tens of millions of children have been poisoned by lead, mainly by its presence in old household paint. And many more will be, thanks to the hundreds of tons of lead paint that remains on the walls of houses, apartment buildings, and workplaces across the United States, decades after a federal ban. Many of the most vulnerable are children living in poor neighborhoods of color. Flint's tragedy is shedding light on a health issue that's been lurking in U.S. households for what seems like forever. But that demands the question: Why has lead poisoning never really been treated like what it is—the longest-lasting childhood-health epidemic in U.S. history? According to a new paper in the Journal of Urban History by David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz, the public-health historians and co-authors of The Politics of Science and the Fate of America's Children, the answer lies at the intersection of politics, class, and race. | |
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Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com 2016-02-26 22:57:00
Scientists have linked physical exercise to brain health for many years. In fact, there's compelling evidence that physical exercise helps build a brain that not only resists shrinkage, but increases cognitive abilities by promoting neurogenesis, i.e. your brain's ability to adapt and grow new brain cells. In essence, physical activity produces biochemical changes that strengthen and renew not only your body but also your brain — particularly areas associated with memory and learning. The converse is also true. Researchers have shown a sedentary lifestyle correlates to brain shrinkage, which increases your risk of memory loss and other cognitive problems. As recently reported by Newsweek: "A new study published ... in Neurology links low levels of physical fitness in midlife to lower brain tissue volume two decades later. These findings affirm the role physical fitness plays in protecting the brain as we age. | |
Comment: The brain also needs adequate nutrition to function optimally, so it is important to maintain a diet that minimizes carbohydrates and includes sufficient quantities of good quality saturated fats, and may also include supplementation with essential nutrients.
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| Science of the Spirit |
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Jeremy Dean
PsyBlog 2016-02-26 00:00:00
Some parents always try to hide their negative emotions and amplify their positive emotions. Parents who always try to put on a happy face for the sake of the children may be doing more harm than good, a new study finds. Hiding negative emotions and exaggerating positive emotions can actually damage parents' well-being, the psychologists found. Parents who tried to be 'perfect' for their children reported lower authenticity, worse relationship quality and were less responsive to their children. | |
Comment: Being afraid to show our true feelings sends a signal to our children that it is not appropriate to express their own emotions, setting the stage for a lifelong habit of squelching their feelings and perhaps causing untold negative effects on their health and well-being.
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| High Strangeness |
No new articles.
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| Don't Panic! Lighten Up! |
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Sputnik
2016-02-27 14:37:00
Russian President Vladimir Putin has personally inspected an array of new armored vehicles designed for the country's special forces. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the president was presented with the hardware after it was inspected by a Federal Security Service panel. | |
Comment: NATO's got nothing on this!
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RT
2016-02-27 14:09:00
A herd of goats have been relieved of their duties in Oregon for failing to live up to the city's grazing expectations. Seventy-five goats were hired from a goat rental company by the city of Salem as a greener and more cost effective way to maintain nine acre Minto-Brown Island Park, which had become overgrown with invasive plants, the Statesman Journal reports. However the goats didn't deliver the expected results: a public works report recently presented to Salem City Council said that the animals ate the offending leaves, but left the brambles which had to be cleared away by a hired, human crew. |
