Philippines: Children Risk Death to Dig and Dive For Gold | Human Rights Watch

Philippines: Children Risk Death to Dig and Dive For Gold | Human Rights Watch

Philippines: Children Risk Death to Dig and Dive For Gold

Enforce Child Labor, Health and Mining Laws 

(Manila) – The Philippine government is failing to protect children who
dig and dive for gold in dangerous small-scale mines, Human Rights Watch
said today in a new report and video, released ahead of Children’s
Month in the Philippines.

The 39-page report, “What…if Something Went Wrong: Hazardous Child Labor in Small-Scale Gold Mining in the Philippines”
documents how thousands of Filipino children – some just 9 years old –
work in illegal, small-scale gold mines, mostly financed by local
businessmen. Children work in unstable 25-meter-deep pits or underwater
along the coastal shore or in rivers, and process gold with mercury, a
toxic metal. In September 2014, a 17-year-old boy suffocated in an
underground mine because there was no machine providing oxygen. The
Philippine government should act on its public commitment to end child
labor in mining, Human Rights Watch said.

 

Can Washington Get a New Military Base in Central Asia? | New Eastern Outlook

Can Washington Get a New Military Base in Central Asia? | New Eastern Outlook

an Washington Get a New Military Base in Central Asia?
The special attention that the United
States has been paying to Central Asia, while actively seeking ways to
implement a strategy of global leadership in the region that is now
fully recognized as the center of Eurasia, has been covered in numerous
articles, including those published in NEO.

According to the geopolitical concept of
the recognized American political scientist Zbigniew Brzezinski: Those
who control Eurasia control the world. Therefore, Washington’s steps to
strengthen American influence in the region in the long run are
completely predictable. The pivotal role in this policy is played by the
US military bases in the region and military cooperation ties. After
all, according to the globalist logics of the White House, American
influence in any region must be supported by the “adequate” military
force. The 9/11 events in the US and the consequent anti-terrorist
intervention in Afghanistan have become a pretext for a major military
deployment of American and NATO troops in Central Asia.

By the way, the ongoing engagement of US
troops in Afghanistan confirms the notion that the presence of US and
NATO forces in this country has little to do with the “struggle for
democracy”. The true purpose of the military intervention in Afghanistan
was the creation of powerful military bases, as the geographical
position of this country is pretty unique in terms of the strategic
freedom it provides. From this area Washington can launch a massive
attack against Russia’s Urals and Siberia, different facilities in
Central Asia, Iran, Pakistan, India and China. For this reason from the
very start of the US invasion of Afghanistan, Shindand and Bagram Air
Bases were transformed into massive construction sites where a large
number of surface and underground facilities being built.

It happens so that for Pentagon Central Asia serves as a base for
applying pressure on Russia, China, Iran and the entire Eurasian
continent, it also plays a pivotal role in the post-conflict settlement
in Afghanistan, since it may form a joint military allience under the
banner of opposition to the Islamic state.
First appeared: http://journal-neo.org/2015/09/30/can-washington-get-a-new-military-base-in-central-asia/

 

Suharto’s Purge, Indonesia’s Silence - The New York Times

Suharto’s Purge, Indonesia’s Silence - The New York Times

Suharto’s Purge, Indonesia’s Silence

 

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the beginning of a mass slaughter in Indonesia.
With American support, more than 500,000 people were murdered by the
Indonesian Army and its civilian death squads. At least 750,000 more
were tortured and sent to concentration camps, many for decades.

The
victims were accused of being “communists,” an umbrella that included
not only members of the legally registered Communist Party, but all
likely opponents of Suharto’s
new military regime — from union members and women’s rights activists
to teachers and the ethnic Chinese. Unlike in Germany, Rwanda or
Cambodia, there have been no trials, no truth-and-reconciliation
commissions, no memorials to the victims. Instead, many perpetrators
still hold power throughout the country.

 

Companies must not profit from blood diamonds | Amnesty International

Companies must not profit from blood diamonds | Amnesty International

CAR: Companies must not profit from blood diamonds 

The Central African Republic’s (CAR) biggest traders have purchased
diamonds worth several million dollars without adequately investigating
whether they financed armed groups responsible for summary executions, rape, enforced disappearances and widespread looting, Amnesty International said in a report published today.

The report, Chains of Abuse: The global diamond supply chain and the case of the Central African Republic, documents several other abuses in the diamond sector, including child labour and tax abuse.

CAR’s
diamond companies could soon start exporting diamonds stockpiled during
the on-going conflict in which 5,000 have died. An export ban in place
since May 2013 will be partially lifted once the government meets
conditions set in July 2015 by the Kimberley Process, which is
responsible for preventing the international trade in blood diamonds.
Before the conflict, diamonds represented half the country’s exports.

 

This 1926 Eugenics Exhibits Sums Up What the Elite Think About You and Your Family

This 1926 Eugenics Exhibits Sums Up What the Elite Think About You and Your Family

 

According to eugenics, “some people are born to be a burden on the rest”.


You see, the eugenics movement — which steadily gained popularity for
the first nearly 40 years of the 20th century and is the direct reason
for forced sterilization laws implemented across America — sought to
“breed out” people the elite that ultimately funded and promoted it (the
Carnegie Institute and the Rockefeller Foundation, etc.) determined
were genetically defective “riff raff” by way of pseudoscience parading
as science.



 

Canada's CBC could be threatened by TPP, journalists warn | bilaterals.org

Canada's CBC could be threatened by TPP, journalists warn | bilaterals.org

Canada’s CBC could be threatened by TPP, journalists warn

Canada’s public broadcaster CBC could be on the chopping block in secret trade talks Wednesday, a journalism union has warned.



“The fate of the CBC could be decided at a trade table far away from
Canada even as this country is caught up in a tight election race,” the
Canadian Media Guild (CMG) said in a statement released ahead of
Wednesday’s Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations.



The latest round of TPP talks are set to take place behind closed
doors in the U.S. city of Atlanta, Georgia. Canada’s trade minister, Ed
Fast, is expected to participate in the negotiations, though details of
the talks themselves are expected to remain secret.



Canadian unionist Martin O’Hanlon urged the government to ensure the CBC is safeguarded.



“The Conservative leader, and every other leader, must tell Canadians
what they know and are planning in regard to the TPP and the future of
CBC – Canada’s major cultural and news organization,” O’Hanlon stated.



The CBC is Canada’s oldest existing broadcast network, but according
to the CMG “WikiLeaks has revealed that the CBC could be on the table”
in TPP talks.



Classified TPP documents published by WikiLeaks in July suggested the
trade deal could force public enterprises like the CBC into
privatization.



In an analysis of the leak commissioned by Wikileaks, Professor Jane
Kelsey from New Zealand’s University of Auckland concluded the TPP could
carve out a “backdoor to privatization” of state enterprises (SOEs).

 

Juan Cole: The Final Collapse of Bush’s Nation-Building: Kunduz Falls to Taliban - Juan Cole - Truthdig

Juan Cole: The Final Collapse of Bush’s Nation-Building: Kunduz Falls to Taliban - Juan Cole - Truthdig

The Final Collapse of Bush’s Nation-Building: Kunduz Falls to Taliban 

 

This post originally ran on Juan Cole’s website.





On Monday, the Taliban swept into the provincial capital of Kunduz,
taking it in half a day from a large and well-equipped Afghan National
Army force.  Tuesday’s riposte had only mixed success, with the ANA
saying it had taken back the (no-empty) prison. An attempt to take back the airport failed,
and when the Taliban captured an ANA tank, the US Air Force had to
intervene to take it out lest it be used to drive an ANA rout.

Those
who want the US to go into Syria in a big way should just consider what
the Kunduz events mean.  Fourteen years after the US went into
Afghanistan, it still has not been able to stand up a successful army to
which it could hope to turn the country over.  How many orphans do the
hawks want to adopt?

During the Athens summer Olympics of 2004,
the Bush administration ran advertisements boasting that it had
liberated 50 million people.  It meant 25 million each in Iraq and
Afghanistan.  Most people in the world, according to opinion polls,
thought Bush had occupied 50 million people.



 

Pas de démocratie environnementale sans accès au juge

Pas de démocratie environnementale sans accès au juge

Pas de démocratie environnementale sans accès au juge

 

La Convention d'Aarhus serait-elle la grande oubliée du quinquennat
Hollande ? Les réformes promises, mais toujours attendues, du Code de
l’Environnement ou du Code Minier, ont été accompagnées d’annonces sur
la démocratisation des enquêtes publiques et sur l’instauration d’une
démocratie environnementale. A ce jour, cette mécanique est en panne et
sa concrétisation se fait attendre. Il est vrai que la succession de
quatre Ministres de l’Ecologie en trois ans n’a certainement pas
facilité les choses.



Pourtant il est quasiment certain que ces réformes seront très en
deçà des espoirs placés en elles tant l’examen des mesures prises par
les gouvernements qui se sont succédés depuis 2012 révèle une volonté
profonde et délibérée d’empêcher tout débat de fond sur les projets
ayant une incidence sur l’environnement. Comment comprendre autrement la
tendance constante à restreindre l’accès au Juge jusque-là ouvert aux
particuliers et aux associations ? Pourtant, la Convention d’Aarhus,
signée en 1998 et approuvée par la France en 2002, énonce comme étant
indissociables l’accès à l’information, la participation du public au
processus décisionnel et l’accès à la justice en matière
d’environnement.

 Hélène Bras

Wayne Madsen – A masterful Move as Moscow Hosts Conference in Self-Determination – Strategic Culture Foundation on-line journal > A masterful Move as Moscow Hosts Conference in Self-Determination > Strategic-Culture.org - Strategic Culture Foundation

Wayne Madsen – A masterful Move as Moscow Hosts Conference in Self-Determination – Strategic Culture Foundation on-line journal > A masterful Move as Moscow Hosts Conference in Self-Determination > Strategic-Culture.org - Strategic Culture Foundation



 

A masterful Move as Moscow Hosts Conference in Self-Determination

The
U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and its «non-governmental
organization» carve outs and pass-through operations, including George
Soros’s Open Society Institute and the U.S. National Endowment for
Democracy (NED), are fond of interfering in Russian internal affairs by
championing the secession of autonomous republics from Chechnya and
Cherkessia to Karelia and Kaliningrad. 

However,
in a quite masterful stroke, Russia has given the West a taste of its
own medicine by hosting this September a self-determination conference
in Moscow titled «Dialogue of nations: the right to self-determination
and the construction of a multipolar world». A previous conference with
the same title and theme was held last December in Moscow. Both
conferences were sponsored by the NGO, the Anti-Globalization Movement
of Russia.

The
December 2014 conference brought together delegates from Novorossiya
(the republics of Donetsk and Lugansk), Trans Dniester Republic, Iran,
Syria, the Bosnian Serb Republic, Italy, the United States, and a number
of republics and regions of the Russian Federation. This year’s
conference attracted delegates from Catalonia, the Kingdom of Hawaii,
Puerto Rico (the Taino Nation of Boriken), Western Sahara, and Northern
Ireland, among other nations seeking self-determination from the western
neo-colonial yoke.

 

Time to walk the talk on sustainable development goals

Time to walk the talk on sustainable development goals

Time to walk the talk on sustainable development goals

 

As
the UN’s Sustainable Development Summit closed in New York with a bold
new global sustainability roadmap, world leaders now need to focus on
fulfilling that vision. The task ahead is clear, but not easy – world
leaders must go home and make the necessary administrative, legal,
regulatory and fiscal decisions, and spend the next 15 years
implementing and enforcing this agenda. Unlike the Millennium
Development Goals that were mainly aimed at developing countries, for
the SDGs, all goals have to be achieved in all countries.

The Agenda 2030, which contains the 17 SDGs,
agreed upon by countries, with the participation of other actors in an
unprecedented democratic process, necessitate important transformations.
Leida Rijnhout, Director of Global Policies and Sustainability at the European Environmental Bureau, stated that the new development goals present an opportunity to transform the world’s development agenda.

“The
Sustainable Development Goals should give some much needed impetus for a
paradigm shift to a new global economic and political system based on
sustainability, human rights and equality,” states Leida.

For this to happen there’s need for a clear political and moral will to implement the SDGs

“Governments
have to use their political and moral power to put the right policies
in place and mobilise all means of implementation to enable the shift
away from business-as-usual,” states Leida.

 

SYRIA: NATO’s Next “Humanitarian” War? | Global Research - Centre for Research on Globalization

SYRIA: NATO’s Next “Humanitarian” War? | Global Research - Centre for Research on Globalization

SYRIA: NATO’s Next “Humanitarian” War?

ONLINE INTERACTIVE I-BOOK

 

Note to Readers: 

Remember to bookmark this page for future reference.

Please Forward the GR I-Book far and wide. Post it on Facebook.

scroll down for I-BOOK Table of Contents]

This I-Book was originally published in February 2012.

GLOBAL RESEARCH ONLINE INTERACTIVE READER SERIES

GR I-BOOK No.  3

SYRIA: NATO’s Next “Humanitarian” War?

Michel Chossudovsky (Editor)

February 2012 (updated June 2012)

The Global Research’s Online Interactive I-Book Reader, brings
together, in the form of chapters, a collection of Global Research
feature articles, including debate and analysis, on a broad theme or
subject matter.  To consult our Online Interactive I-Book Reader Series, click here. 

Orwell at the UN: Obama Re-Defines Democracy as a Country That Supports U.S. Policy

Orwell at the UN: Obama Re-Defines Democracy as a Country That Supports U.S. Policy

In his Orwellian September 28, 2015 speech to the United Nations,
President Obama said that if democracy had existed in Syria, there never
would have been a revolt against Assad. By that, he meant ISIL. Where
there is democracy, he said, there is no violence or revolution.


This was his threat to promote revolution, coups and violence against
any country not deemed a “democracy.” In making this hardly-veiled
threat, he redefined the word in the vocabulary of international
politics. Democracy is the CIA’s overthrow of Mossedegh in Iran to
install the Shah. Democracy is the overthrow of Afghanistan’s secular
government by the Taliban against Russia. Democracy is the Ukrainian
coup behind Yats and Poroshenko. Democracy is Pinochet. It is “our
bastards,” as Lyndon Johnson said, with regard to the Latin American
dictators installed by U.S. foreign policy.



 

 

Obama’s Ludicrous ‘Barrel Bomb’ Theme | Consortiumnews

Obama’s Ludicrous ‘Barrel Bomb’ Theme | Consortiumnews

Obama’s Ludicrous ‘Barrel Bomb’ Theme

Exclusive: In addressing the United Nations, President Obama singled out for condemnation Syria’s President Assad and his alleged use of “barrel bombs,” but Obama was silent on his own use of far more powerful ordnance or the civilian tolls from Saudi/Israeli attacks with highly lethal U.S. bombs, writes Robert Parry.

By Robert Parry

The U.S. government has dropped hundreds of thousands of tons of bombs on Iraq alone in the last dozen years – and even hailed the start of the bombing campaign in 2003 as “shock and awe” – but now has coyly and repeatedly decried the Syrian government’s supposed use of crude “barrel bombs.”

This hyper-hypocritical propaganda theme was given voice in President Barack Obama’s Sept. 28 speech to the United Nations General Assembly when he denounced anyone who doesn’t favor “regime change” in Syria as advocating “support [for] tyrants like Bashar al-Assad, who drops barrel bombs to massacre innocent children.”

 

 

At
the start of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, President George W.
Bush ordered the U.S. military to conduct a devastating aerial assault
on Baghdad, known as “shock and awe.”

Help Consortiumnews Fight ‘Group Thinks’ | Consortiumnews

Help Consortiumnews Fight ‘Group Thinks’ | Consortiumnews

Help Consortiumnews Fight ‘Group Thinks’

From Editor Robert Parry: In our almost 20 years,
Consortiumnews has had one preeminent goal: to challenge and correct
false narratives because we know how misguided “group thinks” –
especially in a nation as powerful as the United States – can get many
innocent people killed and cause lots of other damage.



Over
those two decades, we have worked to straighten out many crooked
storylines by applying the traditional rules of honest journalism, by
sticking closely to the facts and by trying our best to explain
unfolding events to our readers, who now stretch around the world and
include both common citizens and government leaders.

But for us to
continue to perform this service, we need your help. Except for some
book sales, we rely on the generosity of our readers. So, if you can,
please consider a donation to our tax-exempt non-profit. You can use a credit card online (we accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover) or you can mail a check to Consortium for Independent Journalism (CIJ); 2200 Wilson Blvd., Suite 102-231; Arlington VA 22201.

Barack Obama, then President-elect, and President George W. Bush at the White House during the 2008 transition.

For
readers wanting to use PayPal, you can address contributions to our
account, which is named after our e-mail address: “consortnew @
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Donations
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For donations of $125 or more, you can receive the new edition of my first book, Fooling America,
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Or for
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CATALONIA -- Artur Mas: The charges are ‘the reaction of an arrogant, furious and clumsy state’ | VilaWeb

Artur Mas: The charges are ‘the reaction of an arrogant, furious and clumsy state’ | VilaWeb

Artur Mas: The charges are ‘the reaction of an arrogant, furious and clumsy state’

 

‘Legally I didn’t disobey. Politically,
there was a democratic rebellion against the State’ Catalan President
Artur Mas stated this Wednesday referring to his summonsing by
Catalonia’s Supreme Court (TSJC). In a radio interview with Catalunya
Radio he described the charges as ‘the reaction of an arrogant, furious,
clumsy state, whose pride was hurt, which is incapable of dialogue and
which will do everything in its hands to get rid of me’. Mas admitted
that being suspended from office would have ‘legal consequences’ as long
as Catalonia is still subject to Spain’s legal system. Spanish Prime
Minister Mariano Rajoy considers it ‘false and unfair’ to attribute the
court’s decision to the Spanish government, as in Spain there is a
‘separation of powers’.

Not disobedience, nor misappropriation of public funds

President Mas is already preparing his declaration in front of the TSJC, scheduled for the 15^th
of October, in which he will have to respond to the charges of
disobedience that the court attributed to him for organising the 9-N
symbolic vote on independence. ‘Legally I didn’t disobey’ emphasised Mas
and explained that Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) suspended the
consultation decree first and later the participative process. However,
when the Generalitat asked the TC which actions ‘were exactly
suspended’, the Court didn’t answer. ‘We never got to know what needed
to be suspended’, assured Mas.

Regarding the accusation of
misappropriation of public funds, Mas pointed out that all the resources
used for the consultation ‘still remain in the Generalitat’ and he
named the computers that are now used in schools as an example.

The 27-S elections ‘endorsed’ the 9-N consultation

‘The 9-N consultation was an action of
standing firm in front of the State. I confess I was a democratic rebel
against the decision stopping us from putting the ballot boxes’ he
insisted.

According to Mas, this situation is ‘the
reaction of an arrogant, furious, clumsy state, whose pride was hurt,
which is incapable of dialogue and which will do everything in its hands
to get rid of me’. He added that the 27-S elections were the
‘democratic endorsement of the 9-N consultation. People backed and
endorsed the 9-N consultation and told the Spanish State to stop being
arrogant and vain, because at the end, people voted’ he remarked.

He admitted that in the event of the
court suspending him from office, it will have ‘legal consequences’ as
long as Catalonia continues to be subject to Spain’s legal system. He
insisted that public workers who helped organise the 9-N symbolic vote
‘can’t be forced to act illegally’, ‘no matter how powerful their
president is’ he stated, defending their actions.

Rajoy: In Spain there is a ‘separation of powers’

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy
considers it ‘false and unfair’ to attribute the TSJC’s summons to the
Spanish government. He also denied any political responsibility
regarding the date when President Mas will have to present himself to
the court; the 15^th of October this year coincides with the 75^th
anniversary of Catalan President Lluís Companys’ execution. ‘The
Spanish government has nothing to do with these decisions’ assured
Rajoy. ‘There is separation of powers’ in Spain, he emphasised. ‘It is a
legal decision and in a democracy, legal decisions have to be
respected, whether you like it or not’ he concluded.

Rajoy’s statements came after Spanish
Minister of Justice Rafael Catalá admitted to knowing the TSJC decision
in advance. Catalá assured that the court took into account the 27-S
elections and decided to leave the summons pending after the electoral
process to avoid ‘interfering’ with it.

 

How Much of Big Pharma's Massive Profits Are Used to Influence Politicians?

How Much of Big Pharma's Massive Profits Are Used to Influence Politicians?

How Much of Big Pharma's Massive Profits Are Used to Influence Politicians? 

 Whenever it's called out for charging too much for drugs or outright
price gouging, the pharmaceutical industry's standard defense is to
assure the public that its profits will be used to develop even better
drugs in the future. Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli clung to
that defense in late September when asked to explain his sudden decision
to hike the price of a longstanding anti-parasitic drug by more than
$700, prompting a collective eye roll among medical experts and an
outraged public.

 

CATALONIA --- Catalan News Agency - President Mas: The Spanish State “will do everything to get rid of me”

Catalan News Agency - President Mas: The Spanish State “will do everything to get rid of me”

President Mas: The Spanish State “will do everything to get rid of me”

CNA / Sara Prim

Barcelona (CNA).- “Legally I didn’t disobey. Politically,
there was a democratic rebellion against the State” Catalan President
Artur Mas stated this Wednesday referring to his summonsing by
Catalonia’s Supreme Court (TSJC). In a radio interview with Catalunya
Radio he described the charges as “the reaction of an arrogant, furious,
clumsy state, whose pride was hurt, which is incapable of dialogue and
which will do everything in its hands to get rid of me”. Mas admitted
that being suspended from office would have “legal consequences” as long
as Catalonia is still subject to Spain’s legal system. Spanish Prime
Minister Mariano Rajoy considers it “false and unfair” to attribute the
court’s decision to the Spanish government, as in Spain there is a
“separation of powers”.

Not disobedience, nor misappropriation of public funds




President Mas is already preparing his declaration in front of the TSJC, scheduled for the 15^th
of October, in which he will have to respond to the charges of
disobedience that the court attributed to him for organising the 9-N
symbolic vote on independence. “Legally I didn’t disobey” emphasised Mas
and explained that Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) suspended the
consultation decree first and later the participative process. However,
when the Generalitat asked the TC which actions “were exactly
suspended”, the Court didn’t answer. “We never got to know what needed
to be suspended”, assured Mas.


Regarding the accusation of misappropriation of public funds, Mas
pointed out that all the resources used for the consultation “still
remain in the Generalitat” and he named the computers that are now used
in schools as an example.


The 27-S elections “endorsed” the 9-N consultation


“The 9-N consultation was an action of standing firm in front of the
State. I confess I was a democratic rebel against the decision stopping
us from putting the ballot boxes” he insisted.


According to Mas, this situation is “the reaction of an arrogant,
furious, clumsy state, whose pride was hurt, which is incapable of
dialogue and which will do everything in its hands to get rid of me”. He
added that the 27-S elections were the “democratic endorsement of the
9-N consultation. People backed and endorsed the 9-N consultation and
told the Spanish State to stop being arrogant and vain, because at the
end, people voted” he remarked.


He admitted that in the event of the court suspending him from
office, it will have “legal consequences” as long as Catalonia continues
to be subject to Spain’s legal system. He insisted that public workers
who helped organise the 9-N symbolic vote “can’t be forced to act
illegally”, “no matter how powerful their president is” he stated,
defending their actions.


Rajoy: In Spain there is a “separation of powers”


Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy considers it “false and unfair”
to attribute the TSJC’s summons to the Spanish government. He also
denied any political responsibility regarding the date when President
Mas will have to present himself to the court; the 15^th of October this year coincides with the 75^th
anniversary of Catalan President Lluís Companys’ execution. “The
Spanish government has nothing to do with these decisions” assured
Rajoy. “There is separation of powers” in Spain, he emphasised. “It is a
legal decision and in a democracy, legal decisions have to be
respected, whether you like it or not” he concluded.


Rajoy’s statements came after Spanish Minister of Justice Rafael
Catalá admitted to knowing the TSJC decision in advance. Catalá assured
that the court took into account the 27-S elections and decided to leave
the summons pending after the electoral process to avoid “interfering”
with it.

More on

9-N, 9-N consultation, Artur Mas, Catalan President, Catalonia's Supreme Court, disobedience, Mariano Rajoy, President Mas, Rafael Catalá, Spanish Constitutional Court, Spanish Prime Minister, Summoning, TSJC

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President Mas's interview at Catalunya Radio this morning (by ACN)

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Videos

US national debt is so bad now that the U.S. Treasury has simply stopped reporting it - NaturalNews.com

US national debt is so bad now that the U.S. Treasury has simply stopped reporting it - NaturalNews.com

US national debt is so bad now that the U.S. Treasury has simply stopped reporting it

 (NaturalNews) "Officially," the U.S. national debt has frozen in time, though "unofficially" it continues to grow at a frenetic pace.

What's
going on? Did the federal government suddenly become fiscally
responsible and we are no longer accumulating country-destroying debt?

If you believe the U.S. Department of the Treasury, yes. As reported recently by CNS News, the national debt froze for more than 21 days.

Oh,
wait. Look at the official figure being reported: $18,112,975,000,000.
That just happens to be the official debt limit set by Congress. Indeed,
$18,112,975,000,000 is about $25 million below the current legal debt
limit of $18,113,000,080,959.35.

 

Putin: Chaos of Iraq and Libya Warn Against Western Regime Change in Syria | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

Putin: Chaos of Iraq and Libya Warn Against Western Regime Change in Syria | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

Putin: Chaos of Iraq and Libya Warn Against Western Regime Change in Syria

Ahead
of UN speech on Monday, Putin makes it clear that Russia will use its
military and political power to bolster Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

Russian President Vladimir Putin during an interview with 60 Minutes that aired Sunday. (Photo: CBS News)

The “Snipers’ Massacre” on the Maidan in Ukraine | Oriental Review

The “Snipers’ Massacre” on the Maidan in Ukraine | Oriental Review

The “Snipers’ Massacre” on the Maidan in Ukraine

The massacre of almost 50 Maidan protesters on February 20, 2014 was
a turning point in Ukrainian politics and a tipping point in the
conflict between the West and Russia over Ukraine. This mass killing of
the protesters and the mass shooting of the police that preceded it led
to the overthrow of the government of Viktor Yanukovych and gave a start
to a civil war in Donbas in Eastern Ukraine, Russian military
intervention in Crimea and an international conflict between the West
and Russia over Ukraine. A conclusion promoted by the post-Yanukovych
governments and the media in Ukraine that the massacre was perpetrated
by government snipers and special police units on a Yanukovych order has
been nearly universally accepted by the Western governments, the media,
and many scholars. The Ukrainian government investigation identified
members of the special company of Berkut as responsible for killings of
the absolute majority of the protesters, but did not release any
evidence in support, with the exception of videos of the massacre.

 

‘US seek to control the EU elites via refugee crisis’ | Oriental Review

‘US seek to control the EU elites via refugee crisis’ | Oriental Review

‘US seek to control the EU elites via refugee crisis’

 

What are the reasons for such humanitarian crisis in ME
countries including Syria/ Libya? Who / what countries / what reasons or
policies are behind reasons for such crisis?


The triggers for this crisis can be clearly traced to the “Arab
Spring” theater-wide Color Revolutions and the US’ Wars on Libya and
Syria (one overt, the other covert). These offensives have also seen the
participation of the UK, France, Turkey, and the Gulf Monarchies, and
there are a couple motivations behind why they wanted to initiate their
regime change operations.


The US, for its part, envisioned seeing a transnational Muslim
Brotherhood elite come to power from Algeria to Syria, functioning as a
sort of Arab version of the Cold War international communist party. By
this it’s meant that the group would have secret cells all over the
region, be dedicated to gaining power, and be financed by a substantial
international patron (the US, Qatar, and Turkey in this case) that would
use it as a proxy controlling force.


As regards the Gulf Monarchies (including Qatar), they wanted to get
rid of President Assad and the Friendship Pipeline he agreed to with
Iran and Iraq in order to sell their own gas directly to the EU, while
Turkey was expressing its new aggressive ideology of Neo-Ottomanism.
France and the UK, for their part, simply wanted to reassert their
former colonial spheres of influence. The overall lesson that can be
learned is that attempts by external powers to militantly tinker with
the inner workings of sovereign states will inevitably lead to a
humanitarian disaster, even in places where it was initially least
expected (the refugee blowback in Europe, for example).


What are the main reasons that make people off Syria or any
other war torn country which suffer the disastrous life to take the risk
to Europe? 

 

Obama and NATO Paint Gigantic Bullseye on Germany | New Eastern Outlook

Obama and NATO Paint Gigantic Bullseye on Germany | New Eastern Outlook

Obama and NATO Paint Gigantic Bullseye on Germany

Yesterday at Ramstein Air Base here in
Germany, hundreds marched in protest of America’s drone killing and
warlike posture. Carrying signs demanding the U.S. military “to go home”
and “to stop war,” a crowd of Germans peacefully protested the military
activities carried out from this key base. Growing anti-US sentiment in
Germany is only an undercurrent now, but what about when Moscow targets
American nukes the Pentagon is sending? What if Germans discovered the
new nukes are first strike weapons?

Ironically, only Stars and Stripes
carried the story of the anti-drone protests on Saturday, but stories of
growing anti-American sentiment are purposefully underplayed in the
western press. Take the news Bundeswehr air base in Buchel in western
Germany has begun preparations for receiving 20 new B61-12 nuclear
bombs, if Russia had not complained, then you’d have never heard tell of
the move. You haven’t hear, have you?

Against the will of the German people,
against the German parliament’s 2010 call to remove all such weapons
from German soil, and even the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons (NPT), NATO still insists. What’s more frightening still, is the
fact German nor European media has seen fit to report.

At Global Research we found a statement
by the former Parliamentary State Secretary in Germany’s Defense
Ministry, Willy Wimmer, of the CDU, warning that these “new attack
options against Russia” constitute “a conscious provocation of our
Russian neighbors.” For a scary revelation now, type into Google Germany
Nukes + BBC, or any other western media outlet. There’s no story. How
can this be?

If not for a singular story at German public TV station ZDF
(in German), the US’s retrofitting advanced thermonuclear capability
inside Germany would be invisible. In English, were it not for Global
Research, Sputnik, RT, and a few other reports of Russia’s response, the
Obama administration could as easily have bombed Berlin.

Let’s forget for a moment what the
spokesperson of the Russian foreign Ministry, Maria Sacharowa told
reporters, that “This is a violation of articles 1 and 2 of the Treaty
on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.” Strategic considerations
aside, the vast majority of Germans do not want ANY nuclear weaponry on
their country’s soil. The fact German and United States sources have
obscured tactical nukes from the German people is not arguable. This article from
2006 frames the fact, most Germans had no idea these weapons were
deployed in their country even a few years ago. As for the “legality” of
these new nukes, it seems evident the Russians have a valid contention.
First appeared: http://journal-neo.org/2015/09/29/obama-and-nato-paint-gigantic-bullseye-on-germany/

Augusto Soto - Russia and China Should Reinforce Joint Media Efforts – Strategic Culture Foundation on-line journal > Russia and China Should Reinforce Joint Media Efforts > Strategic-Culture.org - Strategic Culture Foundation

Augusto Soto - Russia and China Should Reinforce Joint Media Efforts – Strategic Culture Foundation on-line journal > Russia and China Should Reinforce Joint Media Efforts > Strategic-Culture.org - Strategic Culture Foundation

Russia and China Should Reinforce Joint Media Efforts

 

The
old saying stating that each new generation had to learn history in
order not to commit the same mistakes has become quite topical. Current
events are broadcasted to people who read fewer books than ever and
increasingly rely on fast-changing virtual content containing
unconcealed US propaganda.

Many
around the world who grew up on textbooks and movies, convinced that
the most decisive battles against Nazism and fascism took place in
Western Europe and Northern Africa, were surprised on September 3 in
Beijing, and previously, on May 9 in Moscow, as both capitals celebrated
the World War II victory. Citizens from around the world learned about
enormous Chinese contribution to Japan’s defeat and Russia’s key role in
Stalingrad, Moscow and Leningrad epic battles signalling the beginning
of the end of Hitler. Both cases summarize crucial contributions to the defeat of Nazism that would otherwise leave no hope for the mankind.

It
would be easy to assume that the one-sided historic narrative produced
and spread by US media, including Hollywood, is slightly crumbling to
give way to a more international plural view. But the process is slow
and painful, in spite of media coverage carried out by powerful channels
such as Sputnik and RT in Russia, CCTV, Caixin and Southern China
Weekly magazines in China, plus The BRICS Post (among others),
broadcasting and publishing in Russian, Chinese, English, Spanish,
Portuguese and many more languages from each continent.

 

Secret Mission to Syria | New Eastern Outlook

Secret Mission to Syria | New Eastern Outlook

Secret Mission to Syria
Was Syria nuked by Israel in May 2013?
Answers to questions like this and others were given in a very private
mission to Damascus. The nuclear question alone, which was answered at
Syria’s highest levels, should turn the world upside down.

A few short days ago, an amazing mission
to Syria ended. Officially, it was a Veterans Today private media
conference with Syrian ministries and security officials including a
lengthy visit with the Grand Mufti and Ali Mamlouk.

In actuality, when the armed convoy left
the Lebanese border for Damascus, a few short days ago, there were more
faces there than imagined, representing both the Washington
intelligence and legal communities. This is the highest level
“non-official” delegation every to travel to Syria.

Many of the issues discussed were
private confidences, with VT sharing its extensive open source
intelligence and Syria showing its best kept secrets.

An issue that needs to be dealt with
first involves President Putin and the stories of Russian and Chinese
planes bombing Palmyra, Idlib and threatened areas of Aleppo. These
stories were planted in the mainstream media and in some European
“fringe” sights by Israeli handlers in a last ditch attempt to block the
nuclear settlement and to intimidate enough United States senators to
flip President Obama’s ability to protect this vital treaty.
First appeared: http://journal-neo.org/2015/09/29/secret-mission-to-syria/

Climate and energy lobbytour of Brussels' EU district | Corporate Europe Observatory

Climate and energy lobbytour of Brussels' EU district | Corporate Europe Observatory

Climate and energy lobbytour of Brussels' EU district 

 Ahead of the COP21 climate summit in Paris, discover the hidden world of
well-resourced dirty energy lobbyists and companies using their
privileged access to officials and politicians in Brussels to prevent
climate action.

The Power of False Narrative | Consortiumnews

The Power of False Narrative | Consortiumnews

The Power of False Narrative

 

Exclusive: “Strategic communications” or Stratcom, a
propaganda/psy-op technique that treats information as a “soft power”
weapon to wield against adversaries, is a new catch phrase in an
Official Washington obsessed with the clout that comes from spinning
false narratives, reports Robert Parry.

By Robert Parry

In
this age of pervasive media, the primary method of social control is
through the creation of narratives delivered to the public through
newspapers, TV, radio, computers, cell phones and any other gadget that
can convey information. This reality has given rise to an obsession
among the power elite to control as much of this messaging as possible.

So,
regarding U.S. relations toward the world, we see the State Department,
the White House, Pentagon, NATO and other agencies pushing various
narratives to sell the American people and other populations on how they
should view U.S. policies, rivals and allies. The current hot phrase
for this practice is “strategic communications” or Stratcom, which blends psychological operations, propaganda and P.R. into one mind-bending smoothie.

 

Asian NATO-like project to be stopped (I) | Oriental Review

Asian NATO-like project to be stopped (I) | Oriental Review

Asian NATO-like project to be stopped (I)

 The US’ Pivot to Asia (P2A) is obviously aimed against China, and
Washington’s ultimate plan has always been to assemble a coalition of
countries that can contain the global supergiant. As the Pivot enters
into its fourth year soon, the contours of the Chinese Containment
Coalition (CCC) are beginning to take shape, and it’s become evident
that it’s going to be centered on the Philippines. The island chain’s
geopolitical connectivity potential can easily be harnessed to link
together the CCC’s various players, and it’s also subservient enough to
the US to the degree that it has ignored the exceptionally dangerous
consequences of potentially hosting multilateral forward operating bases
against China. As apocalyptic as the US’ end game scenario may be for
regional multipolarity, it’s not at all assured to succeed, as there are
quite a few contingencies that could develop between all of its
assorted partners in preventing them from linking up in the Philippines
and actualizing the Asian NATO. The article is thus divided into two
parts; the first one describes the forecasted composition of the Asian
NATO and explains the bilateral relationships that make it possible,
while the second one investigates the multitude of factors that could
impede its formation and/or lead to its eventual unravelling.

EU to co-finance Investment Court System in TTIP from its budget | bilaterals.org

EU to co-finance Investment Court System in TTIP from its budget | bilaterals.org

EU to co-finance Investment Court System in TTIP from its budget

 

The European Commission wants the new Investment Court System (ICS)
in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) to be
co-financed from the EU budget only, Mauro Petriccione, Deputy
Director-General at DG Trade has told MEPs. Addressing the EP’s
International Trade Committee (INTA) meeting, on 21 September, he
reassured MEPs that no national contributions would be needed to cover
the €1,5 million EU share of the total €3 million costs of the new
court.



Petriccione expressed confidence that even multiplication of
bilateral investment courts would not create an unbearable burden for
the EU budget. “We do not expect it to happen in a few years to come,”
Petriccione said, hinting that the setting up of an international
investment court could help solve the problem of a potential increase in
the number of bilateral investment courts.



While presenting the draft proposal, on 16 September, the EU Trade
Commissioner Cecilia Malmström made clear that the ICS in TTIP would be
used as a template for other agreements with third countries.
Petriccione confirmed that even China would be targeted.



He said the EU trading partners were slow to react to the draft. “We
do not expect any serious reactions before the proposal turns into a
formal position,” Petriccione said. He revealed, however, that the
initial reaction of the US was rather “cautious.” “The US will be
worried about the additional costs for business, the complexity of the
mechanism and lesser benefits for US investors than they have in mind,”
Petriccione said. “Vietnam has expressed its concern about an) ability
of developing countries to comply with a system intended for developed
countries,” he added.



 

EU and US mega deal sparks inflated emotions | bilaterals.org

EU and US mega deal sparks inflated emotions | bilaterals.org

EU and US mega deal sparks inflated emotions

 

The EU and the US are negotiating a free trade and investment
agreement. Negotiations are also about import tariffs but mainly about
sanitary and phytosanitary standards. In this two part series, World
Poultry examines this deal which can have far-reaching consequences for
agriculture.



US President Barack Obama and the President of the European
Commission, José Manuel Barroso, announced a Transatlantic Trade &
Investment Partnership (TTIP) in June 2013. An agreement that has to
simplify trade and investment by US companies in the EU and vice versa.
TTIP is a free trade agreement but for the first time, it is one with a
strong investment component and additionally has the objective to merge
different standards, including those relating to food safety. According
to the European Commission the agreement can yield the EU economy € 120
billion per year, and another € 90 billion for the US. Those figures are
based upon countless assumptions, but as the European-American trade
amounts to one third of the world trade and considering the distinct
ambitions, the impact will in any case be enormous.

A controversial trade deal

 

The TPP and Canada: Playing the Fool | Global Research - Centre for Research on Globalization

The TPP and Canada: Playing the Fool | Global Research - Centre for Research on Globalization

The TPP and Canada: Playing the Fool

They have not heeded our calls to be transparent about what the
negotiating framework is and what they are prepared to sacrifice. Andrew Thompson, NDP candidate, Toronto, Sep 26, 2015

The very fact that Stephen Harper is still in with a chance come the
Canadian election is a summary of political survival and grand
deception. The recent debates have seen him come back from the dead and
showing signs of considerable life. His treatment of the Syrian refugee
situation has proven miserly and calculating. Like his counterparts in
the Commonwealth (Australia, and the UK), taking in refugees is a matter
of a few spaces rather to satisfy temporary moral outrage. The hope is
that consciences will be salved, allowing for the general business of
government to go on.


Military action against the “source problem”, however, is far more
valued, despite the obvious consequence that any military measure,
rather than solving a refugee crisis, actually boosts it. Not that
Harper is willing to answer too many questions about that fact, having
stipulated to journalists that he will only take four a day on the
campaign trail.



 

» Israel Prepares Ground Invasion of Syria Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!

» Israel Prepares Ground Invasion of Syria Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!: 



 

Israel Prepares Ground Invasion of Syria

Cites presence of ISIS and Hezbollah as pretext for possible invasion

Israeli Likud Minister Yuval Steinitz will
tell the United States, Russia and other world powers Israel will not
tolerate Iranian forces near its border, the Jerusalem Times reported on
Tuesday.

Steinitz made the remark as Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin
Netanyahu, flew to New York to address the United Nations General
Assembly on Thursday.


“In all of our discussions, first and foremost with the United
States, but also with Russia and the rest of the world powers, we must
make sure that the Iranian forces will stay in Iran,” Steinitz told
Israel’s Army Radio.


“Nobody wants to see Russian forces in the area of the Golan Heights,
but we definitely don’t want to see Iranian forces near Israel,” he
added.

‘Israel concerned with build-up of Iranian forces in Syria near Golan border’ http://t.co/OC77BQCppP

— Israel News (@IsraelNewsNow) September 29, 2015

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria during the Six Day War in June, 1967. The territory was officially annexed in 1981.


Israel fired on Syrian forces in the Quneitra region over the weekend when errant mortar fire landed in the captured territory.


Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon
said on Monday Syria had crossed a “red line” in its battle with proxy
forces attempting to overthrow the government of Bashar al-Assad in
Syria.


“Israel does not intend to ignore these incidents. We see the Syrian
government as responsible for what happens in Syrian territory,” Yaalon
said.

Image Credits: Michael Shvadron, Israel Defense Forces, Wikimedia Commons.

 

An Activist in the Sex-Trafficking Underworld of Iraq - The New Yorker

An Activist in the Sex-Trafficking Underworld of Iraq - The New Yorker

Out of Sight

A former prostitute tries to rescue Iraq’s most vulnerable women.

 

On a Saturday night
in late May, I sat in the back seat of a taxi as it drove through a
shantytown in Baghdad. We were not far from Firdos Square, where, in
April of 2003, invading American troops famously toppled a large statue
of Saddam Hussein. A highway passed overhead, its traffic thudding, and
Baghdad’s tallest building, the Cristal Grand Ishtar Hotel—still widely
known as the Sheraton, although the hotel chain withdrew from Iraq in
1990—rose in the distance. A forty-year-old woman whom I’ll call Layla
sat in the front passenger seat; she wore a black abaya, and strands of
dyed-black hair fell out from under her head scarf. Her husband,
Mohammad, drove.

We were headed
toward a dimly lit cinder-block shack. Children darted in and out of the
shadows, and a pregnant woman in a long-sleeved, turquoise ankle-length
dress stepped out to see who was approaching. She was a pimp, Layla
said. In 2012, Iraq passed its first law specifically against human
trafficking, but the law is routinely ignored, and sexual crimes,
including rape and forced prostitution, are common, women’s-rights
groups say. Statistics are hard to come by, but in 2011, according to
the latest Ministry of Planning report, a survey found that more than
nine per cent of respondents between the ages of fifteen and fifty-four
said they had been subjected to sexual violence. The real number is
likely much higher, given the shame attached to reporting such crimes in
a society where a family’s honor is often tied to the chastity of its
women. The victims of these crimes are often considered outcasts and can
be killed for “dishonoring” their family or their community.

 

Islamic militias intensify the dangers of Baghdad’s sex-trafficking underworld.
Credit Illustration by Aude Van Ryn