Tag: news

Authored by Caitlin Johnstone via CaitlinJohnstone.com,

Fight it all you want, but there’s nothing you can do. “The emails are Russian” is going to be the official dominant narrative in mainstream political discourse, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. Resistance is futile.

Like the Russian hacking narrative, the Trump-Russia collusion narrative, the Russian bounties in Afghanistan narrative, and any other evidence-free framing of events that simultaneously advances pre-planned cold war agendas, is politically convenient for the Democratic party and generates clicks and ratings, the narrative that the New York Post publication of Hunter Biden’s emails is a Russian operation is going to be hammered and hammered and hammered until it becomes the mainstream consensus. This will happen regardless of facts and evidence, up to and including rock solid evidence that Hunter Biden’s emails were not published as a result of a Russian operation.

2/ Russia knew it had to play a different game than 2016. So it built an operation to cull virulently pro-Trump Americans as pseudo-assets, so blind in their allegiance to Trump that they’ll willingly launder Kremlin constructed anti-Biden propaganda.

Guiliani was a key target.

— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) October 17, 2020

This is happening. It’s following the same formula all the other fact-free Russia hysteria narratives have followed. The same media tour by pundits and political operatives saying with no evidence but very assertive voices that Russia is most certainly behind this occurrence and we should all be very upset about it.

“To me, this is just classic textbook Soviet Russian tradecraft at work,” Russiagate founder and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is heard assuring CNN’s audience.

“Joe Biden – and all of us – SHOULD be furious that media outlets are spreading what is very likely Russian propaganda,” begins and eight-part thread by Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who claims the emails are “Kremlin constructed anti-Biden propaganda.”

“It’s not really surprising at all, this was always the play, but still kind of head-spinning to watch all the players from 2016 run exactly the same hack-leak-smear op in 2020. Even with everyone knowing exactly what’s happening this time,” tweets MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.

“How are you all circling the wagons instead of being embarrassed for peddling Russian ops 18 days before the election. It’s not enough that you all haven’t learned from your atrocious handling of 2016 — you are doubling down,” Democratic Party think tanker Neera Tanden tweeted in admonishment of journalists who dare to report on or ask questions about the emails.

“To me, this is just classic textbook Soviet Russian tradecraft at work,” former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says as authorities are investigating if recently published emails are tied to a Russian disinformation effort targeting Biden. https://t.co/shyMNnJ7Yr pic.twitter.com/GFSeIWXeY4

— CNN (@CNN) October 17, 2020

Virtually the entirety of the Democratic Party-aligned political/media class has streamlined this narrative of Russian influence into the American consciousness with very little inertia, despite the fact that neither Joe nor Hunter Biden has disputed the authenticity of the emails and despite a complete absence of evidence for Russian involvement in their publication.

This is surely the first time, at least in recent memory, that we have ever seen such a broad consensus within the mass media that it is the civic duty of news reporters to try and influence the outcome of a presidential general election by withholding negative news coverage for one candidate. There was a lot of fascinated hatred for Trump in 2016, but people still reported on Hillary Clinton’s various scandals and didn’t attack one another for doing so. In 2020 that has changed, and mainstream news reporters have now largely coalesced along the doctrine that they must avoid any reporting which might be detrimental to the Biden campaign.

“Dem Party hacks (and many of their media allies) genuinely believe it’s immoral to report on or even discuss stories that reflect poorly on Biden. In reality, it’s the responsibility of journalists to ignore their vapid whining and ask about newsworthy stories, even about Biden,” tweeted The Intercept‘s Glenn Greenwald recently.

“You don’t even have to think the Hunter Biden materials constitute some kind of earth-shattering story to be absolutely repulsed at the authoritarian propaganda offensive being waged to discredit them — primarily by journalists who behave like compliant little trained robots,” tweeted journalist Michael Tracey.

Last month The Spectator‘s Stephen L Miller described how the consensus formed among the mainstream press since Clinton’s 2016 loss that it is their moral duty to be uncritical of Trump’s opponent.

“For almost four years now, journalists have shamed their colleagues and themselves over what I will call the ‘but her emails’ dilemma,” Miller writes. “Those who reported dutifully on the ill-timed federal investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private server and spillage of classified information have been cast out and shunted away from the journalist cool kids’ table. Focusing so much on what was, at the time, a considerable scandal, has been written off by many in the media as a blunder. They believe their friends and colleagues helped put Trump in the White House by focusing on a nothing-burger of a Clinton scandal when they should have been highlighting Trump’s foibles. It’s an error no journalist wants to repeat.”

lol no. Again no journalist wants to be the “but her emails” journalist and branded a leper by their entire industry. It’s that simple. https://t.co/NvNkcKKufo

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) October 16, 2020

So “the emails are Russian” narrative serves the interests of political convenience, partisan media ratings, and the national security state’s pre-planned agenda to continue escalating against Russia as part of its slow motion third world war against nations which refuse to bow to US dictates, and you’ve got essentially no critical mainstream news coverage putting the brakes on any of it. This means this narrative is going to become mainstream orthodoxy and treated as an established fact, despite the fact that there is no actual, tangible evidence for it.

Joe Biden could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and the mainstream press would crucify any journalist who so much as tweeted about it. Very little journalism is going into vetting and challenging him, and a great deal of the energy that would normally be doing so is going into ensuring that he slides right into the White House.

If the mainstream news really existed to tell you the truth about what’s going on, everyone would know about every questionable decision that Joe Biden has ever made, Russiagate would never have happened, we’d all be acutely aware of the fact that powerful forces are pushing us into increasingly aggressive confrontations with two nuclear-armed nations, and Trump would be grilled about Yemen in every press conference.

But the mainstream news does not exist to tell you the truth about the world. The mainstream news exists to advance the interests of its wealthy owners and the status quo upon which they have built their kingdoms. That’s why it’s so very, very important that we find ways to break away from it and share information with each other that isn’t tainted by corrupt and powerful interests.

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For the few international travelers which have walked the streets of either Tehran or Damascus at any point in recent history, it comes as a bit of a shock and pleasant surprise to see so few Western brands, companies and chains on the streets in all cities.

Even Egypt has multiple McDonald’s and Burger King restaurants, but after years of sanctions and international isolation, in Iran and Syria the streets are lined only with locally-owned stores, restaurants, and clothing brands. To a large degree, these wartime and sanctions adaptable economies have allowed these countries to stay afloat even as the West essentially wages economic warfare, but just barely.

A new lengthy report in Bloomberg details the latest iteration of the “made in Iran” movement among young Iranian entrepreneurs which is keeping the country’s economy afloat against all odds. The report introduces:

“Made in Iran” has emerged as a rare glimmer of hope in the financial destruction from being ostracized from the oil market and global trade while Covid-19 rages. In a country where so many people’s lives have been defined by cycles of Western restrictions, brands like Koi, Zi Shampoo and Bonmano Coffee are among the homespun names that are filling the vacuum for consumer goods.  

These small businesses which are producing items that meet simple needs and wants among Iranians have everything entirely sourced within the Islamic Republic. The Ayatollah has long encouraged such resilience in the face of crippling sanctions, also foreseeing a likely continued future isolation, dubbing it the “resistance economy”.

Much of the new localized economy is born out of a necessary reaction to the re-imposed sanctions of 2018, following the Trump White House’s tearing up the JCPOA nuclear deal. That’s when for example popular Western clothing and shoe brands like Adidas and Benetton left for good.

As Bloomberg details, that’s also when “A combination of the sudden crash in the value of the rial, a huge hit to consumer spending power and a government ban on hundreds of non-essential goods, including garments, ripped through the retail industry.” As a result, “Fewer imports led to a scarcity of mundane things like foreign shampoo brands, which have skyrocketed in price.”

Many of the latest products to pop up as a result have a quality that many Iranians say is the same as imported products that were in more abundance before. “There has been a definite trend in the past two years where more and more people are opening small businesses and selling things they can produce themselves,” an online marketing retail director named Amir Ali Sabour told Bloomberg.

American-made products have still trickled in little by little over the years…

From hot sauce to pop gloss, U.S. products seep into Iran https://t.co/k4YSvAUqep pic.twitter.com/tuOBOWohiM

— Orlando Sentinel (@orlandosentinel) July 11, 2019

However, some sectors relying heavily on technologies tied to imports and which are in the hands of a few like Iran’s automotive industry have struggled to keep up, and have been hit hard by sanctions, but also reportedly as they are more prone to corruption.

Though Iran’s economy is still spiraling amid the pandemic crisis and years of sanctions, and rampant inflation since 2019, the Islamic Republic’s “resistance economy” doctrine  could help it in the long-run outlast the Trump administration’s attempt to crush it.

Authored by Cyril Widdershoven via OilPrice.com,

In a week when several major oil and gas reports were released, most notably the IEA World Energy Outlook 2020 and OPEC’s World Oil Outlook, a regional conflict is now on the brink of spiraling out of control.

The toxic combination of a military confrontation between Azerbaijan and Armenia, supported by Turkey and Russia respectively, and the confrontational stance that Ankara is taking in the East Med conflict are threatening to upend European energy supplies.

After a short lull in Turkey’s aggressive East Med posturing, partly due to European and U.S. efforts to de-escalate the situation, the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict has reignited tensions across Europe. In the same week that the Trans Anatolia Pipeline (TAP) project opened its valves to supply Azerbaijani gas to Southern Europe, Azerbaijan accused Armenia of targetting Azerbaijani oil and gas infrastructure with missiles. Azerbaijan’s answer has been a full-scale military operation against Armenian forces, which could lead to Russian intervention in the coming days. At the same time, Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan could lead to a significant military build-up on the other side of the conflict.

Turkey’s regional aggression, however, is not confined to the Caucasus. In recent days, after showing some leniency in its regional confrontation with Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, and Israel, pulling back some of its vessels from the East Med, Ankara has returned to the area. Ankara’s decision to resume offshore seismic operations in disputed eastern Mediterranean waters has not only sparked harsh reactions from Athens, Brussels, and Washington, but it has the potential to cause a direct military confrontation. Erdogan has always tried his best not to openly threaten Greece, Cyprus, and others, but that seems to be changing. The Turkish seismic vessel Oruc Reis, accompanied by Turkish frigates, has started its operations next to the Greek island of Kastellorizo, which is two miles off the Turkish coast. Erdogan’s move is a clear slap in the face for the EU, NATO, and Washington. In reaction to growing criticism, especially from European countries, such as France, Germany, and Greece, supported by Washington, Erdogan stated that Greece and Cyprus are the main reason for his aggressive moves.

Erdogan has accused Athens and Nicosia of failing to keep to the commitments made during earlier negotiations. In an unprecedented affront to the European Union and Greece, he said ‘we will continue to give Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration — who fail to keep their promises at the EU and NATO platforms — the answer they deserve on the ground”. Erdogan’s reversal of policy has not only put possible negotiations on ice but could now lead to an unwanted confrontation in the East Med. Greece, already supported by European countries, has openly stated that Ankara is undermining any efforts to create and maintain a dialogue. Germany’s position also seems to have changed dramatically. After months of being accused by Athens, Nicosia and others, of only listening to Ankara’s wishes and threats, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas openly and harshly condemned the decision of Ankara while speaking in Athens. Germany’s position is pivotal in the EU strategy towards Turkey. Erdogan should quickly reassess his options, as the German minister even canceled his planned visit to Ankara this week.

Ankara has been playing with fire lately, and Erdogan has turned multiple nations against him with his unilateral actions on the border. By openly challenging the EU, and indirectly NATO, Erdogan is playing a risky game. The Turkish Blue Homeland strategy, which is currently being employed, is driving former enemies to work together on an unprecedented scale, all in a move to quell Turkish threats. Ankara’s widely published maritime delineation agreement with Libya has backfired in a major way. Not only have Israel and Egypt now signed maritime agreements with Greece and Cyprus, but even Lebanon and Israel are now openly discussing their own maritime borders.

Erdogan’s current military adventures can only be understood in the light of internal pressure, political instability, and a Turkish economic crisis of unknown order. By refocusing fears and anger from internal crises on outside dangers, Erdogan is able to maintain domestic support. Some see Turkey’s East Med aggressiveness as a bold statement by Erdogan that he doesn’t fear EU sanctions or he doesn’t even think they are a possibility. In the coming days, this picture could change, however. During the October 15-16 EU Summit, Greece and Cyprus will be sure to address Turkey’s latest moves and possibly ask for a united European reaction and implementation of sanctions, as have already been threatened. As a sign of his little he seems to fear EU sanctions, Erdogan has opened the beaches of Varosha, an abandoned Greek town in occupied Turkish Cyprus. This was likely done as a signal from Erdogan that he will not comply with the more pro-European Turkish Cypriot president of the TRNC.

The coming days will be crucial for Turkey and the region. A widened regional conflict in the Caucasus could close the main oil and gas arteries bringing Azerbaijani and Central Asian energy resources to Europe. At the same time, a Turkish-Greek confrontation would put existing Southern European oil and gas projects at risk. Offshore naval confrontations are unlikely to be confined to the specific parties involved but threaten maritime trade flows (including the Black Sea and Caspian oil and gas transports). A possible new hotspot could be the open up around the Bosphorus, as Russian and Egyptian naval forces are planning to hold a major military exercise in the Black Sea area in the coming weeks. When this takes place, Egyptian naval forces will have to pass through the Turkish Bosphorus waters of Istanbul. In light of ongoing threats, this has the potential to spark a serious conflict in the region.

In September, Brazil’s wealthiest and most populous state Sao Paulo went into contract with Chinese vaccine developer Sinovac Biotech, with the expectations to receive 46 million doses of CoronaVac. CoronaVac has been in Phase 3 testing in the South American country since July. On Friday, Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria said if the COVID-19 vaccine is approved by the National Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA), then mandatory vaccinations would follow, according to the Rio Times. 

Doria told reporters Friday, Oct. 16, that: “In Sao Paulo, it will be mandatory, except for those with a medical note and a certificate stating that they cannot [take the vaccine].” 

Just weeks ago, he told other reporters that Sao Paulo “will be one of the first places in the world to vaccinate the public.” He said his administration has already obtained 6 million CoronaVac doses for potential distribution.  

Citing local media, RT News said Sao Paulo could have the CoronaVac vaccine approved as early as December. The trials are expected to be wrapped up this weekend, with results expected sometime early next week. 

Doria has spent the last couple of months blasting President Jair Bolsonaro’s handling of the public health crisis – accusing him of “politicizing” the vaccine.

Bolsonaro recently responded to Doria’s comments, saying that the Health Ministry will not make vaccination mandatory. Bolsonaro also cited federal laws that determine it’s up to the federal government to decide if vaccinations are mandatory. 

Bolsonaro, who routinely downplayed the pandemic, and contracted the virus in July, has been widely criticized by Doria and other critics for incompetence. 

On Saturday, virus-related deaths in the South American country rose 461 to 153,675. Brazil now registers more than 5,224,362 virus cases. 

Brazil leads all other BRIC countries in deaths per million inhabitants. 

The South American COVID-19 hotspot is Brazil. 

Virus cases worldwide, via one-week moving averages, are surging once again.

We would suspect, US vaccine makers are not thrilled with China supply COVID-19 vaccines to Brazil.