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Only 1/3 of Americans agree with FBI’s decision not to recommend charging Clinton

RT | July 11, 2016

A majority of Americans believe that the FBI should have recommended charges against Hillary Clinton for her handling of classified emails while secretary of state, according to a new poll.

In the new Washington Post/ABC poll released Monday, 56 percent of respondents disapproved of FBI chief James Comey’s decision not to indict Hillary Clinton, and only 35 percent said that they approved. Similarly, 57 percent said that the fiasco makes them worried about Clinton’s behavior if she were elected president, while 39 percent didn’t have their opinions changed in this regard. Forty-three percent, however, said that the incident makes them “very worried” about how she might act.

A majority – 58 percent – said that the private email affair wouldn’t sway their vote in the 2016 presidential election, while 28 percent said that they are now less likely to support her and 10 percent said it makes them more likely to do so.

The poll found opinions of the FBI’s decision were divided along party lines. Ninety percent of Republicans said that they thought Clinton should have been indicted, and perhaps a surprisingly high number of Democrats – 30 percent – said the same.

Forty-seven percent of Republicans said that the issue is less likely to make them less inclined to support her.

Among Democrats, the email issue makes no difference to 74 percent, and has 16 percent the issue has strengthened their support. Ten percent of Democrats say they’re less likely to vote for her because of the FBI’s decision, however.

Wrapping up a nearly year-long investigation of Clinton, FBI Director James Comey announced that the agency would not recommend charges against Hillary Clinton for her alleged mishandling of high sensitive communications on an unsecured server during her tenure as secretary of state. However, he did call the behavior of Clinton and her staff “extremely careless.”

Attorney General Loretta Lynch agreed with the FBI’s recommendations and did not indict Clinton. A day later, the State Department said that it will reopen its own internal investigation of the former secretary of state in light of the new facts.

The Washington Post/ABC News poll was conducted July 6 to 7, and it surveyed a random national sample of 619 adults. The margin of error is 5 percentage points.

July 11, 2016 Posted by | Corruption, Deception | , | 2 Comments

Administrative detention renewed for two re-arrested former prisoners, Shadi Jarrar and Mohammed Al-Tabeesh

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network – July 11, 2016

shadi-jarrarThe administrative detention of two Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails was renewed on Sunday, 11 July; they are among nearly 750 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial under indefinitely renewable administrative detention orders. Both former prisoners who have spent years in Israeli prison, their detentions without charge or trial were extended by military order.

Shadi Jarrar, 37, was ordered to four additional months in administrative detention; a former prisoner released in 2014 who has spent 13 years in Israeli prisons, he was arrested by Israeli occupation forces at a military roadblock near Nablus on 19 March and ordered to four months administrative detention without charge or trial.

mohammed-atabahMohammed Al-Tabeesh of Dura, near al-Khalil, was also ordered to four additional months of administrative detention, the third renewal of the detention order against him. He has been jailed since 11 November 2015, also arrested by Israeli occupation forces at a military roadblock in Nablus.

Atabah is a student of Information Technology at An-Najah University in Nablus; he has spent seven years in Israeli prisons over various arrests. He is the brother of Ayman al-Tabeesh, former administrative detainee and long-term hunger striker who has spent 11 years in Israeli prisons, and participated in a previous hunger strike alongside his brother.

Administrative detention orders are issued for one to six months at a time without charge or trial, based on secret evidence. They are indefinitely renewable. Currently, Palestinian prisoner Bilal Kayed is on hunger strike to demand his freedom from administrative detention. Kayed finished his 14.5 year sentence in Israeli prisons on 13 June; instead of being released, he was ordered to administrative detention. Kayed, striking since 15 June, is being supported by hundreds of fellow prisoners, who fear that his case represents a new precedent of indefinite detention of Palestinians who complete their sentences in Israeli prison.

July 11, 2016 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , | Leave a comment

Boeing criticizes ban on Iran deal

Press TV – July 11, 2016

American aerospace and defense giant Boeing has criticized a possible ban by Congress on its multi-billion dollar agreement with Iran, saying that all rivaling companies should also withdraw their contracts with Tehran in case the ban is finalized.

Speaking in London on Sunday, Ray Conner, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Boeing’s commercial jetliner unit, said that attempts by American lawmakers to block the company’s 80-jet deal with Iran would only put Boeing in a disadvantaged position against its rivals.

Iranian airliner IranAir and Boeing reached a memorandum of agreement (MOA) in June, under which a total of 80 aircraft will be sold to Iran and a further 29 will be leased with Boeing’s support as part of a $25 billion contract.

However, the US House of Representatives blocked the deal on Thursday, with opponents arguing that Iran would use aircraft parts for “a military purpose.”

Congress passed two of the three measures that were drafted by its Financial Services subcommittee about the deal.

One of the measures would require the the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC ) not to license the sale of the planes to Iran.

Another measure prohibits the Export-Import Bank from financing any entity engaged in business with Tehran or any other one that provides financing to another entity to facilitate transactions with it.

Meanwhile, Boeing’s European rival Airbus is also awaiting Washington’s approval of an agreement with Tehran over the purchase of 118 planes, worth over $27 billion.

More than 10 percent of Airbus components are made in the US, making the US Treasury’s green-light mandatory before the deal can proceed.

“If we’re not allowed to go forward, then sure as heck no other US company should be allowed to go forward either and that would be any US supplier to any other manufacturer,” Conner was quoted as saying by the Seattle Times.

Aside from Airbus, companies like Bombardier; Embraer and COMAC also use American parts and should be subjected to the ban, Conner added.

The deals with Boeing and Airbus came after aircraft sanctions against Tehran were lifted under a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 group of nations—the US, Russia, France, Britain, China and Germany—reached in July last year.

July 11, 2016 Posted by | Economics, Wars for Israel | , , , | Leave a comment

Islamic Jihad, Hamas: Turki Faisal’s Remarks Serve Zionist Occupation

Al-Manar | July 11, 2016

Turki_FaisalPalestinian resistance movements Islamic Jihad and Hamas have denounced remarks made by Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal, saying such remarks serve the Zionist occupation.

Faisal, who in the past served as Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief, said at a conference of the Iranian opposition over the weekend that the Iranian regime supports Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Palestine in order to cause instability in the region.

The Islamic Jihad said Faisal’s remarks serve the Israeli agenda that seeks to eliminate the Palestinian cause and open all the Arab and Islamic capitals to the Zionist entity.

“We tell those people: if you can’t stand up for Palestine and its people at least don’t stand by the Zionist entity to condemn the victim,” the Islamic Jihad movement said in a statement on Sunday.

“The Saudi Muslim people won’t accept to pave the way for the Israelis to reach Mecca and Medina.”

For its part, Hamas condemned the remarks, saying they were “baseless.”

“Everyone knows that Hamas is a Palestinian movement fighting the Zionist occupation in the land of Palestine, and has only a Palestinian agenda … and it adopts the concept of moderate Islam,” said a statement by the group.

Hamas further accused Faisal of saying things that serve the “Zionist occupation and provide it with further pretexts to carry out aggression against the Palestinian people.”

July 11, 2016 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Iran rejects NATO claims on missile work

Press TV – July 11, 2016

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has dismissed a recent NATO communiqué concerning the Islamic Republic’s missile program as “a repetition of past baseless allegations.”

NATO, in a statement released on June 9, expressed “serious concern over the development of Iran’s ballistic missile program and continuing missile tests,” claiming that they “are inconsistent with UNSCR 2231.”

Resolution 2231 was adopted on July 20, 2015 to endorse a nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers — known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — and puts no limits on Iran in terms of missile activities. The resolution merely “calls upon” Iran not to undertake any activity related to missiles “designed to be capable of” delivering nuclear weapons.

Iran says it is involved in no such missile work and has no such weapons.

“Not only does not Iran’s missile program have anything to do with the JCPOA…, but also, as reiterated numerous times, it is not in breach of Resolution 2231, either,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi on Monday in reaction to the NATO statement.

“As declared repetitively, our country’s missile capabilities merely fall within the framework of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s legitimate defense program, and [the missiles] are by no means designed to carry nuclear warheads,” he added.

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China — plus Germany struck the JCPOA on July 2015 and started implementing it on January 16 this year.

Under the deal, Iran agreed to limit its nuclear program and provide enhanced access to international atomic monitors in return for the termination of all nuclear-related sanctions imposed by the United States, the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) against the country.

July 11, 2016 Posted by | Deception, Mainstream Media, Warmongering | , , | 1 Comment

Fool’s Errand: NATO Pledges Four More Years of War in Afghanistan

By Ron Paul | July 11, 2016

The longest war in US history just got even longer. As NATO wrapped up its 2016 Warsaw Summit, the organization agreed to continue funding Afghan security forces through the year 2020. Of course with all that funding comes US and NATO troops, and thousands of contractors, trainers, and more.

President Obama said last week that the US must keep 3,000 more troops than planned in Afghanistan. The real reason is obvious: the mission has failed and Washington cannot bear to admit it. But Obama didn’t put it that way. He said:

“It is in our national security interest, especially after all the blood and treasure we’ve invested over the years, that we give our partners in Afghanistan the best chance to succeed.”

This is how irrational Washington’s logic is. Where else but in government would you see it argued that you cannot stop spending on a project because you have already spent so much to no avail? In the real world, people who invest their own hard-earned money in a failed scheme do something called “cut your losses.” Government never does that.

Isn’t 15 years of US “blood and treasure” enough of a “best chance” to succeed?

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced at the summit that thanks to an additional billion dollars in NATO member-country donations, the organization had come up with close to the $5 billion per year that it has pledged to the Afghan government. Of that $5 billion you can guess who is paying the lion’s share. That’s right, we are. We send $3.45 billion every year to, according to Transparency International, the third most corrupt country on earth — while Americans struggle with unemployment, stagnant wages, and inflation. That is why I always say that foreign aid is money stolen from poor people in the United States and sent to rich people overseas.

NATO head Stoltenberg said, “Our message is clear: Afghanistan doesn’t stand alone. We’re committed for the long haul.” How nice of the Norwegian politician to commit Americans to financing the war in Afghanistan for “the long haul.”

When I suggested in a recent interview that the only sensible US policy in Afghanistan would be to bring all the troops home, the host asked whether I was worried the Taliban would rush in to fill the vacuum. That’s what has already happened, I said. The Taliban are stronger than ever in Afghanistan. They control more territory than at any time since the original US invasion in 2001. Despite 15 years of US interventionism, nearly 2,500 dead US soldiers, and well over a trillion dollars, Afghanistan is no closer to being a model democracy than it was before 9/11. It’s a failed policy. It’s a purposeless war. It is a failed program.

The neocons argue that Iraq, Libya, and other US interventions fell apart because the US did not stay long enough. As usual they are wrong. They failed and they will continue to fail because they cannot succeed. You cannot invade a country, overthrow its government, and build a new country from the ground up. It is a fool’s errand and Washington has turned most Americans into fools. It’s time to end this game and get back to the wise foreign policy of the founders: non-intervention in the affairs of others.

July 11, 2016 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Militarism, Timeless or most popular | , , , | 1 Comment