Skeptic Beating Al Gore on Amazon
By Roy W. Spencer, Ph. D. | August 24th, 2017
Al Gore’s new movie, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, has been in theaters for about a month now, and has received rather tepid reviews.
The Kindle e-book version of Gore’s movie, despite being very colorful, has been doing even worse and is currently running at #20,768 overall on Amazon, and is not ranked #1 in any sub-category.
But the skeptic take-down of Gore’s new movie and book, An Inconvenient Deception: How Al Gore Distorts Climate Science and Energy Policy, is at #956, and is #1 in three sub-categories.
What makes the discrepancy even worse is that An Inconvenient Deception was self published, with no paid advertising.
Maybe people are finally wising up to Mr. Gore.
UN urges US-led coalition to pause airstrikes to spare Raqqa civilians
RT | August 24, 2017
The situation in Raqqa, Syria is getting worse, with basic services “at all-time low” and thousands of civilians unable to get out of the besieged terrorist stronghold, the UN says, urging the US-led coalition to halt the bombing to allow people to escape.
“On Raqqa, our urging today from the UN side to the members of the Humanitarian Task Force, including the members of the Coalition that is helping retake Raqqa, is that they need to do whatever is possible to make it possible for people to escape Raqqa,” Jan Egeland, Special Advisor to the UN Special Envoy for Syria, said at a press briefing in Geneva on Thursday.
Some 20,000 civilians remain trapped in dire humanitarian conditions in Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) held areas of the Raqqa city, he claimed.
“The five neighborhoods now held by the Islamic State [IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL], of the city of Raqqa, is an area where the needs are beyond belief and the protection concerns are acute,” Egeland said.
The civilians trapped in the city have virtually no access to basic services, including safe water and food, and are surviving on food they stored up earlier, David Swanson, public information officer from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told RT.
“The humanitarian situation – up to 25,000 civilians still trapped in Raqqa – is nothing short of dire. Access to safe drinking water, food and other basic services is at an all-time low with many residents relying on food they had stored up earlier to survive,” Swanson said, adding that the only functional hospital in the city remains in IS hands.
In the past few days, multiple media and humanitarian organizations are reporting mounting civilian casualties in the city. On Tuesday, the UN expressed“deep concerns” over the reports, urging all parties “to spare and protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.”
An escape from the besieged terrorist stronghold, however, seems almost impossible due to the intensive fighting, shelling by the mostly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and airstrikes by the US-led coalition, Egeland said.
“There is heavy shelling from the surrounding and encircling SDF forces and there are constant air raids from the coalition. So, the civilian causalities are large and there seem to be no real escape for these civilians,” Egeland said, urging the coalition to “think of possibilities, pauses or otherwise that might facilitate the escape of civilians.”
“I cannot think of a worse place on earth now than in these five neighborhoods and for these 20,000 people,” the UN official added.
As a way to ease the people’s plight, Egeland cited the example of the Aleppo liberation, when the Syrian Army and Russia announced humanitarian pauses multiple times to allow civilians the chance to escape the crossfire and provide much-needed aid.
The situation, however, is more complicated in Raqqa, as IS terrorists do not want to communicate with the besieging forces at all, according to Egeland. The lack of such communication, however, cannot be used as an excuse to do nothing to help the trapped civilians, he added. According to the official, “this is time to try anything to allow their safe escape,” however pointing out that many civilians simply refuse to leave due to fear of terrorists, but also from “shelling” and “bombardment” of US-led coalition and forces its backs.
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Israel charges Palestinian cleric Sheikh Salah with incitement of terror
Press TV – August 24, 2017
The Tel Aviv regime has indicted Sheikh Raed Salah, a cleric who supported Palestinian protests over Israel’s controversial security measures imposed last month at a holy site in occupied Jerusalem al-Quds.
The Israeli court formally charged Salah on Thursday with incitement of terror over speeches he delivered encouraging Palestinians to protest for the right of holding prayers inside the Haram al-Sharif compound, which is home to the revered al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam.
Israel had earlier in the week extended Salah’s detention, nearly a week after he was arrested. Prosecutors had demanded the renewed detention, saying they intended to bring charges against the 58-year-old cleric.
Israel’s security measures, which came after the July 14 deadly shooting and killing of two Israeli policemen, sparked some unprecedented protests and sit-in gatherings in occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds as Palestinians refused to accept the restrictions for nearly two weeks.
Israel was later forced to remove metal detectors and cameras installed at the gates and Palestinians ended sit-ins and prayers outside the mosque.
Salah had served for nine months in Israeli jails before he was released in January. He was previously charged with “incitement of violence” and “incitement of racism.” His latest arrest sparked condemnations in the occupied territories as his supporters said it was part of a political witch hunt aimed to silence dissent.
Israelis have also banned Salah’s group, the Islamic Movement in Israel, in 2015 for allegedly stoking violence.
Israeli forces detain Addameer field researcher during overnight raid
French-Palestinian activist Salah Hamouri. [Photo: twitter.com | salah_hamouri]
Ma’an – August 24, 2017
BETHLEHEM – A field researcher for prisoners’ rights group Addameer was detained during an overnight raid on Wednesday from his home in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Kufr Aqab, according to the group.
Salah Hammouri, 32, who holds dual Palestinian-French citizenship, was detained and transferred to Israel’s interrogation center at the Russian compound, where his detention was then extended until Sunday.
An Israeli police spokesperson told Ma’an that he was “not familiar” with the case.
According to Addameer, Hammouri was a former prisoner of Israel for seven years, and was released as part of the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoners exchange deal in 2011.
Addameer added that the East Jerusalem resident was banned from entering the occupied West Bank until Sept. 2016, and that his wife is currently banned by Israeli authorities from entering Palestine or Israel.
The group said it considers the detention “an attack against Palestinian civil society organizations and human rights defenders.”
“It also constitutes one arrest in the context of continuous arrest campaigns against Palestinians,” Addameer said, before demanding Hammouri’s release and the release of all Palestinian political prisoners.
Hassan Safadi, a Palestinian activist and media coordinator for Addameer, has also been held in administrative detention — Israel’s controversial policy of imprisonment without charge or trial — for more than a year.
Safadi has been held by Israel since May 1, 2016 after being detained at the Allenby Bridge between the occupied West Bank and Jordan, when he was interrogated by the Israeli army for 40 days.
Israeli authorities later sentenced the 25-year-old Palestinian to six months of administrative detention in June 2016, and has since renewed the administrative detention order twice — once in Dec. and a second time in June this year.
Israel’s widely condemned policy of administrative detention allows internment without charge or trial in maximum six-month long renewable intervals based on undisclosed evidence that even a detainee’s lawyer is barred from viewing.
According to prisoners’ rights group Addameer, 6,128 Palestinians were detained by Israel as of July, 450 of whom were held in administrative detention. The group has estimated that some 40 percent of Palestinian men will be detained by Israel at some point in their lives.
Iran, Saudi to Exchange Diplomatic Visits
Al-Manar | August 24, 2017
Iran and Saudi Arabia will soon exchange diplomatic visits, Tehran said, in a possible sign of tensions easing after the arch rivals cut ties last year.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told local media the visits would take place after this year’s hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, which is due to start at the beginning of September.
“Visas have been delivered for the two sides. The final steps need to be completed so our diplomats can go inspect our embassy and consulate in Saudi Arabia and for Saudi diplomats to come inspect their embassy and consulate,” Zarif told news agency ISNA.
Zarif urged Riyadh to reconsider its foreign policy.
“Saudi Arabia’s behavior goes against its own interests. We want security and stability throughout the region and insist on the need to fight against the dangers that threaten us all,” he said.
“Saudi Arabia has not benefited from two years of war and horrific acts against the Yemeni people, on the contrary,” he said. “It’s the same in Syria or in Bahrain. We hope they will choose another path.”
US Accuses Russia of Arming Taliban ‘to Hide Its Own Defeat’ in Afghanistan
Sputnik – August 24, 2017
Unfounded speculations by US politicians about alleged supplies of arms to the Taliban by Russia are aimed at concealing the truth of America’s obvious defeat in Afghanistan, which Washington is still struggling to postpone, Afghan political observer Vahid Mojda told Sputnik.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s claim that Russia is arming the Taliban bears no relation to reality, Vahid Mojda, a political observer and former Afghan Foreign Ministry official under the Taliban government, told Sputnik.
“I talked with Talibs about it and they told me that neither Russia nor any other countries provided any assistance to them,” Mojda said in an interview with Sputnik Afghanistan. “They [said] they could get Kalashnikov assault rifles in Afghanistan at a very cheap price. They can buy [the rifles] directly from the Afghan Army. The Taliban usually draws on corrupt [Afghan] politicians to buy weapons from the Afghan military for bribes.”
On Tuesday, during a press briefing, Tillerson claimed that Russia was providing weapons to the Taliban.
“With respect to the comment about Russia, to the extent, Russia is supplying arms to the Taliban, that is a violation, obviously, of international norms and it’s a violation of UN Security Council norms,” Tillerson said, “We certainly would object to that and call Russia’s attention to that. If anyone is going to supply arms, it needs to be through the Afghan government.”
However, the US secretary of state didn’t refer to any credible evidence to back his claim.
In response to Tillerson’s unfounded allegations Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova highlighted Thursday that Moscow has provided no support to the Taliban movement in Afghanistan.
She pointed out that Moscow has repeatedly rejected similar accusations and has demanded Washington provide evidence that it supports the militant movement.
“There is none. Such statements do not contribute to the establishment of effective cooperation between our countries on Afghanistan,” the spokeswoman stressed.
“If Talibs received weapons from other countries it wouldn’t be Kalashnikov rifles: what the Taliban needs are anti-aircraft guns,” Mojda underscored in his interview with Sputnik. “If the Taliban obtains these [anti-aircraft] weapons, the US will find itself in a heap of trouble in Afghanistan.”
Why does Washington accuse Russia of arming the Taliban?
Mojda assumed that the US is apparently trying to drive a wedge between various groups within the Taliban.
“They are doing this to sow discord among the Taliban by convincing militants that some Talibs are connected to Russia. This is a propaganda campaign against the Taliban,” he noted.
On the other hand, according to the political observer, Washington is making attempts to divert attention away from the obvious fact that the US is losing its war in Afghanistan.
“By pointing the finger of blame to Russia, Pakistan and other countries, they [the US] want to conceal their defeat in Afghanistan,” Mojda stressed. “The goal of Washington’s strategy is not to win in Afghanistan, but to postpone the US’ defeat.”
Commenting on the issue, Russian Senator Frants Klintsevich, the first deputy chairman of the Parliament’s upper chamber’s Defense and Security Committee, denounced Tillerson’s allegations as groundless.
“The United States continues to measure others by its own standards,” Klintsevich told reporters. “The logic of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who accused Russia of arming the Taliban, is absolutely ‘one-dimensional’: [he believes that] if the Americans supported [Afghan] Mujahedin by all means available — including weapon supplies — during the Soviet Union’s Afghan war in the 1980s, Russia cannot but do completely the same. Of course, no proof was presented [to confirm the claim].”
It is not the first time that US policy makers and mainstream media have made unfounded claims about Moscow’s alleged assistance to the Taliban.In March, US Army General Curtis Scaparrotti, who is also NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, claimed that he had seen “Russian influence growing” on Taliban insurgents. He went even further suggesting that possibly Moscow could have been helping “supply” the militants. Scaparrotti didn’t specify what kinds of supplies he meant.
A month later the head of US and international forces in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, stepped up with a similar claim saying that he was “not refuting” reports that Russia was providing support, “including weapons,” to the Taliban.
Neither Scaparrotti nor Nicholson cited any evidence to confirm their assumptions.
Predictably, US mainstream media immediately blew up the story.
Nearly a month ago CNN reported that it obtained a video showing sniper rifles and heavy machine guns “stripped of any means of identifying their origin.”
The media outlet presumed that the rifles appeared to look like Russian-made Kalashnikov guns. Still, the report admitted that “the videos don’t provide incontrovertible proof of the trade.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry’s reply was not long in coming.
“We have said many times that the allegations regarding Russian support for the Taliban, which some Western media make and some Afghan media repeat, are absolutely groundless,” the Foreign Ministry said in an official statement. “So far, neither the Afghan authorities, nor the US and NATO commands in Afghanistan have presented any facts to prove these allegations.”
The ministry called attention to the fact that the “Taliban drove American-made Humvees in a recent attack on the base of the Afghan National Security Forces in Helmand.”
“It is easy to imagine the conclusion that can be made from this news based on CNN’s logic,” the statement said.