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Nurses in Coffey County refuse to give COVID-19 vaccine

AP Wire Fox4 Topeka

Excerpts:

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Four nurses at a rural health department in Kansas are refusing to administer any COVID-19 vaccines, citing the fast development and production of the shots.

Coffey County Public Health Administrator Lindsay Payer said the nurses made their own decisions and expressed their concerns one by one. She called the vaccine documents concerning.

“I strongly feel that if people want this vaccine, they should receive it. Absolutely,” Payer said. “But just like it’s their choice to receive it or not, I feel like it should also be my choice to give it or not.”

None of the nurses, including Payer, feel “comfortable” administering a vaccine that has gone through a speedy testing process with new technology, the Kansas City Star reported.

“Vaccination of Kansans is critical to reach the end of this pandemic,” Kristi Zears, a spokeswoman with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said in an email. “We are not aware of any other health departments who have expressed concerns regarding the vaccine and would point them to the safety data.”

Read the full article at Fox4 Topeka.

Comments by Brian Shilhavy | Health Impact News | January 21, 2021:

We commend these brave nurses who obviously have nothing to gain from such a decision other than a clear conscious, and much to lose, including their jobs.

As for Kristi Zears’ comments, I guess she missed this health department’s concerns in California:

California halts injections of Moderna Covid vaccine batch due to ‘higher-than-usual number of adverse events’

See Also:

Doctors Around the World Issue Dire WARNING: DO NOT GET THE COVID VACCINE!!

January 22, 2021 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Science and Pseudo-Science, Solidarity and Activism | | 1 Comment

Halfway through this winter of Covid, overall mortality is around normal for this time of year. Something doesn’t add up

By Peter Andrews | RT | January 21, 2021

Although the numbers of deaths attributed to the virus in the UK are higher than they’ve ever been, in total, not many more people are dying than in any other cold season. Is the mainstream media finally waking up to this?

A recent article in the Telegraph is one of the first in a mainstream outlet to even suggest a challenge to the official coronavirus narrative. These days, that narrative claims that the ‘second wave’ is actually deadlier than the first. (Recently, some Branch Covidians have been claiming a ‘third wave’, but there is not yet a united front on that.)

The basic reasoning of the article is sound, even if it is long overdue. It laments how every day, the media solemnly reports the latest figures on Covid deaths. Presenting this figure in isolation results in graphs such as this one, which does indeed seem to show that we are at the height of a second, worse phase of a pandemic. But, like any statistics, daily death numbers are meaningless without context, which the media rarely provides.

They do not provide context because, if they did, the public might see a graph such as this one, from the Telegraph article. It quite clearly shows the spring spike in overall mortality, which was caused by Covid (plus lockdowns). After that ends in summer, we see… nothing. Overall mortality ever since, even through this winter, hovers at around the five-year average. And overall mortality, as I’ve repeatedly pointed out, is the only true way to know whether you are in a pandemic or not – all other figures can easily be fiddled.

Out of whack

So, why are the excess death data and the Covid deaths data so out of whack? And why isn’t Covid killing lots and lots of people this winter, as it did in spring? Even if you ascribe all excess deaths to Covid and none to lockdown, there really does not seem to be anything out of the normal variation in total deaths from year to year. And surely, by now, the toll of unnecessary deaths caused by untreated cancer, heart disease, depression and so on, has at least begun to register.

One reason coronavirus might not be slaying all around it this winter is because, well, this is not its first winter. Remember: it is called Covid-19, as in 2019. Of course, the official version of history states that the virus never reached Western civilisation until the spring of 2020, but evidence for this assertion is based on dodgy polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests and a profound rejection of common sense. (By the way, how many people do you know who had a severe bout of pneumonia-like symptoms last winter?)

But the main reason for the disparity is obvious: mass PCR testing. Under the current regime (science is the wrong word), a ‘Covid death’ is someone who dies having tested positive for Covid within the previous 28 days. When you test all hospital patients, as the UK does, then some of them will turn out to be positive – how many depends largely on the way you do the tests. And the more tests you do, the more ‘Covid deaths’ you will generate. It is that simple. Dr Mike Yeadon has written extensively on this, which he calls the PCR false positive pseudo-epidemic.

Too little, too late

In another time, it might have been shocking that it took so long for the science editor of a broadsheet newspaper to wonder why, in the midst of a killer pandemic the world’s not seen for a century or so, the number of people dying in the country is ordinary. Better late than never I suppose, but do not take this as a sign that the reinforcements are coming. Even this article makes absolutely certain to pledge allegiance to Covid orthodoxy, stating without evidence that “severe restrictions were … clearly essential to control the growing pandemic’’.

Most people do not get their information by sifting through government-issued statistics on websites designed to hinder you. But there used to be a word for someone who got paid to do exactly that and then tell the public, in plain English, what they found. Oh, that’s right – we used to call those people ‘journalists’. There don’t seem to be many of them about these days, not even at the Telegraph.

Peter Andrews is an Irish science journalist and writer based in London. He has a background in the life sciences, and graduated from the University of Glasgow with a degree in genetics.

January 22, 2021 Posted by | Fake News, Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Science and Pseudo-Science | | 1 Comment

MICHAEL MCFAUL’S COUNTERPRODUCTIVE POLICY PROPOSALS

Irrussianality | January 22, 2021

War, said the great Prussian strategist Carl von Clausewitz, is an “interaction.” It is “not the action of a living force upon a lifeless mass, but always the collision of two living forces.” One might say the same thing about international politics. Whatever you do always involves others, who have a will of their own and who act in ways which impede the fulfilment of your plans.

The good strategist doesn’t assume that others will simply comply with his demands. Rather he considers their likely response, and if it is probable that they will respond in a way that harms his own interests, he jettisons his plan and looks for another.

Joe Biden’s victory against Donald Trump in the recent US presidential election has led to a slew of articles suggesting the policies that the new administration should pursue towards Russia. All too often, instead of considering how Russia will respond, they treat it as a “lifeless mass” which can be pushed in the desired direction by pressing the correct buttons. Experience, however, suggests that this is not the case, and the Russian reaction to the proposed policies is not likely to be what the United States desires.

An example is an article by the former US ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul, published this week in the magazine Foreign Affairs. Full of suggestions for ramping up the pressure on Russia, it fails to take into consideration how Moscow is likely to respond to such pressure. Consequently, it ends up proposing a line that if put into practice would probably be entirely counterproductive.

McFaul accuses Russian president Vladimir Putin of leading an “assault on democracy, liberalism, and multilateral institutions,” with the objective of “the destruction” of the international order. From this McFaul concludes that the United States “must deter and contain Putin’s Russia for the long haul.” He then makes several suggestions as to what this policy should involve.

First, he suggests that NATO build up its armed forces on Russia’s border, “especially on its vulnerable southern flank”. Why precisely this is “vulnerable” McFaul doesn’t say, but he does tell us that NATO “needs new weapons systems, including frigates with antisubmarine technologies, nuclear and conventionally powered submarines, and patrol aircraft.”

Second, he argues that America must increase its support to Ukraine. “A successful, democratic Ukraine will inspire new democratic possibilities in Russia,” he says, as if a “successful, democratic Ukraine” is something that can simply be wished into existence. But McFaul wants to do more than just help Ukraine; he also wants to punish Russia. “As long as Putin continues to occupy Ukrainian territory, sanctions should continue to ratchet up,” he says.

Third, McFaul wants the US to get more deeply involved in other countries on Russia’s borders. “Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Uzbekistan all deserve diplomatic upgrades,” he suggests. He also recommends that Joe Biden, “should meet with Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya”.

Fourth, McFaul wishes to venture into the world of censorship. America and other Western democracies, “should develop a common set of laws and protocols for regulating Russian government controlled-media,” he says. To this end, he argues that Biden should get social media to “downgrade the information Russia distributes through its propaganda channels.” If a search engine produces a link to RT, “a BBC story should pop up next to it,” he says.

Finally, McFaul says that the United States should bypass the Russian government to forge contacts with the Russian people, so as to “undermine Putin’s anti-American propaganda.” The USA should also train Russian journalists as part of an effort to “support independent journalism and anticorruption efforts in Russia.”

Strategy, as Clausewitz, pointed out, is about using tactics to achieve the political aim. But it is almost impossible to see how the tactics McFaul proposes could help the United States achieve any useful objective. The simple reason is that Russia is hardly likely to react to them in a positive fashion.

Let us look at them from a Russian point of view. How will the Russian government see them?

Sanctions are to “ratchet up” in perpetuity (as they must if they are connected to Russia’s possession of Crimea, which no Russian government will ever surrender); NATO will deploy more and more forces on Russia’s frontier; America will interfere ever more in Russian internal affairs, building up what will undoubtedly be considered a “fifth column” of US-trained journalists and opposition activists; the USA will intensify efforts to detach Russia from its allies and build up a ring up of hostile states around it; and finally, America will launch all-out information warfare to bend the international media to its will.

What does McFaul imagine Russia will do when it sees all this? Put up its hands and surrender? If he does, then it’s clear that in a lifetime studying Russia, he’s managed to learn nothing.

In reality, the response would probably be not at all to his liking. The growing sense of external and internal threat would lead to an increase in repressive measures at home, undermining the very democracy and liberty McFaul claims to be supporting. In addition, we would most probably see Russia increasing its own military forces on its national frontiers; doubling down on its support for the breakaway Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics in Eastern Ukraine; and pressing further with its own activities in the information domain.

In short, the Russian response would involve Russia doing all the things that McFaul dislikes, but even more so. It is hard to see how his strategy could be deemed to be a sensible one.

If it was just McFaul, it would probably not matter too much. But he is far from the only person saying these things. The general theme among supporters of the new Biden administration is that Trump was too soft on Russia, and that America needs to take a more robust line. This does not bode well for the next few years.

“Know your enemy and know yourself,” said another great strategist, Sun Tzu. Unfortunately, Americans seem to have forgotten this advice. They would do well to heed it.

January 22, 2021 Posted by | Militarism, Russophobia | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Alexei Navalny & Russia Baiting: Biden Brings Back Business as Usual

Only 48 hours in power, and already the team behind The Maidan is looking to start a colour revolution in Moscow.

By Kit Knightly | OffGuardian | January 22, 2021

Joe Biden enters the White House with an entourage of faces very familiar to OffGuardian, and many of those readers who have been with us since the beginning.

Glassy-eyed Jen Psaki is once again taking the White House press briefings. Victoria “Fuck the EU” Nuland is going to be secretary of state, and Samantha Power is hoisted back onto a platform from which she can berate the rest of the world for not following America’s “moral example” by bombing Syria back to the stone age.

It was the machinations of these people – along with Biden as VP, John Kerry as Secretary of State and of course Barack Obama leading the charge – that lead to the coup in Ukraine, the war in Donbass and – indirectly – the creation of this website. For it was our comments on the Guardian telling this truth that got everyone here banned, multiple times.

So, for us, pointing out cold-war style propaganda is like slipping back into a comfy pair of shoes.

A good thing too, because with this coterie of neocon-style warmongers comes another familiar friend: the propaganda war on Putin’s Russia. Throughout the media and on every front, all within hours of Biden’s inauguration.

Now, anti-Russia nonsense didn’t go away while Trump was President – if anything it became deranged to the point of literal insanity in many quarters – but it definitely quietened down in the last 12 months, with the outbreak of the “pandemic”.

No more! Now we’re back to good old-fashioned cold-war craziness. The media tell us that Russia was a “spectre that loomed over Trump’s presidency”, that one of the Capitol Hill rioters intended to “sell Nancy Pelosi’s laptop to Russia” and other such brazen hysteria.

Of course underneath the standard pot-stirring propaganda to keep the “new cold war” on the boil, there is the Navalny narrative. An incredibly contrived piece of political theatre that may even evolve into a full-on attempt at regime change in Moscow.

For starters, three days before Biden’s inauguration, Alexei Navalny (having supposedly only just survived the poison the FSB placed “in his underpants”), returned to Russia. Where he was promptly arrested for violating the terms of his bail.

He knew he would be arrested if he returned to Russia, so his doing so was pure theatre. That fact is only underlined by the media’s reaction to his 30 day jail sentence.

Yes, that’s thirty DAYS, not years. He’ll be out before spring. Even if he’s convicted of the numerous charges of embezzlement and fraud, he faces only 3 years in prison.

Nevertheless, already the familiar Russia-baiters in the media are comparing him to Nelson Mandela.

On the same day as Biden’s inauguration, the European Parliament announced that Russia should be punished for arresting Navalny, by having the Nordstream 2 pipeline project closed down. (Closing this pipeline down would open up the European market to buy US gas, instead of Russia. This is a complete coincidence).

And then, the day after Biden’s inauguration, the European Court of Human Rights announced they had found Russia guilty of war crimes during the 5-day war in South Ossetia in 2008. The report was subject to a gleeful (and terrible) write-up by (who else?) Luke Harding. (Why they waited 13 years to make this announcement remains a mystery)

It doesn’t stop there, already Western pundits and Russian “celebrities” are trying to encourage street protests in support of Alexei Navalny. An anonymous Guardian editorial states Navalny’s “bravery needs backing”, whatever that means.

All of this could mean Biden is “forced” to “change his mind” and pull out of the re-signing of the anti-nuclear weapons treaty. Ooops.

But are there bigger aims behind this as well? Do they hope they can create another Maidan… but this time in Moscow? That would be insane, but you can’t rule it out.

One thing is for sure, though; they work fast. Less than two days in office, and we’ve already got a new colour revolution kicking off. Speedy work.

January 22, 2021 Posted by | Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Russophobia | | 1 Comment

FBI laments that deplatforming of ‘extremists’ makes it harder to spy on Americans

RT | January 22, 2021

Law enforcement is complaining about social media platforms’ full-frontal assault on American political dissidents’ freedom of speech, crying that removing so-called ‘extremists’ from the internet makes it harder to spy on them.

A former FBI profiler recently took to NBC to complain that while Big Tech restricting Americans’ ability to freely communicate was all well and good, it was making it harder for the US intelligence apparatus to properly snoop on every aspect of these people’s lives.

FBI alum Clint Van Zandt complained that a 70-year-old man involved in the raid on the Capitol earlier this month was totally unknown to the bureau, showing up with a truck full of Molotov cocktails, a rifle, and some “improvised grenades” unheralded by any sort of presence on social media.

Leaving aside the laughable image of the US’ deep-pocketed intelligence apparatus being thwarted by a 70-year-old man from Alabama – who, it’s worth pointing out, is not known to have even entered the Capitol building (!) – FBI agents like Van Zandt and their local counterparts in small-town sheriffs’ offices are really worried that if social media keeps purging Trump supporters and other undesirables, these platforms will create an unstoppable army of Lonnie Coffmans.

Lonnie Coffman, the man in question, had no criminal record or ties to any extremist groups, but “was struggling financially and fixated on right-wing views,” Van Zandt explained, adding – in all seriousness – that the senior citizen was the sort of threat that keeps FBI agents “up at night.”

“The purging of people with radical views from popular social platforms, which has escalated in recent weeks, deprives investigators of a crucial tool in tracking people who might move along the continuum of ideation to action,” the former agent said.

In plain English, the profiler lamented that mass deplatforming prevents FBI agents from both spying on the majority of Americans whom it considers to be potential domestic terrorism threats and entrapping wannabe criminals by posing as terrorists, militia members, and other law-breakers.

Indeed, given that nearly all high-profile FBI cases involve the bureau entrapping suspects, and that this work is increasingly done online, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have become crucial tools in what the FBI describes as its fight against domestic extremism. Ordinary Americans might describe the agency’s work, however, as an unjustifiable effort to lure ordinary people into committing crimes in order to make the FBI and the rest of the US’ sprawling intelligence apparatus seem indispensable.

So please, Twitter and Facebook, the next time you highlight a bunch of users whose views fall outside the ever-more-stifling claustrophobia of the mainstream media and prepare to hit ‘delete’, think of the FBI.

Now that – according to such free-speech-loathing figures as former CIA director John Brennan and House intel committee chair Adam Schiff – the War on Terror is coming home, the FBI is going to need all the help it can get to manufacture the terror statistics that could possibly justify criminalizing political dissent in a nation whose Bill of Rights includes an ironclad guarantee to protect the individual right to free speech. The bureau certainly isn’t going to get that if it hasn’t been cultivating a pool of bored young men with no economic future across multiple platforms, stringing them along with promises of things that go boom.

January 22, 2021 Posted by | Civil Liberties, False Flag Terrorism, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Blacks Committed 73% of Mass Shootings In 2020. Many Cases Remain Unsolved. Where Is the FBI?

 By Eric Striker – National Justice – January 21, 2021

As the media, FBI and Anti-Defamation League declare “white supremacy” and “domestic terrorism” the gravest threats to public safety in America, neither played any role in the outbreak of violence in 2020 — one of the deadliest years in American history.

Disingenuous political actors often point to the Charleston Church Shooting in 2015, the Tree of Life Synagogue incident of 2018, or the El Paso Wal Mart killings in 2019 to demonstrate the proclivity of white men to engage in indiscriminate killings. The latest figures on the approximately 603 mass shootings last year paint a radically different picture.

According to demographic ​data compiled by researchers at Mass-Shootings.info, black men committed 73% of mass shootings in 2020, in contrast whites were only 13% of known culprits.

Mass Shootings Go Unpunished

What is more galling is that while the revanchist FBI has been utilizing high tech resources to track down every protester who may have entered the Capitol, the perpetrators of some of the deadliest and most brutal mass shootings of 2020 remain at large.

For example, in June, police in Alabama investigated a house fire and found that it was set to cover up the executions of seven people, including a 17-year-old girl. The FBI violent crimes unit is aiding in the investigation, but there are no suspects.

Last September, seven people at a marijuana farm were shot and killed in Riverside, California. The police and the FBI have no arrests or suspects.

In August, three men opened fire on a crowd of women and children having a block party the middle of Washington DC. 21 people were injured in the attack, with one dying and another hospitalized in critical condition. The gunmen are still at large and the DC police do not have any suspects or leads.

There are countless unsolved mass shooting cases like the aforementioned. America is the only first world nation where people can open fire on random people in a major city’s crowded street and never get caught.

As for individual shootings, the numbers in 2020 are equally stark. 70% of shootings in New York City last year remain unsolved. Murder clearance rates have plummeted across major urban areas in the country even as homicides have skyrocketed.

The FBI’s Prioritizes Punishing Dissent Over Murder

The murder rate in 2020 jumped an average of 37% in 57 cities at the closing of last year, yet the FBI’s announced priorities for 2021 do not reflect the gravity of this national emergency.

According to the Bureau’s budget request for the new year, which is available on the Department of Justice’s website, they will be receiving close to $4 billion for their “counter-terrorism” operations, while their criminal division will be getting $3.4 billion.

A 2013 examination of the FBI’s corrupt “counter-terrorism” strategy found that only 1% of the people they entrap and arrest have any connection to actual terrorists. With the FBI’s new emphasis on right-wing white men, the number is likely much lower. Usually the criminal element introduced into religious or political communities engaging in First Amendment protected activity are inserted by the FBI itself.

The FBI’s revival as an instrument for suppressing views critical of the government is not lost on its agents. In 2018, the FBI Agents Union put out a statement demanding Congress pass a new “domestic terrorism law,” as many of their political targets are not committing any actionable criminal offenses.

Senator Dick Durbin and some Republicans are working on granting them their wish by re-submitting a “domestic terrorism” bill that would allow them to utilize already freely abused Patriot Act powers on law-abiding US citizens.

The outcome is as predicted. America is now a crime-ridden and corrupt third world country that suddenly becomes techno-dystopian when a citizen dares to question the increasingly absurd whims of the status quo.

January 22, 2021 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , | 1 Comment

Israel floods farmlands with rainwater in eastern Gaza

MEMO | January 22, 2021

The Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture announced on Thursday that Israel had vented its dams for rainwater harvesting, leading to the flooding of farmlands near the Gaza Strip’s eastern borders and the destruction of vast agricultural areas.

Israel has built several dams to collect and use rainwater and vents it without warning when large quantities of water accumulate during the winter, causing damage to the Gaza Strip’s farm and agricultural lands.

Ahmed Fatayer, director of the ministry’s branch in Gaza, disclosed that Israel: “Has opened the rainwater dams east of the Shuja’iyya neighbourhood in the east of the Gaza Strip, which led to flooding hundreds of dunams of agricultural land.”

In an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency, Fatayer indicated that Palestinian farmers have suffered “great losses and direct and indirect damage” due to the sudden venting of dams.

He pointed out that Israel has been venting the dams and flooding agricultural land belonging to Palestinian citizens in recent years.

Salem Quta, one of the affected farmers, conveyed that the Palestinian landowners have suffered significant losses due to the flooding of their agricultural areas.

“About 400 dunams (one dunam equals 1,000 metres) were directly flooded with water, while 150 dunams were indirectly damaged by the flow of rainwater,” Quta told Anadolu Agency.

The farmer explained that the flooding of agricultural lands occurred when the crops he was growing during recent months were about to ripen.

Quta confirmed that in addition to flooding agricultural areas, Israel also: “Sprays chemical pesticides on the crops, which ends up destroying them, in addition to clearing the land.”

He called on human rights organisations and institutions to stand with the Palestinian farmers and support them to resist these violations.

January 21, 2021 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , | 9 Comments

German opposition MPs bash Merkel government over refusal to disclose information on Navalny case

By Jonny Tickle – RT – January 21, 2021

MPs from Germany’s left-wing Die Linke party have accused the country’s government of acting suspiciously after it refused to answer most of their questions about legal assistance requested by Russia over the Navalny case.

In recent months, on multiple occasions, the Kremlin has demanded information from Germany about the alleged poisoning of Alexey Navalny. The opposition figure arrived in Berlin in a coma on August 22 and spent the next five months convalescing in the city. According to Moscow, its requests for details have been rejected, preventing a thorough investigation into the events surrounding the alleged attack.

A letter, written by parliamentarians Amira Mohamed Ali and Dr. Dietmar Bartsch on behalf of the party’s entire Bundestag representation, asked the federal authorities for information on what exactly Russia had asked for and how Berlin had responded. The questions came after Moscow accused the Germans of failing to fulfill their obligations under the 1959 European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters.

The government revealed that Russia had requested legal assistance on four separate occasions, but “essentially did not reply,” according to MPs Gregor Gysi and Alexander Neu. Ten out of a total of 16 questions were answered with “no comment.”

The answer received by the left-wing politicians cited the need to protect “state secrets” and “cooperation with foreign partners,” noting that these aspects are more important than keeping elected officials in the loop.

“Disclosure of the information requested would be particularly detrimental to the welfare of the state because there is a risk that details will become known that are particularly worthy of protection in the context of cooperation with foreign partners,” the government noted, pointing to the fact that the MPs’ right to ask questions is limited by interests deemed to be constitutionally protected.

“[By refusing to answer], the federal government exposes itself to suspicion,” Gysi and Neu wrote, highlighting that the government has no obligation to protect Russian state secrets. “What are Germany’s state secrets regarding the government’s handling of Russia’s requests for legal assistance? … The failure of the Federal Government to answer these questions is neither constitutional nor democratic.”

On Monday, Gysi condemned the imprisonment of Navalny, noting his hope that the anti-corruption activist would be released.

January 21, 2021 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Deception, Russophobia | , | Leave a comment

In non-binding resolution, EU parliament calls for new anti-Russia sanctions to stop Nord Stream 2 over Navalny’s arrest

RT | January 21, 2021

An EU parliament resolution, backed by 581 MEPs out of 675 present, directs members to ramp up sanctions against Russia to stop the Nord Stream 2 project “once and for all,” linking it to opposition figure Alexey Navalny’s arrest.

The EU member states should take “an active stance” on Navalny’s 30-day arrest in Russia. This is according to a non-binding resolution adopted on Thursday, with 581 votes in favor, 50 against and 44 abstentions.

The list of “significantly tighter” restrictions the European nations are encouraged to impose against Moscow includes personal sanctions against anyone involved “in the decision to arrest and imprison” the opposition figure, who returned to Russia on January 17 following an almost six-month-long treatment in Germany after an apparent poisoning during a trip to Siberia.

The resolution went further, suggesting EU states should target Russian “oligarchs,” members of President Vladimir Putin’s “inner circle” and “Russian media propagandists” as well. “Additional restrictive measures could also be taken under the new EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime,” a statement published by the EU parliament says.

Another step suggested by the MEPs is putting a stop to the Russian gas pipeline project Nord Stream 2 “once and for all.” The multinational project, which would deliver Russian gas to Europe and particularly to Germany, is currently under construction despite fierce opposition from Washington, which calls it a threat to America’s and Europe’s security interests.

Now, a day after new US President Joe Biden has been sworn into office, the EU parliament resolution calls on the bloc’s member states to “immediately stop the completion of the controversial pipeline.” It would be an ideal moment to “strengthen transatlantic unity in protecting democracy and fundamental values against authoritarian regimes,” the text asserts.

Several European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, have repeatedly criticized the US pressure, arguing that Washington is interfering in Europe’s internal affairs to advance its own interests, namely to sell its own liquefied natural gas.

Earlier this week, Russian energy giant Gazprom informed Nord Stream 2 investors that the project could be suspended, even cancelled, after the US told Germany it was imposing new measures based on the CAATSA law (Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act).

Berlin said it could tax American gas imports in response to Washington’s move.

As for the “immediate release” of Navalny – another demand put forward by the EU parliament – it is unlikely to have any effect, since Moscow has already said it would not heed outside calls for the opposition figure’s release.

Navalny is currently accused of violating the terms of a suspended sentence. The opposition figure is facing charges over violation of probation terms related to a previous criminal case. In 2014, he received a three-and-a-half-year sentence, suspended for five years, for embezzling 30 million rubles ($400,000) from two companies, including French cosmetics brand Yves Rocher.

His sentence was then extended for another year and was due to expire in late December 2020 but he missed a scheduled check-in with a probation office in Russia while he was in Germany earlier the same month. The Russian penal service then demanded his arrest, arguing the move was deliberate as Navalny’s medical papers from Germany showed he had already recovered by that time.

Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin’s official spokesman, said earlier that the case is a matter for the Russian prison service and does not require any special intervention from the government.

January 21, 2021 Posted by | Economics, Russophobia | | Leave a comment

Hezbollah: Terrorist Bombings Suspiciously Return to Iraq after Official and Public Calls for Withdrawal of US Occupation Troops

Hezbollah Media Relations | Al-Manar | January 21, 2021

Hezbollah firmly condemned the twin terrorist blasts which rocked Baghdad on Thursday and claimed dozens of martyrs and wounded after targeting a crowded market in the city.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Hezbollah considered it as suspicious that the terrorist bombings have returned to Iraq after a period of stability and amid a surge of popular and official demands for the withdrawal of the US occupation forces from the country.

The US administration responded to those calls by imposing more sanctions on the Hashd Shaabi Committee and its dear commanders in order to expose Iraq to the threats of ISIL and other terrorist groups, according to the statement.

In response to the brutal crime, the Iraqis must be alert and remain committed to, unity, independence, freedom, rejection of the US occupation, and exertion of more efforts to pursue the remnants of the terrorist groups in the country, the statement emphasized.

Hezbollah finally offered deep condolences to the Iraqi officials, people and the martyrs’ families, hoping that Holy God grants the wounded a speedy recovery and the entire Iraqi nation security as well as stability.

January 21, 2021 Posted by | War Crimes | , , | 1 Comment

Biden To Keep Up Trump’s Venezuela Regime-Change Policy

By Tyler Durden | Zero Hedge | January 20, 2021

The Biden administration has said it will continue to formally recognize Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as president of Venezuela, despite Nicolás Maduro clearly being the actual leader of the socialist country.

Biden’s nominee for secretary of state Anthony Blinken told Senators on Tuesday that Guaido will be the recognized leader, a policy which began in January 2019 when the opposition leader dubbed himself ‘Interim President’ and also ‘Acting President’ at the encouragement of Washington during Trump admin attempts to foment a military and popular uprising against Maduro.

During his remarks Blinken also indicated the new administration will keep up the sanctions. “We need an effective policy that can restore Venezuela to democracy, starting with free and fair elections,” he said.

He said Biden will seek “more effectively target” economic punitive measures in efforts to make Maduro step aside and allow Juan Guaido to take up position, according to Reuters.

Blinkin further said he believes the US should not enter into negotiations with Maduro for the end of sanctions or some kind of relief, but instead vowed that Caracas must “really feel the pain”.

Currently the OPEC nation is gaining help from Iran and Russia in circumventing a US oil and fuel blockade. US sanctions aim to prevent crude being exported out and gasoline being imported for domestic use (Venezuela’s derelict refineries have been incapable of processing enough fuel to keep up domestic demand).

While Guaido is also recognized as president by over a dozen US allies, the majority of countries – including powerful Russia and China – do not.

January 21, 2021 Posted by | Subjugation - Torture, War Crimes | , | 1 Comment

The Great Pretense

By Stephen Lendman | January 21, 2021

Truth-telling historians will long remember January 20, 2021 in America as a day of infamy.

Unelected Biden/Harris were sworn into office as legitimate Election 2020 winner Trump was en route to Florida aboard Air Force One for the last time.

Events pre-election last year to militarized, occupied Washington Wednesday reflected growing US tyranny’s triumph over a fast disappearing free and open society.

Establishment media fawning in lieu of national mourning over unelected Biden/Harris is in stark contrast to unrelenting Trump bashing for the wrong reasons likely to continue against him in some form ahead.

Following shame and sham in the US capital Wednesday, virtual Biden/Harris press agent NYT defied reality with the following blazing headline in its day after edition, deceptively claiming:

“DEMOCRACY HAS PREVAILED (sic) (as) Biden takes office as 46th (US) president.”

A litany of mass deception followed.

Echoing deceptive inaugural address remarks delivered by Biden’s double because he’s too cognitively impaired to express more than sound bites in public, the Times called the delivered message “sanguine” during the Greatest ever US Main Street Depression that’s likely to fester and worsen ahead for ordinary Americans while super-rich ones grow richer by exploiting them.

Exuding unjustifiable praise for Biden/Harris by the Times was accompanied by more Trump bashing with no mention of legitimate DJT wrongdoing during his tenure.

The post-inaugural Times edition is an undisguised commercial for the incoming regime — polar opposite what journalism is supposed to be.

A blizzard of pro-Biden/Harris propaganda pieces filtered out discouraging words to conceal the true measure of the illigitimate pro-war, pro-corporate predation, anti-democratic new incumbents.

Along with the editorial board’s mass deception, an extended eulogy by other Times propagandists were featured.

“Harris makes history as the highest-ranking woman in the US” was a featured article about the first Black (sic) vice president.

The Times said featured photos were “from an inauguration day like no other… to show Americans and the world that democracy would endure (sic) despite” — its nonexistence in Police State America.

Other fawning all over Biden/Harris-Trump bashing featured a further array of mass deception reports including:

“On Day 1, Biden Moves to Undo Trump’s Legacy” — by going beyond the worst of his domestic and geopolitical agendas.

Biden issues blizzard of “executive orders and other directives”

“A Call for Unity (sic)” — that conceals no end of all-out war on humanity at home and abroad

“Washington Breathes an Uneasy Sigh of Relief (sic)” — during a changing of the guard to produce worse times ahead, not positive change for ordinary Americans

“A new era begins” — to exceed the worst of what preceded it

“How Joe Biden Became a Steady Hand Amid So Much Chaos” — ignoring his cognitive impairment likely to worsen ahead

“For Kamala Harris, an Influential Voice and a Decisive Vote” — a disturbing figure chosen to replace Biden when too cognitively far gone to continue on the job

“ ‘A Total Failure:’ The Proud Boys Now Mock Trump” — expect no end to Trump bashing for some time, part of wanting him to be too damaged goods to consider running again for office if permitted

“Biden Can Heal What Trump Broke (sic)”

“Relief, but Lingering Rage (sic)”

“Swamps R Us… Lots of things are better than” — reelected Trump kept from remaining in office by brazen fraud

“The Biden Opportunity” — for the military, industrial, security complex, Wall Street, other corporate favorites, and plotters of hardened tyranny ahead

“Is America Ungovernable Now?

Joe Biden is about to find out.”

The US has always been and continues to be governed of, by, and for the privileged few at the expense of the great majority.

“Biden’s Classy Call for an ‘America United (sic)’ ”

“Good Riddance, Leader McConnell” — his undemocratic Dem replacement to exceed the worst of how he betrayed ordinary Americans in deference to privileged ones.

“From Trump to Biden, TV Captures a Dramatic Shift… the best inaugural address I ever heard” — ignoring Biden’s history of mass deception

There’s more in the Times day after edition besides all of the unfit to read rubbish.

Imagine what’s coming ahead by establishment media — perpetual gushing over Trump’s unelected successor while bashing him at every opportunity and concealing the worst of what’s certain to unfold ahead.

Instead of the best of times to look forward to, hardened dystopia is virtually certain with nary an explanation from Big Media to continue their press agent services for a regime with no legitimacy.

Stephen Lendman is the author of:

“How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion, and Class War”

http://www.claritypress.com/product/how-wall-street-fleeces-america/

“Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity”

http://www.claritypress.com/product/banker-occupation-waging-financial-war-on-humanity/

January 21, 2021 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Fake News, Mainstream Media, Warmongering | , | 1 Comment

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