“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” “Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
(1Corinithians 6:19, 2 Corinithians 6:16)
I Will Dwell In Them, And Walk In Them
Dear Friends,
Those of you who are regular readers of this web site know that we and others do not believe the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif was ever the true location of either Solomon's or Herod's temples. We have written lengthy articles concerning this issue. Within the next week or two we hope to have the completed documentary concerning this subject on line. The rough cut has already been previewed by experts and is just undergoing some minor adjustments.
Have a great week ahead!
WND
U.N. BODY VOTES TEMPLE MOUNT NO LONGER JEWISH
'What's next? A decision denying the connection between peanut butter and jelly?'
Published: October 13, 2016
Israeli soldiers patrol the Temple Mount in Jerusalem
UNESCO, the United Nations committee responsible for “cultural understanding,” has given preliminary approval to a resolution that denies the documented historic Jewish connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.
The vote was 24-6 with another 26 nations abstaining. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately condemned the resolution as “the theater of the absurd.”
The proposed resolution, submitted by seven Muslim nations under the title “Item 25: Occupied Palestine” refers to parts of the site by the Muslim terms, “Al-Aqsa Mosque” and “Haram al-Sharif” and emphasizes the historic and religious significance of the site to Islam, but simply ignores evidence of Jewish history at the same site.
The document refers to Israel throughout as “the occupying Power” and accuses it of “aggressions and illegal measures” at the holy site.
UNESCO “firmly deplores the continuous storming of Al-Aqṣa Mosque/Al-Ḥaram Al-Sharif by Israeli right-wing extremists and uniformed forces, and urges Israel, the occupying Power, to take necessary measures to prevent provocative abuses that violate the sanctity and integrity of Al-Aqṣa Mosque/Al-Ḥaram Al-Sharif.”
The resolution also condemns Israel’s construction work in the Western Wall area by referring to it by its Muslim name “Al-Buraq Plaza,” a reference to the mythical unicorn that transported the prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem.
In reality, Muhammad never set foot in Jerusalem or the Temple Mount.
Jonathan Schanzer, vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told JNS.org that “The move is ironic in the sense that the Israelis have probably done more than any other sovereign that has controlled Jerusalem to ensure that all faiths can have access to the city and practice their faith.”
The resolution condemns Israeli’s interference with the Waqf, the Jordanian body that administers the Muslim sites. The resolution makes no mention that the Muslim sites in question were built on top of the remains of the Jewish “Great Temple” several hundred years after its destruction by the Romans in the year 70 AD.
The seven sponsors of the resolution are Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morrocco, Oman, Qatar and Sudan. They introduced it on behalf of the Palestinians.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement on Facebook Thursday which he titled “The theatre of the absurd continues at the UN.” The statement reads as follows:
“Today UNESCO adopted its second decision this year denying the Jewish people’s connection to the Temple Mount, our holiest site for over three thousand years.
“What’s next? A UNESCO decision denying the connection between peanut butter and jelly? Batman and Robin? Rock and roll?
“Is it any wonder the UN has become a moral farce when UNESCO, the UN body tasked with preserving history, denies and distorts history?
“Israel will continue to fight the lies, hatred and double standards at the UN.
“Israel will prevail because truth will prevail.”
The six countries that voted in support of Israel were: the United States, Great Britain, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Germany and Estonia.
Western Wall, where Jews have prayed for years.
The United States also chastised the UNESCO executive board for approving the resolution.
A senior administration official told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday that “One-sided, unhelpful resolutions have been a recurring challenge at UNESCO in recent years, and the United States has strongly opposed these resolutions at the UNESCO Executive Board.”
UNESCO’s drive to rewrite the history of the Temple Mount in Islam’s image began shortly after it accepted the Palestinians as a member state in 2011. The Mount is known to Muslims the Al-Haram Al Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary), the Jerusalem Post reports.
Initially they tried and failed to have it declared a solely Muslim site. Since then, they have submitted resolutions on Jerusalem at every possible UNESCO meeting, that uses only the Muslims terms for the Temple Mount area and its adjacent wall, according to the Post.
UNESCO’s executive board passed such a resolution last April and its 21-member World Heritage Committee had been poised to do so again in July in Istanbul.
That vote was delayed until Oct. 24-26, when the failed Turkish coup, cut the meeting short.
Since then according to language of a draft text seen by the Jerusalem Post, a sentence has been inserted into the text that mentions that Jerusalem and its Old City walls are holy to all three religions; Judaism, Islam and Christianity.
Carl Gallups, a Christian pastor in Florida and author of “When the Lion Roars,” among other books, said the hatred of Israel is a symptom of the last days.
“The Word of God has much to say about the abject hatred of the revenant nation of Israel in the last days. It also speaks of Jerusalem ultimately being surrounded by enemies and, at least, the temple area – being trampled upon by “Gentiles,'” he said.
“To Satan, it is not enough that an ultimate symbol of an ‘abomination that causes desolation’ (The Dome of the Rock) is sitting upon the Temple mount — but now, apparently he is indwelling an organization that fancies itself to be the head of a rising ‘one world order,’ and attempting to assassinate historical truth in the furthered cause of alienating Israel in the last days.”
Gallups said the U.N. wishes to “deny the Jewish people’s connection to the Temple Mount.” Then the obvious question has to be asked, “Then for whom and for what ‘temple’ was the mount originally constructed?
“These certainly are the most profoundly prophetic days since the first coming of Yeshua/Jesus Christ. And this absurd display of unfettered surrealism is just one more sign of that continually revealing truth.”
Thursday’s vote was taken by UNESCO’s 58-member Programme and External Relations Commission in advance of its ratification next Monday or Tuesday, by UNESCO Executive Board, made up of the same member states.
***
Mail Online
Forget baby showers! Young couples are holding 'vasectomy parties' to celebrate the start of a childless family, and ask guests to name their CAR instead
The cost of having children is deterring a growing number of couples from expanding the family unit
Vasectomies, once a source of shame, are now being celebrated openly by couples adamant about living childless lives
Instead of baby showers, couples now invite friends for 'car showers' or 'boat showers' in honor of the toys they'll buy with the money they save
By ARIEL ZILBER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 20:18, 9 October 2016 | UPDATED: 21:45, 9 October 2016
Call it a sign of the times.
More couples these days want to avoid parenthood and embrace life without children.
So some are marking the start of their childless families with 'vasectomy parties.'
'Vasectomy cakes' like the one above are becoming abundantly visible on social media as couples celebrate living together without children
One couple posted a Reddit bulletin announcing that they were inviting friends to revel in the fun of being sterilized.
The invitation calls on attendees to live it up in 'a house filled with sharp furniture and exposed outlets,' the Sun reported.
Instead of the traditional baby shower, couples also invite friends to 'car showers' where guests help them name their new car.
They also play board games like The Price Is Right, where they talk about what they can buy now that they've saved money by not having kids.
'Absolutely brilliant!,' one Reddit user replied.
'Made me LOL, especially the wording on the invitation, the clever cake, and the advent calendar! Congratulations, by the way and have a happy childfree life!'
'All a baby shower is a party to celebrate that you had sex,' wrote another user. 'That a sperm managed to hit a fertile egg. A vasectomy shower is a party to celebrate soon to be sex.'
Couples now invite friends over to decide what to name their cars, boats or other items that they buy with the money they save on account of not having children
The trend has become so pronounced that one couple posted a blog that they proudly named 'WereNotHavingABaby.com.'
'After six years of having looked forward to becoming a caring and all-out stimulating and dynamic mother at some indeterminate point in the near future, I suddenly realised that this wasn't the only possible narrative for my life,' one woman known as Stefani posted on the blog.
'I had swallowed the motherhood mandate hook, line, and sinker and I had never given myself the space and time to question whether I really, really want children.'
'Our society is all about celebrating traditional milestones,' Amy Blackstone, one of the blog's authors, told the New York Post.
'You graduate, you get married, you have a child. But that's a very narrow path and isn't indicative of many people's experiences.'
'So why not decide to celebrate your choice to not have a child
(Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed. Psalm 127:3-5
Who is as the Lord our God? who dwells in the high places…who settles the barren woman in a house, as a mother rejoicing over children. Psalm 113:5,9
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Colossians 3:2
While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18)
***
RT
Dutch may introduce assisted suicide for healthy people who feel life is over
Published time: 13 Oct, 2016 05:11hare to Tumblr
Assisted suicide for people who are not terminally ill may soon be an option in the Netherlands. Lawmakers in the country are pushing for a law which would let those who feel they have “completed life” take death into their own hands.
On Wednesday, the country’s health minister, Edith Schippers and the justice minister, Ard van der Steur, sent a letter to the parliament asking the lawmakers to draft legislation that would make assisted suicide a possibility.
The ministers argued that individuals who “have a well-considered opinion that their life is complete, must, under strict and careful criteria, be allowed to finish that life in a manner dignified for them.”
The Netherlands became the first country to legalize euthanasia, in 2002, but only for terminally ill patients. Now the country seems to pushing the boundaries even further in its call to introduce assisted suicide for the healthy.
This comes in the face of a [Dutch] special commission report which ruled that assisting someone in ending their life constituted a criminal offense. In February, a 243-page advisory report titled Voltooid Leven, (Completed Life), that investigated whether people who feel that their life is done and want to die need additional legal options, concluded that assisted suicide would remain illegal.
However the ministers disagreed, writing in the letter that “the Cabinet is of the opinion that a request for help [in dying] from people who suffer unbearably and have no hope without an underlying medical reason can be a legitimate request.”
The letter argues that some, mostly elderly people, are “walking around with an active death wish,” as they feel that their life has no meaning anymore. The new assisted suicide legislature will be “limited" to the elderly, the ministers argue without naming the threshold age.
The new law will require “careful guidance and vetting ahead of time with a ‘death assistance provider’ with a medical background, who has also been given additional training,” they argue.
Schippers wants to organize a careful process, that will exclude the “lonely or depressed people,” or individuals whose life problems can “be solved in a different way.”
(They that hate me love death. Proverbe 8:36)
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CE
WIKILEAKS’ EMAIL LEAKS UNCOVER THE VATICAN’S POSSIBLE KNOWLEDGE OF EXTRATERRESTRIALS
ARJUN WALIA OCTOBER 10, 2016
Yesterday, we published an article detailing the most recent leaks made by Wikileaks’ Julian Assange, which included the disclosure of more emails connected to the Clinton Campaign. This time, it was John Podesta’s account, showing multiple emails from Dr. Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 astronaut, showing how Mitchell (1940-2016) had big plans, and big meetings set up.
Edgar Mitchell was very active in moving the “disclosure” process by discussing the matter with various contacts inside of the White House and Pentagon, along with the Disclosure Project’s Dr. Steven Greer.
Here is one of the emails that was recently released by Wikileaks, and it mentions the Vatican:
“Dear John, As 2015 unfolds, I understand you are leaving the Administration in February. It is urgent that we agree on a date and time to meet to discuss Disclosure and Zero Point Energy, at your earliest available after your departure. My Catholic colleague Terri Mansfield will be there too, to bring us up to date on the Vatican’s awareness of ETI. Another colleague is working on a new Space Treaty, citing involvement with Russia and China. However with Russia’s extreme interference in Ukraine, I believe we must pursue another route for peace in space and ZPE on Earth. I met with President Obama’s Honolulu childhood friend, US Ambassador Pamela Hamamoto on July 4 at the US Mission in Geneva, when I was able to tell her briefly about Zero Point Energy. I believe we can enlist her as a confidante and resource in our presentation for President Obama. I appreciate Eryn’s assistance in working with Terri to set up our meeting.”
The Vatican & ETs
As you can imagine, the topic of extraterrestrial life dives into various sub-topics, and one of them is the religious interpretation of extraterrestrials, and there are many.
The first step, however, seems to be to have religious people accept the fact that ‘ET’ doesn’t have to contradict what they believe in.
For the past few years, the world’s largest church has played a major role in the alien debate.
For example, Monsignor Corrado Balducci, a longtime friend of Pope John Paul II and the Vatican’s leading exorcist, is one of multiple people from within the Vatican who has been very outspoken about extraterrestrials. On multiple occasions, he has stated that contact between humans and extraterrestrials has already happened.
“The existence of these beings is real. We can’t have doubts.”
In 2005, Vatican astronomer Guy Consolmagno said that humankind is facing a future discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence. In 2008, Vatican chief astronomer Father Jose Gabriel Funes stated that the discovery of intelligent extraterrestrial life, and its existence on a planet other than Earth, doesn’t contradict their faith.
Ask yourself this question: why would all of these Vatican authorities speak so openly and passionately about the subject? Perhaps there is something going on here?
The email from Dr. Mitchell certainly hints to that possibility, and the constant discussions regarding extraterrestrials coming out of the Vatican in the form of public statements also does.
As for Pope Francis, this is what he has had to say:
“He created beings and allowed them to develop according to the internal laws that he gave to each one, so that they were able to develop and to arrive at their fullness of being. He gave autonomy to the beings of the universe at the same time at which he assured them of his continuous presence, giving being to every reality. And so creation continued for centuries and centuries, millennia and millennia, until it became which we know today, precisely because God is not a demiurge or a magician, but the creator who gives being to all things.”
He has also said that extraterrestrial beings would be welcomed, and that he would try to have them baptized. Guy Consolmagno (mentioned earlier) has expressed the same sentiment.
In most cases, religion actually confirms the existence of life beyond our own world. For example, in Sikhism, God did not limit life to our planet, but created it throughout the cosmos. In Islam, God created other planets similar to Earth, full of other life forms. Islam also speaks of the Jinn, multidimensional creatures who can be “good” or “evil.” In Christianity, there are various interpretations of life beyond our own world, and in many ancient Vedic scriptures we have the same. The list goes on and on.
Vatican/Religious Controversy
Another discussion that’s going to stem from any type of ET disclosure and the religious interpretation from certain places, is deception and misinformation. If you think about it, this might not be the easiest process, especially because we are dealing with people’s belief systems here.
As many of you probably already know, the Vatican has been shrouded in massive sex abuse scandals, and accused of hiding and concealing ancient knowledge inside of its library.
Whether they’ve used religion as a form of control, and plan on doing the same thing when it comes to extraterrestrial life, who knows. Pope Francis has been making a lot of positive headlines lately, which seems to have many people confused, given the fact that a massive amount of people perceive an organization like the Vatican to be a ‘dark’ one (just as many people perceive it to be a ‘good’ one).
***
US cardinal: “It is clear that Muslims have as their ultimate goal conquest and power over the world”
OCTOBER 8, 2016 9:58 AM BY ROBERT SPENCER
Cardinal Burke’s line runs directly counter to the rainbows-and-moonbeams Islam of Pope Francis. He is, apparently, too prominent for Catholic authorities to try to silence, unlike other foes of jihad terror whom the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and individual bishops have worked so assiduously against. Cardinal Burke must get a chilly reception from his peers when they all get together.
“Top Cardinal: Islam Wants to Conquer the World, and the West Is Letting It,” by Nick Hallett, Breitbart, October 8, 2016 (thanks to John):
Speaking in an interview with Italian newspaper Il Giornale, Cardinal Raymond Burke accused Westerners of being too weak to acknowledge the incompatibility of Christianity and Islam.
“It is clear that Muslims have as their ultimate goal conquest and power over the world,” the American cardinal said. “Islam, through sharia, their law, will rule the world and permit violence against infidels, such as Christians. But we find it hard to recognise this reality and to respond by defending the Christian faith.”
“Many people do not understand what Islam really is,” he added. “They create these slogans: we all believe in the same God, we are all united by love and so on. It’s not true.”
He also said that modern Christians are often unwilling to proclaim their beliefs, and should not be afraid to convert people of other faiths.
“Christians have neglected a fundamental truth: there is only one Saviour of the world: Jesus Christ. We must not proselytize, imposing Christianity, but if we believe in Jesus it is our duty to bear witness.
“I think that this witness is not very strong, even in countries that were called Christian once upon a time, such as the European nations.”
Cardinal Burke, who is regarded as a leading traditionalist within the Catholic Church, went on to say that Islam poses a threat to the Western order because it makes no distinction between religion and the state.
“Islam is a threat in the sense that for the true Muslim, Allah must rule the world. Christ said in the Gospel: ‘Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s’. By contrast, the Islamic religion which is based on the law of the Koran aims to govern all countries where there are Muslims.
“While they are the minority they cannot insist, but when they become the majority they must apply the Sharia.”
We can already see this in some Muslim-majority neighbourhoods, the cardinal added.
“Today there are enclaves, entire neighbourhoods, in Europe where there is in fact Muslim rule.”
Speaking about so-called “no-go zones” such as Molenbeek, Cardinal Burke said that the existence of such neighbourhoods represented a failure of integration, calling them “a state within a state”.
“The problem is that Muslims aim for expansion,” he added. “The whole history of the Islamic presence in Europe is an attempt to conquer it.”
Rather than through arms, that expansion will come through immigration and high birth rate.
“Several times I have heard Islamists explaining: ‘What we failed to do with weapons in the past, we are doing today with birth rate and immigration.’ The population is changing. If this keeps up, in countries like Italy, the majority will be Muslim.”…
***
Fort Russ
Jacob Rothschild: US Has Allies Among Russian Elites
October 6, 2016
Plekhov, Cenznet.com - Translated from Russian by Kristina Kharlova
80-year-old member of the Rothschild dynasty, Jacob Rothschild is confident that the United States can find support in some of the Russian elites, he said on American political TV show.
"The current crisis may last much less time than the cold war. At the moment the US has allies among the Russian elites, who are ready to take over the initiative. In this scenario, ordinary people will not notice anything. The course of Russia's foreign policy will change – this will be presented as some kind of achievement of Russian diplomacy," - said Rothschild.
Meanwhile Rothschild is sure that the so-called conflict of the Russian elites is in the final stage.
"A part of Russian elite insists that the Russian leadership pushes for the lifting of sanctions. Part are against concessions to the West. Next year we'll know who won," - said Rothschild.
It is worth noting that since September 30, 2016, a video of the famous Donbass defender Igor Girkin (Strelkov) lashing out at Putin has been circulating online. Strelkov makes it clear that his followers are ready to protest, and did not shy from personal insults towards Putin.
Earlier those Russian experts who favor Putin dubbed Strelkov "the fifth column". Who is Strelkov's sponsor remains a mystery.
BUSINESS INSIDER UK
RED ALERT — Get ready for a 'severe fall' in the stock market, HSBC says
Bob Bryan
Oct. 12, 2016, 1:35 PM
HSBC's technical-analysis team has thrown up the ultimate warning signal.
In a note to clients released Wednesday, Murray Gunn, the head of technical analysis for HSBC, said he had become on "RED ALERT" for an imminent sell-off in stocks given the price action over the past few weeks.
Gunn uses a type of technical analysis called the Elliott Wave Principle, which tracks alternating patterns in the stock market to discern investors' behavior and possible next moves.
In late September, Gunn said the stock market's moves looked eerily similar to those just before the 1987 stock market crash. Citi's Tom Fitzpatrick also highlighted the market's similarities to the 1987 crash just a few days ago. On September 30, Gunn said stocks were under an "orange alert," as they looked to him as if they had topped out.
And now, given the 200-point decline for the Dow on Tuesday, Gunn thinks the drop is here.
"With the US stock market selling off aggressively on 11 October, we now issue a RED ALERT," Gunn said in the note. "The fall was broad-based and the Traders Index (TRIN) showed intense selling pressure as the market moved to the lows of the day. The VIX index, a barometer of nervousness, has been making a series of higher lows since August."
Gunn said the selling would truly set in if the Dow Jones Industrial Average were to fall below 17,992 or if the S&P 500 were to dip under 2,116. The Dow closed at 18,128 on Tuesday, while the S&P settled at 2,136.
"As long as those levels remain intact, the bulls still have a slight hope," Gunn said.
"But should those levels break and the markets close below (which now seems more likely), it would be a clear sign that the bears have taken over and are starting to feast. The possibility of a severe fall in the stock market is now very high."
Watch out.
(HSBC Holdings plc is a British-based multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's fourth largest bank by total assets, with total assets of US$2.67 trillion. It was established in its present form in London in 1991 by The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited to act as a new group holding company. The origins of the bank lie mainly in Hong Kong and to a lesser extent in Shanghai, where branches were first opened in 1865. The HSBC name is derived from the initials of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. The company was first formally incorporated in 1866. The company continues to see both the United Kingdom and Hong Kong as its "home markets". Wikipedia)
ACTIVIST POST
Russia Warns US Airstrikes On Syrian Army Would Lead To War, Air Defenses Are Active
OCTOBER 7, 2016
By Baran Hines
Russia’s Defense Ministry has warned the US-led coalition against carrying out airstrikes on Syrian army positions. The Russian Defense Ministry stated that “any missile or air strikes on the territory controlled by the Syrian government will create a clear threat to Russian servicemen,” during a press conference on Thursday.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson General Igor Konashenkov said that many members of the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria are working “on the ground” to deliver aid and “communicating with a large number of communities in Syria,” in his statement.
The statement was also a confirmation that Russia has S-400 and S-300 air-defense systems deployed to protect its troops and assets stationed at the Tartus naval base and their Khmeimim airbase. General Konashenkov said the radius of the weapons may be “a surprise” to unidentified flying objects. He also noted that the Syrian military has S-200 and BUK missile systems, which have been upgraded over the past year.
The Russian Defense Ministry’s statement came in response to what it called “leaks” in the Western media hinting that the United States is considering launching airstrikes against Syrian government forces.
“Of particular concern is information that the initiators of such provocations are representatives of the CIA and the Pentagon, who in September reported to the [US] President on the alleged controllability of ‘opposition’ fighters, but today are lobbying for ‘kinetic’ scenarios in Syria,” Konashenkov said.
Konashenkov then cautioned US officials to conduct a “thorough calculation of the possible consequences of such plans,” as the American strikes would likely lead to a serious response by Russia.
The Russian statement is the latest escalation in a series of warnings by each side. United States Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley warned on Wednesday that the United States was ready to “destroy” its enemies, saying “we will beat you harder than you have ever been beaten before,” in comments that many people interpret to be directed at Russia.
The planned ceasefire to end the Syrian proxy war collapsed on Monday when the US State Department announced it was ending bilateral talks with Russian officials. US officials say they will still negotiate with Russia in international forums on the Syrian war.
The ceasefire agreed to on September 9 required a 7-day period of reduced violence before the US and Russia would begin military cooperation and intelligence sharing to target the Islamic State and the Al Nusra Front, which is recognized as the Syrian Al Qaeda affiliate.
It was claimed that Syrian moderate opposition groups violated the ceasefire immediately and consistently while US officials maintain that the Syrian government and Russian military support were the primary cause of the failed ceasefire. US-led coalition jets bombed positions of the Syrian government forces fighting the Islamic State on September 17, killing 83 troops and wounding more than 100 other people. US defense officials say the airstrike was a mistake; however, Syrian officials claimed the incident was a “blatant aggression” as the attack lasted almost one hour.
***
THEDURAN
CONFIRMED: U.S. backs down over Syria after Russian threat to shoot down American aircraft
ALEXANDER MERCOURIS
October 8, 2016
Following Russian warning of American aircraft being shot down, White House spokesman confirms plan for U.S. air strikes on Syria has been rejected.
Following yesterday’s Russian warning that Russia stood ready to shoot down US aircraft or missiles attacking Syria, the US has confirmed all plans for military action against Syria have been dropped.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest confirmed this speaking to reporters on Thursday 6th October 2016.
“The president has discussed in some details why military action against the Assad regime to try to address the situation in Aleppo is unlikely to accomplish the goals that many envisioned now in terms of reducing the violence there. It is much more likely to lead to a bunch of unintended consequences that are clearly not in our national interest.”
The US will never admit that it was the Russian warning that deterred it from carrying out air and missile strikes, and it is still pretending that the option of military strikes is still on the table. In Josh Earnest’s words
“I’m not going to take any options off the table. I am not going to be in a position [we’re] taking options off the table for the commander-in-chief.”
However these are face-saving words.
Military strikes against Syria would have happened long ago had it not been for the strong opposition of Russia. The fact the Russian military is now physically present in Syria with advanced surface to air missiles and is warning that it stands ready to shoot US aircraft down if the lives of Russian personnel are put in danger has taken the idea of US military strikes off the table.
I would add that these warnings would have been given by the Russians to the US in private before they were made public yesterday.
It is because the military option no longer exists that the US has been obliged to return to diplomacy.
I do not expect this to change whoever is elected President in November.
***
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THE DAILY CALLER
UN climate chief: Communism is best to fight global warming
MICHAEL BASTASCH
12:08 PM 01/15/2014
A man holds up a portrait of the late Chairman Mao Zedong as he and others gather in front of a giant statue of Mao on a square to celebrate the 120th birth anniversary of the former leader, in Shaoshan, Mao's hometown, December 26, 2013. REUTERS/Stringer
United Nations climate chief Christiana Figueres said that democracy is a poor political system for fighting global warming. Communist China, she says, is the best model.
China may be the world’s top emitter of carbon dioxide and struggling with major pollution problems of their own, but the country is “doing it right” when it comes to fighting global warming says Figueres.
“They actually want to breathe air that they don’t have to look at,” she said. “They’re not doing this because they want to save the planet. They’re doing it because it’s in their national interest.”
Figueres added that the deep partisan divide in the U.S. Congress is “very detrimental” to passing any sort of legislation to fight global warming. The Chinese Communist Party, on the other hand, can push key policies and reforms all on its own. The country’s national legislature largely enforces the decisions made by the party’s Central Committee and other executive offices.
Communism was responsible for the deaths of about 94 million people in China, the Soviet Union, North Korea, Afghanistan and Eastern Europe in the 20th Century. China alone was responsible for 65 million of those deaths under communist rule.
Environmentalists often hail China as a model for fighting global warming, since they are a “leader” in renewable energy. The country set a goal of getting 15 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2020. In 2012, China got 9 percent of its power from renewables — the U.S. by contrast got 11 percent in 2012.
However, the country still gets 90 percent of its power from fossil fuels, mostly from coal. In fact, Chinese coal demand is expected to explode as the country continues to develop. China has approved 100 million metric tons of new coal production capacity in 2013 as part of the government’s plan to bring 860 million metric tons of coal production online by 2015.
China has publicly made big efforts to clean up its environment. The country’s booming industrial apparatus has caused so much pollution that the skies have been darkened over major cities and the air quality has heavily deteriorated.
The Wall Street Journal notes that China’s air quality was so bad that about “1.2 million people died prematurely in China in 2010 as a result of air pollution” and Chinese government figures show that “lung cancer is now the leading cause of death from malignant tumors. Many of those dying are nonsmokers.”
The Soviet bloc’s environmental track record was similarly dismal.
The Communist Party’s National Action Plan spent $275 billion to combat rampant pollution through 2017, including reducing particulate matter 2.5 levels in the Beijing region by 25 percent.
***
WND
THE RISE OF TYRANTS: SADLY, NOTHING NEW
Bill Federer recounts famous philosopher's accurate analysis
Published: October 11, 2016
Plato
Plato was a Greek philosopher who lived in the city-state of Athens. In 380 B.C., Plato wrote “The Republic,” where he described in Books 8 and 9: “States are as the men are; they grow out of human characters. … Like state, like man.”
“The Republic” is written as a collection of conversations of Plato’s teacher Socrates. It gives insights into human behavior which is amazingly similar to today. Plato described government going through five stages:
First Stage
Plato’s first stage was called “Royal” or “Aristocracy … whom we rightly call just and good.” This is government by hard-working, virtuous lovers of “truth” and “wisdom.” These responsible individuals know how to run farms and businesses, and they know how to run city government. “A ruler considers … always what is for the interest of his subject … and that alone he considers in everything which he says and does.”
Second Stage
The second stage Plato called “timocracy.” This was a government run by lovers of “honor” and “fame.” Plato wrote: “Now what man answers to this form of government. … He is a … lover of honor; claiming to be a ruler. … Busy-bodies are honored and applauded. …”
These may include a popular actor from the Greek theater, or a famous Greek Olympic athlete, or a courageous military hero, or just a political busy-body craving attention. Their desire for honor and fame leaves them susceptible to being swayed by flattery or ridicule. They enter politics with the best of intentions, but having no experience running anything, they yield to “avarice” or covetousness and begin to vote themselves favors out of the city treasury.
Plato added: “Such an one will despise riches only when he is young; but as he gets older he will be more and more attracted to them, because he has a piece of the avaricious nature in him, and is not single-minded towards virtue. … Not originally of a bad nature, but having kept bad company, is at last brought … to … contentiousness and passion, and becomes arrogant and ambitious. … Is not the passionate element wholly set on ruling … and getting fame? True. Suppose we call it the contentious or ambitious. …”
Plato added: “The love of honor turns to love of money; the conversion is instantaneous. … Because they have no means of openly acquiring the money which they prize; they will spend that which is another man’s.”
Third Stage
This turns into Plato’s third stage – an insider clique, a ruling class, called an “oligarchy.” These are lovers of “money” and “gain.” They seek money to get into office, then once elected they funnel money and favors to family, friends, constituents and supporters who in turn help them stay in power. The insider ruling class raises taxes on everyone except themselves. They pass laws, but exempt themselves.
Plato wrote: “They invent illegal modes of expenditure; for what do they or their wives care about the law? … Their fondness for money makes them unwilling to pay taxes. … And so they grow richer and richer … the less they think of virtue … and the virtuous are dishonored. … Insatiable avarice is the ruling passion of an oligarchy. …”
Oligarchical leaders do not value virtue and are not educated in how to run responsible businesses, as Plato explained: “He has had no education, or he would never have allowed the blind god of riches to lead the dance within him. … And being uneducated he will have many slavish desires, some beggarly, some knavish, breeding in his soul. … If he … has the power to defraud, he will soon prove that he is not without the will, and that his passions are only restrained by fear and not by reason. … When he is contending for prizes and other distinctions, he is afraid to incur a loss which is to be repaid only by barren honor. …”
Plato continued in his examination of an oligarchy: “And what are the defects? … Inevitable division … two states, the one of poor, the other of rich men; and they are … always conspiring against one another. … The rulers, being aware that their power rests upon their wealth, refuse to curtail … the extravagance of the spendthrift youth because they gain by their ruin. … They … gain by the ruin of extravagant youth. …”
Plato continued: “The ruling class do not want remedies; they care only for money, and are as careless of virtue as the poorest of the citizens. … Families have often been reduced to beggary … some of them owe money, some have forfeited their citizenship. … Thus men of family often lose their property or rights of citizenship; but they remain in the city, full of hatred against the new owners of their estates and ripe for revolution. … They hate and conspire against those who have got their property, and against everybody else, and are eager for revolution.”
Fourth Stage
As frustration grows, the people finally throw out the oligarchs and set up the fourth stage – “democracy.”
Plato wrote: “Next comes democracy and the democratic man, out of … the oligarchical man. … From the least cause, or with none at all, the city falls ill and fights a battle for life or death. And democracy comes into power when the poor are the victors, killing some and exiling some, and giving equal shares in the government to all the rest. …”
Plato continued: “The manner of life in such a state is that of democrats; there is freedom and plainness of speech, and every man does what is right in his own eyes, and has his own way of life. … Is not the city full of freedom … a man may say and do what he likes? … The great charm is, that you may do as you like; you may govern if you like, let it alone if you like; go to war and make peace if you feel disposed, and all quite irrespective of anybody else. When you condemn men to death they remain alive all the same; a gentleman is desired to go into exile, and he stalks about the streets like a hero; and nobody sees him or cares for him.”
Plato added: “The state is not one but many, like a bazaar at which you can buy anything. … Hence arise the most various developments of character; the state is like a piece of embroidery of which the colors and figures are the manners of men. … There will be the greatest variety of human natures … being an embroidered robe which is spangled with every sort of flower. … Observe, too, how grandly Democracy sets her foot upon all our fine theories of education, – how little she cares for the training of her statesmen! …”
Democracy’s key feature is that everyone becomes a lover of tolerance. Everything and everyone is tolerated equally, as Plato described: “Such is democracy; – a pleasing, lawless, various sort of government, distributing equality to equals and unequals alike. … Democracy … is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike. … Freedom … as they tell you in a democracy, is the glory of the state. …”
Plato’s student Aristotle stated: “Tolerance is the last virtue of a dying society.”
Plato warned that unrestrained freedom would eventually lead to licentiousness: “And so the young man passes … into the freedom and libertinism of useless and unnecessary pleasures. … In all of us, even in good men, there is a lawless wild-beast nature. … Unnecessary pleasures and appetites I conceive to be unlawful. … Everyone appears to have them, but in some persons they are controlled … while in … others they are stronger … and there is no conceivable folly or crime – not excepting incest or any other unnatural union … which … when he has parted company with all shame and sense, a man may not be ready to commit. …”
Plato explained further: “He was supposed from his youth upwards to have been trained under a miserly parent, who encouraged the saving appetites in him … and then he got into the company of a … licentious sort of people, and taking to all their wanton ways rushed into the opposite extreme from an abhorrence of his father’s meanness. … Neither does he receive … advice; if any one says to him that some pleasures are … of evil desires … he shakes his head. … He lives from day to day indulging the appetite of the hour. … His life has neither law nor order … he is all liberty and equality. …”After this manner the democrat was generated out of the oligarch. …”
Plato warned further: “Can liberty have any limit? Certainly not. … By degrees the anarchy finds a way into private houses. … The son is on a level with his father, he having no respect or reverence for either of his parents; and this is his freedom. … Citizens … chafe impatiently at the least touch of authority … they will have no one over them. … Such … is the fair and glorious beginning out of which springs tyranny. … Liberty overmasters democracy … the excessive increase of anything often causes a reaction in the opposite direction. … The excess of liberty, whether in states or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery. … And so tyranny naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme form of liberty. … ”
Plato warned that since the people have no experience running a government, they will follow the example of preceding leaders and yield to avarice. They will vote to spread the city’s wealth around till the treasury is empty. Then they will vote to take money from the rich: “Democracy … of which the insatiable desire brings her to dissolution. … Their leaders deprive the rich of their estates and distribute them among the people; at the same time taking care to reserve the larger part for themselves. … And the persons whose property is taken from them are compelled to defend themselves before the people as they best can. … Insatiable desire … and … neglect … introduces the change in democracy, which occasions a demand for tyranny. … Does not tyranny spring from democracy. …”
Plato described how unrestrained passions lead to financial irresponsibility. With not enough money to go around, bickering and fighting result, leading to chaos and anarchy. Then people will begin to look for someone to come along and fix this mess.
Fifth Stage
And that is the fifth stage – “tyranny.” The tyrant is a lover of power.
Plato wrote: “Last of all comes … the tyrant. … In the early days of his power, he is full of smiles, and he salutes every one whom he meets … making promises in public and also in private, liberating debtors, and distributing land to the people and his followers, and wanting to be so kind and good to every one. … This … is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears above ground he is a protector. … Hinting at the abolition of debts and partition of lands … he … begins to make a party against the rich. … that they may be impoverished by payment of taxes, and thus compelled to devote themselves to their daily wants and therefore less likely to conspire against him? … And when a man who is wealthy and is also accused of being an enemy of the people sees … he flees … and is not ashamed to be a coward. …”
Plato explained that “the protector” then yields to avarice and uses his newly-acquired power to target his political opponents: “And the protector of the people … having a mob entirely at his disposal, he is not restrained from shedding the blood of kinsmen; by the favorite method of false accusation he brings them into court and murders them, making the life of man to disappear, and with unholy tongue and lips tasting the blood of his fellow citizen. … And if any of them are suspected by him of having notions of freedom, and of resistance to his authority, he will have a good pretext for destroying them. …”
Plato continued: “How then does a protector begin to change into a tyrant? … He begins to grow unpopular. … Then comes the famous request for a bodyguard, which is the device of all those who have got thus far in their tyrannical career – ‘Let not the people’s friend,’ as they say, ‘be lost to them.’ … The people readily assent; all their fears are for him – they have none for themselves. … And … the protector of whom we spoke, is to be seen … the overthrower of many, standing up in the chariot of state with the reins in his hand, no longer protector, but tyrant absolute. … The lion and serpent element in them disproportionately grows and gains strength. …”
Plato described how the tyrant would keep power: “The tyrant must be always getting up a war. … He is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader. …”
James Madison warned of this at the Constitutional Convention, June 29, 1787 (Max Farrand’s “Records of the Federal Convention of 1787,” vol. I (1911, p. 465): “In time of actual war, great discretionary powers are constantly given to the Executive Magistrate. Constant apprehension of War, has the same tendency to render the head too large for the body. A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defense against foreign danger have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people.”
James Madison wrote in “Federalist No. 47” (Jan. 30, 1788): “The accumulation of all powers, Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”
Plato described what happens when a tyrant loses popularity: “Then some of those who joined in setting him up, and who are in power, speak their minds to him and to one another, and the more courageous of them cast in his teeth what is being done. … And the tyrant, if he means to rule, must get rid of them; he cannot stop while he has a friend or an enemy who is good for anything. … Some he kills and others he banishes. … Must he not either perish at the hands of his enemies, or from being a man become a wolf – that is, a tyrant? … He who has tasted the entrails of a single human victim … is destined to become a wolf. … And therefore he must look about him and see who is valiant, who is high-minded, who is wise, who is wealthy; happy man, he is the enemy of them all, and must seek occasion against them whether he will or no, until he has made a purgation of the state. … Yes, I said, not the sort of purgation which the physicians make of the body; for they take away the worse and leave the better part, but he does the reverse. …
“And the more detestable his actions are to the citizens the more satellites and the greater devotion in them will he require? … And who are the devoted band, and where will he procure them? … He will rob the citizens of their slaves; he will then set them free and enroll them in his bodyguard. To be sure … he will be able to trust them best of all. What a blessed creature … must this tyrant be; he has put to death the others and has these for his trusted friends. … These are the new citizens whom he has called into existence, who admire him and are his companions, while the good hate and avoid him. … But they will … attract mobs, and hire voices fair and loud and persuasive, and draw the cities over to tyrannies. … Moreover, they are paid for this and receive honor – the greatest honor, as might be expected, from tyrants. … Poets … are the eulogists of tyranny. … He also praises tyranny as godlike. … But the higher they ascend our constitution hill, the more their reputation fails, and seems unable from shortness of breath to proceed further. …”
Plato added: “Let us … inquire how the tyrant will maintain that … ever-changing army of his. If, he said, there are sacred treasures in the city, he will confiscate and spend them. … By heaven … the parent will discover what a monster he has been fostering in his bosom; and, when he wants to drive him out, he will find that he is weak and his son strong. Why, you do not mean to say that the tyrant will use violence? What! beat his father if he opposes him? Yes, he will, having first disarmed him. Then he is a parricide, and a cruel guardian of an aged parent; and this is real tyranny … as the saying is, the people who would escape the smoke which is the slavery of freemen, has fallen into the fire which is the tyranny of slaves.
“Thus liberty, getting out of all order and reason, passes into the harshest and bitterest form of slavery. … May we not rightly say that we have sufficiently discussed … the manner of the transition from democracy to tyranny? Yes, quite enough, he said. … A tyranny is the wretchedest form of government … the longer he lives the more of a tyrant he becomes. …”
Plato’s predicted government would go from:
***
Zero Hedge
Hungary To Amend Constitution, Block EU Migrant Plan
by Tyler Durden
Oct 10, 2016 4:00 AM
Submitted by Soeren Kern via The Gatestone Institute,
The Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, all former Communist countries, also oppose the EU plan to relocate 160,000 "asylum seekers," which they say is an "EU diktat" that infringes on national sovereignty.
"One of the principals underpinning the system is the primacy of EU law." — Margaritis Schinas, chief spokesperson for European Commission.
"In the early autumn of 2015 we erected a fence on the external green border of the European Union and the Schengen Area. This was to protect the European Union's greatest achievement: free movement within the common area of the internal market.... We do not want to distribute the migration burdens falling on Europe, but we want to eliminate them: to put an end to them." — Hungarian President Viktor Orbán, July 11, 2016.
"We do not like the consequences of having a large number of Muslim communities that we see in other countries... That is a historical experience for us." — Hungarian President Viktor Orbán, September 3, 2015.
"We lose our European values and identity the way frogs are cooked in slowly-heating water. Quite simply, slowly there will be more and more Muslims, and we will no longer recognize Europe." — Hungarian President Viktor Orbán, September 30, 2016.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has proposed amending the Constitution to prevent the European Union from settling migrants in Hungary without the approval of Parliament.
In a speech on October 4, Orbán said the amendment would be presented to Parliament on October 10, and, if approved, it would come into effect on November 8.
Hungarian voters overwhelmingly rejected the European Union's mandatory migrant relocation plan in a referendum on October 2, but failed to turn out in sufficient numbers to make the referendum legally binding.
More than 97% of those who voted in the referendum answered 'no' to the question: "Do you want the European Union to be entitled to prescribe the mandatory settlement of non-Hungarian citizens in Hungary without the consent of the National Assembly?"
Voter turnout was only 40%, however, far short of the 50% participation required to make the referendum valid under Hungarian law.
Orbán has been a vocal opponent of the EU's plan to relocate 160,000 "asylum seekers" from Greece and Italy. Under the scheme, 1,294 migrants would be moved to Hungary. The Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, all former Communist countries, are also opposed to the EU plan, which they say is an "EU diktat" that infringes on national sovereignty.
Although the referendum has been invalidated, Orbán — whose eurosceptic Fidesz party has more support than all opposition parties combined — said he would not be deterred. Speaking to supporters after the polls closed, he said:
"The European Union's proposal is to let the migrants in and distribute them in mandatory fashion among the member states and for Brussels to decide about this distribution. Hungarians today considered this proposal and they rejected it. Hungarians decided that only we Hungarians can decide with whom we want to live. The question was 'Brussels or Budapest' and we decided this issue is exclusively the competence of Budapest."
In an address to Parliament on October 3, Orbán hailed the vote as a "great victory" and reiterated his plan to amend the Hungarian Constitution to ensure that the EU cannot settle migrants in Hungary. He said:
"No party or party alliance in the history of Hungarian democracy has ever received such a large mandate. I'm telling you with sufficient gentleness, we will not let the opinion of the 3.3 million people who voted 'no' to be ignored.
"... with sufficient modesty and restraint I must say that Hungarians made history yesterday. If it is true that history is written by the victors then with a resounding victory of the 'no' votes Hungary won yesterday."
In Brussels, Margaritis Schinas, chief spokesperson for European Commission, the powerful administrative arm of the European Union, said that regardless of the referendum, EU law still takes precedence over Hungarian law. He said:
"On the referendum, if it had been legally valid, our comment would have been that we take note of it. Since it was declared legally void by the Hungarian electoral commission, we can now say that we also take note of it.... One of the principals underpinning the system is the primacy of EU law."
The EU's unrelenting stance, and Orbán's continued opposition to it, implies that the intra-European fight over what to do with hundreds of thousands of migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East is far from over.
Some 400,000 migrants passed through Hungary in 2015 on their way toward Western Europe. Since then, Hungary has built fences on its borders with Serbia and Croatia, effectively cutting off the so-called Western Balkan Route, which constitutes the main land route through Eastern Europe for migrants who enter the EU from Turkey via Greece and Bulgaria.
Migrants protest at Budapest Keleti railway station, September 4, 2015. (Image source: Mstyslav Chernov/Wikimedia Commons)
Orbán, who has emerged as the standard-bearer of European opposition to German Chancellor Angela Merkel's "open-door" migration policy, has rejected criticism of the fences. In a July 11, 2016 article in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, he wrote:
"In the summer of 2015, with complete disregard for European rules, more than ten thousand migrants a day were arriving at the Hungarian-Serbian border. These people had already been in the territory of another Member State: in the territory of both the EU and the Schengen Area. As it is the responsibility of a country on the Schengen Area's external border to ensure that the crossing of that external border is controlled, Hungary had no choice but to erect a physical barrier.
"Germany, and a considerable section of German public opinion, were unable to comprehend — and some people are still unable to do so — how Hungary, the country that tore down the iron curtain, could resort to such a measure.
"I understand how German society, which for decades was divided by walls and barbed wire, dislikes the fence. But if anyone has the moral standing to explain this to their German friends, surely the Hungarians do. After all, it was Hungary that cut through the Iron Curtain which divided Europe — and the German people — in the decades after the Second World War....
"In 1989 we dismantled a fence which divided the peoples of Europe. In the early autumn of 2015 we erected a fence on the external green border of the European Union and the Schengen Area. This was to protect the European Union's greatest achievement: free movement within the common area of the internal market.
This free movement is protected by the Schengen Agreement, in accordance with jointly agreed European regulations ratified many years ago. As a result, we have been protecting the European people's way of life and economic model — at least on the section of Europe's external border for which we are responsible.
And, no less crucially, we have been protecting their security....
"When some people hear comments such as these they automatically react with the accusation of populism. As Shakespeare would put it, however, populists are people who call a spade a spade. We Hungarians call things by their names. This is part of our nature. We do not want to distribute the migration burdens falling on Europe, but we want to eliminate them: to put an end to them."
Orbán has repeatedly warned that Muslim refugees are threatening Europe's Christian identity.
At a news conference after a meeting with other European leaders in Brussels, Orbán said:
"We don't want to, and I think we have a right to decide that we do not want a large number of Muslim people in our country. We do not like the consequences of having a large number of Muslim communities that we see in other countries and I do not see any reason for anyone else to force us to create ways of living together in Hungary that we do not want to see. That is a historical experience for us."
Orbán was referring to the 150-year Ottoman Turkish occupation of Hungary, which began with the Siege of Buda in 1541, and ended with the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, when the Ottomans ceded Hungary to the Habsburg Monarchy.
The Ottoman conquest of Hungary actually began at the Battle of Mohács in 1526, when Turkish forces led by Sultan Suleiman I destroyed the Hungarian army and partitioned the country. Some 15,000 Hungarian troops were killed in the battle and many of those who survived were beheaded by Turkish forces.
Over the next century and a half, the Ottoman forces occupying Hungary plundered and pillaged the land and took more than a million Hungarians as slaves, according to Paul Fregosi, the author of Jihad, a history of Muslim holy war against Christians.
In a September 3, 2015 essay published by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Orbán wrote:
"Let us not forget that those arriving have been raised in another religion, and represent a radically different culture. Most of them are not Christians, but Muslims. This is an important question, because Europe and European identity is rooted in Christianity. Is it not worrying in itself that European Christianity is now barely able to keep Europe Christian? If we lose sight of this, the idea of Europe could become a minority interest in its own continent."
Speaking at a September 30, 2016 rally in support of the referendum, Orbán said:
"We lose our European values and identity the way frogs are cooked in slowly-heating water. Quite simply, slowly there will be more and more Muslims, and we will no longer recognize Europe. What we have seen so far from the people's migration have only been warm-up rounds. The real battle is yet to come."
When asked if he thought the EU could override Hungarian law, Orbán replied:
"I can't imagine that there is a state among the democratic community of Europe which says clearly that it doesn't want something, and then in another capital, they try to override it. Brussels, for example.
"I think this would be unprecedented in the history of the European Union, so I don't think there would be a decision like this, a decision raping democracy. I have a much better opinion of the European Union."
***
RT
‘Go ahead, withdraw your assistance’: Philippines' Duterte dares US, EU
Published time: 6 Oct, 2016 17:44
Edited time: 6 Oct, 2016 18:32
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declares he will not bow to foreign pressure over his anti-drug campaign, while Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay declared that the US “has failed us.”
“I do not expect the human rights [groups], I do not expect Obama, I do not expect the EU to understand me,” said Duterte in a speech on Thursday. “Do not understand me. And if you think it’s high time for you guys to withdraw your assistance, go ahead. We will not beg for it.”
Duterte’s remark was made in response to mounting US and EU criticism of his war on drugs, which has led to over 3,600 deaths at the hands of police, drug gangs, and vigilantes, according to the latest figures from the Philippine National Police (PNP). Certain politicians, such as US Senator Patrick Leahy, suggested cutting off aid to the Philippines in September, but Duterte maintains that foreigners simply do not understand the scale of the drug problem in his country.
“You will never understand the pain that we are suffering,” he said. “Go away, bring your money somewhere else. We will survive as a nation. There will always be a day for reckoning.”
These latest comments fit in with the rhetoric Duterte has become famous for since taking office. On Tuesday, he told Barack Obama, whom he has previously called a “son-of-a-bh,” to “go to hell,” and the Philippines’ president called for a withdrawal of US troops in September.
Meanwhile, Duterte’s foreign secretary, Perfecto Yasay, who has at times tried to downplay his boss’s comments, released a statement on Facebook titled “America has failed us” in which he says that, while there are many “countless things that we will be forever grateful to America for,” the US has never fully respected Philippine independence.
“After proclaiming in July 4, 1946 that the Filipinos had been adequately trained for self-determination and governance, the United States held on to invisible chains that reined us in towards dependency and submission as little brown brothers not capable of true independence and freedom,” the FM said in the statement.
The United States “give us the assurance” that it will come to the Philippines’ defense if its sovereignty is threatened, and that is why Duterte has set about “realigning our independent foreign policy,” the statement added.
However, this does not necessarily mean that Duterte wants to sever ties with the US, as Yasay also said that the Philippines will not pursue a military alliance with any country other than the United States.
“The President in many occasions has said categorically that he will only have one military alliance, and our only ally in that respect is the US,” he said before a Senate committee on Thursday.
There seems to be some differences of opinion within the Duterte administration about how to interpret the president’s remarks. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana earlier said that he thought Duterte had been “misinformed” about the nature of the US-Philippines alliance, while spokesman Ernesto Abella said that many of the president’s statements are “expressions of frustration” that should not be taken literally, the Philippine Star reported on Thursday.
American officials, for their part, have tried to shrug off Duterte’s outbursts. A State Department official told the LA Times, “we are not going to respond to every little thing said in Tagalog somewhere in the Philippines.”
ACTIVIST POST
Defiant Filipino President Just Dared The US To Assassinate Him With The CIA
OCTOBER 8, 2016
By James Holbrooks
In the midst of withering ties to the United States, controversial Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte dared the CIA to try to remove him from power. He was speaking in his hometown on Friday to mark his first 100 days in office.
“You want to oust me?” Duterte said in the southern city of Davao, reports Channel NewsAsia. “You want to use the CIA? Go ahead.”
Considerable outrage has erupted over the new president’s violent crackdown on drug offenders, which to date has resulted in over 1,500 deaths at the hands of police and nearly 2,000 via unexplained circumstances.
But the dare wasn’t aimed at the United States, alone. According to Channel NewsAsia, Duterte was also addressing those in his own country thinking of rising up against his authority. “Be my guest. I don’t give a shit,” he stated.
“I’ll be ousted? Fine. (If so) it’s part of my destiny. Destiny carries so many things. If I die, that’s part of my destiny. Presidents get assassinated.”
Clearly, however, the president’s primary target was his Western critics, as evidenced by remarks he made regarding their intelligence — or, rather, their lack thereof. Describing how he would be ready with counter-questions if he were ever interrogated by Western officials, Duterte, in his typically inflammatory fashion, said:
If they are unable to answer, son of a whore, go home, you animal. I will kick you now. Do not piss me off. It cannot be that they are brighter than me, believe me.
As for the U.S., it may ultimately matter very little how it judges the practices of the Philippines’ new president considering Duterte recently signaled a desire to move away from Western dependency and cultivate relations with China.
In fact, on Thursday, in “the most forceful show of accord from a top official with President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-American stance,” Reuters reported the Filipino foreign affairs secretary said in a Facebook post that Duterte is “compelled to realign” his country’s foreign policy away from a “shackling dependency” on the United States.
“Breaking away from the shackling dependency of the Philippines to effectively address both internal and external security threats has become imperative in putting an end to our nation’s subservience to United States’ interests,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay wrote.
In mid-September, Underground Reporter highlighted comments made by President Duterte, in which he stated that despite the fact he does “not want a rift with America,” all U.S. forces in the southern region of the Philippines nonetheless “have to go.”
Following those comments, Dr. Joseph Chang, an analyst, speculated that in addition to diminishing Filipino dependence on U.S. aid, Duterte may also desire to “improve economic ties with Beijing” and even “attract foreign aid from Beijing to the Philippines.”
Since that time, it’s become increasingly apparent this is precisely what Duterte has in mind. Not only is the president now seeking to build alliances with both Russia and China, but he’s also looking to wean his country off of military cooperation with the United States altogether.
On September 29, for instance, Duterte said the joint U.S-Filipino navy drills being conducted this week would be the last between the two countries.
“I am serving notice to the Americans, this will be the last military exercise,” the president said. “Jointly, Philippines-U.S.: the last one.”
***
RT
Duterte snubs Washington, looks forward to historic China visit
Published time: 11 Oct, 2016 16:06
Edited time: 11 Oct, 2016 16:29Share to Tumblr
Relations are souring quickly between the Philippines and the United States, as President Rodrigo Duterte and 250 Filipino business executives head to China, a historic rival, later in October to discuss partnership prospects.
“China has repeatedly invited me. I have accepted the offer,” Duterte told reporters, announcing the visit, which is scheduled for October 19-21.
According to Reuters, Duterte’s China visit is already oversubscribed, with business and government officials all eager to discuss multi-sector economic cooperation with Beijing. There were initially supposed to be fewer industry professionals, but the number has gone up to 250, Trade Undersecretary Nora Terrado told Reuters, adding that the delegation’s unusual size is due to the fact that the meeting had only been agreed on a month ago.
Duterte criticized US President Barack Obama for "arrogance" as he announced the visit – despite the Philippines being a key US ally in the region. The relationship has been strained recently, however, following a series of inflammatory remarks from Duterte in response to Obama’s criticism of the Philippines leader’s tactics in the domestic war on drugs.
Until recently, though, the two planned joint military drills in the South China Sea, a territory China lays claim to. Those plans were put on hold on October 8, when Duterte said this year's annual naval exercise would be the last.
“For as long as I am there, do not treat us like a doormat because you’ll be sorry for it,” Duterte threatened. “I will not speak with you. I can always go to China.”
However, the contested territories of the South China Sea remain an unresolved issue between the Philippines and China. On July 12, The Hague ruled that Beijing's claims to waters in the area infringe on Manilla’s sovereign territory. This was expected to put a damper on Chinese-Philippine relations even further.
But amidst the deterioration of relations with Washington over the past month, Duterte has threatened he would retaliate by turning to China, and he appears to be making good on that promise.
"We do have a very popular president and the president decided that he wanted to have a better relationship with China," Francis Chua, chairman emeritus of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said. "We are neighbors... this is actually what the president is thinking: instead of fighting, why don't we just become friends?"
The sentiment was echoed even more colorfully by Beijing’s ambassador to the Philippines, Zhao Jianhua: "The clouds are fading away. The sun is rising over the horizon, and will shine beautifully on the new chapter of bilateral relations.”
No concrete Philippine-Chinese deals have been set in stone, but discussions held on day one of Duterte’s visit should shed more light on that. There have already been suggestions in the sphere of infrastructure and transport, with Chinese firms expressing a wish to modernize railroads in the Philippines.
No mutual defense prospects have been voiced as of yet.
Experts believe the Philippines could stand to gain significantly from cooperation with China, especially on pressing issues such as energy, infrastructure and unemployment.
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Natural News
Media cover-up as New York's nuclear plant leaks into the Hudson River
Thursday, October 13, 2016 by: S. D. Wells
(NaturalNews) Environmentalists are calling New York's leaking nuclear plant "Chernobyl on the Hudson" and rightly so, as the aging plant has been plagued with welding problems. The plant is leaking a drop of contaminated water every five seconds, shockingly including 600 gallons of petroleum, some of which has even reached the discharge canal, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo, who toured the area by boat on October 1st.
Will Cuomo end up severely disabled like the U.S. sailors who came close to Japan's leaking nuclear plant Fukushima? Indian Point's dysfunctional nuclear power plant is only a couple dozen miles north of New York City's boundary, and just 50 miles from densely populated areas. New York State Environmental Commissioner Basil Seggos suggested that the booms placed in that discharge canal meant to absorb the petroleum "may not have been effective." He went on to say that one of the booms has actually been ripped off, so if oil got into the water at any rate, it would have entered the canal. Nuclear control room operators actually removed the unit's number 2 reactor so that weld repairs could be made on some piping, as well as for electrical testing.
Back on May 5th, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that a previous Indian Point nuclear plant accident "analysis was flawed." The plant was totally shut down in June citing bolt failure. Last spring, officials were making up some of the hokiest excuses ever for complications. In March, they even went so far as to blame bird poop as a suspected cause for a shutdown. Before that, in February, there were calls for a federal investigation into radioactive leaks coming from the plant. The plant is almost 50 years old, and there have been widespread calls for shutting the whole operation down, including repeated requests from Governor Cuomo himself.
Another Fukushima? Unprecedented degradation of bolts and excessive groundwater contamination continue, with zero mass media coverage
Thanks to the American mass media, most Americans know absolutely nothing about nuclear catastrophes happening in Japan or the United States. Nothing to see here! If the news isn't about Trump talking smack or Kim Kardashian missing some jewelry, it doesn't get published. Meanwhile, in the real world, the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility in Japan leaks massive amounts of radiation into the Pacific ocean, and that cancer-causing water has already reached the shores of California.
Japanese officials are on the record saying that people shouldn't worry and should just continue smiling and drinking alcohol as a way to get through it all. In New York, Governor Cuomo warns everyone about "unprecedented degradation of Indian Point Unit 2" and "groundwater contamination." He warns that the repeated shutdowns are "yet another sign that the aging and wearing away of important components at the facility are having a direct and unacceptable impact on safety, and is further proof that the plant is not a reliable generation resource."
Despite major objections from residents, lawmakers and environmental groups, the nuclear power company spent $120 million for inspections and upgrades to equipment, including the analysis of over 200 bolts. In spite of this, several systems are still in dire need of work, and bolts have been reported "missing" on the reactor's inner lining.
Still, the media covers the whole catastrophe up, claiming that the plant is "safer than ever." Has it ever been safe to begin with? If this is what they call safe, it would be horrifying to hear news they would consider dangerous. Will this be like the EPA covered-up lead-in-the-water crisis from Flint, Michigan, where children had to suffer irreparable brain damage before anyone even heard there was a problem? In just the last decade, Indian Point has had nine incidents, including leaks from spent fuel pools and transformer fires. Is the plant so defective that it totally breaks down now when a bird poops on it? What is wrong with our country that we have to live like this?
Sources for this article include:
DailyFreeman.com
RT.com
TruthWiki.org
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