Prussia, once poor and inconsequential compared to France and England, under the generalship of Frederick the Great (1740-1786) rose to become a great military power and, eventually, the heart of the German Empire.

Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan and the Soviet Union are contemporary examples of predator militaristic nations that made enormous sacrifices to build mighty war machines to conquer empires, despite having relatively weak economies.

What to do about modern predator states Russia, China, North Korea and Iran?
Do not assume World War III will replay World War II, that the U.S. will have time to mobilize its economic wealth to prevail. In our age of nuclear missiles and cyber-warfare, the first blows are likely to be decisive.
U.S. vulnerability to electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and cyber-warfare invites a VOSTOK-18 for real.

Therefore, deploy space-based missile defenses and harden critical infrastructures against EMP and cyberattacks to deter and defeat these greatest threats.
Try to avoid war. Eventually, the “New Assyrians” may collapse, overburdened by their own armaments, as did the USSR.
Heed Vegetius and Plato, who said: “If you would have peace, prepare for war.”

And remember, always, Tacitus: “Woe to the vanquished.”

This story originally published here. Dr. Peter Vincent Pry was chief of staff of the Congressional EMP Commission. He served on the staff of the House Armed Services Committee and at the CIA.

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p>The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily align with those of ANP.

***

Fellowship Of The Minds

One-world-government Walter Cronkite: ‘I’m glad to sit at the right hand of Satan’

Posted on September 17, 2018 by Dr. Eowyn

The late CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite with the avuncular demeanor was called “the most trusted man in America”. He retired from anchoring the CBS Evening News in March 1981, succeeded by Dan “fake news” Rather.

Cronkite was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

On October 19, 1999, Cronkite accepted the Norman Cousins Global Governance Award at a ceremony at the United Nations. In his speech, Cronkite declared his support and allegiance to a one-world government. He blamed the refusal of the U.S. Congress to ratify one-world-government treaties on “a handful” of obdurate senators who “pander” to the Christian Coalition and the “religious right wing”.

Identifying Pat Robertson as the leader of the Christian Coalition, Cronkite quoted Robertson, that “any attempt to achieve world order before that time must be the work of the Devil.” Cronkite then mocked Robertson by declaring, “I’m glad to sit here at the right hand of Satan.”(Cronkite was also the man that announced the death of JFK to the world.)

Dave Hodges The Common Sense Show

Google Is Implementing the AI Technology for the Persecution of Christians

Observatories are closing in record numbers. Why? Because “they” are soon going to be arriving. Who is arriving? The fallen angels. Do not be deceived. If governments proclaim that this is the beginning of ET disclosure, do not believe them. This is the new religion. It is called Transhumanism. However, before the AI, transhumanist religion can take hold, the one true religion, Christianity, must be eradicated along with its followers. That movement is underway in China, and the same people who brought the Chinese people the technology and associated philosophy necessary to carry out this evil deed, are the same people behind Transhumanism in China, and they are bringing the same threat to America. These people have a name it is Google.

China is the beta test and the elimination of American Christians is the goal.

The Purge

The “purge” is beginning in China. The Chinese government has dusted off an old Soviet Union strategy and have declared many churches to be “illegal” because they violate some mythical zoning code that continues to change every time the communist government encounters a church that truly preaches the word of God.

All churches in China must now fly, over its main worship building, the China’s national flag. The leaders must pay homage to the Communist Party.

The Communist Chinese have employed thousands of moles that have infiltrated the churches. And in combination with social media spying, an enemies of the state list has been created and is being acted upon. Google has provided the NSA and other associated agencies the same capability. This is actually not a new movement in America. The infamous MIAC report defined an enemy of the state as someone who, in 2008, supported Ron Paul, supported the Second Amendment, was a Constititutionalist And in China when one appears on “the list”, what is the price of being on the “undesirables” list? Forced labor, forced organ transplants and even death.

SO IT IS IN CHINA, IT WILL ALSO BE IN AMERICA

As I have detailed, multiple times, on this site, the Communist Chinese are arresting, torturing, extracting organs and murdering Chinese Christians. The Christian concentration camps as I call them are in full operation. I have interviewed multiple people who are intimately familiar with these heinous abuses perpetrated upon God’s people.

Meanwhile, back in America, the falling away of the church and its leaders are in full evidence. My family attended the Community Church of Joy for over two decades. I saw over period of time that the lead minister began to love money more than God. He became subservient to the civilian authority over the word of God. A watershed event occurred when I had read a news account of how a young Chinese girl was put to death for distributing Bibles. I was so moved by the story that I contacted our lead pastor by email. He refused to involve himself of the Church in this issue as I received only a perfunctory response to merely pray for the victim. I am sorry, but faith without works is meaningless. This pastor had no interest in making this an issue with the members of the congregation. In a follow up interview, I asked if the victim’s life was any less precious because she was Chinese? (crickets chirping). There were other issues as well, but they paralleled this watershed event. Preserving the tax exempt status of the church became a primary goal of my church, instead of serving God by identifying and acting against evil in our community. There was once upon a time when we protested abortion. As the church grew and the offerings became significant, the clergy was more interested in staying compliant with the elected authority and their bureaucratic underlings. Needless to say. that we no longer attend that church and my son was withdrawn from the affiliated school.

Before I left the church, I confronted the pastor as to whether he was in the Clergy Response Team. He refused to give me a straight answer. If you do not know what the Clergy Response Team is, I will provide the short answer. They are empowered and sanctioned by DHS. The member pastors are trained to get the flock to be compliant with the illegitimate authority of the Obama administration by mindlessly repeating Romans 13 and “rendering unto Caesar” regardless of the violations of Christian doctrine. Mindless obedience to an unconstitutional authority was the price paid by congregations so their greedy pastors could continue to collect offerings, tax free.

I previously published about how Pastor Walter Mansfield was even trained how to get future FEMA camp political prisoners to be compliant to the existing civilian authority. Today, this pastor is living in relative luxury in California.

Unfortunately, there are more churches who refuse to tackle the fundamental threats to Christianity and mankind than there are those who will. As stated, the threats of losing one’s tax exempt status kept many pastors “in line”. I recently heard Pastor David Lankford, a champion preacher of the word, state that most pastors are not worthy of the allegiance of their respective flocks.

Although it is true that tax exempt status rules, under Trump, have been somewhat relaxed. However, pastors, in large part, refuse to tackle the controversial issues despite the fact that the threats constitute a clear and present danger to all. I have never attended a local church where transhumanism and its inherent satanic evil is ever mentioned.

In China, if one professes to be a Christian, or promotes a “Christian attitude” their social point score can be greatly decreased and it can result in the following:

1. Loss of job

2. Loss of educational opportunities

3. Loss of home

4. Loss of freedom

5. Loss of Life.

Google set this system up for the Chinese. And now, we are seeing the beginning of this Satanic system coming to America in the force of extreme censorship with consequences.

Who Designed the System That Is Persecuting Chinese Christians?

This citizen ranking and blacklisting mechanism is a pilot scheme of China’s Social Credit System. The stated Chinese mission to “raise the awareness of integrity and the level of trustworthiness of Chinese society”.

Here is an example of how this system was rolled out in its infancy.

Actions that can now harm one’s personal credit record include not showing up to a restaurant without having canceled the reservation, cheating in online games, leaving false product reviews, and jaywalking.

However, it is not just jaywalkers that the Chinese are now after. They are after anyone, or anything that does not worship the state. Christians are their number one target. In Part Two of this series, we will examine the parallels between the Chinese system of electronic oppression and America’s oppression, it will raise the hairs on the back of your neck. Further, the same people who run the Chinese spy system, are also busy censoring Christian conservatives in America.

You might ask who is bringing this satanic system forward? It is Google.

***

WND

EXPERTS: CHINA'S SOCIAL-CREDIT SCHEME TO GO WORLDWIDE

System already being tested on nation's citizens to determine loyalties

September 15, 2018

A distinguished senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute, Gordon G. Chang, is warning that China’s “social credit” system soon will be applied to international corporations and visitors.

In fact, everyone.

The “social credit” system uses computers, algorithms, hundreds of thousands of spy cameras operating around the nation and more to assign to every person “a constantly updated score based on observed behaviors.”

It is intended, Chang explains, to control the entirety of the Chinese population by handing to the Communist Party virtually every detail of individuals’ lives and the power to grant rewards or impose punishments.

For example, officials prevented journalist Liu Hu from taking a flight because he had a low score, Chang noted.

“I can’t buy property. My child can’t go to a private school. You feel you’re being controlled by the list all the time,” Lu said.

“By 2020, Chinese officials plan to have about 626 million surveillance cameras operating throughout the country,” Chang said, all feeding details into computers for the nation’s “social credit” system.

Jaywalking and caught on camera? Down goes your score.

“Although officials might hope to reduce jaywalking, they seem to have far more sinister ambitions, such as ensuring conformity to Communist Party political demands. In short, the government looks as if it is determined to create what the ‘Economist’ called ‘the world’s first digital totalitarian state,'” Chang wrote.

And, he explained, the system “will surely be extended to foreign companies and individuals.”

“Let us remember that Chinese leaders this year have taken on the world’s travel industry by forcing hotel chains and airlines to show Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China, so they have demonstrated determination to intimidate and punish,” he said.

“Once the social credit system is up and running, it would be a small step to include non-Chinese into that system, extending Xi’s tech-fueled totalitarianism to the entire world.”

He wrote: “The dominant narrative in the world’s liberal democracies is that tech favors totalitarianism. It is certainly true that, unrestrained by privacy concerns, hardline regimes are better able to collect, analyze, and use data, which could provide a decisive edge in applying artificial intelligence. A democratic government may be able to compile a no-fly list, but none could ever come close to implementing Xi Jinping’s vision of a social credit system.”

He said it all dates back to 1995 when then-President Jiang Zemin demanded “informatization, automation and intelligentization.”

“Given the capabilities they are amassing, they could, the argument goes, make defiance virtually impossible,” Chang wrote.

***

abcNEWS

EU to give internet firms 1 hour to remove extremist content

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

September 12, 2018

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker delivers his State of Union speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France, Wednesday, Sept.12, 2018. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

European authorities are planning to slap internet companies like Google, Twitter and Facebook with big fines if they don't take down extremist content within one hour.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in a speech Wednesday that the Commission is proposing the new rules as part of efforts to step up the bloc's security.

He said that removing material within an hour is important because it's "the critical window in which the greatest damage is done."

The EU's executive body said "propaganda that prepares, incites or glorifies acts of terrorism" must be taken offline. Content would be flagged up by national authorities, who would issue removal orders to the internet companies hosting it. Those companies would be given one hour to delete it.

The proposal , which still needs approval from EU lawmakers and member states, would be a departure for the EU, which until now has allowed online companies to a take a voluntary approach to battling extremist content. The one-hour rule was among a series of recommendations the Commission made in March to fight the spread of extremist content online.

Under the proposal, internet companies would have to take measures, including installing automated systems, to prevent content from being re-uploaded after being removed the first time. Companies that fail to comply would face fines of up to 4 percent of their annual global turnover.

For Google, which owns YouTube, that could amount to as much as $4.4 billion, based on parent company Alphabet Inc.'s $110.9 billion in revenue for 2017.

"We share the European Commission's desire to react rapidly to terrorist content and keep violent extremism off our platforms," Google said. "We welcome the focus the Commission is bringing to this and we'll continue to engage closely with them, member states and law enforcement on this crucial issue."

Facebook said "there is no place for terrorism" on the social media platform.

"We've made significant strides finding and removing terrorist propaganda quickly and at scale, but we know we can do more," it said in a statement.

***

ACTIVIST POST

AT&T Announces 5 More U.S. Cities to Receive Sweat Inducing and Risky 5G Radiation Towers and Infrastructure

September 16, 2018

By B.N. Frank

It doesn’t seem to matter that an increasing number of Americans – including Dr. Naomi Wolfand Dr. Oz – continue voicing concerns and taking action against the mass installation of risky 5G wireless WiFi technology. Exposure to 5G has been determined to cause many undesirable side effects including excessive sweating.

Regardless, Telecom providers AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint keep forcing this infrastructure in front of homes and everywhere else in communities across the U.S. Of course, this wouldn’t be possible without the assistance of many elected officials and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which is NOT a health or environmental protection agency.

According to pro-industry publication, Smart Cities Dive, AT&T has announced to install 5G in 5 more cities:

Dive Brief:

• AT&T named the final five cities that will see the company’s mobile 5G before the end of 2018: Houston; Jacksonville, FL; Louisville, KY; New Orleans; and San Antonio. The company also said it plans to launch in seven more cities — Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Nashville, TN; Orlando, FL; San Diego; San Francisco; and San Jose, CA — in early 2019.

• The company also made the world’s first wireless 5G data transfer over millimeter wave with standards-based production equipment on a mobile form factor device.

• The five new cities join the seven that have already been announced as getting AT&T 5G in 2018: Atlanta; Charlotte, NC; Dallas; Indianapolis; Oklahoma City; Raleigh, NC; and Waco, TX.

Also according to the article:

Verizon has named four cities that will get 5G, while Sprint and T-Mobile plan to launch in 30 cities this year following their merger. That partnership could take longer than the two companies had hoped, however, after the Federal Communications Commission said it needed more time to review the application

Activist Post and many others have already published many articles and segments about issues and opposition associated with “The Race for 5G,” The Internet of Things (IoT), and “Smart” Cities. It’s like a nightmare that won’t end.

***

STATE RUN SWEDISH KINDERGARTEN BANS WORDS “HE,” “SHE,” MAKES BOYS WEAR DRESSES

Asks children as young as two to talk about ‘boys falling in love with boys and girls falling in love with girls’

Paul Joseph Watson | Infowars.com - SEPTEMBER 14, 2018

A whistleblower working at a state-run kindergarten in Sweden has revealed how officials told her never refer to children as “he” or “she,” to encourage boys to wear dresses, and to initiate conversations with children as young as two about “boys falling in love with boys and girls falling in love with girls.”

In an interview with Världen idag, “Anna,” who has been working in the kindergarten for two years, said she was quickly informed that telling children something they were wearing was “nice” was forbidden and that the pre-schoolers should not be assigned genders.

When Anna read books to the children, she noticed that all mentions of “he” or “she” had been covered with Tipp-Ex and replaced with the gender neutral pronoun “hen”.

She later discovered that the popular “Emil and Pippi” books had been thrown away because they didn’t feature any gender neutral characters and the bookshelves had “been filled with children’s books with subjects such as transsexuality and homosexuality.”

Anna also asserted that children as young as one and two were partaking in group discussions where they were told by teachers “that a girl could fall in love with a girl and boy in a boy.” The toddlers were then asked “Who are you in love with?”

A confused little boy responded, “My Lego.”

Dolls, cars and trains have also been banned at the pre-school because they are gender-normative, while a boy who dressed up in a fireman’s outfit was told by a teacher to take it off and wear a dress instead even though he didn’t want to.

“I do not want a dress, I want this,” the boy said, to which the teacher responded, “But you know you’ll have a dress?”

Anna reveals how even some of the parents are on board with the indoctrination. When a mother came to pick up her son, Anna said to the boy, “Your mom is here,” to which the mother responded, “I’m not their mother, I’m a parent.”

Officials also told Anna not to say “Mom” and “Dad” because “a child can have two custodians of the same gender.”

Anna says that a 3-year-old girl who once proclaimed “I’m a boy today!” later asked her, “Am I a boy or girl?” to which Anna firmly responded, “You are a girl.”

“I cannot follow those rules. I just cannot. They are against everything I know,” concluded Anna.

The kindergarten in question was not named by the newspaper because they didn’t want to expose their source.

Since 1998, the Swedish government’s guidelines on schooling have “forbidden enforcing gender stereotypes, and government funded gender neutral kindergartens with gender aware teachers has made it possible for families to raise their children without a set gender identity,” according to a VICE report.

The populist Sweden Democrats just increased their presence in parliament after the country’s latest election, but given stories like this, in addition to Sweden’s rampant problem with crime, rape and mass immigration, one wonders whether it’s too late.

***

RT

Syrian port city Latakia 'attacked by missiles from sea' – local media

September 17, 2018

Explosion in the Syrian city of Latakia on September 17, 2018. © Kevork Almassian / Twitter

Syrian air defenses have engaged missiles targeting the area of Latakia, a city in the coastal province that is the home of Russia’s Khmeimim Air Base. Seven people were reportedly injured in the attack.

According to the state SANA news agency, the attack targeted the Technical Industries Agency headquarters in Latakia, owned by the Syrian military. Reports from the area refer to “powerful explosions” heard in the city. According to Syrian military sources, the strikes also targeted a power station and an aluminum factory.

The attack began around 10 pm local time. Photos posted on social media show tracers and missile plumes streaking across the night sky above Latakia, as well as several explosions.

Air defense activity was also reported in Homs and Tartous provinces, where Russia maintains a naval base.

Syrian media report that a “number of missiles” have been shot down. Multiple reports from the area speak of an attack by missiles launched from drones. It is unclear whether only the Syrian air defense batteries have been engaged, or if the Russian air defenses around Khmeimim are taking part as well.

Seven people were injured in the attacks, Ahmad Kazem of the Syrian Human Rights Network told RIA Novosti.

Multiple local reports have accused Israel of launching the strikes, but there has been no independent confirmation of that. Another possibility suggested by local media is that the drone attack came from the jihadists in Idlib. SANA reported the missiles targeting Latakia came “from the sea,” citing military sources.

The attack comes just hours after Russia and Turkey negotiated a partial demilitarization of the Idlib province, which is the last remaining stronghold of anti-government militants, including the Al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (also known as the Jabhat Al-Nusra).

***

RT

Satellite pics show Syria strike as IAF chief goes to Moscow to explain Il-20 incident

September 19, 2018

© ImageSat International / Twitter

Timely released satellite images have revealed the destruction left by IDF air strikes in Syria’s Latakia after Israel was forced to make a rare admission to the raid which resulted in the downing of the Russian Il-20 recon plane.

On Wednesday, Israeli satellite imaging company ImageSat released three photos of an “ammunition warehouse” in Latakia, showing it before and after the Monday night attack. The three photos, posted on Twitter, show the building was completely destroyed in the strike.

Israel does not normally acknowledge its airstrikes in Syria, at least not until much later. However, the IDF made a rare immediate admission of responsibility on Tuesday, after the Russian Defense Ministry identified Israeli F-16 jets as taking part in the attack, and said the Il-20 aerial observation platform vanished from radars during the strike.

Moscow criticized Israel for not providing advance warning of the raid and said the Israeli jets used the Russian plane to mask their approach. Targeting the Israelis, Syrian air defenses fired the missile that shot down the Il-20 instead.

The IDF rushed to explain that their airstrikes targeted a Syrian army facility “from which weapons-manufacturing systems were supposed to be transferred to Iran and Hezbollah.” On Tuesday, the IDF expressed“sorrow” for the deaths of Russian airmen, but once again said the responsibility lies with the “Assad regime.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin to express his condolences and offered to send his air force chief to Russia with a detailed report.

Major-General Amikam Norkin will arrive in Moscow on Thursday, and will present the situation report on the incident, including the “the findings of the IDF inquiry regarding the event,” and the “pre-mission information” the Israeli military was so reluctant to share in advance.

Norkin will be joined by Brigadier General Erez Maisel of the International Cooperation Unit, as well as officers of the Intelligence and Operations directorates of the Israeli air force, according to the IDF. The delegation is also supposed to further acquit themselves of any blame and inform Moscow of “continuous Iranian attempts to transfer strategic weapons to the Hezbollah terror organization and to establish an Iranian military presence in Syria.”

Though the Russian military condemned“these provocative actions by Israel as hostile” and said it reserves “the right to an adequate response,” President Putin described the loss of the plane as a likel "chain of tragic accidental circumstances," rather than a deliberate provocation.

Monday’s attack came just hours after Russia and Turkey negotiated a partial demilitarization of the Idlib province, which is the last remaining stronghold of anti-government militants, including the Al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (also known as the Jabhat Al-Nusra).

At the request of Damascus, Russia sent an expeditionary force to Syria in September 2015, to help the government defeat Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and other terrorist groups.

***

RT

Orban’s Moscow visit a middle finger gesture to EU after last week’s humiliation

John Laughland, who has a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Oxford and who has taught at universities in Paris and Rome, is a historian and specialist in international affairs.

September 18, 2018

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban © Global Look Press

Russian President Vladimir Putin is reviled as an enemy of the West in general, and of the EU in particular, and yet Hungarian Prime Minister Orban continues to conduct “business as usual” with the master of the Kremlin.

The “salon des refusés” of political dissidents in the EU is getting bigger by the day. Less than a week after his government was condemned in a vote in the European parliament, Orban is in Moscow for talks about energy with Putin. His visit to Russia is the political equivalent of giving the EU the finger following last week’s humiliation.

Orban is not alone. In his battle with the EU over immigration and the rule of law, he is supported by Poland and the Czech Republic. Poland, which is also facing an Article 7 procedure against it by the European Commission, has vowed to protect Hungary, just as Hungary has vowed to protect Poland. So there is no way that the voting rights of either country can be removed, since the ultimate vote to do so requires unanimity. Orban also recently received the support of Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and of the Italian Minister of the Interior, Matteo Salvini.

These politicians have voiced support for Orban's stance against immigration. But they also support his pragmatic approach to Russia. Salvini is a well-known critic of the Russia sanctions, and Italy has said they should end. Parts of the Austrian government agree, the Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl having recently had Putin as a personal guest of honor at her wedding, while the Vice-Chancellor, Heinz-Christian Strache, is well known for his pro-Russian and pro-Putin views. On the other hand, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has reassured critics that Austria is rooted in the EU and shares its stance towards Russia.

The striking thing about Orban, and about his Central European allies (who incidentally include the Czech President Milos Zeman), is that they are from countries which, as Orban puts it, suffered greatly “under Russia” in the past. He is referring to the countries’ membership of the Warsaw Pact, and their subjection to communist rule, after World War II. In Hungary’s case, the suffering was especially violent because of the suppression of the 1956 revolution in Budapest by Soviet troops. Yet it is precisely these countries who today advocate a pragmatic relationship with Russia, while countries such as Britain, and even Germany, treat Russia as if it were still a communist dictatorship with the Cold War in full swing.

The irony is all the greater because Orban personally played a key role – but one which is often forgotten by historians – in bringing about the end of Soviet rule in Central Europe. His speech in Heroes’ Square in Budapest on June 16, 1989 on the occasion of the re-burial of the leader of the 1956 uprising, Imre Nagy, was the first time anyone in the Warsaw Pact had publicly called for the withdrawal of Soviet troops. The very making of this speech showed that the old taboos – and, with them, the power of the communist dictatorship – had collapsed. This was two months before the Hungarian government opened its border with Austria, allowing tens of thousands of East Germans to cross into West Germany, and five months before the Berlin wall came down. Orban’s contribution to the chain reaction which led to these later events was therefore decisive.

There is only one explanation for this apparent paradox that some former anti-communist Central European leaders are now pro-Russian. Unlike their Western colleagues, who were never directly affected by communist rule, the states of the former Warsaw Pact understand not only that Russia is no longer the old USSR, having abandoned communism, but also that national identity, and pride in national identity, were the key to undoing communist rule in Central Europe and then in Russia itself. Orban’s 1989 speech was a patriotic appeal to Hungarians: it traced their battle for national freedom back to 1848. Freedom and national pride went hand in hand.

As in Poland, where not only national identity but also religion played a key role in the downfall of communism, Hungarians (and Czechs and many others) now see with dismay that same national identity which freed them from communism under attack from the new commissars in Brussels. This is because the approach in Western Europe is directly the opposite. Pride in one’s nation is considered backward and dangerous, largely because national pride was irredeemably damaged during the war.

The fact is that all the early member states of the EU were defeated in the war, whether by the Germans or by the Allies. During the process of defeat, national pride was ruined, either through the barbarism of Nazism and fascism or through various forms of nationalist collaboration with it. All these stain the national record. Only in Britain was national pride the key to victory; for everyone else it was the key to defeat. (The only partial exception to this rule is France, which retained some sense of national pride after the war. But, in later decades, the memory of the Gaullist resistance was effaced by a stronger memory of the national shame of Vichy.)

Because of this, Western European states have adopted the EU ideology, according to which European history before the creation of the EU was nothing but wars between nation-states. Indeed, national rivalry was the key to these wars. In order for there to be peace, it is argued, Europe’s nation-states must be dissolved in a supranational entity. Germany has accomplished the task of making a clean slate of its national history in a more complete manner than any other European state but the other countries share parts, sometimes large parts, of this same German historiographical and political model.

To be sure, the states of Central Europe have skeletons in their own cupboards concerning the war. Hungary was an ally of Nazi Germany throughout it. But the more recent memory of national victory over communism has rekindled national pride, whereas the Western European states have not enjoyed any comparable victory and so they instead put all their faith in the post-national and post-modern European project. Moreover, whereas Communism was largely rejected as an ideology by the people living under it – including in Soviet Russia – the ideology of liberalism has penetrated very deeply into the Western European consciousness, to the extent even of extinguishing national sentiment. Liberalism has been more successful in this regard than communism was, even though orthodox Marxism also called for an end to the nation-state.

This East-West fracture is a major ideological dividing line inside the European Union. The vote in the European Parliament last week, in which over two thirds of MEPs ganged up on a member state in the name of their biased interpretation of “the rule of law,” was a historic moment which brought into the open the depth of this radically different approach to politics and history. Opposite attitudes to Russia are also part of this division. As Marx said, history repeats itself, first as tragedy and then as farce, as we saw in Strasbourg last week: the European Union, like the Soviet Union, will in due course discover that national identity is stronger even than its political ideology.

***

RT

‘Me & Orban fought Brussels quotas’: Czech PM takes credit for derailing ‘absurd’ EU migrant sharing

September 15, 2018
FILE PHOTO A camp of makeshift shelters for migrants and asylum-seekers near Calais, France. © Yves Herman / Reuters

Czech PM Andrej Babis believes that canceling EU migrant quotas was one of the major successes of his foreign policy, saying that he fought against quotas together with Viktor Orban and managed to “abolish the absurd system.”

“[Orban and I] fought against the quotas in Brussels, and we have abolished this absurd system,” Babis said.

Orban, a harsh critic of migration and mandatory migrant quotas, has repeatedly cast doubt on the validity of migrants’ humanitarian plight.

Speaking of illegal migrants, Babis stated that Prague “won’t accept a single refugee,” even if they are Syrian orphans. “Why should we accept [Syrian orphans]? We have orphans in our own country… I went into politics mainly to take care of Czech citizens,” he added.

He also recalled talking to German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. “She asked me if we [Czech Republic] could take a few illegal migrants. I said we could not even take one,” he said, adding that his reply was “a symbolic attitude to the inability of the EU” to address the problem of migrants. Babis was apparently referring to his recent meeting with Merkel earlier in September.

In December 2017, the Czech Republic, along with Hungary and Poland, defended their “right” to reject EU-imposed refugee quotas amid pressure from the European Commission. Despite repeated EC warnings, the three countries continue to pursue a course of non-compliance, arguing that migrants pose a direct threat to public security.

Babis, who took the post back then, said that “the quotas divide Europe and they are not effective.”

The Czech PM has repeatedly criticized existing EU migration policies, and argued that European states must “unite” to come up with a viable solution to the crisis. Referring to the notorious standoffs between anti-migrant protesters and anti-fascists in the German city of Chemnitz, he said that Europe must fight for its culture and values in the face of the migration crisis.

“We don’t want to live in Africa or the Middle East here. We must fight for our values,” he said.

**

Luxembourg’s minister finished with the words “Merde, alors”. The phrase “Merde alors” literally and commonly means “shit then”, but is actually closer to the English “fcking hell”.

Watch the heated exchange.

Ironically the whole exchange came as the UN high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, divulged to reporters that he previously urged Salvini to tone down his “aggressive” language on the migrant issues previously in the week.

But clearly Salvini didn’t take the advice to heart then or now, as he subsequently shared a video clip of the exchange with his 3 million followers on Facebook with the words, “Look at the reaction (of the minister). He didn’t take it very well.”

Salvini, whose populist government came into power last June and sparked tensions with the EU over its immigration crackdown, proudly published a video of the interaction on his Facebook page, and commented alongside the post: “The Luxembourg minister declared this morning that we need migrants because Europe is ageing. I told him I instead work towards young Italians (and Europeans) returning to bringing children into the world, because we don’t want new slaves.”

And previously on Thursday both Salvini and Luigi Di Maio, his partner in the government, rebuked the the EU’s economics affairs commissioner, Pierre Moscovici of France, for likening populist leaders in Europe to “little Mussolinis”.

Salvini, who political observers say may have singlehandedly doubled his party’s popularity, told the French politician “wash his mouth out” for insulting Italy.

At the rate things are going, and as EU leaders continue their patronizing lecturing on the evils of nationalist movements, we expect Savini’s surging popularity to continue even outside of Italy’s borders.

***

ET

'Save yourself if you can': More countries are seeking ways to dump the US dollar – Kremlin

September 17, 2018

© Gary Cameron / Reuters

Countries around the globe are trying to find ways of substituting the US dollar in trade, according to Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

“All of a sudden, the country which issues the US dollar starts making steps which are shattering trust in this reserve currency. More and more countries, not only in the East but also in Europe, start mulling ways to minimize their dependence on the US dollar,”Peskov told Rossiya TV channel.

“They suddenly realize: A. it is possible, B. it should be done, and C. save yourself if you can, it should be done as soon as possible.”

Peskov noted that it is not easy to replace the dollar-dominated system, however, “the fact that the trend of searching for alternatives has begun” is noticeable.

Last week, Russia’s second largest bank CEO Andrey Kostin warned that countries will stop using the greenback as a settlement currency because of Washington’s aggressive policy. According to Kostin, the US uses the dollar as a weapon, which will inevitably make it unpopular across the globe.

The idea of switching to the use of national currencies in bilateral transactions has recently became more popular for a number of countries affected by US sanctions or trade tariffs. They include Russia, China, Iran and Turkey. (Exekiel 38)

***

INFORMATION LIBERATION

September 19, 2018

Remember folks: white people are not being targeted in South Africa and President Trump and others who suggest otherwise are conspiracy theorists!
From Daniel Friedman, Citizen.co.za, "White existence is a crime, says BLF spokesperson":

The BLF spokesperson has posted views reflecting his party's belief that all white people in South Africa are criminals by virtue of their existence.
Black First, Land First spokesperson Lindsay Maasdorp has told the author of this article and others about the controversial party that my "existence is a crime."
He also repeated his party's slogan, "land or death."
[...]Maasdorp’s assertion that, as a white person, “my existence is a crime,” provides some insight into the party’s apparent belief that, due to the theft of land by white people during colonisation and apartheid, all white South Africans are therefore criminals, regardless of when they were born and what their political views, history or affiliations may be.
At the recent land hearings held in parliament, Mngxitama called for section 25 of the Constitution to be scrapped entirely to ensure that all land owned by white people is returned to their black counterparts.
The BLF leader said this section should be replaced with a declaration that all land owned by white people in South Africa was stolen property.
Mngxitama has repeatedly made the assertion that absolutely all land occupied by white South Africans should be expropriated.
This makes the party the most extreme in South Africa when it comes to the land issue and in its attitude to white people in general.
They have been accused of hate speech by the South African Human Rights Commision, who have

recommended that the party be prevented from contesting the 2019 elections on the grounds that they have made statements violating the Electoral Act.
Maasdorp has come under fire in the past for his posting on both Facebook and Twitter that “I have aspirations to kill white people, and this must be achieved!”

As Turkish state media outlet TRT World assured us recently, it's not that white farmers are being "targeted" in South Africa, but instead "farm attacks are just part of a greater violent crime problem" and "there's no reliable data to suggest that white farmers are targeted more than anyone else."

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Gastro Obscura

Before Food Trucks, Americans Ate ‘Night Lunch’ From Beautiful Wagons

They were the ancestors of the modern diner.

BY ANNE EWBANK

SEPTEMBER 13, 2018

T. H. Buckley inside one of his lunch wagons. FROM THE COLLECTION OF WORCESTER HISTORICAL MUSEUM, WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS

IN 1893, BOSTON WAS BUSTLING, especially after the sun went down. “Night owls of all classes” roamed the streets, wrote the Boston Daily Globe, including “workers, idlers, pleasure seekers, spendthrifts, tramps and bums.” At some point, all of these people would want something to eat. The wealthy could get their quail on toast at any hour, observed the writer. For everyone else, there were the night lunch wagons. While they served inexpensive eats, the wagons themselves could be as fancifully decorated as music boxes on wheels.

Though night lunch wagons would eventually be gilded, they had humble origins. According to Richard J.S. Gutman, a diner expert and author of the classic American Diner: Then and Now, it all started with a man with a basket. Walter Scott was a street vendor who sold sandwiches and coffee in Providence, Rhode Island, first from a basket and later from a pushcart. Business was good, so in 1872, he set up shop in a wagon outside a local newspaper office. Scott was a pressman himself, so he knew that journalists wanted quick meals at strange hours.

It wasn’t just journalists who stayed up late, though. Night shift workers wanted a meal when they punched out, and party-goers wanted grub when they emerged from the bar. But most restaurants closed at 8 p.m. Scott’s innovation—serving sandwiches, pie, and coffee from a horse-drawn wagon as a “night lunch”—soon spread. In 1884, Gutman says, a cousin of an imitator of Scott’s moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, and made the first lunch wagons that customers could sit inside.

An advertisement for one of Palmer’s lunch wagons. FROM THE COLLECTION OF WORCESTER HISTORICAL MUSEUM, WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS

Worcester soon became the nation’s lunch-wagon producing capital. Businessmen such as Charles H. Palmer and Thomas H. Buckley received patents and built factories to turn out lunch wagons, and shipped them across the country. While Scott’s original wagon was a renovated freight wagon, lunch-wagon makers began to design aesthetically pleasing vehicles. Etched-glass windows and colorful exteriors beckoned eaters inside, and the interiors were “painted up with fleur de lys and amazing murals” that echoed the work of old Dutch masters. Gutman, who studied architecture, notes that lunch wagon designs mirrored trends in commercial architecture at the time.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, the first such-decorated wagon that rolled onto the streets of Worcester caused a sensation. When another debuted in Ogdensburg, New York, people gathered to stare open-mouthed at its “Aladdin-like” interior. The Enquirer described the popular wagon style as having elegant carvings, skilled paintwork, and amenities such as sinks for washing dishes. Proprietors typically stood behind small counters, heating food on grills and dispensing coffee from elaborate urns to patrons inside and out. The average size of the wagons was eight by 14 feet. Buckley’s wagons were particularly sensational. “They were described as perfect little palaces,” says Gutman.

Despite the needling of the Boston Daily Globe, night lunch was for everyone. A typical night would see “people in tuxedos, businessmen, along with the ordinary worker and the showgirl,” says Gutman. In the early days, menus were simple: sandwiches filled with ham, chicken, or cheese, apple and mince pies, and coffee. Adding a grill expanded some lunch wagons’ offerings, but the food remained hearty and simple: a contrast to the positively rococo interior design.

But according to Gutman, their elaborateness may have contributed to their downfall. “Certainly in the beginning, they looked fabulous,” he says. But the wear-and-tear of nightly traffic wore away the paintwork, and some business owners couldn’t afford upkeep. Many successful lunch wagon businesses eventually became stationary establishments, and former wagon manufacturers followed suit, resulting in what would eventually be known as diners. The remaining horse-drawn lunch wagons became increasingly shabby and downmarket, not to mention in the way of automobiles. Much like the food trucks of today, restaurants lobbied against them, and as early as 1909, lunch wagons began to be banned from city streets.

The Owl Night Lunch Wagon, as it looked before its renovation. COURTESY OF THE HENRY FORD

Still, one wagon managed to survive and remain in operation to this day.

Not everyone was ready to let go of the horse-drawn past. Namely, Henry Ford of automobile-producing fame had a soft spot for a particular lunch wagon. According to The Henry Ford curator Donna Braden, the Owl Night Lunch Wagon rolled the streets of Detroit when Ford was a young, hungry engineer. Years later, in 1926, Detroit banned night lunch wagons with a city ordinance. So Ford snatched it up and later installed it at Greenfield Village, an outdoor history complex that is part of The Henry Ford museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

For many years, the Owl Night Lunch Wagon was the only spot to buy food in Greenfield Village’s sprawling grounds. Boxy and white, it was a pale shadow of lunch wagons past.

But in the 1980s, Gutman contacted The Henry Ford and told them that they had the last horse-drawn lunch wagon left. He also pitched them on restoring it to glory. “He showed us lots and lots of pictures of typical lunch wagons of that era,” says Braden. The Henry Ford ultimately brought Gutman on board for the renovation of the Owl Night Lunch Wagon.

The Owl Night Lunch Wagon, as it looks today. F. D. RICHARDS/CC BY-SA 2.0

From its stripped-down state, the Owl Night Lunch Wagon was transformed. Gigantic red-and-blue letters now decorate the sides, and etched-glass windows show owls perching atop of crescent moons, an ode to the night-time eateries of the past. While diners once sat and ate inside the Owl Night Lunch Wagon, these days servers hand period-appropriate frankfurters out the window. “This wagon is the real thing,” Gutman says of the rebuilt and renovated eatery.

Despite the restored pomp of the Owl Night Lunch Wagon, Gutman speaks longingly of even more lavish lunch wagons, whose glitter now exists only in photographs. Gutman hopes to one day unearth a better-preserved example, with its paintings relatively intact. “That is what I’m looking for, to find some buried lunch wagon,” he says. While diners are the direct descendants of lunch wagons, and food trucks still roam cities today, their designs speak more to Guy Fieri than the Gilded Age.

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MailOnline

'No evidence' having high levels of bad cholesterol causes heart disease, claim 17 physicians as they call on doctors to 'abandon' statins

• Researchers have warned statins offer no protection to millions of people

• The findings add to the ever-growing row over the cholesterol-busting pills

• High levels of LDL-C has been considered a major cause of heart disease

• The new study, of almost 1.3 million patients, shows there is no such link

By STEPHEN MATTHEWS ASSISTANT HEALTH EDITOR FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 13:07, 17 September 2018 | UPDATED: 08:11, 18 September 2018

Researchers have warned statins - cholesterol-busting drugs - offer no protection to millions of people and doctors should 'abandon' them

No evidence exists to prove that having high levels of bad cholesterol causes heart disease, leading physicians have claimed.

Researchers have warned statins - cholesterol-busting drugs - offer no protection to millions of people and doctors should 'abandon' them.

The findings add fuel to the ever-growing, controversial row over statins, as cardiologists continue to disagree on whether the cheap pills have any benefit.

Experts do agree that for people who already have a high heart risk - particularly those who have already had a heart attack or a stroke - statins are proven lifesavers, slashing the chance of a second attack.

High levels of LDL-C, known as bad cholesterol, has been considered a major cause of heart disease - the world's leading killer - for at least 50 years.

But the new study, based on data of around 1.3 million patients, suggests doling out statins as a main form of treatment for heart disease is of 'doubtful benefit'.

A team of 17 physicians from across the world discovered high LDL-C levels were unrelated to a higher risk of heart disease in the general population.

This also remained true for patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), a genetic condition that causes them to have abnormal levels of LDL-C.

The study, published in the Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, also found no link between high levels of LDL-C and atherosclerosis.

This is despite medical literature stating fatty deposits that clog arteries - known medically as atherosclerosis - are made up of cholesterol.

And heart attack patients were shown to have lower than normal cholesterol levels of LDL-C.

Professor Sherif Sultan, one of the authors, told The Irish Times the 'strongest finding' was elderly people with high levels of LDL-C live the longest.

Dr Malcolm Kendrick, a GP who works in Macclesfield and author of The Great Cholesterol Con, was one of the researchers involved.

The remaining scientists, who delved into the data of previous trials, hailed from the US, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, France and Japan.

Writing in the journal, they wrote: 'We suggest clinicians should abandon the use of statins and PCSK-9 inhibitors.'

PCSK9 inhibitors are a relatively new class of cholesterol lowering treatments, which studies have shown are just as effective at cutting levels of LDL-C as statins.

Dr Aseem Malhotra, an NHS cardiologist who wasn't involved in the study, told MailOnline the evidence is mounting against the use of statins.

He said: 'Having reviewed the totality of the evidence, in my view the only people that should be offered statins are those with established heart disease risk.'

Dr Malhotra, an avid supporter of ditching statins and eating healthily, added that a 'very small minority of patients' with FH may also benefit from receiving statins.

He said: 'For everyone else, the tens of millions taking the drug worldwide who don't fall into these categories, they should know statins won't help them live one day longer.'

It comes after a major study in the British Medical Journal concluded last week that giving statins to elderly people in good health could be a waste of time.

The Spanish research of 47,000 over-75s found no evidence that statins make any difference to low-risk patients, despite health officials' attempts to get more people taking them.

Up to six million adults in Britain currently take statins to lower their cholesterol levels and thereby reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

But many doctors and patients are worried about the pills' long-term harms and they have been linked to diabetes, muscular pain and memory loss.

Scores are uneasy with what they describe as the 'overmedicalisation' of the middle-aged, which sees statins doled out 'just in case' patients have heart problems in later life.

Supporters on the other hand, including the health watchdog Nice, say the pills should be prescribed more widely to prevent thousands of early deaths.

An array of evidence has already shown statins to be very effective at preventing heart attacks and strokes in patients who have already had one.

Professor Metin Avkiran, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: 'We have more than twenty years’ worth of research showing that statins are an effective way of reducing the risk of a heart attack in people at high risk, particularly those who’ve already suffered a serious cardiovascular event.

'The opinions expressed in this article don’t change anything, and patients who have been prescribed statins should continue to take them. If you have any concerns you should talk to your doctor.'

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Until next week...keep on believing.
Almondtree Productions

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with.”
(1Peter 3:15)