Daily Archives: June 29, 2020

2020-06-29: News Headlines

Andre Vltchek (2020-06-29). Some Italian Thinkers Are Now Resisting Lies About the Soviet Union and World War II. globalresearch.ca Lying about world history is one of the main weapons of the Western imperialists, through which they are managing to maintain their control of the world. | European and North American countries are inventing and spreading a twisted narrative about almost …

Caitlin Johnstone (2020-06-29). Only Idiots Believe The CIA, And Other Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix. thealtworld.com ~ | Mainstream media outlets which publish anonymous intelligence claims with no proof are just publishing CIA press releases disguised as news. | ~ | The most influential news outlets in the western world uncritically parrot whatever they're told to say by the most powerful and depraved intelligence agencies on the planet, then tell you that Russia and China are bad because they have state media. | ~ | Imagine if a compulsive liar who you know for a fact constantly deceives people in order to hurt and exploit them told you your neighbor is going to kill you if you don't kill him first, and you go and kill your n…

John Helmer (2020-06-29). The Dutch Prosecution and the Judge Have Rigged the Outcome of the Malaysia Airlines MH17 Trial on a Charge that Requires No Proof. globalresearch.ca The Dutch Government has devised an evidence-proof scheme for ensuring the trial of the Russian government for the destruction of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 will end in a conviction. | This scheme will work without evidence to prove that the four …

_____ (2020-06-29). US And Saudi Nuclear Program: The Trump Administration's Secrecy. popularresistance.org A recent report by the US House of Representatives revealed that Trump administration has accelerated the process of transferring "very sensitive" nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia. | The US House of Representatives has revealed that the Donald Trump administration has tried to provide Saudi Arabia with highly sensitive and advanced nuclear technology as soon as possible, regardless of legal and security concerns, the report said. | The report also expressed concern about the Trump administration's secretive engagement with Saudi Arabia. | The report goes on to say that private companies that are in close contac…

sputniknews (2020-06-29). Finnish PM Embroiled in 'Russian Influence' Scandal Over Fake Tweet About John Bolton's Book. sputniknews.com In his behind-the-scenes book about his tenure at the White House, former National Security Adviser John Bolton has painted Donald Trump's administration in an unfavourable light. Among other things, the book claims Trump once asked his chief of staff whether Finland was a part of Russia.

en.mehrnews (2020-06-29). 'The Trucker and the Fox' to go on screen at Flahertiana Intl. Film Fest. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jun. 30 (MNA) — Iranian documentary 'The Trucker and the Fox' by Arash Lahooti will be screened at the 20th edition of International Documentary Film Festival Flahertiana in Russia.

_____ (2020-06-29). John Bolton — Traitor to Common Decency. strategic-culture.org There are few men in modern American history more venal than Former National Security Adviser John Bolton. Calling Bolton a relic of the Cold War in his outlook on foreign policy is a kindness. | Bolton is a dangerous and pathetic creature whose entire life is an example of how incomplete men with a talent for violence can rise in a late-stage cesspit of political corruption. | He is simply someone who has never been in a fight in his life who lusts for the power to kill, main and destroy anyone who dares challenge him. A pathology he's had the dubious distinction of being able to act out in the real world on mor…

Terry Everton (2020-06-28). How Racism Gets Taught and Misrepresented in Our Schools. dissidentvoice.org The not-so-subtle purpose of compulsory schooling is to ensure a populace subservient to the status quo which primarily serves the ruling class. What we call education is derived from a Prussian model designed to reward individuals based on how well they stay in line and do as they're told through the process of grading. It's …

RT (2020-06-28). British meddling? Russian Election Commission says DDoS attack on constitution vote website was launched from UK. rt.com Russia's Central Election Commission says that denial of service attacks were launched from the UK and Singapore on a website providing information on constitutional reform as the country conducts a national vote on amendments. | "Since the early morning, we have been detecting DDoS attacks on the website –∫–æ–Ω—Å—Ç–∏—Ç—É—Ü–∏—è2020.—Ä—Ñ [constitution2020.rf]," the commission

RT (2020-06-28). Western conspiracy theories suggesting Covid-19 is man-made & was unleashed deliberately are not backed by evidence — Putin. rt.com Allegations that the coronavirus pandemic was started by design, rather than accident, are not backed by evidence and are ultimately irrelevant, Vladimir Putin has said. He also revealed how often he is tested for Covid-19. | Some US politicians, including President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have claimed that the Covid-19 outbreak started as a leak from a biolab in Wuhan, China — the city where the disease was first recorded in December 2019. Pompeo once even stated that the virus was "man-made," in an apparent slip of the tongue. | "Claiming that [the pandemic] was caused by somebo…

RT (2020-06-28). WATCH Russian Tu-142MK anti-submarine planes fly on Arctic & Pacific mission, escorted by Norwegian & US jets. rt.com Two squadrons of Russian long-range anti-submarine and reconnaissance aircraft have been patrolling the vast Arctic and north Pacific, the Defense Ministry says. They were closely monitored by NATO jets during the mission. | Three Tu-142MKs conducted a routine mission above the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea, escorted by Norwegian F-16 jet fighters during the trip. | In the meantime, a squadron of four Tu-142MKs was sent on a mission to Russia's Far East, flying over the northern Pacific Ocean. During some parts of their journey, the planes were monitored by US Air Force F-22 jets. | The Russian anti-sub…

RT (2020-06-28). Russia conspiracy theories are back! MSNBC asks Bolton if Trump is 'too afraid' to take on Putin because he helped get him elected. rt.com MSNBC is still doing its best to spread the theory that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election, thanks to an anonymous report from the New York Times claiming the nation paid militants to attack US troops in Afghanistan. | "Do you think that the president is afraid to make Putin mad because maybe Putin did help him win the election and he doesn't want to make him mad for 2020?" Chuck Todd asked of John Bolton in a Meet the Press interview on Sunday. | Completely disgraceful from NBC's Chuck Todd: | "Do you think that the president is afraid to make Putin mad because maybe Putin did help him win the e…

RT (2020-06-28). Hay Satan! WATCH 'tractor of apocalypse' catch fire on Russian road & set fields ablaze. rt.com A tractor with two trailers of hay turned into a moving inferno as its cargo caught fire on a road in southern Russia. The vehicle spilled flames left and right as it swirled around setting the surrounding fields alight. | The red-hot video from Russia's Krasnodar region emerged on social media on Sunday, promptly going viral. Footage shows the tractor – with two burning trailers attached – zigzagging on the road in a desperate attempt to beat off the flames. | The tactics didn't prove to be very effective though, as the hard maneuvering only spilled the blazing hay from the trailers, setting crops at the s…

yenisafak (2020-06-28). Trump denies being told about Russian bounties to kill US troops in Afghanistan. yenisafak.com The White House on Saturday also denied that Trump was briefed on U.S. intelligence regarding the affair but it did not address the merits of the intelligence. The Director of National Intelligence also said Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were not briefed, and called the Times report inaccurate."Nobody briefed or told me, @VP Pence, or Chief of Staff @MarkMeadows about the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians, as reported through an 'anonymous source' by the Fake News @nytimes. Everybody is denying it & there have not been many attacks on us," Trump tweeted, calling on the newspaper to…

yenisafak (2020-06-28). Global coronavirus cases top 10 million. yenisafak.com Global coronavirus cases have exceeded 10 million on Sunday, according to a running tally by US-based Johns Hopkins University.The worldwide tally of virus-linked deaths has reached 499,124, while the number of recoveries tops five million.The US remains the worst-hit country with over 2.5 million infections, while its death toll exceeds 125,500.Brazil, which has the largest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Latin America, has the second-highest number of infections worldwide with 1.31 million.Russia, India, Italy, Spain and the UK are also among the hardest-hit countries in the world.China, the ground zero…

Staff (2020-06-28). Siberian Forest Fires Increase by Fivefold in Week Since Record High Temperature. truthout.org The number of fires in the vast north Asian region of Siberia increased fivefold this week, according to the Russian forest fire aerial protection service, as temperatures in the Arctic continued higher than normal in the latest sign of the ongoing climate crisis. | The news of the increase comes a week after the small Siberian town of Verkhoyansk reported a high temperature of 100.4 ∞ F on June 20, a reading that, if confirmed, would mark the hottest day ever recorded in the region…

RT (2020-06-27). Three decades after Soviet collapse, Russia tells UN it's eliminated 'extreme' poverty, but millions still require govt help. rt.com The disastrous 1990s are now a generation ago, but the scars still remain. Only now has Russia eradicated extreme poverty, and 18.1 million people still live below the subsistence minimum. However, things are slowly improving. | On Friday, Russia Its review also highlights the strides it has made in reducing deprivation at all levels of severity, although it has falle…

RT (2020-06-27). Loyalty to US has led Germany & rest of EU into 'dead end' & they need to escape — top Russian Foreign Affairs official. rt.com The cult of 'Atlanticism' has failed the European Union and dragged its members down a blind alley. That's according to Dmitry Novikov, a senior member of Russia's foreign policy establishment. | At a time when some of the states of Central and Western Europe are reassessing their place in the world — amid the rise of China, US political flux, Covid-19 and Brexit — Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel has spoken about the need for "constructive" dialogue with Russia. | Novikov was responding to comments Merkel made on Friday during an interview with selected liberal European newspapers such as the Guar…

RT (2020-06-27). Shush! Russia's leading design studio used AI 'employee' for making customer logos for months… and NOBODY noticed. rt.com Why make something yourself when you can get a bot to do it? A Russian art design studio has been using an AI neural network to create logos for more than a year — all the while keeping its customers in the dark.

Caitlin Johnstone (2020-06-27). Mentally Replace Everything Before "U.S. Intelligence Says" With "Blah Blah We're Probably Lying" thealtworld.com "Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill Troops, U.S. Intelligence Says", blares the To be clear, this is journalistic malpractice. Mainstream media outlets which publish anonymous intelligence claims with no proof are just publishi…

WSWS (2020-06-27). The Salisbury Poisonings: Skripal drama framed as anti-Russian propaganda. wsws.org The BBC's three-part The Salisbury Poisonings uses drama as state propaganda and is designed to reignite the Skripal affair that dominated UK politics in 2018.

news.un (2020-06-27). FROM THE FIELD: 'Major breakthrough' in fight against diseases spread by mosquitos. news.un.org The UN nuclear agency (IAEA) has announced a major breakthrough in the bid to scale up technology designed to suppress disease-carrying mosquitos, and bring dengue, yellow fever and Zika under control.

yenisafak (2020-06-27). EU holds off decision on borders, Americans set to be excluded. yenisafak.com European Union countries failed to settle on Friday on a final "safe list" of countries whose residents could travel to the bloc from July, with the United States, Brazil and Russia set to be excluded.Ambassadors from the 27 EU members convened from Friday afternoon to establish criteria for granting quarantine-free access from next Wednesday.A redrawn text of 10-20 countries was put to them, but many said they needed to consult first with their governments, diplomats said. The list did not include the United States, Brazil or Russia, one diplomat said.Discussions were continuing overnight, with the EU countries…

yenisafak (2020-06-27). 'Existing tensions surfacing in new China-India row'. yenisafak.com The recent clashes between China and India are a manifestation of long-standing tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, according to an expert on South Asian geopolitics."The Himalayan border problem between Pakistan, India, and China is not a new issue — it goes back at least 70 years," Umit Alperen, a researcher and professor, said in an online discussion with Cemal Demir, head of the Istanbul-based South Asia Strategic Research Center (GASAM).China and India's military clash can be seen as the surfacing of a tension that has been there for some time, and an escalation accelerated by domestic, r…

_____ (2020-06-26). The 'New' American Mercenary: A Pocket History. popularresistance.org Though the bizarre story has been subsumed by other events, last month's aborted invasion of Venezuela should've hardly shocked anyone. The United States has long used mercenaries to do its bidding. They have provided Washington distance and deniability for unsavory operations. During the Cold War, the U.S. hoped this would limit domestic and international protest. Policymakers also discerned mercenary alternatives to bloody, expensive quagmires like the Vietnam or Iraq Wars. Traditionally, most of these hired guns were foreigners — ex-soldiers of declining European empires. | Much of this parallels the lat…

RT (2020-06-26). 8,000km from home: WATCH Russian Su-30 intercept US spy planes over Black Sea. rt.com The Russian military has published video footage showing the moment a Su-30 fighter jet intercepted a group of US spy planes over the Black Sea on Friday. | The Aerospace Force scrambled a Su-30 to escort three American planes away from the nation's southern border, Russia's Ministry of Defence said in a statement to the media, adding that the incident unfolded over neutral waters. | The American planes were identified as a R-8A Poseidon patrol aircraft, an RC-135 strategic reconnaissance jet, and a KC-135 refueling plane. The group immediately changed the direction of its flight away from the Russian borde…

_____ (2020-06-26). In Support of President Putin's History of World War II. strategic-culture.org On 19 June President Vladimir Putin published

Paul Antonopoulos (2020-06-26). Eastern Partnership of Post-Soviet States Gives Members False Illusions of Joining the EU. globalresearch.ca The

Finian Cunningham (2020-06-26). Taking the PiS… Trump Embraces Poland to Spite Germany and Russia. thealtworld.com Trump is pandering to Polish reactionary politics to offend both Germany and Russia. But this president doesn't have a clue about the monster of reactionary forces in Poland that he is fomenting. | President Trump laid out his rationale while hosting his Polish counterpart at the White House. President Andrzej Duda who is allied with the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) was on his third visit to the White House this week since Donald Trump took office. He is the first foreign leader to be received in Pennsylvania Avenue since the pandemic lockdown. | For such an honor, Trump readily explained that the purpose o…

Owen Webster (2020-06-26). Defunding Police Must Be Paired With Demilitarization and Denuclearization. commondreams.org Now more than ever, we need to divert funding from programs that threaten to push us closer to the brink of nuclear war. (Photo by Ira L. Black/Corbis via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/nomoremurder.jpg

Telesur (2020-06-26). Iran Sets Conditions to Resume Negotiations with the US. globalresearch.ca Iran's President Hassan Rouhani announced Wednesday that Tehran will negotiate with Washington only within the framework of the nuclear agreement and under the condition that the U.S. side pays compensation to the Middle East country for the damage caused. | "We …

yenisafak (2020-06-26). Turkey's oil imports down 18.1% in April 2020. yenisafak.com Turkey's total oil imports dropped by 18.1% to 2.93 million tonnes in April this year compared to the same month last year, according to data of Turkey's energy watchdog on Friday.Crude oil imports, the category with the highest oil import volume, decreased by 1.1% during that period down to 2.35 million tonnes, Turkey's Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) said in its monthly oil market report.In April 2020, Turkey imported the highest amount of crude from Iraq at 1.46 million tonnes. Russia and Norway followed with 513,253 tonnes and 273,093 tonnes, respectively.Oil refinery product output decreased by 9.4…

yenisafak (2020-06-26). Russia to build four new nuclear power units. yenisafak.com Preparations are underway in Russia to build four new power reactors, two in Leningrad and two in Smolensk, the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom announced on Friday.Rosatom Director-General Alexey Likhachev signed the agreement for the new generation VVER-1200 and VVER-TOI reactors, which are based on VVER technology developed by Rosatom, that Lihachev said "meets all current international safety requirements."The reactors are included in the country's scheme of electricity facility placement up to 2035, which was approved by the Russian government.Rosenergoatom, part of Rosatom, will be both the d…

_____ (2020-06-26). Flagging U.S. Credibility at Vienna Arms Control Talks. strategic-culture.org A puerile propaganda stunt pulled by U.S. negotiators in Vienna this week ahead of talks with Russian counterparts was both at insult to China and a reprehensible distraction from credible bilateral business with Moscow on the vital issue of strategic security. | Ahead of talks with Russian delegates, the Americans took a stealthy photo of the venue U.S. envoy Marshall Billingslea then tried to twitter-shame China by decl…

RT (2020-06-25). Russia says Poland should be aware of costs if it wants to obtain status of 'frontline state'. rt.com Poland should be aware of the costs of obtaining the status of a 'frontline state', including implications for its own security, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Grushko said on Thursday. He was commenting on the US plans to relocate its forces from Germany to Poland. | "If Warsaw wishes to intentionally position itself in the capacity of a frontline state by accommodating foreign forces on a permanent basis, it is apparently aware of all related costs, including those that concern its own security," Grushko told TASS. | Speaking with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda on Wednesday, President Donald…

RT (2020-06-25). Son of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev died of gunshot wound to the head — US police. rt.com Sergey Khrushchev's cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head, US police said. The 84-year-old son of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev passed away at his Rhode Island home last week. | "There were no immediate signs of outside foul play," Major Todd Patalano of the Cranston Police Department said. He didn't elaborate as to whether the death was being treated as an accident or a suicide, simply stating that the investigation was closed. | The gunshot wound was revealed by Joseph Wendelken, spokesman for the Rhode Island state medical examiner's office, the AP news agency reported. | However, the younger Khr…