North Korea as the Biggest Threat

Who in hell gave permission to the Americans to be the judge, jury, and executioner on this planet?

The Anti-Media

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Nuclear weapons ‘must be destroyed,’ says Iranian President (VIDEO, 8 min)

Iranian president: “We are against any type of weapons of mass destruction as well as nuclear weapons, and we believe that they must be destroyed around the world.”

The Trumpster: “They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen,” 

So tell me, who is the aggressor here?

Source: Nuclear weapons ‘must be destroyed,’ says Iranian President (VIDEO)

theduran.com

by  Vladimir Rodzianko

Sept 19, 2017

Amid tensions caused by North Korea’s latest nuclear test, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stated that his country is unequivocally opposed to weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapons.

In an interview with Christiane Amanpour on Monday, President Rouhani discussed the possibilities that US President Donald Trump could come through on a campaign promise to shred the nuclear agreement negotiated under the Obama administration.

“Our position has been very clear and remains clear vis-a-vis nuclear weapons. We are against any type of weapons of mass destruction as well as nuclear weapons, and we believe that they must be destroyed around the world.”

He noted that an arms race was unacceptable for Iran, in any region.

Rouhani stressed,

“The position and the actions of the United States as well as other nations against North Korea have not been very positive, and I don’t think there is a military solution to this. Only diplomacy is the tool that will resolve this problem permanently.”

On September 3, North Korea announced that it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb that could be loaded into an intercontinental ballistic missile, which became Pyongyang’s sixth nuclear test.

In light of these developments from North Korea, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted its toughest resolution against North Korea that restricted oil exports to Pyongyang, banning exports of textiles to the country, as well as restricting the country’s access to gasoline. However, North Korea has not halted its missile and nuclear program, conducting another missile test last Friday.

In that same interview with CNN, Rouhani warned that there would be a ‘high cost’ if the US exited the nuclear deal with Iran.

Neo-Colonialism and Disaster Relief: an Unholy Duo

To the Residents of Barbuda, part of the nation of Antigua and Barbuda, where a Governor-General representing Queen Elizabeth is head of state; the French-ruled St. Martin and the island’s Dutch half of St. Maarten; British Virgin Islands (BVI); French-ruled St. Barts; the British colony of Anguilla, the British territory of Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI); and the US-ruled St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John,

What is wrong with you people? Grab some pitch forks and rid yourselves of them parasite-colonialists now!

Source: Neo-Colonialism and Disaster Relief: an Unholy Duo

With permission from

http://www.strategic-culture.org

Wayne MADSEN

Sept 14, 2017

The Caribbean colonies of four neo-colonialist powers, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States, have discovered the hard way where they stand with their colonial masters when faced with an extreme natural disaster. In the wake of hurricane Irma, a Category 5 mega-storm, the populations of the island territories of the four colonial powers, as well as Barbuda, a dominion of Queen Elizabeth’s “Commonwealth,” were relegated to second- and third-class status when it came to the receipt of urgent assistance in the wake of Irma.

Long a domain of rich and famous part-time residents and offshore shell corporations, the permanent residents of the islands of the northeast Leeward Islands are merely looked upon as tourism employees and clerical staff for offshore banks and law offices catering to money launderers and tax evaders. When these victims of Irma cried out for basics – water, food, and medicines, they were initially ignored by neo-colonial offices in Paris, London, Amsterdam, and Washington, DC.

What is being practiced by the neo-colonialist governments of France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States is a form of disaster politics. The governing authorities appeared to largely ignore the initial recovery needs of Irma-affected islands as a way of punishing them for earlier calls for increased autonomy and, in a few cases, independence.

Residents of Barbuda, part of the nation of Antigua and Barbuda, where a Governor-General representing Queen Elizabeth is head of state; the French-ruled St. Martin and the island’s Dutch half of St. Maarten; British Virgin Islands (BVI); French-ruled St. Barts; the British colony of Anguilla, the British territory of Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI); and the US-ruled St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John ran low on food, water, fuel, and medicines after Irma struck the island with intense fury. The colonial powers overseeing these island territories are all governed by pro-corporate conservative governments that were initially sanguine about rushing in disaster relief assistance and supplies. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Theresa May, and US President Donald Trump waited for days after Irma struck before sending military planes and ships to the islands. Many island leaders feel the assistance was too little and too late. They are correct.

The colonialist powers were anxious to rush in public security forces to affected islands but the food, water, and other supplies came later. The security forces rushed in to protect the part-time homes of billionaires was a hat-tip by the governments in London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Washington to the billionaires who support them politically. The welfare of the full-time and poor residents, who were among the most adversely affected by Irma, was assigned a much-lower priority by the corporate vipers, vampires, and vultures controlling the French, British, Dutch, and American governments.

Residents of St. Martin/St. Maarten were forced to scavenge partially-destroyed food ships for anything in the way of sustenance and nutrition, including bottled water, crackers, candy, and rotting fruit. The corporate media called the scavengers “looters.” In situations where white tourists collected water and food under similar circumstances, they were called “scavengers.”

The Cuban government, which has prioritized disaster relief as a matter of national policy and is an international model for disaster recovery, quickly rushed in food, water, and other supplies to its hurricane-ravaged northern coast, including the city of Matanzas and isles such as Cayo Romano and Cayo Coco in the Camaguey archipelago.

Over 1000 residents of 62-square mile Barbuda, most of whom were evacuated to Antigua, are worried about unscrupulous billionaire developers moving on to their island to lay claim to their properties for tourist complexes. Land ownership has been prohibited on the island, a law that has led to some calls for Barbuda to break away from its larger neighbor, Antigua, and opt for independence.

Antigua Prime Minister Gaston Browne announced that to prevent attempts by foreign interests to seize properties on Barbuda, the government will provide a crown grant of one dollar for Barbudians to obtain legal ownership over their current land parcels. The resale of the properties can only occur with the agreement of the Barbuda Council, the local governing authority on the island. However, Browne has also negotiated a deal with the Wahhabist-dominated United Arab Emirates for it to install an 800-megawatt solar power facility and a modern medical clinic on Barbuda. Such deals with either Emiratis or Saudis usually come with significant strings attached, including opening non-Muslim countries like Barbuda to Wahhabist religious infiltration of education systems and religious institutions.

St. Martin — both the French and Dutch parts — the Dutch-ruled islands of Saba and St. Eustatius, Anguilla, TCI, BVI, the US Virgin Islands, and the Turks and Caicos have all demanded, to varying degrees, more autonomy from their colonial masters. Saba and St. Eustatius, without the consent of their residents, were turned into “public entities” of the Netherlands after the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2011. Rather than receiving more autonomy, these colonial territories were relegated to the status of municipalities of the Netherlands. The same situation exists in French St. Martin. Dutch St. Maarten is an “autonomous country” governed by the Dutch King, another neo-colonialist contrivance. On September 5, 2017, just before Irma struck the Dutch Caribbean islands, leaders of St. Eustatius and Bonaire, the latter unaffected by the hurricane, complained to the Dutch parliament that attempts by the Dutch to totally annex their islands “violated their self-determination and human rights.”

While British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, a Trump-like dolt of a political leader, was slow in responding to assistance requests from BVI, TCI, and Anguilla, most local leaders stood fast. BVI Premier Orlando Smith said, “We are a proud nation” and would bounce back from massive devastation of its islands and capital of Road Town on Tortola. London neo-colonialists do not see territories like BVI as “nations,” but merely extra-territorial conveniences for offshore shell corporations and tax evaders.

TCI’s Grand Turk, Salt Cay, South and Middle Caicos were also devastated by Irma. TCI Premier Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson, who, unlike some of her predecessors who demanded independence for TCI, is a compliant puppet of the British government and its appointed governor, was criticized for being too lackadaisical in the wake of Irma. In fact, she was forced to visit Grand Turk and the TCI capital of Cockburn Town on a Cayman Islands police helicopter. A local TCI pastor on Providenciales, clearly annoyed at the slow response of the British governor and TCI premier, told Caribbean News Now, “A British warship that will only come here for a photo shoot? We have lost a day already. Let us not waste any more time.”

Officials of Anguilla, which has a rich history of unsuccessfully declaring independence from Britain, called the response of May and Johnson to the plight of Anguilla “disgraceful.” Josephine Connor, a former government adviser to the Chief Minister of Anguilla, told SkyNews, “We in the territories feel like third-class citizens because I’d rather wager that if there were something coming like that, of the same magnitude, to the mainland U.K., I suspect that there would be far more attention being paid.” It was estimated the HMS Ocean, on deployment in the Mediterranean, would take up to 14 days to reach Anguilla. Anguilla Chief Minister Victor Banks expressed concern over the lack of financial aid from Britain for the island to rebuild from its massive devastation.

Similarly, officials in virtually bankrupted Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands lashed out at initial inattention to Irma’s destruction on their islands from the Trump administration. Residents of St. John, St. Thomas, St. Croix, Culebra, and Vieques, stunned by the ferocity of Irma, were then faced with rampant thirst and hunger due to the lack of fresh water and food. Many islanders felt abandoned by the United States. The Marriott Corporation, which chartered a ship to evacuate its hotel guests from St. Thomas after the hurricane, refused to evacuate to Puerto Rico non-guest children and elderly residents even though plenty of empty space was available on the vessel.

The neo-colonial powers will be sure to exact a terrible price from their Caribbean colonies for the meager amount of assistance they are receiving. The first victim will be any notion of autonomy or self-determination previously enjoyed by the islanders. The first rebuilding will of be the luxurious hotel and yacht club compounds of the filthy rich. The native islanders will be lucky to catch a few crumbs of assistance.

Blood Money: UK firms make huge profits on arm sales to Saudi Arabia

So the British people earn 40 million dollars for the deaths of over 10,000 Yemenis? Simply put, this is evil at its best.

Guess who is going to be bringing explosives to London next?

Source: UK firms make huge profits on arm sales to Saudi Arabia | Yemen News | Al Jazeera

http://www.aljazeera.com

Sept 19, 2017

Arms sales to Riyadh exceed $8bn, while UK government receives just $40m of corporate tax, War Child report says.

War in Yemen has killed at least 10,000 people and left more than three million displaced [Hani Mohammed/AP]

British companies selling weapons have earned hundreds of millions of dollars by selling arms to Saudi Arabia during the ongoing war in Yemen, a report says.

New estimates released by the children’s charity War Child reveal that since the Saudi-led coalition began its intervention in Yemen, UK weapons companies including BAE systems and Raytheon have earned revenues exceeding $8bn from dealings with Saudi Arabia, generating profits estimated at almost $775m.

The UK government, however, has received just $40m of corporate tax, the report said.

“This tax revenue figure is pitifully small and comes at the cost of thousands of children who have been killed, injured, and starved by a conflict that this trade has helped sustain,” the report said.

A Saudi-led military coalition was formed in March 2015 to support Yemen’s internationally recognised government in fighting the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. 

READ MORE: UK activists demand end to Saudi Arabia, UAE arms sales

The conflict has killed more than 10,000 people and has injured more than 40,000 to date, according to the United Nations.

In the past three years, the UK has approved arms export licences to Saudi Arabia worth $4.7bn, including the Tornado aircraft, which is partially manufactured by BAE systems, vehicles and tanks, including BAE’s Tactica armoured vehicles valued at $580,000 and $1.48bn worth of grenades missiles and bombs.

Since then, Saudi Arabia has been involved both directly and indirectly in the conflict in Yemen, where it faces accusations of war crimes and other abuses.

The report argues that the policy of selling arms to Saudi Arabia is financially inconsistent and does not “represent good value for money”.

The UK reaps a minimal tax take from arms sales in Saudi Arabia – just $18m in corporation tax in 2016 – yet, the will spend $187m in humanitarian aid to Yemen, according to War Child. 

“The arms trade directly counteracts much of the benefits Yemeni children and other civilians might expect to receive from the provision of aid, undermining the Department for International Development’s policy of getting value for money from the aid it commits,” the report said.

In July, Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) lost a high-profile case calling for UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia to be stopped over humanitarian concerns.

The High Court ruled that there had been extensive political and military engagement with Saudi Arabia regarding the conduct of operations in Yemen and the Saudis had “sought positively to address concerns about international humanitarian law”.

Days after the court ruling, the British government licensed $321m worth of arms sales to Saudi Arabia in the six months after an air raid by the Saudi-led coalition killed 140 people at a funeral in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. 

The country is also facing a health crisis, with more than 2,000 people having died from cholera since April, more than half a million people infected, and another 600,000 expected to contract the infection this year.

Aid groups have also accused Saudi Arabia of blocking needed assistance and goods from areas that are most in need. 

Saudi Arabia and its allies have said they aim to prevent arms shipments to the Houthis, but aid groups say the curbs have deepened the suffering of millions.

The coalition has repeatedly been criticised for civilian casualties. Human Rights Watch accused it on Tuesday of war crimes, saying air raids that hit family homes and a grocery store were carried out either deliberately or recklessly, causing indiscriminate loss of civilian lives.

http://players.brightcove.net/665003303001/SJg0bzqkZ_default/index.html?videoId=5553006079001

INSIDE STORY: Who can protect Yemen’s civilians?

Source: Al Jazeera News

Most Americans back military response to North Korea, poll shows

I got into an argument, a discussion, on Facebook yesterday where this American male argued that the American population is not responsible for the wars their leaders inflict on the world. This proves my point that without tacit support from the general population America would not be venturing into these fake wars. Go home America, go home and fix your disintegrating country. Mind your business. Live and let live. Too simple?

Source: Most Americans back military response to North Korea, poll shows — RT America

RT America

15 Sep, 2017

© Reuters Staff / Reuters

Almost 60 percent of Americans would support military action if diplomatic efforts fail to dissuade North Korea from its nuclear ambitions, a Gallup poll has found. But far fewer think the aggression will come from Pyongyang itself.

The results of the poll, published Friday, also found a clear political divide between supporters of the main two political parties, with an overwhelming 82 percent of Republicans in favor of deploying the armed forces versus a mere 37 percent of Democrats.

Read more

N. Korea vows to sink Japan for ‘dancing to US tune’ & reduce US to ‘ashes and darkness’

Somewhat paradoxically, only 38 percent believe North Korea will actually launch an attack on the United States itself, despite their support for a military strike.

The number of Americans supporting armed action is up significantly from the last time the question was posed in 2003, when tensions flared between Washington and Pyongyang after President George W. Bush accused Pyongyang of arming itself with “missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens.” Bush also included North Korea in his “axis of evil” speech, grouping it together with Iraq and Iran.

Back then, 70 percent of Americans were convinced the issue could be solved diplomatically and only 47 percent supported military action.

On Friday morning, North Korea fired another missile which flew over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

The launch came mere days after the UN Security Council, including China and Russia, agreed on a new round of sanctions which fixed an annual cap of 2 million barrels worth of oil imports into North Korea as well as a ban on the country’s textile exports.

Tensions have been steadily rising on the Korean peninsula over the past few months, with Pyongyang conducting several missile and nuclear tests in defiance of rulings by the UN Security Council, while the United States has continued to carry out joint exercises with South Korea and Japan while amplifying its rhetoric against Pyongyang.

“North Korea best not make any more threats to the US. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen,” President Donald Trump said in August. In response, North Korea said it was “carefully examining” a plan for a missile strike on the US territory of Guam, a Pacific island some 3,400km away from the Korean peninsula.

Read more

‘Sanctions not working but only give Pyongyang time to master ballistic & nuclear programs’

More recently on Wednesday, Trump expressed doubt whether the recent sanctions agreed upon by the Security Council would have any effect.

“I don’t know if it has any impact, but certainly it was nice to get a 15-to-nothing vote, but those sanctions are nothing compared to what ultimately will have to happen,” Reuters quoted Trump as saying during a meeting with the Malaysian Prime Minister.

Then on Thursday, the North Korean government released a statement through its official KCNA news agency demanding that the “Yankees… be beaten to death as a stick is fit for a rabid dog.”

“There’s limit to patience. Now is the time to annihilate the US imperialist aggressors. Let’s reduce the US mainland into ashes and darkness,” the statement read.

Russia and China have proposed a “double-freeze” solution to the crisis, wherein the United States cease its drills with South Korea in exchange for the North suspending its weapons programs. However, the US has rejected these proposals, saying it has every right to carry out exercises with its allies.

Washington should switch from threats to dialogue on North Korea – Chinese envoy to US

Come on China, just call in the loans and make the Yankees shut up and go home. The world is sick of these war mongrels.

Source: Washington should switch from threats to dialogue on North Korea – Chinese envoy to US — RT News

RT News

16 Sep, 2017

U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers fly with an escort of Japanese F-15 fighter jets and U.S. Marines’ F-35B fighter jets. © Air Staff Office of the Defense Ministry of Japan / Reuters

 

China’s ambassador to the US has called on Washington to stop making continuous threats over North Korea and “do more” to build bridges of understanding and negotiation instead.

“Honestly, I think the United States should be doing… much more than now, so that there’s real effective international cooperation on this issue,” Ambassador Cui Tiankai told reporters at an embassy event on Friday.

Read more

US threatens to ‘cut China off’ from dollar if it does not uphold sanctions against N. Korea

“They should refrain from issuing more threats. They should do more to find effective ways to resume dialogue and negotiation,” he said.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned earlier this week that the US could impose economic sanctions on China if it does not implement the new sanctions regime against North Korea. The restrictions could involve cutting off China’s access to the US financial system, Mnuchin said.

“North Korea economic warfare works,” he said on Tuesday at the Delivering Alpha Conference in New York City. “We sent a message that anybody who wanted to trade with North Korea – we would consider them not trading with us.”

Mnuchin went on to add that “if China doesn’t follow these sanctions, we will put additional sanctions on them and prevent them from accessing the US and international dollar system.”

The US, which runs a $350 billion annual trade deficit with China, has been reluctant to impose economic sanctions on China over concerns of possible retaliatory measures and the potentially catastrophic consequences for the global economy.

On Monday, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a new resolution on sanctions against North Korea over its sixth and most powerful nuclear test, conducted on September 3. While the Security Council agreed not to ban oil exports into North Korea, the ninth round of sanctions since 2006 authorized an annual cap of 2 million barrels of refined petroleum products to North Korea.  It also banned North Korea’s textile exports (the second-biggest export for the country) which totals over $750 million each year, according to data from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. Chinese and Russian negotiators managed to persuade the US delegation not to impose a travel ban or asset freeze on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

North Korea’s ambassador to Russia made it clear that sanctions will not make Pyongyang change its policies. He added that North Korea’s nuclear program will help his country better deter the “hostile policy of the US.”

Read more

‘Economic war with China is everything’: Trump’s chief strategist in candid interview

“We have lived under US sanctions for decades. Under the harshest of sanctions. But we have acquired everything we wanted to. If the US hopes that our position would be shaken and changed, that is an illusion,” Kim Yong-jae told Russian media on Tuesday.

After North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear text in early September, US President Donald Trump warned that Washington is considering “stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea.”

China, which would be drastically affected if the US were to cut trade ties with it (the US imports about $40 billion in goods per month), said the measure would be “unacceptable” and “unfair,” adding that Beijing cannot be the sole player in resolving the North Korean crisis.

“What is definitely unacceptable to us is that on the one hand we work so hard to peacefully resolve this issue and on the other hand our interests are subject to sanctions and jeopardized,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang told a news briefing, as quoted by AP. “This is unfair.”

In July, Beijing and Moscow proposed a ‘double-freeze’ plan, which would see North Korea suspend its missile launches and nuclear tests in exchange for a halt in joint US-South Korea military drills, which Pyongyang perceives as the “most explicit expression of hostility.”  That roadmap, however, was promptly rejected by Washington, with State Department spokesperson Heather Neuert stating last month that the US is “allowed” to conduct exercises with its ally and “that’s just not going to change.”

Canadian Cannabis Activist Dana Larsen Testifying in the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health as it relates to bill C-45: The Cannabis Act (10 min)

If you have not heard, Canada is set to legalize marijuana in July 2018.

A few years ago I joined Dana in his Sensible BC campaign aiming for cannabis decriminalization. One Sunday morning the team contacted me asking if I could help setting up the info boot in the Pride Parade. I said sure, no problem. There was no booth. We ended up in the parade itself. Photos were taken and we had our faces splashed all over the media. That was a good day and a great parade.

Interestingly, five years later we are not talking about decriminalization anymore but full blown legalization. Social

activism actually worked!

Heck, our biggest province, Ontario, is jumping the gun and wants to monopolize all cannabis products and sell them through its liquor distribution model.

15 Sep 2017 

Very passionate and well delivered testimony from Dana Larsen on Sept. 15th in the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health as it related to bill C-45: The Cannabis Act.