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Showing posts from September, 2020

The Grayzone's Aaron Maté testifies at UN on OPCW Syria cover-up

The Grayzone    At an Arria-Formula Meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Aaron Maté of The Grayzone delivers remarks on the OPCW's ongoing Syria scandal.    Veteran OPCW inspectors who investigated an alleged chemical attack in Douma, Syria in April 2018 say that their probe was censored and manipulated. Under direct US government pressure, the OPCW concealed evidence that pointed to the incident being staged on the ground, and instead released a report that suggested Syrian government culpability. The allegation against Syria led to the bombing of Syria by the US, France, and UK just days after the alleged Douma incident.    In his remarks, Aaron calls this " one of the most important, and overlooked, global stories in recent memory " and urges the UN and OPCW to let the OPCW inspectors air their concerns, and present the evidence that was suppressed. 

A DARPA-funded implantable biochip to detect COVID-19 could hit markets by 2021

An experimental new vaccine developed jointly with the US government claims to be able to change human DNA and could be deployed as early as next year through a DARPA-funded, injectable biochip.   by Raul Diego   Part 3 - A wholly-owned subsidiary In July, a preliminary report funded by Fauci’s NIAID and the NIH on an mRNA Vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 was published in The New England Journal of Medicine , concluding that mRNA-1273 vaccine. provided by Moderna for the study, “ induced anti–SARS-CoV-2 immune responses in all participants, and no trial-limiting safety concerns were identified, ” and supported “ further development of this vaccine. ” A month earlier, the NIH had claimed a joint stake in Moderna’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, citing a contract signed in December, 2019, stipulating that the “ mRNA coronavirus vaccine candidates [are] developed and jointly owned ” by both parties. Moderna disputes the federal government’s position, stating that the company “ has a broad owned and lic

US govt-linked PR firm ran fake news networks for right-wing Latin American regimes

A Washington, DC-based PR firm linked to the US government and Democratic Party, CLS Strategies, ran a fake news network on Facebook and Instagram, spreading propaganda for Bolivia’s coup regime and the right-wing opposition in Venezuela and Mexico. by Ben Norton Part 6 - CLS Strategies signs PR contract with Honduras’ coup regime Ten years before the United States backed a right-wing military coup in Bolivia, Washington did the same in the Central American nation of Honduras. On June 28, 2009, the Honduran military overthrew the country’s democratically elected left-leaning president, Manuel Zelaya, and physically removed him from the country. Zelaya told The Grayzone in Honduras, in an interview on the 10th anniversary of the coup, that the US government had threatened him because of his close political and economic relations with socialist President Hugo Chávez in Venezuela. In the wake of the putsch, the new unelected right-wing regime in Honduras searched for publicist

How Amazon raised prices to profit from the pandemic

 by Alex Harman Part 4 - Background on Price Gouging During the COVID-19 Pandemic   As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold through the early months of 2020, first in China and then across the world, demand increased for respirators and surgical masks. By the time the first U.S. death from COVID-19 had been reported on February 29, 2020, reports of price gouging on sales of protective masks on Amazon had already resulted in a warning from Amazon to third-party sellers against engaging in price gouging.  Soon, brick and mortar retail stores such as Target, Costco, and Kroger began to impose limits on the quantity of certain products each customer could purchase because of shortages and hoarding of products such as toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and disinfectants. Increased demand for essential products on online marketplaces didn’t manifest in empty shelves – it meant sellers charging excessive prices. As the pandemic worsened, so too did the price gouging on Amazon. States Declare Emergenc

The war on you: How the Pentagon is militarizing social control

Neoliberalism benefits the few and makes life for the many increasingly impossible. Big data and blanket surveillance give state and corporate intelligence confidence that they can pre-empt and manage mass, social reactions to neoliberalism. This article is an excerpt from my new book, The War on You . by T.J. Coles Part 4 - “ZBELLION” The majority of BLM protestors in the U.S. and around the world are Millennials (people born between circa mid-1980s and late-1990s) and Generation Z (GenZ, those born after circa late-‘90s). The Pentagon is worried about GenZ. Millennials matured as their dreams and aspirations crumbled in the wake of major geopolitical and financial events, meaning that they were demoralized in their teens and easier to control. But the more cynical GenZ was born into misery. Unlike Millennials, who learned how to use and indeed pioneered much of the technology available today, i.e., they were one step behind their rulers, GenZ was born hyper-connected, givi

The OAS accusation of electoral fraud against Evo Morales is bullshit — and now we have the data to prove it

The day after the Bolivian election, the Organization of American States suggested the result was fraudulent — then took months to provide any proof. Last month, it finally released its data — and researchers at the Center for Economic and Policy Research found a basic coding error that destroys the OAS’s case against Morales. by David Rosnick  Part 6 - Resisting Scrutiny The fact is, the OAS still is not used to this kind of scrutiny, since it usually breezes through it with an air of authority. Like others empowered by this false sense of security, the OAS again doubled down on its defense of the study. On Twitter, Gerardo de Icaza — director of OAS election observations — praised Nooruddin as “ one of the best electoral statisticians in the world ” and insisted falsely that his results held. Such has been the consistent pattern of the OAS in response to any criticism of their report: when data fails them, they simply ignore the evidence and lash out. When the New York Tim

WikiLeaks paper proves US imperialists "foresaw" a corporate coup against Evo Morales in Bolivia already since 2009

The WIKILEAKS Public Library of US Diplomacy (PlusD) holds the world's largest searchable collection of United States confidential, or formerly confidential, diplomatic communications. As of April 8, 2013 it holds 2 million records comprising approximately 1 billion words. The collection covers US involvements in, and diplomatic or intelligence reporting on, every country on earth. It is the single most significant body of geopolitical material ever published. The PlusD collection, built and curated by WikiLeaks, is updated from a variety of sources, including leaks, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and documents released by the US State Department systematic declassification review.    globinfo freexchange   An early 2009 cable from the US embassy in La Paz - Bolivia, is particularly revealing because it proves that the US imperialists were monitoring closely Bolivia's attempt under the Evo Morales presidency to become self-sufficien

Jeanine Áñez is out of the election

Benji   Bolivia's US backed dictator Jeanine Añez has withdrawn her candidacy following poor approval ratings for her regime. Despite sabotage, political violence and media propaganda, the Movement for Socialism, the party of Evo Morales, is striding ahead in the polls.   Morales, the country's first indigenous president, was ousted in a US backed fascist coup last year after being falsely accused of being authoritarian and rigging elections. In reality it was because his progressive policies had meant Bolivia's economy was developing rapidly and the country was becoming independent from US capital.    This was of vital importance as it is home of much of the world's lithium, which has now been privatized and sold off to US companies under the coup regime (Elon Musk stated "we coup whoever we want" when confronted about this).    The new regime has removed indigenous flags, murdered socialist, trade unionist and indiginous activists, caused thousands of COVID-

How Gulf monarchies, PLO leaders, and US neoliberals sold out Palestine

The Grayzone   As the UAE and Bahrain reach a US-backed agreement with Israel, author and scholar Norman Finkelstein discusses the confluence of powerful forces that have sold out the Palestinian cause: Gulf monarchies, Palestinian Authority leaders, and U.S. liberals who have found common cause with far-right evangelicals and neocons in backing the Israeli occupation. Finkelstein contrasts their legacies on Palestine with that of the late Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said. 

US & allies ignore Colombia political assassinations

The Grayzone   Red Lines host Anya Parampil speaks with human rights lawyer Santiago Salinas Miranda about a wave of massacres and political assassinations sweeping Colombia. They discuss the Colombian government's role in the murders and ask why the international community has turned a blind eye to the killings.    

Is capitalism on life support?

act.tv   Professor Richard D. Wolff explains how capitalism is on life support... " I want to show you how dependent the economy today is on the government...  what a total and complete mockery it makes of Libertarian, Right Wing, Pro-Capitalist notions, that the private sector is what makes the economy successful and the government is an inefficient, inappropriate, unwanted intervener. "  

A DARPA-funded implantable biochip to detect COVID-19 could hit markets by 2021

An experimental new vaccine developed jointly with the US government claims to be able to change human DNA and could be deployed as early as next year through a DARPA-funded, injectable biochip.   by Raul Diego   Part 2 - Remote control biology As early as 2006, DARPA was already researching how to identify viral, upper respiratory pathogens through its Predicting Health and Disease (PHD) program, which led to the creation of the agency’s Biological Technologies Office (BTO), as reported by Whitney Webb in a May article for The Last American Vagabond . In 2014, DARPA’s BTO launched its “In Vivo Nanoplatforms” (IVN) program, which researches implantable nanotechnologies, leading to the development of ‘hydrogel’. Hydrogel is a nanotechnology whose inventor early on boasted that “ If [it] pans out, with approval from FDA, then consumers could get the sensors implanted in their core to measure their levels of glucose, oxygen, and lactate. ” This contact lens-like material requires a specia

US govt-linked PR firm ran fake news networks for right-wing Latin American regimes

A Washington, DC-based PR firm linked to the US government and Democratic Party, CLS Strategies, ran a fake news network on Facebook and Instagram, spreading propaganda for Bolivia’s coup regime and the right-wing opposition in Venezuela and Mexico. by Ben Norton Part 5 - CLS Strategies signs PR contract with Bolivia’s coup regime After overthrowing Bolivia’s democratically elected President Evo Morales in a US-backed military coup on November 10, 2019, the new junta immediately sought out public relations flacks in Washington help whitewash its image. Almost exactly a month later, on December 11, 2019, CLS Strategies registered under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) as a lobbyist for the Bolivian coup regime. The firm signed a 90-day contract, at a neat $90,000, agreeing to “ provide strategic communications counsel, ” which included “ creating and distributing communications materials, interfacing with the media, and providing communications services as direct

How Amazon raised prices to profit from the pandemic

 by Alex Harman Part 3 - A Note on Methodology   The purpose of this report is to examine the ongoing price gouging on Amazon.com, both by third-party sellers as well as by Amazon itself. This involved tracking specific products through direct observation on Amazon.com, as well as through tracking websites Keepa.com and Camelcamelcamel.com.   Where possible, an effort was made to identify a contemporaneous price online at another national retailer of a similar or identical item. Despite reports of all manner of products experiencing significant price increases, including inflatable swimming pools and hand golf carts, products tracked in this report were limited to essential items to stick closely to items that would be covered under existing and proposed price gouging statutes. While there certainly have been reports of price gouging on other retail platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic, most public reports have been about price gouging on Amazon. Further, from the beginning of the

The war on you: How the Pentagon is militarizing social control

Neoliberalism benefits the few and makes life for the many increasingly impossible. Big data and blanket surveillance give state and corporate intelligence confidence that they can pre-empt and manage mass, social reactions to neoliberalism. This article is an excerpt from my new book, The War on You . by T.J. Coles Part 3 - “ATTUNED TO DISPARITIES” The lines between law enforcement and militarism are blurred, as are the lines between military technology and civilian technology. Some police forces carry military-grade weapons. The same satellites that enable us to use smartphones enable the armed forces to operate. In a projection out to the year 2036, the British Ministry of Defence says that “ [t]he clear distinction between combatants and non-combatants will be increasingly difficult to discern, ” as “ the urban poor will be employed in the informal sector and will be highly vulnerable to externally-derived economic shocks and illicit exploitation ” (emphasize in original

The OAS accusation of electoral fraud against Evo Morales is bullshit — and now we have the data to prove it

The day after the Bolivian election, the Organization of American States suggested the result was fraudulent — then took months to provide any proof. Last month, it finally released its data — and researchers at the Center for Economic and Policy Research found a basic coding error that destroys the OAS’s case against Morales. by David Rosnick  Part 5 - Breakthrough For weeks following the release of the OAS report, researchers had tried unsuccessfully to replicate these findings using publicly available data. The OAS ignored requests for its data and explanation of its methods, but there were two red flags suggesting that its analysis suffered from serious errors.    First, the OAS concluded its audit with the results of an “internal analysis” that directly contradicted the graphs. That table implied that Morales performed better — not worse — over the penultimate 5 percent than the last 5. Second, the table above it broke down results by select departments (equivalent to s

Legendary whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg testifies at Julian Assange extradition hearing

The Real News Network Kevin Goszola, managing editor of Shadowproof, watched the trial and reports on Ellsberg's testimony.    

Summit 2020: What comes after capitalism?

Progressive International   The horizon of post-capitalism is coming into clearer focus — but it remains to be seen if the post-capitalist economy will be authoritarian and oligarchic or democratic and social. Yanis Varoufakis kicks off a panel discussion with PI Council members Vijay Prashad, Ece Temelkuran, and Nick Estes on how we can win the fight for a post-capitalist future.    

Venezuela captures 'US spy' allegedly plotting to sabotage oil refineries

The Grayzone Red Lines host Anya Parampil speaks with Caracas-based journalist Diego Sequera, a columnist with Mision Verdad, about recent developments in Venezuela. They discuss Venezuela's recent arrest of a US spy which the government claims was plotting to sabotage oil refineries in the country, as well as upcoming parliamentary elections in December. They explore the impact the vote could have on US-backed politician Juan Guaidó as well as the fractured state of Venezuela's political opposition. They close by taking a look at a recent report out of Miami which accuses Guaidó officials of engaging in federal crimes, including extortion, in the United States. 

Trump makes key move to beat Biden in their race to start a war with Iran

globinfo freexchange   Less than two months from November's US general election, Donald Trump decided to make a key move in order to secure support from the Israeli lobby. As in previous elections, the lobby is a critical factor which will determine to a significant degree the outcome of the election.    We are talking about the recent Israel's deals with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain that have been achieved through US interference.   As the BBC reported : [emphasis added]   US President Donald Trump has hailed the "dawn of a new Middle East", amid Israel's landmark deals with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain. Mr Trump spoke as the two Gulf states signed agreements fully normalising their relations with Israel. The three countries hailed the deals as historic, as did Mr Trump, whose administration helped broker them.   The Gulf states are just the third and fourth Arab countries to recognise Israel since its founding in 1948. Mr Trum

A Hedge Fund Made $3 BILLION from CA Wildfires

Redacted Tonight   A hedge fund called The Baupost Group made $3B after wagering on the insurance claims they bought at a significant discount from insurance companies that represent victims of the CA fires sparked by the utility PG&E--fires made worse due to climate change-fueled drought. Tens of thousands of victims are still waiting on settlement money. But insurance companies sold the claims to get paid upfront, and Baupost got billions after PG&E shares rebounded after PG&E's bankruptcy.     

A DARPA-funded implantable biochip to detect COVID-19 could hit markets by 2021

An experimental new vaccine developed jointly with the US government claims to be able to change human DNA and could be deployed as early as next year through a DARPA-funded, injectable biochip.   by Raul Diego   Part 1 The most significant scientific discovery since gravity has been hiding in plain sight for nearly a decade and its destructive potential to humanity is so enormous that the biggest war machine on the planet immediately deployed its vast resources to possess and control it, financing its research and development through agencies like the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and HHS’ BARDA. The revolutionary breakthrough came to a Canadian scientist named Derek Rossi in 2010 purely by accident. The now-retired Harvard professor claimed in an interview with the National Post that he found a way to “reprogram” the molecules that carry the genetic instructions for cell development in the human body, not to mention all bi

US govt-linked PR firm ran fake news networks for right-wing Latin American regimes

A Washington, DC-based PR firm linked to the US government and Democratic Party, CLS Strategies, ran a fake news network on Facebook and Instagram, spreading propaganda for Bolivia’s coup regime and the right-wing opposition in Venezuela and Mexico. by Ben Norton Part 4 - DC PR firm spreads right-wing propaganda by posing as disgruntled leftists CLS Strategies’ Bolivia propaganda was similar to its disinformation campaign against Venezuela. The firm created Facebook pages promoting the coup leader Jeanine Áñez with titles like “Everyone with Áñez.” The PR firm also set up a page called “Camacho Lovers Santa Cruz,” devoted to the far-right goon squad leader, Luis Fernando Camacho, a businessman from Bolivia’s wealthiest city who started his political career in a neo-fascist Christian paramilitary group founded by former Nazi collaborators. Another page targeted Bolivian women specifically. With the name “Free Bolivian Women,” this Facebook profile posted propaganda attempting

How Amazon raised prices to profit from the pandemic

 by Alex Harman Part 2 - Introduction   As the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic took hold in the United States in late February / early March 2020, reports of product shortages, hoarding, and massive price increases soon arose. And once the pandemic response moved from emergency declarations to stay-at-home orders, the public increasingly turned to online shopping and delivery.    Amazon, which is by far the biggest online seller in the world, experienced a dramatic increase in revenue. But prices also spiked on Amazon, leading to accusations of price gouging on its online marketplace. Amazon responded by blaming the skyrocketing prices on unscrupulous third-parties that sell on its website. By taking a public stance against price gouging, Amazon portrayed itself as an unwitting victim.   Amazon claimed that it took several steps to curb price gouging. These steps included cooperating with law enforcement to identify third-party sellers engaged in price gouging, shutting down accounts