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How a neocon-backed “fact checker” plans to wage war on independent media

As Newsguard’s project advances, it will soon become almost impossible to avoid this neocon-approved news site’s ranking systems on any technological device sold in the United States. by Whitney Webb Part 7 - An action plan for the genuine protection of journalism Though it is just getting started, Newsguard ’s plan to insert its app into every device and major social-media network is a threat to any news site that regularly publishes information that rubs any of Newsguard ’s investors, partners or advisors the wrong way. Given its plan to rank the English-language U.S. news sites that account for 98 percent of U.S. digital news consumption, Newsguard ’s agenda is of the utmost concern to every independent media page active in the United States and beyond — given Newsguard ’s promise to take its project global. By linking up with former CIA and NSA directors, Silicon Valley Giants, and massive PR firms working for some of the most controversial

New documents reveal a covert British military-intelligence smear machine meddling in American politics

The Integrity Initiative has mobilized an international disinformation campaign across Europe. Now, with government and right-wing foundation money, this massive “political smear unit” is infiltrating the US. by Max Blumenthal and Mark Ames Part 7 - The “Main Event” in Seattle An Integrity Initiative internal document argues that because “ DC is well served by existing US institutions, such as those with which the Institute [for Statecraft] already collaborates, ” the organization should “ concentrate on extending the work of the Integrity Initiative into major cities and key State capitals [sic] across the USA. ” This December 10, the Integrity Initiative organized what it called its “main event” in the US. It was a conference on disinformation held in Seattle, Washington under the auspices of a data firm called Adventium Labs . Together with the Technical Leadership Institute at the University of Minnesota, the Integrity Initiative listed Adventium Labs as one o

Act of gangsterism against Venezuela: Trump, Pence, Pompeo star in the Pirates of the Caribbean

George Galloway You could scour the bowels of US imperial crimes, from the Mexican-American War to the Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnam, and you won’t find a more brazen cynical act of gangsterism than that which is now underway against Venezuela. Not since Hitler justified blitzing Poland by claiming it had encroached on the frontier into Nazi Germany has a more blatant set of falsehoods been adduced as a pretext for conflict. In Venezuela, it will quickly become a civil war that will most likely draw in other countries from Cuba to Colombia and Brazil (as I previously predicted here) with incalculable consequences – not least for the world’s oil prices. Discerning readers will already be aware that Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves and is a major producer – and the biggest seller to the American market. This is not about Maduro, the former bus driver-turned-foreign minister who is now the elected president of Venezuela. If it were,

Putin: Foreign interference in Venezuela’s internal affairs grossly violates international law

Russia’s president pledged his support for the elected government of Venezuela during a phone call with President Nicolas Maduro. He also criticized the “ destructive external meddling ” to which the country has been exposed. The Russian president has expressed his support to the legitimate authorities of Venezuela in this time of political crisis which he said was caused by a “ destructive external interference that grossly violates the most basic norms of the international law. ” Putin and Maduro also agreed to continue cooperation between the countries “ in various fields. ” While Venezuela's political crisis has been ongoing for months, it has deepened this year following the US’ decision not to recognize the results of the last elections which led to Maduro entering his second six-year term. On Wednesday US-backed, Juan Guaido, the opposition leader who is currently the President of the National Assembly, swore an oath and declared hims

Venezuela - The US game plan and how to respond to it

Yesterday the U.S. recognized a right-wing 'leader of the opposition' in Venezuela Juan Guaido as the president of the country. A number of right-wing led countries in South America joined in that move. Cuba, Bolivia and Mexico rejected it. Russia, China, Iran and Turkey continue to support the government of the elected President Nicolas Maduro and spoke out against the coup attempt. The European Union has no united opinion with the neo-liberal led France being pro-coup and Spain standing against it. Venezuela must prepare for a multi year conflict while doing everything to keep it as short as possible. This long planned U.S. move against the legitimate government of Venezuela is just the start. It is designed to lead to escalation and very soon mission creep - 'We can't stop here!' - will set in. More than 300 billion barrels of oil, the biggest oil reserves in the world, are at stake. U.S: stooge Guaido promises to change Venezuela'

Το Αμερικανικό ιμπεριαλιστικό κτήνος απειλεί τη Βενεζουέλα με πραξικόπημα και εισβολή

Η άρνηση των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών στο αίτημα του προέδρου της Βενεζουέλας Νικολάς Μαδούρο να απομακρύνουν τους διπλωμάτες τους σε διάστημα 72 ωρών, δίνει στην Ουάσινγκτον τη δυνατότητα να κλιμακώσει τις απειλές στρατιωτικής εισβολής. Ήδη ο Αμερικανός υπουργός Εξωτερικών Μάικ Πομπέο, προειδοποίησε ότι οι ΗΠΑ θα « λάβουν τις απαραίτητες δράσεις εναντίον όσων θέσουν σε κίνδυνο την ασφάλεια του προσωπικού της πρεσβείας ». Παρόμοιες απειλές εξαπέλυσε και ο γερουσιαστής της Φλόριντα, Μάρκο Ρούμπιο, ο οποίος θεωρείται αρχιτέκτονας της πολιτικής του προέδρου Τραμπ απέναντι στη Βενεζουέλα. Το γεγονός ότι η αμερικανική κυβέρνηση αρνείται το αίτημα της νόμιμης ηγεσίας της Βενεζουέλας να απομακρύνει τους διπλωμάτες της, σημαίνει πρακτικά ότι η αμερικανική πρεσβεία στο Καράκας θα αποτελεί ένα είδος κατεχόμενου εδάφους στο εσωτερικό ενός κυρίαρχου κράτους. Οποιαδήποτε προσπάθεια των αρχών της Βενεζουέλας να επιβάλουν την απόφαση της εκτελεστικής εξουσίας για την απομά

US backs coup in oil-rich Venezuela, right-wing opposition plans mass privatization and hyper-capitalism

The US has effectively declared a coup in Venezuela. Trump recognized unelected right-wing opposition leader Juan Guaidó as new “president,” who plans mass privatization and neoliberal capitalist policies. by Ben Norton Part 1 The United States has effectively declared a political coup d’état in Venezuela, from abroad. Trump announced on January 23 that the US recognizes the unelected, illegitimate right-wing opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the supposed new “ interim president ” of Venezuela’s supposed new “ government. ” Venezuela’s US-backed opposition has pledged to carry out a mass privatization of state assets and to implement harsh neoliberal capitalist policies. The opposition-controlled legislatures declared in its “ transition ” plans that the “ centralized model of controls of the economy will be replaced by a model of freedom and market based on the right of each Venezuelan to work under the guarantees of property rights and freedom of enterprise. ” T

Labour and anti-Semitism in 2018: The truth behind the relentless smear campaign against Corbyn

Bombarded by disinformation campaigns, many British Jews are being misled into seeing Corbyn as a threat rather than as the best hope of inoculating Britain against the resurgence of right-wing anti-Semitism menace by Jonathan Cook End-of-year polls are always popular as a way to gauge significant social and political trends over the past year and predict where things are heading in the next. But a recent poll of European Jews – the largest such survey in the world – is being used to paint a deeply misleading picture of British society and an apparent problem of a new, left-wing form of anti-semitism. Part 9 - Media distortions The UK media have played a vital role in promoting a false image of Corbyn, as a survey by the Media Reform Coalition found in September when it analysed British coverage of the Labour party. The coalition, which is led by academics, concluded that there had been systematic “disinformation” from media outlets. Inaccurate and misleading reporti

Amnesty International’s troubling collaboration with UK & US intelligence

Some troubling connections contradict Amnesty’s image as a benevolent defender of human rights and reveal key figures at the organization during its early years to be less concerned with human dignity and more concerned with the dignity of the US and UK’s image in the world. by Alexander Rubinstein Part 3 - Letting politics creep into mission In 1966, an Amnesty report on the British colony of Aden, a port city in present-day Yemen, detailed the British government’s torture of detainees at the Ras Morbut interrogation center. Prisoners there were stripped naked during interrogations, were forced to sit on poles that entered their anus, had their genitals twisted, cigarettes burned on their face, and were kept in cells where feces and urine covered the floor . The report was never released, however. Benenson said that Amnesty general secretary Robert Swann had censored it to please the Foreign Office, but Amnesty co-founder Eric Baker said Benenson and Swann had

Re-Colonisation

For Thierry Meyssan, one of the consequences of the successive ends of the bipolar and unipolar world is the re-establishment of colonial projects. One after the other, the French, Turkish and English have publicly declared the return of their colonial ambitions. We still need to know what form they will adopt in the 21st century. by Thierry Meyssan Part 3 - The British Empire As for the United Kingdom, it has been hesitating for two years about its future after the Brexit. A little after the arrival of Donald Trump at the White House, Prime Minister Theresa May went to the United States. Speaking to the representatives of the Republican Party, she proposed re-establishing the Anglo-Saxon leadership of the rest of the world. But President Trump has been elected to liquidate these imperial dreams, not to share them. Disappointed, Theresa May then travelled to China in order to propose that President Xi Jinping share control of international