According to the Prime news agency, on April 24th the government organized a special meeting dedicated to finding a solution for getting rid of the US dollar in Russian export operations. Top level experts from the energy sector, banks and governmental agencies were summoned and a number of measures were proposed as a response for American sanctions against Russia.
The liberation of Homs, the third largest city of the Syrian Arab Republic, is not just an event among others in the war waged by NATO and the GCC on Syria. For Thierry Meyssan, the agreement reached between the Republic and its attackers suggests a quick exit from the war. It will probably be accompanied by a redistribution of regional roles.
A popular truism is that “the world changed” following 9/11. But what has changed? According to the great whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, a silent coup has taken place in Washington and rampant militarism now rules. The Pentagon currently runs “special operations” – secret wars – in 124 countries. At home, rising poverty and hemorrhaging liberty are the historic corollary of a perpetual war state. Add the risk of nuclear war, and the question begs: why do we tolerate this?
In Libya and in Syria – they tried three times at the UN – this would be the ultimate pretext for R2P (“responsibility to protect”). But in Ukraine the “terrorists” – Dubya-era terminology included – are the population, and the good guys are the Kiev neo-nazi militias. US ambassador to the UN and top R2P cheerleader Samantha Power exceeded all her previous levels of batshit craziness when she depicted the NATO junta onslaught against civilians as “reasonable” and “proportional”, adding that “any of our countries” would have done the same in face of such a threat.
It’s becoming obvious that the global elite believe that they can act with total impunity. They understand that the western corporate media will never question, let alone report on, the obvious conflict of interest. They no longer feel the need to disguise efforts to gobble up Ukraine’s natural resources. The rabbit hole of corruption runs deeper by the day.
This is a common and disastrous theme in contemporary society. As long as we are willing to perceive, or deem ourselves responsible for, only one small part of our world, the suffering of the world as a whole can be overlooked, or declared beyond our job spec: ‘I’m an oil executive, it’s not my job to protect the climate.’ ‘I’m an arms manufacturer, it’s not my job to prevent people killing each other.’ ‘I’m a science writer, it’s not my job to comment on my government’s war crimes.’
“We, the people of Donetsk, based on results of the May 11 referendum and the declaration of sovereignty of the Donetsk People’s Republic, declare that from now on DPR is now a sovereign state,” Republic Co-Chairman Denis Pushilin said. “Given the will of the people of the Donetsk People’s Republic, and in order to restore historical justice, we ask Russia to consider the issue of our republic’s accession into the Russian Federation,” he added.
“Let me repeat again, that in Russia’s view, the blame for the crisis in Ukraine lies with those who organized the coup d’etat in Kiev on February 22-23… But whatever the case, we must look for a way to solve the situation as it is today….And, as I said, what is needed is direct, full-fledged and equal dialogue between the Kiev authorities and the representatives of people in southeast Ukraine….I don’t know whether a Geneva-2 round of talks.. is realistic. (But) I believe that if we want to find a long-term solution to the crisis, there must be an open, honest and equal dialogue . That is our only option.”
A tufts University Study in Boston found that not only was low B-12 levels common in the entire population but 39% of Americans were actually b12 deficient. Even though these individuals were eating as much as 3 times the recommended daily intake. There was also a large scale Framingham Offspring Study that found nearly 40% of participants between the ages of 26-83 had low b12 levels ~ a level in which some people experience neurological symptoms. Scary. Again vegans and vegetarians are routinely tested but people eating animal bits and pieces are not. When they are, then the truth comes out that b12 deficiency is not at all exclusive to a plant-centred lifestyle like ‘they’ would have you believe.
Photos of the victims of the Odessa fire which have been circulating on the Internet have cast doubt on the official version of events. It’s now clear that many of the anti-junta activists who occupied the Trade Unions House were neither burned to death nor died of smoke inhalation, but were savagely shot at point-blank range by agents and thugs who had infiltrated the building to kill as many of the occupants as possible, burn the corpses, and then slip away without notice. Some of the victims–like a young woman who was eight months pregnant –were strangled with an electrical chord and left slumped backwards over her desk in a room that shows no sign of fire or smoke damage. In another case, a woman was stripped naked from the waste down, raped, killed, and set ablaze.
Fast food employees are set to stage a global strike demanding for better salary and conditions. The protest is to take place across five continents: in 150 US cities and 32 other countries, including Germany, Belgium, Japan, Brazil and New Zealand.
The strike is planned for May 15, and will involve the workers of McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s and KFC.
A new development bank that will complement – and compete with – the World Bank and the IMF is on the fast track. Here’s a primer on why the BRICS Bank is a pretty sound idea.
