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Obama in Cuba
Stephen Lendman
He’ll arrive Sunday afternoon, March 20, the first US president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge in 1928.
He’ll meet with dissidents challenging governance most Cubans support, an unacceptable affront. He won’t announce Guantanamo’s closure, returning the territory to its rightful owner, or plans to end lawlessly imposed embargo.
Claiming Congress alone can lift it is false. For 24 consecutive years, the UN General Assembly last October voted 191 - 2 (America and Israel alone dissenting), calling for an end to the US imposed economic, commercial and financial embargo - initiated in October 1960.
America Invents Global Threats
Stephen Lendman
America invents threats to justify outsized military budgets, its global empire of bases and permanent war policy - ravaging and destroying one country after another.
In testimony before Senate Armed Services Committee members, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter urged greater military spending than already, requesting $582.7 billion - $523.9 billion for the basic budget plus another $58.8 billion for overseas contingency operations, without mentioning regular supplementary add-ons, adding billions of dollars more, along with huge amounts for black budgets not disclosed. America’s only enemies are ones it invents. Carter lied to Congress, calling Russia America’s top threat, followed by China, North Korea, Iran and ISIS.
Senator Orrin Hatch Reverses Himself on Merrick Garland Nomination
Eric Zuesse
On March 13th, Republican U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch said of Obama’s process to nominate a replacement for the deceased former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, “This is all about the election. The President told me several times he’s going to nominate a moderate, but I don’t believe him. He could easily name Merrick Garland, who is a fine man. He probably won’t do that.”On March 16th, President Obama announced, “Today I am nominating Chief judge Merrick Brian Garland to join the Supreme Court.”
On March 17th, Senator Hatch said, “I remain convinced that the best way for the Senate to do its job is to conduct the confirmation process after this toxic Presidential election season is over.”
Sergey Lavrov on Russia’s Foreign Policy
Stephen Lendman
Lavrov is a world-class diplomat, a tireless pursuer of world peace and stability, Putin fortunate to have him as foreign minister.
They deserve joint Nobel Peace Prize recognition, an honor usually reserved for war criminals. Obama is Exhibit A.
On March 3, Russia in Global Affairs magazine published Lavrov’s thoughtful essay, titled “Russia’s Foreign Policy.”
“International relations have entered a very difficult period,” he said. Russia is “at the crossroads of key trends.” He explained Russian history and its “special role in European and global history,” an impressive scholarly account, rare for figures in his position, maybe unique in today’s world, showing he has special stature.
He’s no ordinary diplomat, shaming his Western counterparts, serving his country with distinction, a devoted advocate for peace, democratic values and rule of law principles.
Tourists Shunning Turkey
Stephen Lendman
Tourists are shunning Turkey for good reason. Russian sanctions following Erdogan’s ordering the downing of one of its warplanes in Syrian airspace last year proved costly.
Moscow banned charter flights. Russian travel agents suspended tours. Millions of Russian tourists aren’t coming. Nor are around a million visiting for business and other reasons.
Visa-free travel was cancelled. Loss of billions of dollars of trade and investment means harder times for Turkey’s economy, tourism accounting for 11%.
Car and suicide bombings in Ankara and Istanbul make tourists leery about coming.
Another Republican Scheme to Derail Trump
Stephen Lendman
He’s the most polarizing US political figure in memory, power brokers going all-out to undermine his Republican nomination and presidential bid.
No tricks too dirty are unacceptable. The New York Times is militantly anti-Trump, endorsing war goddess, Wall Street favorite Hillary Clinton, ignoring her longstanding criminal record.
On Saturday, it discussed one of apparently many schemes to derail Trump’s campaign - a 100-day plot to undermine him.
Beginning with Wisconsin’s April 5 primary, it’ll continue into summer, The Times reported - “a delegate-by-delegate lobbying effort…cast(ing) Mr. Trump as a calamitous choice” for president.
Erdogan Repudiates Democracy, Freedom and Rule of Law
Stephen Lendman
Tyrants operate their own way, eliminating whatever interferes with their iron-fisted rule - Erdogan one of the region’s worst, a tinpot despot in a part of the world ruled by dictators.
Anyone supporting freedom fighting Kurds he calls “terrorists” are considered enemies of the state, subject to prosecution, imprisonment or assassination.
He’s waging no-holds-barred war on his Kurdish citizens, massacring civilians, burning hundreds to death vindictively, desperate people taking shelter in basements succumbing to his viciousness. US and other Western leaders ignore his worst crimes. EU ones cut a deal to turn Turkey into a refugee dumping ground, a giant concentration camp denying their fundamental rights - sealing their borders, expelling desperate people, turning their back on human need they bear responsibility for causing complicit with Washington.
John Kerry’s Upcoming Moscow Visit
Stephen Lendman
US hardliners irresponsibly call Russia America’s greatest threat. No evidence suggests it. Plenty shows Putin’s commitment to world peace and stability.
Kerry plans visiting with Russia’s leader, Sergey Lavrov and other government officials from March 22 - 25, a trip mainly for discussions on Syria.
On March 16, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said “(w)e are just now working on the visit. Of course, the main topic” is Syria.
Washington wants its will imposed. Moscow supports Syrian sovereign independence. Expect no diplomatic breakthroughs in resolving irreconcilable differences during Kerry’s visit.
America’s Supremes Represent Privilege Exclusively
Stephen Lendman
Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland is a well-known Washington establishment figure - currently US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit chief judge.
He’s a 1974 Harvard summa cum laude/Phi Beta Kappa, class valedictorian graduate, former president of its Board of Overseers, a Harvard Law School 1977 magna cum laude graduate, its Harvard Law Review articles editor. All High Court members, including the recently deceased Antonin Scalia, attended Harvard or Yale law schools. If Garland’s nomination is approved, tradition will remain unchanged.
America’s Genocidal Wars
Stephen Lendman
America’s pure evil is unequaled by any previous regime in history - inflicting more harm on more people over a longer duration.
None match US ruthlessness. Centuries of slaughter reduced its native population to a small fraction of its original numbers.
Five centuries of slavery were horrific. Black Africans were captured, branded, chained, force-marched, beaten, encaged, and stripped of their humanity.
Around 100 million human beings were sold like cattle. Millions perished during the Middle Passage, packed into filthy coffin-sized spaces, filled with human excrement, victims of dysentery, smallpox and other epidemic-level diseases, women raped and beaten, others flogged or clubbed.
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