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Saudis Brutalize Migrants
by Stephen Lendman
Saudi Arabia is one of the world's most ruthless regimes. International law principles are systematically breached.
The Kingdom is ruled by the despotic Saud monarchy. Democracy is strictly forbidden. So are free and open expression, press freedom and regime criticism.
Human Rights Watch's 2015 World Report said ruling authorities "continued in 2014 to try, convict, and imprison political dissidents and human rights activists solely on account of their peaceful activities."
"Systematic discrimination against women and religious minorities continued. Authorities failed to enact systematic measures to protect the rights of 9 million foreign workers."
They "subjected hundreds of people to unfair trials and arbitrary detention. New anti-terrorism regulations that took effect in 2014 can be used to criminalize almost any form of peaceful criticism of the authorities as terrorism."
Ukraine’s Pres. Poroshenko Says Overthrow of Yanukovych Was a Coup
Eric Zuesse
Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko requests the supreme court of Ukraine to declare that his predecessor, Viktor Yanukovych, was overthrown by an illegal operation; in other words, that the post-Yanukovych government, including Poroshenko’s own Presidency, came into power from a coup, not from something democratic, not from any authentic constitutional process at all.
In a remarkable document, which is not posted at the English version of the website of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, but which is widely reported outside the United States, including Russia, Poroshenko, in Ukrainian (not in English), has petitioned the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (as it is being widely quoted in English):
We Are Greater Than The Fracked Gas Lobby
Kevin Zeese
Washington, DC – The dome was encased in a rigid web of scaffolding as I rushed by. Looking up at it on my way to the corner of Independence Avenue and New Jersey Avenue SE, I saw a country trying to hide a fatal illness. It’s beyond repair, I mumbled to myself, thinking about the deep underlying rot I see everywhere I look.
Walking in the shadow of the Capitol Building in the day’s rising heat, my ears were still ringing. Made uneasy by the inadequate yet intensifying public scrutiny faced by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the captive government agency that receives its funding from the very industry it purports to regulate, the rule-makers there no longer allow its outspoken critics inside the room where monthly public meetings are held. Instead, we’re relegated to an overflow room where we have to watch the meeting’s proceedings on a screen. That’s where I’d just come from.
Putting Charleston Killings in Context
by Stephen Lendman
US cities and towns are battlegrounds. Around 100,000 Americans are gun violence victims annually. In Chicago alone where this writer lives, gun-related deaths exceed one a day. On warm summer weekends, it can be a dozen or more.
Few incidents make headlines. Whenever they do, media reports focus on gunmen, not the context - not the nation's culture fostering violence. More on this below.
Nine June 17 Charleston, SC shooting deaths at an African American church seem more like something you'd expect in Afghanistan, Iraq or another US war theater. It's commonplace all too often at home.
The Euro Is Bankrupt, Not the Drachma
Lyndon LaRouche
June 17 (EIRNS) With the Greek Paliament's Debt Truth Commission having just found Greece's entire debt to the Troika to be "illegitimate and odious," EIR Founding Editor and economist Lyndon LaRouche today called attention to the "overall picture on euro debt."
"You cannot sustain the euro system, it is intrinsically bankrupt," LaRouche said. "If you base a 'debt deal' on that system-any 'debt deal,' that deal will fail. The fraud of what Wall Street and London banks are calling 'their debt assets,' has to be eliminated, because populations-not only the Greeks-are being beaten down by worthless claims. Cancel those claims.
"Relieve the nations of the claims of this speculation, these 'investments' in gambling bets, and an opening is created for internal economic development of European nations and the United States.
"The solution is an international policy of Glass-Steagall banking; agreements among these nations to implement Glass-Steagall principles. "Most important by far:" LaRouche said, "Restore the Glass-Steagall Act to force in the United States. That is the driver for this whole effort. That opens up the issuance of national credit for productivity and development."
UN Report on Israel's Summer 2014 Gaza War
by Stephen Lendman
The so-called UN Independent Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Israel's 2014 Gaza war had it both ways in its report instead of outright condemning what the whole world knows.
Operation Protective Edge (OPE) was cold, calculated Israeli naked aggression on 1.8 million near defenseless Gazans held hostage since 2006 by Israel's blockade - helpless fish in a barrel to mass murder at will.
OPE had nothing to do with Hamas rockets or bogus claims about it being a terrorist organization. It had everything to do with preventing Palestinian statehood and maintaining brutal, illegal military occupation, among other objectives.
Former New York Supreme Court justice Mary McGowan Davis headed the three-member COI after human rights law expert Professor William Schabas resigned under pressure. Israel's Geneva-based UN envoy, Eviator Manor, lied accusing him of a "blatant conflict of interest."
Obama Wants Regime Change in Ecuador
by Stephen Lendman
Obama is no man of the people. He never was throughout his political career. He serves powerful monied interests exclusively.
As an Illinois state senator, he represented Chicago real estate interests at the expense of Black communities they wanted gentrified. He disgraces the office he holds. He remains a front man for wealth, power and privilege. Earlier, Partnership for Civil Justice Fund executive director Mara Verheyden-Hilliard called the "defining feature of (his presidency) the eagerness with which it embraced the stunning evisceration of civil rights and liberties that was a hallmark of the Bush administration, and then deepened those outrageous programs. He has successfully counted on the acquiescent silence of the liberals."
New York Times Big Lies
by Stephen Lendman
The Times is an establishment publication - a lying machine, a mouthpiece for powerful monied interests at the expense of popular ones.
Hard truths are suppressed. Managed news misinformation substitutes. Readers are systematically lied to on issues mattering most.
Times editors, correspondents and contributors aren't journalists. They're guardians of wealth, power and privilege. On January 22, two editorials willfully lied about Vladimir Putin and America's economy.
A previous article discussed Putin straight talk v. Obama double talk. It discussed what The Times and other media scoundrels never explain - the truth about Putin's forthrightness, his advocacy for peace and stability and support for mutual cooperation among all nations v. Obama's serial lying and war on humanity.
Not according to Times editors. Bashing Putin irresponsibly is longstanding practice - this time in part trying to denigrate the impressive St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) attended by a record 10,000 participants from around 120 countries, including numerous corporate CEOs and top government officials - defying US sanctions.
Over 200 contracts were signed with Russian companies worth $5.4 billion during the three-day event ending Saturday. Expect many more to follow.
Rightwing Radicalization, Militarization and the Boomerang Effect
James Petras
Introduction
Throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia, rightwing governments have increasingly adopted extremist socio-economic policies, slashing social expenditures, labor and welfare legislation, while increasing corporate subsidies and reducing taxes for the elite.
The rightwing has launched increasingly reckless military interventions via-invasions, proxy wars and massive weapon build-ups on the frontiers of Russia, China and Iran, while engaging in military provocations.
In this essay we will outline the scope and depth of rightwing extremism on a global scale, analyze its consequences and then evaluate the successes or failures of the ‘hard right’. In discussing the rise of hard-right socio-economic regimes and policies, we include traditional social democratic parties, which have pursued extremist agendas.
Israel Ducks Responsibility for Premeditated Naked Aggression on Gaza
by Stephen Lendman
Israel responded as expected to the UN Commission of Inquiry's (COI) report on last summer's Gaza aggression (Operation Protective Edge).
The whole world knows it waged preemptive dirty war without mercy on 1.8 million Gazans trapped under its illegal blockade.
It bore FULL responsibility for mass slaughter and destruction - including willfully murdering noncombatant men, women, children, infants, the elderly and infirm.
Its three Gaza wars of aggression since December 2008 are some of history's great crimes. Its culpable government and military officials remain unaccountable because US and key European leaders turn a blind eye to its atrocities. A separate article discussed the UN's COI report - accusing Israel of war crimes, unjustly blaming Palestinian fighters as well, ignoring their courageous self-defense against overwhelming odds.
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