TOKYO MASTER BANNER

MINISTRY OF TOKYO
US-ANGLO CAPITALISMEU-NATO IMPERIALISM
Illegitimate Transfer of Inalienable European Rights via Convention(s) & Supranational Bodies
Establishment of Sovereignty-Usurping Supranational Body Dictatorships
Enduring Program of DEMOGRAPHICS WAR on Europeans
Enduring Program of PSYCHOLOGICAL WAR on Europeans
Enduring Program of European Displacement, Dismemberment, Dispossession, & Dissolution
No wars or conditions abroad (& no domestic or global economic pretexts) justify government policy facilitating the invasion of ancestral European homelands, the rape of European women, the destruction of European societies, & the genocide of Europeans.
U.S. RULING OLIGARCHY WAGES HYBRID WAR TO SALVAGE HEGEMONY
[LINK | Article]

*U.S. OLIGARCHY WAGES HYBRID WAR* | U.S. Empire's Casino Unsustainable | Destabilised U.S. Monetary & Financial System | U.S. Defaults Twice A Year | Causes for Global Financial Crisis of 2008 Remain | Financial Pyramids Composed of Derivatives & National Debt Are Growing | *U.S. OLIGARCHY WAGES HYBRID WAR* | U.S. Empire's Casino Unsustainable | Destabilised U.S. Monetary & Financial System | U.S. Defaults Twice A Year | Causes for Global Financial Crisis of 2008 Remain | Financial Pyramids Composed of Derivatives & National Debt Are Growing | *U.S. OLIGARCHY WAGES HYBRID WAR*

Who's preaching world democracy, democracy, democracy? —Who wants to make free people free?
[info from Craig Murray video appearance, follows]  US-Anglo Alliance DELIBERATELY STOKING ANTI-RUSSIAN FEELING & RAMPING UP TENSION BETWEEN EASTERN EUROPE & RUSSIA.  British military/government feeding media PROPAGANDA.  Media choosing to PUBLISH government PROPAGANDA.  US naval aggression against Russia:  Baltic Sea — US naval aggression against China:  South China Sea.  Continued NATO pressure on Russia:  US missile systems moving into Eastern Europe.     [info from John Pilger interview follows]  War Hawk:  Hillary Clinton — embodiment of seamless aggressive American imperialist post-WWII system.  USA in frenzy of preparation for a conflict.  Greatest US-led build-up of forces since WWII gathered in Eastern Europe and in Baltic states.  US expansion & military preparation HAS NOT BEEN REPORTED IN THE WEST.  Since US paid for & controlled US coup, UKRAINE has become an American preserve and CIA Theme Park, on Russia's borderland, through which Germans invaded in the 1940s, costing 27 million Russian lives.  Imagine equivalent occurring on US borders in Canada or Mexico.  US military preparations against RUSSIA and against CHINA have NOT been reported by MEDIA.  US has sent guided missile ships to diputed zone in South China Sea.  DANGER OF US PRE-EMPTIVE NUCLEAR STRIKES.  China is on HIGH NUCLEAR ALERT.  US spy plane intercepted by Chinese fighter jets.  Public is primed to accept so-called 'aggressive' moves by China, when these are in fact defensive moves:  US 400 major bases encircling China; Okinawa has 32 American military installations; Japan has 130 American military bases in all.  WARNING PENTAGON MILITARY THINKING DOMINATES WASHINGTON. ⟴  

May 01, 2015

VIDEO - Sweden a voluntary vassal state of US







From Assange to NATO, Sweden a voluntary vassal state of US


SOURCE:


[ Uploaded on 13 Feb 2011 ]
 RT's Anissa Naouai interviews: Dr Brian Palmer
"Dr Brian Palmer, a social anthropologist from Uppsala University, believes that Julian Assange is safer in the UK than in Sweden. 
RT has asked him about why Sweden wants the WikiLeaks founder so badly and his fate if he were to be extradited."



[ ... Introduction ... see particulars above ]


Reporter

Sweden has been in the spotlight quite a bit lately, with the WikiLeaks scandal and the spy and sex probes into Julian Assange.  Why does Sweden want Julian Assange to be extradited?  Is it just for - to be questioned, rather, for the sex crimes alleged against him?

Dr Brian Palmer

It's hard to say.  Certainly, sexual misconduct is taken seriously in Sweden, but few cases get anywhere near the kind of judicial energy behind them as this had.  So there seems to also be other factors at play.  It may be partly the prosecutors and lawyers involved, and issues of their careers.  It may also be that there's some pressure from the foreign policy establishment in Sweden and even from the United States that's played a role.

Reporter

Do you think that eventually Assange will, in fact, be extradited to Sweden?

Dr Brian Palmer

It wouldn't surprise me if he is in the end, but I would say that he and his lawyers have a fighting chance of keeping him there and suggesting that whatever questioning of him the Swedish prosecutors want to do can easily be done by video link.

Reporter

Many critics say that once, and if, Assange is extradited to Sweden that it would be very easy for the US to get him into custody.  Do you agree with that?

Dr Brian Palmer

I think that's quite right; that it would be easier to get him to the US from Sweden than from Britain.  The Swedish government has shown itself to be more pliant than the British, surprisingly, given the so-called special relationship of trust between Britain and the USA, and the Swedish press has been - and Swedish public intellectuals - have been less vocal in defending WikiLeaks than many people and many papers in Britain, so I think he's safer there.

Reporter

Why do you think that the media has been reluctant to - am I understanding correctly - openly cover WikiLeaks or cover it in a way that looks like Assange has a fair chance?

Dr Brian Palmer

There's been a lot of coverage of WikiLeaks and Assange in Sweden, but he doesn't have that many high profile champions.  It's partly because allegations of sexual misconduct weigh so heavily here, that it is a country where feminist ideals are maybe stronger than anywhere else on Earth and, one wishes that no-one would be judged in a case until they had been tried, but there's some hesitation to come to his defence on those grounds; and then, so much of our media in Sweden is owned by a few conservative leaning media houses, particularly Bonniers, a media group that's right leaning and has every interest in not raising these questions, and they're the largest player in the media market in Sweden.

Reporter

You wrote a biography of the Swedish Prime Minister [Fredrik Reinfeldt] and it's no secret you wrote about this:  that the Prime Minister has been - or is being advised - by US republican strategist Karl Rove.  Why one of America's most notorious neocons and the man, of course, most credited with getting Bush into the White House?

Dr Brian Palmer

It's an interesting question, because the conservative party (called the Moderates) have plenty of Machiavellian strategists of their own - plenty of Karl Roves of their own - but Rove has a long-term relationship with the Moderates.  Already in the 1980s he came to Sweden to advise them and then he's been back before the election in 2006 and even more recently.  He himself has some Swedish roots, and I think it may be partly initiative from his side that he wants to be involved in politics here.  And then what the Moderates accomplished before the 2006 election had something in common with Bush's electoral victory in 2000.  The problem for both George Bush and Fredrik Reinfeldt was to win the votes of groups who wouldn't necessarily benefit from having a right-wing, tax cutting regime in power.  Bush succeeded so well in wooing working-class votes that in the ... 2004 election, Bush won the white working-class by a 23% margin.  So working-class voters were really the backbone of his victory.  Reinfeldt acknowledged that he was impressed by Bush's campaign and his struggle was also to get working-class voters to support his party (which they hadn't done in the past), and so it's logical that he would have wanted to bring in some of the people from Bush's campaign to help with that - and, not least, Karl Rove.

Reporter

You've said that the method is linguistic innovations, media manipulation and the art of bringing smear campaigns.  Is that what Sweden wants to take from a strategist like Karl Rove?

Dr Brian Palmer

The Moderates won the past two elections very much because of the negative image of Fredrik Reinfeldt's opponent in both elections.  It was very much the weakness of the opponent the people were voting against, rather than attraction to Reinfeldt.  And how to accomplish that through different kinds of negative campaigning, in the broad meaning of campaigning that focuses on the deficits of the other candidate, was something that Rove has been very good at, so he would be a relevant adviser there.  Another thing that Rove has been something of a genius at is finding peripheral issues that will mobilise the right voter groups to support the Republicans, and that strategy has also been somewhat effective in Sweden.

Reporter

Is it normal for Karl Rove to be doing this kind of international advising?

Dr Brian Palmer

No.  On his own website he notes that Sweden is his only international assignment.  The Moderate party in Sweden is the only foreign party that he's worked for; so, as far a I know, he's a pretty US-focused person.  But then again, as mentioned, he himself has Swedish roots and he may feel a particular obligation to be involved here - or interest to be involved here.

Reporter

How much influence do you think the US, on a whole - from Assange to NATO to asylum seekers being taken into custody - have on Sweden?

Dr Brian Palmer

Enormous influence and, in a way, almost puzzlingly so at this historical moment that Sweden should be so eager to host NATO military exercises in the north, to share intelligence information at a very high level with the US and NATO that Fredrik Reinfeldt was so very eager to visit Bush, it was one of his first major international visits after he became Prime Minister in 2006.  All of that is a bit puzzling when the US is no longer so central to Sweden's exports, for example, as it has been at certain periods, when European relations ought to be more central to Sweden in certain ways, and all of this is a far cry from the Sweden of the 1970s and early 80s when
Olof Palme was Prime Minister and when the most important relations were often with developing nations - with the South African freedom movement; with India, with the Non-Aligned Movement - the once very progressive Sweden has become something of a voluntary apprentice state, some would say vassal state, of the USA.

Reporter

And why do you think Sweden took those kind of policy moves

Dr Brian Palmer

I think a lot of it is admiration for the United States among the foreign policy elite in Sweden,  many of whose members have studied at top universities in the US and had spent time there, and have a good network of personal friendships in the US, and now with the conservative governments in 2006 those ties have become even stronger.  The motto of one of the young people's divisions of the conservative party over many years was we would like things to be like in the USA - vi vill har du som USA, in Swedish - so an open wish to see a more Americanised Sweden, which is exactly what we're seeing.

Reporter

Thank you very much for being with us.

Dr Brian Palmer

My pleasure.
COMMENT
NOTE

I don't speak Swedish, so 'Vi vill har du som USA' (referred to above) is just a best guess at what Palmer has said in Swedish.

The transcription could do with one more check of audio against text, but I need to switch tasks because my brain's just about crawled to a stop.  LOL

Will have to come back to check and comment.

Before I split, I'll link an article that I also found interesting.


Bush, Rove Tied to Effort to Dismantle Sweden’s Social Welfare Program

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/12/9/bush_rove_tied_to_effort_to

And one more ...
    

Partner At Firm Counseling Assange’s Accusers Helped In CIA Torture Rendition

January 12, 2011

By Andrew Kreig

http://ctwatchdog.com/govt/how-much-did-lawyer-for-wikileaks-accusers-help-cia-in-torture-rendition



That's it.  I'm done for now.


April 30, 2015

Sign of dissent in Ukraine






Politics is so exciting.  There's always something happening somewhere.

Sign of dissent in Ukraine:

In Odessa, a Guerrilla Laser Show: "Poroshenko - Killer!"

http://fortruss.blogspot.com/2015/04/in-odessa-guerrillas-laser-show.html

This is massive, considering what a fascist place it is under the US appointed government that's outlawed communists, forcing people into the military, aiming to shoot military deserters, locking up journalists - when it's not murdering them in cold blood, in broad daylight.*
* Note:  I have no proof.  But it sure doesn't look good for the government when numerous journalists and political dissenters are assassinated - here.
And so much for the Western values and 'democracy' everyone's been selling.

VIDEO - United Arab Emirates





UAE

Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed


الشيخ محمد بن زاي 

Deputy supreme commander of the UAE Armed Forces









UAE
Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan

{Father of Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed (above)}




b. 1918 - d. 2004





While doing Saudi Arabia look ups today, I got people mixed up because I still have trouble remembering Arabic names and I stumbled on some United Arab Emirates videos - as well as amazing photos of Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan.

Posted the above video because I enjoyed the music (even though I've no idea what they're singing) and the visuals were kind of cool, too. 

Although it's probably a bit weird, I've also posted the pics of Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan.  I love the traditional dress photos because he seems to really look the part (especially with the falcon).  I also think he has such an amazing face.
As I said, I find the names a bit confusing.  I'm hoping I've got the relationship and the site links straight.
Checking out videos and photos is something I need to remember to do more often.  Having a mental picture of people associated with places helps make information more interesting and memorable, I think.
Tried to figure out what al Nahyan means, but I can't. 


Foreign Service Updates








While this is getting a bit stale now, this is some news that recently caught my attention:
Zimbabwe 
Lawyers for Human Rights
petition Police Comm-General Augustine Chihuri
re:  anti-riot  police /assaulted HR activist Sydney Chisi

video 20 police indiscriminately bashing Chisi w. batons
excessive force on peaceful protest
https://www.newsday.co.zw/2015/04/24/civic-society-petitions-chihuri-over-activists-assault/


Turkey
NYT Declines to Run Turkish Ad on 1915  b/c no recognition Armenian Genocide
Ad run by WaPo instead

On April  24
Turkish-American community to march WA DC
 White House to Turkish  Embassy
100th anniversary of 1915 atrocities

NYT contended
Ad depicts 1915 events as civilian tragedy costing lives Ottoman citizens incl. Armenians, Turks, Kurds & Arabs.
NYT
do not accept ads denying history generally accepted as fact, incl
Armenian Genocide, Holocaust + WTC bombing
Ad says:
>no academic consensus on incidents.
>number of international scholars declined to label atrocities as genocide
*The 'no consensus' argument reminds me of the global warming / climate change method of rebuttal. 
LOOK-UPS 
The Washington Post
=  Nash Holdings LLC
Jeff Bezos = founder & CEO Amazon
bought WaPo 2013 for  $250 million in cash  [wp]

WaPo
Jeff Bezos member of Bilderberg Group
17th wealthiest person in world with est. net worth of $32.3 billion [2012] [wp]

http://massispost.com/2015/04/the-new-york-times-declines-to-run-turkish-ad-on-1915/

Zimbabwe
16th Harare International Festival of the Arts (Hifa)
donors & corporates sponsor
Norwegian Embassy active

Norway Ambassador to Zimbabwe Bård Hopland
 ... Norway gives biggest bilateral contribution to festival.

Other sponsors:
  • British Council
  • Osisa,
  • Prohelvetia
  • Australian govt
  • Finland Emb.
  • Lusaka & Zimbabwe German Society
  • + others
LOOK-UPS
Zimbabwe
= rich in natural resources
produces over 40 types of metals & minerals.
est 40% of foreign exchange = such export

where there is mining, there is also need for infrastructure.
more in resources:  http://www.zimbabwe.8m.com/zimmin.html

https://www.newsday.co.zw/2015/04/24/donors-corporates-hail-hifa/


Philippines
40 members of specialist British military unit 77 Brigade in PHL
to conduct training exercises on urban earthquake response
part of an annual training exercise in different parts of the world
http://www.rappler.com/nation/90982-british-troops-manila-drills


Argentina
Antonio Stiusso
suspect in death of Alberto Nisman
fled Argentina & is in USA

not attending court
Stiusso travelled from Argentina to USA with Italy passport
interl arrest warrant issue = an Argentina justice issue (vs govt issue)

Stiusso, also charges of:
>money laundering
>false info to authorities
>contraband
>dereliction of duty
>hiding evidence +
>illicit enrichment (among others)
Likely to seek USA political asylum
strong relationship US embassy in Buenos Aires

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Argentine-Ex-Intelligence-Chief-Will-Not-Attend-Bomb-Inquiry-20150423-0029.html

Pakistan
PM Nawaz Sharif visited Saudi Arabia to mend relations after Pakistani lawmakers rejected a Saudi request for military in Yemen
Meeting took place April 23:
PM Sharif, accompanied by army chief + Defence Min.
http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/index.php/sid/232239773

Nigeria
Super Rich Nigerians, Others Spend $900m On Luxury Property In UK

Africa big spenders having impact on London property market =
>Nigeria
>Ghana
>Congo
>Gabon
>Cameroon
>Senegal
http://leadership.ng/news/428137/super-rich-nigerians-others-spend-900m-on-property-in-uk

Czech
Hynek Kmonícek, head Pres Office foreign affairs section
praised by US Ambassador to Prague Andrew Schapiro
http://www.praguepost.com/czech-news/47231-u-s-ambassador-praises-zeman-s-man-as-skilful-diplomat

Obama
broke 2008 campaign promise to recognize Armenia genocide

by refusing to use term “genocide” on 100th anniv.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2015/04/23/mainstream-media-refuses-to-condemn-obama-for-broken-promise-on-armenian-genocide/


Poland
US ambassador to Poland apologized for FBI director’s comments about Poles being accomplices in the Holocaust
http://www.ijn.com/ijn-news/international/5367-ambassador-to-poland-apologizes-for-fbi-comments


Turkey
Seven world capitals now without Turkish ambassadors
>Syria
>Egypt
>Israel
>Libya
>Yemen
>Vatican
>Austria
List could be added to, following expected parliamentary declarations on 1915 killings of Anatolian Armenians as “genocide”

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/seven-world-capitals-now-without-turkish-ambassadors.aspx?PageID=238&NID=81488&NewsCatID=510 
Row in Bulgaria over proposal for Parliament to recognise Armenia Genocide

EU member states who lawmakers have adopted recognitions, in some cases with prison or fines for denying the event:
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Cyprus
  • Czech Republic
  • France
  • Greece
  • Italy
  • Lithuania
  • Netherlands
  • Poland
  • Slovakia
  • Sweden.
April 25 - European Parliament commended the statement pronounced by the Pope and encouraged Turkey to recognise the genocide and so pave the way for a “genuine reconciliation between the Turkish and Armenian peoples”.

Ankara vehemently denies the charge of genocide, saying the deaths occurred in a civil war, in which many Turks died, too.

http://sofiaglobe.com/2015/04/23/row-in-bulgaria-over-proposal-for-parliament-to-recognise-armenian-genocide/


US sends New Charge d' Affaires to Gambia to run US Embassy in Banjul
Joseph D. Stafford replaces George Staples

Experience incl.

"In Washington, his assignments included teaching at the faculty of the National War College and serving as the State Department's Deputy Director of Maghreb Affairs."
http://allafrica.com/stories/201504231126.html


North Korea  
Russia is still expecting North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un to visit Moscow in May
AFP / thepeninsulaqatar  - http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/news/latest-news/334018/russia-still-expecting-n-korea-s-kim-in-may-diplomat

Ukraine
US embassy in Kiev surrounded in protest over interference
/ At least 500 ppl attend rally chanting slogans
Protest decisions:
eg appointment of foreigners
incl. former US State Dept official to senior position in new govt.

Ukraine
Protest US embassy Kiev
US interference = more violence
Condemned:  US troops training national guard units

Ukraine
So far, Washington has provided US$75 million worth of military aid to fascist Ukraine puppet regime

http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_70124.shtml

Bahrain
Received:  US Military Attaché and Chief Liaison Officer of US Embassy to Bahrain, Colonel Scott W Rizer 
http://www.bna.bh/portal/en/news/665318


Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
aim: eliminating chemical weapons
EU support for OPCW

Countries that have not agreed to OPCW terms:
  • Egypt
  • South Sudan
  • North Korea
  • Angola
Not ratified convention:
>Myanmar
>Israel
http://bioprepwatch.com/news/latvian-official-pledges-support-to-chemical-weapons-ban/341646/

Norway
Ambassador Leif H Larsen announces embassy opening:
Norway consulate begins operations in Lahore Pakistan
http://tribune.com.pk/story/874645/norwegian-consulate-begins-operations-in-lahore/

Sweden Internet Tech
Social Good Nigeria PopUp Incubator Project Nigeria
developing techie skills
http://techcabal.com/2015/04/24/social-good-for-nigeria-unveils-an-incubator-project-for-techies/

British Embassy Tokyo hosts same-sex staff marriage
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/04/24/national/social-issues/british-embassy-hosts-sex-marriage-staff/

Poland
Presidential Election:   May 10
Parliamentary & PM Election:  by October 30
[RussianInsider]

Poland
Radoslaw Sikorski under investigation "for fiddling state budget funds for personal expenses"
http://russia-insider.com/en/so-long-siklebaum-poland-under-us-pressure-over-failure-war-against-eastern-ukraine-russia/5962


Assange - Aussie Govt Does Nothing ... Oh, & ... Sweden Law Firm CIA Collaboration




Two good articles regarding Assange

Although I hate simply putting up links to articles without summarising them for myself with masses of insane highlight (in the vain hope I'll remember everything), in this case, I might have to post links for these two lengthy articles or I'll be highlighting forever ... with an impatient, clammy 'mouse-hand'.  Yew!
Australian government denies Julian Assange effective diplomatic assistance

Article 1


Article:  'The futility of regret'
April 29, 2015 By Kellie Tranter  - here.
What stood out for me:

Senator David Leyonhjelm didn't even get the embassy straight.  Er ... how many years has it been?  And:
" ... he failed to acknowledge that Assange was granted asylum only after a formal assessment by the government of Ecuador in relation to the current and future risks of persecution and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in the United States in response to his publishing activities and political opinions." [Article 1 - here]
How bad is that?

And it gets worse. 
No response from the following senators:
  • Senator Xenophon
  • Senator Lazarus
  • Senator Muir
  • Senator Madigan    [Article 1 - here]
By this stage, I bet you're thinking:  I'd hate to be an Aussie in trouble abroad.  Eh?
The author concludes that Australia:
" ... has simply asserted that it has provided appropriate assistance, but it has taken no active steps to look at what its ally the United States has been trying to engineer, or to objectively assess Assange’s situation in relation to the allegations being made against him purely on the basis of his personal position as an Australian citizen.

This represents a profound failure on the part of the Australian government in terms of its obligations to one of its citizens." [Article 1 - here] 
Yikes!  Thomas Bodstrom collaborated with CIA!
Article 2
Article:  'According to the UN International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights, Assange’s detention should be ended'
30 Apr, 2015 By Admin - here.
The following really caught my attention in the second article, concerning Sweden's legal manoeuvres:
" ... the case was reopened after a petition to the prosecutor office of Ms Marianne Ny by the law firm Bordström & Borgström. [11] Lawyer Thomas Bodström, in his role of ex Minister of Justice, has been identified by Eva Franchell (press secretary for the late Minister for Foreign Affairs, Anna Lindh) as directly implicated in the collaboration with CIA over the illegal extradition (so called secret extraordinary renditions) of prisoners from Sweden. [12]

Bordström has been reported to the Swedish Parliament ’s constitutional committee over the extraordinary renditions to the CIA in 2001. For this Sweden has already been sanctioned by the United Nations for infringement on the UN Torture Ban. [13]

At that time (10 August 2010), the U.S. government had requested the countries participating in the US-led military occupation of Afghanistan to initiate prosecution of Assange, the WikiLeaks founder. [14]"
  [Article 2 - here]

That's pretty shocking, wouldn't you say?

Anyway, I'll leave those that are interested to check out the articles themselves, at the links provided.







Anonymous - CloudFlare - ISIS - Internet Censorship





Posted: April 29, 2015
Anonymous Charge CloudFlare: Justice or Hypocrisy?
Activists Protest ACTA Proposal
Anonymous — the group of hacktivists — has launched a campaign called Operation Isis several months ago. The members of the group did not just identify and attack websites that are somehow connected with the Islamic State, they also searched for the companies in U.S. and in U.K. that host such websites and published their lists on the Internet. The cause for such attention from Anonymous is terrorism promotion.

Recently, Anonymous focused on CloudFlare, which is not even a proper hosting company, because it protects over 50 Isis related websites against DDoS attacks. The hacktivists launched a petition to the U.S. government so that the company would be criminally charged for supporting terrorism.

According to the comment, given to the International Business Times by company’s CEO Matthew Prince, CloudFlare is not going to fulfill Anonymous’ request and block its services to the Isis websites, because, firstly, it would not make a difference anyways, for the content would not be removed, and secondly, such actions could be evaluated as censorship.

    “We’re the plumbers of the internetWe make the pipes work but it’s not right for us to inspect what is or isn’t going through the pipes. If companies like ours or ISPs (internet service providers) start censoring there would be an uproar. It would lead us down a path of internet censors and controls akin to a country like China.”

Discrimination and censorship is something CloudFlare couldn’t be blamed for — just a few weeks ago, while analyzing the causes of Pirate Bay going down, the Inquisitr mentioned that this website also uses CloudFlare’s services.

    “It is quite possible, and what is worse is that Pirate Bay’s CloudFlare service is not working, either.

    CloudFlare is the website caching service Pirate Bay uses to keep visitors on their site even when it experiences downtime.”

Basically, the fact that CloudFlare provides services to such controversial websites, as Pirate Bay is, should have been sufficient to certify that the company is not going to deny any of its customers.

The petition, however, is unlikely to be a success — till the present moment, it got 185 signatures and needs to get 99 815 more before May 25 to actually make the government take action against the company.

And perhaps it is for the best, because in this case hacktivists seem to act hypocritically. After all, it was Anonymous who waged a huge Operation Payback campaign against PayPal and Amazon for cutting off services to Wikileaks without a legal decision — and that’s exactly what they request from CloudFlare.

http://www.inquisitr.com/2053153/anonymous-charge-cloudflare-justice-or-hypocrisy/
COMMENT

Censorship always freaks me out, so this caught my attention.  Censorship of ISIS doesn't freak me out as much the implications for everyone else.  If censorship of one group can lead to a 'path' of censorship by providers of internet 'pipes' or whatever, it doesn't sound too good overall.

Not sure why material that various groups broadcast on the internet is seen as such a threat that it cannot be countered by alternate broadcasts (ie alternate ideas, arguments, ridicule, other responses etc), rather than by censorship that eliminates the opposing/undesirable message in its entirety.

Anyway, this is just something I found interesting. 


Ukraine Historical & Cultural Revision







Ukraine Pays a Terrible Price for Banderaism
As the Ukrainian government that seized power in the coup rewrites Ukraine’s history, it commits an ever-widening circle of atrocities in conformity with the ideology of Stepan Bandera that it has adopted.

“Two Ukraines but what seem like two different worlds. …And if you want, you can call me a Pro-Russian Communist, but, personally, I much prefer the red star of the partisans of Odessa than the reversed swastika of the Banderites. Although, I repeat, I am a Jew and a Zionist from Israel.” – Arkady Molev (after visiting Lvov and Odessa, Fort Russ)

Life in Ukraine these days is full of fads and fancies, some of them criminal and deleterious, some – just outright stupid. For example, the latest craze is to get rid of all the names of cities, streets and squares associated with Russia.

The effort to erase their own history — after all Ukraine in its present borders was created by the Soviets — leads to some funny or maladroit results.

Vladimir Kornilov, head of the Ukrainian Center for Eurasian Studies, in an interview with the newspaper Vzglyad, suggested that the names that are assigned to the cities and streets by the Ukrainian authorities will not hold for too long.

This is a passing fad, he thinks. After all, “The history of, say, the lion’s share of Ukraine is Russian history, and partly Polish, Romanian, and Austro-Hungarian history. In this sense, the Ukrainians have got used to distort the historical names and rename them back and forth. For example, with rare exceptions, there are no historical names in Lvov [western Ukraine, former Poland].”

The absurdity of this situation is that the Ukrainian nationalists, declaring their fight with the Soviet past, demonstrate the very methods of the Bolsheviks after October Revolution of 1917 – they bring down the monuments and rename all and sundry.

Beside the Bolshevik methods, “they have adopted tactics and ideology of the Nazis and try to completely clean all the historical memory in Ukraine,” says Kornilov. “Everything is done systematically and gradually: on the Maidan in 2004, it was impossible to imagine that someone would glorify Bandera. But after a few years, Bandera is the hero.”

Kornilov said that he won’t be surprised if, in a couple of years, they make Hitler’s birthday a national holiday. “Right now, it seems absurd and preposterous, but 10 years ago it seemed absurd and ridiculous that Ukraine will glorify Bandera and UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army).

As far as Bandera’s political cult in Ukraine is concerned, there is a fascinating book by Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe, Stepan Bandera: The Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist. Fascism, Genocide, and Cult (published in 2014). It sheds light on the history of this violent nationalist movement, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and its Ukrainian Insurgent Army. In it, the author says:

“Bandera was the ultranationalist or fascist alternative to Stalin and Khrushchev. Though the OUN-B frequently claimed after the Second World War that the UPA was fighting against the totalitarian Soviet Union for a nationalist democratic Ukraine, the reference to democracy was nothing more than a pretence, intended to persuade the United Kingdom and the United States to provide support for the insurgent movement.”

The refrain of fighting for democracy is way too familiar these days – in fact, it is used frequently by the current puppet regime in Kiev. As it was with Bandera’s UPA in the past, this reference brings the same result, that is, a lot of violence toward anyone with dissenting views, as well as the unconditional support of the U.S.A. However, the cruel irony is that it is exactly most blood-thirsty politicians who typically sing this refrain, thus rendering the word “democracy” utterly meaningless. As sad as it sounds, this refrain leaves a bitter taste.

Rossoliński-Liebe doesn’t embellish the darkest moments of the Soviet regime in Ukraine.  He skilfully demonstrates the complexity of the entanglement between Ukrainian and Soviet histories.

“The only enemies of the OUN and UPA remaining after the Second World War II in western Ukraine were the Soviet authorities, who, ironically enough, implemented some of the main goals of the Ukrainian nationalists. By the incorporation of western Ukraine into the Ukrainian SSR, the Soviet rulers had achieved the sobornist, or unification of Ukrainian territories in one state, and, by resettling the Poles and other nationalities, they had made Ukraine more homogenous than it had ever been before.

In the end, the historical amnesia of the current Ukrainian government and of some of the brainwashed population leads to the outright ingratitude toward their own past. A past that is intrinsically connected with Russia, whether they want it or not.

In the last year alone, these proverbial “Ivans without roots” have vandalized many memorials and statues that remind them of Soviet times. Just recently, overzealous nationalists demolished a monument to the legendary Soviet intelligence officer Nikolai Kuznetsov in the village of Povcha in Rivne region of Ukraine.

Nikolai Kuznetsov, subsequently recognized as “scout number one” during the Great Patriotic War, personally eliminated 11 generals and high-ranking officials of the occupation administration of Nazi Germany. It was precisely Kuznetsov who managed to obtain information about the preparation of the German offensive at Kursk. According to TASS, he died on March 9, 1944, during a shootout with soldiers of UPA – yes, that same notorious Nazi-collaborating organization whose members have been proclaimed as national heroes of Ukraine on April 9 this year.

In Velikiy Lyuben (Lviv region), the followers of UPA demolished a monument to the 5-year-old Roma Taravsky, a Polish boy who was killed by the Bandera gang. Their perverted pangs of conscience may be the reason why these contemporary ultra-nationalists cannot cope with the truth.

Nonetheless, the decision of the Verkhovna Rada to recognize the Ukrainian Insurgent Army fighters as freedom fighters will have numerous repercussions, especially among those who suffered from UPA atrocities the most.

Just a few days ago, former Deputy Defense Minister of Poland, Ret. General Waldemar Skrzypczak, publicly expressed his outrage about this egregious law. He said that he is opposing the policies of the current Ukrainian government, as well as withdrawing his support of Ukraine, expressed earlier when he advocated the supply of offensive weapons for the war in the Donbass.

UPA murdered my uncle. They nailed him with a pitchfork to a barn door. From what I know, he died three days later. Their savagery was beyond imagination. Even the Nazis did not invent the things the Ukrainians did. They hacked people with axes. And they began to kill the Poles in 1939, not in 1943,” he said (as reported by Vzglyad).

“Many people do not know, and those who know are mostly silent, about the fact, that when our soldiers retreated to Hungary and Romania, they were attacked by armed Ukrainian gangs. I would like to know on what foundation is President Poroshenko building the future of Ukraine? Blood-thirsty nationalism? It’s terrible! I have long been telling that Ukrainians must get rid of nationalism, because otherwise cooperation with Poland would be very difficult, if possible at all,” the retired general said.

The ominous shadows cast by “Eurocentric” Ukrainian maniacs are many and various. Among the most prominent are cruelty, Russophobia, servility before their western masters, and a lack of compassion toward their own citizens. Also, a callous indifference.

Ukrainian politicians don’t want to set Donbass free.  However the pompous government that presides in Kiev refuses to provide Donbass with elementary social and medical needs though the people who live there are Ukraine’s citizens.

In the middle of November of 2014, Kiev officially stripped itself of responsibility for civilians caught up in the zone of the “Anti-Terrorist Operation” (ATO). In December, the Kiev authorities stopped budget payments for pensions and wages, canceled banking services and stopped passenger transportation by rail to those regions of Donbass that are outside their control. Moreover, they even block whatever humanitarian aid may go that way.

At the end of February, the authorities of Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) confirmed the tightening of the economic blockade by Kiev. “Not a single truck with food is allowed [to enter our territory] … This is against a range of measures signed in Minsk,” said Deputy Chairman of the People’s Council of LPR Vladislav Danego.

According to a recent report of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), food is the most essential commodity for the self-proclaimed republics in the Donbass. “It is urgent to provide food assistance to more than 670,000 people, 90 percent of whom are located in the areas not under control of the [Kiev] government,” the document says.

The same report also says that on April 2 another convoy of humanitarian aid from Russia, consisting of 42 trucks, arrived in Donbass. On April 16 another, the 24th in a row, was sent to the Donbass.

Facts like these are seldom mentioned in the western mass media. Anti-Russian paranoia results mostly in far-fetched reports of Russian tanks “invading” Ukraine – none of which are confirmed. One may wonder if humanitarian trucks are wilfully confused with tanks.

In the meantime, the authorities of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics declared that they count only on the support of Russia. According to the newspaper Vzglyad, a parliament speaker of the DPR, Andrei Purgin, has also confirmed that the Ukrainian side has actually imposed a blockade of the republic, which greatly complicates the humanitarian situation there. Purgin noted that Donbass is not able to provide its citizens with food and is critically dependent on supplies from outside, because the surrounding steppes are not suitable for agriculture. “Food security on our territory cannot be achieved – here is an industrial region, a land of the cities, industry, and mechanical engineering. We make active attempts to start the food import from the Russian Federation and to find other sources as well. For the most indigent people, we have a network of soup kitchens and a distribution of humanitarian aid. There is progress in a positive way, but the situation is complicated,” Purgin said.

Meanwhile, the OSCE noted on April 7 that the Donbass lacks medical supplies as well.

According to a press-secretary for the special mission of the OSCE, Michael Bochurkiv, the mission recently published a report on the state of infrastructure in the observed area. “The report is based on 55 studied institutions, including hospitals, clinics and orphanages. The facts are shocking: we describe the situation as very unstable from a humanitarian point of view”. According to him, his colleagues found many people on the verge of death due to the fact that they don’t have enough medication. “The situation is similar in some child care centers, where children are on the verge of death because of the lack of medical supplies”.

According to a representative of the mission, the situation is compounded by the fact that “people do not have access to money, pensions, banks, they cannot afford to buy their own medicines that are sometimes offered in hospitals.”

Despite the dire conditions in Donbass, the authorities of Novorossia are full of optimism.  According to Prime Minister of the DPR, Alexander Zakharchenko, the war unleashed by the Kiev Nazis in Donbass will end with the collapse of their regime and the Bandera ideology. “The Kiev clique which seized power in Ukraine has not yet realized that the outcome of the war that was unleashed by them will be a full liberation of the country from the Bandera ideology, and that the Ukrainian people themselves will liberate the country from the fascist plague – those same people who became hostages of the mad politicians.” Zakharchenko stressed that Kiev politicians and their Western “friends” miscalculated when they started a bloodbath in the Donbass. By unleashing war, they have jeopardized the existence of Ukraine as a state, and thus have driven themselves into a trap.

“The instigators of the so-called ‘ATO’ and their foreign backers have played the wrong card and didn’t take into consideration that the Donbass is an impregnable fortress that nobody has been able to win.”

Amen to that!

Alevtina Rea is  a freelance analyst and writer; for seven years (2005 – 2012), she worked as an assistant editor with CounterPunch. Ms. Rea is a contributing author to CounterPunch, Cyrano’s Journal Today, Uncommon Thought Journal, and the International Journal of Baudrillard Studies. She can be reached at rea.alya@gmail.com.
http://russia-insider.com/en/ukraine-pays-terrible-price-banderaism/6191

COMMENT

Interesting update.

Thought I'd check on the difference between Ukraine and Russian language:

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

UKRAINE

RUSSIAN

Take a good look at the Cyrillic script:  it's exactly the same.
Oops.  That's because it was the same pic (which I've now removed updated with the correct corresponding pic).  LOL

How embarrassing. 
I'll have to blame this on someone interrupting me and talking to me while I was loading.  I can't do two things at once.  LOL

Anyway, I've updated with the correct image.
While there is minor differences in both the Cyrillic script and the Latin script, it appears to be merely a matter of pronunciation - kind of like the difference in the way (some) people say 'tomato', 'potato' etc  (with the exception of the word for 'morning' which is materially different).

Yes, I know this is only a small sample, but I'll nonetheless argue that the language differences between Ukraine and Russia probably aren't all they're cracked up to be. 


Holy #%!!$$%@ Batman!

I feel like I'm driving this thing drunk.  Fixed another unexpected boo-boo.  LOL