Ex- CNN Reporter: I Received Orders to Manipulate News to Demonize Syria and Iran
LiveLeak.com
March 30, 2013
Ex- CNN Reporter: I Received Orders to Manipulate News to Demonize Syria and Iran
PRAGUE, (SANA)- Ex-CNN reporter Amber Lyon revealed that during her work for the channel she received orders to send false news and exclude some others which the US administration did not favor with the aim to create a public opinion in favor of launching an aggression on Iran and Syria.
Cyprus Day 1: Fear and Loathing in Nicosia
21stCenturyWire
March 29, 2013
“We’re treating this like a crime scene”
Patrick Henningsen
21st Century Wire
NICOSIA – In approximately three weeks time, the island of Cyprus will begin receiving its annual cash injection – from holiday tourism. That’s what’s known as a ‘good injection’.
After only a day here, it’s become very clear that the people of Cyprus are concerned, some even scared – about a financial contagion and shock treatment which threatens their future prosperity.
Soon, they will get another ‘bad’ injection, which we are told will be deadly. So we are treating this like a crime scene. The next injection will be administered by ‘Dr Troika’. Just utter his name in public here and you will see wrinkles in people’s faces.
Dr Troika’s injection is the equivalent, in economic terms, to an experimental vaccine – designed to treat a financial contagion which originated in Greece, and Wall Street before that. It is certain to provoke an auto-immune reaction.
The people of Cyprus did not ask for this, yet, they are being forced to take it by the mad economic doctors in Brussels, Berlin and the IMF. It’s the sort of bad medicine that the banking syndicates and corrupt officials have been administering for a while now, in order to take down governments and economies all over the globe with devastating effect.
I arrived in Cyprus on Wed night, and was joined by UK-based writer and talk show host Jason Liosatos from Global Peace Radio at 5am Thursday morning, as we headed in to the capital city of Nicosia to document what many were expecting to be a run on the island’s banks at 12pm after 15 days of closed doors to hundreds of thousands of residents whose savings has been locked inside the banks during the extended “bank holiday”. This particular ‘holiday’ will go down in history as one of the worse on record.
The lines began forming around 11am, but to everyone’s surprise – except the Cypriots’ of course, the lines were not as long as many expected, and not as long as the corporate mainstream media expected either, most of whom were hoping for a fight in front of both the old town’s Bank of Cyprus (good bank) and Laiki Banks (bad bank) branches.
The majority of those queuing were older people, but these included many of the top depositors whose life saving have been clipped by the Troika.
Listen to Audio interview here:
Fear_and_Loathing in Nicosia – Day One
We asked around and quickly learned why the Cypriots did not all rush the bank on Thurs at high noon. Many residents told us that there was a community feeling that islanders did not want to stress the Bank of Cyprus by storming its branches. Strict capital controls have been put into place to slow the cash hemorrhaging this week, with most residents restricted to 300 euros per day, for four days, followed by an official assessment of the situation.
There’s a lot of talk of Cyprus’s potential riches from untapped gas and oil, and many residents believe the bankers have taken down the economy here in order to exchange the island’s future riches for a series of expensive (if not utterly debilitating) ECB and IMF loans. But that’s still a ways off, and more pressing matters are salary cuts, pension cuts, a flight of wealth off of the island, and of course – that fact that people’s money is being literally stolen from their accounts.
When elites go to war, and fight their financial battles, it seems that the only victims are the average mom and pop. After meeting 5 or six local residents and business owners, it came abundantly clear that even the street sweepers knew that a criminal banking syndicate had held a gun to their heads and then stolen their money in broad daylight.
PHOTO: We sit down with the neighborhood guys who really know what’s going on with Cyprus bank collapse, and do foreign exchange over coffee.
A retired resident, Mr Andreas, explained also, “We Cypriots have dignity. I have only 3 euros in my pocket for the last week – enough only to buy a cup of coffee, but I will not line up today and beg the Troika for my daily withdraw of 300 euros.”
He adds, “Our friends in Europe have treated us like gangsters and criminals. Our government leaders have made mistakes, yes. But why are we being forced to pay? It’s blackmail. This is stealing from the people, that’s all.”
Not surprisingly, there were no Russian Oligarchs waiting to get inside any of the island’s branches on Thursday, many of them apparently withdrew their money from still open Russian branches of Laiki and Cyprus banks – at the same time that the banks in Cyprus were shut.
Mr Kiriakos, a local bar owner lamented over a beer with us before closing shop, explaining the reality of this latest banker-led heist in Cyprus. “I’ve been working all my life – 30 years, so I can send my daughters to university and give them a better life than I had, and they can just come and take that money? They are running a big casino, when they win they put the money in their pockets, but if they lose they take the money out of our pockets.”
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SEE ALSO:
Cyprus Day 2: As the Dust Settles, Talk of Reciprocity and Whispers of Retribution
Cyprus Day 3: The Sword of Damocles Still Hangs Over the Island
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Watch the UK Column Live TV program on Tues at 1pm GMT, and visit the UK Column website for more reports from Cyprus.
Also, you can listen to daily reports this week from Cyprus at The Pete Santilli Show, M-F 12pm PST/7pm GMT.
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Korean War 2.0: Deescalate Now
by Nile Bowie
Nile Bowie.blogspot.ca
March 30, 2013
Recent warnings of instability on the Korean peninsula by Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov come at a most appropriate time – and indeed, there is a frightening possibility that the situation could spin out of control. Since the North was heavily penalized by UN sanctions following its recent satellite launch and nuclear test, Pyongyang has embarked on a near-daily onslaught of belligerent threats, some of which include its invalidation of the 1953 armistice agreement that ended the Korean War, threats to nuke the United States, and threats to occupy South Korea and subsequently take all Americans in the country hostage. Military analysts claim that North Korea is at least several years from building a nuclear warhead or a missile capable of reaching the US mainland – but there is no doubt that if the Kim regime oversteps their approach, it could certainly have severe repercussions for civilians in South Korea and Japan, both in range of North Korea’s rockets.
Despite regular threats of destruction and Pyongyang’s recent proclamation that the two Korean states are officially in a state of war, day-to-day life has retained its normality according to sources on the ground. Needless to say, there is no doubt that civilians on both sides are feeling tense in the current scenario, especially those on disputed South Korean islands in the West sea, just a stones throw away from the North Korean maritime border. The four thousands residents of the South’s Baengnyeong Island, which Kim Jong-un personally threatened to “wipe out” in early March, have been severely hindered from carrying out their day-to-day activities such as fishing due to the joint US-ROK military exercises in the area. Despite inter-Korean relations reaching their lowest point in recent times with the entire South on high alert, most South Koreans are adept at brushing off the North’s rhetoric, but they’re still proceeding with caution.Nile Bowie:
In addition to joint US-ROK’s endless barrage of war games on North Korea’s doorstep, the brandishing of B-2 bombers, which carry bombs that can blast through 70 meters of reinforced concrete, is an unnecessary stunt that is both bold and needlessly provocative. In fact, the B-2 flyover helps Kim Jong-un in consolidating his political power at home by rallying domestic support behind the US threat and distracting North Koreans from economic problems. These moves beg the question, is the United States prepared to launch a full-scale war against North Korea? Despite the high public disapproval of overt warfare campaigns launched by the Bush administration, the unholy status North Korea enjoys in American mainstream media – coupled with its threats to nuke the United States and the simple fact that is it a communist state – is likely enough to coax the average American into supporting a war of aggression against Pyongyang.
County Commission Deadlocks, 4-4, on Opposing NDAA
P.A.N.D.A. People Against The NDAA
March 26, 2013
Little by little, the 2012 NDAA is sneaking into the mainstream media. Battle after battle is being waged across the country to combat this ridiculous law.
Two weeks ago, in Lenawee County, MI, the County Commission deadlocked 4-4 on passing anti-NDAA legislation. Although 4 commissioners, including Commissioner Cletus Smith, voted in favor of liberty, several others demonstrated complete ignorance of the issue at hand.
What were some of the assumptions made by these Commissioners, who voted against the rights of the people?
Commissioner Chris Wittenbach:
“It’s not going to have much impact one way or another,”
Although this legislation won’t jump off the page and stand between a military officer and a suspect, it does provide a deterrent to enforcing the NDAA and its detention power in Lenawee County. Much like the Bill of Rights does not keep our rights from being violated, but it does provide a deterrent, and a foundation to preserve them.
Commissioner David Stimpson:
“I absolutely don’t want to comment on this. It’s absolutely ridiculous for us to discuss this”
He’s right. It is entirely ridiculous for anyone to be discussing the indefinite military imprisonment, execution, or torture of anyone without charge or trial in America. It’s like a bad dream to be talking about America like she’s turning into Stalin’s Russia…yet we are.
Ridiculous situations call for appropriate responses. It’s ridiculous for us to be talking about this, but since we have been forced to, we must respond to protect the rights of the people.
Stimpson again:
“Stimpson said federal courts have already upheld the constitutionality of the National Defense Authorization Act. Voting to oppose the law would violate commissioners’ oaths to uphold the law, he said.”
Firstly, although Federal Courts have upheld the Constitutionality of previous NDAA’s, the 2012 NDAA has been declared unConstitutional by the 4th District Court and Judge Katherine B. Forrest.
Secondly, the Commissioner’s oath is not to uphold the law. It is to uphold the Constitution. The Michigan Oath of Office reads as follows:
“I don’t want to support anything that’s opposed to a constitutional rule”
‘Hegemonic corporations scared as BRICS plan bank to rival IMF’ [video]
21stCenturyWire
March 28, 2013
A new global bank is being born in South Africa – where the world’s top emerging economies are meeting. The new financial powerhouse would be a direct challenger to the World Bank and the IMF – both dominated by the US. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa also green-lighted a new, mammoth crisis fund – and hinted they would ditch the dollar.
Assad asks BRICS ‘to intervene’ in Syria crisis – aide
End the Lie – Independent News
March 16, 2013
Brazilian President Dilma Roussef(L to R), Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chinese President Hu Jintao and South African President Jacob Zuma pose during a BRICS’s Presidents meeting in Los Cabos, Baja California, Mexico on June 18, 2012 before the opening of the G20 leaders Summit (AFP Photo / HO)
Syria’s President Bashar Assad has pleaded for BRICS countries to mediate the on-going conflict in the country, according to a close adviser.
“Today I passed a message from President Bashar al-Assad to President Jacob Zuma, who will preside over the March 26 BRICS summit, on the subject of the situation in Syria,” senior adviser Bouthaina Shaaban told AFP.
“In this message, President Bashar al-Assad asks for intervention by the BRICS to stop the violence in his country and encourage the opening of a dialogue, which he wishes to start.”
BRICS is a bloc of up-and-coming economies comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Shaaban has been conducting a tour of the five countries ahead of the summit in Durban.
While the five countries vary in their sympathies for the Assad regime, all of them have repeatedly professed a neutral stance on the conflict, and have regularly voted against stricter resolutions against the current Syrian government.
The rebellion against President Assad began two years ago, and the death toll may have exceeded 60,000 according to the UN.
Source: RT
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