Fossil Fuel Companies Profited, Now We Owe Billions
This spring, states pitched the Trump administration on an innovative jobs proposal: use federal stimulus funds to hire thousands of unemployed fossil fuel workers to plug oil and gas wells leaking emissions that are intensifying the climate crisis. Instead, the Trump White House funneled nearly $100 billion in bailouts to oil and gas corporations through the Federal Reserve.
Alex Younger: ‘The Russians did not create the things that divide us — we did that’
If the threat from Russia should be kept in perspective, the rising ideological challenge from China will occupy intelligence agencies for many years to come. Younger says, with some regret, that the notion, widely held in the west in the past two decades, that economic progress would bring democratisation to China was a misunderstanding of the Communist party. “The idea that as they matured and became richer they were going to become more like us is for the birds,” he says. “I think you’re seeing a steady but definite ideological divergence taking place; there will be at least two dominant value systems on one planet into the medium term and that’s just a fact and it’s where we’re going.”
How does a medium-sized power such as Britain position itself in this steady, and unsettling decoupling? The golden era in Sino-British relations promoted by ex-chancellor George Osborne is long gone, but it’s far from clear the current Johnson government has a coherent strategy in place. Younger insists that government policy is clear, and on the right track. Britain, he says, must call out the Chinese over malicious cyber attacks and ensure that critical infrastructure is not overly dependent on Beijing, but it has to coexist with China. Eschewing the cold war framing of the western rivalry with China, he says Britain can both “stick up for what we believe in” and ensure a balanced relationship through engagement and dialogue. “I am not a Manichean, I don’t think it’s black or white, and that’s why I reject this cold war idea.”
Illinois ‘White Rabbit’ white supremacy group shut down by federal authorities
The group calls itself the White Rabbit Militia. From their hideaway south of metro Chicago, White Rabbit militiamen were stockpiling an arsenal of automatic weapons, bombs, and bullets, preparing for a violent revolution against the federal government according to newly filed court documents. U.S. law enforcement describes the rural Illinois-based group as a “paramilitary terrorist organization” targeting anyone they didn’t like or disagreed with.
Amnesty International’s Troubling Collaboration with UK & US Intelligence
Amnesty International, the eminent human-rights non-governmental organization, is widely known for its advocacy in that realm. It produces reports critical of the Israeli occupation in Palestine and the Saudi-led war on Yemen. But it also publishes a steady flow of indictments against countries that don’t play ball with Washington — countries like Iran, China, Venezuela, Nicaragua, North Korea and more. Those reports amplify the drumbeat for a “humanitarian” intervention in those nations.
Amnesty’s stellar image as a global defender of human rights runs counter to its early days when the British Foreign Office was believed to be censoring reports critical of the British empire. Peter Benenson, the co-founder of Amnesty, had deep ties to the British Foreign Office and Colonial Office while another co-founder, Luis Kutner, informed the FBI of a gun cache at Black Panther leader Fred Hampton’s home weeks before he was killed by the Bureau in a gun raid.
US and Taiwan to Partner on Infrastructure Projects
Yet they won’t work on our own infrastructure?! 😡
Vatican Criticizes Pompeo’s Handling of China Issues
Steve Bannon must have Pompeo’s ear.
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 