the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

globinfo freexchange The sequence of events should not be considered random. It all started with a key question on the recent Democratic-primaries debate stage in Las Vegas. MSNBC's Chuck Todd (you know, the one who described Bernie Sanders supporters as a "digital brownshirt brigade"), asked the candidates if the person with the most delegates at the end of the primary season should be the nominee even if they don't have a majority of the delegates. Of all the candidates, only Sanders answered positively, without hesitation. Something which, of course, shouldn't surprise us much. The whole matter circulated around the corporate and the independent media for a while, with the progressives attempting to capitalize Bernie's response, in order to demonstrate his deeply democratic "reflexes" against the rest of the establishment candidates. But it seems that the question was put in place by the establishment in order to test the "r

The senior judge overseeing the extradition proceedings of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange received financial benefits from two partner organisations of the British Foreign Office before her appointment, it can be revealed. by Matt Kennard and Mark Curtis  Part 4 - Same addresses Declassified has discovered that the addresses given by Lord Arbuthnot and other parliamentarians for Tertulias and Tatlidil have been the same — despite no obvious connection between the two organisations other than the UK Foreign Office. All the addresses are residential with no clear reason why they would be official addresses of high-level Foreign Office-linked fora. In 2012, Arbuthnot recorded in his parliamentary register of interests that the address of both organisations was a Grade II listed house in the village of Cowlinge, Suffolk, which has a population of just over 600 people. From 2013-16, the address changed to a house in Higham, a small village with 140 people, also in Suffo

Part 4 - Debt and Lackeys Shackle Nicaragua to the US' Will The U.S. agent assessed the political situation and reported that if elections were held, Zelaya's liberals would certainly win. To avoid an unwanted liberal victory, the U.S. pushed  Estrada to agree on a constituent assembly to get himself elected, approve a first short-term U.S. loan, among other concessions.  As political rivalries within the conservative-liberal coalition surfaced, the Minister of War General Luis Mena forced Estrada to resign, replacing him with his vice president, Adolfo Diaz. Nicaraguan and U.S. representatives then signed a treaty on June 6, 1911, which included U.S. Government and private bank approval for the post of customs collector. In a second, short-term loan agreement, the collector general was nominated by a consortium of private banks and approved by Knox. As part of the deal, the newly appointed president Diaz handed control of the Nicaraguan national rail company and the c

Documents obtained by MEE reveal how British contractors recruited Syrian citizen journalists - often without their knowledge - to promote 'moderate opposition' by Ian Cobain, Alice Ross Part 4 - Opposition social media accounts Meanwhile, other leaked documents seen by MEE show that the British government had awarded contracts to communications companies, which selected and trained opposition spokespeople, ran press offices that operated 24 hours a day, and developed opposition social media accounts. British staff running these offices were told that their Syrian employees were permitted to talk to British journalists – as spokespeople for the Syrian opposition - but only after receiving clearance from officials at the British consulate in Istanbul. One of the responsibilities of the press offices set up covertly by the British government under the terms of these contracts was to “ maintain an effective network of correspondents/stringers inside Syria to

by Jack Rasmus Part 2 - Democrat Party As Indicator of Political Crisis Just as the traditional Republican party imploded in 2016 and thereafter became the Party of Trump—so too is a similar fundamental transformation now underway in the Democrat party. It was a grass roots social movement that enabled the Republican party’s transformation. It’s no less a grass roots movement in the Democrat party today driving the transformation, the final outcome yet to be determined.  And in both cases, Democrat party leaders were (and are) unable to understand movement dynamics: in 2016 they couldn’t understand (or predict) why Trump won. And today, in 2020, they can’t understand how and why Sanders is gaining growing support within their party’s ranks. Just take a look at the Democratic Party at present: Neither of the leading candidates to date are really ‘Democrats’: there’s Bernie Sanders, the independent running under the banner of the Democrat Party; and there’s Mike Bloomberg, a

The “liberal” top-down class and propaganda war on the progressive populist Bernie Sanders is something to behold. It advances at least four master narratives. by Paul Street Part 2 - “Values” vs. “Electability” A second form of “liberal” anti-Sanders media and political bias is the constant narrative that Democratic primary voters must choose between a candidate like Sanders who embodies their values and policy preferences and a candidate who can beat Trump. At CNN last Saturday, morning host Michael Smerconish trumpeted the Democratic Party’s “superdelegates” – the nearly 15% of Democratic National Convention presidential candidate and platform selection delegates who represent the party’s establishment. Smerconish praised the unelected superdelegates for ensuring “ candidate quality control through a form of peer review ” and representing “ the wisdom of party elders to hold back the masses ” from “ a populist surge ” that would nominate a “ disastrous ” candidate wh

"The Democrats might be able to stop Sanders, but in doing so they would destroy their party's own electoral prospects." by Jake Johnson   Nearly 100 Democratic superdelegates told the New York Times in interviews this week that if Sen. Bernie Sanders does not arrive at the party's 2020 convention in July with a majority of pledged delegates, they are willing to thwart the will of the plurality of primary voters—and potentially risk damaging Democrats' chances of defeating President Donald Trump—in order to stop Sanders from winning the nomination.  " In a reflection of the establishment's wariness about Mr. Sanders, " the Times reported Thursday morning, " only nine of the 93 superdelegates interviewed said that Mr. Sanders should become the nominee purely on the basis of arriving at the convention with a plurality, if he was short of a majority. " The superdelegates, many of whom are current elected officials, are " w

The results of an investigation that rules out fraud in last October's elections in Bolivia were published today by the U.S. daily The Washington Post . The electoral process was questioned by the Organization of American States (OAS) in its final report based on alleged irregularities related to a preliminary halt in the vote count, the computerized system, forgery, alteration of data and a deficient chain of custody. In the article ¿Ganó Evo? (Evo Won?) its authors, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Science and Electoral Data Laboratory John Curiel and Jack R. Williams, recall that from that point on the coup machine began to work until Evo Morales resigned at the behest of the Armed Forces and the National Police. However, in their investigation they found no evidence to support the claim of electoral fraud that served as a justification for the Bolivian right wing to carry out the coup d'état and support the establishment of a de

The Grayzone Red Lines host Anya Parampil speaks with Syrian journalist Bashar Bazari, who works as a correspondent for HispanTV in Damascus. Bashari criticizes international media’s coverage of the Syrian military’s efforts to retake Idlib province, the last territory in the country controlled by al-Qaeda affiliated extremist groups. He also discusses the intensification of the US-led economic war on Syria, and its devastating impact on the lives of average Syrians.

... right before the battle in South Carolina globinfo freexchange We are about to lose count of the number and different types of smear campaigns and dirty tricks that the DNC establishment has tried against Bernie Sanders so far.  As the DNC "barons" and their super-wealthy donors understand now that Sanders' big power lies within a continuously growing, progressive movement behind him, they are trying to deal with it through the practice of astroturfing . In short, they are trying to undermine Bernie's authentic, grassroots movement, with a virtual one. We witnessed another operation of this type during the latest Democratic debate, right before the next primaries battle in South Carolina. The operation involved an audience of supposedly authentic, ordinary voters, who, quite strangely enough, booed Sanders and cheered the billionaire Bloomberg! Yet, one more time, progressive independent media (along with Sanders), exposed the new trick immediatel

globinfo freexchange In a war climate, the police has requested reinforcements to be able to control organized armed groups in the Greek island Lesbos. The situation is now out of control, as it has been reported that the Greek police forces are now being attacked with weapons. Two police officers were injured by gunshots at the site where the new migrant detention center was about to be built, and they were transferred to the hospital. A special forces van was hit by multiple gunshots and the police officers were forced to abandon the place, in order to avoid escalation. For the moment, it seems that we have a de-escalation of the tension in other areas of the island, as it has been reported that the special forces have retreated. Dozens of civilians have been injured because of the violent incidents on the island while according to the police, 43 police officers have been injured as well. An organized group invaded in the hotel rooms of the police officers in Geras

Going Underground on RT CIA whistleblower, Jeffrey Sterling, who was convicted for revealing details about Operation Merlin, discusses the extradition trial and persecution Julian Assange is facing. His own experience of being prosecuted for whistleblowing on circumstantial evidence. Whether the Wikileaks founder will face a fair trial in Virginia. His experiences of racism with the CIA, and his advice for other potential whistleblowers.

The senior judge overseeing the extradition proceedings of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange received financial benefits from two partner organisations of the British Foreign Office before her appointment, it can be revealed. by Matt Kennard and Mark Curtis  Part 3 - In Istanbul The month following the Tertulias forum, in November 2014, Lady Arbuthnot went on another trip with her husband, this time to Istanbul for the British-Turkish Tatlidil, which paid the Arbuthnots £2,426 for flights and expenses.  Lord Arbuthnot described the purpose of the visit as “ to promote and further bilateral relations between Britain and Turkey at a high level ”. Tatlidil, which means “sweet talk” in Turkish, was established in 2011 by then prime minister David Cameron and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. It describes its objectives as “ facilitating and strengthen [sic] relations between the Republic of Turkey and the United Kingdom at the level of government, diplomacy, b

Part 3 - A Nation Under US Tutelage Under the liberal government of Jose Santos Zelaya (1893 - 1909), Nicaragua would transition into a modern state. As part of his modernization program, the country made concessions to Germany and Japan for a transisthmian canal across Nicaragua. Since the U.S. had its plans set in Panama, a competing venture financed by foreign interests, was not of their liking.  As relations with the U.S. deteriorated, civil war erupted in October 1909 when anti-government liberals joined with a group of conservatives under Juan Estrada to overthrow Zelaya. The U.S. then saw an opportunity to invade after two U.S. mercenaries serving with the rebels were captured and executed by government forces. Soon thereafter, 400 U.S. Marines landed on the Caribbean eastern city of Bluefields. Rebel leader Juan Estrada's forces seized Managua, Nicaragua's capital and the conservative leader assumed power. U.S. Secretary of State Philander C. Knox agreed to

Documents obtained by MEE reveal how British contractors recruited Syrian citizen journalists - often without their knowledge - to promote 'moderate opposition' by Ian Cobain, Alice Ross Part 3 - Military intelligence officers Individuals familiar with the project say that around nine companies were invited to bid for the contracts. They included a number of firms established by former British diplomats, intelligence officers and army officers. Although the contracts were awarded by the UK’s foreign office, they were managed by the country’s Ministry of Defence, and sometimes by military intelligence officers. These companies set up offices in Amman, Istanbul and, for a period, at Reyhanli in southeast Turkey. From here they would employ Syrians who would in turn recruit citizen journalists inside Syria, who were under the impression that they were working for the media offices of Syrian opposition groups. “ It was a shady, shady business, ” says one p

by Jack Rasmus Part 1 The events of the past week—beginning with the TV debates of the candidates on February 19 and culminating in the Nevada Democrat Party caucus in Nevada on February 22 this past Saturday—show a growing desperation in the ranks of the Democratic Party’s corporate-driven leadership as the Sanders campaign has assumed a clear lead in the race for the Democratic Party nomination. Having ascended in the late 1980s to a controlling role of the party through the Democrat Leadership Conference (DLC) faction, the Democratic party’s leadership now sees itself at a critical juncture.  If it has not yet crossed the political ‘Rubicon’, it at least has arrived at its opposite shore and is preparing to do so. The choice the leadership faces is whether to transform itself into a Trump-like party, openly run by oligarchs and billionaires; or to return to a pre-1990 Democrat party—before the DLC faction takeover—and allow Bernie Sanders to become its presidential

The “liberal” top-down class and propaganda war on the progressive populist Bernie Sanders is something to behold. It advances at least four master narratives. by Paul Street Part 1 - Red Baiting   The first such narrative boils down to Red baiting. The Atlantic , recently gave space for the right-wing pundit David Frump to call Sanders a “ Marxist of the old school of dialectical materialism ” for whom “ class relations are foundational ” and “ everything else is epiphenomenon. ” At ”liberal” broadcast media’s central Stop Sanders headquarters MSNBC (hereafter “MSDNC”), veteran political talk-show host Chris Matthews channeled Joe McCarthy before the New Hampshire Democratic Primary in a bizarre tirade linking the “ socialist Sanders ” to the supposed threat of “ executions in Central Park ” if “ Castro and the Reds ” had “ won the Cold War. ” Last week, three days before the Nevada Caucus, MSDNC’s Stephanie Ruhle had on an old friend, former Diamond Resorts CEO S

Spies discussed kidnapping or poisoning WikiLeaks founder in Ecuadorean embassy, extradition trial hears  US spies hatched a plot to kidnap or even poison Julian Assange using shady Spanish private detectives after he leaked 250,000 top secret documents online, his extradition hearing was told yesterday. The WikiLeaks founder's human rights barrister Edward Fitzgerald, who has previously represented Moors Murderer Myra Hindley and hate preacher Abu Hamza, said an attack inside London's Ecuadorean embassy would have looked like an 'accident'. The QC said private security from a Spanish company, acting on behalf of the US authorities, were involved in 'intrusive and sophisticated' surveillance of his client, but were outed by a mysterious Iberian whistleblower known only as 'witness two'. The covert monitoring allegedly began after UC Global's David Morales returned from a Las Vegas security trade fair in around July 2016 with a contra

The Grayzone Evidence-free claims of a Russian government effort to aid Bernie Sanders have been exploited by centrist Democrats alarmed by Sanders' primary success. This should be no surprise. Sanders and his movement are a threat to the very same interests that have pushed Russiagate for more than three years -- the failed neoliberal Democratic Party establishment and the national security state.

globinfo freexchange Bernie Sanders' landslide in Nevada leaves little doubt about who is the "real boss" in the Democratic primaries. After his crushing victory, the anti-Bernie hysteria on MSNBC and the liberal corporate media broke a new record. The DNC establishment has thrown various actors in the race to stop Bernie's momentum and all have failed miserably. The CNN trick with the pseudo-progressive Elizabeth Warren, backfired badly. Then, the establishment used Pete Buttigieg to test the dynamics of the primaries in Iowa, measure the strength of the progressive movement in real conditions. Among them, the establishment thought it would be a good idea to recruit a typical centrist of the Obama era, a political "dinosaur" like Joe Biden. His performance so far was a disaster, as it would be impossible for a classic representative of the neoliberal center to inspire voters, let alone beat Donald Trump. Finally, we saw a plutocrat enteri