World – Page 27 – praag.org

Pope blasts Banksters

Pope Francis on Monday denounced those getting rich through speculation in financial markets.

“It is increasingly intolerable that financial markets are shaping the destiny of peoples rather than serving their needs, or that the few derive immense wealth from financial speculation while the many are deeply burdened by the consequences,” he said.

The pope, who has said he wants to create “a poor church for the poor”, has frequently spoken out against the “idolatry of money”.

The 77-year-old said that markets should “serve the interests of peoples and the common good of humanity”.

Francis singled out speculation in agricultural markets calling it “a scandal which seriously compromises access to food on the part of the poorest members of our human family”.

Many of the world’s largest banks, including Barclays, Deutsche Bank and UBS, have sold off or slashed the size of their commodities businesses in the face of heavy criticism for speculating in commodities markets.

Instead, the pope called on people to put their money into ethical banks and “impact investors”, who use investments to help the poor.

Source: AFP

Obama announces sending US troops to Iraq

Tony Blair now tells the world that Western “inaction” in Syria has produced the Iraq crisis.

But since bombing Syria would have brought to power in Damascus the very Islamists who are now threatening Baghdad, it must therefore be only a mad person who considers his views.

President Obama certainly did not wince. He announced on Monday that US ground troops ‘equipped for combat’ are being sent to Iraq – just days after claiming that no American soldiers would be deployed to the war-ravaged country.

In a letter to Congress, the president said American troops will be returning to Iraq only three years after they left and their deployment began on Sunday.

The president told Congress that American military personnel in Baghdad will be ‘equipped for combat.’

It is instructive to contemplate what Blair’s rebel friends in Syria are up to.

Assad’s enemies are the same Nusra and al-Qaida fighters whom Blair’s bombing of Damascus would have helped and who now threaten Iraq’s existence.

Not to mention the recent attacks in Kenia.

Televangelist Pat Robertson on Monday blasted former President George W. Bush for selling Americans the Iraq invasion, which led to the violence that is currently sweeping across the country.

During his Monday broadcast, a viewer asked Robertson if there was a solution to the ongoing violence caused by an al Qaeda splinter group, ISIS, threatening to take over Iraq.

“Right now, what we did — and it was a great mistake to go in there,” Robertson explained, pointing out that Saddam Hussein’s “bomb maker” had said that the then-dictator “doesn’t know how to make an atomic bomb.”

And so to sell the American people on weapons of mass destruction, he had WMD and was getting [concentrated uranium] yellowcake out of Africa and all of that, it was a lot of nonsense,” the TV preacher said. “We were sold a bill of goods, we should never have gone into that country!”

“As bad as Saddam Hussein was, he held those warring factions in check, and he contained those radical Islamists,” he continued. “Fix it, no? It’s too late to fix it. It’s unfixable. Those simmering animosities have been there for centuries.”

Most people outside the US knew this before the ill-fated invasion.

The sudden implosion of the vast Iraqi Army of the Baghdad Puppet Regime constructed by the US is a timely warning of the fates of the other puppet states in the Muslim World: Afghanistan, Egypt, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE and lesser ones.

The whole Muslim World of one and a half billion people have turned overwhelmingly against the US and support guerrilla groups against the US.

Pakistan, a huge nuclear state with about 150 millon people quickly went from pro-US to fiercely anti-US over the annihilation of Afghanistan and the systematic drone attacks on Pakistani civilians.

Clearly American politicians understand money and funding, but have no grasp on geography or identity.

Iraq violence sends oil soaring

Sectarian violence in Iraq sent the price of oil skyrocketing on Thursday, propelling both Brent and West Texas Intermediate up more than two percent amid growing concerns about a threat to global supply.

After a delayed reaction to turmoil raging in the country, oil prices soared as open warfare between rebel forces—threatening a reconquest of Iraq barely a few years after U.S. forces departed—and the government spilled on to the world stage. Iraq is a member of OPEC, second only to Saudi Arabia as one of the world’s largest producers of crude.

With violence threatening Iraq’s civilian population and overwhelming the country’s security forces, a shadowy group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham (ISIS) has managed to seize control of key cities including Mosul, the country’s second-largest, Ramadi, Falluja and Tikrit. Fears about global supply mounted, as reports surfaced that Russian tanks had moved into beleaguered Ukraine, sending crude on a tear and overwhelming the impact of lackluster U.S. economic data.

Source: CNBC

Eugene Goostman fools humans

A programme that convinced humans that it was a 13-year-old boy has become the first computer ever to pass the Turing Test. The test — which requires that computers are indistinguishable from humans — is considered a landmark in the development of artificial intelligence, but academics have warned that the technology could be used for cybercrime.

Computing pioneer Alan Turing said that a computer could be understood to be thinking if it passed the test, which requires that a computer dupes 30 per cent of human interrogators in five-minute text conversations.

Eugene Goostman, a computer programme made by a team based in Russia, succeeded in a test conducted at the Royal Society in London. It convinced 33 per cent of the judges that it was human, said academics at the University of Reading, which organised the test.

It is thought to be the first computer to pass the iconic test. Though other programmes have claimed successes, those included set topics or questions in advance.

A version of the computer programme, which was created in 2001, is hosted online for anyone talk to. (“I feel about beating the turing test in quite convenient way. Nothing original,” said Goostman, when asked how he felt after his success.)

The computer programme claims to be a 13-year-old boy from Odessa in Ukraine.

“Our main idea was that he can claim that he knows anything, but his age also makes it perfectly reasonable that he doesn’t know everything,” said Vladimir Veselov, one of the creators of the programme. “We spent a lot of time developing a character with a believable personality.”

The programme’s success is likely to prompt some concerns about the future of computing, said Kevin Warwick, a visiting professor at the University of Reading and deputy vice-chancellor for research at Coventry University.

“Having a computer that can trick a human into thinking that someone, or even something, is a person we trust is a wake-up call to cybercrime.

“The Turing Test is a vital tool for combatting that threat. It is important to understand more fully how online, real-time communication of this type can influence an individual human in such a way that they are fooled into believing something is true… when in fact it is not.”

Source: The Independent

‘US foreign policy suffers from erectile disfunction’

A Chinese general used a regional security conference this weekend to tell a global audience that U.S. rhetoric about the South China Sea risks provoking Beijing.

For the Chinese language audience, the general used language saltier — and perhaps more provocative — words to describe how he feels about U.S. power.

Maj. Gen Zhu Chenghu, a professor at the National Defense University, made the remarks in an interview with Chinese-language Phoenix TV at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore Saturday.

He suggested that if China came to blows with any of its neighbors, the U.S. might not be a reliable ally.

“As U.S. power declines, Washington needs to rely on its allies in order to reach its goal of containing China’s development,” he told the TV station.

“But whether it will get involved or use military intervention once there is a territorial dispute involving China and its neighbors, that is another issue,” he added.

He said that this depended on the U.S. ability to project power, citing Ukraine as an example.

He said, “we can see from the situation in Ukraine this kind of ED” –which he explained in Chinese was a military abbreviation for something that may have meant “extended deployment” – “has become the male type of ED problem – erectile dysfunction.”

Mr. Zhu was one of several Chinese military officials who reacted angrily to remarks of U.S. defense secretary Chuck Hagel, who accused China of taking destabilizing actions in the South China Sea.

Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV has close ties to Beijing and much of its audience is in mainland China.

China’s stance on its maritime claims in the South China Sea has led it into disputes with Vietnam and the Philippines. A standoff over a Chinese drilling rig in waters claimed by Hanoi led to deadly anti-Chinese rioting in Vietnam in May.

Maj. Gen Zhu is no stranger to controversy. In 2005 he came under criticism for remarks that China would have no option but to go nuclear in the event of a conflict over Taiwan. U.S. officials called the remarks irresponsible and the Chinese foreign ministry backed away from them as well.

Source: WSJ

Pope calls for a Palestinian state

The main stage set up for the pontiff, who arrived early Sunday in Bethlehem by helicopter from Jordan, was adorned with a giant tableau depicting Jesus’s birth in Manger Square.

On Sunday in Bethlehem, Pope Francis called for recognition of an independent Palestinian state. CNN reports that he asked for “the acknowledgment by all of the right of two states to exist and to live in peace and security within internationally recognized borders.”

From dawn, wave upon wave of pilgrims had flooded into the buzzing square, through barriers and metal detectors set up by watchful Palestinian security forces.

In Bethlehem before the mass, as his convoy passed near the controversial separation wall erected by the Israelis, he stopped and climbed out.

Flanked by anxious Palestinian security guards, he walked over to the eight-metre high concrete barrier topped by a guard tower and machine gun.

Bowing his head in silent prayer, he paused for several minutes in front of the graffiti-daubed barrier, his right hand and forehead resting against the concrete.

“Pope we need to see someone to speak about justice. Bethlehem look like Warsaw ghetto. Free Palestine,” read one bit of graffiti in English.

Pilgrims said they hoped that Francis’s presence here could bring real change on the ground in a volatile region.

A banner hanging on a mosque read: “The detainees in the occupation’s (Israeli) prisons are pleading for freedom and dignity.”

Francis is to meet Jewish and Muslim leaders in Jerusalem on Monday in efforts to better interfaith relations.

He called the Jewish people “our older brothers”.

Source: AFP

John Major puts Blair on the spot over Iraq

Former Tory prime minister John Major insists his New Labour successor Tony Blair’s notes to president Bush should be released without being edited

Tony Blair was yesterday put on the spot over the Iraq inquiry by the man he defeated in 1997.

Former Tory Prime Minister John Major said Mr Blair should demand the release of all his secret notes to former US President George Bush in the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

And he insisted Mr Blair alone had the power to make them public.

Sir John said censoring the papers meant suspicions about the Iraq War would “fester.” His intervention came after Sir John Chilcot’s inquiry into the invasion was branded a “whitewash” because it will only publish the “gist” of 25 notes and 130 taped talks between Mr Blair Mr Bush .

He slammed the Cabinet Office for withholding the documents, telling the BBC: “Firstly, it will leave suspicions unresolved and those suspicions will fester and maybe worsen. Secondly, withholding them is going to be very embarrassing for Tony Blair, not least because he brought in the Freedom of Information Act.”

He said rules keeping the papers secret could only be overturned if the former administration led by Mr Blair agreed. “I suppose it could approach them and say ‘we think it better if they release the papers,’ but the Government can’t do that, Mr Blair could.”

The release of the documents has delayed publication of the report which finished its public hearings in 2011.

At first the Government tried to block all papers between Blair and Bush amid fears it would upset the US and break a rule that Ministerial papers can only be published after 30 years.

After months of wrangling, the Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood said the inquiry can release extracts of Blair and Bush’s correspondence. Mr Bush’s views will not be revealed.

The move sparked fury, with Labour MP John McDonnell saying it confirmed “suspicions of a whitewash.”

Rose Gentle, whose son Gordon, 19, was killed in Iraq, said: “How will the families get to know the truth? We are just shoved aside. I think Tony Blair has a lot to do with the decision. He is laughing at us”. Tony Blair’s office refused to comment.

Source: The Mirror

Albino woman murdered ‘for potions’ in Tanzania

Two witch doctors have been arrested after an albino woman was found murdered and mutilated in Tanzania.

Police in the Simiyu region said the 40-year-old victim was murdered overnight earlier this month and the attackers had hacked off her left leg, the index and middle fingers of her left hand and part of her left thumb.

Photographs of the murder scene outside her home were too graphic to publish.

People with albinism are often subjected to violent attacks in the country, where they are known as the “zeru zeru” or ghosts.

The condition is heavily stigmatised and families who see it as a curse have known to kick relatives out of their homes.

But sufferers are also a target for traditional healers, who harvest body parts to make potions for wealth, success and even election victories.

Albinism campaign group Under the Same Sun said the latest victim was the 73rd person with albinism to be killed in Tanzania since the year 2000 and 67 others have suffered violent attacks during the same period.

The group’s founder and chief executive, Peter Ash, said: “The life of yet another person with albinism has been snuffed out.

“[The woman] was mutilated and violated in the most barbaric way, because of the fatal discrimination people with albinism face in Tanzania.

“Her screams must rouse the international community to demand the Tanzanian authorities locate and punish her killers to the fullest extent of the law.

“Anything less is a flagrant miscarriage of justice, perpetuated on the most vulnerable.”

The two arrested witchdoctors, a 45-year-old man and 52-year-old woman, were reportedly known in the victim’s village and police are also hunting for her boyfriend.

Police said the woman had two children and had sent her eight-year-old daughter to a witch doctor on the day of her murder for herbal medicine to treat her backache.

The healer reportedly told the girl not to return home to her sick mother because it would stop the “medicine” working and instructed her to stay with her aunt.

That night, the woman was murdered and her grossly mutilated body was discovered outside of her home by her niece the next morning.

Under the Same Sun is campaigning for better protection for people with albinism in Africa and wants to see witch doctors banned as they claim current regulation is not working.

The group is concerned that attacks will increase in the run-up to elections in October, when the demand for potions made from albino body parts is expected to increase.

Killings have been less frequent in recent years and the Tanzanian government, which has one albino MP, has been trying to address the problem.

Source: The Independent

Russia to build 8 nuclear reactors in Iran

Russia plans to sign a contract with Iran this year to build two more nuclear reactors at its Bushehr power plant as part of a broader deal for up to eight reactors in the Islamic state, a source close to the negotiations told Reuters on Thursday.

Western powers want any lasting agreement with Iran to put to rest suspicions that it could develop nuclear weapons-making ability through enrichment. Iran denies any such intent.

The talks ended last week with little progress; they are to resume in Vienna in June.

Russia, one of the six powers, built Iran’s only operating nuclear power reactor, at Bushehr.

“Russia and Iran may sign an intergovernmental agreement this year on building from four to eight nuclear reactors, and, under the deal, the contract for the construction of the first two reactors as additions to Bushehr,” the source said.

Source: Reuters

German press demolishes ‘humanitarian’ US

Headshot

In what is becoming a weekly ritual, the German press continues to demolish the US case of “idealistic humanitarian” Ukraine intervention.

A week ago the German tabloid Bild am Sonntag, reaching the broadest audience, reported that dozens of CIA and FBI agents were “advising the Ukraine government.”

This conclusion is hardly a stretch and certainly based on facts considering the recent semi-secret jaunt by CIA head Brennan to Kiev.

The same Bild has now reported that about 400 elite mercenary commandos of the private US security firm, Academi, f/k/a Xe Services, f/k/a Blackwater “are involved in a punitive operation mounted by Ukraine’s new government” against east Ukraine separatists.

Bild cites sources who report that on April 29, Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) informed the Angela Merkel government about Academi commandos’ involvement in Kiev’s military operations in eastern Ukraine.

Spiegel adds that “the information originates from U.S. intelligence services and was presented during a meeting chaired by the Chancellor’s Office chief Peter Altmaier (CDU). At the meeting were present the president of the intelligence agencies and the Federal Criminal Office, as well as the intelligence coordinator of the Chancellor’s Office and senior Ministry officials.”

Bild am Sontag did not have information about who was paying the Blackwater commandos: it is well-known they do not come cheap.

The German press is aware of the emerging China-Russia axis. The relationship between Russia and Germany is the most notable story in the entire Ukraine conflict.

G77 want out of the banking cabal

Just a few weeks ago, 132 nations decided they’ve had enough of the banking cabal.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, is the center of a secret global economy that has bailed out American International Group Inc., huge insurance companies like AIG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co., J.P. Morgan,Societe Generale and Deutsche Bank AG, among others.

The cabal’s control over international markets is becoming less of a mystery as increasing numbers of markets reveal themselves so obviously to be fixed, say the disgruntled nations.

One of the largest coalitions of developing nations in history has urged Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, to provide, “as soon as possible…alternative options for banking services” for 132 countries, including China.

This comes on the heels of a mass cancellation of bank accounts in U.N. missions and those of foreign US diplomats. The G77 urges the secretary-general to review the “U.N. Secretariat’s financial relations with the JP Morgan Chase Bank and consider alternatives to such financial institutions and to report thereon, along with the information requested.”

JP Morgan is the left arm of the cabal, along with other ‘big banks’ are now the benefactors of billions in tax money.

Banks like these helped crash economies, and they are trying to do the same now, so that they can profit from it.

The problem for countries around the world is simple: Chase bank currently handles billions in accounts maintained by the United Nations and its agencies, in guess where – NYC.

The countries express a ‘deep concern’ over the decisions made by several other banking institutions, known puppets for the cabal, including JP Morgan Chase, in closing bank accounts for mostly developing countries. The resolution proposed, still subject to amendments cites a 1947 agreement between the US and UN, which:

“. . .guarantees the rights, obligations and the fulfillment of responsibilities by member states towards the United Nations, under the United Nations Charter and international law.”

It also points out the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations as a regulatory framework for states and international organizations, specifcically the working relationship between the United Nations and the City of New York.

The countries have put forth the G77 as a means to utilize, “all necessary measures to ensure permanent missions accredited to the United Nations and their staff are granted equal, fair and non-discriminatory treatment by the banking system.”

At secret meetings around the G77 last month, representative after representative from these countries severely criticized the American banking system from cutting off banking services from the diplomatic community, specifically directing their outrage at JP Morgan Chase (formerly Chemical bank).

The accounts were closed when a request from the US treasury asked banks to report every single transaction of 70 ‘blacklisted’ diplomats as part of a monitoring system, just a new way that bankers are spying on all of us. Aside from a network of cameras, run buy the NSA, and a program with a codename of ‘Dishfire’ they also now indulge in practices which make you no different than America’s ‘enemies,’ or diplomats of emerging economies thinking about abandoning the petro-dollar.

nationofchange.org

Kerry calls for an Apartheid state in Israel

The US Secretary of State said that if Israel doesn’t make peace soon, it could become “an apartheid state”, like the old South Africa. Many are fuming over the ill-informed comparison.

Kerry is clearly confused about apartheid, since the two-state solution implies apartheid rather than a single state containing both Jews and Arabs.

Kerry warned that if there was no “two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict soon, Israel risks becoming “an apartheid state”.

Secretary of State Kerry confused a room of influential world leaders in a closed-door meeting Friday about seperate development, ethnic selfrule and notions of Jewishness.

Senior American officials have rarely, if ever, used the term “apartheid” in reference to Israel, and President Obama has previously rejected the idea that the word should apply to the Jewish state.

Kerry’s use of the loaded term is already rankling Jewish leaders in America because it is bound to attract unwanted attention to Israel.

Kerry also repeated his warning that a failure of Middle East peace talks could lead to a resumption of Palestinian violence against Israeli citizens. He suggested that a change in either the Israeli or Palestinian leadership could make achieving a peace deal more feasible. He lashed out against Israeli settlement-building.

Kerry told his audience that a unitary state “winds up either being an apartheid state with second-class citizens, or it ends up being a state that destroys the capacity of Israel to be a Jewish state”.

The US nevertheless imposed a unitary state solution on South Africa, strangely, to “end apartheid”. They have now changed course 180 degrees on the matter it seems.

According to the 1998 Rome Statute, the “crime of apartheid” is defined as “inhumane acts… committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.” The term is most often used in reference to the system of racial segregation and oppression that governed South Africa from 1948 until 1994.

A two-state solution and claims of Jewishness imply racial segregation however.

Former president Jimmy Carter came under fire in 2007 for titling his book on Middle East peace Palestine: Peace or Apartheid.

Carter explained after publishing the book that he was referring to apartheid-type policies in the West Bank.

“Apartheid is a word that is an accurate description of what has been going on in the West Bank, and it’s based on the desire or avarice of a minority of Israelis for Palestinian land,” Carter said.

Israel’s leaders have employed the term as well. In 2010 former Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak used language very similar to Kerry’s. “If this bloc of millions of Palestinians cannot vote, that will be an apartheid state.”

Kerry suggested in March that if peace talks fail, it would bolster the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

Time and demographics are on the Palestinian side, and Israel has to confront notions of the Jewishness of the state, Kerry implied, further strengthening the notion that the US would like to see apartheid being applied to Israel sooner rather than later.

US troops heading to Eastern Europe

It seems the truce “deal” is well and truly dead…

– 600 U.S. TROOPS HEADING TO EUROPE FOR EXERCISES: PENTAGON
– U.S. AIRBORNE TROOPS GOING TO POLAND, LITHUANIA, LATVIA,ESTONIA
– U.S. MILITARY EXERCISES ARE IN RESPONSE TO UKRAINE CRISIS:KIRBY
– MORE MILITARY EXERCISES ‘COMING THROUGH’ NATO: PENTAGON

The question now, of course, is – what will Putin do in response to this action?

As for where these troops may be arriving from the answer is simple: that other US military intervention success story – Afghanistan. From Reuters:

The number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan may drop well below 10,000 – the minimum demanded by the U.S. military to train Afghan forces – as the longest war in American history winds down, Obama administration officials briefed on the matter say.
Since Afghanistan’s general election on April 5, White House, State Department and Pentagon officials have resumed discussions on how many American troops should remain after the current U.S.-led coalition ends its mission this year.
The decision to consider a small force, possibly less than 5,000 U.S. troops, reflects a belief among White House officials that Afghan security forces have evolved into a robust enough force to contain a still-potent Taliban-led insurgency. The small U.S. force that would remain could focus on counter-terrorism or training operations.
That belief, the officials say, is based partly on Afghanistan’s surprisingly smooth election, which has won international praise for its high turnout, estimated at 60 percent of 12 million eligible votes, and the failure of Taliban militants to stage high-profile attacks that day.
The Obama administration has been looking at options for a possible residual U.S. force for months.
“The discussion is very much alive,” said one U.S. official who asked not to be identified. “They’re looking for additional options under 10,000″ troops.
There are now about 33,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, down from 100,000 in 2011, when troop numbers peaked a decade into a conflict originally intended to deny al Qaeda sanctuary in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Of course, it would be peak irony if the next country Russia decides to destabilize is none other than its old “buddy” Afghanistan, which lately appears far more amicable toward the Kremlin than the White House. It certainly would be an additional egg in the face of US foreign policy if Afghanistan – so critical to the US controlled heroin trade – were to show a return to some of its Taliban roots for which it is so well-known.

Source: Zero Hedge

Ukrainian military operation loosing steam

The Ukraine military push appears to be losing momentum in the east of the country, CNN reported.

Fifty Ukrainian soldiers sent to the eastern town of Kramatorsk for military operations against pro-federalization protesters have defected to the side of the demonstrators, local self-defense activists told RIA Novosti Wednesday.

“We have seen that these people are neither separatists nor terrorists, but just ordinary people and we refuse to fight them,” one of the soldiers told RIA Novosti, as the military men took down Ukrainian flags and directed their vehicles to nearby Slaviansk.

The soldiers who switched allegiances are all from Dnepropetrovsk, and came from six crews of airborne combat vehicles, several crews of infantry combat vehicles and one armored carrier.

Some of them raised Russian flags and Air Force banners. Several of their vehicles are now stationed near the Slaviansk City Council, which has been under the control of federalization advocates for several days.

Local residents are taking pictures against the backdrop of the combat vehicles and talking freely with their crews.

Several military units in Kramatorsk still remain loyal to Kiev, including tanks. In Kramatorsk the protesters also control the city council, and have erected several roadblocks. No shooting between security forces loyal to Kiev and the opposition have been reported. Protesters still control Slaviansk, with no military loyal to Kiev present in the area.

The Ukrainian army started a special operation Tuesday to crack down on self-defense activists in eastern Ukraine. The operation targeted the cities of Kramatorsk and Slaviansk in the Donetsk region.

First Deputy Prime Minister Vitaliy Yarema said Wednesday the country’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, had signed off on operation.

Source: CNN/RIA Novosti