THIS WEEK IN REVIEW
THIS WEEK IN REVIEW
China has officially chosen sides in the war in Syria by providing training and aid to the Assad regime. Next News Network 2016 Aug 19 (Story)
Venezuela has the second highest murder rate in the world, and the new interior minister re-launched a gun-control campaign that kicked off with police destroying 2,000 shotguns and pistols in Caracas. The government will confiscate guns through involuntary seizures and a voluntary program to swap guns for electrical goods. [Because gangs commonly obtain weapons from corrupt police and because law-abiding citizens do not commit gun-related crimes, Venezuela’s gun violence likely will increase as a result of citizens not being able to defend themselves against criminals.] Reuters 2016 Aug 18 (Story) (Cached)
The US reportedly is moving 20 of the 50 tactical nuclear missiles that it stores in Turkey to Romania, which shares a border with Ukraine. US officials deny that report – but it is logical. In view of the new political instability in Turkey, the nukes stored there may be at risk of being seized by ISIS. The Pentagon says that nearly 40,000 Russian troops are massing on Russia’s border with Ukraine, including armored vehicles, tanks and fighter jets. InfoWars 2016 Aug 18 (Story) (Cached)
The Black Led Movement Fund, formed by the Ford Foundation and Borealis Philanthropy, has obtained pledges of more than $100-million from other foundations to fund the Black Lives coalition. [Foundation grants to Black Lives Matter show that racial violence is springing from top-level financial and political institutions, not low-level participants.] Washington Times 2016 Aug 16 (Story) (Cached)
The US government is sued over aid to ‘nuclear’ Israel. A Washington DC non-profit group is suing the government for delivering foreign aid to Israel, because it is a nuclear power but has refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The named defendants are Obama, the CIA director, and Secretaries of Commerce, Defense, Energy, State, and Treasury. RT 2016 Aug 16 (Story) (Cached)
Riots Brew in Milwaukee. An armed black man who refused to drop his gun was shot by a black policeman which spurred riots against police and white people. This is a summary of numerous news stories that are breaking on this issue. Need to Know news posted 2016 Aug 16 (Story)
CNN admits doctoring a video clip of Sherelle Smith, the sister of Sylville Smith who was shot by police, to make it look like she was calling for peace in her neighborhood. The unedited clip shows that she actually was telling rioters to take their violence and destruction to the suburbs where white people live. Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said that members of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Chicago showed up in Milwaukee the day after the shooting to further rile the city toward violence. Breitbart 2016 Aug 16 (Story) (Cached)
Mexico: The son of Sinaloa drug lord, Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, may be among the six men abducted by gunmen at a restaurant in the beach resort of Puerto Vallarta. Police reported that the abductors and abductees are involved in organized crime but did not identify the gangs. The Jalisco New Generation cartel now is the dominant criminal force in the state and has battled the Sinaloa cartel for territory in other areas. ABC 2016 Aug 16 (Story) (Cached)
A group of hackers, called Shadow Brokers, claims to have stolen malware from the Equation Group, an NSA affiliate. It plans to sell the data for Bitcoin in an online auction. The stolen products are described as ‘cyber weapons’ made by the creators of Stuxnet, Duqu and Flame. WikiLeaks tweeted that it also is in possession of the data. [The terms of the auction are unattractive to bidders, and it is difficult to see how this is anything more than a stunt to call attention to the fact that this malware may have been used by US government agencies.] BBC 2016 Aug 16 (Story) (Cached)
Farmingham, New Mexico: The Navajo Nation is suing the Environmental Protection Agency for failure to clean up the toxic mess that the agency caused by releasing three-million gallons of sludge, containing acid and lead, into the Animas River last year. The Navajo Nation also is asking for compensation for thousands of farmers who rely on the San Juan River, which flows from the Animas, to irrigate crops and sustain livestock. Fox News 2016 Aug 16 (Story) (Cached)
Aetna, the third largest health-insurance company in the US, confirmed that it is dropping Obamacare insurance in 11 of 15 states, where it currently offers plans, due to heavy losses. Customers will be forced to buy other insurance that will be more expensive. USA Today 2016 Aug 16 (Story) (Cached)
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling on the American government to halt all financial and military aid to Israel if the building of settlements continues in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. It demands that Israel end its occupation of Palestine and recognize a Palestinian state. The ELCA has about four-million members in 10,000 congregations throughout the US. Breaking Israel News 2016 Aug 15 (Story) (Cached)
Thailand: A wave of bombings in Thailand’s tourist areas last week is likely to be linked to southern Malay Muslim separatists who oppose the predominantly Buddhist Thai state. Beheadings, bombings, drive-by shootings, assassinations, and vicious assaults have left more than 6,300 people dead and at least 11,500 injured since 2004. This violence rarely is reported outside of Thailand. The military regime in Bangkok, which seized power in 2014, has ruled out terrorism. It is believed, however, that this is an effort to downgrade the perceived threat to avoid public support for political concessions to the separatists. SMH 2016 Aug 15 (Story) (Cached)
One woman died and two girls were in critical condition after being attacked on a Swiss train by a lone assailant. Authorities say there is no evidence that the attack was an act of terrorism, a politically motivated crime. Or motivated by xenophobia. Nevertheless, they are withholding information about the assailant. Reuters posted 2016 Aug 14 (Story)
Switzerland is withholding the name of the train attacker, allegedly to protect the right of privacy. All they will say is that the killer was a Swiss citizen, but his nationality and migration history are undisclosed. [Do you think they might withhold such information to conceal the fact that he was an immigrant? So do we.] Swiss Info 2016 Aug 15 (Story) (Cached)
Global-warmists are worried about the increasing number of people who do not believe that the graying of our skies is caused merely by water vapor from jet aircraft. Under the direction of Ken Caldeira, a professor at the Carnegie institution for Science (and a lobbyist for government funding for climate-engineering projects) they have assembled a group of scientists who, not only promote the myth of global warming, but are attempting to debunk the idea of ‘chemtrails’. They are deniers of an existing covert program to alter the Earth’s climate, supposedly to prevent global warming. Motherboard 2016 Aug 13 (Story) (Cached)
US Mainstream media have virtually ignored the new war on Libya, making it the fourth country that the US is bombing in its undeclared War on Terror. [It is sad that Russia Today is the only sizeable news outlet that is giving this war more than back-page coverage, Is there no one other than America’s international opponents, who are guilty of their own media bias, to tell this story?] RT posted 2016 Aug 13 (Story)
Mike Morell, the former Deputy Director of the CIA while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, and who is a Clinton supporter, said that the war in Syria should be escalated by covertly killing Assad’s allies, including Russians and Iranians. He said this would make them ‘pay the price’. [It is likely that Morell is fishing for a top post in the CIA if Hillary is elected, because this is exactly what she wants to hear.]. RT posted 2016 Aug 13 (Story)
