The Syrian American Council's Pressure Campaign to Censor One of Its Major Critics
Alexander Rubinstein | mintpressnews.com | 2019-04-05
The Syrian American Council and a collection of pro-war lobbyists have led an intimidation campaign aimed at bullying a major Washington-based bookstore, Politics and Prose, into canceling award-winning journalist and author Max Blumenthal's launch event for his new book The Management of Savagery. | And it appears to have worked. Politics and Prose announced that it would "postpone" the event, citing "concerns" over the event's "format, substance, … [and] security" in a tweet. In a testament to the ferocity of the harassment campaign ag…
mintpressnews.com/how-a-pro-war-lobby-strong-armed-a-bookstore-into-censoring-one-of-their-biggest-critics/256991/

The Globalization of War. America's "Long War" against Humanity
Prof Michel Chossudovsky | globalresearch.ca | 2019-04-05
America's hegemonic project in…
globalresearch.ca/the-globalization-of-war-americas-long-war-against-humanity/5426125

Venezuela Today — Part 2: People power resists U.S. threats
Sara Flounders | workers.org | 2019-04-05
The following is Part 2 of an excerpted talk given March 21 at a Workers World Party meeting in New York City. The writer, the co-director of the International Action Center, was part of the March 9-18 delegation to Venezuela organized by the U.S. Peace Council. Venezuela's conflict with imperialism . . . | Continue reading Venezuela Today — Part 2: People power resists U.S. threats at Workers.org…
workers.org/2019/04/04/venezuela-today-part-2-people-power-resists-u-s-threats/

Minnesotans honor MLK and say yes to peace, no to NATO
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-04-05
St. Paul, MN – On April 4, 80 people gathered at the Minnesota State Capitol building to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to use his words to analyze the militarism of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Both MLK and NATO are connected to the date of April 4. | On April 4, 1967, Dr. King delivered his "Beyond Vietnam" anti-war speech at the Riverside Church in New York City. He would tragically be assassinated exactly one year later, on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. | On April 4, 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty was signed marking the inception of the military allia…
fightbacknews.org/2019/4/5/minnesotans-honor-mlk-and-say-yes-peace-no-nato

Chicago elections and what's coming next
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-04-05
Chicago, IL – The corporate media has missed what is most important about Chicago's April 2 elections. Its focus on the uninspiring mayoral contest between Toni Preckwinkle and Lori Lightfoot helped contribute to the lowest voter turnout ever. Only 29% of registered voters went to the polls. | What this election did see was a record number of young candidates challenging incumbents, and the greatest amount was in the Black wards of the city. According to Aislinn Pulley, an organizer with Black Lives Matter-Chicago, "What was significant were the young activists – mostly Black and Latino – that fought neighborhood…
fightbacknews.org/2019/4/4/chicago-elections-and-what-s-coming-next

Thinking About Russia: Pigeonholing Doesn't Work
Peter Crowley | counterpunch.org | 2019-04-05
Black-and-white thinking rarely works and certainly not about Russia. Consider the following. Only days ago, about 100 Russian troops landed in Venezuela to deter a U.S. invasion. At home, Russian security forces continue to repress pro-democracy movements, dissidents and LGBT rights activists. The Russian military has long aided the Bashar al-Assad regime, which is responsible…
counterpunch.org/2019/04/05/thinking-about-russia-pigeonholing-doesnt-work/

Saudi Arabia Arrests Supporters of Imprisoned Women Activists
teleSUR | telesurenglish.net | 2019-04-05
Saudi Arabia has arrested eight people, including two dual United States-Saudi citizens, in an apparent crackdown on supporters of women activists whose trial has drawn Western condemnation, rights groups said Friday. | RELATED: | Saudi Arabia Executes Nigerian Woman Over Drug-Related Charges | The 11 women on trial had campaigned for the right to drive and…
telesurenglish.net/news/Saudi-Arabia-Arrests-Supporters-of-Imprisoned-Women-Activists-20190405-0017.html

Lies our Senators Tell Us, or, Whither Congress?
Matthew Pappalardo | counterpunch.org | 2019-04-05
Last month, a group of student activists from various Bay Area climate justice groups visited Senator Feinstein's office in California to deliver a letter urging her to support the Green New Deal. While the students may have held out some hope Feinstein would see the light after agreeing to meet them without a scheduled appointment,…
counterpunch.org/2019/04/05/lies-our-senators-tell-us-or-whither-congress/

Protecting Julian Assange: A Must for People of Conscience
Kim Petersen | globalresearch.ca | 2019-04-05
A high level source within the Ecuadorian state has told Wikileaks that Julian Assange will be expelled within 'hours to days.' — WikiLeaks on Twitter. | The Mueller investigation of an alleged collusion between Donald Trump and Russia to influence the …
globalresearch.ca/protecting-julian-assange/5673698

Ecuador Twists Embarrassing INA Papers into Pretext to Oust Assange
Defend Wikileaks | globalresearch.ca | 2019-04-05
On 26 March, WikiLeaks' Twitter account announced that President Moreno is being investigated by Ecuador's Congress for corruption, sparked by the INA Papers leak. The same tweet referenced President Moreno's attempt to surrender Assange in exchange for US debt relief, …
globalresearch.ca/ecuador-ina-papers-pretext-oust-assange/5673682

With Extradition Imminent, the Implications of Assange's Persecution for Journalism and Democracy
Whitney Webb | mintpressnews.com | 2019-04-05
In light of Wikileaks tweeting that Julian Assange will be forcibly removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in a matter of "hours or days, MPN brings you a piece by Whitney Webb first published last June on the dangerous implications of the persecution of the Wikileaks founder.
mintpressnews.com/the-implications-of-juilian-assange-persecution-for-journalism-and-democracy/244339/

Terms of Asylum and Distraction: Moreno's Assange Problem
Binoy Kampmark | counterpunch.org | 2019-04-05
Political asylum is an accepted if often ignored right. It is also at the mercy of those interests that grant it. Ecuador's repeated insistence on conditioning Julian Assange's stay in its London abode is tantamount to corroding the idea of asylum to vacuity. You are granted asylum as a political dissident, but political dissident you…
counterpunch.org/2019/04/05/terms-of-asylum-and-distraction-morenos-assange-problem/

'The Essence of Being Palestinian': What the Great March of Return is Really About
Ramzy Baroud | counterpunch.org | 2019-04-05
The aims of the Great March of Return protests, which began in Gaza on March 30, 2018 are to put an end to the suffocating Israeli siege and implementing the Right of Return for Palestinian refugees who were expelled from their homes and towns in historic Palestine 70 years earlier. But there is much more…
counterpunch.org/2019/04/05/the-essence-of-being-palestinian-what-the-great-march-of-return-is-really-about/

Identity Rules: A Report from Reddening Chicago
Paul Street | counterpunch.org | 2019-04-05
Fake-Progressive Identity Cloaking Beyond the identity-politicized excitement of Chicago electing its first Black female chief executive and becoming the largest U.S. city to have a Black female mayor (and to have a gay mayor), there wasn't all that much for a leftist to choose from between victor Lori Lightfoot and her opponent Toni Preckwinkle. Mayor-Elect…
counterpunch.org/2019/04/05/identity-rules-a-report-from-reddening-chicago/

The Veto: Documentary Film Exposing Western Media Propaganda War Against Syria
Vanessa Beeley | globalresearch.ca | 2019-04-05
I met journalist and friend Rafiq Lutf and cameraman Abdul-Mun'aim Arnous in January 2018 and I was honoured when Rafiq asked me to work with him on his film project, The Veto. | As Dr Shaaban said to me in August …
globalresearch.ca/veto-film-exposing-cnn-al-jazeera-channel-4-western-media-propaganda-war-syria/5673628

IDF General: Israel Behind Coup That Installed Al-Sisi Dictatorship in Egypt
Whitney Webb | mintpressnews.com | 2019-04-05
Al-Sisi's government, widely considered a military dictatorship despite a pale sheen of democracy, has forged increasingly close ties with Israel ever since he came to power in the 2013 coup.
mintpressnews.com/idf-general-israel-behind-coup-that-installed-al-sisi-dictatorship-in-egypt/257002/

"The Owner": The Rise of Eduardo Elsztain and the Coming End of Argentina's Democracy
Whitney Webb | mintpressnews.com | 2019-04-05
With the backing and funding of the global elite, Eduardo Elsztain and his closest associates have taken control of Argentina's real estate, electricity, agriculture, and finance industries. His next target? Argentina's election system.
mintpressnews.com/the-owner-the-rise-of-eduardo-elsztain-and-the-coming-end-of-argentinas-democracy/256959/

Guaido set to enact uprising rooted in U.S. Regime-change operations manual
Whitney Webb | mronline.org | 2019-04-05
With its hands tied when it comes to military intervention, only covert actions–such as those described in the RED Team document–are likely to be enacted by the U.S. government, at least at this stage of its ongoing "regime change" effort in Venezuela. | Source…
mronline.org/2019/04/05/guaido-set-to-enact-uprising-rooted-in-u-s-regime-change-operations-manual/

Trump Administration Demands that Turkey Cancel Purchase of Russian S-400 Air Defense Missiles
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2019-04-05
The Trump regime demands Turkey cancel its planned purchase of Russian S-400 air defense missiles. | Technologically superior to US long-range surface-to-air Patriot missiles, nothing in the West matches their effectiveness. | S-400s can destroy multiple hostile aircraft, ballistic missiles, and …
globalresearch.ca/trump-regime-demands-turkey-cancel-purchase-russian-s-400-air-defense-missiles/5673569

Ralph Nader Demands Boeing Recall Jets After Ethiopia Crash Kills His Niece
STAFF | truthout.org | 2019-04-05
A wrongful death case was filed against Boeing on the same day that a preliminary investigation into last month's Ethiopian Airlines crash revealed damning details about the aircraft manufacturer and raised new questions about whether it gave pilots proper instructions for navigating new software. The findings were released Thursday in Ethiopia, based on the analysis of a team of 18 investigators, less than a month after the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash killed all 157 people on board. The report found similarities in the technical issues experienced by pilots on both the Ethiopian Airlines flight and Oc…
truthout.org/video/ralph-nader-demands-boeing-recall-jets-after-ethiopia-crash-kills-his-niece/

"Corporate Homicide": Ralph Nader Demands Boeing Recall Jets After Ethiopia Crash Kills His Niece
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2019-04-05
A wrongful death case was filed against Boeing on the same day that a preliminary investigation into last month's Ethiopian Airlines crash revealed damning details about the aircraft manufacturer and raised new questions about whether it gave pilots proper instructions for navigating new software. The findings were released Thursday in Ethiopia, based on the analysis of a team of 18 investigators, less than a month after the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash killed all 157 people on board. The report found similarities in the technical issues experienced by pilots on both the Ethiopian Airlines flight and Octob…
www.democracynow.org/2019/4/5/corporate_homicide_ralph_nader_demands_justice

Robert Reich: Closing the Border to Mexico is "Insane"
STAFF | therealnews.com | 2019-04-05
$1.5 billion dollars per day cross the US-Mexico border and closing it, as Trump has proposed (and recently backtracked), would be "cataclysmic," says former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, whom Laura Carlsen interviewed in Mexico…
therealnews.com/stories/robert-reich-closing-the-border-to-mexico-is-insane

Foreign Correspondent: Ukraine Elections, Putin, and Trump
Reese Erlich | progressive.org | 2019-04-05
Will the next president of Ukraine pursue reconciliation with Russia?
progressive.org/dispatches/ukrainian-elections-putin-and-trump-erlich-190405/

Something About Butte
Jeffrey St. Clair | counterpunch.org | 2019-04-05
Butte, Montana isn't a mining town. It's a mined town. The core of the city is hollow, tunneled out. Beneath the shattered surface of the Hill, there are more than 10,000 miles of underground passages and thousands of shafts, glory holes descending deep feet into the bedrock. Every now and then, holes will open in…
counterpunch.org/2019/04/05/something-about-butte-2/

Video: Israeli Air Strikes on Syria: Weapons, Effects, Consequences
South Front | globalresearch.ca | 2019-04-05
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) continue their bombing campaign in Syria. In the framework of this campaign, IDF aircraft strike what the Israeli leadership describes as Iranian infrastructure and weapon shipments to Hezbollah and pro-Iranian armed groups. Nonetheless, positions and …
globalresearch.ca/israeli-strikes-syria-weapons-effects-consequences/5673658

Global Banks, led by JPMorgan Chase, invested $1.9 Trillion in fossil fuels since Paris climate pact
Eds. | mronline.org | 2019-04-05
The top four banks that invested most heavily in fossil fuel projects are all based in the U.S., and include JPM organ Chase, Wells Fargo, Citi, and Bank of America. Royal Bank of Canada, Barclays in Europe, Japan's MUFG, TD Bank, Scotiabank, and Mizuho make up the remainder of the top 10. | Source…
mronline.org/2019/04/05/global-banks-led-by-jpmorgan-chase-invested-1-9-trillion-in-fossil-fuels-since-paris-climate-pact/

Democrats File Suit Against Border Wall Spending
STAFF | truthdig.com | 2019-04-05
WASHINGTON — The Latest on President Donald Trump and the border (all times local): | 5: 30 p.m. | House Democrats have filed a lawsuit aimed at preventing President Donald Trump from spending more money than Congress has approved to erect barriers along the southwestern border. | Democrats say Trump's attempt to transfer billions of dollars from several programs to wall construction violates the Constitution, which gives Congress control over spending. The 45-page complaint was filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. | House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls Trump's act a "brazen assa…
truthdig.com/articles/democrats-file-suit-against-border-wall-spending/

Iraq's WMDs Found…In Russia
Rob Urie | counterpunch.org | 2019-04-05
In late 2017, actor Morgan Freeman announced in a video created by a who's who of senior U.S. Intelligence officials that Russia had attacked the United States and that 'we' were at war. Freeman, whose net worth is said to be about a quarter-billion dollars, claimed that ex-Soviet 'authoritarian' Vladimir Putin, bitter about the dissolution of 'his' country, was behind the attack. The terms 'attack' and 'war' were not qualified as metaphors.
counterpunch.org/2019/04/05/iraqs-wmds-found-in-russia/

Video: Russian Jets Pound Idlib Terrorists, Kurdish Rebels Attack Turkish Proxies
South Front | globalresearch.ca | 2019-04-05
On April 4, the Afrin Liberation Forces (ALF) announced that their units had carried out a series of attacks on Turkish-backed militants. According to the ALF, on April 2, Kurdish fighters destroyed a bulldozer of Turkish-backed militants with an anti-tank …
globalresearch.ca/russian-jets-pound-idlib-terrorists-kurdish-rebels-attack-turkish-proxies/5673726

Pompeo Appoints Fox News Neocon as Spokesperson
Kurt Nimmo | globalresearch.ca | 2019-04-05
And the neocon-ization of the Trump administration continues. While The Donald is packing away Big Macs and Diet Cokes, his neocon secretary of state is appointing likeminded warmongers. | Morgan Ortagus is a deep insider with connections to both sides of …
globalresearch.ca/pompeo-appoints-fox-news-neocon-spokesperson/5673656

Pentagon Obsession: China, China, China
Pepe Escobar | globalresearch.ca | 2019-04-05
Chinese nuclear bombers. Chinese hypersonic missiles. Chinese carrier killer missiles. Chinese cyberattacks. Chinese anti-satellite weaponry. Chinese militarization of the South China Sea. Chinese Huawei spying. | So many Chinese "malign intentions". And we're not even talking about Russia. | Few people around …
globalresearch.ca/pentagon-obsession-china-china-china/5673713

The Media Smoothed the Path to British Soldiers Using Corbyn as Target Practice
Jonathan Cook | globalresearch.ca | 2019-04-05
It is time to stop believing these infantile narratives the British political and media establishments have crafted for us. Like the one in which they tell us they care deeply about the state of political life, and that they lie …
globalresearch.ca/media-smoothed-path-british-soldiers-using-corbyn-target-practice/5673699

The NATO War of 1999 and the Impotence of International Law
Dr. Hans Kà∂chler | globalresearch.ca | 2019-04-05
Abstract | The unilateral use of force by NATO member states against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999 has made obvious the flaws of the United Nations system of collective security and has demonstrated the unenforceability of the ban on | …
globalresearch.ca/nato-war-1999-impotence-international-law/5673730

Syariah Law Matters: The Kingdom of Brunei's Stoning Affair
Dr. Binoy Kampmark | globalresearch.ca | 2019-04-05
From time to time, celebrities recoil and, in anger, seek to march for a change to the status quo. Much of is never intended to alter much, but they can count their names among the indignant luminaries and say they …
globalresearch.ca/syariah-matters-kingdom-bruneis-stoning-affair/5673668

Lawsuit Seeks Records on Trump Administration's OK of Bee-killing Pesticides, GE Crops on National Wildlife Refuges