Palestine has tried for decades to establish independence, but Israel has not been willing to give up its colony, so the occupation continues.But for the first time in history, an emerging country like Palestine has the ability to secede from its occupying overlords by adopting its own cryptocurrency: Bitcoin. Not a shot needs to be fired. No UN votes are needed. No global peace talks. Just Bitcoin for the win.Pluses include; money can be sent in and out of Palestine completely unmolested by the international bankers who have conspired with Israel to keep Palestinians behind Israel’s apartheid wall; both physical and monetary.Remember it was an international boycott of UK’s Barclays bank that ultimately brought down the apartheid regime in South Africa. Here we have a slightly different situation in that Barclays bank is now part of a government controlled system that relies on rigging Libor, energy, credit default swaps and precious metals markets and there are no exceptions to this rule by manipulation, so mounting a boycott is virtually impossible. Not only has Barclays become ‘too big to fail’ but it has also become too big to hold accountable for international human rights abuses. (same for the other three big UK banks and the biggest banks in the US too).And we can’t forget the Big Four accounting firms along with their army of lawyers and bankers who suppress millions with their vicious monetary dictatorships and market manipulation schemes – that force up the price of food and energy – but without raising the cost of credit for insiders (or wages for outsiders) who can borrow virtually unlimited amounts of cash at near zero (and in some cases negative) interest rates – providing capital to build slave labor camps anywhere in the world like in Palestine (and buy weapons) for virtually no cost; not to mention occupying strategic assets like water and energy in neighbors (like Israel occupying Palestine: the real reason).Bitcoin, like the spiritual leaders who have come before it in the Middle-Eastern desert, is a miraculous gift capable of transforming an oppressed, forgotten people. The Palestinian economy is a multi-billion dollar economy that unfortunately benefits mostly outsiders. But if Bitcoin were adopted as the official currency, Palestinians would be able to shape their own economic destiny and in so doing their sovereign destiny.In very short order, Palestine would have the soundest currency in the world, as coveted and as stable as gold and silver. As various paper ‘fiat’ money continues to get debased in countries around the world, Palestine’s currency would maintain its purchasing power. The living standards of Palestinians would increase to the point where the Palestinian bitcoin currency would put the Israeli shekel to shame. … Read More
100 days of hunger: Anonymous stands up for Gitmo prisoners
Follow RT’s day-by-day timeline of the Gitmo hunger strike.Kicking off Friday, a series of “twitterstorms, email bombs and fax bombs” were aimed at “raising awareness in social media” of the situation at Guantanamo, violations of human rights of “prisoners, many of whom have been cleared for release years ago.” The improvised clock struck zero on May 17, meaning for the next two days supporters of the “Operation” had to be actively posting and “stealing tweets” that Anonymous suggested in a series of lines to be re-tweeted. Steal this tweet: President @barackobama @whitehouse keep your promise to Close Gitmo. Start transfers today! #GTMO19 — Operation Guantanamo (@OpGTMO) May 19, 2013 The ‘Operation Guantanamo’ found the support of thousands of Twitter users literally every few seconds, sharing links to media coverage regarding Gitmo, as well as the stories of those still detained, words of support and calls for people to act. As Obama renews his “shut down Gitmo” talk, take the 20 minutes to read this. Your gov’t is torturing people. slate.me/14N15jv #GTMO19 — Bones (@Bonestotheface) May 19, 2013 Many Gitmo detainees aren’t waiting for justice, they’re waiting for release. If we don’t act, they’ll die waiting to be released. #GTMO19 — Delic(@HamdoDelic) May 19, 2013 Many of the OpGitmo participants recalled the story of Shaker Aamer, long-time Guantanamo detainee and veteran hunger striker, who joined the current hunger strike on February 15.Some tweets were calling on British leaders to push on President Obama to close Guantanamo. @williamjhague @david_cameron why not do @barackobama a favour? help#CLOSEGITMO demand release of #ShakerAamer #GTMO19 — Suom Ynona (@SuomYnonaSA) May 19, 2013 “The British Government has no objection to take me so you need to work fast + get me out of here b4 it is too late.’ #GTMO19 #ShakerAamer — Game Over (@vansopinion8ted) May 19, 2013 The anti-Guantanamo protest did not just take place online, during its first day the protests were held outside the White House demanding the camp’s closure.On May 18, the second day of OpGITMO, British activists held a demonstration in London to mark the 100th day of the collective hunger strike.The campaigners, wearing orange jumpsuits and black hoods, staged a murder scene outside the US embassy. Some of the activists, hidden behind Anonymous masks, demonstrated how US forces have force-fed some of the striking captives via tubes through their nose. #gtmo19 #opgtmo @opgtmo Houston, I think we’ve got a problem twitter.com/ShutGuantanamo… #closegitmo — London Guantánamo (@ShutGuantanamo) May 19, 2013 They were carrying banners reading, “11 years where’s the justice?” and “Stop the torture” . MUST SEE BRILLIANT PROTEST OUTSIDE US EMBASSY IN LONDON presstv.ir/detail/2013/05… #Khadr #GTMO19 — Operation Guantanamo (@OpGTMO) May 19, 2013 A ‘World Can’t Wait’ national movement has organized “Orange jumpsuit contingent” events in New York and Hawaii, calling for people to take part. “We’ll be standing in our orange jump suits to demand the closure of Guantanamo and will be passing out leaflets,” read the statement on the movement’s website. The Anonymous website also posted phone numbers for the White House, the United States Southern Command and the Department of Defense, urging supporters to ‘phonebomb’ officials as well as local senators with calls about the camp. Grab your phone and help us flood the White House with calls (202) 456-1111 takeaction.amnestyusa.org/site/c.6oJCLQP… #GTMO18 — Anonymous (@Crypt0nymous) May 18, 2013 Calls to stop Guantanamo have since been echoed by a multitude of rights organizations, as well as by people within the ranks of the US government and military, some of whom spoke to RT about the issue.Lieutenant Colonel Barry Wingard, who was initially part of the Guantanamo apparatus, has since turned attorney to the detainees at the camp. He described the harrowing ordeal his client has had to undergo and stressed that President Obama doesn’t need Congress to take action on the much-debated transfers of those cleared for release.“Under the National Defense Authorization Act, the president has the ability through the Secretary of Defense to sign a waiver to get some of these men out of here,” said Wingard.He also described the harrowing ordeal his client has to undergo every time he is force-fed, saying there is no way this can be a permanent solution, health-wise:“He reports that his sinuses are infected, that he feels week, that the formula they’re putting in his body makes him gain weight, but it’s a weakening kind of weight, and that he feels sedated. He’s convinced in his mind that they’re adding more to his liquid and he’s asked that they mix it in front of him – which they’ve refused.”Similarly, Amnesty International has been sounding the alarm, saying the situation is “at a crisis point”, while the UN rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, told RT that the camps practices were simply “cruel, inhuman and degrading.” Countless detainee testimonies paint a grim picture of the escalating situation at Guantanamo, with fears mounting by the day that the health of those being force-fed could seriously deteriorate. … Read More
‘We need money to live’: Thousands protest against Italian PM, austerity measures (VIDEO, PHOTOS)
Protesters held banners which read, “We can’t wait anymore” and “We need money to live.””We hope that this government will finally start listening to us because we are losing our patience,” protester Enzo Bernardis told Reuters. Letta promised to make jobs his top priority when he assumed office in April. Demonstrators accused him of not sticking to his vow, instead choosing to focus on a property tax reform outlined this week. Union leaders said they want a fresh agenda, and urged Letta to shift away from the austerity plan pursued by former Prime Minister Mario Monti, who introduced a range of spending cuts, tax hikes, and pension reforms during his time in office.”We need to start over with more investment. If we don’t restart with public and private investments, there will no new jobs,” said Maurizio Landini, secretary-general of the left-wing metalworkers union Fiom. But other protesters didn’t believe Letta’s government was capable of changing the country’s economic track. “This government will last a very short time,” said demonstrator Marco Silvani. “What we need is a new leftist party that fights for the rights of the people.”According to a Friday poll conducted by the SWG institute, the government’s approval rating has dropped to 34 per cent from 43 per cent at the start of May. Italy is in the midst of its longest recession since quarterly records began in 1970. Jobless rates are close to record highs, with youth unemployment hovering around 38 per cent. … Read More
No peace pipe: Native American tribes on warpath over Keystone XL pipeline
Native Americans are opposed to the 1,179-mile (1,897km) Keystone XL project, a system to transport tar sands oil from Canada and the northern United States to refineries in Texas for various reasons, including possible damage to sacred sites, pollution, and water contamination.Although the planned pipeline would not pass directly through any Native American reservation, tribes in proximity to the proposed system say it will violate their traditional lands and that the environmental risks of the project are simply too great.Russ Girling, CEO of TransCanada, the company that hopes to build the pipeline, has promised in the past that Keystone XL will be “the safest pipeline ever built.”The Indian groups, as well as other activist organizations, doubt the claim, saying the risks involved in the project are too high.In an effort to ease their concerns, officials from the Department of State agreed to meet with tribal leaders on Thursday in the Hilton Garden Inn in Rapid City, Michigan.Before the talks could begin, however, tribal leaders walked out, angered that the government had sent what they considered low-level representatives.In a press conference following the walkout, tribal leaders took turns criticizing the project, as well as the Obama administration.”I will only meet with President Obama,” Bryan Brewer, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, told the Rapid City Journal.Others mentioned environmental concerns with the proposed pipeline, which echo the concern of environmental groups across the country.Casey Camp-Horinek, an elder with the Southern Ponca Tribe based in Oklahoma, compared the pipeline and other environmental damage to the historical events that had decimated her people during European colonization.”We find ourselves victims of another form of genocide, and it’s environmental genocide, and it’s caused by the extractive industries,” she said.Charles LoneChief, vice president of the Pawnee Business Council, headquartered in Oklahoma, said the public was misinformed about the pipeline’s environmental risks.Unlike a traditional crude oil pipeline, Keystone XL will pump oil that is collected from tar sands. To turn this substance into a transportable liquid, oil companies must add chemicals that environmental groups warn are highly toxic.”That gets into our waterways, our water tables, our aquifers, then we have problems,” LoneChief said.The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has estimated that the Keystone XL pipeline will increase annual US carbon pollution emissions by up to 27.6 million metric tons – the impact of adding nearly 6 million cars on the road, according to the Environment News Service.Robin LeBeau, a council representative for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe based in South Dakota, pledged to protest against any construction, even if that meant standing in front of bulldozers.”What the State Department, what President Obama needs to hear from us, is that we are going to be taking direct action,” she said.I believe this is going to be one of the biggest battles we are ever going to have, LeBeau added.This is not the first time that Native American groups have spoken out on the project.Leaders from ten Canadian and US indigenous groups gathered in Ottawa, Ontario in March to protest the construction of pipelines.“Tar sands pipelines will not pass through [our] collective territories under any conditions or circumstances,” the tribes said at a press conference. … Read More
No sensation, only standing contracts – Lavrov on Russia’s weapons supplies to Syria
“I don’t understand why mass media are trying to make a sensation out of the fact. We do not conceal it that we supply weapons to Syria according to signed contracts, violating neither any international agreements, nor our own weapon export control legislation, one of the strictest in the world,” Lavrov said at a press conference on Friday. He stressed all of the weapons supplied are in fact air defense systems, and thus cannot impact the existing power balance between the Assad forces and the rebels. Lavrov’s remark comes in response to the recent uproar in the media, concerning Russia’s allegedly sending Yakhont anti-ship cruise missiles to Syria and earlier reports on supplies of S-300 anti-missile systems, which are capable of intercepting ballistic targets. Russia has underlined on numerous occasions any supplies to Syria are according to old contracts, many of which are Soviet-era, the supplied weapons are missile-defense ones and after completing these contracts no new deals are planned.Lavrov and Ban talk Syrian deadlock as more evidence of rebels atrocities emergeThe Russian FM commented on Russia’s weapons supplies at a press-conference following his talks with the UN chief. The Syrian crisis dominated the agenda of the meeting, which is part of a recent flurry of diplomatic efforts to end the violence in the country, preceded by Vladimir Putin holding similar talks with worlds’ top officials, including the US secretary of state and the British and Israeli leaders. Eventually, a joint initiative was authored by Moscow and Washington to hold peace conference on Syria, planned for June. Before the conference happens though, both the US and Russia have several stumbling blocks to overcome, such as divisions inside the Syrian opposition, making it unclear who exactly can represent it at the conference, and harsh preconditions set by the rebels. “In contrast to the Syrian government, which has responded quite positively to the Russian-American initiative, the opposition’s answer was quite vague. They said that they welcome any initiatives that will help to stop the violence, but before that Assad must go – reiterating their stance, which has been the cause of the deadlock for many months,” said Lavrov on Thursday in an interview to Al Mayadeen. As for the US it is expected to object to Iran’s participation, on which Moscow insists.Another thing is that when Western leaders are talking to Russia they seem to be on the same page with Moscow’s position, agreeing on the need for negotiating peace, but as soon as they leave, they are once again calling for Assad to step down and promise increasing support to the rebels.The UK and France have become increasingly vocal in their calls to supply the insurgent groups with arms. British and French efforts at lifting the EU embargo on Syria are however strongly opposed by Austria, showing a divide on the issue in Europe.What could be a mind changer for them though is a recent series of reports on atrocities performed by the rebels. The freshest example is a shocking video of three men from government troops being publicly executed by rebels in a square in the northern city of Raqqa. The killings have been confirmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.Earlier, another YouTube video was posted showing fighters of the Al Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front in Syria executing 11 government soldiers. Still earlier this week another shocking video was released featuring a Syrian rebel eating a lung of a slain government soldier in what the insurgent described as an act of revenge.Growing evidence of atrocities committed by rebel groups, however did not prevent the UN from voting for a resolution condemning Assad and praising the opposition. Russia voted against the document, describing it as one-sided.Russia still urges all of the sides to resolve the crisis by negotiations, something Lavrov reiterated on Friday, saying a peace conference should be held “the sooner the better.”He was echoed by Ban Ki-moon’s call to “not lose the momentum.” … Read More
In Taiwan, Lamenting a Lost Lead
Fostering innovation has become a mantra among corporate leaders and government officials because Taiwan’s huge consumer electronics industry has run into serious trouble. … Read More
‘Don’t know for certain’: Washington confused on Syrian chemical weapons
His comments, delivered in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, were a step back from a recent report speculating that Obama administration officials were preparing to arm Syrian rebel forces. It has been widely reported that top US government officials believe Assad responsible for the choking clouds. “We don’t have a chain of ownership,” Biden said. “We don’t know for certain whether they were used by some of the opposition, including the radicals who have aligned themselves with Al-Qaeda. It’s probable, but we don’t know for certain, that they were used by the regime.” The vice president admitted that the country’s recent – and disastrous – wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have made White House officials nervous about entering into open combat in Syria, despite vocal criticism from Congressional leaders that the American military should get involved. “With all the credibility we’ve gained in the world, we don’t want to blow it like the last administration did in Iraq, saying ‘weapons of mass destruction,’” he continued. “We know that there have been traces found of what are probably chemical weapons. What we don’t know yet – and we’re drilling down on it as hard as we can – is whether they were accidentally released in an exchange of gunfire or artillery fire, or blown up or something.” US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel was less circumspect, admitting the administration is fully committed to helping opposition forces, which are made up of fractured rebels groups from throughout Syria including current Al-Qaeda leadership, topple the Assad regime. “Using the full range of tools, the United states will continue to work toward achieving our goal of ending the violence and helping the Syrian people transition to a post-Assad authority,” Hagel said during an annual Washington conference on Middle East unrest.“As you all know, the conflict in Syria is intensifying and becoming more sectarian,” he said, as quoted by the Free Beacon. “The possibilities of state fragmentation are increasing, as are the risks of extremism and proliferation.”When pressed on if the US was considering supplying the Syrian opposition with military arms recently he replied with a simple, if ominous, “Yes.”Russia and the US have announced that they “both seek to convene an international conference with Syrian government and opposition to determine how to implement a political transition in Syria,” Biden added.Russia has warned other nations against escalating the tensions inside Syria. There are signs that international public opinion is being prepared for the possibility of foreign military intervention in the Syrian crisis, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.“Moscow is concerned by the signs of preparing the public opinion in the world to the possibility of intervention using force into the lingering internal conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic,” said a Monday statement by ministry spokesperson Aleksandr Lukashevich. “From our side we persistently call to stop the politicizing of this exceptionally serious issue and the inflating of the anti-Syrian atmosphere.”Damascus said it is ready to allow a UN team to investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria, the Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Muqdad told AFP on Thursday. More than 30 people died in the Khan al-Assal incident, and reports of a strong chlorine-like smell at the site quickly spread in the media.Russia has repeatedly urged not to delay the investigation, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently warning nations not to “become captive to rumors” until definite findings emerge.The Syrian conflict has shown no signs of relenting, despite efforts by the international community. According to UN estimates, over 70,000 Syrians have been killed since the unrest began over two years ago. … Read More
