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Leaked Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) Draft Text
by Stephen Lendman
A previous article discussed a trade agreement most people never heard of - involving 51 countries and over two-thirds of world trade in services.
In 2014, WikiLeaks released a secret TISA Financial Services Annex. A leaked February 2015 TISA text revealed updated provisions worse than last year's draft.
On July 2, WikiLeaks released a new draft text. Public Citizen President Robert Weissman commented saying:
"Our analysis of a leaked version of the draft agreement, along with a draft annex on financial services, identifies threats to rules and policies ranging from limits on overall bank size to consumer protections, from prophylactic protections against new speculative financial instruments to limits on transfers of personal financial data."
Deadlock in Vienna
by Stephen Lendman
Washington obstructionism leaves Iran nuclear talks deadlocked as another deadline approaches for resolving remaining issues. Years of standoff persist.
Obama wants a one-way deal on his terms - demanding unreasonable Iranian concessions, raising the bar continually for more, wanting Iran subjugated and isolated as part of a longterm plan to replace its government with a US-controlled puppet regime letting Big Oil plunder its hydrocarbon resources.
Fars News cited an informed source close to negotiations saying "serious" issues remain unresolved.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said "(n)othing is definite yet. Some differences are still there, but we are trying."
President Obama Accepts Slavery in Order to Win TPP Trade Deal
Eric Zuesse
So that U.S. President Barack Obama can end a roadblock and win the agreement of other nations for his proposed Trans Pacific Partnership, he has decided to remove one of the nations, Malaysia, from the U.S. State Department’s official list of countries that allow slavery. Malaysia, which recently found over a hundred graves of discarded slaves, has been on the U.S. State Department’s “Tier 3” list of slave nations, along with North Korea, Zimbabwe, Syria, and Iran, but, unlike those other countries, Obama wants Malaysia to be included in his Trans Pacific Partnership; so, he has decided to remove Malaysia from that official list.
This was first reported by Reuters on July 8th, under the headline “Exclusive: U.S. Upgrades Malaysia in Annual Human Trafficking Report.” Reuters announced: "The United States is upgrading Malaysia from the lowest tier on its list of worst human trafficking centers, U.S. sources said on Wednesday, a move that could smooth the way for an ambitious U.S.-led free-trade deal with the Southeast Asian nation and 11 other countries."
High Stakes Game of Chicken in Greece
by Stephen Lendman
Greece is Exhibit A for predatory capitalism's rapaciousness - profiting at the expense of human misery along with looting weak nations of their wealth, assets and enterprises.
Theft on the grandest scale reflects a world gone mad so super-rich bandits can accumulate endless more amounts of enormous wealth no matter the cost in human suffering.
Their world is unfit to live in for most people everywhere - systemic injustice on the grandest of grand scales, including mocking popular sentiment. European Council president Jean-Claude Junker called last Sunday's referendum a "circus" - overwhelming opposition to more austerity "irrelevant."
Hillary Clinton Supports Illegal Israeli Settlements
by Stephen Lendman
Clinton's support for Israel is unwavering - one-sided like virtually everyone else in Washington. Palestinian rights don't matter except at times paying them disingenuous lip service.
As a New York senator (from January 2001 - January 2009), Clinton said "undivided Jerusalem as (Israel's) capital…must never be questioned" - or its status as "a Jewish state," regardless of its large Arab population on privately owned land and recognition under international law as an international city under a UN protectorate. She supported cutting off Palestinian aid - ignoring the harm it would cause. She outspokenly defended unrestricted Israeli West Bank colonization - on stolen Palestinian land.
Obama Declares Permanent War on Humanity
by Stephen Lendman
Obama heads Washington's lunatic fringe - a criminal gang waging endless wars, deploring peace, and pursuing phony war on terrorism to advance their imperial aims while at the same time threatening humanity's survival.
Flanked by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Martin Dempsey and other top Pentagon warriors on Monday, Obama underscored his permanent war agenda, saying "(t)his will not be quick. This is a longterm campaign…generational," he stressed. "ISIL is opportunistic and it is nimble…It will take time to root them out" - especially when plans call for continued support, not defeating them.
US-Installed Ukrainian-Style "Democracy"
by Stephen Lendman
Western leaders calling fascist dictatorships democracies should scare everyone. It suggests the kind of governance they want domestically - rule by brute force while waging endless wars abroad, Orwell's worst nightmare underscored by potential nuclear armageddon.
Washington installed Ukraine's Nazi-infested dictatorship last year. Nightmarish conditions prevail - police state ruthlessness by any standard. Lawful rule is nonexistent. Anyone challenging fascist illegitimacy faces imprisonment or death.
Elections are farcical when held. Press freedom is prohibited. Independent journalists are kidnapped and murdered. Russophobia rages. Ethnic Russians are considered fifth column threats. Anti-Semitism is rife.
One Year After Israel's 2014 Gaza Aggression
by Stephen Lendman
July 8 marks the first anniversary of one of history's great crimes - premeditated Israeli aggression against 1.8 million largely defenseless Gazans, a barbarous act of mass slaughter and destruction mostly affecting civilians.
The Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement representing 4.5 million persecuted Palestinians commented on Gaza one year later. Saying "little has changed."
Gaza remains in ruins "light years away from reconstruction." Israeli blockade prevents it - imposing "sweeping, arbitrary restrictions on travel and on movement of commercial goods," Gisha explained.
Tentative Deal on Iran Sanctions Relief?
by Stephen Lendman
Ending US-pressured Western sanctions on Iran is one of the thorniest issues in ongoing P5+1 talks. On July 4, AP News headlined "Tentative agreement on Iran sanctions relief," saying:
P5+1 countries and Tehran tentatively agreed on what "sanctions will be lifted and how quickly" - short of key officials signing off on final agreement terms.
Unnamed diplomats said sanctions terms were resolved this week. No details were provided. An unnamed senior US official indicated work remains to complete a final deal.
UN Human Rights Council Resolution Denounces Israeli War Crimes
by Stephen Lendman
The whole world knows Israel committed horrific war crimes last summer against 1.8 million largely defenseless Gazans - even greater ones than it was condemned for in 2008-09 and 2012.
UNHCR's Commission of Inquiry (COI) held top Israeli government and military officials accountable for mass murdering Gazan civilians threatening no one.
COI chairwoman Mary McGowan Davis said "the extent of the devastation and human suffering…was unprecedented and will impact generations to come."
Nuremberg Principles apply but aren't enforced for rogue states like Israel and America - repeatedly committing mass murder and destruction with impunity because nothing is done to stop them. Operation Protective Edge was premeditated naked aggression. It had nothing to do with Hamas rockets or bogus claims about it being a terrorist organization.
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