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Syrians Vote
by Stephen Lendman
June 3 was historic. It was Syria's first ever free, fair, open democratic presidential election.
Hassan al-Nouri and Maher Hajjar competed with Assad. He's overwhelmingly popular.
He'll win easily. Only his victory margin remains to be determined.
Syrians want no one else leading them. Especially while conflict continues. He's fighting for Syrian freedom. He's defeating Obama's dirty game. On Tuesday, 9,601 polling stations opened at 7:00AM. Heavy turnout kept them open until midnight. To accommodate everyone wanting to vote.
Syrians in hot zones voted in safe areas. The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported "massive" turnout.
Is the Destructive Drug War Being Brought to an End?
Kevin Zeese
Making positive change often seems impossible, but one area that should give people hope is the movement toward ending the war on drugs.
When I was in law school in the late 1970s, I did an internship at NORML, where one of my tasks was responding to mail from marijuana prisoners and their families. The harsh injustice of the drug war struck me then, and ever since I've been working to end the war on drugs -- a war declared by Richard Nixon.
Majorities now support the outright legalization of marijuana and oppose the war on drugs. The public has overcome decades of misinformation to justify the drug war.
Obama in Europe
by Stephen Lendman
Wherever he goes, trouble follows. He's the latest in a long line of rogue US leaders.
Contempt for rule of law principles, duplicity and moral cowardice define them. Pretense otherwise doesn't wash.
Obama exceeds the worst of his predecessors. He's guilty of high crimes too grave to ignore.
Millions worldwide call America a pariah one. They do so for good reason. Its imperial agenda targets fundamental freedoms for elimination.
Obama went all-out to destroy them on his watch. He did so at home and abroad. He made planet earth unsafe to live on.
More than any of his predecessors. He waged political, economic and hot wars on humanity. They rage out-of-control.
Kiev Cluster Bombs Lugansk
by Stephen Lendman
On June 2, Itar Tass headlined "Administration building in Luhansk caught by fire after air strike, five dead, ten injured," saying:
"The fourth floor of the Luhansk regional administration building was caught by fire after an air strike carried out by a Ukrainian fighter jet."
"A huge number of ambulances and fire crews have arrived at the scene to extinguish the fire and evacuate the injured." "According to reports, five people were killed and at least 10 were injured in the attack." "The administration building is surrounded by people in military uniforms who are asking the crowd to disperse."
"The fighter jet used cluster bombs to deliver a pinpoint strike."
Washington Wants Maduro Dead
by Stephen Lendman
He's Venezuela's democratically elected president. It doesn't matter. Washington's dirty war continues.
It's done so since Chavez's December 1998 election. He became president in February 1999. He served until his March 5, 2013 death.
He survived Washington's April 2002 coup attempt. A 64-day 2002 - 03 general strike and oil management lockout.
A failed August 2004 national recall referendum. He was Washington's main hemispheric enemy. It wanted him ousted. It wanted him dead. Obama killed him. Most likely by poison or cancer causing substances. Four major surgeries in 18 months couldn't save him.
He knew he was marked for death. He said so numerous times. So did Maduro, saying he "was poisoned by dark forces in order to hit at the Venezuelan people and Latin America."
Washington targets all independent nations for regime change. It wants subservient pro-Western governance replacing them.
Pope’s unbalanced neutrality in Holy Land
By Nicola Nasser*
Pope Francis’ “”pilgrimage” to the Holy Land last week proved to be an unbalanced impossible mission. The pontiff failed to strike a balance of neutrality between contradictory and irreconcilable binaries like divinity and earth, religion and politics, justice and injustice and military occupation and peace.
Such neutrality is viewed by the laity of Christian believers, let alone Muslim ones, in the Holy Land as religiously, morally and politically unacceptable.
The 77-year old head of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics “is stepping into a religious and political minefield,” Naim Ateek, the Anglican priest who founded the Palestinian liberation theology movement and runs the Sabeel Ecumenical Center in Jerusalem and Nazareth, was quoted as saying by “Time” on last May 24, the first day of the pope’s “pilgrimage.”
Battling for Ukraine's Soul
by Stephen Lendman
Eastern Ukrainian freedom fighters aren't quitting. They reject Kiev putschists.
They deplore fascist governance. They want fundamental democratic rights everyone deserves.
So do Maidan activists. Nonviolent ones. Thousands. On Sunday, they convened a People's Veche (assembly).
The first in two months. In Kiev's Independence Square. Thousands participated. To decide whether to continue tent city activism. "We are not going to go away," they said. They're watching president-elect Poroshenko. They'll give him a month to deliver on promises made.
Brazil: Workers Struggle Trumps Sports Spectacle
James Petras
Introduction
For decades social critics have bemoaned the influence of sports and entertainment spectacles in ‘distracting’ workers from struggling for their class interests. According to these analysts, ‘class consciousness’ was replaced by ‘mass’ consciousness. They argued that atomized individuals, manipulated by the mass media, were converted into passive consumers who identified with millionaire sports heroes, soap opera protagonists and film celebrities.
The culmination of this ‘mystification’ – mass distraction –were the ‘world championships’ watched by billions around the world and sponsored and financed by billionaire corporations: the World Series (baseball), the World Cup (soccer/futbol), and the Super Bowl (American football).
Turkey Cuts Water Supply to Syria - Euphrates Shut Down
Michael Collins
Western hostilities toward Syria are reaching a new level of viciousness. Al-Akahbar English reports:
"The Turkish government recently cut off the flow of the Euphrates River, threatening primarily Syria but also Iraq with a major water crisis. Al-Akahbar found out that the water level in Lake Assad has dropped by about six meters, leaving millions of Syrians without drinking water." Suhaib Anjarini, Al Akahbar, May 30
The water cutoff by the Turkish government caused Lake Assad to drop six feet threatening two million people in and around Aleppo, Syria's second largest city. The Euphrates originates in Turkey and also provides a critical water source for Iraq. (Image: Joel Bombardier)
Turkey, a NATO member, strongly opposes to the current government of Syria. The Turkish border to Syria is a major supply route for weapons and foreign fighters against the Syrian government.
Infrastructure Sticker Shock: Financing Costs More than Construction
Ellen Brown
Funding infrastructure through bonds doubles the price or worse. Costs can be cut in half by funding through the state’s own bank.
“The numbers are big. There is sticker shock,” said Jason Peltier, deputy manager of the Westlands Water District, describing Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to build two massive water tunnels through the California Delta. “But consider your other scenarios. How much more groundwater can we pump?”
Whether the tunnels are the best way to get water to the Delta is controversial, but the issue here is the cost. The tunnels were billed to voters as a $25 billion project. That estimate, however, omitted interest and fees. Construction itself is estimated at a relatively modest $18 billion. But financing through bonds issued at 5% for 30 years adds $24-40 billion to the tab. Another $9 billion will go to wetlands restoration, monitoring and other costs, bringing the grand total to $51-67 billion – three or four times the cost of construction.
A general rule for government bonds is that they double the cost of projects, once interest has been paid.
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