“The oil-rich nation plans to pay public workers in the digital token and to use tax incentives to encourage its use. While the petro would be backed by one barrel of Venezuelan crude, the coins can’t be exchanged for the actual oil.”
“Countries like the United States and Russia began nuclear testing in the mid-1940s. France, England, and China jumped on the bomb bandwagon a few years later. And with each detonation, radioactivity levels in our atmosphere increased. That meant each time steelmakers were blowing oxygen into new steel, they were also blowing nuclear particulates into it. That’s not true for the steel used to fabricate pre-1942 vessels, which is virtually radiation-free. And its clean status makes this metal particularly valuable for some technical applications of nuclear medicine and, more commonly, the development of nuclear energy and weapons.”
Read more: https://www.outsideonline.com/2168646/how-does-entire-shipwreck-disappear-bolts-and-all
“In a secret deal, a French company purchased code from a Kremlin-connected firm, incorporated it into its own software, and hid its existence from the FBI, according to documents and two whistleblowers. The allegations raise concerns that Russian hackers could compromise law enforcement computer systems.”
Read more: https://www.buzzfeed.com/chrishamby/fbi-software-contains-russian-made-code-that-could-open-a
“Despite the PKK being listed as a terrorist group by the U.S., European Union, and U.K., the U.S.-led coalition supports the PYD and YPG as the most effective partner against Daesh, overlooking their proven links with the PKK.”
“‘The United States has admitted that it has created a terrorist force along our country’s border. Our duty is to drown this army of terror before it is born,’ Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara. The U.S.-led coalition declined to comment on Erdogan’s threats.”
“In just one extraordinary year, Trump has destabilized the delicate duality that has long been the foundation for U.S. foreign policy: favoring war over diplomacy, the Pentagon over the State Department, and narrow national interest over international leadership. But in a globalizing world interconnected by trade, the Internet, and the rapid proliferation of nuclear-armed missiles, walls won’t work. There can be no Fortress America.”
Read more: http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176373/tomgram%3A_alfred_mccoy%2C_tweeting_while_rome_burns/
“The [Iran] episode exposes a malady of American foreign policy. It lacks consistency, coherence and moral clarity, treats friends and adversaries by separate standards, and is reflexively interventionist. Thus has America lost much of the near-universal admiration and respect she enjoyed at the close of the Cold War. This hubristic generation has kicked it all away.”
Read more: http://buchanan.org/blog/americas-mission-now-128460
“Kahn emphasized ‘a wide field of intelligence cooperation and defense cooperation have been suspended,’ but added the supply lines for NATO troops in Afghanistan would remain open. There was little mention of the fate of CIA drone bases operating in the country.”
Read more: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-10/pakistan-suspends-military-and-intelligence-cooperation-us
“Green Party presidential Candidate Jill Stein is being investigated by the Senate Intelligence (sic) Committee for ‘Russian connections.’ What has brought Russiagate to Jill Stein? The answer is that she attended the 10th Anniversary RT dinner in Moscow as did the notorious ‘Russian collaborator’ US General Michael Flynn. RT is a news organization, a far better one than exists in the West, but if you were one of the many accomplished people who attended the anniversary dinner, you are regarded by Republican Senator Richard Burr from North Carolina as a possible Kremlin agent.”
Read more: https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2017/12/21/de-facto-travel-restrictions-now-exist-americans/
“A day after the U.S. leader slammed Islamabad for harboring terrorists in a New Year’s Day tweet, Pakistan’s central bank announced that it will be replacing the dollar with the yuan for bilateral trade and investment with Beijing. With a steady stream of Chinese capital under its belt, Pakistan may no longer be receptive to American threats, the most recent of which involves Washington cutting off security assistance.”