Fukushima tweets: radiation sickness everywhere

Fukushima Diary reports and translates today the tweets of a woman from Fukushima, which are her agony, but seemingly not only hers. Sorted chronologically:

• (Apr 22) Everyone is having cancer, cancer, and cancer around me. What is going on ??? I’m afraid it is that maybe …
• (Apr 24) Good morning. I’ve been having a stomach problem since my father fell down and was sent to a hospital by ambulance.
• (Apr 24) So sleepy.. feeling so much fatigue.
• (Apr 25) I can’t stop diarrhea.

You may understand why I've almost stopped reading and watching mainstream media: they silence all this.  She's naturally not at all the only one with such kind of deadly trouble, most of Japan is since the explosions at the Fukushima nuclear reactors spread plutonium all around the Northern half of Honsu (at least) and no serious containment nor evacuation action has been organized by one of the wealthiest states on Earth. Instead all they did was to silence it, extend and pretend. But you can't hide truth forever: radiation kills. It may take some time but kills, more so if nothing at all is done to prevent that people gets contaminated day after day. 

So sad...

Why are West Ukraine's spies so scared of what may happen to their families?

As the Kiev Junta prepares to attack the rebel regions of the East with a massive military buildup, three spies were captured by the militias of the People's Republic of Donetsk. They are part of an "elite" intel force known as Alpha and, although they legally do not have to as they were caught in civilian clothes, Donetsk Republic will grant them PoW status. 

→ Russia Today .

Most interestingly, the spies expressed concern about the well being of their families back in Western Ukraine:

One of the detainees hinted that they were afraid for the wellbeing of their families. “If I did something wrong,” he said, “I think nothing good would happen to my family.” Although there were no direct threats to their families, he said that was because the “mechanism was not launched” as they were abiding by orders. 

What's that mechanism? Who is threatening the families of the Junta's spies? Is that the Ukrainian Nazis (Svoboda, Right Sector) or is it  simply NATO's Gladio network (the deep state terrorist backbone of the US Empire)? Actually they are both probably the same in general lines, as Gladio has always relied on far-right extremists of Christian, chauvinist and anti-communist ideas.

This group is unrelated from the alleged "OSCE monitors", who are actually envoys from individual Western states (not OSCE as a whole but specifically Germany, Poland, Denmark, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, all them NATO members), and who are accused by Donetsk to be NATO spies and which may be used in prisoner exchange in the context of a hypothetical de-escalation that will most likely not happen.

There is a persistent rumor on the Internet about the Kiev Junta rapidly losing support within NATO, not because they are Nazis, nope, but because they are extremely inefficient, and have been given an ultimatum until Wednesday to bring the East on their knees or lose support. 

So it is very possible that they try something in the next few days and that it may happen to be a massacre, or also a fiasco, as soldiers have in the past refused to attack the civilians.

Protests growing globally in these last years

A report by Columbia University's Initiative for Policy Dialogue attempts to review the many many protests that have happened in these last years. The period covered is 2006-2013, which roughly approximates the Great Civilizational Crisis in which were immersed for the time being, which began in the economic aspect with the financial crisis of 2007.

Isabel Ortiz et al., World Protests 2006-2013. Initiative for Policy Dialogue and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung New York Working Paper 2013. Freely accessible PDF → LINK. 

The review has some points of interest, for example that while most protests took place in the High Income Region of the world, the largest ones by far happened in less developed countries: India with almost 100 million involved in massive protests against tolerance with rapists and Egypt with about 13 million walking out in the ousting of Mursi. The next places belong to Portugal (three multi-million marches in 2010 and 2013) and France (two multi-million protests in the general strike of 2009-10), followed by the 2013 massive uprising in Turkey, which is still ongoing intermittently. Then come Italy and Chile and the Arab Spring of 2011.

Most of the large protests took place in 2013, what underlines that the social, economic and political crisis is actually far from being settled and rather escalating beyond any possible control.

A major change involving the ongoing global protest wave is that most of those involved would have never before considered themselves activists of any sort but just common people and even "middle classes", whatever that means.

Again, while in the High Income Region, protests were mostly peaceful, riots were concentrated in less well off countries, largely in Tropical and Southern Africa. 

The most notorious demand was real democracy, what outlines how even in states usually considered "democratic" there is a most serious breach of representativeness that seriously endangers social cohesiveness, as elected governments do not serve the people at all anymore but just the oligarchies. 

Next were:

1. against the IMF and the totalitarian global banking system
2. against corporate political power and privatization of public assets
3. for environmental justice
4. for better public services
5. against corruption
6. for tax justice
7. for jobs, wages and labor conditions
8. against inequality
9. against ethnic injustice
10. against collapse of living standards

Etcetera.

However even if "real democracy" is the most chanted slogan worldwide, political demands overall are second to economic demands in the actual list of the globally outraged masses.  

Most of these demands are surely mutually supportive and one could well write down a serious, simple and homogeneous platform based on them: grassroots eco-socialism in short. 

By target:

1. Government (80%)
2. Political or economic system (43%)
3. Capitalists (29%)
4. IMF (20%)
5. Plutocrats (oligarchic elites and mafias) (17%)
6. European Union (16% at global level, 30% in the European region, so I guess that almost 50% in EU as such)
7. Armed forces (military and police) (9%)
8. Political and social groups (7% against political parties, 6% against local administrations and just 2% were hate protests against ethnic or sexual minorities).

Most protests (63%), of course, did not achieve anything, not even conciliatory measures. This again highlights the lack of real democracy because if a government doesn't pay any attention to millions demonstrating, then there is something very wrong going on and is systemic. 

When protests achieved some of their goals, these were often disappointingly feeble: Arab regime changes or reforms that bring more of the same with just a new face, Chilean government accepts to negotiate with students but then they reach no agreement, etc. 

The authors compare this period to such critical historical years as 1848 or 1968. However I suspect it rather compares with the late 18th century when the old feudal regime was collapsing everywhere, leading to American and European bourgeois revolutions, which today can't but be working class revolutions, as it is the transitional bourgeois regime which is collapsing.

Anarchist organization claims bomb attack against Bank of Greece

The attack happened on April 10th but I did not see any headline and have been oblivious to it until now. The large bomb was located in a car and heavily damaged the facade of the building. There were no victims because the armed group, Revolutionary Struggle, advised twice of the attack in advance. 

Now the armed organization has formally claimed the attack in an extensive communication that can be read at ContraInfo. 

The date was carefully chosen to correspond to the fourth anniversary of a major police crackdown against Revolutionary Struggle and also to with the exact day when the Greek state returned to the international markets in search of the first long term loan since the mega-crisis hit it and the day before to an official visit by "super-terrorist chancelor" Angela Merkel.

Revolutionary struggle denounces that the financial crisis was caused by local and international oligarchies and is nevertheless being paid by the Greek masses, with almost half of the Greek nation being dumped into poverty and a quarter in "absolute destitution". 

They argue that:

Social revolution cannot be postponed to an indefinite future, nor be limited to an indistinct projectuality. It requires constant revolutionary action in the present time, and involves the organization and formation of a ground-breaking revolutionary movement that will elaborate and define its strategic steps, and clash with the establishment’s centralized policies. It involves the political process and willingness to put specific revolutionary proposals into practice.

They summarize their demands as follows:

• Unilateral Greek bankruptcy
• Exit from EU and EMU
• Expropriation of all the assets of Capital, local or foreign
• Abolition of banks, write-out of all citizen debts to bank, devolution or collectivization of bank-seized assets
• Collectivization of state and church property
• Abolition of the state and its replacement by a confederate system of popular assemblies and workers' councils, whose national level institutions will be under direct mandate from these and subject to recall at any moment
• Abolition of the police and army, being replaced by a popular militia

Thousands march in Brittany, Basque Country, for self-rule

The demands may be slightly different but the desire for self-rule and national unity is the same. 

Some 15,000 Bretons marched in Nantes for the reunification of the historical nation and greater self-rule within France. 

Meanwhile in Iruñea (Pamplona), some 25,000 Basques marched for independence in the Basque National Day. 

Sources: RT, Naiz[es].

Ukrainia sliding further into civil war

The Ukrainian Army has been ordered by the Nazi Junta to act against the popular uprising in the East but the results so far seem unimpressive. 

At dawn there were reports of clashes at Slavyansk, located on the main road between Kharkov and the rebel city of Donetsk. The situation in the strategical town remains unclear.

A tank was sent back in Rodinskoye by unarmed citizens daring the soldiers to shoot them (→ video).

Even more worrisome seem the growing attacks by Nazi squads, now largely incorporated to the newly created "National Guard". 

In Sumy, NE Ukraine, the headquarters of the Communist Party were attacked by a fascist squad. 

In Kiev, where the rebellion may begin to spill-over, hundreds attempted to take the Parliament. 

Also in Kiev, two anti-Junta presidential candidates were attacked after participating in a TV debate. Oleg Tsarov (or Tsarev), former member of the Party of Regions, was beaten by a Nazi death squad. Mikhail Dobkin, candidate of the Party of Regions was also attacked with chemicals and flour. 

After the aggression, Tsarov who supports the anti-Junta uprising, declared he won't leave the electoral race no matter what. He has suffered aggressions before.

The so-called "National Guard" squads (essentially Nazis) are being sent also to the East. These are the ones most likely to use full force against anyone who opposes the NATO-backed regime even peacefully.

Source: Russia Today (link 1, link 2, link 3).


Updates:

Airfield at Kramatorsk captured by Junta forces → RT.

Ukrainian commander issues death threats to those who dare to resist the Nazis → RT.

Citizens trail army convoy heading to Donetsk, no attempt to stop it yet → RT live updates.

Citizens of Lugansk have stopped a military convoy → RT live updates.

Lugansk city council debating its independence from Ukraine → RT live updates.


Updates (Apr 16):

Pyrrhic was the Ukrainian "victory" at Kramatorsk airfield. Unarmed civilians have engaged the troops, 300 of which moved into the town, and many have switched sides. At least six tanks have joined the anti-fascist side.

At least four people have been reported killed by yesterday's armed attack against this town's airfield.

Another military convoy against Lugansk was also stopped by villagers at Raygorodok.

→ RT live updates.

Ukraine: anti-Junta resisters take over much of the East

Thousands of Federalist Anti-Fascist Ukranians have taken control of the government buildings, including police stations, in much of the Donetsk and Kharkov oblasts. The towns affected are Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, Krasni Liman, Druzhkova, Krasnoarmeysk, Konstanstonovka, Snezhoe, Mariupol, etc. 

In the capital of resistance, Donetsk, the anti-riot police forces "Berkut" (much maligned by the mainstream media but actually quite peaceful and civilized when compared with the kind of ultra-violent cops we are sadly used to in the West) took over Donetsk police station and declared their loyalty to the People's Republic of Donetsk.

In Kharkov, the second largest Ukrainian city, there was again a large demo demanding federalism. Another pro-Junta march was held largely manned by fascist militants arrived from Western Ukraine. Four of them were arrested by local police as they attempted to smuggle explosives into the city. 

Source: Russia Today (incl. many videos).


Update (Apr 13): Ukrainian forces have attacked Slavyansk with reports of gunfire. At least one person resulted killed and two more injured. Donetsk militias and the "dissolved" anti-riot police force are heading to the front to aid the people of the attacked town (→ RT).

See also: Ukraine turmoil live blog at RT.

Italy: widespread clashes in Rome as police charges against anti-austerity demo

Rome burned in anger today as police charged against a massive demonstration against the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie (aka: "cuts"). 

What began as a huge peaceful protest ended in urban guerrilla after police charged indiscriminately, allegedly after being provoked (but you cannot trust the official versions nor the mainstream media parrots, can you?) 

There is at least one severely injured person: a 50 years old man who suffers the traumatic amputation of several fingers, apparently caused by the explosion of a firecracker he was about to throw.

Update: more than 80 people reported injured in the clashes.

Police used tear gas against the protesters in Via Veneto, where the Ministry of Labor is, pushing them to Piazza Berberini and Via del Tritone, where clashes continued for hours. Fight was also reported in Via XX Settembre, where the Ministry of Economy is.

Sources: Webguerrillero[es] (incl. more photos), Russia Today (also more photos and a video).

Brazil: violent eviction of massive squat

Some 5,000 citizens were brutally evicted by police forces in Río de Janeiro from a former industrial building they had collectively appropriated last month out of dire need and organization. 

At least 25 people have been arrested and there are no figures of injured. 

The initial police attack was successfully countered by the squatters and thousands of people arrived from elsewhere in solidarity, extending the struggle to the nearby streets. Finally the infamously brutal Special Operations Battalion (BOPE) decisively intervened in favor of the bourgeois owner, telecom company Oi. 

Source: Webguerrillero[es].

Sense of justice is not emotional but fully driven by reason

This may be highly counter-intuitive because we culturally associate this sense of justice with idealism or, as Che Guevara put it, with being driven by superior feelings of love for fellow humans.

Actually it has nothing to do with it but with greater rational function, brain scans show.

Keith J. Yoder & Jean Decety, The Good, the Bad, and the Just: Justice Sensitivity Predicts Neural Response during Moral Evaluation of Actions Performed by Others. Journal of Neuroscience 2014. Pay per view → LINK [doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4648-13.2014]

A copy of the study has been uploaded by co-author J. Decety to academia.edu.

Complementary source: press release.

From the latter:

During the behavior-evaluation exercise, people with high justice sensitivity showed more activity than average participants in parts of the brain associated with higher-order cognition. Brain areas commonly linked with emotional processing were not affected.

The conclusion was clear, Decety said: “Individuals who are sensitive to justice and fairness do not seem to be emotionally driven. Rather, they are cognitively driven.”

According to Decety, one implication is that the search for justice and the moral missions of human rights organizations and others do not come primarily from sentimental motivations, as they are often portrayed. Instead, that drive may have more to do with sophisticated analysis and mental calculation.

This may explain why there is a well known positive correlation between intelligence and leftism: fairness is simply more rational.

Syrian "jihad" in reality: orders from Israel and "holy" prostitution rings

A Saudi Arabian girl, aged 15, stripped naked the Islamist "holy war" against Syria in interview with Turkish newspaper Aydinlik. 

The young woman, identified as Ayeshe al-Bakr, explained that she joined the so-called jihad al-nikahl (sexual holy war), that she kept sexual relations with dozens of Al Nusra fighters and that she is now pregnant. This "sexual holy war", which is just a fanatic prostitution ring, has grown in the last years as the terrorist activities of the fascist groups have increased under US imperialist command. Some Sunni muftis have claimed that those women who provide sexual favor to jihadists will go their imaginary paradise.

She also declared that she traveled with Al Nusra's leader Abu Muhamad al-Jawlani (also transcribed as al-Joulani and al-Golani) to Palestine (West Bank), where he met Zionist officers several times.

Source: HispanTV[es].

Is Ukraine sliding to disintegration? Donetsk proclaims "independence".

Yesterday we knew that pro-Russian demonstrators stormed government buildings in three key Eastern oblasts: Donetsk, Kharkov and Lugansk. The three regions have witnessed large and persistent anti-putsch protests in the last months and these have become more and more openly pro-Russian since the Crimea referendum and subsequent effective annexation by Moscow.

Today we learn that the Donetsk protesters have proclaimed the independence of the oblast with the name of People’s Republic of Donetsk. They secessionist forces are in control of most power resorts in the region, it seems.

Today at 12:20 local time, a session of the People's Council of Donbass (Donetsk region) took place in the main hall of the Regional Council and unanimously voted on a declaration to form a new independent state: the People’s Republic of Donetsk. 

The Council proclaimed itself the only legitimate body in the region until the regions in southeast Ukraine conduct a general referendum, set to take place no later than May 11.  

It is unclear what representativity may have this People's Council of Donbass but it seems quite apparent that they do have a clear lead in the streets.

They also asked protection from Russia.

Session of the People's Council of Donbass

Kharkov (including the second largest Ukrainian city) and Lugansk may well follow suit.

Police headquarters' takeover in Lugansk

Kharkov City Hall under popular control

It is unclear what happens with Zaporizhia, a nearby region where the Communist Party and allies raised militias against the Maidan putsch very early on.

It is also unclear what may happen with most of Southern Ukraine, which was clearly supporter of the Party of Regions and has significant numbers of Russian speakers. Particularly conflictive is the situation of Odessa in the SW, where Russian is the dominant language but is separated from the other regions where Russian is dominant further East. We know that there have been protests against fascist repression and that the province is so strategical that both the pro-NATO de facto government of Kiev and Russia ambition it similarly.

Ukraine's conflict map:
· stars: (a) green: pro-Russian uprising, (b) red: communist militia
· oblasts in green: favored Party of Regions in 2012
· oblasts in blue: favored Maidan parties in 2012
Around Ukraine:
· green shades: Russia and allies
· blue: NATO/EU

Ideally Russia, provided it cannot anymore keep a friendly government in Kiev, would want to annex as much as possible. However, the more it annexes, the less internal support it will retain within the remnant Ukrainian population. This is clearly a dilemma for Russia. Also the path of annexation may lead to war with NATO (unlikely but not impossible). 

In the past and in a less strategically crucial region, what Russia did was to limit itself to support separatist forces that asked for its protection, particularly against pro-NATO Georgia. It did the same in Transistria, a separatist region of Moldova, where the ethnic composition is complex enough (roughly split in three ethnicities: Russians, Ukrainians and Moldovans). This Russia did with the support of Ukraine.

But the situation in Ukraine is much more complex and involving a much greater number of variables. Ideally Russia would be better off with a friendly government in Kiev, I presume. 

In any case it seems that Donetsk, the most populated oblast of Ukraine, including 10% of the country's population, is set on the road to independence (or change of master at the very least). Lugansk and Kharkov gather more than 10%, while Zaporizhia and the already annexed Crimean Republic add some other 5%. In total these restive regions gather almost 13 million people, about 30% of of Ukrainians (or should I say ex-Ukrainians?).

They are also the richest ones in mineral resources (gas and coal) and heavy industry and where salaries are higher. Even losing influence on the rest of Ukraine, they are very much worth on their own. 

But the rest of Ukraine is still way too close to Moscow. A future NATO deployment in that area, as happened in other nearby countries before, would be a direct threat to the heart of Russia. Can Moscow manage to prevent this direct threat? How?

I would say that the secession threat may be played, at least hypothetically, to realign the army: I won't annex Donetsk, etc. but only if you remove the putschist from government and restore legality, granting free elections without fascist death squads on the streets...

... or in the Supreme Court as it was the case today in fact. 

That would be a truly masterful move that would not only save Russia but also Ukraine. I don't know if it is realistic however.

Malaysian missing flight was escorted by military jets

The missing flight 370 was apparently escorted by military jets as it flied back through Malaysia into the Indian Ocean. That is at least what a relative of some of the missing passengers claims based on witness accounts.

There is growing conviction among the relatives and friends of the passengers that this was a military operation of some sort because, on one side evidence accumulates in favor of such theory and on the other the continuous denial or question-avoidance by the authorities strongly points in favor of a cover up.

Watch the former girlfriend of US passenger Philip Wood explaining to CNN how the relatives feel on all this:

From all the evidence that has accumulated, I am positive that the airplane was hijacked by US paramilitary groups, most likely with the help of the pilot and the Malaysian authorities, and diverted to Diego García, a US-UK military base south of India.

See also:

• Malaysian missing flight: passenger sends black photo with satellite location info: Diego García
• Malaysian missing plane: qui bono? The death of four passengers benefits US corporation
• Almost certainly the lost Malaysian flight is in Diego García (US base)
• Where is the Malaysian lost airplane?

A previously posted map on the most likely route taken by the aircraft:

Update: It is also interesting this piece by Tony Gosling.

Not much new information as such but a reminder of some of the available evidence: Rolls Royce early info on the engines being active for five more hours than the originally supposed crash and their later recant (no doubt under official pressure), the Maldivian witness accounts of the plane heading southwards at low altitude, etc. Also some previous scary conspiracies which might be related: like the knowledge that modern hyper-electronic airplanes can be hacked (just like cars can) and put under remote control and the dark reminder of the most likely murder, also by remote control, of investigative journalist Michael Hastings, who apparently was about to report on CIA director Joe Brennan's strategy of using military secret services against domestic journalists. 

10,000 march in Pamplona against Christian Fundamentalista anti-women law

Some 10,000 people, mostly women, marched yesterday in Iruñea-Pamplona in defense of the right to decide on their own bodies, a fundamental right that may be severely restricted by the Neo-Fascist government of Madrid (PP).

'Our body, our choice'

They explained:

We need sexual education to be able to decide freely, contraceptives to prevent abortion and free abortion to prevent killing. Suddenly sexual and pregnancy rights are being thrown to the trash bin with this new law, sending us back to the Franco dictatorship, and we will not accept that. 

They also criticized the outraging process of privatization of abortion services. 

After decades of quite liberal abortion laws, Spanish far-right minister Gallardón is promoting a new abortion law which will make free choice a crime for nearly all cases, in an obvious attempt to return to the Fundamentalist Christian ideology of the Franco era. 

The sociological reality however is not at all in line with such extremist intolerant ideas and the bill is causing a serious social conflict, even inside the ranks of the conservative party in power.

Source[eu]: Berria.

In Brussels also police attacks the right to demonstrate

A peaceful demonstration of the quasi-official and rather sheepish European Confederation of Worker Unions (ETUC) in Brussels, protesting against the so called "austerity" (for the working class only), was gratuitously attacked by police with water cannons. Activists defended themselves against this instance of state terrorism in any case.

This illustrates how fascism, that is: the suppression of the most basic rights such as the right to demonstrate, is taking over all Europe, from Ukraine to Spain and from Turkey to Belgium.

This is coincident (and not by mere coincidence but because of intentional planning) with the increase in aggressiveness of openly fascist violent squads, which work as mercenaries for the bourgeois elites, trying to instill terror among those who dare to resist one way or another. 

Any day we will wake up in a death camp and wonder how could it all go so wrong. The answer is simple: 

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Martin Niemöller

Malaysian missing flight: passenger sends black photo with satellite location info: Diego García

A passenger of the missing Malaysian Airlines flight 370 has sent a completely black photo with a message and location data which is right by the Diego García airport. 

The passenger, Philip Wood, from the USA and working for IBM in Malaysia, sent a completely black photo with a short message and the Exif metadata, which reports the exact time and geographic coordinates (via GPS).

The coordinates are within two miles (3 km) of those of Diego García, as mapped by Google. Diego García is a key US military base already highly suspect of being the destination of the missing airplane. 

Exif data:

===> 7 18 58.30891" ==7316197
===72 25 35.55908 ==72426544

The message read:

I have been held hostage by unknown military personal after my flight was hijacked (blindfolded). I work for IBM and I have managed to hide my cellphone in my ass during the hijack. I have been separated from the rest of the passengers and I am in a cell. My name is Philip Wood. I think I have been drugged as well and cannot think clearly.

Intriguingly the IBM website does not list him at all, however his tragedy had been previously reported by the Los Angeles Times, mentioning him as working for IBM. Also the following image from his Linkedin profile reports him as IBM executive:

Most of the passengers in the kidnapped airplane were Chinese though. 

The exact reason why the airplane was kidnapped and the destiny of the other passengers remains a mystery to this day. But what seems growingly clear is that the flight was diverted to Diego García and that therefore the US Military is behind it.

Sources: Webguerrillero[es], Before It's News, Jim Stone Freelance (original source with plenty of details and a reasonable discussion on the credibility of the message and data).

Turkey: Islamists "win" in murkiest elections ever

It seems that widespread vote rigging and even falser democracy has arrived to Europe by the hand of Tayyip Erdogan and his AKP minions. 

Burned ballots marked for the opposition were found in several stations

While the official count gave the AKP (Islamists) some 45% of the votes at state level and key (yet extremely narrow) "victories" in chronically uprising cites like Istanbul and Ankara, the local elections seem to have been anything but clean. 

Official results give victory to the Islamists... but can we believe them?

More than a thousand vote-rigging incidents were reported, unusual power cuts affected much of the country while the vote count was ongoing, the more neutral CIHAN news agency suffered a hacker attack, not to mention that Twitter and YouTube are banned right now in the bicontinental state, in a clear attempt to restrict freedom of speech and reporting.

In addition to all that, gun fights between supporters of the Islamists and the opposition erupted in the provinces of Hatay and Sanliurfa (near Syria) resulting in 8 people killed and 18 others injured. 

The official turnout was so extremely high that it seems almost unbelievable: 45 million out of 53 registered voters are reported to have turned out (85%). Even if it is clear that these elections were very much expected after the hot turmoil of the last two years, the figure looks a bit too high and may be seen as another indication supporting the widespread reports of vote-rigging.

There are at least 1418 reports of voting fraud. 

... various types of fraud were tried by the JDP [AKP] supporters in order to change the election results: fraud in ballots and stamps by using previously stamped ballots or using improper stamps; ballots thrown to waste basket; threats for open voting; using imaginary (dead) voter names for voting or double voting by using other people’s names; bringing people who cannot vote to ballot boxes; preventing people from voting; using cameras for proving the kind of voting; susceptible acts of the election ballot box chair persons; electricity cuts; physical or oral insults against opposition parties’ supporters.

Even more critically the vote-counting process was clearly manipulated. In many voting stations, police impeded citizens from accessing as observers, as is granted by law. The strange and widespread electrictiy cuts right in the middle of the counting process also make all the process even more suspicious. 

Highly suspect power cuts at the time of vote count were reported in all provinces marked in black

In any case, even the highly suspect official results at district level show a fragmentation of the once massive support for the Islamists, with especial growth of the far right (but secularist?) MHP, as well as of the Kurdish nationalist BDP, which clearly dominates the Kurdish homeland. 

At district level, even the suspect official results show a retreat of the Islamists (AKP) versus a fragmented opposition

Other parties making apparent gains are the DP (liberal-conservatives), the BBP (other Islamists), the SP (socialists?), the TKP (communists), the ÖDP (libertarian-socialists), the DSP (social-democrats) and the BGMSC (another Kurdish party, I believe).

If anything is clear is that the left-leaning opposition is way too fragmented and that a Popular Front would obviously be to the benefit of all.

Sources: Sendika, Today's Zaman, Davetsiz Misafir, HileliSecim2014, Twitter #TurkeyElections, RT.

Turkish government blocks YouTube afer leak showing plans to frame up Syria into a casus belli

After banning Twitter it was already speculated that the next in line in Erdogan's fascist spree of repression would be YouTube, because it was the main window to what is happening in the country. 

Therefore this development would not come as surprise, except for the direct trigger: a conversation between three top Turkish officers on framing up Syria into a casus belli in order to invade the Arab country. 

The video has already been deleted from YouTube (why? Uncle Sam's long hand obviously) but the transcription is as follows:

(from Russia Today)

So Turkey's beleaguered Islamist PM Erdogan is looking for a pretext to invade Syria, what in this conversation is transmitted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Davutoglu. 

Let's remember that Syria is a secularist modern state, similar to what Turkey used to be before Erdogan, and that relations between both states used to be good.

Let's remember that it was not Syria but Israel which actually made an act of piracy against the peaceful humanitarian Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, murdering several Turks and injuring many others. There you have an spontaneous casus belli, not just for Turkey but for all NATO (the ship is Turkish territory and it was in the area guaranteed by NATO, north of the Tropic of Cancer). 

So the Chief Spy Fidan has a plan: send some Turkish spies to bomb some Kurdish border village or whatever is needed to create the pretext. The Deputy Chief of Staff Guler seems to back the idea.

So the Deputy Foreign Minister Sinirlioglu doesn't seem too happy about how the "national security" has become a mere pretext for Erdogan's pathetic and corrupt domestic policies. Guess who may get fired for thinking too much?

We seldom see from so close the way key political and in this case war and false-flag attack decisions are made. We are bound to look back over what has happened and try to deduce some logic out of it and whatever evidence the powerful wrongdoers may have left. 

Naturally if you do, you're often insulted as "conspiranoid". Well conspirations happen and much more often than we appreciate. By this I do not mean that every conspiration theory floating around is just right but that we can't decide without looking first at the evidence. As I learned from my father, who grew up under Fascism, one must read "between lines" and not literally in order to understand, in other words: one must discern the hidden meaning behind the propaganda we have for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday. This is not easy and requires training and, to some extent at least, a sharp mind.

The Deep State is real, call it Gladio, call it Ergenekon, call it CIA/NSA/HS or call it just your usual elite-serving and self-serving political and military elite.

World Word III risk

No kidding. Turkey intervening in Syria would most likely cause a war spiral: Iran no doubt would back Syria right away and Russia, so extremely pressed with the Ukranian putsch, will feel the need and opportunity to intervene here or there, backed by its huge nuclear arsenal, which is probably the only one matching Washington's. 

Turkey is a NATO member and in this case NATO would have no qualms to intervene, unlike what happened with the Mavi Marmara (which was a genuine casus belli). The hawks in the USA and Europe alike have been looking for a pretext to attack Syria for a long time. So this can quickly spiral out of control into a nuclear war. 

No kidding, really. 

In fact we are probably now more at risk of nuclear war than almost any time during the Cold War. And mostly we can blame US-led aggressive imperialism for it (it's Syria but also Ukraine and the overall Brzynski plan to besiege both Russia and China in Eurasia. Plan for which the interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan are key spearheads, as well as the incorporation of much of Eastern Europe into NATO and EU.

What happens with YouTube and Twitter?

An Ankara court has supported Twitter appeal against the Turkish decision to block it, however the authorities have a whole month to comply, what means that the social media will most likely be unavailable for the local elections of March 30, which may well be a major defeat for Erdogan's fundamentalists, judging on the state of massive uprising that the country is since last year.

In any case, if the false flag attack is performed and there is intervention against Syria and, as I forecast, the situation spirals into generalized war, forget about freedom of speech at all in the Internet as in any other media. We will all have to resort to TOR encryption and IP hiding systems and even then we will be persecuted by the Gestapo, whatever its new name may be. 

The first victim of any war is always freedom of speech.

Main source: Russia Today.

Spain: Madrid mobilizations and police repression move to university: 50 arrested

Yesterday there was another popular assembly in Puerta del Sol surrounded by aggressive riot police forces. Eventually they decided to call another assembly for today at 18:00. Some of the members joined the occupation of university grounds by students on strike.

The student strike at the Universidad Autónoma was violently repressed by police forces, who entered at request of the rector, just as happened under Fascism. 

Police occupation of the university (SoliObrera)

At least 50 people have been arrested.

Occupation of the faculties have been called for tonight in solidarity with the victims of police repression.  Tomorrow a festive march ("pasacampus") has been called as well.



Recap: 

1. Police attacked first in order to divert media attention to clashes they provoked

How to make a 2+ million demo into a public order issue where you can criminalize the masses? The reactionary Spanish government decided to send the dogs in just before the news hour. There were no provocations other than some people trying to set camp, although there was indeed self-defense with whatever was at hand. 

By controlling all the mass media via their bourgeois mafia, the government has managed to turn the tables on: they don't almost mention the millions marching and all the support necessary (half the country?) but the "violence". They don't invite march leaders to the media but police agents and reactionary journalists trained to bark in favor of their master. Not a single network escapes this trap, what implies that there is no media democracy in Spain de facto and you need to resort to Internet in order to grasp some of the truth.

2. They are using "Venezuelan" defamation tactics

Just as it became notorious in the Venezuelan fascist "revolt of the posh", where images of repression from around the world were relabeled as if they were happening in Venezuela (Basque victim of Spanish torture became "Venezuelan", Tahrir repression by Mubarak's police became "Venezuelan", etc.), the Spanish authorities are resorting to falsification of information in order to defame and criminalize the masses. 

To the right one such example: a cold case of a weapon hidden in a crutch has now been presented by police as "evidence" of the "hidden weapons" that demonstrators on March  22 carried in their fantasy alt world. 

3. Scapegoating

The case of the latest political prisoner is a clear one of frame-up: Miguel has been sent to prison for allegedly taking part in the incidents of Atocha but he was actually arrested 2 km away in Recoletos, where he was probably among those trying to set up camp.

There is no evidence beyond police declarations. In the Spanish inquisitorial "justice" system, these may be enough (depending on the credibility the judge gives them) but it is well known that police lies almost systematically and the previous example is one of those. 

Freedom for Miguel

4. Tortures

Those arrested were treated worse than animals and subject to practices that can only be considered torture. They were kept for eight hours standing against a wall with their arms up, deprived of water and not allowed to use the toilet, deprived of food for 24 hours, menstruating women were not allowed to change their tampons in the almost two days of their arrest. 

Sources[es]: La Haine (link 1, link 2, link 3), @Acmp.Diginidad.Madrid, @SolidaridadObrera





Evening update: 53 students arrested, protests continue

The last info on the arrested students is that they are 53. The Vice-Rector had the whole building locked and with many activist students locked inside. They could eventually open a door but police had already arrived (on the Rector's request) and rounded up some 25 inside and the rest while they attempted to find refuge elsewhere in the campus.

Much of the focus of the Madrid protests has therefore been derived to the Universidad Autónoma, where road blockades and occupations continue, now also demanding the resignation of the Rector.

The daily assembly at Sol continues but they have by the moment desisted from setting up camp and are also focusing on the students' struggle.

Sources[es]: La Haine, Acamp.Dignidad.Madrid (Twitter). 

 

Spain: Dignity Camp evicted by police

At dawn (7:30 CET) police forcibly evicted the people still resisting at Puerta del Sol square in Madrid. They identified those present and arrested two. 

They also blockaded again the access to the plaza. 

A rally has been called for today evening (19:30) in Sol in support. Earlier (19:00) there is a rally against mysoginist violence (5 women killed in the state last week alone).

Other rallies have been called in several cities, notably Barcelona and Valencia.

Sources[es]: La Haine, Kaos (incl. video of the eviction).

Relatedly, a student strike is ongoing in Madrid today. Clashes have erupted as, again, the only answer by the government to popular demands is repression.

Fire barricades at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (→ Iniciativa Comunista)

See also for background:

• Almost 3 million people take Madrid demanding Dignity in spite of media silence and brutal police repression (Saturday 22)
• Protests continue gripping Madrid in spite of police (Sunday 23)
• Thousands march in Madrid again. Camp set up at Puerta del Sol (Monday 24)

Spain: Thousands march in Madrid again. Camp set up at Puerta del Sol

Less than three years after the landmark takeover of the Puerta del Sol plaza in Madrid by the so-called "indignados" (outraged), thousands have taken again the iconic plaza in demand of bread, jobs and housing for all and the liberation of those arrested on Saturday. 

On Saturday, at least 2 million people, took over the city, arrived from all the corners of the residual empire known as Spain, being almost totally ignored by the mass media... but not at all by police forces, which charged brutally against them.

This photo is yet to be published by any bourgeois newspaper or TV station

Dozens were arrested and many others injured. At least part of the crowds were angry enough to attempt self-defense against police violence. 

On Sunday, the protests continued in smaller but still powerful numbers, under heavy police pressure (kettling, provocations) and also with some groups resorting to more direct action, blockading several times the main avenue Gran Vía. 

Some 20 people spent last night protesting in Sol, even if police did not allow them to set up camp. 

Today Monday, protests continue as way too many are determined to have a social and political impact after the huge effort of the march. 

In the morning people rallied around the tribunals, where the arrested were finally declaring before the judge. Again the cops pressed heavily against the protest.

In the afternoon the arrested were finally set free (under charges, I presume). The first reports denounce police abuse:

Seven hours against a wall with arms up, not allowed to go to the bathroom nor drink.

Around 16:30 some people had already managed to set up camp in Sol and the call became viral: everyone to Sol. 

Again, three years of outright misery and lies later. 

Popular assembly at Sol

The assembly ratifies the points of the march:

• No to paying the banksters' debt
• No more cuts
• Out with Troika governments
• Bread, jobs and shelter for all

They also call to set camp at the plaza.

In the evening another demonstration marches through the city under the slogan "Dignity".

Thousands join.

They chant: "it's not cuts, it's class war", "freedom for the arrested in struggle" or "Juan Carlos I is Franco's heir".

Attorney Doris Benegas announced that all but one of the arrested have been set free. One remains accused of "homicide attempt", an unusually severe accusation, and has been imprisoned. However it was later known that the accusation has been reduced to "lesions". 

The government decides to declare illegal the demonstration when this one was already about to reach its destination: Cibeles Plaza. The final act is held at Nuevos Ministerios and the march is peacefully dissolved.

Those camping at Puerta del Sol are surrounded by police forces who do not let anyone enter. In spite of that, the square seems pretty much populated, judging from the direct streams:

→ http://bambuser.com/v/4474133

→ http://www.wouzee.com/acampadadignidad-22h51

Sol tonight (credit: Danips)

Is this a second "Spanish Spring"? Where will it lead? Outrage, frustration and rage are much greater than three years ago. 

Sources[es]: La Haine and, in Twitter: @LaHaineInfo, @Acmp.Dignidad.Madrid y #AcampadaDignidad.

Malaysian missing plane: qui bono? The death of four passengers benefits US corporation

Apparently four of the Chinese passengers are co-holders of a key semiconductor patent along with their employer Freescale Semiconductor, a Texas company detached from Motorola in 2004 and owned by Jacob Rotschild, the main heir of the infamous bourgeois dynasty.

These Chinese workers Peidong Wang, Zhijun Chen, Zhijong Cheng and Li Ying, all them native to Suzhou (near Shanghai) held each 20% of the patent rights, while the rest belonged to their employer, Frescale. All them traveled in the missing airplane, which was probably diverted to the US-UK base of Diego García.

According to the patent agreement, if any of the co-owners would die, its share would revert to the others. In this case the only beneficiary remaining "alive" is the company Freescale. 

Source: Votaire Network[es], citing Russia Today.

Basque Nationalist Left grows in Northern municipal polls

Voting in Hazparne

The first round of municipal elections was held yesterday in the state of France, whose artificial borders include the Northern Basque Country. The most notable development was the advance of the Basque Nationalist Left lists, many of whose candidates will be able to run in the second round. 

The most notable successes took place in Ustaritze, where Bruno Carrere got the first place with 38% of the popular vote,  Ziburu, where the Basque Nationalist list got 21% of the vote, forcing the conservative unionist mayor Guy Polou to fight in the second round next week, Baigorri, where the Basque Left won in the first round and in Arbona. 

In many other towns the Basque Left has reached more than 10% of the vote, allowing them to fight the second round. Examples are Baiona (Bayonne), Miarritze (Biarritz), Hendaia, and Maule-Lexarre. In Baiona, the largest city, it seems likely that the French Left (5%) will support the Basque Left list of Jean-Claude Iriart next Sunday.

Instead some other towns (Donibane-Lohitzune, Hazparne, Donibane-Garazi, Kanbo) were settled in the first round but still the gains of the Basque Left are important. 

Overall in the state, it is worrisome the advance of the fascist lists affiliated to the National Front, which has gathered a 4.78% of the overall votes (notice that they did not run in many towns). In some areas they have shown much more strength, as in the northern town Henin-Beaumont, where they won in the first round (>50% of the vote), or Perpinyá  (Perpignan, Northern Catalonia) where they gathered 38%.

Overall the "French" polls show a growth of the Right (~47%), while the so-called Left (including the social-liberals of the PSF) gathered only the 38%. Abstention was high (39%).

Sources[eu/es]: Gara, Kazeta (details of all municipalities), Berria, Naiz Info.

Spain: protests continue gripping Madrid in spite of police

A large demonstration has gripped Madrid again, following the massive one of Saturday. Thousands have marched following the morning assembly's decision to the iconic Puerta del Sol plaza, where they have been confronted by riot police. Last minute negotiations have allowed the march to "walk around the plaza" but, as the police had taken all access, it became stuck inside it (kettling?)

Some protesters have detached themselves from the main march and blocked the Gran Vía (main artery of Madrid) several times in spite of intense police repression. 

The leit motiv of the protests today has been the victims of police repression and the demand that they are immediately set free. 

Tomorrow Monday it was scheduled (with official authorization) a protest surrounding the stock market (La Bolsa) but with the pretext of the state funeral for the former Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez, the government has forbidden it.

Source: La Haine[es] (link 1, link 2).