Newly-Discovered ‘Monster Planet’ Upends Theories on Astronomy

Don't you just love it when scientific theory is proven to be wrong? Paleontology, archaeology, and astronomy are all based on assumptions and educated guesses which often prove to be completely false. Now, how planets form goes back to the drawing boards.

© warwick.ac.uk

A team of researchers has discovered a gas giant roughly the size of Jupiter orbiting a companion star smaller than our own sun. The discovery has upended current thinking on the limitations of planet formation in the universe.

NGTS-1b is the largest planet relative to its star ever discovered in the universe and dispels pre-existing theories that average-sized stars could not form gas giant planets of such immense size. It’s also the first planet discovered by the the Next-Generation Transit Survey observatory which hunts for new planets as they traverse their stars.

"The discovery of NGTS-1b was a complete surprise to us – such massive planets were not thought to exist around such small stars. This is the first exoplanet we have found with our new NGTS facility and we are already challenging the received wisdom of how planets form,” said Daniel Bayliss, the lead author of the research said in the University's press release.

I'm not sure 'wisdom' is the appropriate word here.

“Our challenge is to now find out how common these types of planets are in the galaxy, and with the new NGTS facility we are well-placed to do just that,” he added.

NGTS-1b is 600 light years away from us and is a gas giant roughly the same size as Jupiter but orbits a star only half the size of our own sun in terms of radius and mass. It’s as hot as Jupiter (530 degrees Celsius, 986 Fahrenheit)  and at least as large but possesses approximately 20 percent less dense. (density?)

However, it lies at just three percent the distance between Earth and our sun, meaning a year on the planet lasts just 2.6 days. The planet orbits a red M-dwarf star, the most common type of star in the universe, which leads researchers to believe there may be far more gas giants waiting to be found.

“NGTS-1b was difficult to find, despite being a monster of a planet, because its parent star is small and faint. Small stars are actually the most common in the universe, so it is possible that there are many of these giant planets waiting to found,” said Professor Peter Wheatley, head of the NGTS team.

“Having worked for almost a decade to develop the NGTS telescope array, it is thrilling to see it picking out new and unexpected types of planets. I'm looking forward to seeing what other kinds of exciting new planets we can turn up,” Wheatley said.

The observatory monitors the night sky and detects red light emanated by stars using ultra-sensitive cameras. In this particular instance, the system detected a break in starlight every 2.6 days. The team then tracked the planet's orbit around the star, allowing them to calculate the size, position and mass of NGTS-1b by measuring the radial velocity or the anomalies in its orbit due to variations in the planet's gravity.

Jail Bankers Who Caused 2008 Financial Crisis, says ex-PM Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown has launched a scathing attack on bankers over the 2008 financial crisis

© Neil Hall / Reuters

Millionaire bankers responsible for the 2008 financial crisis should be stripped of their bonuses and sent to prison, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said. He warned bankers have not learnt a thing and are still playing fast and loose.

The former Labour leader, who was Tony Blair’s chancellor before replacing him as PM in 2007, has torn into wealthy bankers and revealed he was preparing to quit Downing Street when the banking crisis was at its height.

The ex-PM, toppled in 2010 when David Cameron formed a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, had called for tougher regulations at a special G20 summit in London. None have been implemented, however.

In an autobiography released next week – entitled My Life, Our Times – Brown says history will repeat itself if action is not taken.

“If bankers who act fraudulently are not put in jail with their bonuses returned, assets confiscated and banned from future practice, we will only give a green light to similar risk-laden behavior in new forms,” he writes.

“Little has changed since the promise in 2009 that we would bring finance to heel. The banks that were deemed ‘too big to fail’ are now even bigger than they were."

“Similarly... some regulators freely confess that risks have morphed and migrated out of the formal banking system and if the next crisis came they would still not know what is owed and by whom and to whom. 2009 has proved to be the turning point at which history failed to turn.”

The book details the time he, along with his chancellor Alistair Darling, arranged a rescue package for some UK banks.

In a revealing personal insight into the life of a prime minister, Brown writes about a time he instructed his family to pack their bags, convinced he would be forced to stand down if the rescue package failed and he had to quickly flee Downing Street.

At the time taxpayers’ money was invested in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), HBOS and Lloyds to save them from going under. Brown, 66, says foreign countries have been quick to prosecute bankers when they fail – but the UK has resisted.

Not sure which countries he's referring to, but it certainly isn't the USA. Canada had no bank failures because we have tough regulations governing our banks.

The former politician is especially scathing of Fred ‘the Shred’ Goodwin, the former chief executive of RBS, who Brown says drove the bank into the ground and gambled with the public’s cash while living a luxurious lifestyle.

He also attacks Barclays for what he says was a decision to seek a state bailout from Qatar and the UAE, while attacking rival banks who were helped by the public purse in Britain.

“In doing so, they [Barclays] made it far more difficult to explain to the British public that this was a widespread banking crisis and not just an emergency faced by one or two banks and, by not telling the full truth, they hampered our ability to persuade legislators around the world of the need for far-reaching reform.”

That was probably the idea all along.

Expelled from University for Quoting Bible on Facebook

War on Christianity

It seemed like only a generation ago when gays came out of the closet. Now they are successfully putting Christians into those closets. It's OK to be a Christian, as long as you don't talk about it!

This is astonishing! The judge makes all the right arguments and then comes to the completely wrong conclusion.

A Christian student who was expelled from university after posting on Facebook in support of Biblical teaching on marriage and sexual ethics has today lost his case in a judicial review of the university’s decision.

Felix Ngole was studying for an MA in Social Work at Sheffield university. In 2015 he made comments using his personal Facebook account on the story of the American registrar Kim Davis who was imprisoned after conscientiously refusing to register same-sex marriages. Felix expressed his Christian beliefs on the issue and argued that: "same sex marriage is a sin whether we like it or not. It is God’s words and man’s sentiments would not change His words". He was asked where in the Bible it says that same-sex marriage is wrong, and he quoted various passages to demonstrate this.

Nearly two months later, Felix received an email from a university official informing him that his Facebook comments were being investigated. He was later interviewed by an investigatory team, and subsequently removed from his course by a panel chaired by Professor Marsh, an LGBT rights campaigner.

Felix, supported by the Christian Legal Centre, sought to challenge the university’s decision in a judicial review which was heard in the High Court over two days. The court ruled that the university acted lawfully in removing Felix from his course.

'May have caused offence'

The court heard that the university “investigatory team accepted that Felix was fully entitled to his religious beliefs, and had acted with honesty and integrity”. The university held that it was not Felix’s views that were at issue, but his public posting of these views. They held that this expression of his views “may have caused offence to some individuals”.

The university argued that they were right to sanction Felix and bar him from his chosen profession in spite of the fact that Felix had lawfully expressed his Christian views as a practicing Christian, outside of his professional studies, in a context in which he was not identified as a social work student, and despite this expression having no impact on his work and professional abilities.

So the court is saying that not only is offending someone against the law, but merely creating the possibility of offending someone is against the law, or, at least, unacceptable on a University campus, even if the offending statement was not made on the campus and had nothing to do with the university. Soon you will have to be careful what you think.

'Freedom of speech impaired'

The university and the court agreed that Felix's freedom of speech had been impaired. The judge accepted that his posts “were undoubtedly intended by him to convey a religious perspective.” Nevertheless, the court ruled that “Felix had no religious imperative to comment on an American news website about Kim Davis”.

So, shut up and get back in the closet!!!??? 

The judgment stated: “Freedom of expression is an important right. Exercising that right to express the content of deeply held religious views deserves respect in a democratic and plural society, nowhere more so than in a university. Freedom of religious discourse is a public good of great importance and seriousness.”

'No discrimination'

The university agreed that there had been no cause for concern or evidence of Felix acting in a discriminatory fashion, whether on placement or otherwise. The university’s decision was not based on speculation that Felix would discriminate in the future either. No discrimination has actually occurred, or is expected to occur in this case.

'Severe sanction'

The judge accepted that the university’s sanction of Felix “was indeed severe”. The judgment also stated: “Nor is it to doubt that there may well be good grounds to fear more generally for the place of religious discourse, and the understanding of and respect for religious adherents, in the context of a liberal and secular consensus within universities or elsewhere.”

The judgment further stated: “If a chain of events, starting with a student posting Bible verses on a news website and ending with him being removed from his course, is one for which the law does not provide him with a remedy, it is important to test hard why not.”

'Perceived risk'

What in the end was judged to have justified the university’s actions was a perceived risk of damage. The court ruled that “It was how they could be accessed and read by people who would perceive them as judgemental, incompatible with service ethos, or suggestive of discriminatory intent. That was a problem in its own right. … But whatever the actual intention was, it was the perception of the posting that would cause the damage. It was reasonable to be concerned about that perception”.

Seriously!

'Biblical views must not be expressed'

Andrea Williams, Chief Executive of the Christian Legal Centre which is supporting Felix commented:

“The court has ruled that though Felix is entitled to hold his Biblical views on sexual ethics, he is not entitled to express them. But freedom to believe without freedom of expression is no freedom at all.

“Many views are frequently expressed by students on social media and in other contexts. It is the expression of Biblical morality that has been singled out for sanction by the university.

“The university, in investigating Felix's personal Facebook posts and disciplining him for them, is acting as if they are thought police. This ruling will have a chilling effect on Christian students up and down the country who will now understand that their personal social media posts may be investigated for political correctness.

“As the judgment stated: 'Freedom of expression is an important right. Exercising that right to express the content of deeply held religious views deserves respect in a democratic and plural society, nowhere more so than in a university.' In this case the judge has failed to safeguard Felix's freedom of expression, in spite of the importance she rightly attaches to that freedom.

“This ruling comes after Jo Johnson, the universities minister last week criticised universities for failing to protect freedom of speech. He said: 'Freedom of speech is a fundamentally British value which is undermined by a reluctance of institutions to embrace healthy vigorous debate. Our universities must open minds not close them.'

“This ruling flies in the face of the government’s expressed intention to promote free speech at universities."

'Christian bar to office'

Felix said: “I am very disappointed by this ruling which supports the university’s decision to bar me from my chosen career because of my Biblical views on sexual ethics. I intend to appeal this decision which clearly intends to restrict me from expressing my Christian faith in public.”

Andrea Williams said: “Rulings like this show that society is becoming increasingly intolerant of Christian moral values. Christians are being told to shut up and keep quiet about their moral views or face a bar from employment. Unless the views you express are politically correct, you may be barred from office. This is very far from how a free and fair society should operate.

“We will appeal this ruling in an attempt to protect basic freedoms in our society. No democratic society can function without freedom of expression. This ruling shakes the foundations of freedom in our society.”

In Canada, Trinity Western U has been trying to launch a law degree program for a few years but several provinces have stated that they will not recognize TWU law degrees because the university requires its students to sign a declaration that they will confine sexual activity to that between a man and his wife. This has the LGBTQ lobby up in arms and fighting tooth and nail against TWU, even though there are almost certainly no LGBTQ students at the Christian TWU.

You can follow this campaign in the War on Christianity by searching this blog for 'Trinity'.

South Africa’s Anti-Smacking Law: Lessons from New Zealand

Family First NZ, a leading family group in New Zealand, is warning South African families that a smacking ban will do more harm than good by criminalising good parents, and harming children and families with little effect on the real issue of child abuse.

“A decade on from the passing of the controversial anti-smacking law in New Zealand, the law has maintained its very high level of opposition, but most significantly the law has had a ‘chilling’ effect on parenting and rather than tackling rotten parents who are abusing their children, it has targeted well-functioning parents,” said Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

“An independent legal analysis at the end of 2014 by a prominent NZ public lawyer of court cases involving prosecutions for smacking found that statements made by politicians that the smacking ban would not criminalise ‘good parents’ for lightly smacking their children are inconsistent with the legal effect and application of the law.”

A report at the beginning of last year analysing the 2007 anti-smacking law, “Defying Human Nature: An Analysis of New Zealand’s 2007 Anti-Smacking Law”, found that there was not a single social indicator relating to the abuse of children that had shown significant or sustained improvement since the passing of the law.

Police statistics show there has been a 136% increase in physical abuse, 43% increase in sexual abuse, 45% increase in neglect or ill-treatment of children, and 71 child abuse deaths since the law was passed in 2007.

A survey this year found that two out of three New Zealanders said they would flout the law.

An earlier survey in 2011 – four years after the law was passed – found that almost a third of parents of younger children say that their children have threatened to report them if they were smacked, and almost one in four parents of younger children say that they have less confidence when dealing with unacceptable behaviour from their children.

“New Zealanders predicted all of this before the law was passed, but their concerns were ignored. The politicians and anti-smacking lobby groups linked good parents who smacked their children with child abusers, a notion roundly rejected – and still rejected – by NZ’ers,” said McCoskrie.

“The anti-smacking law assumes that previous generations disciplined their children in a manner that was so harmful that they should now be considered criminals. But anti-smacking laws are problematic because they contradict many adults’ own childhood experiences with discipline and their long-term outcomes.”

“We would warn South African parents that this law will harm and rip apart families. Even just an investigation – without prosecution – by the police or social services is hugely traumatic and destabilising to families.”

“The supporters of smacking bans such as the UN are influenced by political ideology rather than common sense, good science and sound policy-making. Parents use occasional smacking because it works and it’s appropriate. Criminalising good parents who simply want to raise law-abiding and responsible citizens is bad law-making,” said McCoskrie.

$300mn Electricity Deal Between US Energy Co. with 2 Employees & Puerto Rico Agency Under Fire

Corruption is Everywhere

A pick up from Montana-based Whitefish Energy Holdings is parked as workers help fix the island's power grid, damaged during Hurricane Maria in September, in Manati, Puerto Rico October 25, 2017. © Alvin Baez / Reuters

Puerto Rico’s electricity agency and a two-year-old small-scale US company are under investigation by two House committees and a federal watchdog for their roles in a $300 million contract to fix Puerto Rico’s electrical grid following Hurricane Maria.

On Thursday, Republican and Democratic leaders on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and leaders of the House Natural Resources Committee, opened separate probes into Whitefish Energy and the Puerto Rico Electricity Power Authority (PREPA), according to The Hill.

The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General has also initiated an audit of the contract in question, department spokesman Arlen Morales said, The Hill reported.

The US energy company allegedly has minimal experience repairing electricity infrastructure, and only employed two people at the time Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico last month, the Daily Beast reported.

Whitefish Energy only recently hired more employees, but it’s not known how many workers the company employed during the finalization of the deal. However, its company profile still only shows two full-time employees working for the firm.

The energy enterprise, which hails from the Montana hometown of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, drew strong criticism from lawmakers, the Independent reported.

On Thursday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent a letter to Whitefish CEO Andrew Techmanski, requesting various documents regarding the firm’s activities in Puerto Rico and a staff briefing by November 9.

Leaders in the House Natural Resources Committee directed their own probe at PREPA President Ricardo Ramos Thursday, asking for documents connected to how the agency he leads contracts with companies such as Whitefish.

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman, Representative Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and Representative Bruce Westerman (R-Arkansas), penned the letter and was blunt in their criticism of the contract.

“The committee is also examining PREPA’s decision to forego the activation of the mutual assistance program,” they wrote, referring to the American Public Power Association's program allowing utilities to call upon other utilities to aid in disaster relief.

Morales outlined the DHS Inspector General’s plan for their own investigation.

“They will review the contract and as part of their standard procedure, they will conduct vetting to look for the presence of any inappropriate relationships,” Morales said.

PREPA has defended the contract against recent calls for investigations and said Whitefish was awarded the multi-million dollar contract because they were the first to offer to help the storm ravaged territory without demanding significant advance payment, The Hill reported.

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz even got involved in a war of words with Whitefish on Twitter. But Whitefish has since apologized to the mayor and the people of Puerto Rico for their part in the dispute.

This past week, numerous officials have called for several kinds of investigations into the approval of the Whitefish contract, including Cruz and fellow congressional Democrat, Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello.

Cruz was emphatic in her criticism of the PREPA-Whitefish deal on Twitter.

“The contract should be voided right away and a proper process which is clear, transparent, legal, moral and ethical should take place,” Cruz said on Wednesday, according to Yahoo News.

Whitefish tweeted a response to the mayor the same day, saying her comments were “misplaced” because the company already has hundreds of workers helping in the territory.

Cruz then questioned the energy company’s intentions a second time, and called Whitefish out on their “misplaced” comment.

As the Twitter exchanges heated up, Whitefish then asked Cruz if she would like the 84 Whitefish workers helping with recovery efforts on the island to continue aiding the territory, or be sent back to the US.

Sounds like something a scammer would say.

Cruz replied and called into question the company’s contract again.

Governor Rossello sent a letter to the DHS Inspector General's Office Wednesday, requesting an audit of on how Whitefish secured the contract, according to The Hill.

Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico in late September as a Category 5 storm, and at one point, left the entire US territory without power. 

75% of the island is still without power.

Whitefish, MT / Puerto Rico

English Newspaper ‘Tipped off’ 25mins Before JFK Assassination, Documents Show

Last night I watched a smug reporter scoff at all conspiracy theorists as though all conspiracies are lunacy. Many conspiracies are lunacy but some are definitely not, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy is one of those which is not.  

That reporter didn't know the investigative journalist whom I knew in 1980. He spent years researching the conspiracy angle to the JFK assassination before abruptly ending his career and moving to Canada. Turns out he followed very many solid trails that lead to dead-ends, and I mean 'dead' ends.

JFK - The Assassination Conspiracy
Lyndon B. Johnson Arranged John F. Kennedy's Assassination - Roger Stone

John F. Kennedy in a convertible on November 19, 1963, just days before his assassination.

© Tampa Bay Times / Global Look Press

A reporter for the Cambridge Evening News received a call telling him to ring the US embassy for “big news” just 25 minutes before John F. Kennedy was shot dead. The revelation emerged in fresh documents released by the US government on Thursday night.

According to the memo, police reported the call to the British intelligence service. Britain’s domestic intelligence agency MI5 then is understood to have pledged to support “in every way possible” any investigation in the UK relating to Kennedy’s murder.

The memo, signed by CIA deputy director James Angleton, reads: “The caller said only that the Cambridge News reporter should call the American Embassy in London for some big news, and then hung up.

“After the word of the President’s death was received the reporter informed the Cambridge police of the anonymous call and the police informed MI5.

“The important point is that the call was made, according to MI5 calculations, about 25 minutes before the President was shot.

“The Cambridge reporter had never received a call of this kind before, and MI5 state that he is known to them as a sound and loyal person with no security record.”

The memo said it was not the first time in the past year that people in the UK had received similar anonymous calls which were “strangely coincidental in nature.” They seemed to have been particularly linked to the “case of Dr. Ward” – potentially a reference to ‘Dr.’ Stephen Ward, one of the central figures in the Profumo affair, a spy/sex scandal which had rocked the British establishment earlier that year.

The US government released 2,800 classified files on the assassination of JFK on Thursday night.

President Donald Trump said the public deserves to be “fully informed” of what happened, given the event has been the subject of various conspiracy theories. Some documents, however, were withheld at the request of government agencies over national security concerns.

Kennedy was shot dead on November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas, while riding in his presidential motorcade. Former US Marine Lee Harvey Oswald was charged with his murder. Oswald himself was shot dead two days later by nightclub owner Jack Ruby before he could stand trial.  

Tillerson: Assad Family Reign Coming to End, Only Issue is How to Bring it About

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. © Yuri Gripas / Reuters

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the “reign of the Assad family” in Syria is coming to an end, and the “only issue is how that can be brought about.”

Hasn't that always been the question? It was, at least, in the beginning before east and west got involved and made it much more than the civil war it started out to be. So that brings us right back to square one - what to do now, start another civil war?

Aside from getting rid of Assad, there is the problem of who will replace him and will that person or group be any less monstrous than Assad? The possibility of replacing him with someone who is acceptable to both Iran and Saudi Arabia, not to mention Israel, seems like a pipe dream.

Tillerson's comments were made following a meeting with UN envoy Staffan de Mistura in Geneva.

“The United States wants a whole and unified Syria with no role for Bashar al-Assad in the government,” Tillerson said, as quoted by Reuters. “The reign of the Assad family is coming to an end. The only issue is how that should that be brought about.”

The secretary said he reaffirmed Washington's commitment to revive the Geneva peace process for Syria during a meeting with de Mistura.

He also said that “the only reason Syrian forces have been successful has been because of the air support they have received from Russia.”

Rex - would you have preferred to keep the war going until there was not a soul left in Syria? Is it a bad thing that peace is beginning to break out in the devastated country? The USA did nothing to bring the war to an end until after Russia got involved.

At the very beginning at his term as secretary of state, Tillerson said that the fate of Syrian President should “be decided by Syrian people,” signaling late in March an apparent drift from the “Assad must go” narrative which prevailed during the Obama era.

Tillerson, however, changed his stance a week later in April, following the chemical attack in Idlib, which was attributed by Western powers, without any investigation, to the Syrian government.

“There is no doubt in our minds, and the information we have supports, that the Syrian regime under the leadership of Bashar al-Assad are responsible for this attack,” Tillerson said back then.

There is a lot of doubt in my mind beginning with the idea that it was a disaster for Assad who is just not that stupid. Also, it was a boon for the opposition to Assad as it turned America against him within days of Trump appearing to accept Assad's continuing leadership. There are also a whole lot of holes in the investigation.

The US stance then effectively reverted to the position voiced years ago by then-President Barack Obama back in 2011, who listed the ousting of Syria’s president as one of the main preconditions for establishing peace in Syria.

“The transition to democracy in Syria has begun and it’s time for Assad to get out of the way,” Obama said in a statement when the war in Syria was only beginning. “For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside.”

Moscow has repeatedly stated that the fate of President Assad can only be decided democratically by the Syrian people, following the defeat of the terrorist groups in Syria and peace talks between the government and the moderate opposition.

'Foreign Funding Gave Big Power to Small Groups in Syria, Flipped Everything on Its Head’

© Erik De Castro / Reuters

In Syria, there are different interests sometimes running parallel or are completely inconsistent, says former CIA officer Jack Rice. He adds that the proxy wars, with funding rolling out of the US and other powers, have led to the morass seen today.

According to a leaked document from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, Saudi Arabia ordered Syrian opposition forces to 'Light-up Damascus’ in 2013 while providing them with tons of weapons for the assault.

RT spoke to former CIA officer Jack Rice who explains the international players changed the balance of power in the region.

RT: What was Saudi Arabia trying to achieve by ordering this attack?

Jack Rice: It is very clear here that the Saudis are trying to have enormous influence in Syria. That is one of the problems that we have in the region, the region that is so difficult right now. Inside of Syria, there are all these different interests running sometimes parallel, sometimes completely inconsistent. You can have a revolution, you can have a civil war, which you absolutely had. Right alongside it you had a proxy war where you found that there was funding rolling out of the US, out of Western Europe, out of the Saudis, out of the Iranians and out of others because they all had a certain agenda in place, but the problem was they were absolutely inconsistent which led to the morass that we see today.

Syria has a close relationship with Iran. Iran is attempting to increase its influence in the region and Saudi Arabia is fighting proxy wars in Syria, Iraq and Yemen to try and prevent this.

RT: In 2013 the conflict in Syria spread across the whole country. Do you think it could have reached such a scale without Saudi Arabia's involvement?

JR: I think it could have because what we did see was this revolution really did rise up against the Damascus regime in 2011. And we saw this consistency that was working its way across the country. It was slow, but it was consistent. The problem is that when you start seeing proxy wars; when you start seeing Riyadh stepping into this, and you see others step into this, what happens is that it will take one small group, one schism in that entire revolution, if you will, and fund it dramatically, which gives them enormous power frequently over everybody else. Because remember in the middle of a civil war like this, there was a turnover of some weapons from the Damascus army, but those were relatively small when you look at it in the big picture. It is when you see outside forces coming and dumping, as in this case “tons of weapons into the region,” it changes and really flips everything on its head. And it makes it that much worse. And that is exactly what happened in this case.

RT: According to the report, the US knew about the attack several days in advance. Why did they let it happen?

JR: It is a great question because at this point it is unclear about what that is. Again this is a report that came out allegedly from Snowden but again it doesn’t clarify the American motivation behind this. Let’s also be clear, back in 2011 and 2012 under President Obama, it was very uncertain as to exactly what it was the US was going to do. And again, they have frequently done this themselves where they may want to be involved in some sort of revolution of sorts or involved in the funding of some groups. But what they have done is they have used proxies of their own and the proxies they have frequently used are the Saudis. So, that is not exactly shocking is it?

This being an RT report, there was little mention of Russian involvement with Tehran in this proxy war. Of course, they came in much later and their involvement precipitated the approaching conclusion of the war rather than its escalation and the reckless destruction that resulted in the mass migration of millions of Syrians.

Iran Sentences ‘Mossad Spy’ to Death Over Assassinations of Nuclear Scientists

When it comes to Israel, little in Iran is as it seems

FILE PHOTO: A photo taken on February 13, 2017 shows a flyer during a protest outside the Iranian embassy in Brussels for Ahmadreza Djalali © Dirk Waem / Belga / AFP

An alleged spy for Israel’s Mossad intelligence service has been sentenced to death in Iran after he was found guilty of being involved in a string of assassinations of Iran’s nuclear scientists, according to prosecutors in Tehran.

“One of the crimes of the convict has been disclosing the address and some details of 30 important figures involved in (the country's) research, military and nuclear projects, including (Iranian nuclear scientists) martyrs, Shahriari and Ali- Mohammadi, to Mossad intelligence officers which led to their assassination and martyrdom,” Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said, as cited by a judiciary news website Tuesday under the caption “An execution of Mossad agent.”

Over the last decade, at least four senior nuclear researchers had been killed in Iran, including Masoud Ali-Mohammadi, Majid Shahriari, Dariush Rezaei Nejad and Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan.

According to the prosecution, the suspect confessed that he had “several meetings” with a number of Mossad officers and passed on “sensitive information” about dozens of Iranian military and nuclear scientists and sites in return for money and help in securing a residency permit in Sweden, Reuters reports.

Although the name of the accused was not disclosed Monday, Amnesty International (AI) called on the Iranian authorities to release and abrogate the penalty for an Iranian-born Stockholm resident, Ahmadreza Djalali. 

The specialist in emergency medicine was sentenced after “a grossly unfair trial that once again exposes not only the Iranian authorities’ steadfast commitment to use of the death penalty but their utter contempt for the rule of law,” said Philip Luther, AI’s Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

The rights group insists “no evidence has ever been presented to show that he is anything other than an academic peacefully pursuing his profession.”

Iran, academic, Ahmadreza djalali, doctor, Sweden, wife, children, death, execution, death penalty

amnesty.org

The Iranian-born man was captured in the spring of 2016 during an academic visit to the Iranian capital. He was arrested on suspicion of collaborating with a “hostile” government.

Would a man of his brilliance have been stupid enough to return to Tehran if he had indeed really been a spy for Mossad?

The judicial process, led by a judge Abolqasem Salavati in a revolutionary court, delivered the sentence on October 21 and gave the alleged Mossad agent 20 days to appeal, The Nature journal reports citing Djalali’s wife Vida Mehrannia.

Djalali worked on improving hospital’s emergency responses to armed terrorism and radiological, chemical and biological threats in the world’s largest medical universities, the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, as well as in the University of Eastern Piedmont in Italy, according to the publication.

Djalali has denied guilt, claiming he was forced to read out pre-written confessions in front of a camera following psychological pressure and threats, as well as physical torture. He added that the intelligence ministry fabricated the accusations against him, AI reports citing a voice recording of Djalali published on YouTube.

According to another statement, said to be a literal transcription of the academic’s handwritten text shared by a close contact in 2014, Djalali was allegedly courted to spy on European countries for Iran, but refused.

“I have never acted against my country, I have never spied for Israel or any other country. My only fault is that I did not accept to use the trust of my colleagues and universities in EU to spy for Iran's intelligence services,” the researcher allegedly wrote.

This will certainly make other potential Iranian spies think twice before refusing to cooperate with Iranian intelligence.

Butcher of Pakistan: Austrian Police Arrest Hitman-Turned-Migrant-Trafficker Accused of Killing 70

FILE PHOTO © Antonio Bronic / Reuters

Vienna police have captured a 35-year-old man accused of killing 70 people in Pakistan. Atif Z. was arrested among a group of 42 illegal migrants in Hungary, local media have reported.

Atif Z. is on Pakistan’s Most Wanted list and was detained following a tip-off in an international police operation near Boly in southern Hungary, from where he reportedly operated a people-smuggling ring.

"This case once again shows the importance of international cooperation in combating crime. I can only congratulate the Austrian investigators on this success," said Austria’s Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka.

Austrian newspapers reported that the suspect was known as the Butcher of Pakistan, but added their country’s police had limited knowledge of the details of the crimes committed in his homeland.

Atif Z. now faces deportation to Pakistan. However, that process could be delayed as Vienna does not customarily return criminals who could face the death penalty in their home country, which is a distinct possibility in this case.

Perhaps Austria could make an exception for such a special person.

According to European Union’s border agency Frontex, the Western Balkan route – from Turkey, into Greece, former Yugoslavia, Hungary and onto Switzerland or Austria, then the rest of Europe – was the migrants’ preferred way of entering Europe in 2015, with over 760,000 new arrivals. After tighter policing controls were introduced at the end of that year, the numbers dropped sharply to about 120,000 in 2016.

The immigrant issue has nonetheless continued to dominate Austrian politics. Earlier this month, the conservative anti-migration politician, 31-year old Sebastian Kurz, was elected chancellor, paving the way for a ruling coalition between the center-right and the nationalist right parties.

NATO - Empire Building, Escalating the Drama with Russia

NATO Plans to Add Two New Commands to Counter

Imaginary Russian Threat

BY: Jack Heretik   

NATO is set to approve the creation of two new commands to strengthen alliance weaknesses in a potential conflict with Russia, according to allied officials.

NATO defense ministers will review a new command structure—meant to improve allied logistics and protect supply lines—at their quarterly meeting next month, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The recommendations include one new command to manage NATO logistics, which would focus on moving people and materiel more quickly, and one new command for the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, which would focus on protecting sea lanes, critical for supplying Europe, from submarine threats.

The potential command changes come amid rising tensions between NATO and Russia. Alliance leaders have warned that member countries must be able to move quicker to effectively deter and counter Russian forces.

Rising tensions are entirely caused by the spectacular build-up of NATO troops and weapons on Russia's European borders this year. Yes, I have complained in recent years of Putin's ambition to rebuild the Russian Federation to at least equal the Soviet empire, but the situation in Ukraine was brought about by the western sponsored coup of a Russia-friendly government. I don't believe it is an example of Russian aggression as much as cutting their losses against western aggression.

My fear is that NATO is now moving that theatre of aggression from Ukraine into the entirety of northeast Europe. However, other than Belarus, there are no Russia-friendly countries in northeast Europe, and Belarus is very stable with a strong dictator maintaining ties with both Russia and the west. Alexander Lukashenko has been running Belarus since 1994 although he is still just in his early 60s.

One potential source of conflict is the Kaliningrad Oblast, on the southern Baltic. It belongs to Russia but is not attached to it. As Russia's only seaport on the southern Baltic, Russia will protect it from aggression as they did Sevastopol in the Crimea, their western-most Naval base in the south. 

"The alliance has to move as quick or quicker than Russian Federation forces for our deterrent to be effective," Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, the top Army commander in Europe, said earlier this month. "Speed is what will give our civilian leaders options other than a liberation campaign."

NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said the command structure review is meant to focus on military mobility so the alliance can "deploy forces quickly across the alliance." She added that NATO members are "adapting national legislation to allow military equipment to transit faster across borders and are working on improving national infrastructure."

The potential changes are partly in response to calls from some Eastern European alliance members to better prepare for crises.

"We have to revise how fast we make decisions and prepare better," Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė told the Journal.

The new commands' headquarters would be at the same level as NATO's Joint Forces Commands, located in Brunssom, Netherlands and Naples, Italy.

Plans for a new NATO command structure review come as the United States places more military resources in Europe to deter Russian aggression. This week alone, the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade arrived in Belgium with 89 helicopters that will go to Germany, Latvia, Romania, and Poland. Congress is evaluating whether to permanently station a tank brigade along with other units in Europe permanently.

This is great business for the companies who make military helicopters and tanks. What a brilliant idea - NATO has a reason for its existence and the military industrial establishment continues to suck up astonishing amounts of international resources that could be used for useful purposes.

NATO is reviewing a new logistics command partly because of the difficulties NATO faces with moving personnel and equipment across borders. Often a country has to give approval ahead of time for certain weapons and equipment to cross its borders, and many European roads and bridges cannot handle the weight of an American battle tank, the U.S. Army's five-axle tank transport trailers, or heavy air-defense batteries, further complicating movements.

At sea, Russia has recently invested in newer submarines with more advanced technology, triggering calls for a new Arctic and Atlantic command.

Saudi Arabia Will ‘Return to Moderate, Open Islam’ – Crown Prince

This is an astonishing statement from the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia! Islam very rarely becomes less radical in countries where they are the majority and in the Kingdom, Muslims make up 100% of the population. It is usually the reverse and, consequently, the Crown Prince's life is in some danger as hard-line Muslims will not agree with a less strict Islam.

The Prince also gives us a reason for the proxy wars in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. He believes that Iran wants Mecca, and, it would appear, they are trying to surround Saudi Arabia with their proxy wars and growing influence in the smaller Gulf States. The Prince's plan to soften Islam may be playing right into Iran's hands.

Aerial view of Kaaba at the Grand mosque in Mecca © Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman has vowed to restore “moderate” Islam that is open to all religions in the world. Saudi Arabia is known for its ultraconservative rule.

“We are returning to what we were before – a country of moderate Islam that is open to all religions and to the world,” he said at an economic forum in Riyadh, as quoted by AFP. “We will not spend the next 30 years of our lives dealing with destructive ideas. We will destroy them today,” he added. “We will end extremism very soon.”

Riyadh is known for its adherence to ultra-conservative norms of Islam and strict segregation of men and women. It has long been the only state where women are officially forbidden to drive.

Earlier this year, the crown prince accused Tehran of promoting an “extremist ideology” and having ambitions to “control the Islamic world.” Asked if there is any room for dialogue with Iran, the 31-year-old prince replied: “How can I come to an understanding with someone, or a regime, that has an anchoring belief built on an extremist ideology?”

He said that the primary objective of the “Iranian regime is to reach the focal point of Muslims [Mecca] and we will not wait until the fight is inside Saudi Arabia and we will work so that the battle is on their side, inside Iran, not in Saudi Arabia.”

The Saudi government enforces a strict, conservative version of Sunni Islam. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is ruled by a Sunni monarchy known as the House of Saud, while the Islamic Republic of Iran is overwhelmingly Shia. The divisions between the Sunnis and the Shia are based on a long-running religious conflict that started as a dispute over the Prophet Mohammed’s successor. While Shia Muslims believe the prophet’s cousin should have filled the role, Sunnis support the selection of Muhammad’s close friend and adviser, Abu Bakr, as the first caliph of the Islamic nation.

Diplomatic ties between the two countries were severed in 2016 after Iranian protesters attacked the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, following the execution of prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister responded by accusing Iran of setting up “terrorist cells” inside the kingdom. Iran then issued a warning that “divine vengeance” would come to Saudi Arabia as a punishment for Nimr’s execution as well as for Riyadh’s bombing in Yemen and support for the Bahraini government. In February of this year, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, while on a visit to Saudi ally Kuwait, said that Tehran would like to restore relations and improve ties with all its Gulf Arab neighbors.

Judge Quotes Bible, Allows Ex-Husband Who Battered ‘Adulterous’ Wife Walk Free

The judge quotes from the Old Testament and alludes to the Quran, both of which are examples of legalism. Jesus fulfilled the law and supplanted it with grace. When He was brought an adulterous woman, her accusers wanted Him to lead the stoning, but Jesus said, 'Let him who is without sin cast the first stone'. Her accusers disappeared; Jesus forgave the woman and told her to go and sin no more. That's grace! That's Christianity!

© West Coast Surfer / Global Look Press

Portuguese judges sparked anger after quoting the Bible as justification for handing down a suspended sentence to a man who attacked his ex-wife with a nail-studded bat. He had alleged that she was unfaithful to him.

The attacker was given a 15-month suspended sentence, and a fine of €1,750, for the 2015 assault, which left his victim covered in cuts and bruises. Prosecutors had argued that the sentence was too lenient and appealed for three-and-a half-years jail time. This request was rejected by appeal court judges on October 11, according to AP.

In the Porto court's written ruling, which became available only on Monday, the judges wrote that "adultery of the woman is a very serious attack on the honor and dignity of man," before further noting that there are still some societies in which "the adulterous woman is stoned to death,” as cited by Publico.

"In the Bible we can read that the adulterous woman should be punished with death,” wrote judge Neto de Moura, who then went on to use a 19th-century law to justify the lenient sentence for the attacker.

He used a 4,000 year old law to condemn the woman. Was he confident that the man had never committed adultery on his wife? Was it even a consideration? Is a wife justified in beating her husband if he cheats on her? Portuguese law has just taken a step back into the dark ages. I'm sure Muslim men will be thrilled.

“It was not long ago that the criminal law [of 1886] punished with little more than a symbolic penalty the man who, finding his wife in adultery, in that act killed her. Women’s adultery is a conduct that society has always condemned and strongly condemns (and honest women are the first to stigmatize adulteresses), and so she sees with some understanding the violence exercised by the man [who was] betrayed, vexed and humiliated by the woman,” he added.

But men's adultery has always been excused. Come on Portugal; enter the 21st century. It's time to retire some senior judges!

Criticizing the ruling, Attorney General Guilherme Figueiredo said: "It creates the false idea that the adulterous woman deserves punishment, unlike the adulterous man, which can create a wrong idea for violent citizens. We must be aware that there is a very serious problem of domestic violence in Portugal.”

Women's rights groups also criticized the judges, with the Women’s Alternative and Response Union describing the ruling as “inadmissible” because it legitimizes violence against women. The group also said it planned to hold protest rallies this Friday.

Orban Goes Star Wars on EU Migrant Invasion

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban & Billionaire George Soros © Reuters

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has apparently called on Hungarians to beware of the power of the Sith in his latest speech on migration crisis in Europe. He also declared Eastern and Central Europe the last ‘migrant-free zone.’

"We should never underestimate the power of the dark side," the prime minister said, referencing Star Wars as he referred to the plots of those behind the “migrant invasion,” adding that they “have no solid structure but extensive networks.”

The EU and some of its key member states have been “taken hostage” by a “speculative financial Empire” through an orchestrated “invasion of new immigrants,” Orban said in Budapest on Monday, adding that this mysterious “financial power” was behind the “latest great migration of peoples” that flooded Europe with “millions of migrants.”

“This plan was developed to make Europe a mixed [multicultural] continent,” the prime minister said at an event commemorating the anniversary of the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising in Hungary, adding that “only we managed to stand up against it,” apparently referring to the governments of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which have taken a staunch anti-migrant stance and refused to accept refugee quotas imposed by Brussels.

Orban then declared Central and Eastern Europe the continent’s last "migrant-free zone." The Hungarian leader expressed the hope that, by acting together, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia could potentially stop mass immigration.

He went on to say that the ultimate goal of the massive inflow of migrants into Europe consisted of depriving it of its Christian and national identity. The prime minister then stressed that Europe should remain "safe, fair, civic, Christian and free" and should regain the splendor he said it had before embracing multiculturalism.

Orban’s remarks concerning the “financial power” behind the mass immigration apparently referred to the Hungarian-born US billionaire George Soros. The Hungarian prime minister has already accused Soros of seeking to create a "new, mixed, Muslimized Europe” in July. He also repeatedly blamed the tycoon of fueling the refugee crisis in Europe, adding that “Brussels has come under George Soros’s influence.”

Orban’s words were echoed by Hungarian MP Andras Aradszki, who claimed that “Soros and his comrades want to destroy the independence and values of nation states” by bringing migrants into Europe. He slammed the billionaire by calling him “Satan” earlier this month.

Lurching to Starboard

Orban’s latest remarks also come as Central and Eastern European countries witness a shift to the right. In Austria, two anti-migrant parties took the first two places in the parliamentary election, and are now expected to form the ruling coalition.

Just a week later, parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic ended up in a victory of an anti-establishment movement headed by a local billionaire dubbed “the Czech Donald Trump,” who is particularly known for his severe criticism of the EU’s immigration policies.

Hungary itself is engaged in a bitter row with the EU over the refugee relocation quotas, together with Poland and Slovakia. The issue dates back to the EU decision made in 2015 to rehouse some 160,000 refugees from Greece and Italy over a period of two years, only around 27,700 of whom have been settled so far.

Budapest also faces pressure over the fence that covers one-quarter of the length of its borders and was designed to stop the inflow of migrants and asylum seekers at the peak of the refugee crisis. Despite repeated criticism from many European countries, Hungary refuses to remove it and claims that it has helped to cut the inflow of migrants by 99.7 percent since 2015.