La Irina Rodnina patina

Desde luego que la " señora o camarada" parlamentaria Rodnina ha logrado meter la gamba en forma con su chiste fotográfico sobre Obama. Aunque desde luego no es para tanto. Es decir supongo que una parlamentaria tiene cosas más importantes que burlarse de forma bastante poco imaginativa de un presidente estadounidense negro. Seguro no se atreve a mofarse de Merkel. O de la bronca mafia ucraniana. Venga Rodnina, tía, si  tanto defiendes la libertad de expresión pues apoya la libertad de las "Pussy Riot". Sad but true, dixit Metallica.

"The picture posted by Irina Rodnina, 64, a member of the Duma Lower House of Parliament, evoked the brandishing of bananas at black players by some football fans, a crude racist slur still seen at some matches in Russia.

The photograph was picked up by the opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, who reposted it on Friday evening saying, "Look at the jokes Russian MPs make." 

The picture posted by Russian MP Irina Rodnina.

Rodnina deleted the message and photograph on Saturday but insisted she believed she had done nothing wrong. 

"Freedom of speech is freedom of speech! Deal with your hangups yourself," she wrote on Twitter, saying the post had boosted her rating.

She claimed that the photograph was not hers and had been sent to her by someone in the United States.

A member of the Duma's ethics committee, Yan Zelinsky, concurred in comments to Russian News Service radio. "She sees the president of the United States as liking bananas. What's the big deal?"

Others inside Russia and across the world were critical of the picture. Tikhon Zyadko, a journalist, responded on Twitter that: "Duma deputy Irina Rodnina doesn't hide she is a racist".

"Maybe this is everyday racism. Maybe it's that she was badly brought up and has a warped sense of humour," wrote the deputy editor of the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper, Aider Muzhdabayev in a blog.

"The main thing is that Rodnina did this, and she doesn't regret it a bit."

WHO Suppressed Scientific Study

WHO Refuses to Publish Report on Cancers and Birth Defects in Iraq Caused by Depleted Uranium Ammunition

By Denis Halliday

Un estudio de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) realizado por tres científicos expertos en el efecto de la radiación radioactiva sobre el organismo humano, permanece como "material clasificado". Lo que se sabe, por otras investigaciones, es que tanto adultos como niños que inhalan polvo procedente de material radiactivo  de municiones con uranio, pueden desarrollar tumores cancerosos u otras patologías graves. Con frecuencia la exposición de mujeres a dichas sustancias determina la aparición de malformaciones congénitas en su descendencia. La población civil es la que suele sufrir tales daños ya que las tropas cuenta con métodos de detección, mascaras, vestimenta aislante así como recursos para la descontaminación. 

Tropas estadounidenses con protección contra posible ataque químico.

Url of this article:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/who-refuses-to-publish-report-on-cancers-and-birth-defects-in-iraq-caused-by-depleted-uranium-ammunition/5349556


The World Health Organisation (WHO)  has categorically refused in defiance of its own mandate to share evidence uncovered in Iraq that US military use of Depleted Uranium and other weapons have not only killed many civilians, but continue to result in the birth of deformed babies.
This issue was first brought to light in 2004 in a WHO expert report “on the long-term health of Iraq’s civilian population resulting from depleted uranium (DU) weapons”. This earlier report was “held secret”, namely suppressed by the WHO:
The study by three leading radiation scientists cautioned that children and adults could contract cancer after breathing in dust containing DU, which is radioactive and chemically toxic. But it was blocked from publication by the World Health Organization (WHO), which employed the main author, Dr Keith Baverstock, as a senior radiation advisor. He alleges that it was deliberately suppressed, though this is denied by WHO. (See Rob Edwards, WHO ‘Suppressed’ Scientific Study Into Depleted Uranium Cancer Fears in Iraq,  The Sunday Herald, February 24, 2004)
Almost nine years later,  a joint WHO- Iraqi Ministry of Health Report on cancers and birth defect in Iraq was to be released in November 2012. “It has been delayed repeatedly and now has no release date whatsoever.”
To this date the WHO study remains “classified”.
According to Hans von Sponeck, former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations,

“The US government sought to prevent the WHO from surveying areas in southern Iraq where depleted uranium had been used and caused serious health and environmental dangers.” (quoted in Mozhgan Savabieasfahani Rise of Cancers and Birth Defects in Iraq: World Health Organization Refuses to Release Data, Global Research, July 31, 2013

Mental Health Made in USA

Mental Health Is Renewed Focus in Gun Control Debate

By JEREMY W. PETERS and MICHAEL LUO (NYT)

Efforts to improve a fraying mental health system to help prevent mass shootings have stalled on Capitol Hill, tied up in the broader fight over background checks and limits on weapons sales.

Recomiendo encarecidamente que visiten el presente artículo del NYT en el que se vincula el último (penúltimo) tiroteo con la escasa y frágil atención sanitaria a las enfermedades mentales en la nación más rica del planeta. El cuidado de la salud mental, la prevención y acceso de los estadounidenses a tales recursos es determinante. Estados Unidos cuenta con los mayores y mejores centros de investigación en el campo de la psiquiatría clínica pero los ciudadanos carecen instituciones públicas para recibir tratamiento. 

BRICS: no more Big Brother

The BRICS “Independent Internet” Cable. In Defiance of the “US-Centric Internet”By Umberto Pascali

Url of this article:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-brics-independent-internet-in-defiance-of-the-us-centric-internet/5350272

Dilma Rousseff

Brasil no quiere depender de Estados Unidos y Gran Bretaña para los servicios digitales. El divorcio a la brasileña tiene que ver con la manía generalizada de ambos países de espiar a propios y extraños. De paso les dejo unas sugerencias cutres para preservar su intimidad digital: 1) Fuera de Facebook, dejar que la CIA haga su trabajo pero sin darle muchas facilidades. 2) Optar por plataformas de encriptación sencillas y gratuitas. 3) Ejercer los derechos legales de protección de datos. 4) Impedir que los niños y adolescentes se fíen de compañías predadoras. 5) Recordar que los servicios de correo electrónico se pagan con la información y tráfico que generamos. 

The President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff announces publicly the creation of a world internet system independent  from US and Britain ( the “US-centric internet”).
Not many understand that, while the immediate trigger for the decision (coupled with the cancellation of a summit with the US president) was the revelations on NSA spying, the reason why Rousseff can take such a historic step is that the alternative infrastructure: The BRICS cable from Vladivostock, Russia  to Shantou, China to Chennai, India  to Cape Town, South Africa  to Fortaleza, Brazil,  is being built and it’s, actually, in its final phase of implementation.






http://www.bricscable.com/ (see video)

Five lies to spin UN report on Syria

Autor: Bernardo Vergara

El informe de Naciones Unidas en cuanto al uso de sarin en Siria se puede leer de muchas maneras. En realidad lo único que dice es que se usó dicha sustancia química, algo en cuanto a sus características, la munición utilizada y el punto desde donde se realizó el ataque. No se pronuncia sobre si el ataque contra civiles provino del gobierno sirio o de los rebeldes. Y tampoco señala el origen del sarin. Pero dicho documento no debería interpretarse de forma torticera para abandonar la vía diplomática.

Five Lies Invented to Spin UN Report on Syrian Chemical Weapons Attack
By Tony Cartalucci





The UN report did not attribute blame for the attack, as that was not part of its remit.
"However, that did not stop UK Foreign Secretary William Hague who claimed:
From the wealth of technical detail in the report – including on the scale of the attack, the consistency of sample test results from separate laboratories, witness statements, and information on the munitions used and their trajectories – it is abundantly clear that the Syrian regime is the only party that could have been responsible.
And US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power who stated:
The technical details of the UN report make clear that only the regime could have carried out this large-scale chemical weapons attack.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius is also quoted as saying:
When you look at the findings carefully, the quantities of toxic gas used, the complexity of the mixes, the nature, and the trajectory of the carriers, it leaves absolutely no doubt as to the origin of the attack.
The Washington Post went one step further, and perhaps foolishly, laid out a detailed explanation of each fabrication the West is using to spin the latest UN report. In an article titled, “The U.N. chemical weapons report is pretty damning for Assad,” 5 points are made and explained as to why the UN report “points” to the Syrian government.
1. Chemical weapons were delivered with munitions not used by rebels: This claim includes referencing “Syria watcher” Eliot Higgins also known as “Brown Moses,” a UK-based armchair observer of the Syrian crisis who has been documenting weapons used throughout the conflict on his blog.
While Higgins explains these particularly larger diameter rockets (140mm and 330mm) have not been seen (by him) in the hands of terrorists operating within and along Syria’s borders, older posts of his show rockets similar in construction and operation, but smaller, most certainly in the hands of the militants.
The Washington Post contends that somehow these larger rockets require “technology” the militants have no access to. This is categorically false. A rocket is launched from a simple tube, and the only additional technology terrorists may have required for the larger rockets would have been a truck to mount them on. For an armed front fielding stolen tanks, finding trucks to mount large metal tubes upon would seem a rather elementary task – especially to carry out a staged attack that would justify foreign intervention and salvage their faltering offensive.
2. The sarin was fired from a regime-controlled area: The Washington Post contends that:
The report concludes that the shells came from the northwest of the targeted neighborhood. That area was and is controlled by Syrian regime forces and is awfully close to a Syrian military base. If the shells had been fired by Syrian rebels, they likely would have come from the rebel-held southeast.
What the Washington Post fails to mention is the “limitations” the UN team itself put on the credibility of their findings. On page 18 of the report (22 of the .pdf), the UN states [emphasis added]:
The time necessary to conduct a detailed survey of both locations as well as take samples was very limited. The sites have been well travelled by other individuals both before and during the investigation. Fragments and other possible evidence have clearly been handled/moved prior to the arrival of the investigation team.
It should also be noted that militants still controlled the area after the alleged attack and up to and including during the investigation by UN personnel. Any tampering or planting of evidence would have been carried out by “opposition” members – and surely the Syrian government would not point rockets in directions that would implicate themselves.
3. Chemical analysis suggests sarin likely came from controlled supply: The Washington Post claims:
The U.N. investigators analyzed 30 samples, which they found contained not just sarin but also “relevant chemicals, such as stabilizers.” That suggests that the chemical weapons were taken from a controlled storage environment, where they could have been processed for use by troops trained in their use.
Only, any staged attack would also need to utilize stabilized chemical weapons and personnel trained in their use. From stockpiles looted in Libya, to chemical arms covertly transferred from the US, UK, or Israel, through Saudi Arabia or Qatar, there is no short supply of possible sources.
Regarding “rebels” lacking the necessary training to handle chemical weapons – US policy has seen to it that not only did they receive the necessary training, but Western defense contractors specializing in chemical warfare are reported to be on the ground with militants inside Syria. CNN reported in their 2012 article, “Sources: U.S. helping underwrite Syrian rebel training on securing chemical weapons,” that:
The United States and some European allies are using defense contractors to train Syrian rebels on how to secure chemical weapons stockpiles in Syria, a senior U.S. official and several senior diplomats told CNN Sunday.
The training, which is taking place in Jordan and Turkey, involves how to monitor and secure stockpiles and handle weapons sites and materials, according to the sources. Some of the contractors are on the ground in Syria working with the rebels to monitor some of the sites, according to one of the officials.
4. Cyrillic characters on the sides of the shells: The Washington Post claims:
The Russian lettering on the artillery rounds strongly suggests they were Russian-manufactured. Russia is a major supplier of arms to the Syrian government, of course, but more to the point they are not a direct or indirect supplier of arms to the rebels.
The Washington Post’s logic fails even at face value. Terrorists operating inside of Syria also possess rifles and even tanks of Russian origin – stolen or acquired through a large network of illicit arms constructed by NATO and its regional allies to perpetuate the conflict.
Additionally, had the attacks been staged by terrorists or their Western backers, particularly attacks whose fallout sought to elicit such a profound geopolitical shift in the West’s favor, it would be assumed some time would be invested in making them appear to have originated from the Syrian government. The use of chemical weapons on a militant location by the militants themselves would constitute a “false flag” attack, which by definition would require some sort of incriminating markings or evidence to accompany the weapons used in the barrage.
5. The UN Secretary General’s comments on the report: The Washington Post itself admits the tenuous nature of this final point, stating:
“This is perhaps the most circumstantial case at all, but it’s difficult to ignore the apparent subtext in Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s news conference discussing the report...”
That the Washington Post, and the interests driving its editorial board, could not even produce 5 reasonably convincing arguments as to why the UN report somehow implicates the Syrian government casts doubt on claims regarding the “wealth of technical detail” pointing in President Bashar al-Assad’s direction.
The UN report confirms that chemical weapons were used, a point that was not contended by either side of the conflict, before or after the UN investigation began. What the West is attempting to now do, is retrench its narrative behind the report and once again create a baseless justification for continued belligerence against Syria, both covert and as a matter of official foreign policy".

Copyright © 2013 Global Research

Atrévete a vivir

Se llama Daphne. Tiene 85 años.

La señora no se ha planchado las arrugas. Las luce. Va de rojo y negro. Lo que es toda una declaración de principios. Y su mirada ha visto mucho. Una mujer que piensa. Crea su moda. Vive.
(Con información de The Guardian  dedicado a todas las mujeres guerreras y libres).

Bloqueo a Cuba

Obama prorrogó otro año sanciones comerciales contra Cuba

Colografía de Celia Álvarez.

Washington.— El presidente estadounidense, Barack Obama, prorrogó por otro año las sanciones comerciales impuestas contra Cuba.
El memorando dirigido al Secretario de Estado y al Secretario del Tesoro de Estados Unidos fue difundido por la Casa Blanca, ordenando mantener el bloqueo contra la mayor de las Antillas.
Conforme a la legislación norteamericana vigente, el Presidente norteamericano decidió prorrogar las sanciones contra Cuba, bajo la Ley de Comercio con el Enemigo, alegando que responde a los intereses nacionales de Washington.

Estados Unidos mantiene el embargo comercial contra Cuba desde el año 1961, endurecido posteriormente en los años 1992 y 1996, tras la aprobación de las leyes Torricelli y Helms Burton. (Con información de PL)

 

USA tycoons

 Los 400 estadounidenses que atesoran mayores riquezas poseen una fortuna colectiva ligeramente superior a la de la economía Rusa. Me abstengo de hacer comparaciones con otros territorios que presuntamente disfrutar de un "estado de bienestar". Y ni mencionar el resto del planeta. Los datos son de Forbes.

Bill Gates

"A record $2.02 trillion (£1.4tn), up from $1.7tn in 2012, a collective fortune slightly bigger than Russia's economy. In another sign of fizziness at the top of the economy, the cost to enter the billionaires' club has also gone up to levels not seen since the 2008 crash. In 2013, an aspiring plutocrat needs at least $1.3bn to make the Forbes list – the highest since just before the collapse of Lehman Brothers sent stock markets plummeting.

Bill Gates has been named as the richest American for the 20th year in a row, with a personal fortune of $72bn. The computer entrepreneur turned philanthropist recovered his position as the world's richest man in May, when he overtook mobile phone tycoon Carlos Slim, who had held the top spot for the previous four years.

Gates, the university drop-outwho founded Microsoft and has given away $28bn since 1994, saw his fortune grow by $6bn since 2012, partly helped by a rise in Microsoft's stock price since August.

In second place is Warren Buffett, the investor feted for his shrewdness, who recently bought Heinz. Buffett, with a fortune of $58.5bn, was one of the biggest gainers in 2013, which helped him retain his place on the list. The outspoken founder of software company Oracle, Larry Ellison, takes third place with a $41bn fortune.

The richest woman in the US, and the world, is Christy Walton, who inherited a retail fortune when her husband died in 2005. Walton is estimated to be worth $35.4bn, thanks to her shares in the world's largest supermarket Walmart, which has annual sales of $466bn and employs 2.2 million people worldwide – a workforce bigger than the population of Slovenia. She shares the Walmart fortune with her brother-in law Jim and sister in law Alice, who take sixth and seventh place on the list, with around $33bn each.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg edged into the top 20 after his personal fortune doubled to $19bnas the tech company's stock price revived over the summer, following a wobbly stock market debut in 2012".( Extracto procedente de The Guardian by Jennifer Rankin, London)