Editorial office June 17, 2022

The NATO summit brings long queues. The Government is deploying random controls of vehicles, lethal weapons and identity controls in public transport at the entrances to Madrid, as well as circulars to administrations to grant teleworking permits as far as possible, to leave Madrid clean of “incidents”.

The celebration of the military event has been organized under the umbrella of the new National Security Law, which declares this type of summit as “Situations of interest for National Security”, and although its articles clarify that it will not entail the suspension of fundamental rights, in practice it empowers the security forces to carry out all kinds of checks and searches, and also serves as an argument to deny any protest that may take place during those days.

The so-called Operation Eirene will be commanded from an IFEMA pavilion, which will house the Coordination Center (CECOR) of the device led by the National Police -with the Deputy Director of Operations (DAO) as the head of the entire operation-, and which will have commanders of the Civil Guard, Municipal Police, CNI, CITCO or Casa Real, as well as representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defense, the Government Delegation, Civil Protection and IFEMA’s private security.

Interior has also planned a CECOR ‘mirror’ room outside IFEMA although, for security reasons, its location is kept secret.

To the 10,000 police officers must be added the security of each of the delegations, the largest of all being the one headed by US President Joe Biden. Just conditioning IFEMA has a budget of 35 million euros.

The Security of the Royal House will also play a decisive role, especially in relation to the program for companions of presidents and prime ministers, by having Queen Letizia as host within an agenda, in parallel to the official one, which includes visits to the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso in Segovia and dinners at the Royal Palace or at the Prado Museum.

Among other measures, the declaration of “situation of interest” implies that any person who circulates through the municipal area of ​​Madrid and does not carry their identity documentation can be arrested.

Likewise, agents may send photographs of identity documents to their control room, photographs or images they take of any person, and they are also empowered to intervene on public roads (seize or review) any device or device: tablets, mobile phones, cameras.

In the same way, the IMEI’s of the telephones can be registered and even, any meeting or group of people that exceeds the number of 5, or those that the Security Forces understand that they may pose a “potential” threat, can be dissolved.

Continue reading “Until June 30 Madrid will be under NATO martial Law.. Eng/Esp”

June 18, 2022 – by Caitlin Johnstone, 18 June 22, via Christina Macpherson and thefreeonline

 https://caityjohnstone.medium.com/assange-is-doing-his-most-important-work-yet-7b3ba4f3bea3 Caitlin Johnstone, 18 June 22, British Home Secretary Priti Patel has authorized the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States to be tried under the Espionage Act in a case which seeks to set a legal precedent for the prosecution of any publisher or journalist, anywhere in the world, who reports inconvenient truths about the US empire.

Assange’s legal team will appeal the decision, reportedly with arguments that will include the fact that the CIA spied on him and plotted his assassination.

“It will likely be a few days before the (14-day appeal) deadline and the appeal will include new information that we weren’t able to bring before the courts previously.

Information on how Julian lawyers were spied on, and how there were plots to kidnap and kill Julian from within the CIA,” Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton told Reuters on Friday.

And thank goodness. Assange’s willingness to resist Washington’s extradition attempts benefit us all, from his taking political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 until British police forcibly dragged him out in 2019, to his fighting US prosecutors in the courtroom tooth and claw during his incarceration in Belmarsh Prison.

Assange’s fight against US extradition benefits us not just because the empire’s war against truth harms our entire species and not just because he cannot receive a fair trial under the Espionage Act, but because his refusal to bow down and submit forces the empire to overextend itself into the light and show us all what it’s really made of.

Continue reading “Assange Is Doing His Most Important Work Yet .. by Caitlin Johnstone”

from SouthFront Submitted by Dr. Binoy Kampmark via thefreeonline shared with thanks

“It is a sad day for western democracy.  The UK’s decision to extradite Julian Assange to the nation that plotted to assassinate him – the nation that wants to imprison him for 175 years for publishing truthful information in the public interest – is an abomination.”

The only shock about the UK Home Secretary’s decision regarding Julian Assange was that it did not come sooner.  In April, Chief Magistrate Senior District Judge Paul Goldspring expressed the view that he was “duty-bound” to send the case to Priti Patel to decide on whether to extradite the WikiLeaks founder to the United States to face 18 charges, 17 grafted from the US Espionage Act of 1917.

Patel, for her part, was never exercised by the more sordid details of the case.  Her approach to matters of justice is one of premature adjudication: the guilty are everywhere, and only multiply. 

When it came to WikiLeaks, such fine points of law and fact as a shaky indictment based on fabricated evidence, meditations on assassination, and a genuine, diagnosed risk of self-harm, were piffling distractions.  The US Department of Justice would not be denied.

“Under the Extradition Act 2003,” a nameless spokesman for the Home Office stated, “the Secretary of State must sign an extradition order if there are no grounds to prohibit the order being made.  Extradition requests are only sent to the Home Secretary once a judge decides it can proceed after considering various aspects of the case.”

Evidently, overt politicisation, bad faith, and flimsy reassurances from the US Department Justice on how Assange will be detained, do not constitute sufficient grounds. 

But the cue came from the courts themselves, which have done a fabulous job of covering the US justice system with tinsel in actually believing assurances that Assange would not be facing special administrative detention measures (SAMs) or permanent captivity in the ADX Florence supermax in Colorado. 

Continue reading “Predictable Monstrosities: Priti Patel Approves Assange’s Extradition”

Ecuador Indigenous Leader Freed, Protests Unabated

text via SouthFront/ etc .. via thefreeonline .. shared with thanks

Protests continue throughout Ecuador despite the release of Leonidas Iza, leader of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE).

Indigenous people, who make up over a million of Ecuador’s 17.7 million citizens, took to the streets on June 13 to protest against fuel prices and living costs.

Supporters of CONAIE stormed the prosecutor’s office, forcing the freeing of Iza after just one day

Despite being an oil producer, the prices of fuel almost doubled in Ecuador over the last two years. The price of diesel went from $1 to $1.90 per gallon, while the price of gasoline rose from $1.75 to $2.55 per gallon.

The CONAIE, considered a powerhouse in Ecuadorian politics, called for the protests, which saw thousands of people blocking key roads across the country.

The protestors flocked towards the capital Quito on foot and on the back of trucks. They used sand, rocks and tree branches to partly block access to the city.

Iza was arrested on the second day of the mass protest. As the leader of CONAIE, he was accused of paralyzing public transport services.

Continue reading “Protests Continue In Ecuador after Federation Forces Release Of Indigenous Leader (Videos)”

Publicado por Press

Response to Global Energy Crisis So Far? A Planet-Wrecking Fossil Fuel ‘Gold Rush’: Analysis

Progressives have been urging governments to embark on an accelerated global clean energy transition since Russia’s late-February invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing Western sanctions unleashed chaos in energy markets around the world, but policymakers have opted instead to expand fossil fuel infrastructure.

That’s according to researchers from Climate Action Tracker, which released a new report Wednesday warning that this reaction threatens to lock in decades of heat-trapping emissions at a time when the window to slash greenhouse gas pollution and avert the most catastrophic effects of the climate crisis is rapidly closing.

«So far, governments have largely failed to seize their chance to rearrange their energy supplies away from fossil fuels,» states the report.

«Instead, we are witnessing a global ‘gold rush’ for new fossil gas production, pipelines, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities. This risks locking us into another high-carbon decade and keeping the Paris agreement’s 1.5°C limit out of reach.»

Key findings of the analysis include:

• New planned LNG import facilities in the European Union—especially in Germany, Italy, Greece, and the Netherlands—could supply a quarter more gas to the E.U. than before;
• Canada plans to fast-track new LNG projects to increase exports;
• The United States has signed a deal to export additional LNG to the E.U. Qatar and Egypt have signed similar deals with Germany and Italy, respectively. Algeria has signed a deal to export additional gas via pipeline to Italy;
• In Africa, old gas pipeline projects are being revived (e.g. Nigeria) and countries with previously no fossil gas exports (e.g. Senegal) are now encouraged to supply gas to Europe; and
• Domestic fossil fuel production has increased in the U.S., Canada, Norway, Italy, and Japan, and new long-term import contracts are closed or extended in the United Kingdom, E.U., Germany, Poland, and Italy.

«If all these plans materialize,» the report warns, «they will either end up as massive stranded assets or they’ll lock the world into irreversible warming.»

Climate Action Tracker shared a graphic detailing what governments should and shouldn’t do in response to the global energy crisis.

The recommended measures include halting the expansion of fracked gas infrastructure; discouraging domestic fossil fuel production; ramping up renewable energy supplies, including by reinvesting revenue raised through taxes on Big Oil’s windfall profits; eliminating fossil fuel subsidies and raising the price of carbon once oil and gas prices fall; and incentivizing energy efficiency and electrification.

A handful of governments, including the E.U. and the U.K., have proposed increasing their renewable energy targets, but these plans remain inadequate, the report says.

«Almost no government supports behavioral change,» the report laments. «Immediate and low-cost options to reduce energy demand and therefore the need for Russian fossil fuels would include shifts in behavior, such as encouraging slower driving by introducing/lowering speed limits, home office policies, restricting car access to cities, or turning down the heating in buildings.»

«These options still seem to be very unattractive to governments,» the authors note. «We have only found governments recommending their population to those behavioral shifts and few incentivizing it. So far only New Zealand, [the] U.S. (California), Italy, Germany, and Ireland have introduced new incentives for public transport.»

In addition, «more emphasis on energy efficiency and electrification [is] needed,» says the report. «We find only a few countries putting additional emphasis on energy efficiency and/or electrification as a reaction to the current crisis.

A push for heat pumps, electric cars, [and] electrification in industry would be an adequate reaction, but is currently underdeveloped.»

Responding to the war in Ukraine by boosting the extraction and international shipment of fossil fuels rather than replacing Russian oil and gas supplies with green energy would represent a second missed opportunity since 2020 to take decisive climate action while there’s still time to secure a livable future.

«After failing to focus on climate during Covid-19 recovery, many governments look set to make the same mistake in the face of a global energy shock,» says the report. «Governments largely failed to make decarbonization a focus in their post-pandemic economic recovery packages, with only a small fraction of the billions spent dedicated to accelerating the energy transition to bring down emissions.»

«Instead, they missed a massive opportunity, spending the lion’s share of those packages on maintaining the status quo,» the report adds.

«According to our analysis, governments are making the same mistake, twice

“How much the US loves war”: China highlights that Washington invested 400 times more in Ukraine than in economic cooperation with ASEAN countries
Date: June 5, 2022 Author: Prensa Bolivariana 0 Comments

According to data published by the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Washington invested 54 billion dollars in supporting kyiv and only 150 million in economic programs with the Asian bloc.

The spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian, outlined the US priorities on Saturday, highlighting that Washington invested 54,000 million dollars in supporting Ukraine and only 150 million in economic cooperation with 10 countries of the Association of Nations. of South East Asia (ASEAN).

“A difference of 400 times shows how much the United States loves war,” reflected the diplomat on his Twitter account.

In the middle of last month, US President Joe Biden made the decision to contribute 150 million dollars to ASEAN in programs that cover areas such as maritime security, decarbonization of energy supply, health, among others, in order to counteract the influence of the Asian giant.

For its part, Beijing commented: “The cooperation between China and ASEAN is defined by mutually beneficial cooperation, openness and inclusiveness. […] China and ASEAN are not seeking zero-sum games, nor are they promoting bloc confrontation.

Meanwhile, the White House tenant announced on Wednesday a new military aid package for Ukraine, valued at 700 million dollars. The aid will provide kyiv with HIMARS multiple rocket launcher systems, 1,000 Javelin anti-tank and man-portable missiles, 6,000 anti-tank missiles, 4 Mi-17 helicopters, 15 tactical vehicles and several radars.

«Cuánto ama EE.UU. la guerra»: China destaca que Washington invirtió 400 veces más en Ucrania que en cooperación económica con los países de la ASEAN

Fecha: junio 5, 2022Autor/a: prensabolivariana 0 Comentarios

Según los datos publicados por el portavoz del Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores chino, Washington invirtió 54.000 millones de dólares en apoyar a Kiev y solo 150 millones en programas económicos con el bloque asiático.

El portavoz del Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores chino, Zhao Lijian, expuso este sábado las prioridades de EE.UU., destacando que Washington invirtió 54.000 millones de dólares en apoyar a Ucrania y solo 150 millones en cooperación económica con 10 países de la Asociación de Naciones de Asia Sudoriental (ASEAN).

«Una diferencia de 400 veces muestra cuánto ama Estados Unidos la guerra», reflexionó el diplomático en su cuenta de Twitter.

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A mediados del mes pasado, el presidente estadounidense Joe Biden tomó la decisión de aportar 150 millones de dólares a la ASEAN en programas que abarcan áreas como la seguridad marítima, la descarbonización del suministro de energía, la salud, entre otros, con el fin de contrarrestar la influencia del gigante asiático.

Por su parte, Pekín comentó: «La cooperación entre China y la ASEAN se define por la cooperación mutuamente beneficiosa, la apertura y la inclusión. […] China y la ASEAN no buscan juegos de suma cero, ni impulsan la confrontación en bloque.

En tanto, el inquilino de la Casa Blanca anunció el miércoles un nuevo paquete de ayuda militar para Ucrania, valorado en 700 millones de dólares. La ayuda proporcionará a Kiev sistemas de lanzacohetes múltiples HIMARS, 1.000 misiles antitanques y portátiles Javelin, 6.000 misiles antitanques, 4 helicópteros Mi-17, 15 vehículos tácticos y varios radares.

https://wp.me/p2XS6W-4S8

Integrantes y simpatizantes de la comunidad LGBT+ marchan hoy, por las principales calles de Tuxtla Gutiérrez, estado de Chiapas (México). EFE/Carlos López