Ex-CBS Reporter: Spineless Media Bosses Eroding Our First Amendment

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UN panel slams US for police brutality, torture

Published time: November 29, 2014

A UN report has condemned the United States for violating the terms of an international anti-torture treaty. The panel took Washington to task for police brutality, military interrogations, and capital punishment protocols.

Released by the UN Committee Against Torture, the report took issue with the excessive use of force by law enforcement and accused the US police force of racial profiling. The report was released on Friday, just days after the contentious decision of a Missouri grand jury not to indict a white officer accused of shooting Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen. The decision triggered a wave of protests nationwide.

The UN watchdog expressed “deep concern at the frequent and recurrent police shootings or fatal pursuits of unarmed black individuals.” Though the report did not specifically mention the events in Ferguson, Mike Brown’s parents met with the committee to discuss their son’s case in Geneva earlier this month.

The 10-person panel, which periodically reviews the records of the 156 countries which ratified the Convention Against Torture – a non-binding international human rights treaty – cited mounting concerns over “racial profiling by police and immigration offices and growing militarization of policing activities.”

“We recommend that all instances of police brutality and excessive use of force by law enforcement officers are investigated promptly, effectively and impartially by an independent mechanism,” said panel member Alessio Bruni at a news conference in Geneva.

US activists welcomed the findings as a call to action for the federal government.

“This report - along with the voices of Americans protesting around the country this week - is a wake-up call for police who think they can act with impunity,” said Jamil Dakwar of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), as quoted by Reuters.

Urging for tougher laws to define and ban torture, the committee called on Washington to reevaluate the treatment of detainees at the infamous Guantanamo Bay detention facility, which currently houses 148 prisoners. The report accused the US of sustaining a “draconian system of secrecy surrounding high-value detainees that keeps their torture claims out of the public domain.”

In addition, the committee criticized the recent spate of botched executions, which resulted in“excruciating pain and prolonged suffering” for inmates in US prisons.

“There are numerous areas in which certain things should be changed for the United States to comply fully with the convention,” said Bruni.

‘He will be history’: Turkish president lashes out at Joe Biden over ISIS comments

Published time: October 04, 2014

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed he would wash his hands of Joe Biden if reports that the US vice president blamed Turkey in part for the rise of the so-called Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) were true.

On Thursday, Biden said his “old friend” Erdogan had admitted to making a mistake in allowing foreign fighters to cross the Turkish border into Syria.

“You were right. We let too many people through.' Now they're trying to seal their border," Biden quoted Erdogan as saying.

In comments to reporters in Istanbul after morning prayers for Eid al-Adha – Feast of the Sacrifice – in Istanbul on Saturday, Erdogan aggressively refuted Biden’s remarks.

"If Biden told these words, then he will be history to me. I never uttered such remarks," Turkish daily Hurriyet cites Erdogan as saying.

Speaking back on his time as prime minister, Erdogan said his government had not provided “even the smallest amount of support” to the IS or any other terrorist organization.

“Nobody can prove it. Foreign fighters never crossed from Turkey to Syria. There were people coming to Turkey as tourists and went to Syria, but nobody can suggest that they were armed while crossing the border," Erdoğan said.

"I view [Biden's remarks] with regret. I never admitted any mistake, nor did we tell them that they 'were right' during my visit to the US. If Mr. Biden uttered these remarks at Harvard, he should apologize. I'm saying this clearly. And we won't accept slender, indirect explanations," Erdogan said.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu added it was “impossible” to accept Biden’s remarks, adding that it is Turkey which has borne the brunt of the Syrian refugee crisis.

"All the US authorities and Biden very well know that Turkey, on its own, has hosted millions of refugees for four years,” Hurriyet cites the Turkish PM as saying.

“If all the warnings that Turkey made had been taken into consideration, [the IS] would not be an issue today."

Leighton Hay, wrongfully convicted of murder in 2002, walks free

From CBC News - Posted: Nov 28, 2014

The charges against Leighton Hay, a Toronto man convicted of an execution-style murder in 2002, were withdrawn this morning and he walked out of court a free man after more than 12 years in prison.

The Crown said it is no longer in the public interest to pursue the case. 

Hay, 19 at the time, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the July 2002 killing of 51-year-old Colin Moore. But he appealed based on forensic testing on hairs found in his apartment.

Hay's case was taken on by the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted in 2011, which called it "factual innocence."

“Leighton has been through a nightmare for all these years," said James Lockyer, the association's senior counsel, who said before Hay was released that his "walk into freedom today" would be "momentous for him." 

"This was a miscarriage of justice of the highest order,” Lockyer added.

Hay's lawyers have asked Justice John McMahon to apologize on behalf of the justice system.

Hair evidence key to case 

On July 6, 2002, Moore was hosting an event at a nightclub in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke. At 1:13 a.m. ET, two men armed with handguns stormed into the nightclub, and shot and killed Moore.

Police identified one of the gunmen as Gary Eunick. 

Eunick had borrowed the car of Hay’s mother and was driving it the night in question, according to police.

When police found the car at Hay's home, they arrested both Eunick and Hay.

Witnesses from the nightclub described the second gunman as having “two inch picky dreads” — longer hair than what Hay had at the time.

The Crown argued at his original trial in 2004 that Hay returned home after the shooting and had a haircut.

The police searched for evidence of a haircut at Hay's home, and found some very short hairs in a newspaper in a garbage bin and on an electric razor in his bedroom.

Hay's lawyers presented evidence at the appeal — the second appeal on the crime — that questioned whether Hay indeed got a haircut.

Hay's lawyers also highlighted one witness who identified Hay with “80 per cent” certainty as the gunman at the nightclub. Two weeks later, the same witness did not select Hay’s photo in a lineup.

Foreigners ‘like seeing our children die’, can’t help with Mid-East, says Erdogan

Published time: November 28, 2014

Muslim countries are able to solve their problems on their own, the Turkish president believes. He says far from offering help, the West is actually exploiting “conflicts in the Middle East” and only cares about the region’s riches.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has urged Islamic countries to unite in order to solve “the biggest humanitarian and political crisis in their history,” according to AFP, citing the Turkish president’s speech in Istanbul on Thursday.

“The only condition to overcome the crisis in the Islamic world is unity, solidarity and alliance,” he said. “Believe me, we can resolve every problem as long as we are united.”

Erdogan says there is no use counting on help from the Western world.

“I speak openly, foreigners love oil, gold, diamonds, and the cheap labor force of the Islamic world,” he said. “They like the conflicts, fights and quarrels of the Middle East. Believe me, they don’t like us.”

“They look like friends, but they want us dead, they like seeing our children die,” the president went on.

Turkey has recently had its relations with the US strained over the Washington-led military operation against the Islamic State extremist group.

The US has been pushing for Turkey’s more active participation in the conflict, which Ankara has largely resisted, in its turn demanding support from Washington in bringing down Syria’s president Assad.

Erdogan has called the US attempt to get Turkey more involved in the conflict “impertinent.”

“Why is somebody coming to this region from 12,000 kilometers (7,000 miles) away?” Erdogan said on Wednesday, according to AFP. “I want you to know that we are against impertinence, recklessness and endless demands,” he added.

The comment was made shortly after US Vice President Joe Biden visited Turkey. Biden's negotiations with Erdogan failed to resolve the differences between the two NATO allies.

Muslims discovered America – no joke

Erdogan also lashed out at Western journalists for mocking his remarks on the presence of Muslims in America long before the continent was discovered by Columbus.

“I have been the target of heavy criticism by the Western media,” he said. “Just because I repeated a fact based on scientific research, I have been targeted by the Western media, as well as the foreigners within who suffer from an ego complex.”

Erdogan’s claim is based on a 1996 paper from Youssef Mroueh of the As-Sunnah Foundation of America, who says Columbus’s diary mentions a mosque he saw while sailing near Cuba. The theory has hardly found any support within the scientific community.

However, Erdogan’s faith in the controversial study remains unshattered.

“They have been very disturbed by the fact that we have reminded them of some historical facts, the history of civilization, science, politics and war. They don’t want us to question anything,” Erdogan said.

US responsible for two-thirds of all military conflicts – Russia’s top brass

Published time: November 27, 2014

US interference in the internal affairs of countries around the world has brought neither peace, nor democracy, said Russia’s Deputy Defence Minister. America’s double standard experiments in supporting terrorists are provoking further destabilization.

“Think of it, over the last decades the US initiated two-thirds of all military conflicts (worldwide). Call to memory, how it all turned out in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria,” Russia’s deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov said, addressing colleagues from the Southern and Southeast Asian states in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

“Using social and economic difficulties, various ethnical and religious conflicts and under the pretext of spreading democracy, Western political spin masters add populist slogans to the fire of public discontent, provoking mass disturbances,” he said. “As a result, a lawful government is taken down, chaos, abuse of power and lawlessness spread, people die, and in some cases a regime favourable to the West is brought into power. Of course, terrorists feel comfortable in such conditions.”

Antonov called on the US authorities to “give up double standards in the implementation of counter-terrorist measures” and stop dividing terrorists into good and bad ones.

“No matter what slogans terrorists use – they should remain outlaws,” Antonov said, speaking about the current disastrous situations in Syria and Iraq as a vivid example of consequences of such“ineffectual experiments.”

Russian top brass stressed their concern over the creation of terrorist organizations for serving the specific needs of certain states. A classic example is the Taliban movement in Afghanistan, created to combat the Soviet Union, but which ended as the Al-Qaeda terrorist network that bit back hard at the US.

Russia is always ready to cooperate in fighting terrorism and to coordinate activities to defeat the new challenge presented by the Islamic State, Russia’s Deputy Defence Minister said, pointing out that Moscow has never stopped supplying legitimate governments with weapons and military hardware to ease their fight against religious extremism.

Initially created to eliminate President Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria, it became a terror threat for the whole Middle East region, Antonov said.

Another global threat to world security and stability is the so-called global trend in “colour revolutions”Antonov said, comparing the ongoing protests in Hong-Kong with the Maidan protests in Ukraine, which ended in chaos, mass murder, economic downturn, split of the country and eventually – a civil war.

The deputy defence minister blamed the US for “pushing Ukraine to the abyss” in an internal conflict, which has already killed thousands through the support of an unconstitutional power takeover.”

For those who doubt that “colour revolutions” are not typical for the Southeast Asian states, Antonov highlighted the fact that “10 percent of Islamic State militants now fighting in Syria and Iraq come from the Southeast Asia.”

“What will happen in the countries of the region when those highly trained militants with battlefield experience come back to their home countries?” Antonov questioned.

It is a primary task of the national armed forces of Southern and Southeast Asian states to maintain regional security and neutralize the potential threat of colour revolutions internally, Antonov stressed, proposing to develop closer ties between national defence forces.

The US foreign is now bringing instability to the Asia-Pacific (A/P) region, developing its global missile defence network under the pretext of a North Korean nuclear threat.

“In reality, American global missile defence is aimed at undermining regional and international security and poses a serious threat to the Asia-Pacific region,” Antonov said.

The US is beefing up its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region with nuclear air carriers and strategic bombers “under a vain pretext” in order to master other countries policies, Antonov said, noting that the region’s governments suffered unprecedented pressure recently when Washington forced them to “join illegal anti-Russian (economic) sanctions.”

The military potential being readied by Washington “considerably exceeds the level required to neutralize any existing or potential missile threat,” Antonov said.

Russia’s Deputy Defence Minister recalled President Vladimir Putin saying some time ago that America’s attempts to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs usually end up in a catastrophe.

Addressing a gathering on Lake Seliger in Russia’s Tver region in in August, President Vladimir Putin that he had an impression that “whatever Americans touch they always end up with Libya or Iraq.”

Germany’s intel agency says MH17 downed by Ukraine militia – report

Published time: October 19, 2014 

Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency says a local militia shot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine in July, Der Spiegel reports. The BND is said to possess “ample evidence," though none of it has been made public.

The statement was made on October 8, when Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) president Gerhard Schindler was holding a secret meeting with members of the parliamentary control committee, the German daily reported on Sunday.

He claimed the militia fired a rocket from a BUK defense missile system which it had captured from a Ukrainian base. It then exploded next to the plane, according to the report.

“Schindler provided ample evidence to back up his case, including satellite images and diverse photo evidence,” the report added.

However, no “evidence” has yet been made public, and the BND has not made any official statements on the matter.

At the same meeting, Schindler reportedly said that certain intelligence on the crash provided by the Ukrainian side was false, adding that “this can be explained in detail.” However, he did not give much credit to Russia’s evidence either. 

The German Federal Prosecutor's Office told the newspaper that an investigation has been launched into unknown perpetrators under the possibility that the downing had been a war crime.

First deputy prime minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Andrey Purgin, refuted claims made by the German intelligence agency. He told Interfax that Kiev forces could have downed the plane, mistaking it for a spy jet.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was downed over eastern Ukraine on July 17, killing all 298 passengers and crew. Nearly two-thirds of the passengers were from the Netherlands.

The ongoing international probe led by the Dutch has not yet established who the perpetrators were. A preliminary report issued in September said only that the plane crashed as a result of structural damage caused by a “large number of high-energy objects" that struck from outside.

"If our US colleagues have imagery from this satellite, they should release it for the international community to examine it in detail. This may be a coincidence, but the US satellite flew over Ukraine at exactly the same time when the Malaysian airliner crashed,” a ministry spokesman said in a July statement.

The US has accused local militia forces of shooting down the plane. However, it has provided little to no evidence in support of such claims. 

Following the crash, Harf was asked at a press briefing if the US could back up its claims regarding the role of such militias in the tragedy. Harf responded that she “can’t get into the sources and methods behind it” and “can’t tell you what the information is based on.”

In late July, the US State Department released satellite images via email, claiming the pictures acted as “evidence” that Russia was firing rockets at Ukrainian troops across the border. The images were posted on Twitter by the US ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt. Russia’s Defense Ministry said the authenticity of the images was impossible to prove.

Meanwhile, Russia has said that its military detected a Ukrainian SU-25 fighter jet gaining height towards the MH17 Boeing on the day of the catastrophe. No explanation was given by Kiev as to why the military plane was flying so close to a passenger aircraft.Political analyst Aleksandar Pavic told RT that he believes Berlin is trying to influence the Dutch investigation – the results of which are to be released next year.

“Germany has now the obligation to show the evidence to the official investigation,” he said. “This is like during trial: if you release bits and pieces of evidence before while the trial is still ongoing, you are trying to influence the outcome of the trial.”

Russia has been repeatedly denied accusations, mostly from the US, which claim that Moscow was connected to the tragedy in some way or another. The Russian Foreign Ministry has called Washington’s accusations “unsubstantiated innuendos."

The US State Department has accused Russia of firing artillery across the border into Ukrainian territory after the plane crash.

“We have new evidence that the Russians intend to deliver heavier and more powerful rocket launchers to the separatist forces in Ukraine, and have evidence that Russia is firing artillery from within Russia to attack Ukrainian military positions,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters during a briefing in July. But she refused to provide any evidence when grilled by an Associated Press reporter.

Meanwhile, Moscow has posed a series of questions to the US that have been left unanswered. Russian military officials urged their US colleagues to release satellite images that prove their claims.

GOP SUING OBAMA FOR “REWRITING FEDERAL LAW ON HIS OWN”

by STEVE WATSON | INFOWARS.COM | NOVEMBER 21, 2014

House Republicans have initiated a lawsuit against the President, charging that he has abused his authority with executive actions on healthcare and immigration.

The crux of the lawsuit focuses on the fact that the President ensured a delay of the Affordable Healthcare Act’s employer mandate to provide health insurance.

It is, however, no coincidence that the legal action comes just one day after Obama announced an executive order on immigration that will see some 5 million illegal immigrants provided citizenship and given access to state benefits.

“Time after time, the president has chosen to ignore the will of the American people and rewrite federal law on his own without a vote of Congress,” said Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). “That’s not the way our system of government was designed to work.”

The lawsuit also challenges the legality of payments made by the White House to insurance companies designed to lower consumers’ out-of-pocket costs. Republicans are charging that the money for these payments was not appropriated by Congress.

“If this president can get away with making his own laws, future presidents will have the ability to as well,” Boehner said. “The House has an obligation to stand up for the Constitution, and that is exactly why we are pursuing this course of action.”

Boehner also promised that the House will act separately against the executive action on immigration, saying that Obama is “damaging the presidency.”

“With this action, the president has chosen to deliberately sabotage any chance of enacting bipartisan reforms that he claims to seek,” Boehner said. “And as I told the president yesterday, he’s damaging the presidency itself.”

“We’re working with our members and looking at the options that are available to us, but I will say to you, the House will, in fact, act,” Boehner added.

“We have a broken immigration system and the American people expect us to work together to fix it,” Boehner said. “We ought to do it through the Democratic process — moving bills through the people’s house, through the Senate, and to the president’s desk.”

In addition to GOP promises to act, Texas Governor Rick Perry has declared that his state may also sue Obama over the immigration move.

“I think that’s probably a very real possibility,” Perry said, specifically referring to a lawsuit over deportation relief.

“I’m open to it,” he added, saying “I don’t like the idea of citizenship when people jump the line. We may have to do it.”

In addition, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who led the investigation into the dispute over Obama’s US citizenship, has promised to sue the President over the immigration reform order.

“Among the many negative affects of this executive order, will be the increased release of criminal aliens back onto streets of Maricopa County, Arizona, and the rest of the nation.” Arpaio stated.

—————————————————————-

Steve Watson is a London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.com, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham, and a Bachelor Of Arts Degree in Literature and Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent University.

​Russia-China trading settlements in yuan increases 800%

Published time: November 21, 2014

Settlements in yuan between China and Russia have increased ninefold in annual terms between January and September 2014, says the Chinese Ministry of Economic Development.

"The settlement in national currencies between China and Russia in bilateral trade amounted to about 2 percent in 2013. There has been a significant growth in 2014. In particular, the use of the yuan in mutual settlements increased nine times in the first nine months of 2014." TASS quotes Lin Zhi, head of the Europe and Central Asia Department of the Chinese Ministry of Economic Development.

"About 100 Russian commercial banks are now opening corresponding accounts for settlements in yuan. The list of commercial banks where ordinary depositors can open an account in yuan is also growing." the official said.

On November 18 Russia’s Sberbank became the first Russian bank to begin financing letters of credit in Chinese yuan.

Half of the trade between Russia and China could be carried out in yuan and rubles provided China removes restrictions on currency transactions for Russian banks, said Deputy Finance Minister Aleksey Moiseyev in September. The restrictions don’t allow Russian banks to keep yuan received from exporters for a long time.

Russia and China have been boosting cooperation primarily in the financial and energy sectors and are planning to have a trade turnover of $200 billion by 2020.

Switching to settlements in domestic currencies can largely contribute to balancing the global economy by reducing the impact of the dollar on the world financial and energy markets, President Vladimir Putin said at the APEC Summit last week.

Obama secretly extends US combat operation in Afghanistan

Published time: November 22, 2014

President Barack Obama has secretly signed an order that expands the United States’ direct combat role in Afghanistan throughout 2015, the New York Times reported.

Signed over the last few weeks, the secret order permits American forces to continue to battle the Taliban and other militants that pose a threat to either the Afghan government or US personnel. According to the Times, US jets, bombers, and drones will be able to aid ground troops – be they Afghan or US forces – in whatever mission they undertake.

Under the order, ground troops could join Afghan troops on missions, and airstrikes could be carried out in their support.

If true, this marks a significant expansion of America’s role in Afghanistan in 2015. Previously, President Obama said US forces would not be involved in combat operations once the new year begins. He did say troops would continue training Afghan forces and track down remaining Al-Qaeda members.

Obama signed the secret order after tense debates within the administration. The military reportedly argued that it would allow the US to keep the pressure on the Taliban and other groups should details emerge that they are planning to attack American troops. Civilian aides, meanwhile, said the role of combat troops should be limited to counter-terror missions against Al-Qaeda.

The Times said an administration official painted the secret order's authorization as a win for the military, but another said the US would not carry out "offensive missions" against the Taliban in 2015.

“We will no longer target belligerents solely because they are members of the Taliban,” the official said. “To the extent that Taliban members directly threaten the United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan or provide direct support to Al Qaeda, however, we will take appropriate measures to keep Americans safe.”

The change in direction came as the administration faces pointed criticism from those who say the US withdrew from Iraq too quickly, allowing the so-called Islamic State to make rapid gains in a country whose military proved to be easily intimidated and defeated.

Meanwhile, new Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has a much softer position on the US presence in his country compared to his predecessor Hamid Karzai. Ghani reportedly asked the US to keep battling the Taliban into 2015. He also removed restrictions against US airstrikes and joint raids that were implemented by Karzai.

It appears that the number of troops that will be operating in Afghanistan next year will remain unchanged from previous plans. There will be 9,800 soldiers left throughout next year, and that number will be cut in half by the end of the year.

By the end of 2016, the remaining troops are scheduled to leave Afghanistan, ending the US military presence in the country.

'Totally innocent' unarmed 28yo 'accidentally' shot dead by NYPD police

Published time: November 21, 2014

A rookie NYPD officer “accidentally” shot and killed an unarmed African-American man in a staircase in a New York apartment block. It happened as Ferguson is tensely waiting for a grand jury decision on a police officer who shot Michael Brown.

Akai Gurley, 28, and his girlfriend Melissa Butler were entering a staircase on the seventh floor in Pink House project in Brooklyn late Thursday evening when two policemen came down from the eighth floor. Peter Liang and his partner, Shaun Landau were doing a top-to-bottom patrol. Liang, a rookie on probationary assignment, fired a shot in Gurley’s chest without a warning, Butler said.

“They didn’t present themselves or nothing and shot him,” Butler told DNA info New York. “As soon as he came in, the police opened the [door to the] eighth-floor staircase. They didn’t identify themselves at all. They just shot.”

Gurley and Butler tried to go down the stairs but reached only the fifth floor where Gurley lost consciousness. There a neighbor called an ambulance. Butler says the policemen did not come to help nor called the ambulance. Gurley, who has a 2-year-old son, was pronounced dead on arrival to hospital.

An NYPD spokesperson said the police department's internal affairs bureau is investigating the shooting. Liang has been placed on modified assignment and was relieved of both his badge and gun.

The police are collecting information from witnesses and radio reports without talking to Liang as according to the policy, he will be interrogated in the District Attorney’s office first and then by internal affairs officers.

"What happened last night was a very unfortunate tragedy,'' police commissioner Bill Bratton said in a statement. "The deceased is totally innocent. He just happened to be in the hallway. He was not engaged in any criminal activity.''

Bratton said it probably was an accidental discharge of weapon.

“So here’s an unarmed, black 28 year old in the stairwell,” former City Council member Charles Barron said as quoted by CBS New York. “Two officers, one Asian, one white, fully armed. He’s unarmed, they meet on the stairwell and he winds up dead with a bullet in his chest. I want to hear the justification for this one. Don’t tell me the hallway was dimly lit. That’s no reason to kill a black man on a stairwell.”

The incident happened while a grand jury decision concerning Michael Brown’s death is awaited. Unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed in Ferguson by police officer Darren Wilson in August. The shooting caused riots in the area and tensions between police and the African-American community.

NHL player broke after parents borrowed millions in his name

Columbus Blue Jackets star Jack Johnson filed bankruptcy last month after his parents took $15 million in his name from his accounts.

by Allan Muir

The story of the financial ruination of the Columbus Blue Jackets defenceman that was told this morning by Dispatch writer Aaron Portzline is both shocking and heartbreaking. Johnson, currently playing the fourth season of a seven-year, $30 million deal, has less than $50,000 in assets and more than $10 million in debt, the result, Johnson says, of “picking the wrong people who led me down the wrong path.”

Those people, according to Portzline, were Johnson's own parents.

Earlier in his career Johnson had Pat Brisson, one of the best agents in the game, looking after his affairs. But the two parted ways in 2008 and Johnson signed a power of attorney that turned over full control of his finances to his mother, Tina Johnson.

In hindsight, the decision to put millions of dollars into inexperienced hands was incredibly naive. But these were his parents. The two people in the world he trusted the most. Put into the same situation, there are plenty of us who might have done the same thing.

Fortunately, most of us don't have parents like Johnson's. The picture of them that's painted by Portzline's research is beyond ugly. Instead of making safe, conventional investments that would protect the financial future of their son, the pair blew through past and future earnings via a complicated series of risky loans at high interest rates, defaults on which resulted in massive fees, higher interest rates and three lawsuits against Johnson.

There are also reports of lavish spending on houses and travel, leaving Johnson not just broke but essentially working for nothing as garnishments swallowed his massive bi-monthly paychecks.

“I’ve seen lots of instances of parents riding their kid’s coattails around,” a league source told Portzline. “I’ve never seen a case as ugly as this one, where the parents took such advantage of their kid.”

Johnson has since surrounded himself with competent attorneys and financial experts who actually have his best interests in mind. Assuming relief will be provided in bankruptcy, he has a chance to climb out of this hole, save his future and maybe put his focus back on playing hockey.

But his relationship with his parents? That's a tragic casualty of this mess. And one that no court can piece back together.

Former head of Iceland’s Landsbanki jailed for role in 2008 crash

Published time: November 20, 2014

Sigurjon Arnason, the ex- CEO of Landsbanki, one of the three Icelandic banks that crashed and ruined the economy in 2008, has been sentenced to 12 month in prison for manipulating the bank’s share price and deceiving investors in the bank’s dying days.

A court of Reykjavik found Arnason guilty, but nine months of his term will be suspended and served on probation.

Glitnir, Kaupthing and Landsbanki - the three largest Icelandic banks – spectacularly crashed in the autumn of 2008 after gaining assets equivalent to 10 times the size of Iceland's economy as they funded operations by local businessmen abroad. The former chief executives of the other major banks have already received jail sentences.

Ivar Gudjonsson, Landsbanki’s former director of proprietary trading, and Julius Heidarsson, a former broker, were sentenced to 9 months of which 6 months will be suspended. They were accused of manipulating the bank’s share price by lending funds to investors provided they buy shares.

All the accused pleaded not guilty.

"This sentence is a big surprise to me as I did nothing wrong," Sigurjon Arnason told Reuters after the hearing. His attorney said he would appeal the verdict, according to Icelandic media.

Unlike other western countries Iceland is actively targeting the former top management of its banks as it investigates alleged financial crimes committed in the lead up to the crisis of 2008.

‘West has no idea what a dictatorship is’ – Che Guevara’s daughter says

Published time: November 20, 2014 by RT.COM

The West keeps calling dictators those leaders who are raising cultural, healthcare and educational standards, Che Guevara’s daughter Aleida told RT, adding that her father would certainly give a hand to those changing peoples’ lives for the better.

RT: Miss Guevara, it’s a pleasure to see you here in Moscow again.

Now, you once said once that your father’s ideas will last as long as there is injustice in the world. If your father was alive, what do you think would upset him the most today?

Aleida Guevara: Actually, I don’t really like having to deal with this sort of question about my father, who is not with us anymore. It’s difficult for me to speak for him or say what he would be doing. But judging by the speeches he made, by his personal notes and letters, I can say that he always cared a lot for his people and for the poor in particular. And I am convinced that he would be deeply concerned over what is happening in the Arab world now. He would definitely be thinking of ways to help. He was always respectful of people. And though he criticized socialism quite heavily, he had a lot of respect for the Soviet people, too. That’s why I believe he would have been deeply frustrated over what is going on between Russia and Ukraine – after all, these people have lived in harmony for so many years… That’s why all of this aggression looks so unnatural to us. So yes, I think my father would take a keen interest.

RT: In one of your interviews with RT you said that if Ernesto Che Guevara were alive, he would be supporting Hugo Chavez in every possible way. Unfortunately, Chavez passed away some time ago. So who would Che Guevara be backing today, and in what ways?

AG: He would be backing all the revolutionary movements, I guess. He was a great revolutionary himself, and he would be helping all the men and women who are trying to change their lives. I have close connections to the landless workers’ movement in Brazil, who are fighting for access to land in order to make a living. In spite of the difficulties that the movement has faced for more than 25 years, they’ve been able to make huge progress across the continent and in Brazil in particular. And frankly speaking, I do believe that this movement does encourage Latin America to move ahead. But decisions made by Evo Morales, Nicolas Maduro and Rafael Correa are also important. My father always appreciated staunch advocates of a certain ideology who know exactly what they want in life. No matter if he agreed or disagreed with them, he would certainly give a hand to those leaders who are willing to change their peoples’ lives for the better.

RT: The West sees Cuba as a dictatorship. What would you say to that?

AG: They have no idea what a dictatorship is. No dictator would educate his people, because the more educated the people, the freer they are.

No dictator would introduce free education for everyone. All this time our government has been working on raising cultural standards. Such initiatives are at odds with the features of a dictatorship. The more people think about the world they are living in, the freer they become. They have more choice and they can understand exactly what they want. So we’re talking about an approach that is totally uncharacteristic of a dictatorship. What kind of a dictator wants his people to be healthy and have free education? What kind of a dictator would take steps to teach his people solidarity with other nations? What kind of a dictator would send sports coaches to help out in other countries? You can’t even mention those things in the same breath. But this is what’s happening in Cuba. Solidarity, respect, love for other peoples and self-sacrifice for the good of others are the principles which are Cubans taught. How can you associate that with a dictatorship? I think it’s impossible, and I can’t understand that.

RT: The majority of the UN member states once again condemned the US embargo on Cuba. However, some believe that there are people in the US who are interested in lifting the embargo in order to infiltrate Cuba and put an end to the Cuban Revolution. Is Cuba ready for the possibility of the embargo being lifted? Do you have any concerns about that?

AG: None. If the embargo was lifted today, Cuban economy would be thriving tomorrow. And if our everyday life improved, if there was affordable housing, then our public transport, diet and entertainment industry would take a turn for the better as well. More things and services would become available to our people. A time of prosperity would begin for our country. I’ll give you an example so that you understand what the embargo really means. The USSR sold and gave us a great number of trucks back in the day. But the USSR has always been an oil-rich country, so your trucks and cars were manufactured with no particular concern over fuel efficiency. We still use those Soviet trucks in Cuba, but we don’t have the oil that the USSR used to supply. We simply don’t have it anymore, so we had to try and find more fuel-efficient engines. We decided to go to Italy, a country with large-scale car production.

We contacted the Ferrari Company owners, and visited to them to discuss a possibility of purchasing their fuel-efficient engines. We were in the midst of negotiations when the FBI found out about their potential deal with Cuba. The Ferrari owner received a letter from them, in perfect Italian, which I saw with my own eyes. The letter said, ‘If you maintain trade relations with Cuba neither you nor your family members will be able to set foot on US territory. If you sell to Cuba you will not be able to sell any of your products in the US.’

As you can imagine, we never got to purchase a single engine from Ferrari. That was the end of this story. That’s the kind of blockade I am talking about – it affects the entire Cuban economy. It’s like an older boy trying to take a toy away from his baby brother. I’d go as far as to call it cruel, because the embargo affects even food and medicines. We have children with complicated pathologies in Cuba. The medication that they require is patented in the US, so no company is allowed to sell it to us. We do have the money to buy it, and we are in no way asking for it for free. Yet, as a part of this economic embargo the US prohibits companies from selling this medication to Cuba. And if they do they would face a 5 to 10 millionn-dollar fine, or would be banned from selling their products in the US. Consequently, we cannot just buy it. Sometimes we have to go through five or six different intermediaries to get this medication, as it is one of a kind in the world, and we desperately need it here.

The medication is expensive as is; one can imagine how its cost grows as each of these intermediaries tries to make money off it. The medication becomes incredibly pricy for Cubans. If the economic blockade is lifted we would be able to buy it at its market price, which would mean saving the costs for people significantly. So this gives you an idea of what Cuba would become like if the embargo was lifted. The island’s economy would flourish immediately. And in view of our social benefits advantage, the situation would get even better. So my question is, how could lifting the embargo harm us?

The US has already undertaken aggressive action against Cuba. Among other things, they were trying to buy Cubans to get them to help the US subvert our government. Some people who were involved in this posed as opponents of the Cuban Revolution, while being our double agents working to protect our nation against this kind of aggression. The US has been trying to attack our youngsters as well. So we introduced Cuban teachers as double agents who were also trying to counter these hostile activities. We do have this kind of experience as well.

RT: Thank you so much for taking time to answer our questions.

AG: Thank you.

American-born London mayor refuses to pay US taxes, threatens to renounce citizenship

Published time: November 20, 2014

The Internal Revenue Service reportedly wants London Mayor Boris Johnson to write a check for taxes he owes to the United States government, but the UK politician says he isn’t paying.

Johnson, 50, has been the mayor of London since 2008 and is considering a bid at Parliament in the near future. In the meantime, however, he might soon find himself in hot water on the other side of the pond. Johnson, who was born in New York but moved at the age of five, told NPR host Susan Page during an interview last week that the US wants him to pay a capital gains tax owed by American citizens who earn income abroad.

Previously, Johnson wrote in a 2006 column that he was “getting a divorce from America” and would renounce his citizenship, noting “for years I have travelled exclusively on a British passport,” and not the US-issued one he also holds. That threat failed to materialize, but a question emailed to the mayor while he was being interviewed by NPR recently might have rekindled his interest — and without a doubt revealed another issue that has peculiarly pitted Johnson against the IRS.

“It is very hard but I will say this: the great United States of America does have some pretty tough rules, you know,” Johnson said. “You may not believe this but if you're an American citizen, America exercises this incredible doctrine of global taxation, so that even though tax rates in the UK are far higher and I'm Mayor of London, I pay all my tax in the UK and so I pay a much higher proportion of my income in tax, then I would if I lived in America.”

“The United States comes after me, would you believe it, for the -- for capital gains tax on the sale of your first residence which is not taxable in Britain, but they're trying to hit me with some bill, can you believe it?” Johnson continued.

Page, who was filling in during the Nov. 13 episode on behalf of NPR host Diane Rehm, quickly pressed Johnson: “Are you gonna pay the bill?” The mayor initially rebuffed her, though, saying instead that he just thought America’s demands were “outrageous.”

“Outrageous or not, will you pay this tax bill?” Page inquired again.

“Well, I'm -- no, is the answer,” the mayor finally admitted. “I think, it's absolutely outrageous. Why should I?”

“I could but I pay -- I pay the lion's share of my tax, I pay my taxes to the full in the United Kingdom where I live and work,” Johnson added, saying later that he continues to carry an American passport because “it’s very difficult to give up.”

Robert W. Wood, an expert on taxes and litigation, wrote for Forbes that Johnson still could decide to renounce his citizenship — something that Americans have done in record numbers in recent years. That wouldn’t solve the mayor’s tax problems, Wood wrote, however.

“When you exit you must certify five years of US tax compliance to the IRS. And any tax for the current or prior years must be paid. So, maybe Mayor Johnson should have renounced when he threatened to in 2006,” Wood wrote.

Around 2,353 Americans have renounced their citizenship since the start of 2014, Wood wrote later, and a continuation of the current trend would shatter last year’s record-breaking statistic of 2,999 renunciations.

Kerry to Lavrov: Ignore Obama’s naming of Russia on top threats list

Published time: November 19, 2014

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says US Secretary of State John Kerry called on him to “pay no mind” to a statement by President Obama, in which Russia was included to a list of top global threats.

President Obama voiced the three most significant global threats at the UN General Assembly in September. Ebola topped his list, followed by “Russian aggression in Europe.” In third place was the threat represented by the Islamic State extremist group.

The US president once again included "aggressive Russia" in his top world dangers list at the recent G20 Summit in Australia.

“I was pointing out the enumeration of threats, which Obama has allowed himself, starting with his speech at the UN General Assembly,” Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday, speaking at the State Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament).

“Not so long ago, I was having a conversation with John Kerry and asked him what it all meant. He answered, ‘Pay it no mind’,” Lavrov said.

According to Lavrov, his American counterpart said that because he wanted to discuss the Iranian nuclear program issue and the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

“It’s not appropriate for a powerful country to have such a consumer attitude to its partners,” Lavrov commented. “Where you’re needed, help us; where you’re not, obey us.”

The minister said Russia was working on helping to resolve the Iranian and Korean crises “not to please anyone,” but to help the international community avoid risks associated with these issues.

Sergey Lavrov has accused the US of getting its envoys around the world to demand other nations’ support for sanctions against Russia.

He said he recently raised the issue with John Kerry, telling him, “There’s not a single government where they [the envoys] did not come, demanding with various degrees of aggression support for the sanctions against the Russian Federation.”

The sanctions are, meanwhile, only “undermining efforts to get the world economy stabilized and aren’t driving the world an inch closer to the solution of the Ukrainian conflict.”

Blaming Russia for the crisis in Ukraine is wrong, Lavrov said, as what provoked the crisis in Ukraine in the first place was “the last quarter-century’s policy by the Western states to boost their own security at the expense of other countries’ security.”

“The chances to de-escalate the conflict in Ukraine have regularly been torpedoed by our Western partners, which is particularly true of the February 21 agreement [between president Yanukovich and opposition leaders],” Lavrov said.

The real way to solve the crisis in Ukraine at the moment, Lavrov said, is helping to bring Kiev and the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk regions to the negotiation table.