USA: The Mueller Probe: Mueller seeking more details on Nigel Farage, key Russia inquiry target says

Robert Mueller is seeking more information about Nigel Farage for his investigation into Russian interference in US politics, according to a target of the inquiry who expects to be criminally charged.

Jerome Corsi, a conservative author, said prosecutors working for Mueller questioned him about Farage, the key campaigner behind Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, two weeks ago in Washington.

Corsi said investigators for the special counsel also pressed him for information on Ted Malloch, a London-based American academic with ties to Farage, who informally advised Donald Trump and was interviewed by FBI agents earlier this year.

“They asked about both Nigel and Ted Malloch, I can affirm that they did,” Corsi told the Guardian on Tuesday. “But I’m really not going into detail because I respect the special counsel and the legal process.”

Mueller’s interest in Farage comes amid questions in the UK about whether Russia attempted to influence the June 2016 vote to leave the European Union, and Brexit’s most vocal political supporters.

Note EU-Digest: Nigel Farage - the King of the British Brexit drama is now also eyed by the Mueller investigation, in particular, as it relates to his connection with the Russians and Donald Trump. 

Once again we see how dangerous populism is to basic human rights values, whether it comes from Donald Trump, Marian LePen, Nigel Farage, Geert Wilders, Jörg Haider ,Jair Bolsonaro, Victor Orban, Lech Kaczyński, and the list goes on and on.

 Populism is a fast growing danger and must be stopped, before it destroys humanity..

Read more: Mueller seeking more details on Nigel Farage, key Russia inquiry target says

Alwaleed bin Talal, Bankruptcy, Donald Trump, Involvement, Prince Mohammad bin Salmanm, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Trump Bailout, USA

Donald Trump's relations with the Saudi Kingdom are extensive

Donald Trump claimed on Twitter recently that he has no “financial interests in Saudi Arabia.” But his financial ties to the kingdom go back a very long way.

In 1991, Donald J. Trump was a mid-tier real estate developer with $900 million in debt, a collapsing casino business, and a name perhaps best known for a headline-dominating split with his wife Ivana. 

With his empire at risk of falling apart, Trump was searching for cash everywhere; his father even illegally bought $3.35 million worth of casino chips and never gambled them, to help Trump make a massive bond payment a year earlier.

A helpful burst of cash from a Saudi prince eased some tension with his creditors. Alwaleed bin Talal bought Trump’s yacht for somewhere between $18 million and $20 million (reports vary). 

It wasn’t a great bit of business for Trump—he had bought it from the Sultan of Brunei three years earlier for a reported $29 million.

In 1995, Trump was still in deep trouble—and Alwaleed swooped in again. The prince, who calls himself the “Warren Buffett of Saudi Arabia,” took over Trump’s 51% stake in his beloved New York Plaza hotel. As a result, Trump’s creditors forgave $125 million of his debt.

Alwaleed, who was one of several royals to be detained by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in 2017, is deemed the world’s 74th richest man by Bloomberg, and owns stakes in companies like Apple, Snapchat, Twitter and Citigroup.

As late as 2015, Trump was still happy to boast about his connections with Saudi Arabia. Speaking at a rally in Alabama, he bragged: “Saudi Arabia, I get along with all of them. They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much.”

Read more: A Saudi prince helped save Trump from bankruptcy—twice — Quartz

France: World War I commemoration: Macron rebukes nationalism at commemoration = by David Jackson

Bells tolled across France and Europe on Sunday as President Donald Trump and other global leaders gathered to honor the dead of World War I and heed its harsh lessons to prevent conflicts.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who has criticized Trump's "America First" foreign policy, decried excessive "nationalism" at the root of World War I and successive conflicts.

"Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism," Macron told a gathering of world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Trump. “Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism by saying, ‘Our interest first, who cares about the others?’ "

Hosting an event to mark the centennial of the armistice that ended World War I, Macron told fellow leaders they have a "huge responsibility" to defeat modern forces that threaten a "legacy of peace" from the two world wars of the past century.

"I know there are old demons coming back to the surface," the French president said. "They are ready to wreak chaos and death."

Macron did not refer specifically to Trump, who occasionally frowned during the speech.

Trump did not respond to Macron publicly. 

During a speech later Sunday at a World War I-era cemetery, Trump praised the French leader for hosting the event he called "very beautiful" and "well done."

In defending "America First," Trump has often said the United States needs to address its own needs. air."

Read more: France -World War I commemoration: Macron rebukes nationalism at commemoration

European Unity: Leaders of France and Germany in poignant show of unity 100 years after WW1- by Michaela Cabrera

One hundred years after the guns of World War One fell silent, the leaders of France and Germany held hands and rested their heads against one another in a poignant ceremony to mark the signing of the Armistice peace agreement.

President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel inspected troops from a joint Franco-German Brigade before unveiling a plaque paying tribute to the reconciliation and renewed friendship between the foes of two world wars.

More than 3 million French and German troops were among an estimated 10 million soldiers who died in the Great War of 1914-1918. Much of the heaviest fighting was in trenches in northern France and Belgium.

Read more: Leaders of France and Germany in poignant show of unity 100 years after WW1

Middle East: Saudi Arabia: total hypocrisy around Khashoggu murder by Saudi Arabia and the governments who are supplying the Saudi Arabia government with weapons

Jamal Khashoggi murder: Turkey 'shared Khashoggi tapes' with Saudi, US -

Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46162759

Saudi Arabia - US involvement - US foreign policy: US Drones and the Khashoggi Murder - by Michael J. Brenner

In Washington, there is not much mystery about Mohammed bin-Salman’s (=MBS) behavior. He is an ego-maniac, somewhat unhinged. He is drunk with power and accustomed to torture and kill at whim.

His campaign of annihilation against the Houthis of Yemen indicates the depths of his depravity and the scope of his ambition.

So, too, did his imprisoning of 400 wealthy Saudis in the Riyadh Ritz Carlton where they were physically abused until they coughed up their riches for his personal use (e.g., spending $500 million for a mislabeled “Leonardo” painting). MBS thus presents a good imitation of Caligula and Nero.

So, too, did his kidnapping and physical abuse of the Prime Minister of Lebanon (Saad Hariri) – who owed MBS money and, therefore, political fealty.

In these ruthless ventures, he has been encouraged by the American government. The Saudi bombing of Yemen to smithereens, literally, could not happen physically without the active participation of the Pentagon.

The U.S. military flies the refueling planes without which MBS’s air force could not reach their targets in Yemen on two-way missions. It also provides the detailed electronic Intelligence critical to the mission.

Never mind that U.S. military personnel sit in the very command rooms from which the operations are conducted. In addition, Washington provides unqualified diplomatic cover and justification.

This is not only the Trump Administrations doing, but this Yemen “policy” was inaugurated by Barack Obama and was then continued by Trump. In legal terms, we — the United States — are an accessory before, during and after the fact of MBS’ crimes in Yemen.

The United States’s main responsibility lies in helping instill MBS’s deep sense of impunity. In addition, we encouraged the Saudi alliance with Israel. This gave MBS further confidence that active lobbying in Washington and the media would insulate him from any retribution.

Hence, feeling that he protected all his relevant flanks properly, he is now furious that some people in the West (not including the White House) are making such a fuss over the pedestrian act of whacking an annoying critic.

Furthermore, from the Saudi crown prince’s perspective, the United States has set the relevant precedent for the assassination of political enemies. Witness the US program of drone killings in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Mali, Chad and a number of other countries.

It is hard to deny that, via its drone strike “policy,” the U.S. government has gone a long way toward establishing the de facto legitimacy of extra-judicial murder as a standard combat tactic.

In the United States, this approach is accepted as such. Since targeted assassination involves no U.S. casualties, it makes the prosecution of war more palatable to the U.S. public. That is why is now an integral part of the playbook.

The chain of “command” is as follows: The Israelis inaugurated it. We Americans refined it and extended it. MBS now emulates us. Count on others to follow it.

Of course, the level of inhibition varies from leader and by target. America’s singular influence in setting global “fashions” means that the inhibition will weaken most everywhere and the range of individuals targeted will widen.

The tactic of knocking-off the enemy’s chief has deep historical roots. In the age of kings and emperors, it was tempting to think of decapitating the opposition.

The public reaction in the United States to Khashoggi’s grisly murder reveals some singular features of the prevailing attitude toward morality in foreign policy:

Despite Trump’s rhetorical pullback, the United States has committed to a strategy of global dominance – by means violent as well as peaceable. 

Americans remain wedded to the belief that they are a moral people following the course of righteousness in the world. “When conquer we must, for our cause it is just; let this be our motto: In God is our trust.” 

This unthinking mental universe has permitted the US so far to perpetuate many myths about their  place in the world. But eventually, they must look at the dark truth: The America that so many people around the globe looked to for guidance in seeking enlightened political truth has become the model and inspiration for those who seek to evade it.

Read more: US Drones and the Khashoggi Murder - The Globalist

US mid-term elections: Trump's House of Cards in trouble

Mid-term election results: What it all means for Trump - 

Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46067264