MEANWHILE, in Washington State:

Russia casts 10th U.N. veto on Syria action, blocking inquiry renewal

Source: Reuters

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia on Thursday cast its 10th veto of United Nations Security Council action on Syria since the war began in 2011, blocking a U.S.-drafted resolution to renew an international inquiry into who is to blame for chemical weapons attacks in Syria.

The mandate for the joint inquiry by the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which found the Syrian government used the banned nerve agent sarin in an April 4 attack, expires on Friday.

A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Russia, Britain or China to be adopted. The U.S. draft text received 11 votes in favor, while Russia and Bolivia voted against it and China and Egypt abstained.

The vote sparked a war of words between Russia and the United States in the council, just hours after White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said President Donald Trump believed he could work with Russian President Vladimir Putin on issues like Syria.



Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-chemicalweapons/russia-casts-10th-u-n-veto-on-syria-action-blocking-inquiry-renewal-idUSKBN1DG31I?il=0

MEANWHILE, in Japan:

Apology after Japanese train departs 20 seconds early

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42009839



https://twitter.com/SamuelSokol/status/931110252166238209


https://twitter.com/stanyee/status/931023339426058240

Can we bring back this girl instead of the petty, spiteful little sellout she is now?

Russia just doesn't even care to keep up appearances anymore:

RUSSIA’S ‘EVIDENCE’ THAT THE U.S. IS HELPING ISIS IS FOOTAGE FROM A 2015 COMPUTER GAME

Russia’s Ministry of Defense has provoked a torrent of mockery from its own followers after it published “irrefutable evidence” that the U.S. is in league with the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) that turned out to be footage from a 2015 video game.

Russia, which has backed Bashar al-Assad during the war in Syria, has often been critical of U.S. operations there, repeatedly claiming that U.S. forces are at best ineffectual at fighting ISIS or at worst in cahoots with jihadist groups.

After a series of allegations, Moscow decided to publish video evidence that it claims shows how close Washington is to the group it is officially fighting.

“The U.S. are actually covering the ISIS combat units to recover their combat capabilities, redeploy, and use them to promote the American interests in the Middle East,” Russia’s Ministry of Defense wrote in a Twitter post, with attached images. The post also linked to a longer Facebook message accusing the U.S. of sympathizing with ISIS.

http://www.newsweek.com/russias-evidence-us-helping-isis-comes-2015-computer-game-710474

Hillary Clinton pretty much batted 1.000 in 2016

NEVER forget the bottom line about Moore:

He was laughably incapable and unqualified for office even without the scandal...

Free speech fears after book critical of China is pulled from publication

Australian publisher Allen & Unwin has ditched a book on Chinese Communist Party influence in Australian politics and academia, citing fear of legal action from the Chinese government or its proxies.

The publisher's chief executive, Robert Gorman, said last week that it would abandon publication of a completed manuscript by Clive Hamilton, a professor of public ethics at Charles Sturt University, called Silent Invasion: How China Is Turning Australia into a Puppet State.

Australian publisher Allen & Unwin has ditched a Clive Hamilton book on Chinese Communist Party's influence in Australian politics and academia, citing fear of legal action from the Chinese government or its proxies.
"We have no doubt that Silent Invasion is an extremely significant book," Mr Gorman wrote in a confidential email to Dr Hamilton on November 8.

But Mr Gorman said in the email, which has been obtained by Fairfax Media, that he was concerned about "potential threats to the book and the company from possible action by Beijing".

He said the "most serious of these threats was the very high chance of a vexatious defamation action against Allen & Unwin, and possibly against you personally as well".

Allen & Unwin was "an obvious target" for "Beijing's agents of influence", Mr Gorman wrote.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/free-speech-fears-after-book-critical-of-china-is-pulled-from-publication-20171112-gzjiyr.html

Greenwald and Snowden were unavailable for comment...

What the hell do folks in Alabama put in their seafood?

The Catalan independence movement has their biggest fuck-up to date: