The Observer View on Deadly Government Incompetence>

THE OBSERVER: Dominic Cummings’ account confirmed what many knew – the government was unprepared for the pandemic and has remained that way for its duration

That Boris Johnson lacks the leadership skills, capability and integrity to guide the country through a national emergency is not a new insight: it has been clear for months. But the significance of Dominic Cummings’ testimony to the House of Commons last week was that the prime minister’s former adviser provided more evidence of Johnson’s culpability for decisions that cost countless lives.

Cummings himself is a man lacking in integrity, who will for ever be associated with the electoral deceit and the implicit racism of the Vote Leave campaign during the Brexit referendum. Although he expressed what appeared to be genuine contrition for his role in the policy disasters that caused people to die, he is unlikely to be a wholly reliable narrator. But that does not mean his account of what happened during his time advising Johnson can be dismissed out of hand. Much of what he said last week accords with what we already know in relation to Johnson’s failures and rings true about his well-established character flaws. » | Observer editorial | Sunday, May 10, 2021

Covid Deaths in US Fall to Level Not Seen Since March 2020 | The Mehdi Hasan Show

With Covid cases receding in the United States and Americans readjusting to life before the pandemic, Anand Giridharadas reflects on the lessons he hopes society has learned in the 14 months in between.

How Does North Korea Finance a Nuclear Weapons Program? | DW Documentary

How is it possible that North Korea can finance a nuclear weapons program? One of the poorest countries in the world is even able to worry the United States with its nuclear arsenal. The answer lies in the criminal activities of "Office 39".

The organization "Office 39" is a secret division of the government. Its goal is to obtain foreign currency by any means possible, providing Kim Jong Un’s totalitarian regime with financial resources. Drugs, counterfeit money, human trafficking, insurance fraud: nothing is off-limits for these North Korean gangsters. This documentary reveals their most spectacular schemes, and lays bare the sensational methods that have allowed the isolated country to circumvent UN sanctions and build up its nuclear program over a period of decades.

Rachat de la Metro Goldwyn Mayer : le cinéma selon Amazon

LE MONDE: Mercredi 26 mai, le groupe de Jeff Bezos a déboursé 8,45 milliards de dollars pour acquérir le studio et son catalogue de 4 000 films. Cet achat à prix d’or est une nouvelle illustration du pari que l’entreprise américaine fait sur le streaming, au détriment des salles de cinéma traditionnelles.

Editorial du « Monde ». Que ne ferait-on pas pour tenter de devenir le roi de la jungle du divertissement ? Amazon a signé, mercredi 26 mai, un chèque de 8,45 milliards de dollars (6,92 milliards d’euros) pour capturer le célèbre lion rugissant de la Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM). Cette opération constitue une nouvelle étape du mouvement de concentration dans le secteur de la production cinématographique, sous la pression de la montée en puissance des sites de streaming, c’est-à-dire de diffusion de contenus en continu sur Internet. Les principales plates-formes, comme Netflix, Hulu (Disney), Apple ou Amazon, cherchent à étoffer leurs catalogues à marche forcée pour attirer de plus en plus d’abonnés. » | Éditorial, Le Monde | jeudi 27 mai 2021

A Dangerous Cult Now Runs Britain – The Worshippers at the Temple of Johnson

THE GUARDIAN: No matter what the prime minister does, no matter the consequences, his devotees line up to heatedly excuse it

Last night’s Downing Street coronavirus briefing was given by Matt Hancock, now identifiable only by his dental records. According to Dominic Cummings, Hancock was a serial liar at a deadly level who should have been sacked 15 or 20 times. According to himself, Matt Hancock “threw a ring around care homes”. It would have been a lot better if he’d thrown the ring into Mount Doom instead.

Elsewhere, it has emerged that a government that came to power promising to control our borders has allowed 1.59 million – ONE POINT FIVE NINE MILLION – travellers to fly into the UK in the four lockdown months from January to April alone , two-thirds of whom were not UK nationals. If we don’t open up fully in three weeks, make sure to thank the Conservatives by popping a couple more points on their poll ratings.

So yes: you’ve heard a lot of denials over the past 24 hours. But the biggest UK repository of denial remains the polls, where no revelation of incompetence or failure impacts other than positively for the government. A midweek poll saw the Conservatives climb six points, to 44%, which feels about perfect for a country where at that moment Cummings was claiming industrial levels of lying, incompetence and contempt for elderly and vulnerable people, and spiking it all with such details as Boris Johnson wanting Chris Whitty to inject him with the virus live on TV. Remember, even Donald Trump at his maddest only wanted other people to inject the disinfectant. » | Marina Hyde | Friday, May 28, 2021

German Voters’ View of Personal Wealth Causes Problems for the Left

THE GUARDIAN: Analysis: left-of-centre parties struggle to cut through as survey shows ‘everyone thinks they are middle class’

It is a country with levels of wealth inequality more similar to the US than France, and one where the richest 10% of the population already owned two-thirds of the national wealth before the pandemic further widened the gap.

Yet the inequality of German society and how to fix it is likely to play a minor role in the race to September elections this year, with those parties expected to offer solutions – the centre-left Social Democratic party (SPD) and the leftwing Die Linke – struggling in the polls.

A new study offers answers why, showing how a central perception fallacy among the German electorate on questions of income and wealth creates a major obstacle for the traditional left. » | Philip Oltermann in Berlin | Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Number of Smokers Has Reached All-time High of 1.1 Billion, Study Finds

THE GUARDIAN: Governments told to focus on stopping young from taking up habit that killed 8 million people in 2019

Smoking killed almost 8 million people in 2019 and the number of smokers rose as the habit was picked up by young people around the world, according to new research.

A study published in the Lancet on Thursday said efforts to curb the habit had been outstripped by population growth with 150 million more people smoking in the nine years from 1990, reaching an all-time high of 1.1 billion.

The study’s authors said governments need to focus on reducing the uptake of smoking among young people, as 89% of new smokers were addicted by the age of 25 but beyond that age were unlikely to start.

“Young people are particularly vulnerable to addiction, and with high rates of cessation remaining elusive worldwide, the tobacco epidemic will continue for years to come unless countries can dramatically reduce the number of new smokers starting each year,” said the study’s lead author Marissa Reitsma, a researcher at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

Though the prevalence of smoking has reduced globally over the past three decades, it increased for men in 20 countries and for women in 12. Just 10 countries made up two-thirds of the world’s smoking population: China, India, Indonesia, the US, Russia, Bangladesh, Japan, Turkey, Vietnam and the Philippines. One in three tobacco smokers (341 million) live in China. » | Kaamil Ahmed | Thursday, May 27, 2021

South Africa tobacco ban greeted with cigarette smuggling boom »

QAnon Now as Popular in U.S. as Some Major Religions, Poll Suggests

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Fifteen percent of Americans believe that “patriots may have to resort to violence” to restore the country’s rightful order, the poll indicated.

As hopes fade for a bipartisan inquiry into the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, it’s increasingly clear that the Republican base remains in thrall to the web of untruths spun by Donald J. Trump — and perhaps even more outlandish lies, beyond those of the former president’s making.

A federal judge warned in an opinion yesterday that Mr. Trump’s insistence on the “big lie” — that the November election was stolen from him — still posed a serious threat. Presiding over the case of a man accused of storming Congress on Jan. 6, Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the United States District Court in Washington wrote: “The steady drumbeat that inspired defendant to take up arms has not faded away. Six months later, the canard that the election was stolen is being repeated daily on major news outlets and from the corridors of power in state and federal government, not to mention in the near-daily fulminations of the former president.”

But it’s not just the notion that the election was stolen that has caught on with the former president’s supporters. QAnon, an outlandish and ever-evolving conspiracy theory spread by some of Mr. Trump’s most ardent followers, has significant traction with a segment of the public — particularly Republicans and Americans who consume news from far-right sources. » | Giovanni Russonello | Thursday, May 27, 2021

‘House of One’: Berlin Lays First Stone for Multi-faith Worship Centre

THE GUARDIAN: Construction begins on project that will unite Muslims, Jews and Christians under one roof

Muslims, Jews and Christians are to be united for worship under one roof in Berlin in a groundbreaking project called ‘House of One’.

The cornerstone of the multi-denominational temple was laid in the German capital on Thursday with supporters saying they hoped it would forge greater understanding between the three religions.

A mosque, a synagogue and a church will be combined on the site on Leipziger Strasse, in the area where Berlin has its historical origins, and on the former foundations of a 13th-century church, the Petrikirche, which was badly damaged during second world war bombing and pulled down during communism. » | Kate Connolly in Berlin | Thursday, May 27, 2021

Lisa Shaw Death: BBC Presenter Had Blood Clots after AstraZeneca Jab, Family Says

THE GUARDIAN: Radio Newcastle broadcaster had severe headaches a week after vaccine and fell seriously ill days later, relatives say

The award-winning BBC radio presenter Lisa Shaw died in hospital after suffering blood clots following her AstraZeneca vaccination, her family has said.

The 44-year-old, who was a well-known broadcaster in the north-east of England and had worked for BBC Radio Newcastle since 2015, developed severe headaches a week after having the jab and fell seriously ill a few days later, relatives said in a statement.

Shaw died at the Royal Victoria infirmary in Newcastle on Friday last week after being treated in intensive care for blood clots and bleeding. She was surrounded by family, the statement said. » | Lucy Campbell | Thursday, May 27, 2021

Switzerland Walks Out of Seven-year Treaty Talks with EU

THE GUARDIAN: Swiss say terms unacceptable despite Brussels’ claims they are better than those offered to UK

Switzerland has walked out of talks on a closer trading relationship with the European Union despite being offered better terms than the UK in key areas, EU officials have claimed.

On Wednesday the country’s foreign minister, Ignazio Cassis, pulled the plug on long-running discussions with the EU, saying that Berne’s conditions were “not met”.

Switzerland, while outside the EU, is the bloc’s fourth biggest trading partner and its economy is closely integrated with those of the 27 member states. Citizens of Switzerland and the EU member states have a mutual right to free movement.

But the Swiss government claimed it could not accept the EU’s demands to maintain and deepen ties as they would be rejected in a legally required referendum on a deal. » | Daniel Boffey in Brussels | Thursday, May 27, 2021

Navy Pilots Recall “Unsettling” 2004 Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP) Sighting

Cmdr. Dave Fravor and Lt. Cmdr. Alex Dietrich were training with the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group when the encounter occurred.

Bashar Al-Assad’s Political Advisor Slams US, Israel & Turkey: All of Syria Will Be Liberated!

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to the political advisor to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad Bouthaina Shaaban, she discusses the Presidential Elections being held in Syria for the first time since 2014, accusations by NATO countries that the elections are a farce and the presence of international observers from Russia, China, India, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and other nations to observe the elections, the occupation of Syria by Israel, the US and Turkey and President Assad’s pledge to liberate every inch of Syria, the redefining of the international order away from Western countries, reconstruction efforts in Syria after the 10-year long war, regular Israeli airstrikes on Damascus and Israel’s occupation of Palestine and recent aerial bombardment campaign against Gaza, the West’s hypocrisy on human rights, attempts to improve relations with Saudi Arabia, why there is no room for negotiations with Erdogan’s Turkey unless he withdraws from Syria and much more!

Dr. Hanan Ashrawi: ‘Two State Solution Is Dead, Israel Destroyed It... Palestine Will Not Surrender!’

We speak to Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, former member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. She discusses why the two-state solution is dead, Israel’s responsibility for destroying it the international community’s inaction over Israel’s illegal occupations, annexations and airstrikes, the 11 days of aerial bombardment of Gaza which killed 248 including 66 children and Israel’s justifications that its strikes targeted Hamas, the severe economic and human damage in Gaza following the bombardment, US-UK-EU arms sales to Israel and replenishment of arms after the 11 days of Israeli bombardment, Joe Biden’s US blocking action at the UN to pressure Israel and much more!

Boris Johnson ‘Like Out of-Control Shopping Trolley’, Dominic Cummings Tells MPs

THE GUARDIAN: Former aide says media-obsessed prime minister made constant U-turns and ignored advice of officials

Dominic Cummings has laid bare the “surreal” chaos in Downing Street in March last year as the government grappled with the Covid pandemic, portraying the prime minister as obsessed with the media and making constant U-turns, “like a shopping trolley smashing from one side of the aisle to the other”.

During an extraordinary evidence session to MPs at Westminster on Wednesday, Boris Johnson’s former chief aide targeted the prime minister for personal criticism, saying Johnson regretted the first lockdown and held out against imposing later restrictions, despite the advice of many people inside Downing Street, and that overall, “tens of thousands of people died who didn’t need to die”.

He claimed the prime minister had repeatedly said in respect of the first lockdown, “I should have been the mayor of Jaws and kept the beaches open,” and confirmed reports that in October, Johnson said he would see “bodies pile high” rather than order a third lockdown.

Cummings described the general situation in Downing Steet as “an out-of-control movie”. »| Heather Stewart and Peter Walker | Wednesday, May 26, 2021

The Dominic Cummings circus is an indictment of the entire governing class »

Cummings brought to life what many already knew about Johnson’s failures »

‘Mob Boss’ Assad’s Dynasty Tightens Grip over Husk of Syria

THE GUARDIAN: Country’s emergence as a mafia state leaves today’s election result in little doubt

Tyrant, war criminal, mob boss or, to his loyalists, their shrewd saviour: views about Bashar al-Assad rarely fall in between. As the Syrian leader faces a presidential poll on Wednesday – the result a foregone conclusion – a truer test of the authority he wields across a broken country has taken shape away from the political banners and faux campaigning.

In battered towns and villages, ravaged by a decade of savagery, the now veteran president has been clawing back losses, consolidating himself as the only figure who could plot a course from the ruins of the region’s most devastating modern conflict. Slowly, over the past year, Assad and his extended family have been shoring up their influence. Seldom seen during much of the crisis, he has become a fixture in what remains of Syria’s industrial heartland, visiting factories, pressing employees on their hardships, and hosting delegations with an ease few observed at the height of the fighting.

Syria’s allies Russia and Iran may have done the heavy lifting to save the regime from defeat on the battlefields but a more traditional structure, the house of Assad, has been just as integral in holding the country together from within. The husk of Syria is, in many ways, more under the Assad family’s control than at the war’s outset. Power structures established over four decades have anchored dynasty and dictatorship. » | Martin Chulov, Middle East correspondent | Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Ireland Condemns ‘de facto Annexation’ of Palestinian Land by Israel

THE GUARDIAN: Foreign minister Simon Coveney supports parliamentary motion and says treatment of Palestinians is ‘manifestly unequal’

Ireland’s government has supported a parliamentary motion condemning the “de facto annexation” of Palestinian land by Israeli authorities in what it said was the first use of the phrase by a European Union government in relation to Israel.

Ireland’s foreign minister, Simon Coveney, supported the motion on Tuesday, and condemned what he described as Israel’s “manifestly unequal” treatment of the Palestinian people.

But he also insisted on adding a condemnation of recent rocket attacks on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas before he agreed to government support for the motion, which had been tabled by the opposition Sinn Fein party.

“The scale, pace and strategic nature of Israel’s actions on settlement expansion and the intent behind it have brought us to a point where we need to be honest about what is actually happening on the ground. ... It is de facto annexation,” Coveney told parliament. » | Reuters | Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Retired US Navy Chief Explains Tech Witnessed in UFO Aircraft Sighting

CNN's Chris Cuomo talks to Sean Cahil, retired US Navy Chief Master-at-Arms, and Christopher Mellon, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, about the forthcoming government report on UFO sightings.

Whistleblower who spoke out on UFOs claims Pentagon tried to discredit him »

The Missing Years of Jesus | National Geographic

Tory Islamophobia Report a ‘Whitewash’, Say Muslims in Party

THE GUARDIAN: Inquiry deems comments from PM were insensitive but finds no evidence of ‘institutional racism’

A long-awaited review into Islamophobia within the Conservative party has been condemned as a whitewash by Muslim Tories despite criticising the language used by Boris Johnson and the mayoral campaign run by Zac Goldsmith for being insensitive to Muslim communities.

The prime minister’s comments, in which he compared women wearing the burqa to letterboxes, were singled out in the review headed by Prof Swaran Singh.

The inquiry found that anti-Muslim sentiment was still present at local association and individual levels, but claims of “institutional racism” were not borne out by evidence of the way complaints were handled.

Senior Muslim figures within the party said the review was inadequate and failed to address deep prejudices in the party. Sajjad Karim, who was a Tory MEP for more than a decade and chaired the European parliament’s working group on Islamophobia, said: “The manner in which this inquiry has been conducted means it is nothing but an attempt to whitewash deep-rooted issues out of sight. » | Rajeev Syal | Tuesday, May 25, 2021