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Interesting...we must all be idiots then

http://mg.co.za/article/2014-07-24-zumas...-state-job

Quote:Aged just 25, Thuthukile Zuma has been bumped up to chief of staff in the telecoms department.

Quote:President Jacob Zuma’s daughter Thuthukile may have made history as South Africa’s youngest head of a minister’s office.

From a lowly public liaison officer to the powerful position of chief of staff within two months at the age of 25, she now earns almost a million rand a year.

Her dramatic rise to the position, which she assumed in May after the appointment of her father’s new Cabinet, has raised concerns about political nepotism at the renamed department of telecommunications and postal services.

It appears the post was never advertised, although ministers have the prerogative to make these appointments without going through the normal processes. Several departments do advertise such posts to ensure they attract the best-qualified candidates.

Thuthukile is the youngest of the president’s four daughters with ex-wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, a former Cabinet minister who is currently chairperson of the African Union Commission.

Thuthukile now occupies a similar position to Lakela Kaunda, President Zuma’s chief of staff, who is considered to be one of the most powerful senior managers in the government.

‘HR procedure’
Most chiefs of staff are appointed at chief director level – earning an all-inclusive package of R934 000 – but ministers can motivate for the incumbent to be appointed as deputy director general, the second highest position in the civil service, a government official confirmed to the Mail & Guardian.

“There is an HR procedure for an upgrade of posts, but ministers’ requests are rarely turned down,” the government official said. It is not clear which level Thuthukile is on.

A chief of staff position requires “extensive management experience, an understanding of ministerial services and parliamentary functions to take charge of the overall management of the ministry, knowledge of the Public Service Management Framework and Public Finance Management Act”, according to several job advertisements for the position that the M&G has seen. The chief director position requires at least five to 10 years’ experience at senior management level.

Shortly after completing her undergraduate degree in 2011, she worked – or “volunteered”, according to the ANC – at the ruling party’s headquarters. She subsequently joined the State Security Agency and spent less than a year there.

The University of the Witwatersrand confirmed that Thuthukile graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in April 2011 and received an honours degree in anthropology in June 2012.

Political appointment
One public servant maintained that a chief of staff position is a political appointment and that ministers do not consider a candidate’s managerial experience, but several ministries have advertised such positions with strict senior managerial requirements.

Soon after the elections in May, Thuthukile followed Zuma loyalist Siyabonga Cwele from the State Security Agency to the new telecommunications ministry, where he was appointed minister.

Apparently, a formal complaint has been lodged about the appointment, according to M&G sources, but this could not be confirmed independently.

Ministerial spokesperson Siya Qoza told the M&G that there are no human resources complaints relating to Thuthukile’s appointment. “We have checked with the department’s human resource management unit and they have assured us that there is no record of a complaint about Ms Zuma’s appointment,” he said.

Quote:A chief of staff is responsible for the overall management of staff and the office’s budget in the ministry, making it a very powerful position. Although directors general are responsible for the overall budget, they – according to a government official – tend to delegate this function to chiefs of staff.

According to the estimates of national expenditure for the current financial year, the chief of staff will manage a R4.1-million budget in the telecommunications and postal services ministry. As head of the ministry, Thuthukile will play a critical function in the interface between the ministry and the department.

Point of contact
A recent vacancy advert for chief of staff in the ministry of evaluation and monitoring in the presidency – similar to the post Thuthukile now holds – indicates that a chief of staff would also act as a primary point of contact for the department’s director general on behalf of the minister.

A chief of staff can even be a proxy for the minister himself, as a ministerial representative, if delegated by the minister.

Depending on the size of the ministry, the number of employees under the chief of staff can vary between 10 and 20 people, including ministerial spokespersons and very experienced staffers.

Even though ministerial advisers report directly to the minister, in some ministries chiefs of staff call the shots and regulate the advisers’ access to the principal. Depending on their relationship with the minister, some chiefs of staff even write speeches and act as de facto chief advisers to the politicians.

Before she joined telecommunications, Thuthukile served as a public liaison officer at the State Security Agency “for just under a year”, according to State Security spokesperson Brian Dube.

Thuthukile then moved with Cwele to the new portfolio two months ago, where she was suddenly promoted to the powerful position that manages almost all the minister’s business.

Contract appointment
State Security referred all questions to Cwele as the person who had appointed Thuthukile in the new department. Spokesperson Qoza confirmed that Thuthukile has a contract appointment at the ministry, but he would not respond to questions about her relevant experience for the role, saying only that it is “consistent with the rules and regulations governing the appointment of people in government ministries”.

According to Qoza, this, together with her academic qualifications, secured her the job. “Ms Zuma has worked with the minister before,” Qoza said. “The minister only considered her capacity for the job and her qualifications.”

Thuthukile refused to discuss her experience and why she qualified for the job when the M&G contacted her.

“Please direct all questions to the relevant department’s spokesperson. I do not answer questions on behalf of the department,” she said, before abruptly putting the phone down. Thuthukile’s Twitter account carried retweets from the telecommunications department’s official account, but she deleted the account shortly after the M&G sent questions to Qoza, who reports to her. She also removed all the pictures from her Instagram feed, which largely captured her support for the ANC, particularly around the last elections.

Qoza defended Thuthukile, saying: “Just like all citizens, [she] enjoys the freedom to participate in any economic activity, including being employed in government or the private sector.”

Requisite experience
Thuthukile’s predecessor in the role was Siphokazi Shoba, who left the ministry when the term of Cwele’s predecessor, Yunus Carrim, came to an end, affecting her contract. Unlike Thuthukile, Shoba has the requisite management experience, as she was previously in a management role at the department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs. She served as chief of staff at the communications ministry, as it was then known, from July 2013 until May this year.

The telecommunications department is responsible for overseeing the South African telecommunications and broadcasting industries. It is also tasked with “expediting information and communications technology policy review for the expansion of digital infrastructure”.

Last week Cwele requested Parliament to approve a R1.59-billion budget for the department.

Additional research by Pauli van Wyk.

Flight MH17 - What You're Not Being Told
27.Jul.2014 | SCGSCG

http://scgnews.com/flight-mh17-what-your...being-told

Who was REALLY responsible for the downing of flight MH-17? Let's take a look at the facts.

On July 17th, 2014 two major events took place: Malaysian flight MH17 was downed over eastern Ukraine, presumably by a missile, and Israel began a ground invasion of Gaza. Israel's invasion was granted an almost complete media blackout. The MH17 tragedy, however, got full coverage, and was immediately propagandized. (This in spite of the fact that far more civilians have been killed by Israel's bombardment of Gaza over the past few weeks.)

The U.S. government and the western media pinned the responsibility for the MH17 tragedy on Russia within minutes, long before investigators had time to even arrive at the scene, much less provide any actual conclusions. Then came an all out information war, with lies, omissions and disinformation coming from all sides.

The geopolitical implications of this event should not be underestimated. If this was ever in doubt, the fact that Obama just sent military advisers to Ukraine to help Kiev in its assault against the east should make it very clear. Depending on how much mileage Washington can get out of it, the downing of flight MH17 could end up being extremely pivotal.

Anyone who knows their history, knows that media coverage of events like these often lay the psychological groundwork for war. Consider the sinking of the Lusitania for example on 5/7/1915 (or the murder archduke Ferdinand in 1914). These combined with the Zimmermann Telegram (which was dispatched on 1/16/1917) pushed US public opinion over the tipping point, and on 4/6/1917 the United States declared war on Germany.

It is worth noting that though the U.S. denied it at the time, later diving expeditions revealed that the Lusitania was indeed smuggling war munitions at the time that was sunk (as Germany had asserted from the beginning). Of course, by the time the truth was known it was far too late for the 116,000 Americans who were killed in that conflict.
So who was REALLY responsible for the downing of flight MH17?

First let's start by asking some obvious questions.

Why was flight MH17 routed over directly over a war zone? This was not a normal flight path. In fact it was 300 miles off course. Normally planes this flight path keep significantly farther south, and the decision to allow MH17 to fly over Donetsk was ultimately the decision of the the authorities in Kiev.

Now, Kiev initially claimed that they were acting under the assumption that this route was safe as long as the flight stayed above 32,000 feet, which is out of range for man-pad surface to air missiles. But that statement was later contradicted by Ukraine officials who said they knew three days before the downing of MH17 that that the separatists had the Buk missile system, which is capable of hitting aircraft at much higher altitudes. So either the Ukrainian government is lying about the separatists having the missiles, or they routed flight MH17 300 miles off course, KNOWING that it could be easily shot down.

Now to fully understand the implications of this decision, we have to look at what's really been going on in Ukraine lately. The mainstream media hasn't been talking about this very much, but for the past month and a half the Ukrainian military has been using heavy artillery and airstrikes against entire towns in east Ukraine. This shelling has been indiscriminate with many of the munitions striking in residential areas. The civilian death toll for this bombardment was estimated at over 257 people one month ago, and the attacks intensified shortly after. Even Human Rights Watch has finally come out to condemn the Ukrainian military's bombardment of civilians.

For a glimpse of what this assault looked like on the ground watch the video below (Warning: extremely brutal footage/NSFW):

Flight MH17 - What You're Not Being Told
27.Jul.2014 | SCGSCG
Who was REALLY responsible for the downing of flight MH-17? Let's take a look at the facts.

On July 17th, 2014 two major events took place: Malaysian flight MH17 was downed over eastern Ukraine, presumably by a missile, and Israel began a ground invasion of Gaza. Israel's invasion was granted an almost complete media blackout. The MH17 tragedy, however, got full coverage, and was immediately propagandized. (This in spite of the fact that far more civilians have been killed by Israel's bombardment of Gaza over the past few weeks.)

The U.S. government and the western media pinned the responsibility for the MH17 tragedy on Russia within minutes, long before investigators had time to even arrive at the scene, much less provide any actual conclusions. Then came an all out information war, with lies, omissions and disinformation coming from all sides.

The geopolitical implications of this event should not be underestimated. If this was ever in doubt, the fact that Obama just sent military advisers to Ukraine to help Kiev in its assault against the east should make it very clear. Depending on how much mileage Washington can get out of it, the downing of flight MH17 could end up being extremely pivotal.

Anyone who knows their history, knows that media coverage of events like these often lay the psychological groundwork for war. Consider the sinking of the Lusitania for example on 5/7/1915 (or the murder archduke Ferdinand in 1914). These combined with the Zimmermann Telegram (which was dispatched on 1/16/1917) pushed US public opinion over the tipping point, and on 4/6/1917 the United States declared war on Germany.

It is worth noting that though the U.S. denied it at the time, later diving expeditions revealed that the Lusitania was indeed smuggling war munitions at the time that was sunk (as Germany had asserted from the beginning). Of course, by the time the truth was known it was far too late for the 116,000 Americans who were killed in that conflict.
So who was REALLY responsible for the downing of flight MH17?

First let's start by asking some obvious questions.

Why was flight MH17 routed over directly over a war zone? This was not a normal flight path. In fact it was 300 miles off course. Normally planes this flight path keep significantly farther south, and the decision to allow MH17 to fly over Donetsk was ultimately the decision of the the authorities in Kiev.

Now, Kiev initially claimed that they were acting under the assumption that this route was safe as long as the flight stayed above 32,000 feet, which is out of range for man-pad surface to air missiles. But that statement was later contradicted by Ukraine officials who said they knew three days before the downing of MH17 that that the separatists had the Buk missile system, which is capable of hitting aircraft at much higher altitudes. So either the Ukrainian government is lying about the separatists having the missiles, or they routed flight MH17 300 miles off course, KNOWING that it could be easily shot down.

Now to fully understand the implications of this decision, we have to look at what's really been going on in Ukraine lately. The mainstream media hasn't been talking about this very much, but for the past month and a half the Ukrainian military has been using heavy artillery and airstrikes against entire towns in east Ukraine. This shelling has been indiscriminate with many of the munitions striking in residential areas. The civilian death toll for this bombardment was estimated at over 257 people one month ago, and the attacks intensified shortly after. Even Human Rights Watch has finally come out to condemn the Ukrainian military's bombardment of civilians.

For a glimpse of what this assault looked like on the ground watch the video below (Warning: extremely brutal footage):

Washington was silent. European officials were silent. And the U.N. was also silent.

The separatists in turn retreated from Slavyansk, regrouped and over the past few weeks they have shot down several Ukrainian military aircraft, effectively stalling the the advance towards Donetsk. But the shelling hasn't stopped.

In that context, Kiev's decision to route a civilian airliner 300 miles north of its normal flight path, putting it directly over an active war zone, a war zone where they themselves were the primary aggressor, wasn't just stupid, it was criminal.

And let's remember how east Ukraine became a war zone in the first place. Did east Ukrainians invade west Ukraine or bomb them? No, the east Ukrainians held referendum to declare their dependence, they had a massive voter turn out (much higher in fact than the official elections that Washington endorsed) and the self appointed government in Kiev responded by attempting to bomb them into submission. And again, the so called "international community" just stood by and watched.

And this wasn't the first time.

Remember we had the Odessa massacre where Ukrainian police stood by and did nothing as Neo-Nazis burned over 40 anti-Kiev protesters alive. Among those killed was a pregnant woman who appeared to be strangled or beaten to death. The Ukrainian government totally covered up these crimes and blamed the tragedy on the anti-Kiev protesters. Apparently these people burned themselves alive. Watch "The Odessa Massacre What You're Not Being Told" for more details on this (below).

But let's not stop there, let's take this all the way back to the beginning. We have the evidence that it wasn't Yanukovich that used snipers on the protesters in February, the real killers came from within the Maidan coalition.

The short version of the leaked phone call between EU foreign policy chief Cathy Ashton and Estonia's foreign minister Urmas Paet:
"Urmas Paet: "All the evidence shows that the people who were killed by snipers from both sides, among police men and people in the street, that they were the same snipers killing people from both sides."
Cathy Ashton: "Well that's, yeah..."
Urmas Paet: "And she also showed me some photos and she said that has medical doctor, she can say that it is the same handwriting..."
Cathy Ashton: "Yeah..."
Urmas Paet: "Same type of bullets... and it's really disturbing that now the new coalition, that they don't want to investigate what exactly happened. So that there is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers, it was not Yanukovich, but it was somebody from the new coalition."
(Note: Urmas Paet is not a native English speaker, so his wording is a bit odd at points. This transcript doesn't correct his errors. )"

Flight MH17 - What You're Not Being Told
27.Jul.2014 | SCGSCG
Who was REALLY responsible for the downing of flight MH-17? Let's take a look at the facts.

On July 17th, 2014 two major events took place: Malaysian flight MH17 was downed over eastern Ukraine, presumably by a missile, and Israel began a ground invasion of Gaza. Israel's invasion was granted an almost complete media blackout. The MH17 tragedy, however, got full coverage, and was immediately propagandized. (This in spite of the fact that far more civilians have been killed by Israel's bombardment of Gaza over the past few weeks.)

The U.S. government and the western media pinned the responsibility for the MH17 tragedy on Russia within minutes, long before investigators had time to even arrive at the scene, much less provide any actual conclusions. Then came an all out information war, with lies, omissions and disinformation coming from all sides.

The geopolitical implications of this event should not be underestimated. If this was ever in doubt, the fact that Obama just sent military advisers to Ukraine to help Kiev in its assault against the east should make it very clear. Depending on how much mileage Washington can get out of it, the downing of flight MH17 could end up being extremely pivotal.

Anyone who knows their history, knows that media coverage of events like these often lay the psychological groundwork for war. Consider the sinking of the Lusitania for example on 5/7/1915 (or the murder archduke Ferdinand in 1914). These combined with the Zimmermann Telegram (which was dispatched on 1/16/1917) pushed US public opinion over the tipping point, and on 4/6/1917 the United States declared war on Germany.

It is worth noting that though the U.S. denied it at the time, later diving expeditions revealed that the Lusitania was indeed smuggling war munitions at the time that was sunk (as Germany had asserted from the beginning). Of course, by the time the truth was known it was far too late for the 116,000 Americans who were killed in that conflict.
So who was REALLY responsible for the downing of flight MH17?

First let's start by asking some obvious questions.

Why was flight MH17 routed over directly over a war zone? This was not a normal flight path. In fact it was 300 miles off course. Normally planes this flight path keep significantly farther south, and the decision to allow MH17 to fly over Donetsk was ultimately the decision of the the authorities in Kiev.

Now, Kiev initially claimed that they were acting under the assumption that this route was safe as long as the flight stayed above 32,000 feet, which is out of range for man-pad surface to air missiles. But that statement was later contradicted by Ukraine officials who said they knew three days before the downing of MH17 that that the separatists had the Buk missile system, which is capable of hitting aircraft at much higher altitudes. So either the Ukrainian government is lying about the separatists having the missiles, or they routed flight MH17 300 miles off course, KNOWING that it could be easily shot down.

Now to fully understand the implications of this decision, we have to look at what's really been going on in Ukraine lately. The mainstream media hasn't been talking about this very much, but for the past month and a half the Ukrainian military has been using heavy artillery and airstrikes against entire towns in east Ukraine. This shelling has been indiscriminate with many of the munitions striking in residential areas. The civilian death toll for this bombardment was estimated at over 257 people one month ago, and the attacks intensified shortly after. Even Human Rights Watch has finally come out to condemn the Ukrainian military's bombardment of civilians.

For a glimpse of what this assault looked like on the ground watch the video below (Warning: extremely brutal footage):

Washington was silent. European officials were silent. And the U.N. was also silent.

The separatists in turn retreated from Slavyansk, regrouped and over the past few weeks they have shot down several Ukrainian military aircraft, effectively stalling the the advance towards Donetsk. But the shelling hasn't stopped.

In that context, Kiev's decision to route a civilian airliner 300 miles north of its normal flight path, putting it directly over an active war zone, a war zone where they themselves were the primary aggressor, wasn't just stupid, it was criminal.

And let's remember how east Ukraine became a war zone in the first place. Did east Ukrainians invade west Ukraine or bomb them? No, the east Ukrainians held referendum to declare their dependence, they had a massive voter turn out (much higher in fact than the official elections that Washington endorsed) and the self appointed government in Kiev responded by attempting to bomb them into submission. And again, the so called "international community" just stood by and watched.

And this wasn't the first time.

Remember we had the Odessa massacre where Ukrainian police stood by and did nothing as Neo-Nazis burned over 40 anti-Kiev protesters alive. Among those killed was a pregnant woman who appeared to be strangled or beaten to death. The Ukrainian government totally covered up these crimes and blamed the tragedy on the anti-Kiev protesters. Apparently these people burned themselves alive. Watch "The Odessa Massacre What You're Not Being Told" for more details on this (below).

But let's not stop there, let's take this all the way back to the beginning. We have the evidence that it wasn't Yanukovich that used snipers on the protesters in February, the real killers came from within the Maidan coalition.
The short version of the leaked phone call between EU foreign policy chief Cathy Ashton and Estonia's foreign minister Urmas Paet:

Urmas Paet: "All the evidence shows that the people who were killed by snipers from both sides, among police men and people in the street, that they were the same snipers killing people from both sides."
Cathy Ashton: "Well that's, yeah..."
Urmas Paet: "And she also showed me some photos and she said that has medical doctor, she can say that it is the same handwriting..."
Cathy Ashton: "Yeah..."
Urmas Paet: "Same type of bullets... and it's really disturbing that now the new coalition, that they don't want to investigate what exactly happened. So that there is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers, it was not Yanukovich, but it was somebody from the new coalition."
(Note: Urmas Paet is not a native English speaker, so his wording is a bit odd at points. This transcript doesn't correct his errors. )
The long version:

There actually was an investigation, but the mainstream media was very quiet about the results. Why? Because the Ukrainian M.P. that led the investigation, Grennady Moskal, a man with a long history of criticizing the Berkut police, announced that he found no evidence that the Berkut police were responsible. The investigation also found that the bullets used in the killings did not fit the weapons used by the Berkut police.

For the full evidence of U.S. involvement in the toppling of the Ukrainian government watch "The Ukraine Crisis - What You're Not Being Told" (below).

Why is this background information important? Because it demonstrates just how far Washington's puppets in Kiev are willing to go for the sake of power, and that allows to start asking some harder questions.

Questions such as: was this just a case of gross incompetence on Kiev's part, or was it something else?

It's pretty obvious who benefits from this tragedy (it's certainly clear who is attempting to make use of it), and we know Kiev has a history of killing civilians and blaming it on others, but would they really take it this far?

For a lot of people these kinds of questions are simply off limits. They just aren't prepared to let their mind go down that path, especially considering the fact that the U.S. government is in bed with these guys.

So let's tread carefully and just ask a few more questions that these so called journalists in the mainstream media are neglecting to ask. For example: Why hasn't the U.S. government released its satellite pictures of the area right after the event?

Right after Russia challenged the U.S. government to produce the satellite imagery to back up their accusations, this is what Washington released to CNN:

[Image: 20140722_MH17_0.jpg]

This isn't a recent map at all, in fact the map itself has a date written right on it: 2010. This is just an outdated screen shot from google maps with an amateurish drawing layered on top.

Why don't they want to show us the real images?

Russia, on the other hand, has released satellite images. These first two images (see below) are dated July 14, and according to Russia they show Buk missile launch systems located about 8 kilometers northwest of the city of Lugansk (an area under the control of the Ukrainian military).

[Image: snimok_ekrana_2014-07-21_v_18.11.30.png]

[Image: snimok_ekrana_2014-07-21_v_18.11.30.png]

[Image: snimok_ekrana_2014-07-21_v_18.11.52.png]

The next two images were taken on July 17th. The first one shows that the Ukrainian military's Buk systems are no longer in their previous position, and the last image shows them in a new position 5 kilometers north of Donetsk.

[Image: snimok_ekrana_2014-07-21_v_18.12.16.png]

[Image: snimok_ekrana_2014-07-21_v_18.12.16.png]

[Image: snimok_ekrana_2014-07-21_v_18.47.57.png]

Washington has not responded to this information, and interestingly has lowered it's tone since.

On July 21 Russia also released a radar image showing what they claimed to be an SU-27 fighter jet in close proximity to flight MH17. Ukraine had previously denied that there were any military aircraft near MH17, but they then reversed their story and said that the SU-27 was "escorting" the flight.

Eastern Ukraine has been watched like a hawk for months now. We've seen the U.S. government hyping their satellite images every time there is a change of Russian troop concentrations anywhere near the border. You're telling me that now, when it really counts, the worlds most sophisticated spy machine can't provide us with satellite pictures of a massive missile battery as it was positioned right after the downing of an aircraft? You're telling me they can't provide snapshots of the area following the missile battery as it was moved to its current location? You're telling me that they don't know where this missile battery is right now? Or that they actually do have these images, but they're just refraining from spreading this juicy tidbit all over the mainstream media like they usually do as soon as they have something that helps their case?

That stretches credulity.

Interestingly, investigative journalist Robert Parry, who is best known for his work exposing the Iran Contra scandal in the 1980s, for NewsWeek and the Associated Press, has published an article stating that one of his trusted sources has informed him that "U.S. intelligence agencies do have detailed satellite images of the likely missile battery that launched the fateful missile, but the battery appears to have been under the control of Ukrainian government troops dressed in what look like Ukrainian uniforms."

Does this mean that we should just take Robert Parry and his source at their word? No, of course not. But by the same token, why is the western media taking the U.S. government's word at face value without demanding evidence? Washington is a den of pathological liars. Their word is less than worthless, and it certainly doesn't count as proof. Robert Parry's account on the other hand is validated by the satellite images released by Russia, and like it or not, this is the strongest evidence that has been released so far.

If Washington actually had evidence to support their case, don't you think they would have released it by now?

But what about the audio evidence that the Ukrainian government uploaded in the form of a youtube video which supposedly proves that the rebels admitted to shooting down the plane in a phone conversation?

Is that recording genuine? Or did someone just splice it together? Who is this Oleksiy character anyway? Can anyone actually this voice to a real person? So far no one has (and this is kind of important given the circumstances).

Oh right, we know it's real because the Ukrainian government told us it was real.

Let's put this into context. Remember this is the same Ukrainian government that arrested two Russian journalists in May after those journalist released footage of U.N. helicopters being used by the Ukrainian military in the assault against the east.

Flight MH17 - What You're Not Being Told
27.Jul.2014 | SCGSCG
Who was REALLY responsible for the downing of flight MH-17? Let's take a look at the facts.

On July 17th, 2014 two major events took place: Malaysian flight MH17 was downed over eastern Ukraine, presumably by a missile, and Israel began a ground invasion of Gaza. Israel's invasion was granted an almost complete media blackout. The MH17 tragedy, however, got full coverage, and was immediately propagandized. (This in spite of the fact that far more civilians have been killed by Israel's bombardment of Gaza over the past few weeks.)

The U.S. government and the western media pinned the responsibility for the MH17 tragedy on Russia within minutes, long before investigators had time to even arrive at the scene, much less provide any actual conclusions. Then came an all out information war, with lies, omissions and disinformation coming from all sides.

The geopolitical implications of this event should not be underestimated. If this was ever in doubt, the fact that Obama just sent military advisers to Ukraine to help Kiev in its assault against the east should make it very clear. Depending on how much mileage Washington can get out of it, the downing of flight MH17 could end up being extremely pivotal.

Anyone who knows their history, knows that media coverage of events like these often lay the psychological groundwork for war. Consider the sinking of the Lusitania for example on 5/7/1915 (or the murder archduke Ferdinand in 1914). These combined with the Zimmermann Telegram (which was dispatched on 1/16/1917) pushed US public opinion over the tipping point, and on 4/6/1917 the United States declared war on Germany.

It is worth noting that though the U.S. denied it at the time, later diving expeditions revealed that the Lusitania was indeed smuggling war munitions at the time that was sunk (as Germany had asserted from the beginning). Of course, by the time the truth was known it was far too late for the 116,000 Americans who were killed in that conflict.
So who was REALLY responsible for the downing of flight MH17?

First let's start by asking some obvious questions.

Why was flight MH17 routed over directly over a war zone? This was not a normal flight path. In fact it was 300 miles off course. Normally planes this flight path keep significantly farther south, and the decision to allow MH17 to fly over Donetsk was ultimately the decision of the the authorities in Kiev.

Now, Kiev initially claimed that they were acting under the assumption that this route was safe as long as the flight stayed above 32,000 feet, which is out of range for man-pad surface to air missiles. But that statement was later contradicted by Ukraine officials who said they knew three days before the downing of MH17 that that the separatists had the Buk missile system, which is capable of hitting aircraft at much higher altitudes. So either the Ukrainian government is lying about the separatists having the missiles, or they routed flight MH17 300 miles off course, KNOWING that it could be easily shot down.

Now to fully understand the implications of this decision, we have to look at what's really been going on in Ukraine lately. The mainstream media hasn't been talking about this very much, but for the past month and a half the Ukrainian military has been using heavy artillery and airstrikes against entire towns in east Ukraine. This shelling has been indiscriminate with many of the munitions striking in residential areas. The civilian death toll for this bombardment was estimated at over 257 people one month ago, and the attacks intensified shortly after. Even Human Rights Watch has finally come out to condemn the Ukrainian military's bombardment of civilians.

For a glimpse of what this assault looked like on the ground watch the video below (Warning: extremely brutal footage):

Washington was silent. European officials were silent. And the U.N. was also silent.

The separatists in turn retreated from Slavyansk, regrouped and over the past few weeks they have shot down several Ukrainian military aircraft, effectively stalling the the advance towards Donetsk. But the shelling hasn't stopped.

In that context, Kiev's decision to route a civilian airliner 300 miles north of its normal flight path, putting it directly over an active war zone, a war zone where they themselves were the primary aggressor, wasn't just stupid, it was criminal.

And let's remember how east Ukraine became a war zone in the first place. Did east Ukrainians invade west Ukraine or bomb them? No, the east Ukrainians held referendum to declare their dependence, they had a massive voter turn out (much higher in fact than the official elections that Washington endorsed) and the self appointed government in Kiev responded by attempting to bomb them into submission. And again, the so called "international community" just stood by and watched.

And this wasn't the first time.

Remember we had the Odessa massacre where Ukrainian police stood by and did nothing as Neo-Nazis burned over 40 anti-Kiev protesters alive. Among those killed was a pregnant woman who appeared to be strangled or beaten to death. The Ukrainian government totally covered up these crimes and blamed the tragedy on the anti-Kiev protesters. Apparently these people burned themselves alive. Watch "The Odessa Massacre What You're Not Being Told" for more details on this (below).

But let's not stop there, let's take this all the way back to the beginning. We have the evidence that it wasn't Yanukovich that used snipers on the protesters in February, the real killers came from within the Maidan coalition.
The short version of the leaked phone call between EU foreign policy chief Cathy Ashton and Estonia's foreign minister Urmas Paet:

Urmas Paet: "All the evidence shows that the people who were killed by snipers from both sides, among police men and people in the street, that they were the same snipers killing people from both sides."
Cathy Ashton: "Well that's, yeah..."
Urmas Paet: "And she also showed me some photos and she said that has medical doctor, she can say that it is the same handwriting..."
Cathy Ashton: "Yeah..."
Urmas Paet: "Same type of bullets... and it's really disturbing that now the new coalition, that they don't want to investigate what exactly happened. So that there is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers, it was not Yanukovich, but it was somebody from the new coalition."
(Note: Urmas Paet is not a native English speaker, so his wording is a bit odd at points. This transcript doesn't correct his errors. )
The long version:

There actually was an investigation, but the mainstream media was very quiet about the results. Why? Because the Ukrainian M.P. that led the investigation, Grennady Moskal, a man with a long history of criticizing the Berkut police, announced that he found no evidence that the Berkut police were responsible. The investigation also found that the bullets used in the killings did not fit the weapons used by the Berkut police.

For the full evidence of U.S. involvement in the toppling of the Ukrainian government watch "The Ukraine Crisis - What You're Not Being Told" (below).

Why is this background information important? Because it demonstrates just how far Washington's puppets in Kiev are willing to go for the sake of power, and that allows to start asking some harder questions.

Questions such as: was this just a case of gross incompetence on Kiev's part, or was it something else?

It's pretty obvious who benefits from this tragedy (it's certainly clear who is attempting to make use of it), and we know Kiev has a history of killing civilians and blaming it on others, but would they really take it this far?

For a lot of people these kinds of questions are simply off limits. They just aren't prepared to let their mind go down that path, especially considering the fact that the U.S. government is in bed with these guys.

So let's tread carefully and just ask a few more questions that these so called journalists in the mainstream media are neglecting to ask. For example: Why hasn't the U.S. government released its satellite pictures of the area right after the event?

Right after Russia challenged the U.S. government to produce the satellite imagery to back up their accusations, this is what Washington released to CNN:

U.S. government evidence MH17

This isn't a recent map at all, in fact the map itself has a date written right on it: 2010. This is just an outdated screen shot from google maps with an amateurish drawing layered on top.

Why don't they want to show us the real images?

Russia, on the other hand, has released satellite images. These first two images (see below) are dated July 14, and according to Russia they show Buk missile launch systems located about 8 kilometers northwest of the city of Lugansk (an area under the control of the Ukrainian military).

Russian satellite images

Russian satellite images

The next two images were taken on July 17th. The first one shows that the Ukrainian military's Buk systems are no longer in their previous position, and the last image shows them in a new position 5 kilometers north of Donetsk.

Russian satellite images

Russian satellite images

Washington has not responded to this information, and interestingly has lowered it's tone since.

On July 21 Russia also released a radar image showing what they claimed to be an SU-27 fighter jet in close proximity to flight MH17. Ukraine had previously denied that there were any military aircraft near MH17, but they then reversed their story and said that the SU-27 was "escorting" the flight.

Eastern Ukraine has been watched like a hawk for months now. We've seen the U.S. government hyping their satellite images every time there is a change of Russian troop concentrations anywhere near the border. You're telling me that now, when it really counts, the worlds most sophisticated spy machine can't provide us with satellite pictures of a massive missile battery as it was positioned right after the downing of an aircraft? You're telling me they can't provide snapshots of the area following the missile battery as it was moved to its current location? You're telling me that they don't know where this missile battery is right now? Or that they actually do have these images, but they're just refraining from spreading this juicy tidbit all over the mainstream media like they usually do as soon as they have something that helps their case?

That stretches credulity.

Interestingly, investigative journalist Robert Parry, who is best known for his work exposing the Iran Contra scandal in the 1980s, for NewsWeek and the Associated Press, has published an article stating that one of his trusted sources has informed him that "U.S. intelligence agencies do have detailed satellite images of the likely missile battery that launched the fateful missile, but the battery appears to have been under the control of Ukrainian government troops dressed in what look like Ukrainian uniforms."

Does this mean that we should just take Robert Parry and his source at their word? No, of course not. But by the same token, why is the western media taking the U.S. government's word at face value without demanding evidence? Washington is a den of pathological liars. Their word is less than worthless, and it certainly doesn't count as proof. Robert Parry's account on the other hand is validated by the satellite images released by Russia, and like it or not, this is the strongest evidence that has been released so far.

If Washington actually had evidence to support their case, don't you think they would have released it by now?

But what about the audio evidence that the Ukrainian government uploaded in the form of a youtube video which supposedly proves that the rebels admitted to shooting down the plane in a phone conversation?

Is that recording genuine? Or did someone just splice it together? Who is this Oleksiy character anyway? Can anyone actually this voice to a real person? So far no one has (and this is kind of important given the circumstances).

Oh right, we know it's real because the Ukrainian government told us it was real.

Let's put this into context. Remember this is the same Ukrainian government that arrested two Russian journalists in May after those journalist released footage of U.N. helicopters being used by the Ukrainian military in the assault against the east.

The Ukrainian government claimed that the journalists were transporting rocket launchers, and even video taped the men bound and gagged next to a set of rocket launchers (see video below). The U.S. government went along with the story.

But then after there was a major uproar, and Human Rights Watch came out to condemn their arrest, the journalists were suddenly released without any comment or explanation.

Why is the relevant? Because the current government in Kiev has a history of fabricating and manipulating evidence when it's politically expedient. The veracity of the audio should be determined by an independent investigation, by multiple audio experts, in multiple countries.

Now if the implications of what I'm presenting here sound crazy to you, then you might want to look up Operation Northwoods. Operation Northwoods was a series of proposals written by Department of Defense back in the 60s, which directly advocated committing acts of terrorism within the United States, and even proposed shooting down a civilian airliner in order to blame it on Cuba, and this would be used to justify a war. These documents were declassified in 1997, and there are thousands of copies available for download on the internet (for example this one from George Washington University). Don't take my word for it, go read it.

You might be thinking, if any of this is true, why on earth would the U.S. government go out of their way to target Russia like this? This is really extreme. Might it have something to do with the fact that just this month the Brics nations met and put together an international development bank specifically designed to rival the World Bank and the IMF? Could it be because Russia is now openly pushing for the de-dollarization of international trade? Russia poses a threat to the dollar. That's all the motive the U.S. government has ever needed.

But what if we are given incontrovertible proof that the rebels mistook flight MH17 for a military aircraft and shot it down? What should happen then?

Well ask yourself this: what would be done if this mistake had been made by the U.S. military and the airliner had been Iranian?

Oh wait, that actually happened. In fact it happened exactly 18 years before the MH17 tragedy, on the very same day. On July 17, 1996 TWA flight 800 was downed over Long Island. The U.S. government claimed that the explosion was the result of an internal malfunction, but numerous eye witnesses reported that they saw a missile being fired from the ground, and even the New York Times referred to the evidence of a coverup as "formidable". The U.S. government never admitted that they were responsible.

But that's really a bad example isn't it?

Here's a better example: what if Ukraine had shot down a Russian airliner. Oh wait that actually did happen... in October of 2001. The Ukrainian government initially lied about it, but they finally came clean (which is more than we can say for the U.S. government).

We'll conclude here with what may seem to be a non-sequitur: a speech given by IMF chief Christine Lagarde on January 15, 2014 1:00 PM This was one month before the U.S. government helped topple the Ukrainian government, leading to the crisis which then resulted in Russia's expulsion from the g8. The IMF then swooped in and saddled Ukraine with a set of their signature predatory loans.

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Flight MH17 - What You're Not Being Told