Menu



error This forum is not active, and new posts may not be made in it.
Promote
Luis Miguel Goitizolo

1162
61587 Posts
61587
Invite Me as a Friend
Top 25 Poster
Person Of The Week
RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
2/21/2018 5:19:43 PM

Abbas calls for Middle East peace conference in rare UN speech

In a rare address to the UN Security Council, Abbas presented what he called a "peace plan" to revive the comatose Israeli-Palestinian talks with new international mediation - in which the United States would have less weight.


Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas speaks at the United Nations Security Council in New York. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP)


(Updated: )

UNITED NATIONS: Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas on Tuesday (Feb 20) called for an international conference to be held by mid-2018 to launch a new, wider Middle East peace process and pave the way to Palestinian statehood.

In a rare address to the UN Security Council, Abbas presented what he called a "peace plan" to revive the comatose Israeli-Palestinian talks with a new international mediation - in which the United States would play less of a predominant role.

President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital infuriated the Palestinians, who declared that Washington could no longer play a role as lead mediator in the Middle East peace process.

"To solve the Palestine question, it is essential to establish a multilateral international mechanism emanating from an international conference," Abbas said.

Abbas put the blame for the failure of peace efforts squarely on Israel, saying it was "acting as a state above the law" and had "shut the door on the two-state solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He said the conference would be attended by Israel and the Palestinians, regional players, the five permanent Security Council members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - and the diplomatic Quartet comprised of the European Union, United Nations, Russia and the United States.


The gathering should lead to full UN membership for the state of Palestine, mutual recognition of Israel and Palestine, and the creation of a new international mechanism to reach a final settlement, he said.

The Palestinian leader immediately left the council chamber following his address, leaving Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon to complain that he was once again "running away" from dialogue.

"You have made it clear, with your words and with your actions, that you are no longer part of the solution. You are the problem," Danon said.

PATH TO 'NOWHERE'

Addressing the council, US Ambassador Nikki Haley warned that turning to the United Nations and rejecting the US role in peace talks "will get the Palestinian people exactly nowhere toward the achievement of their aspirations."

Haley was accompanied to the council meeting by Jason Greenblatt, the US envoy for Middle East peace and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in law and adviser on Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.

"Our negotiators are sitting right behind us, ready to talk," she said, before adding: "But we will not chase after you. The choice, Mister President, is yours."

The Israeli-Palestinian peace process has been deadlocked since a major push by the former US administration of Barack Obama ended in failure in April 2014.

The Trump administration is preparing a new peace plan even though chances for agreement appear dim.

The Palestinians hope that greater international involvement in the peace process will serve to counter what they see as a US stance biased in favour of Israel.

Israel, which often accuses the European Union and the United Nations of bias against it, is reluctant to accept any other mediator than the United States.

US ENVOYS MEET AMBASSADORS

Greenblatt and Kushner later met with council ambassadors behind closed doors to discuss US peace efforts, but they did not provide specific details of the Trump plan.

"They talked about the progress in their efforts and contacts, and this was useful," said French Ambassador Francois Delattre.

France, which hosted a Middle East peace conference in Paris last year, is ready to examine Abbas's proposal for a revamped approach, but this "would not cast doubt" over the "indispensable" role of the United States, Delattre told the council.

The Palestinians see East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state and UN resolutions call on countries to refrain from moving their embassies to the city until its status is resolved in an Israeli-Palestinian deal.

In December, the General Assembly voted 128-9, with 35 abstentions, to reject the US decision to recognise Jerusalem.

That vote in the 193-nation assembly came after 14 of the 15 council members voted in favour of a similar measure. The United States vetoed that draft resolution.

Tensions have also flared over the US decision to cut funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

The United Nations granted Palestine the status of a non-member observer state in 2012, but an upgrade to full membership would require unanimous backing from the Security Council - an unlikely outcome, given the near-certainly of a US veto.


Source: AFP/de



"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

+1
Luis Miguel Goitizolo

1162
61587 Posts
61587
Invite Me as a Friend
Top 25 Poster
Person Of The Week
RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
2/21/2018 5:42:09 PM

Is The US Intentionally Killing Russians In Syria?

FEBRUARY 20, 2018


By Brandon Turbeville

After an attack on February 7 by the United States military against Syrian “pro-regime forces,” reports quickly emerged that the U.S. had killed a number of Russians embedded with the Syrian forces. While the Russian government remained silent, the U.S. soon announced that it had indeed killed “scores” of Russians in that air raid. Later, Russia confirmed that Russian “civilians” had been killed but that no Russian soldiers died. Russia put those numbers at around five while the United States stated a few dozen. Western mainstream media reports put the number at over a hundred.

Then, on February 15, another incident took place where 15 Russians died in an apparent explosion outside a weapons depot run by a Russian contracting company. The explosion itself is suspicious, particularly when taken in the context of the previous killing of Russians in Syria by the U.S. military.

There is no doubt that the U.S. killed the Russians on February 7. However, there are a number of questions that arise out of both incidents, especially the first.

Who Are The Russians?

The Russians who were killed in both incidents in Syria are allegedly part of Wagner Group, a Russian contracting firm based in Hong Kong. Although readers should exercise caution when analyzing information produced by CNN, the news agency claims that Wagner has no public offices in Russia. Both CNN and FOX report that Wagner has anywhere from hundreds to thousands of contractors operating in Syria at this moment. The firm is also believed to have been active in eastern Ukraine, supporting separatists who have been fighting Western-backed Nazi forces.

Why Are They There?

As was the case in eastern Ukraine, Russia needs to deploy fighters to Syria that will aid Syrian military forces and allied militias on the ground but it needs to do so covertly. After all, Russia announced some time ago that it was drawing down its military presence in Syria as a result of many of its goals having been achieved. While Russia did draw down a number of its military forces, private contractors can also be used to shore up Syrian forces, help with logistics, and conduct other operations that the Russian military would rather not be publicly involved with. As cover, the contractors are technically on the payroll of the Syrian government and thus appear as if it is simply a private Russian firm engaging in business with the Syrian government.

While private military contracting with the Syrian government is possible, it is much more likely that the Russian military contractors are operating in Syria and Ukraine for the same purpose – to provide the Russian government with boots on the ground as well as plausible deniability (such as being able to state that Russia has no troops on the ground in Ukraine). Russia is therefore able to conduct certain operations unofficially and publicly draw down its forces while maintaining boots on the ground.

Is The U.S. Killing Russians Intentionally?

Obviously, a direct military assault against Russian troops would create an incredibly dangerous international situation. Putin would be forced to respond to those attacks whether he wanted to or not simply by virtue of public outrage, political pressure, and to protect the perception of Russian strength in the eyes of the world. If the United States were to play the incident as if it were an accident, perhaps Russia could avoid physically responding. However, if the U.S. were to admit intentional targeting, there is little doubt that some type of direct military confrontation between the two powers would take place as a result.

Unfortunately, it is possible that the United States has bet on the fact that the plausible deniability aspect also precludes Russia from the required response that would have resulted if the attacks had killed Russian soldiers. Russia is not going to go to war over private contractors and the United States knows this. Killing Russian contractors then becomes a way to exact a price against Russia for its support of the Syrian government without risking World War Three to the extent it would have done otherwise. The U.S. would then force Russia to begin conducting operations with regular forces or stop conducting operations altogether. Likewise, at a more immediate and simplistic level, it is able to physically disrupt any ongoing operations undertaken by the contractors.

Killing Russians on the ground is also a way to project strength in the same perverted way the U.S. has been doing all along. In other words, the U.S. can claim to the world that it is so powerful that it can enter Syria, occupy it, and kill Russians (presented to the world as soldiers all the while claiming ignorance of their presence) and that Russia is too afraid and/or weak to do anything about it. Of course, this is not the reality of the situation but the perception of it has effects both at home and abroad that result in pressure on the Russian government, most notably its president.

Conclusion

While there is no direct evidence to suggest that the United States is intentionally targeting Russians in Syria, the timing of both incidents is hard to ignore. Given that Russia has thwarted most of America’s plans for Syria, it is clear that the United States wants to make Russia pay a price for its support of the Syrian government, whatever form that price may be, i.e. political, military, or economic. Regardless, the bombing and killing of Russian contractors in Syria is a dangerous new escalation on the part of the United States whose very presence in Syria is both illegal and immoral.

This article may be freely shared in part or in full with author attribution and source link.


(activistpost.com)


"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

+1
Luis Miguel Goitizolo

1162
61587 Posts
61587
Invite Me as a Friend
Top 25 Poster
Person Of The Week
RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
2/21/2018 6:06:48 PM

From thundersleet to record heat, the weather is extreme across the Lower 48


The Lower 48 is split into two seasons this week. It’s so warm in the East, February records are being broken and flowers are starting to bud. People are walking around in T-shirts. There’s talk of breaking out the shorts Wednesday. In the West, it is decidedly winter — temperatures are running as much as 40 degrees below normal, San Francisco had overnight lows in the 30s and it snowed in Los Angeles.

Here’s a roundup of the extremes this week from coast to coast.

Temperature whiplash

In four minutes Tuesday morning, the temperature in Oklahoma City fell 21 degrees — a truly epic tank because of a very strong cold front. At 6:48 a.m. Central time, the city was enjoying a comfortable 64 degrees. At 6:52 a.m., the temperature was down to 43 degrees. It eventually bottomed out at 39 degrees just after 7 a.m.

Record February warmth in the East

From Boston to Washington, the warmth is carving records. Boston’s overnight low of 50 degrees looks to be the warmest overnight low in the month of February — any February. On Wednesday, the D.C. area could hit 80 degrees, which would be the earliest 80-degree high on record for the capital. Other cities that will probably set new February records for warm overnight lows include:

  • Detroit
  • Cleveland
  • Columbus
  • Pittsburgh
  • Buffalo
  • Charleston, W.Va.
  • Louisville

Snow in Los Angeles

We don’t need to explain how strange this one is. It basically never snows in Los Angeles — even in the foothills.

Record cold on the West Coast

From Seattle to Southern California, the cold is breaking records. Temperatures in the San Francisco Bay area dropped into the 30s Tuesday morning and into the teens in parts of the Pacific Northwest. Cold morning temperature records were set Tuesday morning in San Francisco and Oakland. In Dillon, Mont., the average temperature was minus-13 degrees Sunday, which was around 40 degrees colder than normal for this time of year. The high in Dillon was just minus-3 Sunday.

Thundersleet in the Central U.S.

The cold front digging through the Central United States was strong enough this morning to generate thundersleet, which is exactly what it sounds like. Thunder and lightning are possible in any kind of precipitation, including snow, sleet and freezing rain.

On Tuesday morning, the atmosphere looked more like what we’d see in May than mid-February. Eastern Kansas woke up to the surprising juxtaposition of sleet and thunder.

Torrential, flooding rain this week in Central U.S.

The intense cold front that’s bisecting the country this week is also digging up a lot of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. Through Sunday, the National Weather Service expects torrential rain to cause flooding in the Lower Mississippi and Ohio River valleys, with the majority of that falling in the next three days.

On Tuesday, the flash-flood risk is highest from northeast Texas to southern Missouri and also southern Michigan and northern Indiana. The highest risk is confined to northeast Texas to far western Tennessee on Wednesday.



Angela Fritz is an atmospheric scientist and The Washington Post's deputy weather editor. She has a BS in meteorology and an MS in earth and atmospheric science.
Follow @angelafritz





(The Washington Post)

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

+1
Luis Miguel Goitizolo

1162
61587 Posts
61587
Invite Me as a Friend
Top 25 Poster
Person Of The Week
RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
2/22/2018 12:08:01 AM

Most Americans say Trump, Congress not doing enough to stop mass shootings, Post-ABC poll finds



Nikolas Cruz, facing 17 charges of premeditated murder in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, appears in court for a status hearing in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Monday. (Pool/Reuters)

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

+1
Luis Miguel Goitizolo

1162
61587 Posts
61587
Invite Me as a Friend
Top 25 Poster
Person Of The Week
RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
2/22/2018 10:26:48 AM
Here are the tools that could be used to create the fake news of the future



A protester carries a sign during the Women’s March in Washington on Jan. 21, 2017. (Joshua Lott/AFP/Getty Images)

At the heart of fake news — meaning deliberately misleading, untrue information presented as a news item — is a simple idea: People often want to believe things that aren’t true. Some people wantto believe that Barack Obama wasn’t born in the United States and, therefore, that his presidency was illegitimate. Some people want to believe that President Trump doesn’t know the words to the national anthem. It’s not just partisanship, of course. People constantly want to believe that celebrities did unbelievable things or that bizarre occurrences actually happened.

What shifted over the past few years is that the Internet made falsifying news items valuable in a way that it wasn’t before. There’s indirect value in sharing things that attract a lot of attention: likes, follows and so on on social media. But there’s also money to be made. A group of teenagers in Macedonia built a large network of sites spreading false information shortly before the 2016 election not because they had a dog in the fight but because saying outrageous things drove a lot of traffic to them — which in turn drove a lot of ad revenue.

It’s also a moment in which there’s direct political value in spreading misinformation. Setting aside the value that Trump himself sees in misrepresenting reality, there has been a deliberate effort to spread inaccurate information about political candidates and issues — Hillary Clinton, Brexit, etc. — to both shape public opinion and to make it harder to discern real from fake. If you see one article claiming that millions of people were caught voting illegally and another reporting (correctly) that there is no evidence at all of widespread voter fraud, the issue may seem as though it’s still being litigated.

Which brings us to porn.

There’s been a sudden interest in a new generation of tools that can be used to create misleading news stories, driven in part by users of the site Reddit who figured out a relatively easy way to superimpose celebrities’ faces onto videos of porn stars. Until last week, there was a community on Reddit called “deepfakes” that passed around not only modified porn but also examples of other video clips in which one person’s face was substituted for another’s.

Like swapping Nicholas Cage’s face in for Amy Adams singing “I Will Survive.”


This is not exactly realistic, you’ll notice. But it’s easy to see how, using a different model and a different voice, this could be more convincing.

There are two other things to remember here. The first is that, while professional animators and computer-effects specialists have been able to create fairly realistic virtual people for some time (including virtual versions of real people), better technologies mean that it’s easier for nonprofessionals to create artificial videos such as the one above. More remarkable than the deepfakes tool, in some ways, was the deepfakes community, a group of people — not just one expert — who all had at their disposal a way to put Person X’s face on Person Y’s body.

The other thing to remember is how much the bar has slipped for what can easily be forged. Three decades ago, creating and spreading a fake version of a newspaper article involved significant photo-editing skills and real-world printing technology all to create something that would have to be shared by hand. The introduction of Photoshop made that easier, and the introduction of the Web made sharing doctored images fairly trivial, as we’re reminded each time a shark swims on a highway after a natural disaster. But creating a fake recording of someone’s voice or a fake video of a celebrity doing something? That was significantly harder — in the past, anyway.

Another layer of complexity stems from our being in a weird technological moment. There’s lots of low-quality footage and photographs of important people out there, thanks to cameras’ slowing evolution over the course of an adult American’s lifetime. It’s easier to create convincing grainy, low-res video than high-definition video, such as if you wanted to, say, create a video of a political candidate saying something controversial back in the 1990s.

The deepfakes technology is not the only tool that will probably become broadly available in the upcoming months and years. We’ve compiled a number of existing technologies that may in the future be used to create increasingly realistic versions of photos and videos that could be used to mislead news consumers.

Changing how real people appear to behave

Manipulating the gaze of someone in a photograph

How this could be used: To change an apparent reaction of the subject of a photograph.

Researchers Yaroslav Ganin, Daniil Kononenko, Diana Sungatullina and Victor Lempitsky of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology created a system that allows for the manipulation of a person’s eyes in a photo. Notice how as Obama’s eyes move, above, the light in them doesn’t change.

There’s an online demo that allows you to manipulate photos you upload. (Be aware that uploading images to random websites is itself something that should be done with caution.)

Changing the expressions of someone in a video


How this could be used: Footage of an audience (say, at a State of the Union address) could be manipulated to make it seem as though a member of Congress were saying something that wasn’t actually said based on how their mouth is moving.

Face2Face is an early example of the ability to change a person’s appearance in a recorded video. In short, the process, introduced in 2016 by researchers Justus Thies, Michael Zollhöfer, Marc Stamminger, Christian Theobalt and Matthias Niessner, creates a sort of video marionette that can be made to present whatever facial expressions the user wants.

This has an obvious shortcoming: It doesn’t manipulate the audio of the original video.

Creating a fake video of a person speaking using his or her own voice


How this could be used: To change the context of where comments were made. Something Barack Obama said on the campaign trail — or in one of his audiobooks — could be made to look like something he said in the Oval Office.

This technology was introduced at the SIGGRAPH conference last year by the University of Washington’s Supasorn Suwajanakorn, Steven M. Seitz and Ira Kemelmacher-Shlizerman. It gets a little closer to the ability to generate a fully artificial version of a speech from a real person.

The full paper makes clear how tricky this seemingly simple process is, requiring the creation of a virtual model of Obama’s face and systems for correcting specific visual anomalies.


More here


"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

+1


facebook
Like us on Facebook!