another view of the troika at G-20

[link:https://screenshots.firefox.com/y9DEIwpUuaxdykbK/www.facebook.com|

https://screenshots.firefox.com/y9DEIwpUuaxdykbK/www.facebook.com


I guess I don't know how to get a screen shot on DU. Trump, Putin, MBS

Preet Bharara's tweet and comments tonight.......hilarious.

You don't have to be a twitter member to read it.


]https://screenshots.firefox.com/m38ASVWGtoYvxcmx/twitter.com


[link:https://twitter.com/PreetBharara/status/1067301142856691712|

video of Russian warship ramming Ukraine boat today

[link:https://twitter.com/i/status/1066789650788950017|

Ukraine has asked those who signed defense pact to convene. (U.S. is a signatory)

Three Ukraine ships have been seized.

Mexico Denies Border Deal (that Trump tweeted today). BBC

[link:https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46333119|

So which is it??

Seth Abramson posts a link to an expose of secret yacht meeting in Seychelles.

The story is from March. I don't know if it has been seen here. Seth posted the link today after seeing it on reddit.

[link:https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/george-nader-yacht-how-mbs-salman-red-sea-summit-mbz-sisi-plotted-qatar-turkey-jordan-saudi-gcc-arab-league-867425259|

The secret summit on the Red Sea took place towards the end of King Salman’s first year in power, when his son MBS was only deputy crown prince.

His chief obstacle to the Saudi throne lay in the form of his elder cousin Mohammed bin Nayef, who was crown prince and a favourite of Washington’s security establishment. MBS would become crown prince in June 2017, only after his father deposed Bin Nayef.

In 2016, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz with then Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (AFP)

Trump had only announced his candidacy months before in June 2015 when the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was leading in all the polls. She was thought by the Saudis and Emiratis to be more likely to ring fence the nuclear deal Barack Obama made with Iran, and to be generally more sceptical of their plans for a push back in the region.

Significantly, these Arab leaders decided in late 2015 that a wildcard presidential candidate in the shape of Trump could be the key to their plans to become the new regional hegemons.

11/22/2018 Saudi Crown Prince on "brotherly" tour of Arab countries after Khashoggi murder.

MBS is also expected to visit Egypt and Bahrain on his tour abroad, a German news agency reported earlier this week, while AFP said he will be in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, on Tuesday.

The Saudi crown prince will then participate in a G20 meeting in Buenos Aires at the end of the month that will be attended by leaders from the United States, Turkey and European countries, AFP reported.
MBS-Erdogan meeting at G20 possible

The crown prince's foreign tour comes amid ongoing pressure over the killing of Khashoggi, a Saudi government critic who was murdered inside the country's Istanbul consulate on 2 October.

Saudi officials maintain that the crown prince had no knowledge of Khashoggi's murder or its subsequent cover-up. However, the CIA said last Friday that it believes bin Salman ordered the journalist's killing.

There were conflicting reports as to whether MBS could have his first face-to-face meeting with Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

Pressure has been growing between Riyadh and Ankara over Khashoggi's murder, as Turkish officials have gradually leaked information in relation to the case.

"There could be" a meeting, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said. "We're looking at the programme," Kalin said, according to state news agency Anadolu.

Share: Timothy Snyder on "Reporters The Heroes Of Our Time"

Timothy Snyder is Yale holocaust historian, author of the book "On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From The Twentieth Century" -- an essential read for this troubled time. $7.95

Here's a great video of him on the role of reporters.

Share widely to the corners of the Internet.

[link:http://

Pacific Coast Fishermen Assoc. sue 30 fossil fuel companies -- ruining crab fisheries.

Crab fishing on the West Coast has become so threatened by warming oceans that a coalition of commercial fishers has now joined the climate litigation fray with a lawsuit filed Wednesday to hold 30 fossil fuel companies accountable for losses caused by climate change.

The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco County Superior Court by the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, seeks damages on behalf of crab fishers, their businesses and families, and local communities in California and Oregon.

It describes losses caused by the closing of crab fishing waters over the past four years because of algae blooms in the warming Pacific waters, and warns that these closures will keep happening as warming continues.

"These changes threaten both the productivity of commercial fisheries and safety of commercially harvested seafood products," the lawsuit says. "In so doing, they also threaten those that rely on ocean fisheries and ecosystems for their livelihoods, by rendering it at times impossible to ply their trade."

Trump's Saudi Arabia Sanctions Over Khashoggi Show He Won't Punish MBS -- Vox

[link:https://www.vox.com/world/2018/11/15/18096902/trump-saudi-arabia-sanctions-khashoggi-magnitsky|

Here’s what just happened: The US imposed what are known as Magnitsky Act penalties on more than a dozen Saudi citizens. The Magnitsky Act aims to curb human rights violations around the world by prohibiting access to the United States and its banking system by individuals who commit heinous crimes. According to the State Department, all of the people sanctioned on Thursday worked in the Saudi government at the time of the journalist’s murder.

It’s a rare move against Saudi citizens, blocking their funds in the US and prohibiting Americans from engaging with them. The sanctions target some top Saudi officials such as Saud al-Qahtani, a key aide for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS.

It’s hard to believe Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader knew nothing about Khashoggi’s demise, but the kingdom has so far not implicated MBS in any wrongdoing.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday that the individuals “targeted and brutally killed a journalist who resided and worked in the United States” and “must face consequences for their actions.”

Hours before the sanctions announcement, Saudi Arabia charged 11 people in connection to the murder — including al-Qahtani — and wants five of them sentenced to death. Ahmad al-Assiri, the kingdom’s deputy intelligence chief, was indicted by the Saudis but not sanctioned by the US on Thursday.

But do the sanctions go far enough? Sean Kane, a former sanctions official at the Treasury Department, isn’t so sure.

important statement from wife of Avenatti, via her attorneys

Lawyers for Lisa Storie-Avenatti, his wife, also provided a statement on Wednesday, responding to earlier reports that she was involved in the alleged incident: "Ms. Storie-Avenatti was not subject to any such incident on Tuesday night. Further, she was not at Mr. Avenatti’s apartment on the date that this alleged incident occurred. My client states that there has never been domestic violence in her relationship with Michael and that she has never known Michael to be physically violent toward anyone. My client requests that the media respect her privacy and that of the parties young son."

Finally, Avenatti's first wife, Christine Avenatti-Carlin, also gave a statement on Wednesday, saying, "I’ve known Michael for the last 26 years, we met when he was 21 years old and we were married for 13 years. Michael has always been a loving kind father to our two daughters and husband. He has never been abusive to me or anyone else. He is a very good man.”

.................................

She says it never happened!!