the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

Ten years ago, Chiquita Brands International became the first U.S.-based corporation convicted of violating a U.S. law against funding an international terrorist group—the paramilitary United Self-defense Forces of Colombia* (AUC). But punishment for the crime was reserved only for the corporate entity, while the names of the individual company officials who engineered the payments have since remained hidden behind a wall of impunity. As Colombian authorities now prepare to prosecute business executives for funding groups responsible for major atrocities during Colombia’s decades-old conflict, a new set of Chiquita Papers, made possible through the National Security Archive’s FOIA lawsuit, has for the first time made it possible to know the identities and understand the roles of the individual Chiquita executives who approved and oversaw years of payments to groups responsible for countless human rights violations in Colombia. National Security Archive K

Trump "changed his rhetoric completely and subjected himself to the terms of the deep American state, or the deep American regime," Assad said Part 1 " Yes, from a Western perspective, you are now sitting with the devil. This is how they market it in the west, " Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told teleSUR's Rolando Segura in an exclusive interview from Damascus, addressing a range of subjects including claims of chemical attacks as well as the shifting geopolitical alignments impacting the war which has ravaged his country. Speaking on the subject of Donald Trump, the Syrian leader said the U.S. president " has no policies, " but is rather implementing decisions made by " the intelligence agencies, the Pentagon, the big arms manufacturers, oil companies, and financial institutions. " " As we have seen in the past few weeks, he changed his rhetoric completely and subjected himself to the terms of the deep Americ

Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said her country's decision was based on dignity and sovereignty Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez presented the official letter Thursday to start the process for the country to pull out of the Organization of American States, which she said was attempting to intervene and promote a coup in Venezuela. " Today we formalize and present the letter to definitely pull out of this organization, " said Rodriguez in a press conference from the Foreign Ministry's office in Caracas. " We will defend the self-determination of our people. " Rodriguez said the move was based on a question of dignity and that President Nicolas Maduro's decision, which was taken to defend Venezuela from arbitrary abuses and illegal actions carried out by the OAS against the country, had been both praised and respected. " Today is a day of victory for Venezuela, we woke up today freer and more independent, " the

U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled his tax platform on Wednesday, and one thing is clear: the rich will get richer. In a White House briefing, National Economic Director Gary Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced Trump's plan, which will drastically cut the U.S. corporate tax rate to one of the lowest among the world's developed economies from 35 percent to 15 percent. " Welcome to Goldman Sachs populism! " said Public Citizen president Robert Weissman. " The Goldman Sachs tax plan will slash taxes on giant corporations and the corporate elite. With the elimination of the alternative minimum and estate taxes, it not so incidentally appears to confer huge benefits on President Trump himself — though of course, we can’t know for sure so as long as Trump’s tax returns remain secret. " The proposal aims to reduce the individual income rates and reduce brackets from seven to three, pegged at 10, 25 and 35 percent. Th

US President Trump has given the Pentagon authority to independently set troop levels in Iraq and Syria, and to ensure commanders’ flexibility. Over 5,000 troops are deployed in Iraq, and 500 in Syria, where they operate without Damascus’ invitation. “ The President has delegated the authority for Force Management Levels (FML) for Iraq and Syria to the [Defense] Secretary [James Mattis], ” said Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, as cited by ABC. He also said that no change has been made at this stage to the number of US troops in the Middle East, adding that the current military strategy involves rendering support to local militias fighting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). The move does not mean that the numbers of troops in Iraq and Syria will change “ nor does it change the process by which we will manage those forces, ” said Davis. More: https://www.rt.com/usa/386379-pentagon-troops-syria-iraq/