Trump better stop encouraging EU secession or kiss Texas goodbye, warns Juncker (Source rt.com)
The EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has called on US President Donald Trump to stop applauding Brexit and become more supportive of the block. He threatened to hit back if Trump does not change his tune. “Brexit isn’t the end. A lot of people would like it that way, even people on another continent where the newly elected US president was happy that Brexit was taking place and has asked other countries to do the same,” Juncker said on Thursday during a conference of the center-right European People’s Party in Malta. If he goes on like that I am going to promote the independence of Ohio and Austin, Texas in the US,” he added. In an interview with the Financial Times, the EU Commission boss called Trump’s enthusiasm for Britain’s departure from the EU “annoying” and “surprising.” During the election campaign, Trump has praised Britain as “smart” for opting out of the European Union. He welcomed the result of the June referendum, saying it was “a great thing” that the British voters “took back their country.” He added other countries could follow the lead and leave the block. Trump also promised to draw up a trade deal with the UK “quickly” after Brexit.

US is like ‘armed robber breaking into your house’ – Iranian defense minister (Source rt.com)
Iran’s defense minister, Hossein Dehqan, has advised the US military to leave the Persian Gulf and stop causing trouble there, local media report. The Minister was firing back at a US general who accused Iran of being a destabilizing force in its own region. “What are Americans doing in the Persian Gulf? They had better get out of this region and not cause trouble for the countries in the region,” Dehqan said in a statement carried by Iranian state media. He also compared the United States to a home intruder. “Is it acceptable for an armed robber to enter your house and expect to get the red carpet treatment? “This is an example of modern ignorance in the 21st century,” he said. Dehqan’s was responding to remarks made earlier in March by United States Central Command General Joseph Votel, who accused Iran of being a destabilizing influence in the region. “We are also dealing with a range of malign activities perpetrated by Iran and its proxies operating in the region,” Votel said at a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee in describing Tehran’s alleged influence over Iraq and Syria. “It is my view that Iran poses the greatest long-term threat to stability for this part of the world,” he said. The statements made by military officials on both sides reflect the growing tensions between Iran and the United States.

DEA approves synthetic marijuana for big pharma company against legalization (Source rt.com)
A synthetic marijuana product could be available for commercialization after the DEA gave a newly approved drug a schedule II classification. Insys Therapeutics ” announced that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued an interim final rule that would put Syndros, their synthetic marijuana drug, on Schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). “Insys is looking forward to bringing this new drug product to chemotherapy patients to help alleviate their nausea and vomiting and AIDS patients with anorexia associated weight loss, respectively,” Dr. Santosh Vetticaden, interim CEO, said in the announcement. “We look forward to interacting with the FDA to finalize the labeling and subsequent launch of Syndros in the second half of 2017,” Vetticaden said. Syndros is a synthetic version of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive component in the plant. In July 2016, the company  ” announced the FDA approved their liquid form of synthetic THC to treat anorexia associated AIDS patients, and nausea and vomiting induced by cancer patients going through chemotherapy. The DEA  schedules-of-controlled-substances-placement-of-fda-approved-products-of-oral-solutions-containing” approval placed Syndros and its generic formulations in schedule II of the  CSA, which is reserved for drugs that have “a high potential for abuse, with use potentially leading to severe psychological or physical dependence.”
While some Schedule II drugs can be used for medical purposes, like Vicodin, oxycodone, Adderall, and many prescription painkillers, Schedule I drugs are all federally illegal. Non-synthetic marijuana is a Schedule I drug, which is reserved for drugs that have “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”

Russia Gives Adult Rating to ‘Power Rangers’ Reboot With LGBT Character (Source Yahoo) The Russian distributor of Power Rangers” informed theaters on Friday that the film’s age restriction had been bumped up from 16+ to 18+. Although the distributor did not give a reason for the change, the news comes after it was announced that the film features an LGBT protagonist. In 2013, Russia passed an anti-gay law that banned “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations.” Russian legislator Vitaly Milonov — the man behind the controversial bill  reportedly railed against Lionsgate’s reboot of the popular ’90s franchise, and called its director, Dean Israelite, “a scumbag” on the conservative TV network Tsargrad. The Russian Culture Ministry reportedly also took heat from lawmaker Alexei Zhuravlev.
In “Power Rangers,” Becky G plays Trini, the Yellow Ranger, who questions her sexuality in a brief moment. “It’s something that I’m really proud of with my character,”   she told Variety.
Israelite also spoke to Variety about his desire to represent the modern teenage experience. He said the film seeks to give “voices to characters that are underrepresented in not just movies, but also superhero movies.” Recently, Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” faced a similar imposition when it was revealed that the film included a “gay moment.” The movie was  slapped with a 16+ rating in Russia.
Both “Beauty and the Beast” and “Power Rangers” have come under scrutiny from Malaysian censors as well. It was initially ruled that “Beauty” would cut the “gay moment,” but after Disney refused to make any changes, the ruling was overturned by an appeals committee. On Wednesday, “Power Rangers” was cleared for release in Malaysia, uncut, with a PG-13 rating — the same as its rating in the U.S.

China’s new missile could threaten an arms war in the Pacific (Source Business Insider) China has a new generation of stealthy, supersonic anti-ship missiles, and the US is clearly worried about them. Former US rear admiral Eric McVadon described them as the “strategic equivalent of China’s acquiring nuclear weapons in 1964”. He wasn’t exaggerating. The missiles can evade US missile defenses and undermine the effectiveness of the carrier strike groups the US operates in the Western Pacific. By deploying them, China could be changing the future military balance in Asia, pulling the centre of power away from Washington and its allies and towards Beijing. If the US can’t sustain its monopoly on the development of precision missile systems, it will struggle to project its current level of power in the western Pacific – and its forward forces and bases in the region will be increasingly vulnerable. Such a shift, or even the perception of one, carries all sorts of risks. Deterrents might lose their deterrent force; military miscalculations might be made, potentially leading to inadvertent war. Then there’s the arms race factor. Precision strike munitions might soon start to proliferate across the region – Japan, for one, has recently expressed a keen interest in exploring the development of a  HYPERLINK “http://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/handle/10945/45558/Hyperglide%20Final%20Report.pdf?sequence=1” long-range strike capability similar to the US’s Tomahawk cruise missile. The missiles that threaten to shuffle the deck were first seen during China’s 2015  HYPERLINK “http://nationalinterest.org/feature/showtime-china-reveals-two-carrier-killer-missiles-13769” Victory Day Parade. The two anti-ship missile variants on display were the DF-21D, a medium-range ballistic missile dubbed the  HYPERLINK “http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/chinas-carrier-killer-really-threat-the-us-navy-13765” Carrier Killer, and the DF-26 – a long-range, nuclear-capable version. The DF-26 is the first conventionally armed Chinese ballistic missile capable of reaching the Pacific US territory of Guam, and is thus known as the  HYPERLINK “https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/05/11/chinese-ballistic-missiles-dubbed-guam-killer-pose-increasing-threat-to-u-s-island-report-says/?utm_term=.7bd61a152f72” Guam Express (or Guam Killer). If paired with a nuclear warhead, it will be China’s first long-range nuclear precision missile capable of targeting vital US military assets in Asia. These weapons allow China to both project its military power further and enhance its strategic deterrence – all without the political risks of large troop deployments, or the enormous costs of multiple aircraft carriers.

Special Report: Russian elite invested nearly $100 million in Trump buildings, records show (Source Reuters)
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump downplayed his business ties with Russia. And since taking office as president, he has been even more emphatic. “I can tell you, speaking for myself, I own nothing in Russia,” President Trump said at a news conference last month. “I have no loans in Russia. I don’t have any deals in Russia.” But in the United States, members of the Russian elite have invested in Trump buildings. A Reuters review has found that at least 63 individuals with Russian passports or addresses have bought at least $98.4 million worth of property in seven Trump-branded luxury towers in southern Florida, according to public documents, interviews and corporate records. The buyers include politically connected businessmen, such as a former executive in a Moscow-based state-run construction firm that works on military and intelligence facilities, the founder of a St. Petersburg investment bank and the co-founder of a conglomerate with interests in banking, property and electronics.
People from the second and third tiers of Russian power have invested in the Trump buildings as well.

Russia creates ‘unstoppable’ hypersonic Zircon missile with Navy destroying 4,600mph speed (Source International Business Times)
Russia claims to have created a devastating hypersonic missile that travels five times faster than the speed of sound and could rip through navy warship defences because it’s too fast to stop.
The Kremlin’s Zircon missile has been called “unstoppable”, “unbeatable” and “undefendable” with a 4,600mph speed that only one defence system in the world can destroy – that system is owned by Russia. The missile employs revolutionary scramjet technology to reach its hypersonic speeds whereby propulsion is created by forcing air from the atmosphere into its combustor where it mixes with on-board fuel – rather than carry both fuel and oxidizer like traditional rockets. This makes it lighter, and therefore much faster.
It uses no fans, rotating turbines or moving parts – just an inlet where air is compressed and a combustor where the air is mixed with fuel. Fewer moving parts also means less chance of mechanical failure.
The Zircon has been in testing stages this year and would be capable of destroying the world’s most advanced warships and aircraft carriers in one strike and could be put into action by 2020. The US Navy warns it could be fitted to Russia’s nuclear-powered Kirkov warship, where it would have a range of up to 500 miles. In comparison, the Royal Navy’s Sea Ceptor missile, which is designed to destroy incoming missiles can only travel 15 miles and hit top speeds of 2,300mph.
The only way to protect against the Zircon would be to anchor out of its range, which would render many aircraft carriers useless as it would push their planes too far away from targets before they would need to return for fuel.

Will Washington Risk WW3 to Block an Emerging EU-Russia Superstate (Source counterpunch.org)
“Russia is an inalienable and organic part of Greater Europe and European civilization. Our citizens think of themselves as Europeans…That’s why Russia proposes moving towards the creation of a common economic space from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, a community referred to by Russian experts as ‘the Union of Europe’ which will strengthen Russia’s potential in its economic pivot toward the ‘new Asia.’” — Russian President Vladimir Putin, “Russia and the changing world”, February 2012
The relentless demonization of Vladimir Putin is just one part of Washington’s multi-pronged strategy to roll-back Russian power in Central Asia and extinguish Putin’s dream of a “Greater Europe”. Along with the attempt to smear the Russian president as a “KGB thug” and “dictator”, the media has also alleged that Moscow intervened in the US presidential elections and that Russia is a serial aggressor that poses a growing threat to European and US national security. The media onslaught, which has greatly intensified since the election of Donald Trump in November 2016, has been accompanied by harsh economic sanctions, asymmetrical attacks on Russia’s markets and currency, the arming and training of Russian adversaries in Ukraine and Syria, the calculated suppression of oil prices, and a heavy-handed effort to sabotage Russia’s business relations in Europe. In short, Washington is doing everything in its power to prevent Russia and Europe from merging into the world’s biggest free trade zone that will be the center of global growth and prosperity for the next century.
This is why the US State Department joined with the CIA to topple the elected government of Ukraine in 2014. Washington hoped that by annexing a vital land-bridge between the EU and Asia, US power-brokers could control critical pipeline corridors that are drawing the two continents closer together into an alliance that will exclude the United States. The prospect of Russia meeting more of the EU’s growing energy needs, while China’s high-speed railway system delivers more low-cost manufactured goods, suggests that the world’s center of economic gravity is shifting fast increasing the probability that the US will continue on its path of irreversible decline. And when the US dollar is inevitably jettisoned as the primary means of exchange between trade partners in the emerging Asia-EU free trade zone, then the recycling of wealth into US debt will drop off precipitously sending US markets plunging while the economy slips into a deep slump. Preventing Putin from “creating a harmonious community of economies from Lisbon to Vladivostok” is no minor hurtle for the United States.  It’s a matter of life and death.