Puppet MastersS


Eye 1

'Still more to learn': Federal judge orders Hillary Clinton deposition to address private emails

Ronn Blitzer
MSN News
Mon, 02 Mar 2020 03:38 UTC
Hillary Clinton
© FOX News
A federal judge Monday granted a request from conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch to have former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sit for a sworn deposition to answer questions about her use of a private email server to conduct government business.

Clinton has argued that she has already answered questions about this and should not have to do so again -- the matter did not result in any charges for the then-presidential candidate in 2016 after a high-profile investigation -- but D.C. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth said in his ruling that her past responses left much to be desired.

"As extensive as the existing record is, it does not sufficiently explain Secretary Clinton's state of mind when she decided it would be an acceptable practice to set up and use a private server to conduct State Department business," Lamberth said.

The judge went on to recognize that while Clinton responded to written questions in a separate case, "those responses were either incomplete, unhelpful, or cursory at best. Simply put her responses left many more questions than answers." Lamberth said that using written questions this time "will only muddle any understanding of Secretary Clinton's state of mind and fail to capture the full picture, thus delaying the final disposition of this case even further."
Read More...
Attention

Lawyers say IOC documents presented as evidence of Russian biathletes' doping contained fake signatures


RT
Mon, 02 Mar 2020 12:30 UTC
Grigory Rodchenkov
© Global Look Press / Viktor ChernovGrigory Rodchenkov
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been given one day to provide an explanation regarding alleged forged signatures on documents presented as evidence against Russian biathletes accused of doping.

On Monday the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) considered a claim by Russian lawyer Alexey Panich, who said that IOC documents on the case involving three Russian biathletes - Olga Zaitseva, Yana Romanova and Olga Vilukhina - contained fake signatures of former Moscow Anti-Doping laboratory chief Grigory Rodchenkov.

The trio of Russian athletes were slapped with lifetime bans in 2017 and stripped of medals over alleged doping violations.

According to TASS, the IOC will need to provide an explanation regarding the documents - the key evidence against the Russian athletes - by Tuesday.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Attention

Development plan for Pakistan's Belt and Road port at Gwadar stirs skepticism due to lack of funds and resources

Adnan Aamir
NIKKEI Asian Review
Mon, 02 Mar 2020 08:33 UTC
Pakistan Gwadar smart port
© ReutersThere are plans to make the port city of Gwadar, near the Gulf of Oman, into a smart metropolis of 2 million, but the city's 85,000 current residents already struggle with poor electricity and water supplies.
Pakistan's Gwadar Smart Port City Masterplan has raised eyebrows among economic experts because of the massive amount of resources it will cost financially strapped Pakistan.

Gwadar Port is a major part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, which for China is an essential part of its Belt and Road Initiative.

The masterplan was approved at CPEC's 9th Joint Cooperation Committee meeting in November. It was developed by the Fourth Harbor Design Institute at a cost of 521 million Pakistani rupees ($3.3 million). The FHDI is a Chinese engineering and design company.

The complete text of the masterplan has not been made public, and only limited information about the salient features is available on the website of the Gwadar Development Authority, the body responsible for implementing the plan. The project has been shrouded in mystery despite demands from journalists and experts to release it in its entirety.
Read More...
Star of David

What's absent? Outrage over Netanyahu's interference in the US election!

Michael Arria
Mondoweiss
Mon, 02 Mar 2020 00:00 UTC
netanyahu
© Reuters/Kevin LamarqueIsraeli PM Netanyahu addresses AIPAC 2020 from Israel
For the last four years, there's been a national debate regarding the scope of Russian interference in the 2016 election. The issue might end up dominating discourse in 2020 as well. Last month, intelligence officials warned House members that Russia is allegedly meddling in an effort to get Trump reelected.

Concerns about Putin's impact on U.S. elections has generated countless articles and wall-to-wall cable news coverage. It also fueled an impeachment investigation. However, blatant election interference from other countries is certainly not treated in the same way.

This contradiction was on display over the weekend, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed AIPAC's annual policy conference via video feed. Netanyahu repeatedly referenced Democratic frontrunner Bernie Sanders, who skipped the conference and claimed that the lobbying group promotes bigotry. At the most recent Democratic debate, Sanders called Netanyahu a "reactionary racist."


Comment: Trump is Netanyahu's golden ticket - without which he would likely be in jail. Interference is a given.

Read More...
Jet3

Bailing on Erdogan: Pentagon says Turkey will not get US air support in Idlib


Sputnik
Mon, 02 Mar 2020 19:14 UTC
Pentagon Chief Mark Esper
© Agence France-PressePentagon Chief Mark Esper
On Saturday, President Trump said the US had been speaking with President Erdogan of Turkey "a lot" over the situation in Idlib, and confirmed that the two countries were discussing Ankara's request for the temporary deployment of US Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems.

The United States will not provide air support to Turkey in the wartorn Syrian province of Idlib, Pentagon Chief Mark Esper has said, speaking to reporters in Washington on Monday.

Asked directly if US assistance would include air support, Esper responded bluntly "No."
Read More...
Stop

Putin: Russia will 'create conditions so that NOBODY wants to fight us'


RT
Mon, 02 Mar 2020 09:25 UTC
Kinzhal missile
© unknownRussia's Kinzhal hypersonic missile and Russian President Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin has confided that US President Donald Trump privately lamented the "insane" US military budget. He also says Russia protects itself by making the costs of attacking the country too high for anyone to contemplate.

"The US has outstripped us" in terms of annual defense expenditure, the Russian president said in a new episode of news agency TASS's '20 Questions to Vladimir Putin' series. But being the world's largest military spender doesn't really make Donald Trump particularly happy, Putin said. "Donald told me that they have adopted an insane [military] budget for the next year, $738 billion."

The US commander-in-chief, who likes to talk up his country's military hardware during overseas trips while bragging about the armed forces, tends to be more reserved in private, according to Putin. "He told me that the costs were too high, but he had to do it," he said, describing his counterpart as "an advocate of disarmament, as he says."


Comment: US is forced to play catch-up says Putin
Since the Cold War-era, Moscow has always played catch up with American military technological prowess. However, its newest hypersonic weapons have turned the tide for the first time in modern history, Vladimir Putin believes.

Back in the day, the Americans were the first to make a nuclear bomb, build a strategic aircraft able to carry it, and develop ballistic missiles, leaving the USSR eating dust. This left Moscow always playing second fiddle, the Russian president pointed out in the latest episode of news agency TASS' series '20 Questions to Vladimir Putin'.

"We always had to catch up to our strategic weapons competitors. Now, this is no longer the case. We have a unique situation now. For the first time, we have created such offensive strike systems which the world has never seen."

Now, Moscow has taken the lead by designing an array of hypersonic projectiles said to have some unparalleled properties, which is "a first for today's Russia. Now they are chasing after us, trying to catch up."

Keeping pace with the world's most powerful armed forces has helped preserve peace on the planet, the Russian president said. "Due to this strategic balance, the planet has avoided major military conflicts after World War II."

The US tried to upset that balance by building ballistic missile shields on American soil and overseas, most notably in Eastern Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Their rationale was based on the belief that:
"the other side wouldn't be able to respond adequately if they use nuclear weapons. However, after having developed these modern [hypersonic] systems, including those which easily evade any anti-missile ballistic system, we maintain this strategic stability and strategic balance. It is essential not only for us, but also for global security."
Putin made similar remarks in late 2019, when he revealed that the Russian military is already taking deliveries of the shorter Kinzhal (dagger) air-launched hypersonic missiles, and the secretive silo-based Avangard gliders are undergoing trials.

The latter can reportedly reach Mach 27 without losing control or integrity under extreme heat and pressure. Work is also underway on the ground-launched version of the Zircon hypersonic missile, previously only intended to be placed on surface ships.

Russia is so far the only nation that currently deploys hypersonic weapons. According to Putin, Russian engineers are also designing systems to protect against these weapons should any adversary develop them.


Read More...
Arrow Up

Damascus and Tobruk to reactivate ties, open diplomatic missions


Sputnik
Sun, 01 Mar 2020 18:50 UTC
Muallem and Libya dignitaries
© Syrian Arab News AgencySyrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem meets Libyan dignitaries
Syrian-Libyan ties were frozen in late 2011, soon after the victory of anti-Gaddafi forces in Libya which recognized a loose coalition of armed anti-Assad militants as the Syria's "sole legitimate government."

Tobruk-based government Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdul-Hadi Al-Hawaij and Deputy Prime Minister Abdul-Rahman al-Ahiresh arrived in Damascus on Sunday for talks with their Syrian counterparts, signing a host of joint cooperation agreements and approving the restoration of diplomatic relations.

According to Syrian media, the agreements included a memorandum of understanding (MoU) committing Damascus and Tobruk to "reactivating" ties, reopening diplomatic missions and "coordinating the two countries' stances at international and regional forums, particularly in standing in the face of Turkish interference and aggression...in addition to enhancing cooperation in all spheres."
Read More...
Cult

Democratic conspiracy afoot? Buttigieg quits race on eve of Super-Tuesday, Klobuchar quickly follows suit - Both now support Biden

Tyler Pager & Jennifer Epstein
Bloomberg
Mon, 02 Mar 2020 20:15 UTC

Comment: And this evening, barely 12 hours after Buttigieg's announcement, Amy Klobuchar has followed him out of the race and onto the Biden Express...


buttigieg biden
Pete Buttigieg spoke late Sunday by telephone with both Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama after Buttigieg dropped out of the presidential race, according to people familiar with the call.

Buttigieg's departure from the race could benefit Biden's candidacy as he looks to lock down support from the moderate wing of the Democratic Party and blunt Bernie Sanders' momentum.

Obama has said he would not endorse a candidate in the Democratic presidential primary. He called Biden, who served as his vice president, to congratulate him after Biden decisively won the South Carolina primary on Saturday.

The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, ended his presidential campaign Sunday after failing to secure the diverse coalition needed to win the Democratic nomination.


Comment: Are Democrat backroom deals against Sanders starting to go down? Sure looks like it. So long as Biden is in the race, he is immune to investigation for corruption in Ukraine, which in turn protects any number of Democratic officials including Clinton. Any move made against him can be decried as a political attack by Trump. All they need to do now is get Killary onboard as Biden's Veep, and Podesta to advize the campaign and keep the pizzas coming, and they'll have themselves a spirit-co0king homecoming party - with Bernie shut out once more.

Trump knows what's up:



Read More...
Rocket

Russian war correspondent sheds light on Turkey's drone warfare in Idlib


Sputnik
Mon, 02 Mar 2020 18:52 UTC
turkish drone
© Instagram/milli.savunma
The situation in the wayward Syrian province of Idlib turned into an active shooting war between Syrian and Turkish troops last week after a Syrian Army strike targeting Nusra terrorists killed nearly three dozen Turkish military personnel mixed in among the jihadists. The strike prompted Ankara to launch a major operation in the region.

Turkish drones in northwestern Syria are targeting everything that moves if it is suspected of being Syrian military-related, Idlib-based Rossiya 1 correspondent Evgeny Poddubny has reported.

"As soon as Turkish attack drones appeared over the skies of Idlib, the nature of the fighting changed dramatically," the correspondent said in a news broadcast that aired Sunday.

According to Poddubny, all of the losses suffered by the Syrian Army in recent days were at the hands of Turkish drones.

"Turkey has spared no expense for the strikes, which aren't cheap, hitting supply columns, hitting single targets - cars, pickup trucks, armored vehicles, even motorcyclists. This is what we have been told by Syrian troops on the front line," Poddubny said. Syrian forces, meanwhile, are doing their best to hold their ground despite the 30-year gap in technology, reportedly shooting down as many as six Turkish drone on Sunday.

The journalist emphasized that if the airspace over Idlib is not cleared of Turkish drones soon, the Syrian Army will have a hard time holding on to the recent gains it has made against the terrorists operating in the province.

Comment: For more background on the Turkish drone attack, see Elijah Magnier's latest. The Turks apparently used a unilateral ceasefire of sorts on Russia's part in order to launch the attack. The Russians ceased air operations, but apparently weren't expecting Turkey to actually escalate the situation by launching this attack, which reportedly killed around 150 Syrian, Iranian, and Hezbollah troops.

Read More...
Star of David

Just can't help himself: Netanyahu's latest election dirty trick blows up in his face

Yossi Gurvitz
Mondoweiss
Mon, 02 Mar 2020 18:32 UTC
netanyahu wailing wall western wall jerusalem
© Benjamin Netanyahu/TwitterNetanyahu prays at the Western Wall on March 1 for today's election.
Last Thursday night, basically the last active news cycle before today's election day (Friday and Saturday are the weekend, and Sunday is not enough for a new story), the right wing's favorite reporter, Amit Segal, dropped a bombshell aimed at Benny Gantz, Netanyahu's chief rival as a leader of Blue White party. Segal played a recording in which Israel Bachar, a senior advisor to Gantz, was heard saying to an anonymous man that Gantz does not have the courage to attack Iran, and that Gantz would also be a "risk to Israel." (Link.) The anonymous man had his voice changed to disguise his identity.

It's hard to imagine a heavier body blow to a senior politician than to be described, by their own advisor, as a danger to the nation. And, coming some 84 hours before the elections, it seemed Gantz would be unlikely to recover from the blow. Well, the polls will tell us in 10 hours or so. But the story unravelled quickly.
Read More...