Puppet MastersS


Fire

Australia: Greens leader declares he supports hazard-reduction burning as Facebook critics accuse him of being responsible for bushfires

Stephen Johnson
Daily Mail
Tue, 07 Jan 2020 21:29 UTC
Australian Greens leader Richard Di Natale
Australian Greens leader Richard Di Natale has angrily insisted his party supports hazard-reduction burns as a way of preventing bushfires
Australian Greens leader Richard Di Natale has angrily insisted his party supports hazard-reduction burns as his critics accuse him of causing bushfires.

The campaign against the Greens has intensified on Facebook after blazes destroyed more than 6 million hectares of bushland in Australia.

Conservative commentators, including News Corp columnist Miranda Devine, have consistently accused the left-wing minority party of being responsible for raging infernos.

Comment: Sounds like back-pedaling.

See also:

Read More...
Attention

Best of the Web: Iran launches revenge attack on US military in Iraq - 2 waves of missile launches strike Ain al-Asad and Erbil bases - UPDATES

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Wed, 08 Jan 2020 01:55 UTC
iran missile iraq
© Fars News AgencyA photo circulating in Iranian media purporting to show a missile fired at a US base in Iraq in retaliation for the recent killing of a top Iranian general.
Summary:
  • President Trump has tweeted that "All is well!"
"Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq.
Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good!
We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far!
I will be making a statement tomorrow morning."
  • Iranian foreign minister Javid Zarif has tweeted:
"Iran took and concluded proportionate measures in self-defense under Article 51 of UN Charter targeting base from which cowardly armed attack against our citizens and senior officials were launched."
  • Iran has launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against multiple bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq, and have threatened "more crushing responses" if Washington carried out further strikes.
  • Initially, nine rockets hit the sprawling Ain al-Asad airbase in the country's west, the largest of the Iraqi military compounds where foreign troops are based. The attack came in three waves just after midnight, AFP reported.
  • Iran swiftly claimed responsibility for the attack, with state TV saying it had launched "tens of missiles" on the base.
  • Iranian sources are claiming that the operation has a name: 'Operation Martyr Suleimani'. Iran's airforce has reportedly been deployed.
  • Iraqi PMF announced the start of military operation "Overwhelming Response."
  • No confirmed details on injured/casualties - "working on initial battle damage assessments." According to social media sources, the Pentagon has said that the Iranian missile attack resulted in casualties among Iraqis only
  • President Trump "has been briefed" is "monitoring the situation closely and consulting with his national security team," and despite initial reports from CNN he was set to address the nation, the press secretary has denied that Trump will address the nation tonight.
  • The FAA has imposed restrictions for civilian flights over the Persian Gulf.
  • Markets are turmoiling: Safe-haven assets are soaring (bonds, bitcoin, and gold), Oil prices are jumping, and Stocks are getting slammed

Comment: The IGRC made the following statements:
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran reportedly confirmed their missiles struck a US base in western Iraq, calling it revenge for the killing of General Qassem Soleimani and warning more strikes might be coming.

"The brave soldiers of IRGC's aerospace unit have launched a successful attack with tens of ballistic missiles" on the Al-Asad base, in the name of General Soleimani, the IRGC said in a statement early on Wednesday morning, adding:
We call on Americans to recall all their soldiers back home to prevent more damage.
The IRGC also warned all US allies in the region that they will be targeted if any aggressive action is undertaken from their territory, putting Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel on notice.
...
The strike on Al-Asad and several other US bases in Iraq took place at 01:20 local time, the exact time Soleimani's convoy was struck.
More videos and images:







Read More...
Eye 1

Attorney Sidney Powell responds to DOJ's sudden change of standing and their smears on General Flynn

Jim Hoft
Gateway Pundit
Tue, 07 Jan 2020 22:25 UTC
Attorney Sidney Powell and General Flynn
Defence Attorney Sydney Powell and Michael Flynn
The Justice Department reversed its prior recommendation and asked that General Michael Flynn be incarcerated for up to 6 months.

The DOJ previously asked for no jail time.

The DOJ is now accusing Flynn of being uncooperative and failing to accept responsibility for his "serious" offense.

According to Mike Flynn's brother Joseph Flynn, General Flynn went through 19 sessions with Mueller's special counsel team and approximately 90 hours or tortuous interviews.
Read More...
USA

Come home, America

John W. Whitehead
Rutherford Institute
Tue, 07 Jan 2020 22:31 UTC
"Let us resolve that never again will we send the precious young blood of this country to die trying to prop up a corrupt military dictatorship abroad. This is also the time to turn away from excessive preoccupation overseas to the rebuilding of our own nation. America must be restored to a proper role in the world. But we can do that only through the recovery of confidence in ourselves.... together we will call America home to the ideals that nourished us from the beginning. From secrecy and deception in high places; come home, America. From military spending so wasteful that it weakens our nation; come home, America." — George S. McGovern, former Senator and presidential candidate
Come Home America
© Corita
I agree wholeheartedly with George S. McGovern, a former Senator and presidential candidate who served in the Vietnam War, about one thing: I'm sick of old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.

It's time to bring our troops home.

Bring them home from Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Bring them home from Germany, South Korea and Japan. Bring them home from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Oman. Bring them home from Niger, Chad and Mali. Bring them home from Turkey, the Philippines, and northern Australia.

That's not what's going to happen, of course.

The U.S. military reportedly has more than 1.3 million men and women on active duty, with more than 450,000 of them stationed overseas in nearly every country in the world. As investigative journalist David Vine explains, "Although few Americans realize it, the United States likely has more bases in foreign lands than any other people, nation, or empire in history."

Don't fall for the propaganda, though: America's military forces aren't being deployed abroad to protect our freedoms here at home. Rather, they're being used to guard oil fields, build foreign infrastructure and protect the financial interests of the corporate elite. In fact, the United States military spends about $81 billion a year just to protect oil supplies around the world.

The reach of America's military empire includes close to 800 bases in as many as 160 countries, operated at a cost of more than $156 billion annually. As Vine reports, "Even US military resorts and recreation areas in places like the Bavarian Alps and Seoul, South Korea, are bases of a kind. Worldwide, the military runs more than 170 golf courses."

This is how a military empire occupies the globe.

Already, American military service people are being deployed to far-flung places in the Middle East and elsewhere in anticipation of the war drums being sounded over Iran.

This Iran crisis, salivated over by the neocons since prior to the Iraq War and manufactured by war hawks who want to jumpstart the next world war, has been a long time coming.

Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton: they all have done their part to ensure that the military industrial complex can continue to get rich at taxpayer expense.

Take President Trump, for instance.
Read More...
Star of David

Israel's top Sephardic rabbi calls ex-Soviet immigrants "gentiles" and "communists"

Mustafa Abu Sneineh
Middle East Eye
Tue, 07 Jan 2020 16:54 UTC
Yitzhak Yosef
© TwitterIsrael’s Sephardic chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef
Israel's top Sephardic rabbi has sparked a racial and religious row after labelling immigrants from former Soviet countries "religion-hating gentiles" and "communists".

The inflammatory comments, made at a rabbinical gathering in Jerusalem last week, are not Yitzhak Yosef's first. Last year, the country's highest Sephardic authority said Palestinians and non-Jewish people should be forbidden from living in Israel.

This time, after claiming that tens of thousands of gentiles have come to Israel under the Law of Return, which gives Jews the right to immigrate and live in the country, his comments have sparked a backlash.

Comment: This isn't the first time the Rabbi has chosen to say what he is really thinking: And he's not the only one: Also check out SOTT radio's:

Read More...
Bulb

Germany partially withdraws troops from Iraq


DW
Tue, 07 Jan 2020 20:54 UTC
NATO troops
© Alice Martins
Growing security concerns in the Gulf region has prompted Germany to "thin out" the number of soldiers in Iraq. Its military presence will be reduced particularly in Baghdad and Taji.

Germany has reduced the number of its troops stationed in Iraq due to growing regional security concerns, the Bundeswehr confirmed via a press release on Monday.

Overnight, 35 German soldiers were brought to either Kuwait or Jordan, the military said.

"These forces can be brought back at any time if training in Iraq is to resume."
Read More...
Jet2

US deploys 6 B-52 bombers to Diego Garcia in Indian Ocean after Soleimani assassination

Vandana Rambaran
Fox News
Mon, 06 Jan 2020 20:48 UTC
B-52G bomber
© ReutersA United States Air Force B-52G/H Stratofortress bomber.
The U.S. Air Force is deploying six B-52 bombers to Diego Garcia, an island base in the Indian Ocean, amid the rising threat from Iran after the U.S.-led airstrike killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Fox News confirmed Monday.

The move, which CNN first reported, was the latest in efforts by U.S. military officials to bolster resources near the Middle East after the Iraqi Shia militia Kataib Hezbollah hinted at possible retaliatory attacks to avenge Soleimani's death.

The B-52 bombers reportedly were spotted departing from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana to Diego Garcia, which is located 2,300 miles south of Iran's southernmost tip.
Read More...
Light Sabers

China won't hike grain import quotas for U.S. trade deal: Caixin

Dominique Patton and Hallie Gu
Reuters
Tue, 07 Jan 2020 20:40 UTC
corn
China will not increase its annual low-tariff import quotas for corn, wheat and rice to accommodate stepped-up purchases of farm goods from the United States, senior agriculture official Han Jun said on Tuesday, according to local media group Caixin.

The move could make it harder for Beijing to meet import commitments in a Phase 1 trade deal due to be signed next week. U.S. President Donald Trump said last month the agreement would likely double China's $24 billion in pre-trade war purchases to $40-$50 billion annually.

China has not confirmed the amount.
Read More...
Chess

Best of the Web: Putin makes surprise Orthodox Christmas visit to Syria, discusses security situation with Assad


RT
Tue, 07 Jan 2020 20:34 UTC

Comment: We were wondering, since Trump blew Soleimani to kingdom come, what Putin's next move would be. The contrast couldn't be any greater...


Assad Putin
© Instagram / syrianpresidency
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a surprise visit to Syria, holding talks with his counterpart, Bashar Assad, at the Russian military command center.

Putin "rode through the streets of Damascus" on his way to the command center, where he headed after landing at the city's airport, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said.

The Russian president met with Assad there as the two leaders listened to reports by military officials on the conditions on the ground in various regions of the country. Russia has been assisting Syria in the fight against terrorists since 2014.

Comment: And it's Russia's Christmas, incidentally, so this visit is apparently the Russian version of making a 'surprise visit to inspect the troops'. Except that, in this case, his visit is actually welcomed by the host country...

RT reports:
Russian President Vladimir Putin spent his Christmas day in Damascus, a city that is closely tied to early Christianity, home to Syria's oldest Orthodox Church and a mosque that keeps the relics of John the Baptist.

Putin's plane touched down in Syria on Tuesday, to everyone's surprise, as the president was last spotted in St. Petersburg the evening before, attending the Orthodox Christmas Eve service.

His unannounced trip included not only talks about fighting terrorism with Syrian President Bashar Assad, but also visits to the city's historic religious sites. After the talks, Putin and Assad took a walk through the center of Damascus, stopping at the Umayyad Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque.


One of the largest and oldest mosques in the world, it hosts the head of John the Baptist, who is also venerated in Islam as Prophet Yahya. The relic was shown to the Russian leader, who responded in the manner of a good guest, presenting the mosque with a 17th-century copy of the Koran.

The two leaders than headed to the oldest Orthodox church in Syria, the Mariamite Cathedral, built during the second century. It's the seat of John X, the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, who greeted the high-ranked guests.

The Patriarch thanked Putin for sending the Russian military to assist Syria in the fight against the terrorists. Without this help, the church could've now been the headquarters of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi or some militant warlord, he said.

John X also described Syria as a tolerant place "where different religions - both Christians and Muslims - coexist peacefully and enjoy the same rights." The Russian president had a gift for him as well, an icon of the Virgin Mary painted in Russia.


After a brief busy stay in Damascus, Putin flew to neighboring Turkey, where he is scheduled to hold security and trade talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and attend the ceremonial opening of the 'Turk Stream' gas pipeline.
So many winning deals to make - and so many USraeli-started fires to put out - so little time...

Read More...
Bad Guys

Exposing empire: How Soleimani's killing put paid to myths the US told itself and others

Nebojsa Malic
RT
Mon, 06 Jan 2020 19:41 UTC
US flag presidential seal
© REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
For decades, the US establishment has talked about an international community, rules-based order, the importance of NATO allies, democracy and sovereignty. Then President Donald Trump had an Iranian general assassinated.

"Snow doesn't fall to cover the hills, but to reveal the tracks of every beast," goes an old Serbian saying. The proverbial snow in this case is last week's killing of General Qassem Soleimani, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, which exploded not just the convoy he was riding in, but decades of accumulated platitudes about the US, its allies, and the world.
Read More...