Puppet MastersS


Eagle

Flashback Trojan Horse: The National Endowment for Democracy

William Blum
williamblum.org
Mon, 07 Aug 2017 00:00 UTC
NED CIA
How many Americans could identify the National Endowment for Democracy? An organization which often does exactly the opposite of what its name implies. The NED was set up in the early 1980s under President Reagan in the wake of all the negative revelations about the CIA in the second half of the 1970s. The latter was a remarkable period. Spurred by Watergate - the Church committee of the Senate, the Pike committee of the House, and the Rockefeller Commission, created by the president, were all busy investigating the CIA. Seemingly every other day there was a new headline about the discovery of some awful thing, even criminal conduct, the CIA had been mixed up in for years. The Agency was getting an exceedingly bad name, and it was causing the powers-that-be much embarrassment.

Something had to be done. What was done was not to stop doing these awful things. Of course not. What was done was to shift many of these awful things to a new organization, with a nice sounding name - The National Endowment for Democracy. The idea was that the NED would do somewhat overtly what the CIA had been doing covertly for decades, and thus, hopefully, eliminate the stigma associated with CIA covert activities.

It was a masterpiece. Of politics, of public relations, and of cynicism.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Eye 2

The UK's largest intelligence agency is infiltrating British schools, propagandizing and spying on children

Matt Kennard
Declassified UK
Tue, 02 Jun 2020 19:07 UTC
cyber school children uk public school
© Cyber Schools HubPupils from Ribston Hall school in Gloucester, southwest England, take part in an activity organised by GCHQ’s Cyber Schools Hub programme. Anonymisation by Declassified.
Declassified UK can reveal that Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), Britain's largest intelligence agency, has gained access to at least 22,000 primary and secondary school children in dozens of UK schools, and that the organisation may be spying on children.

GCHQ officers are operating in at least one school, while parents of pupils at schools across the programme do not appear to have been informed about the extent of the spy agency's role in it.

Evidence also suggests that quotes purporting to be from children praising the programme have been manufactured.

Further, GCHQ's Cyber Schools Hub (CSH) programme, also known as CyberFirst, appears to be disseminating propaganda to school children, telling them it acts as the "heart of the nation's security". This is controversial, given that GCHQ's programmes of mass surveillance have been found to be unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights and that the agency also conducts offensive cyber operations.
Read More...
Bad Guys

SOTT Focus: Remaking the World: The Globe-spanning Agenda of Protesters, Corporate and Cultural elites

Carol King
UncoverDC.com
Sun, 05 Jul 2020 22:54 UTC
reset button
Revolutions, historically speaking, bubble up from the most oppressed sections of society - workers, peasants etc, with only the leader coming from the top echelon. The revolutionary type activism occurring in America for the last two months is different - it is taking place on the street, in elite institutions, corporate enterprises and at the international level. Let's look first at the Democrats' plan to win in November from the strategy emerging on the streets.

Information Operation

They say the long-term strategic objective is a more equitable society for all, but a key component of this would consist of denying the protection of certain norms and laws, all while subjecting you to norms and laws when it works to their benefit. It is materializing as an information operation from activists at the societal level coupled with a soft power effort from elites and international actors.

While there have been some tragic casualties in the protests, so far there is no actual warfare, but the protests are continuing. Mostly they are trying to affect perceptions, build a narrative, play on those perceptions and cause an action that will lead to the activists'/democrats' victory.
Read More...
Sherlock

Ex-Reddit CEO knew Ghislaine Maxwell was trafficking underage girls, attended parties with Al Gore, Facebook and Twitter Execs

Nick Regan
The National Pulse.
Mon, 06 Jul 2020 12:00 UTC
Epstein and Maxwell
The former CEO of social networking website 'Reddit' - Ellen Pao - made the startling Twitter admission that she "knew" Ghislaine Maxwell was "supplying underage girls for sex" and therefore refused to take photos with her at a party attended by Former Vice President Al Gore and other high profile individuals.

Maxwell was indicted on multiple charges last week in connection to an alleged sex-trafficking operation that brought girls as young as 14 to Jeffrey Epstein's Manhattan home between 1994 and 1997.

Prosecutors allege Maxwell actively "assisted, facilitated and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein's abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom and ultimately abuse victims known to Maxwell and Epstein to be under the age of 18."
Read More...
Snakes in Suits

Bojo blames care home providers for lockdown deaths, providers blast government's 'slow and conflicting' guidance


Mirror
Mon, 06 Jul 2020 23:27 UTC
bojo
The Prime Minister claimed "too many care homes didn't really follow the procedures" - despite the government repeatedly being told they were too slow to act and didn't provide enough PPE
On a visit to Yorkshire today, the PM claimed: "We discovered too many care homes didn't really follow the procedures in the way that they could have."

Almost 20,000 people have died from coronavirus in care homes since the start of the pandemic in March.

The Prime Minister's comments today sparked anger from care providers, who said they were "neither accurate nor welcome."

Number 10 insisted the PM was "absolutely not" blaming care homes.

Mr Johnson's government has been repeatedly criticised for being slow to react to the epidemic in care homes - with Shadow Care Minister Liz Kendall branding their testing strategy "slow, confused and chaotic".

Comment: See also: UK's lockdown could cause extra 35,000 extra cancer deaths due to delayed diagnosis and treatment

Read More...
Bullseye

Best of the Web: Luongo: Russia's political stability ensured while the West sinks

Tom Luongo
Strategic Culture
Sun, 05 Jul 2020 12:00 UTC
putin
© Photo: Kremlin.ru/Strategic Culture
Despite what American and European commentators may think, there really is a deep desire among people to vote for their own sovereignty. And that impulse was on full display last week with the announcement of the results of Russia's public vote to approve the changes to its constitution.

The final tally put the vote at 78% in favor with a 65% voter turnout for the referendum. These are the most sweeping changes to Russia's constitution since it was ratified back in 1993, which vested the President with immense power.

And while the final package of reforms differed in one important aspect from the original one - allowing for a president to serve more than two 'consecutive' terms - the over-arching theme of the changes was to devolve power out of the presidency putting more power in the hands of the elected representatives in the Duma.
Read More...
Blue Planet

Pepe Escobar: Kazakhstan may hold the secret for Greater Eurasia

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Mon, 06 Jul 2020 21:58 UTC
Kazakhstan
© AFP/Vyacheslav OseledkoA bridge connecting Eurasia? People walk on a bridge over the Ishim river in Kazakhstan's capital, Nur-Sultan.
The no holds barred US-China strategic competition may be leading us to the complete fragmentation of the current "world-system" - as Wallerstein defined it.

Yet compared to the South China Sea, the Korean peninsula, the Taiwan Straits, India-China's Himalayan border, and selected latitudes of the Greater Middle East, Central Asia shines as a portrait of stability.

That's quite intriguing, when we consider that the chessboard reveals the interests of top global players intersecting right in the heart of Eurasia.
Read More...
Calculator

Japanese auto companies would rather triple Mexican pay than move to US


News On Japan
Mon, 06 Jul 2020 21:51 UTC
japan
The new North American free trade agreement that goes into effect Wednesday was touted by U.S. President Donald Trump as an engine of American job creation. But Japan's automakers are largely opting instead to keep operations in place and pay Mexican workers more or even just pay tariffs.

The US-Mexico-Canada Agreement requires 40% or more of parts for each passenger vehicle be manufactured by workers who are paid at least $16 per hour as a condition to make them tariff free in the region. Trump hailed that feature as a way to boost production in the U.S., which has a higher hourly rate than Mexico.

However, this looks to be wishful thinking. The ratio of US-Canada parts among Mexican-assembled vehicles sold in the U.S. was 13.5% in 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Trump's theory was that U.S. production would inevitably increase to meet the 40% requirement, but Japanese automakers, which had already positioned their production bases according to the old NAFTA regime, are not simply willing to pull up stakes and redeploy.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Star of David

NYT: 'Powerful bomb' planted by Israel behind Natanz station explosion


Sputnik
Mon, 06 Jul 2020 22:21 UTC
nuclear enrichment
© AP Photo / Atomic Energy Organization of Iran
A 2 July blast at the Iranian Natanz nuclear power plant significantly damaged the above-ground part of the building. Against this background, reports emerged, citing unnamed Iranian officials, suggesting that Israel was behind behind the incident.

Israel is responsible for the explosion at Iran's Natanz nuclear site, by means of a "powerful bomb", The New York Times reported, citing an unnamed source described as a Middle East intelligence official.

According to the Nytimes.com source, the incident is not connected with other explosions that took place in Iran earlier, in particular a blast near Tehran's Parchin military complex, which some reports have suggested is a missile production facility.

Earlier in the day, former national security adviser John Bolton questioned whether the recent explosions could have been connected and represented "a precursor of a larger attack".

Comment: Previously: Iran to upgrade Natanz nuclear site after mysterious incident causes 'significant' damage

Read More...
Chess

Chinese, Indian troops pull back from clash site in Galwan, buffer zone made to prevent escalation

Shiv Aroor
India Today
Mon, 06 Jul 2020 22:17 UTC
chinese troops
In the first signs of a drawback of the Chinese troops along the disputed Line of Actual Control (LAC), Chinese troops have reportedly "shifted" over a kilometre from the site of the June 15 violent clashes at Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh.

The relocation of troops has taken place on both sides with India also moving back its soldiers in tense Galwan. As per sources, the pullback started as per agreed terms in the Corp Commander-level talks.

A buffer zone has been created between the Indian and Chinese troops to avoid escalation, sources have told India Today TV.The buffer zone is equidistant from both sides.

Temporary structures have also been removed by China. "PLA seen removing tents and structures at Patrol Point 14," the source said.
Read More...