Puppet MastersS


Umbrella

No longer a pariah? Russia and China could be about to 'normalize' North Korea, leave the US with another Asian headache

Timur Fomenko
RT
Thu, 18 Aug 2022 13:34 UTC
Kim and Putin
© Yuri Kadobnov/AP/FileRussian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un • Vladivostok, 2019
At beginning of this week the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin had exchanged letters with Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.

The report stated both countries had agreed to "expand the(ir) comprehensive and constructive bilateral relations with common efforts".

Matching the anniversary of Korean independence on August 15th, Putin's outreach comes as Russia seeks new partners away from the West. It also follows reports that North Korean expatriate workers would be assisting in the reconstruction of liberated territories in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, to which it recently granted diplomatic recognition.

But it's also an indication that the world has changed, significantly. Only a few years ago Russia, as well as China, were at least somewhat willing to cooperate with the United States in imposing sanctions on the DPRK in the bid to curb its nuclear and missile development.

That situation no longer exists.

Comment: Perhaps Kim Jong Un is thanking his lucky stars a permanent relationship between the US and Korea did not materialize.

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Propaganda

This media empire leads the charge in the US-China propaganda war

Bradley Blankenship
RT
Fri, 19 Aug 2022 10:24 UTC
Murdoch
© AP/Mary AltafferRupert Murdoch, the opinion that matters
Australian-born American billionaire, Rupert Murdoch's global media empire has consistently led the charge in pushing anti-China narratives in the Western media. Encompassing a long list of highly influential media, including both television and print media in the liberal and conservative camps, the list of talking points aimed at Beijing is immense.

For example, The Wall Street Journal's Editorial Board argued on Monday that China "is paying for the Communist Party chief's policy mistakes," referring to Chinese President Xi Jinping. The editorial argues that the world economy, including China's, is slowing down and that "the latest data released Monday on China's ebbing growth will echo around the world" because "the response from Beijing suggests its leaders are running out of ideas to arrest the decline."

The piece goes on to bemoan China's "dynamic zero-Covid" policy, which has objectively saved millions of lives and made China's supply chains resilient and reliable for global investors.

It did not mention, for example, a January report by Citigroup, based on three surveys conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce China, the EU Chamber of Commerce China and the Japan External Trade Organization, that found that all three put China as their favorite investment spot specifically because of its COVID-19 containment strategy.

Comment: When power controls the message, truth does not matter.

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Nuke

Putin, Macron call for IAEA inspection of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Plant


RFE/RL
Fri, 19 Aug 2022 00:00 UTC
PutinMacron
© Odd Andersen/Stephanie Mahe/AFP/KJNRussian President Vladimir Putin • French President Emmanuel Macron
Zaporizhzhia Complex
French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed concern to Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin about safety risks at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant in Ukraine, Macron's office said, adding that Putin had agreed to send a mission of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the site.

A statement also said that the two presidents -- who discussed the situation in Ukraine in a phone call on August 19 -- agreed to continue their talks in the coming days.

The Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant was captured by Russia in March, shortly after it invaded Ukraine on February 24.

The plant -- Europe's largest -- has repeatedly come under fire in recent weeks, sparking fears of a nuclear disaster. Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of shelling the plant. The Kremlin quoted Putin as saying that the shelling of the Russian-controlled nuclear site, which he blamed on Kyiv, created the risk of "large-scale catastrophe."

According to the Kremlin, both leaders called for IAEA experts to inspect the plant "as soon as possible" and "assess the real situation on the ground."
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Red Flag

US on verge of becoming party to Ukrainian conflict, Moscow warns


RT
Fri, 19 Aug 2022 13:33 UTC
howitzer
© Sputnik/Evgeny BiyatovA US-supplied M777 howitzer, seized by Russian forces in Ukraine.
Washington's continued support for Kiev during Moscow's military operation has put the US on the verge of becoming party to the Ukrainian conflict, Russia's deputy Foreign Minister, Sergey Ryabkov has said. He told Rossiya 1 TV channel on Friday:
"We don't want escalation. We'd like to avoid a situation, in which the US becomes a party to the conflict, but so far we don't see any readiness of the other side to take these warnings seriously."
Moscow rejects Washington's explanation, that providing Ukraine with weapons and other aid is justified by Kiev's right to self-defense, he pointed out.
"Excuse me, what kind of self-defense is it if they are already openly talking about the possibility of attacking targets deep in the Russian territory, in Crimea?"
According to Ryabkov, such statements are being made by the Ukrainian side
"not just under the blind eye of the US and NATO, but with the encouragement of this kind of sentiment, approaches, plans and ideas directly from Washington.

"The ever more obvious and deeper involvement in Ukraine in terms of countering our military operation, in fact, puts this country, the US, on the verge of turning into a party to the conflict."

Comment: Another $800 million lethal aid reasons to throw Biden out of office.

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Light Sabers

Malaysia's Mahathir says US seeking to provoke war in Taiwan

Eileen NG
AP
Fri, 19 Aug 2022 00:00 UTC
Mohamad
© AP/Vincent ThianFormer Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Friday accused the U.S. of trying to provoke a war in Taiwan, and in a wide-ranging interview also said he expects Malaysia's graft-tainted ruling party to hold general elections in the coming months.

Mahathir, a two-time prime minister long known as a critic of the West and its geopolitics, warned that the U.S. was antagonizing China through recent visits to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others. China considers the self-ruled island democracy part of its territory and regards such visits as meddling in its affairs.

The 97-year-old Mahathir said:
"China has allowed Taiwan to remain by itself. No problem. They didn't invade. If they wanted to invade, they could have invaded. They didn't. But America is provoking (them) so that there can be a war, so that the Chinese will make the mistake of trying to occupy Taiwan. Then there is an excuse ... for the U.S. to help Taiwan, even fight against China and sell a lot of arms to Taiwan."
Following Pelosi's visit, China launched large-scale military drills surrounding the island and fired ballistic missiles into the sea. Beijing also warned Washington not to encourage Taiwan to try to make its de facto independence permanent, a step China says would lead to war.

There was no immediate U.S. response to Mahathir's comments.

Comment: Mahathir proves his age doesn't matter. He is smart, savvy and calls the shots.

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Stop

Ukraine conflict could end Western hegemony - Hungary


RT
Thu, 18 Aug 2022 16:50 UTC
Orban
© AP/Thresa WeyHungarian PM Viktor Orban
The deadly conflict in Ukraine has the potential to "demonstratively" put an end to Western hegemony globally, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has claimed.

In an interview with German online magazine Tichys Einblick, published on Thursday, Orban said he expects the European Union to emerge weaker in the global arena once the fighting in Ukraine is over.

The Hungarian leader argued that the West is incapable of winning the conflict militarily, and that the sanctions it has imposed on Moscow have failed to destabilize Russia. To make matters worse, the punitive measures have spectacularly backfired on the EU, he said.

Orban also noted that a "large part of the world" is clearly not getting behind the US when it comes to Ukraine. He pointed to "the Chinese, Indians, Brazilians, South Africa, the Arab world, Africa" as regions not supporting the Western line on the conflict.

"It is quite possible that it will be this war that will demonstratively put an end to Western supremacy," Orban said.
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Arrow Up

The media are (finally) admitting lockdown is worse than 'Covid'...but why?

Kit Knightly
Off-Guardian
Fri, 19 Aug 2022 19:39 UTC
Hospital Corridor
© Off-Guardian
The latest figures from the UK's Office of National Statistics (ONS) suggest that the knock-on effects of lockdown may be harming more people than "Covid" ever did, or so the press are saying anyway.

The ONS's weekly data apparently shows over 10,000 more reported deaths than expected.

Since none of these excess deaths has been "linked with Covid", the press is calling them the "true cost of lockdown", with some papers suggesting lockdown is "killing more people than Covid".

To which the only proper response is: "No shit."

Even for those who still cling to the orthodoxy that "Covid" actually exists, the fact lockdown was going to do more damage than it prevented was obvious from the moment early mortality studies showed "Covid" had a 99.5% survival rate, back in the spring of 2020.

Many experts in economics, statistics, epidemiology and virology voiced this opinion, and were vilified and abused for their trouble.

And, really, anyone with the smallest shred of common sense could figure it out for themselves. Shutting down the health service and crashing the economy is never going to end well (unless you want to kill people, then it's a great plan).

Even Dr David Nabarro, World Health Organization special envoy for Covid-19, described lockdowns as a "global catastrophe" in October 2020:
We in the World Health Organization do not advocate lockdowns as the primary means of control of the virus[...] it seems we may have a doubling of world poverty by next year. We may well have at least a doubling of child malnutrition [...] This is a terrible, ghastly global catastrophe."
So the question is not "Is lockdown worse than Covid?" The answer to that is "yes", and we've known that for over two years.

The real question is: why are they finally admitting it?
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Briefcase

Trump and Slick Willy's sock drawer: An old case over audio tapes could impact Mar-a-Lago search dispute

John Solomon
Just the News
Wed, 17 Aug 2022 17:37 UTC
bill clinton donald trump
© The Washington PostFormer presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump
Judge ruled in 2012 that a president's discretion to declare records "personal" is far-reaching and mostly unchallengeable.

When it comes to the National Archives, history has a funny way of repeating itself. And legal experts say a decade-old case over audio tapes that Bill Clinton once kept in his sock drawer may have significant impact over the FBI search of Melania Trump's closet and Donald Trump's personal office.

The case in question is titled Judicial Watch v. National Archives and Records Administration and it involved an effort by the conservative watchdog to compel the Archives to forcibly seize hours of audio recordings that Clinton made during his presidency with historian Taylor Branch.
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Black Cat

Biden officials scramble to escape blame for unlawful Pentagon order mandating mRNA jab for troops

Jordan Schachtel
The Dossier
Sat, 20 Aug 2022 17:12 UTC
Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Terry Adirim
© Staff Sgt. Jackie Sanders/Office of the Secretary of Defense Public AffairsActing Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Terry Adirim provides a COVID-19 update to members of the press, Pentagon, Washington, D.C., May 20, 2021.
Former Pentagon official Terry Adirim says she was directed by the Secretary of Defense to justify the mandate.

Lawyers representing America's service members are beginning to produce victories defending the U.S. Armed Forces against forced compliance with biomedical gene therapy experiments, and suddenly, nobody in the Pentagon wants to take accountability for their legally dubious mRNA injection order.

It all began on August 24, 2021, when Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin issued a memo mandating mRNA "vaccination" for the active military, but with the stipulation that this mandate only applied to fully licensed products. This was because, as The Dossier understands, it is illegal to force service members to take an EUA vaccine.

Comment:

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Attention

North Korea's Kim Yo Jong tells South Korean president to 'shut his mouth' after offer of aid


New York Post
Fri, 19 Aug 2022 07:17 UTC
Kim Yo Jong
© REUTERSKim Yo Jong fired back at Yoon Suk Yeol after he said his country was willing to provide economic aid in return for nuclear disarmament.
North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said on Friday South Korea's president should "shut his mouth" after he reiterated that his country was willing to provide economic aid in return for nuclear disarmament.

Her comments mark the first time a senior North Korean official has commented directly on what South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has called an "audacious" plan - first proposed in May and which he talked about again on Wednesday at a news conference to mark his first 100 days in office.

"It would have been more favorable for his image to shut his mouth, rather than talking nonsense as he had nothing better to say," Kim Yo Jong said in a statement released by state news agency KCNA, calling Yoon "really simple and still childish" to think that he could trade economic cooperation for the North's honor and nuclear weapons.

Comment: See also:

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