Puppet MastersS


Fire

Iran explosions: Did Israel and the US just start a cyber war?

Scott Ritter
RT
Fri, 10 Jul 2020 12:14 UTC
explosion at a medical clinic in the north of the Iranian capital Tehran
© Tasnim NewsPeople gather at the site of an explosion at a medical clinic in the north of the Iranian capital Tehran, Iran, June 30, 2020
Explosions rocked a pair of Iranian factories involved in the manufacture of centrifuges for its nuclear program, and the development of advanced ballistic missiles. Iran suspects a cyberattack by either the US, Israel or both.

A series of explosions hit various locations throughout Iran in late June and early July, killing scores of people and causing extensive damage. Two of these locations stand out in particular because of their importance to Iran's national security, and their involvement in technology related to nuclear enrichment programs and ballistic missile production, which have been singled out by both the US and Israel as representing a threat to regional and international peace and security.

Early on Friday, a series of explosions reportedly hit the outskirts of Tehran, as well as the cities of Garmdareh and Qods, with speculation that missile depots were the intended target of the blasts.

The precise cause of the two explosions has not yet been determined. One, at a centrifuge production hall located in the Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant, remains under investigation. The other, at the Hemma Missile Industries Complex, has been linked to an explosion in a gas tank.
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Vader

Best of the Web: Why the Bill Gates global health empire promises more empire and less public health

Jeremy Loffredo and Michele Greenstein
The Grayzone
Wed, 08 Jul 2020 05:18 UTC
Behind a veil of corporate media PR, the Gates Foundation has served as a vehicle for Western capital while exploiting the Global South as a human laboratory. The coronavirus pandemic is likely to intensify this disturbing agenda.

Bill gates empire 1
President Donald Trump's announcement this July of a U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) set into motion a process that will have a dramatic impact on the future of global public health policy - and on the fortunes of one of the world's richest people.

The US abandonment of the WHO means that the organization's second-largest financial contributor, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is soon to become its top donor, giving the non-governmental international empire unparalleled influence over one the world's most important multilateral organizations.

Bill Gates has achieved a hero-like status during the pandemic. The Washington Post has called him a "champion of science-backed solutions," while the New York Times recently hailed him as "the most interesting man in the world." Gates is also the star of a hit Netflix docu-series, "Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak," which was released just weeks before coronavirus hit the U.S., and was produced by a New York Times correspondent, Sheri Fink, who previously worked at three Gates-funded organizations (Pro Publica, the New America Foundation, and the International Medical Corps).

Comment: See also:

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Chess

Best of the Web: Trump reaps the whirlwind with China/Iran mega deal

Tom Luongo
tomluongo.me
Wed, 08 Jul 2020 12:00 UTC
sanctions dollar
For more than three years I've tried to explain that President Trump's foreign policy was having the exact opposite effect of its intended purpose.

Trump, under the advice of people like John Bolton, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) has pursued a maximum pressure campaign against Iran in the hopes of the regime either crumbling or suing for peace.

Trump was warned by both Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin that Iran would 'rather eat dirt' than submit to him on nuclear weapons, support for Hezbollah, Iraq and President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
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Dominoes

Indictments coming in "Russia collusion" investigation


WND
Wed, 08 Jul 2020 20:16 UTC
Barack Obama
'My sources tell me there's a lot of activity'

Investigative reporter John Solomon says there's a "lot of activity" in U.S. Attorney John Durham's criminal investigation of the Obama administration's probe of now-debunked claims of Trump-Russia collusion during the 2016 election.

"My sources tell me there's a lot of activity. I'm seeing, personally, activity behind the scenes [showing] the Department of Justice is trying to bring those first indictments," Solomon said in an interview with the Fox Business Network's Lou Dobbs reported by the Washington Examiner.

"And I would look for a time around Labor Day to see the first sort of action by the Justice Department."

Solomon said he's seeing "action consistent with building prosecutions and preparing for criminal plea bargains."

"Until they bring it before the grand jury you never know if it's going to happen. I'm seeing activity consistent with that."

Top former officials, including former CIA Director John Brennan, are said to be targets of the Durham investigation. But Attorney General William Barr has said he doesn't expect Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, to be subjects of a criminal investigation.

Comment: Between the Dem-organized rioting, "color revolution," and their attempts to rig the presidential election - and AG Barr's work prosecuting the Russia collusion liars - we are now witnessing a political fight to the death that may be unmatched in ferocity and intensity in Washington.

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Hammer

UK court TRASHES Christopher Steele, says former spy clearly worked for Hillary Clinton

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Thu, 09 Jul 2020 00:00 UTC
Steele Hillary
The Duran's Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss a long awaited British court ruling made against disgraced former spy Christopher Steele, ordering the fake dossier creator to pay damages to businessmen he smeared in the now infamous Russiagate document.


Comment: Piece, by piece, the whole-cloth lies about the 2016 presidential election are being revealed for what they were. Now if we can only see some real justice served...

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Radar

Venezuela says it NEUTRALIZED US-registered 'narco' aircraft for violating airspace


RT
Thu, 09 Jul 2020 21:42 UTC
Venezuela downed US aircraft
© Strategic Operational Command of the Bolivian National Armed Force / Twitter
Venezuela claims it has "neutralized" a US-registered aircraft for violating its airspace, in what it said was part of its battle against drug trafficking.

The Strategic Command Operations branch of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces tweeted on Wednesday that it "neutralized" the plane "with military jets according to protocols" after it was spotted in Venezuelan airspace at midnight on July 7. It shared photos of a downed plane on fire, with a soldier standing next to the wreckage.

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USA

'Done with Trump', Kanye West talks White House bid, damaging Biden...and much, much more

Randall Lane
Forbes
Wed, 08 Jul 2020 01:11 UTC
Kanye West
© James Toppin/Forbes/Getty Images
Kanye West's Fourth of July declaration, via Tweet, that he was running for president lit the internet on fire, even as pundits were trying to discern how serious he was. Over the course of four rambling hours of interviews on Tuesday, the billionaire rapper turned sneaker mogul revealed:
  • That he's running for president in 2020 under a new banner — the Birthday Party — with guidance from Elon Musk and an obscure vice presidential candidate he's already chosen. "Like anything I've ever done in my life," says West, "I'm doing to win."
  • That he no longer supports President Trump. "I am taking the red hat off, with this interview."
  • That he's okay with siphoning off Black votes from the Democratic nominee, thus helping Trump. "I'm not denying it, I just told you. To say that the Black vote is Democratic is a form of racism and white supremacy."
  • That he's never voted in his life.
  • That he was sick with Covid-19 in February.
  • That he's suspicious of a coronavirus vaccine, terming vaccines "the mark of the beast."
  • That he believes "Planned Parenthoods have been placed inside cities by white supremacists to do the Devil's work."
  • That he envisions a White House organizational model based on the secret country of Wakanda in Black Panther.
And that's just for starters.
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Brain

A worried New York Times lays out conditions for Biden-Trump debate or loophole to save Joe from live sparring

Graham Dockery
RT
Wed, 08 Jul 2020 17:57 UTC
TrumpBiden
© Reuters/Carlo Allegri/Kevin LamarqueUS President Donald Trump • Former VP Joe Biden
Joe Biden is a stumbling speaker at the best of times, and Donald Trump is the insult king. With the two set to engage in three televised debates, the New York Times has decided that Biden needs an out.

"I worry about Joe Biden debating Donald Trump," New York Times opinion columnist Thomas Friedman wrote on Tuesday. Friedman is likely not the only liberal pundit sweating at the prospect. Donald Trump, for all his ineloquence, is a brutal debater, well used to ripping his opponents apart with off-the-cuff insults and jibes. Joe Biden, by contrast, mumbles and fumbles his way even through prepared statements, and often forgets where he is, what he's talking about, and confuses figures.

Thankfully for Team Joe, Friedman offered up a roadmap for Biden to worm his way out of the traditional televised debates, the first of which is scheduled for late September. First, he argued, Biden should demand Trump release his tax returns. Though Trump is not legally required to do this, his opponents have claimed that his reluctance to release his records belies some shadiness.

Secondly, Friedman reckons the Biden camp should insist that the debates be fact-checked in real time by a team approved by both candidates. Ten minutes before the conclusion of the debates, the team should report on any "misleading statements, phony numbers or outright lies either candidate had uttered."

Comment: Not even Hollywood could write this script!

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People 2

Trump shreds CDC, threatens fed funding for schools if they don't open for in-person learning

Brett Samuels, Jessie Hellmann
The Hill
Wed, 08 Jul 2020 08:49 UTC
School closed sign
© Middleweb
President Trump on Wednesday threatened to cut off federal funding for schools if they do not resume in-person learning this fall and criticized a top government health agency for being too tough with its guidelines to aid that process.

"The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children & families. May cut off funding if not open!" Trump tweeted.

In a separate tweet, Trump said he disagreed with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) "on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!"

CDC Director Robert Redfield emphasized at a press briefing held Tuesday with Vice President Pence that the guidelines are just recommendations.


Comment: There are many aspects to be gained from a group learning environment that cannot be achieved online. Humanity is a group. Human interaction is fundamental to our school of life.



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Propaganda

NYT that headlined 'The Russians paid bounties to the Taliban to kill US troops', quietly admits zero evidence on page 19

Ben Aris
RT
Wed, 08 Jul 2020 10:16 UTC
Girl/Soldiers
© Reuters/Goran Tomasevic
Is this how journalism is supposed to work in America? That you can make - or, more accurately, make up - lurid allegations, and then keep running with them even when there's no proof at all?

What does a newspaper do when it publishes a supposed "bombshell" story and then discovers that, erm, there is actually zero evidence for it?

Well, if you are the New York Times, it appears that you quietly bury a story admitting to this on page 19 - but make it so opaque that even the most diligent reader would be unlikely to make it to the last paragraph, which is where, ever so quietly, you make your confession.

It was bad enough that their original story - alleging that US intelligence agencies believed payments were made by the Russian foreign military intelligence GRU to Afghan fighters as "bounties" for killing US soldiers in Afghanistan - was based on anonymous sources.

Then we had to endure other mainstream media outlets picking up the story, after apparently having it confirmed by other anonymous sources. As one veteran military writer in the US succinctly put it, "I'm not sure that anonymous sources confirming what other anonymous sources said actually proves anything."

Finally, seven days after its 'scoop', the NYT ran another story on the subject, entitled 'New Administration Memo Seeks to Foster Doubts About Suspected Russian Bounties', which was published on July 3 and buried in the bowels of the paper.

Comment: Not even the high-ups in US military ranking could validate the New York Times account:
The head of U.S. Central Command says he is "not convinced" that any Russian bounties paid to Taliban militants resulted in the deaths of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Marine General Frank McKenzie spoke to reporters on July 7 about the alleged bounties.

"I'm very familiar with this material and I'm a theater commander and I've had an opportunity to look at it. I found it very worrisome. I just didn't find that there was a causative link there," McKenzie told reporters, according to a transcript of McKenzie's comments released by Central Command.

The general said whether the Russians are paying the Taliban or not, the Taliban has "done their level best to carry out operations against us" over the past several years, and that has meant there has been little change in terms of force protection.

U.S. officials stressed that the intelligence was not conclusive.
The Pentagon has said it had "no corroborating evidence" to validate the allegations.

McKenzie noted that the Russians were "not our friends in Afghanistan and they do not wish us well." He said it's important to remember that Russia suffered a humiliating defeat in Afghanistan a few decades ago, and "that weighs on the Russian psyche," and there are therefore a "variety of competing sort of impulses that are active there when the Russians think about Afghanistan."

Russia has a genuine concern about the spread of Islamic extremism from Afghanistan toward the north.
See also:

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