Puppet MastersS


Chess

Best of the Web: Joe Biden - the show is over! Revealing the tools and programming for implementing a sustainable US coup

George Eliason
Medium
Tue, 08 Sep 2020 21:35 UTC
Chess pieces checkmate
Checkmate.

This is where the bar is set. If the DNC leadership and Joe Biden had a shred of decency or understanding of the national interest (reason of state) among them, both Biden and the DNC would bow out of the 2020 election so traitors to the Constitution, companies, lobbies, and people could be investigated and prosecuted.

Now, if you're a Democrat reading this, you have two choices. You can read the following with all the skepticism you can muster and I welcome that. Then go into 2020 elections based on your conclusions. Or you can ignore it and burn the country down. Your choice.

I've been covering this specific story since February 2015, writing it from the perspectives of the players and victims as it developed through primary source evidence. This story developed in Ukraine.

Comment: More from George Eliason:

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Dollars

Germany offered to build $1.2 billion LNG terminals to stop US' sanctions on Nord Stream 2


Reuters
Wed, 16 Sep 2020 12:44 UTC
Nordstream 2
© Ilya Pitalev / Sputnik
Berlin offered to spend 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) to build two liquid natural gas terminals in a bid to dissuade the United States from imposing sanctions over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, due to bring gas directly from Russia to Germany, Die Zeit reported on Wednesday.

The weekly paper said Finance Minister Olaf Scholz made the proposal in an Aug. 7 letter before Washington imposed sanctions on companies involved in building the Baltic Sea pipeline, effectively freezing its construction.

A spokesman for the German finance ministry said he could not comment on individual reports.

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

'Disarm the police' is the latest crackpot idea from the Democrats, who seemingly want to be seen as the party of anarchy

Guy Birchall
RT
Tue, 15 Sep 2020 21:45 UTC
ed markey
© Getty Images for Green New Deal Network/Jemal Countess
Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey has called for police to be deprived of weapons as mobs run riot across the US. This is immoral and irresponsible.

The Democratic Party, for reasons best known to itself, seems to be running an internal competition to see which one of its candidates can display the most stupid attitude towards the police. In the wake of protests from Black Lives Matters, they are writing off every police department in America as essentially an evil force of oppression, rather than acknowledging the need for reform while still standing with the boys and girls in blue.

From sea to shining sea, law enforcement officers in the United States are being denounced left, right and center (or should that be left, left and left?) by Democrat candidates. Biden has conceded that the police are systemically racist, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, AOC and others have called for cop shops across the land to be defunded, and Kamala Harris went to Wisconsin to visit the family of Jacob Blake, an alleged sex criminal who reached for a knife as he was being arrested and was consequently shot by officers.
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Sherlock

Trump's anti-war rhetoric is smoke and mirrors

Rachel Marsden
RT
Fri, 11 Sep 2020 21:32 UTC
us soldiers
© AP Photo/Qassim Abdul-Zahra
If Trump's words about his dislike for war and US troops fighting 'forever wars' matched his actions, there would be no American soldiers in the Middle East and Afghanistan. Nor would he still be selling weapons to the region.

Nearly two years ago, I asked Russian President Vladimir Putin at his annual press conference whether he thought that American troops would really withdraw from the Middle East - a promise on which Donald Trump had campaigned, winning the support of those of us non-neoconservatives who are against pointless war. At the time, Trump had spoken of withdrawing troops from Syria. "The United States have been present in, say, Afghanistan, for how long? Seventeen years, and every year they talk about withdrawing the troops. But they are still there," replied Putin.

One might say that the Russian president was onto something.

And nearly two years later, as Trump faces reelection and a need to show that he has fulfilled a key promise from his last campaign, here we go again with yet another troop withdrawal announcement - this time, from Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Hiliter

Trump marks 'dawn of a new Middle East' as Israel, UAE and Bahrain sign 'peace deals'


MEMO
Wed, 16 Sep 2020 01:58 UTC
Signers of Abraham Accord
© AFP 2020/Saul LoebBahrain Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu • US President Donald Trump • UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan
US President Donald Trump has hailed the "dawn of a new Middle East", as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain signed agreements to fully normalise relations with Israel.

The Gulf states are the fourth and fifth Arab countries to recognise and establish formal diplomatic relations with Israel, after Egypt, Jordan and Mauritania. The latter later severed ties with the occupation state as a result of its 2014 war on Gaza.

Trump told a crowd of hundreds gathered yesterday at the White House: "After decades of division and conflict we mark the dawn of a new Middle East. We're here this afternoon to change the course of history."

Foreign ministers from the UAE and Bahrain were present at the ceremony, along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Comment: Moscow cautiously sent its well-wishes with caveats:
Russia hopes that the United Arab Emirates' and Bahrain's normalisation deals with Israel will promote regional stability and will not affect the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Wednesday.
"If this results in comprehensive peace in the Middle East and the solution of all the problems, including the Palestinian problem, of course, we welcome this."

"Russia has been assured that both Bahrain and the UAE are committed to the Arab peace initiative and the solution of the Palestinian problem under the 'two states for two peoples' principle.

"On the one hand, this is a sovereign decision. On the other hand, it should not affect the settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. We hope this will be the case."
Russia will be able to assess the deals only after some time passes and new developments emerge, the deputy foreign minister added.
Those who signed and celebrated:


Not everyone was on board with this alignment:




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X

Caitlin Johnstone: Democrats ignore US military's refutation of 'Russian bounties' story

Caitlin Johnstone
RT
Tue, 15 Sep 2020 20:01 UTC
US Military
© Reuters/Lucas JacksonUS Military
The US military has been unable to find any evidence that Russia paid bounties on US troops to Taliban militants, confirming what was obvious to anyone who hasn't had their brain stem hijacked by mass media-induced Russophobia.

NBC News reports the following:
Two months after top Pentagon officials vowed to get to the bottom of whether the Russian government bribed the Taliban to kill American service members, the commander of troops in the region says a detailed review of all available intelligence has not been able to corroborate the existence of such a program.

"It just has not been proved to a level of certainty that satisfies me," Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of the U.S. Central Command, told NBC News. McKenzie oversees U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. continues to hunt for new information on the matter, he said.

"We continue to look for that evidence," the general said. "I just haven't seen it yet. But ... it's not a closed issue."

McKenzie's comments, reflecting a consensus view among military leaders, underscores the lack of certainty around a narrative that has been accepted as fact by Democrats and other Trump critics, including presidential nominee Joe Biden, who has cited Russian bounties in attacks on President Donald Trump.
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Attention

Gina Haspel warned Durham inquiry would be a 'nightmare' for CIA, according to Woodward's new book

Daniel Chaitin
Washington Examiner
Tue, 15 Sep 2020 09:20 UTC
Haspel/'Rage'
© New York Times/Simon & Schuster/Bob WoodwardCIA Director Gina Haspel • Bob Woodward book 'Rage'
CIA Director Gina Haspel lamented how the Justice Department's review of the Russia investigation would be a "nightmare" for her agency, according to veteran journalist Bob Woodward's new book.

Haspel and then-Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats made an appointment with Attorney General William Barr after he announced the investigation in May 2019, which would look, in part, into alleged spying into President Trump's 2016 campaign, possibly by law enforcement and intelligence agency officials.

Woodward wrote in Rage: Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation
"had already torn inconclusively through the intelligence agencies, they said. Why did this need to be done? It will be very disruptive to the agencies." Barr told the pair there was more out there that had not been investigated in the review that was being taken up by U.S. Attorney John Durham.

Haspel said such an investigation would have a negative effect on morale at the CIA, and some of her people were wondering if they needed to get an attorney.
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Stop

Does he want to end his political ambitions? Top Eurocrat Borrell calls for Navalny's name to be attached to EU 'Magnitsky List'

Bryan MacDonald
RT
Tue, 15 Sep 2020 18:53 UTC
Navalny
© InstagramAlexey Navalny
The EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has proposed naming a new sanctions regime directed against Russia after Alexey Navalny. Such a move would surely destroy the anti-corruption campaigner's oft-stated political aspirations.

In fact, it's hard to imagine the opposition figure would approve of the idea, as it would allow his critics in Russia to paint him as a tool of the West. While English-speaking and communicative with foreign journalists, Navalny, a Russian nationalist at heart, has always rejected any notions that he's helping the US and EU further their objectives in the country - for instance, lending his support to Moscow's 2014 reabsorption of Crimea.

The Levada Centre, a liberal opposition-leaning group that has previously received Western funding, runs regular presidential polls in Russia. For the past six years, Navalny's mark has hovered between one and two per cent. However, it's worth noting that a criminal conviction for fraud, which he says was politically motivated, means the Moscow protest leader can't actually run for office under the current rules. Attaching his name to a scheme designed to harm Russia would surely reduce, rather than bolster, his popularity at home, and badly damage his political ambitions.

Comment: It didn't take long for some bureaucrat to appropriate Navalny as a publicity icon for political posturing.

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Pumpkin 2

Troll-master Trump: Shares manipulated video of Biden dancing to 'F--- tha Police'

Adam Shaw
Fox News
Wed, 16 Sep 2020 18:31 UTC
biden confused
© Reuters / Leah MillisDemocratic presidential nominee Joe Biden speaks at a Hispanic Heritage Month event at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida, September 15, 2020.
Biden actually played the 2017 hit Despacito

President Trump on Wednesday trolled Democratic rival Joe Biden by sharing a manipulated video of the former vice president dancing to N.W.A.'s "F--- Tha Police."

"What is this all about?" Trump asked as he retweeted a video that showed Biden appearing to play the explicit '90s anti-cop song on his phone and bop along to it.

Comment: Biden's campaign choice of Despacito to pander to the Lantino vote was a triple play of bad optics, from the title translation ("Slowly"), to the lyrics and his proclivity for pawing children. What were they thinking?




The consensus? This is gaffe-machine Biden's 'hot sauce' moment of failed attempts at relevancy:
The original video - which many already found cringe-inducing - shows Biden pandering to a Hispanic audience by playing the popular reggaeton song Despacito by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee on his phone after being introduced by Fonsi.

Other commenters labeled the incident as Biden's "hot sauce moment," referring to when failed 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said that she carried a bottle of the stuff everywhere she went, which critics slammed as a flagrant attempt to pander to African American voters.


Even some self-avowed Biden supporters stated the former VP's Despacito tribute made them "cringe," while others took up more sincere criticisms over the candidate's policy platform.





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Bullseye

NYT: DOJ launches probe into Bolton book for possible classified information disclosures UPDATES

Olivia Beavers
The Hill
Tue, 15 Sep 2020 11:37 UTC
Bolton
© OpenBookPublishers/KJNFormer US Foreign Policy Advisor, John Bolton
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched a criminal investigation into whether former White House national security adviser John Bolton illegally disclosed classified information in his memoir that was released earlier this year, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

The agency has reportedly convened a grand jury and subpoenaed Bolton's publisher, Simon & Schuster, for records related to communications surrounding the tell-all book, The Room Where It Happened.

A formal probe would mark a dramatic escalation over the book, which the White House sought to temporarily block from publication earlier this year, arguing it contained classified information. Bolton's book also painted the Trump administration in an unflattering light including details of infighting and the president's foreign policy.

The DOJ declined to comment when asked to confirm the investigation.

The Times reports that the investigation was opened after receiving a referral from Director of National Intelligence (DNI) John Ratcliffe. His signed declaration stated:
"The type of classified information in these passages is the type of information that foreign adversaries of the United States seek to obtain, at great cost, through covert intelligence.

"Unauthorized disclosure of these types of classified information could reveal, in some instances, the limits and, in some instances, the capabilities of U.S. intelligence collection and would cause irreparable damage to national security."

Comment: UPDATE, 15/9/2020: The judge criticized Bolton's decisions:
Judge Royce Lamberth of the District Court for the District of Columbia said Bolton "disputes that his book contains any such classified information and emphasizes his months-long compliance with the prepublication review process" but criticized him because he "could have sued the government and sought relief in court." Lamberth said that Bolton "was entrusted with countless national secrets and privy to countless sensitive dealings" and "to Bolton, this is a selling point."

"He opted out of the review process before its conclusion. Unilateral fast-tracking carried the benefit of publicity and sales, and the cost of substantial risk exposure. This was Bolton's bet: If he is right and the book does not contain classified information, he keeps the upside mentioned above; but if he is wrong, he stands to lose his profits from the book deal, exposes himself to criminal liability, and imperils national security," the judge wrote. "Bolton was wrong."
Catch how slickly Bolton claims (and Blitzer agrees) 'Trump is just Putin's free chicken...':
Former National Security Adviser John Bolton said on Monday's broadcast of CNN's "The Situation Room" that President Donald Trump has been a "useful idiot" in his dealing with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and North Korean Kim Jong-un.

See also:

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