Puppet MastersS


Star of David

Israeli intel to assist in curbing Sunni States' opposition to Bibi's West Bank plans


Sputnik
Mon, 15 Jun 2020 12:31 UTC
Yossi Cohen
© Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem PostYossi Cohen, Head of Mossad
The Netanyahu government plans to 'apply sovereignty' to large chunks of the West Bank, including the Jordan Valley, on 1 July. The Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Israel's moderate Arab neighbours, Russia and the European Union have all warned Tel Aviv against the move.

Mossad chief-turned covert diplomat Yossi Cohen is planning a whirlwind trip across the Middle East to quietly meet with moderate Sunni Arab leaders to personally try to convince them to temper their opposition to Israel's plans to take control over about a third of the West Bank, the Jerusalem Post has reported.

Cohen, known for his quiet diplomacy, reportedly already travelled to Egypt late last month to meet with senior Egyptian government and intelligence officials to discuss Israel's West Bank plans and the Palestinians' possible reaction.

Before that, Cohen travelled to Qatar, and established contacts with Saudi Arabia other Gulf states. Only two Arab nations - Egypt and Jordan, enjoy normalised diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv, while neighbours Syria and Lebanon, as well as Iraq, the Gulf nations, Libya and others have yet to do so following multiple Arab-Israeli wars and disagreements over the treatment of the Palestinians.

Multiple countries have now warned Netanyahu against moving forward with his West Bank plans.

Comment: Jordan's King Abdullah II continues to snub Bibi's phone calls and is considering 'all options' including a diplomatic lockout and/or clash:
King Abdullah has refused to set a specific date for a future meeting with Netanyahu's coalition partner, Benny Gantz, who is making overtures to coordinate Israel's plans regarding the West Bank. The Jordanian royal said he would not accept the unilateral action by Israel and warned last month that it would trigger a "massive" confrontation with Jordan.

"Annexation would - certainly and immediately - upend all Israeli aspirations for improved security, economic and cultural ties with the Arab world and the UAE," the Emirati ambassador to the US, Yousef al-Otaib, warned last week.


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Russian Flag

Putin: Communists oppose upcoming Russian constitutional changes, want return to a one-party dictatorship

Jonny Tickle
RT
Mon, 15 Jun 2020 15:22 UTC
Putin
© Sputnik/Aleksey NikolskyiRussian President Vladimir Putin
President Vladimir Putin has accused the Russian Communist Party of calling on its supporters to reject constitutional changes because they "have always advocated the dictatorship of the proletariat" and seek its restoration.

The Communists are the only party represented in the country's parliament advocating a 'no' in the national vote on the amendments that will take place on July 1. They ruled the roost during seven decades of one-party rule in the old Soviet Union before it collapsed in 1991.

According to Communist Party Leader Gennady Zyuganov, the amendments proposed by Putin "strengthen the presidential dictatorship and consolidate oligarchic domination," with the Communists instead demanding "a fundamental repair of the Basic Law." Russia's leader disputed Zyuganov's claims, and explained that under the proposed amendments the "president gives up some very significant powers."

The July 1 all-Russian vote on the proposed constitution was initially scheduled for April 22 but was postponed due to Covid-19. Amongst other amendments, the proposed changes include the classification of marriage as a union of a man and a woman, the indexation of pensions, and banning important officials from having foreign citizenship. Most controversially, the new constitution would also reset Putin's served terms to zero, allowing him to potentially rule [serve] as president until 2036.
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Star of David

Palestinian cleric weighs the decades-long conflict with Israel against 'impracticality' of a two-state solution

Elizabeth Blade
Sputnik
Mon, 15 Jun 2020 17:13 UTC
Sheik Abu Khalil Al Tamimi
© Israel TodaySheik Abu Khalil Al Tamimi
Although Sheikh Abu Khalil Al Tamimi, an influential religious figure from the West Bank, strives for a two-state solution, he says he realises it is impractical, and therefore calls on the Israeli authorities to establish one state, where Palestinians and Israelis would share equal rights and responsibilities.

Israel's civil administration is gearing up for the possibility of conducting a population census for Palestinians living in Area C of the West Bank to determine their exact number and avoid a situation where the extension of the Jewish state's sovereignty, planned for early July, would attract an influx of new residents, who would move to the region in an attempt to receive Israeli citizenship and all the social benefits it might entail.

The Jewish state's concerns are grounded in the fact that over the years the number of Palestinians who have applied for Israeli citizenship has gone up. In the early 2000s, Israeli authorities were receiving up to a thousand applications per year. By 2019, however, this number had more than doubled, reaching the all-time high of 2,561 requests.

One-State Solution as the Only Way Forward?

For Sheikh Abu Khalil Al Tamimi, a peace activist and a spiritual leader of the Islamic fundamentalist Salafist sect in the Palestinian territories, the Palestinians' desire to obtain Israeli citizenship makes perfect sense.

Comment: Whether Israel takes West Bank by demand, by military or by an acquiescence of Palestinian leaders and followers, the result is the same for all concerned. Israel will dominate and not give a damn.

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Question

Judge wants to know if Michael Flynn dismissal is good for racist police

Steven Nelson
New York Post
Fri, 12 Jun 2020 03:55 UTC
Michael Flynn
© The Daily BeastMichael Flynn
A federal appeals court judge repeatedly asked Friday whether dropping the case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn would mean police can escape accountability for brutalizing black people.

DC Circuit Judge Robert Wilkins raised the possibility as Flynn's attorneys and the Justice Department pleaded with a skeptical three-judge panel to order US District Judge Emmet Sullivan to dismiss Flynn's case and his 2017 guilty plea for lying to the FBI.

Wilkins, an African American Harvard Law School graduate, asked whether dismissing Flynn's case would mean that judges must also dismiss cases against police if prosecutors offer racist reasons. Wilkins asked Deputy Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall:
"Even if the prosecutor was dismissing the case because it did not believe that a white police officer should have to answer for using excessive force on a black defendant, and they say that in their pleading, under Rule 48(a) the district court still has to grant the motion?"
Wall agreed, "I don't think that the court can force the executive to keep that case alive in the absence of a case or controversy." He added, however, that the "unconstitutional motive" distinguishes the scenarios.

Comment: How is this quandary even a comparison? One is a real case, the other a hypothetical with nothing in common. When the mechanics of justice are either undefined or non-applicable, shouldn't the benefit of the doubt go to the defendant?

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Bad Guys

NATO's colonization of Ukraine under guise of partnership

Scott Ritter
RT
Sat, 13 Jun 2020 18:53 UTC
nato soldiers
© Sputnik / Mykhailo Markiv
NATO has extended yet another in a long line of "incentives" designed to tease Ukraine with the prospects of joining the transatlantic alliance, while stopping short of actual membership.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has designated Ukraine as an "Enhanced Opportunity Partner," making it one of six nations (the others being Georgia, Sweden, Finland, Australia and Jordan) rewarded for their significant contributions to NATO operations and alliance objectives by having the opportunity for increased dialogue and cooperation with the alliance.

A main objective of this enhanced interaction is for NATO and Ukraine to develop operational capabilities and interoperability through military exercises which will enable Ukrainian military personnel to gain practical hands-on experience in operating with NATO partners.
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Broom

Japan suspends ballistic missile deployment project with US due to 'cost and technical issues'

Mike Yeo
Defense News
Mon, 15 Jun 2020 18:30 UTC
Aegis
© MC1 Jeremy Starr/U.S. NavyMembers of the Japanese Diet visited the Aegis Ashore site in Romania in mid-2018.
Japan has abruptly suspended the planned deployment of the Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense system, which will drastically alter the U.S. ally's plans for defending itself against such threats.

Defense Minister Taro Kono cited cost and technical issues as the reasons for the suspension of Japan's plans to deploy two Aegis Ashore systems at Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, or JGSDF bases at Akita Prefecture in the north of Japan's main island of Honshu and at Yamaguchi Prefecture in the south.

He explained during today's announcement that that the main technical issue was the need to ensure that the rocket boosters of the interceptor missiles, which are used to accelerate the missile to supersonic speeds following their launch, will fall on its designated areas following separation from the missile.

Comment: It seems the US' legacy of producing expensive junk continues in its projects with Japan:

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USA

America's disintegration no longer sounds like a crazy prediction, but no one will like the consequences

Artyom Lukin
RT
Mon, 15 Jun 2020 17:49 UTC
cracked American flag
© Getty Images / cbies
As someone who lived through the collapse of the Soviet Union, I find some images and reports coming out of the United States these days eerily familiar. But should anyone be looking forward to the disintegration of the US?

Rioting, tearing down of statues, senior officials openly defying the nation's chief executive...By the late 1980s the USSR was a declining superpower with inept leadership, torn apart by escalating internal contradictions and abjectly losing in the competition with another, much more successful, superpower. No wonder many in Russia are now asking the question if the US could meet the same fate as the USSR.

No longer a crackpot fantasy

To put the record straight, I don't believe the US disintegration is imminent or likely. On the contrary, America could emerge a reinvented and rejuvenated nation out of the current crisis. Nevertheless, the scenario of US implosion has now definitely left the realm of the hypothetical. In 2008, I ridiculed a Russian political scientist, a KGB analyst in his former career, who prophesied a disintegration of the US into six pieces following a civil war triggered by mass immigration, economic decline, and moral degradation. In 2016, when Donald Trump moved into the White House, I began to have second thoughts. By 2020, the idea of a US collapse no longer seems inconceivable. Today it is not Russian, but rather American scholars who predict a rise of secessionism in the United States as "the pandemic and protests have exposed the regional divides in the US." Some even argue that embracing the state secession movement should result in "happier, less corrupt entities," confederated in a North American version of the EU.
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Snakes in Suits

France won't 'erase' history by removing colonial-era statues - Macron


FRANCE 24
Sun, 14 Jun 2020 23:05 UTC
emmanuel macron
© GETTY
French President Emmanuel Macron vowed Sunday to stand firm against racism but also praised police and insisted that France wouldn't take down statues of controversial, colonial-era figures.

It was the first time Macron has spoken on the issues since George Floyd's death in the United States unleashed protests around the world, including several in France, where demonstrators have expressed anger at racial injustice and police brutality, particularly toward minorities from France's former colonies in Africa.

Unusually for a French leader, Macron acknowledged that someone's "address, name, color of skin" can reduce their chances at succeeding in French society, and called for a fight to ensure that everyone can "find their place" regardless of ethnic origin or religion. He promised to be "uncompromising in the face of racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination".

Comment: Note that the Yellow Vest protests which continued for over 2 years, stopping only because of the lockdown, had hundreds of thousands of protesters - of all races - and Macron was, more often than not, silent on the grievances raised as well as the brutality meted out to them: Do French Lives Matter? Where was the outrage when police were maiming protesters in France?

See also: Immigration, Crime and Propaganda

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Mr. Potato

EU and UK to speed up Brexit trade talks with October deadline after no progress, back tracking and delays

Silvia Amaro
CNBC
Mon, 15 Jun 2020 08:02 UTC
bojo
© Will Oliver/EPA
The European Union and the U.K. government have decided to intensify Brexit talks over the coming weeks amid growing concerns that both sides might fail to reach a trade deal by the end of the year.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke with European officials Monday, discussing ways to give new impetus to the trade negotiations, which after four initial rounds have not made any significant progress. The U.K. stopped being a full member of the EU in January, but it's still in a transition phase so it can prepare for new trading rules with the rest of the EU.

The British government confirmed on Friday that it will not extend this transition and negotiating period beyond December. This means that pressure is growing on both sides to deliver a trade deal by October so it can be ratified and put in place for the new year.

Comment: See also:

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Dollars

Ukraine investigators seize massive cash bribe meant to stop probe of Burisma founder

Bradford Betz
Fox News
Sun, 14 Jun 2020 17:47 UTC
cash bribe ukraine burisma
© Associated PressUkraine's Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Nazar Kholodnytsky, left, and National Anti-Corruption Bureau chief Artem Sytnik displaying the massive piles of cash at an anti-corruption prosecutor's office in Kiev on Saturday.
Ukrainian officials on Saturday announced they intercepted a $6 million bribe attempt to stop a criminal investigation into the president of Burisma, the natural-gas company at the center of President Trump's impeachment investigation.

At a news conference, the officials displayed large bags of seized U.S. currency.

Ukraine's anti-corruption prosecutor Nazar Kholodnitsky said former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter, who once held a board seat, was not complicit in the bribe attempt.

Comment: One could spend hours on all the twists and turns in the Ukraine Burisma/Biden scandal. A small sample:

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