Puppet MastersS


Mr. Potato

Biden campaign warns media: Don't spread 'debunked' claims of his activities in Ukraine... or else!


Comment: Or else what, old man?


Biden
© AFP/Getty Images/Spencer Platt.Former VP and presidential candidate Joe Biden
Joe Biden's presidential campaign has issued a warning to the media cautioning journalists against spreading what he called "debunked" theories about his controversial role in having a Ukrainian prosecutor removed from office.

In the memo first reported by NBC News, Biden's campaign accuses President Donald Trump of "spreading a malicious and conclusively debunked conspiracy theory" that the former VP engaged in wrongdoing when he pressured Ukraine to fire former Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin.

Biden has previously bragged about his role in having Shokin fired, even admitting on camera that he presented an ultimatum to Ukrainian authorities, threatening to withhold a billion-dollar loan guarantee unless the prosecutor was given the boot. It emerged later that Biden's own son Hunter sat on the board of the Burisma energy company which Shokin had been investigating for corruption.

The memo, described as "unusual" by NBC News, demands that "any media organization referencing, reporting on, or repeating" claims that Biden engaged in wrongdoing "must state clearly and unambiguously that they have been discredited and debunked by authoritative sources."

Comment: Politicians think the public will believe anything they tell them. A significant portion proves this to be correct - but what are the rest of us to do, pretend we didn't see Biden implicate himself in stonking corruption on camera??


Footprints

Trump replaces another Russian adviser as NSC turnover continues

Andrew Peek
© 1 Former NSC senior director European/Russian affairs Andrew Peek VOA Persian/H.ChoFormer NSC senior director European/Russian affairs Andrew Peek
The top Russia expert on President Donald Trump's National Security Council has left his post after about three months, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Andrew Peek, the NSC's senior director for European and Russian affairs, was escorted from the White House grounds on Friday, two of the people said, asking not to be identified because they weren't authorized to discuss personnel matters. A spokesman for the NSC declined to comment, citing the same reason. Peek also declined to comment.

Axios reported earlier Saturday that Peek was placed on administrative leave pending a security-related investigation.

Peek is the third departure from the position in less than a year. The NSC has been marked by turbulence and turnover over Trump's three years in office, as the president has repeatedly sought national security advisers more in-line with his own ideology.

Comment: Given Mike Bloomberg is a Democratic presidential candidate, Bloomberg News spins negative on Trump-related reporting.


Arrow Up

Russian deputy FM Ryabkov: BRICS to accept new member states and create new payment systems

BRICS
© Sputnik/Anton Denisov
The BRICS group of emerging economies, which is comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, is open to welcoming new member countries, according to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

Russia is focused on activities on the BRICS+ platform, which "makes it possible for interested countries to find ways to cooperate with the group's members," said Ryabkov, adding: "This is why it is possible to talk about the expansion of BRICS as a goal for the future."

According to Ryabkov, the Russian Sherpa in the five-nation trade bloc,
"BRICS' existence is important in terms of creating new positive elements in the economic, social and scientific development of our countries, as well as for other areas of development."
The group of five countries represents more than 40 percent of the world's population. In line with efforts to boost trade, members are working on the integration of payment systems, increasing payments in national currencies, as well as the establishment of an independent channel on information exchange. It was earlier reported that BRICS states are set to create a new joint payment system called BRICS Pay that will be similar to existing Apple Pay and Samsung Pay services.

Dollars

Keiser Report: Gold fund manager predicts US dollar will collapse this year

Dollarsign
© Getty Images/holwichaikaweeDollar goes to Hell
Central banks have been buying massive amounts of gold over the last 50 years, purchasing a historic high of 374.1 tons in 2019. The unprecedented shift has been seen by many as a move away from the US dollar.

The interesting thing, according to Egon von Greyerz of GoldSwitzerland.com, is that not every country is buying gold. He told RT's Keiser Report that mainly Eastern central banks have been piling up the shiny metal. "We are talking about Russia and China, Turkey, Poland, and Hungary."

Russia and China are the ones that are "really seeing what's happening," he says. "They know that the dollar is going to collapse."

According to Greyerz, China, which didn't reveal its true position of gold holdings, "might... have 20,000 tons that they have gathered over a long period of time."

"Russia and China see that the dollar days are counted, and I agree with that totally. At some point it [dollar collapse] should happen this year and I think it will. We are going to see the dollar collapse and that would be very serious for the world and of course very serious for the United States," he says.


Bad Guys

Iraqi security source: Three missiles struck 'Green Zone' close to US embassy

green zone baghdad us embassy
© Associated Press / Hadi MizbanGreen Zone government areas in Baghdad, Iraq
Tensions in the region have escalated recently following the killing of Iran's top military commander Qasem Soleimani in the US targeted attack on the Baghdadi International Airport on 3 January.

Three rockets have fallen in the Green Zone near the US embassy in Baghdad, an Iraqi security source reported.

"Three missiles landed in the area close to the US embassy in the 'green zone' in Baghdad, air raid sirens are heard from the embassy", the source said.

Comment: Sputnik further reports the attack was launched from the southeast area of Baghdad:
Iraq's Joint Operations Command said on Tuesday that the three missiles, which landed near the US embassy in the so-called green zone overnight, had been launched from the southeastern Baghdad district of Al-Zafraniya.

"The Baghdad Operations Command found rocket launching sites in the Al-Zafraniya district," the military said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi ordered to start an investigation into the incident.
A few more hints the US is no longer welcome in Iraq?


Nuke

Rouhani: Iran enriching more uranium than before 2015 deal

rouhani
© President.ir/AFP
Iran is enriching more uranium than it did before it agreed to the landmark nuclear deal with world powers in 2015, President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday.

Iran has gradually scaled back its commitments under the nuclear accord - signed with the United States, China, Russia, Germany, France and the United Kingdom - in retaliation for Washington's withdrawal from the pact in 2018 and its reimposition of devastating sanctions.

Earlier in the week, the UK, France and Germany challenged Tehran over breaking the limits set out in the agreement by triggering a "dispute mechanism". Some analysts suggested that could spell the end of the accord.

Eye 1

Three protected state witnesses accuse Spanish ex-marine of illegally spying on Julian Assange

surveillance assange embassy
© Screenshot | El PaisA still from surveillance footage shows Julian Assange resting inside of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.
Former employees of David Morales tell a judge in Spain that his company was making recordings of the cyberactivist and his lawyers for the CIA

Two of the witnesses confirm what EL PAÍS revealed before the legal investigation began - that in December 2017, the owner of UC Global S. L. ordered workers to change the surveillance cameras in the embassy and replace them with others that could capture audio. From that moment on, they recorded and monitored conversations between the WikiLeaks founder and his lawyers, as well as all of his visitors.

During the meetings with the lawyers, Assange prepared his legal defense against the extradition order from the United States. The Australian cyberactivist is wanted in the US for allegedly committing 18 crimes for leaking classified information on secret military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq via the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks. He faces a total of 175 years in prison.

Under Morales's express orders, the security team photographed the passports of all of Assange's visitors

Comment:


Bad Guys

On how to take responsibility for downing a passenger jet

ukraine plane crash iran
© Nazanin Tabatabaee / WANA via Reuters
Despite what some are suggesting, there is little direct equivalency between the inadvertent Iranian shoot-down of Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 earlier this week, and the American shoot-down of Iranian Air Flight 655 in 1983.

For that to be true, the Iranians would have to not only have obstinately refused to apologize for their actions, but also awarded their equivalent to the Legion of Merit decoration to the Iranian military unit responsible.

I'm not kidding. That's exactly what happened.

In the aftermath of that incident, the Americans did not remove the officer responsible from command, even despite the observations of a number of other US Naval personnel about his aggressive shortcomings which lead directly to the tragedy.

Comment: "We accept full responsibility'' - Watch IRGC press conference confessing accidental downing of Ukrainian plane


Pistol

Virginia says 'No': Democratic lawmakers threaten 2nd Amendment sanctuaries with National Guard -UPDATE

U.S. Army National Guard
© Master Sgt. A.J. CoyneU.S. Army National Guard, Virginia
Virginia is the new battleground of the Second Amendment. After the most recent election, the state's House and Senate are both Democrat majorities and they haven't wasted a moment in attempting to gut the gun laws in what has historically been a permissive state.

What are these new gun laws?

The so-called "assault weapon ban" is SB16 and has that perilously vague wording we all know to be incredibly dangerous. In some interpretations, this law, if it passes, could make illegal the ownership or transportation of any semi-automatic gun because extendable magazines are available for it - and you don't even have to have the extendable mags.

Comment: BPR, 14/12/2019: Comments from Virginians:


UPDATE: RT, 20/1/2020: Virginia Rally to uphold Second Amendment rights, disparaged and overblown in MSM
Talking heads in the media and Hollywood tried to paint the pro-Second Amendment supporters in Richmond, Virginia as racist or potentially violent, creating a much gloomier image than the one that transpired in reality.

CNN said ahead of the rally that the FBI was working with law enforcement to prepare for "threats of violence." They later had to report that the event ended "peacefully." One video even showed protesters cleaning up after themselves as the rally came to a close.










Megaphone

Best of the Web: Worst lie since fake claim sparked Iraq war? OPCW report behind Syria bombings was altered, whistleblower tells UNSC

OPCW
A former inspector with the OPCW has accused the chemical weapons watchdog of issuing a sanitized report on the alleged 2018 attack in Douma, Syria, arguing it ignored serious reservations of its own fact-finding team.

The OPCW's final report on the Douma incident, released last March, omitted key findings of its own inspection team which would have cast serious doubt on whether a chemical attack took place at all, a now former OPCW specialist, Ian Henderson, told members of the United Nations Security Council in a recorded video address - after his visa application to attend the meeting in person was rejected.

"The findings in the final [Fact Finding Mission] report were contradictory, were a complete turnaround with what the team had understood collectively during and after the Douma deployments," Henderson said.

Comment: Moon of Alabama comments:
We have long maintained that the alleged chemical attack in Douma, Syria, on April 7 2018 was faked by Jihadists shortly before they were evicted from that Damascus suburb.

By the end of last year leaked documents and a whistle blower from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had proven that the OPCW managers had manipulated the report their staff had written about the incident. The OPCW inspectors who had investigated the case on the ground in Douma found that there was evidence that a chemical attack had happened. The murdered people seem in videos from the alleged attack must have died of other causes. The yellow canisters found at the locations of the alleged attack were not dropped from helicopters but clearly manually placed.

Using the Arria-formula, a procedure to have witnesses testify to the UN Security Council, Russia and China invited other UN members to listen to the testimony of OPCW inspector Ian Henderson. He denounced the false final report the OPCW management had published. Henderson, a South African engineer, was a team leader at the OPCW where he had worked for more than twelve years.

Henderson's testimony can be watched here. Transcript here.

[...]

In his closing remarks at the UNSC Russia's Permanent Representative at the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said:
Today's discussions reveal one thing clearly - that something fishy is cooking in the OPCW. When we point at it, our colleagues tell us every time that OPCW, the 2013 Nobel peace prize laureate, is the gold standard of professionalism, integrity and impartiality. We would like it to be such and we adopted a PRST in November 2019 exactly aiming at this. Unfortunately, the impartiality and integrity of the OPCW TS is seriously questioned, and not just by us and other member states, as today's presentation demonstrated. Members of the "Courage Foundation" can hardly be labeled as "Russian agents". They are reputable personalities and include such figures as Jose Bustani, first OPCW DG, respectable members of academic community, former senior officials of the US and UK intelligence community, and such names as Noam Chomsky and Oliver Stone to name a few. (You were provided with a copy of their letter and related materials).
Why do some of our colleagues so vehemently defend the reports by the OPCW FFM, which some are believed were fabricated? Because any seed of doubt about chemical episodes conclusions would lead to challenging the expediency and legitimacy of already illegitimate missile attacks against a sovereign UN member state. In that light the Douma incident plays a key role. Because if it transpires that the FFM report was made up, it would lead to questioning earlier episodes like Khan-Shaykhun and others, which resulted in the termination of [Joint Investigation Mechanism].
...
Our colleague from Viet Nam asked what to do next, what are the nest steps. I think that this issue must be discussed at the OPCW. Legitimate questions and issues that member states face should be addressed and discussed. The question why the first report of the OPCW FFM was shelled initially, and then disappeared and destroyed should be answered. So far we are denied - we and other member states - are denied such an opportunity.
Videos from Douma at the time of the incident showed some 30 bodies of dead persons. Most were children. It is up to day unknown who they were and who had murdered them. The OPCW manipulation of the original reports of its inspectors' findings is a cover up for that huge crime.
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