Puppet MastersS


Video

Erdogan upends Oval Office meeting to play anti-Kurd film on his iPad, senators push back

Jonathan Swan
Axios
Thu, 14 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
TrumpErdogan
© Al JazeeraUS President Donald Trump • Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
An Oval Office meeting yesterday with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took a dark turn when Erdoğan pulled out his iPad and made the group watch a propaganda video that depicted the leader of the primarily-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces as a terrorist, according to three sources familiar with the meeting.

Why it matters: The meeting hosted by President Trump included five Republican U.S. senators who've been among the most vocal critics of Turkey's recent invasion of Syria and attacks on the U.S.'s Kurdish allies in the fight against ISIS.
  • Erdoğan apparently thought he could sway these senators by forcing them to watch a clunky propaganda film.
  • The senators in the meeting took turns pushing back on Erdoğan, while Trump sat back and watched, intervening occasionally to play traffic cop.
  • The meeting comes as Erdoğan is trying to avoid sanctions over the purchase of a Russian missile defense system.
Erdoğan's video "was unpersuasive," according to a source who was in the room.
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Snakes in Suits

Watch Devin Nunes lambaste the 'impeachment sham drama' in 'search of a crime'

Tyler O'Neil
PJ Media
Wed, 13 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
Devin Nunes
© screen shotRep. Devin Nunes (R-CA)
In the first public impeachment hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) delivered a tour-de-force opening statement condemning the Democrats' "impeachment sham," a "drama" that is the "low-rent Ukrainian sequel" to the Russia collusion narrative. He raised fundamentally important questions, that he said will not be asked to proper witnesses, because Democrats refuse to call them.

Nunes began his opening statement by recounting the three-year Russia collusion hoax. He specifically mentioned the public testimony of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, on whom liberals placed their hopes. As I reported in July, that testimony turned Mueller from the touted "savior of the republic" into a bumbling fool.
"That hearing was the pitiful finale of a three-year-long operation by the Democrats, the corrupt media, and partisan bureaucrats to overturn the results of the 2016 election. After the spectacular implosion of their Russia hoax on July 24 — in which they spent years denouncing any Republican who ever shook hands with a Russian — on July 25, they turned on a dime and now claim the real malfeasance is Republicans' dealings with Ukraine."
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Snakes in Suits

"Longing for the empire": Outgoing EU council chief Tusk encourages remainers to block Brexit, maligns Russia

Daniel Boffey
The Guardian
Wed, 13 Nov 2019 20:00 UTC
Tusk
Outgoing EU council chief gives implicit backing to Boris Johnson's opponents
Donald Tusk has given his implicit backing to Boris Johnson's opponents in the general election with a call for anti-Brexit campaigners to keep fighting in the month before Britain goes to the polls.

In what he openly conceded was an unconventional move, the outgoing president of the European council made a pointed intervention in the UK's general election debate with a thinly veiled message of solidarity for those seeking to unseat Johnson's Conservatives.

Reflecting on his five years in his role as a top EU official as it comes to an end this month, and following a speech on the life of the journalist and philosopher Hannah Arendt, Tusk said he felt empowered to be honest about his feelings.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's:

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Vader

A coup primer: How the hybrid war on Bolivia succeeded

Andrew Korybko
InfoBRICS
Wed, 13 Nov 2019 18:09 UTC
Bolivia coup

Preconditioning The Population

President Morales had always been a thorn in the US' side, but the die was cast for carrying out regime change against him the moment that he announced a referendum for changing the constitution to enable himself to run for a fourth term in office. The February 2016 referendum narrowly failed, but it's believed that this was because of scandalous revelations that were publicized earlier that same month about him supposedly bestowing favors upon a former lover who secretly gave birth to his son. She was later arrested and found guilty of corruption in a case that absolved President Morales of any wrongdoing, but the perception management damage was already done because the scandal succeeded in narrowly turning the electorate against him at the time and denying him the right to run for a fourth term. Because of the timing of that controversy and the effect that it's believed to have had on influencing the result of the referendum, it can be concluded that it was likely a case of so-called "direct action" by US intelligence to "passively" prevent his future re-election.

Comment: The people of Bolivia remember living under the boot of fascists before Evo Morales. They will not give up the fight





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Info

Impeachment hearing dud: 'Complicated', unclear allegations driving inquiry forward

Matthew Boyle
Breitbart
Wed, 13 Nov 2019 17:14 UTC
rep taylor
© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
House Democrats' first impeachment inquiry public hearing on Wednesday was widely panned as the two career diplomats who testified failed to offer clear allegations of wrongdoing against President Donald Trump, and Democrats running the show found themselves on defense in response to the Republicans in the minority who were aggressive and effective in pushing their counter-narrative.

"It was a total disaster for us," one senior House Democrat aide told Breitbart News.

"Too complicated," another Democrat aide said.

"This won't make sense to regular people," a third Democrat aide told Breitbart News.

Wednesday marked the first public hearing of the Democrats' formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. The hearing opened slowly, taking 93 minutes for the panel's chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and its ranking member Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) as well as the two witnesses Bill Taylor and George Kent to get through their opening statements.

Comment: Jordan's questioning of "star witness" Ambassador Taylor is worth watching:

Jordan said, quoting Taylor, "My clear understanding was security assistance money would not come until President Zelensky committed to pursue the investigations."

"With all due respect, your clear understanding was obviously wrong, because it didn't happen," Jordan added, noting that Zelensky never stated that he was going to investigate the Bidens - not in a tweet, press conference, or media appearance.

"Where did you get this clear understanding?" Jordan asked, reading an excerpt of the addendum from U.S. ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland. Jordan read:
"Ambassador Taylor recalls that Mr. Morrison told Ambassador Taylor that I told Mr. Morrison that I had conveyed this message to Mr. Yermak on September 1, 2019, in connection with Vice President Pence's visit to Warsaw and a meeting with President Zelensky."
"This is is clarification. Let me read it one more time," he said, reading the excerpt aloud again.

"Ambassador, you weren't on the call were you?" You didn't listen in on President Trump's call and President Zelensky's call? he asked.

"I did not," Taylor said.

"You never talked with Chief of Staff Mulvaney?" he asked.

"I never did," Taylor said.

"You never met the president?" Jordan asked.

"That's correct," Taylor confirmed.

"You had three meetings, again, with Zelensky and it didn't come up," Jordan said.

"And two of those - they never heard of about it as far as I know - there was no reason for it to come up, " Taylor said.

"And President Zelensky never made an announcement," Jordan said, mocking the Democrats for choosing such a weak "star witness." "This is what I can't believe. And you're their star witness. You're their first witness. You're the guy - you're the guy. Based on this, based on - I mean, I've seen church prayer chains that are easier to understand than this," he said:
Tucker Carlson's take is on point:


More on the impeachment hearings:

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Arrow Up

Germany removes legal hurdle for Russia's Nord Stream 2, project nears completion


RFE/RL
Thu, 14 Nov 2019 08:16 UTC
Nord Stream 2
A ship works in the Baltic Sea on the natural gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 from Russia to Germany.
Germany's parliament has passed an energy law that allows part of Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline project to skirt European rules that forbid one entity from the being both the producer and the supplier of natural gas.

It's one of the last hurdles to be overcome for the completion of the 1,225-kilometer underwater pipeline project owned by Russia's state-owned Gazprom company.

Last month, the project moved forward when Denmark approved construction of the pipeline in waters that are part of its economic zone, saving Gazprom from having to extend the pipeline to circumvent Danish jurisdiction.


Comment: An unnecessary delay that was most likely an attempt to placate (or pander to) the US: Denmark finally agrees to Nord Stream 2 pipeline


Nord Stream 2 is to carry 55 billion cubic meters of gas annually to Germany, doubling the country's imports from Russia.

Comment: See also: Trump loses more than just battle over Nordstream 2

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Light Saber

Key pieces of evidence prove impeachment is a sham: Republican memo slams Schiff

Sara Carter
saraacarter.com
Tue, 12 Nov 2019 18:10 UTC
schiff impeachment
© AP Photo/Susan WalshHouse Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
A Republican memo released late Monday to GOP lawmakers outlined critical issues with the Democrats impeachment hearings against President Donald Trump and blasted Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff for a "one-sided, partisan, and fundamentally unfair hearing," process.

The memo, issued by Republican staff of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Committee of Oversight and Reform and the Committee on Foreign Affairs, points to numerous pieces of evidence from the closed door impeachment hearings. Republican's note that evidence contradicts and repudiates the Democratic narrative that Trump "jeopardized U.S. national security" when he spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on July, 25.

It also reveals that there was 'no quid pro quo' to withhold any military aid from the country unless there was an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter Biden, as suggested by Democrats.

Comment:

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Snakes in Suits

Russia-bashers eat their own? Ukrainian ex-minister accuses Bellingcat of being infiltrated by...Kremlin agents?


RT
Thu, 14 Nov 2019 18:19 UTC
Eliot Higgins
© (L) Sputnik / Yevgeny Biyatov; (R) AFP / Tolga AKMENEliot Higgins
A website obsessed with blaming Russia for everything - using Google Earth to support its airtight theories - has been infiltrated by Russian agents, according to a Ukrainian MP and former minister. But does it even make sense?

Our strange saga begins with a very level-headed Facebook post penned by Ukraine's former minister of veterans affairs and current member of parliament, Iryna Friz, who expressed deep displeasure with a recent Bellingcat 'investigation' revealing that Ukraine's Ministry of Veterans Affairs had ties to far-right figures (oh no, who could have guessed?).

In her post, Friz accused Bellingcat of regurgitating an "exclusively Russian narrative" that there are "fascists in Ukraine."
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Chess

Turkish President Erdogan says he 'can't harm relations with Russia' by ditching S-400 on Trump's demand


RT
Thu, 14 Nov 2019 18:06 UTC
erdogan
© (L) REUTERS / Tom Brenner; (R) Sputnik / Alexandr Galperin
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has asserted that he won't yield to US President Donald Trump's demand to stop the purchase of Russia's S-400 air defense system. The deal is too important to Ankara's friendship with Moscow.

Despite the protestations of Washington, Turkey, a NATO member, took delivery of its first shipment of the Russian-made S-400 air defense system in July. After a meeting with Erdogan on Wednesday, Trump told reporters that Ankara's "acquisition of the S-400 creates some very serious challenges for us," yet no agreement was reached on limiting or cancelling the purchase.

Erdogan said on Thursday that Trump had attempted to convince him to walk away from the deal with Moscow, but he refused. "We currently have a bilateral relationship with Russia," he told reporters upon his return to Turkey. "We cannot set aside our strategic relationship."

Comment: If Trump really was a "Russian asset" or whatever nonsense the Dems want to peddle to the public, it seems that attempting to force Erdogan to drop his S-400 deal would be antithetical to that narrative. But then again using logic to understand Trump Derangement causes one mental anguish.

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Chess

Russia considers power shift in Bolivia a coup, but will work with Anez as interim president


RT
Thu, 14 Nov 2019 17:29 UTC
Jeanine Anez
© Reuters / Carlos Garcia RawlinsBolivian Interim President Jeanine Anez
Events leading to Bolivian president Evo Morales leaving office had all the features of a coup d'etat, Russia's deputy foreign minister has said. But Moscow will be working with interim president Jeanine Anez until the election.

"We view everything that preceded the power shift [in Bolivia] as actions that equal a coup," Sergey Ryabkov told reporters at the BRICS summit in Brasilia.

The Deputy Foreign Minister reminded that there was no quorum in the Bolivian parliament when Anez was declared interim president.

"But it's clear that she will be perceived as the leader of Bolivia until the issue of electing a new president is settled," he said.

Evo Morales, who had been Bolivian president since 2006, announced his resignation on Sunday, after receiving an ultimatum from the country's military. The leftist leader said he had to make the move in order to pacify the heated protests and protect the country's indigenous people from persecution. He later found political asylum in Mexico and vowed to keep fighting for his return to office.

A few days later, Senate leader Jeanine Anez declared herself acting president of the country. Her candidacy was backed by the MPs, but the historic session was skipped by Morales' Movement for Socialism (MAS), which holds the majority in the parliament.
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