Puppet MastersS


Magnify

The geostrategic consequences of Lula's re-election aren't as clear-cut as some might think

Andrew Korybko
korybko.substack.com
Mon, 31 Oct 2022 21:37 UTC
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Lula and Bolsonaro are striking exceptions to the oversimplification of contemporary leaders in the New Cold War either being unipolar liberal-globalists or multipolar conservative-sovereigntists since the first can be described as a multipolar liberal-globalist while the second was a unipolar conservative-sovereigntist. This is an admittedly imperfect assessment but one which nevertheless serves to make an important point: each leader has significant idiosyncrasies that complicate analyses of their foreign policy.

The return of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (popularly known as Lula) to the Brazilian presidency after Sunday's run-off election is being interpreted by many as a victory for the world's multipolar forces. This assessment is based on Lula's independent foreign policy during his previous two terms in offices, which triggered the US into orchestrating "Operation Car Wash" against him and his successor as part of that declining unipolar hegemon's Hybrid War on Brazil. His eventual replacement with Jair Bolsonaro was interpreted as a defeat for the world's multipolar forces, ergo why his re-election is seen as a victory.
Read More...
Arrow Up

Ukraine says Iran's help for Russia should push Israel out of neutral stance

Laura Kelly
The Hill
Sun, 30 Oct 2022 06:00 UTC
Korniychuck
© Dmytro KanterUkraine's Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuck
Ukrainian officials say Iran's wartime aid to Russia should convince Israel to abandon its position of withholding military assistance to Kyiv.

Ukraine also wants the Biden administration to step up pressure on Israel, which has condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion and delivered humanitarian support to Kyiv but refrained from offering arms.

Officials in Kyiv are hoping that Tehran's provision of suicide drones to Russia will lead to a shift in position for Israel. They are particularly pushing for Israeli help with air defenses that would provide protection against the Iranian drones. And they are making clear that the Biden administration should play a role in the pressure campaign on Israel.

"The Americans are the only country that Israel is listening to," Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk said in a phone call with The Hill from Tel Aviv.


Comment: One could speculate the reverse is also true.


Comment: Who's the newest addition to Kiev's kill list?
Israeli finance minister, Avigdor Lieberman has been added to the controversial Mirotvorets website "enemies of Ukraine" database on Sunday.

The authors of the site, which is believed to have links to the Ukrainian security services, described Lieberman as an "agent of influence" for Russia, who had been manipulating publicly significant information in favor of Moscow. They also blamed him for taking part in acts of "humanitarian aggression" against Ukraine.

Among the actions that led to Lieberman being placed on the list, were his refusal to finance an Israeli field hospital in Ukraine in March and his neutral stance on who is to blame for the massacre in the Kiev suburb of Bucha in April. The website also shared a link to an article, claiming that he had ties with Russian gas giant Gazprom.

Liberman said that Israeli assistance to Ukraine since the outbreak of the fighting between Russia and Ukraine in late February amounted to some $40 million.

The Mirotvorets website, translated as 'peacemaker', was launched in 2014, positioning itself as an independent database run by anonymous moderators to help Ukrainian authorities and "special services" apprehend pro-Russian terrorists, separatists, and war criminals, among others.

However, some have branded the database a 'kill list,' which is backed by the government, after several individuals, including writer Oles Buzina, politician Oleg Kalashnikov, and Russian journalist Darya Dugina were assassinated shortly after their profiles appeared on the website.

The most recent high-profile additions to Mirotvorets included Kazakhstan's president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters. There were claims that the world's richest man, Elon Musk, was put on the database in mid-October, but swiftly removed from it. The alleged addition happened after Musk offered a peace plan, which envisaged Kiev giving up territories to Moscow.


Read More...
Telephone

Biden lost temper with Zelenskyy in June phone call when Ukrainian leader asked for more aid

Carol E. Lee, Courtney Kube
NBC News
Mon, 31 Oct 2022 06:30 UTC
BM-21
© Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty ImagesUkrainian soldiers prepare to fire a BM-21 "Grad" rocket launcher
Kharkiv, Ukraine • October 4, 2022
It's become routine since Russia invaded Ukraine: President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak by phone whenever the U.S. announces a new package of military assistance for Kyiv.

But a phone call between the two leaders in June played out differently from previous ones, according to four people familiar with the call. Biden had barely finished telling Zelenskyy he'd just greenlighted another $1 billion in U.S. military assistance for Ukraine when Zelenskyy started listing all the additional help he needed and wasn't getting. Biden lost his temper, the people familiar with the call said. The American people were being quite generous, and his administration and the U.S. military were working hard to help Ukraine, he said, raising his voice, and Zelenskyy could show a little more gratitude.

Administration officials said Biden and Zelenskyy's relationship has only improved since the June phone call, after which Zelenskyy made a statement praising the U.S. for its generous assistance. But the clash reflects Biden's early awareness that both congressional and public support for sending billions of dollars to Ukraine could begin to fade. That moment has arrived just as the president prepares to ask Congress to greenlight even money for Ukraine.

Comment: Unheeded, the best defense is negotiation.

Read More...
Arrow Up

Lula defeats Bolsonaro to become Brazil's president

Mauricio Saverese, Diane Jeantet
The Washington Times
Sun, 30 Oct 2022 07:21 UTC
da Silva
© AP/Andre PennerBrazil elects Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to be president
Brazil's electoral authority said Sunday that Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the leftist Worker's Party defeated incumbent Jair Bolsonaro to become the country's next president.

With 98.8% of the votes tallied in the runoff vote, da Silva had 50.8% and Bolsonaro 49.2%, and the election authority said da Silva's victory was a mathematical certainty.

Da Silva — the country's former president from 2003-2010 — has promised to restore the country's more prosperous past, yet faces faces headwinds in a polarized society.

It is a stunning return to power for da Silva, 77, whose 2018 imprisonment over a corruption scandal sidelined him from that year's election, paving the way for then-candidate Bolsonaro's win and four years of far-right politics.

His victory marks the first time since Brazil's 1985 return to democracy that the sitting president has failed to win reelection. His inauguration is scheduled to take place on Jan. 1.

Thomas Traumann, an independent political analyst, compared the results to U.S. President Joe Biden's 2020 victory, saying da Silva is inheriting an extremely divided nation.
"The huge challenge that Lula has will be to pacify the country. People are not only polarized on political matters, but also have different values, identity and opinions. What's more, they don't care what the other side's values, identities and opinions are."

Comment: See also: Comeback kid Lula in the eye of a volcano

Read More...
Whistle

FBI whistleblower leaks document to Project Veritas


Conservative Fighters
Thu, 27 Oct 2022 01:00 UTC
leaked docs
© Project Veritas
Project Veritas shared an image on social media Thursday claiming an FBI whistleblower leaked a document showing the agency classified "misinformation" as an "election crime" ahead of the 2022 Midterm Elections next month.

According to the document, titled "2022 Midterm Elections Social Media Analysis Cheat Sheet," election crimes include eight sections that fall under federal jurisdiction, ranging from campaign finance to voter suppression. The details inform federal authorities what to look out for leading up to the November 8 election.

However, federal authorities have included misinformation, which means false or misleading information spread mistakenly or unintentionally, as something that could lead to a full or grand jury investigation.

The document also lists "disinformation" as an election crime, which points to "false or inaccurate information intended to mislead others." It also stated:
"Disinformation campaigns on social media are used to deliberately confuse, trick, or upset the public."
Read More...
Blue Planet

We are witnessing the birth of a new world order, where the West will simply have to live within its means

Sergey Karaganov
RT
Mon, 31 Oct 2022 17:30 UTC
Merkel Obama G7 Boris Johnson
© Michael Kappeler / picture alliance via Getty Image/FilesThe G7 leaders line up for an informal group photo at the 'Merkel - Obama' bench after dinner at the G7 meeting at Schloss Elmau in June, 2022.
At last week's Valdai Forum, in Moscow I was invited to speak at a session entitled "The Crumbling World: Lessons for the Future from the Political-Military Crisis of 2022." The event has become a leader in the international intellectual community in dealing with global affairs of the present and future. But the title of the session gave me doubts, even if I didn't protest.

The crisis did not start in 2022, it started in the mid-1990s - just as the Second World War really began with the post-First World War Treaty of Versailles, which was unfair and laid the foundations for what transpired.

Almost three decades ago, the West refused to strike a just arrangement with post-Soviet Russia. Instead, as it seemed to many at the time, it created a new domination system based on so-called "rules."
Read More...
Arrow Up

Comeback kid Lula in the eye of a volcano

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Mon, 31 Oct 2022 16:46 UTC
Lula wins but his room for maneuver will be limited by powerful forces aligned against his Global South agenda.

Lula Brazil
© TwitterGuess who's back in Brazil?
Luis Ignacio "Lula" da Silva may be the ultimate 21st century political comeback kid. At 77, fit and sharp, leading an alliance of 10 political parties, he has just been elected as Brazilian president for what will be a de facto third term after his first two from 2003 to 2010.

Lula even staged a comeback-inside-a-comeback, during the extremely fast and tight electronic vote counting, reaching 50.9% against 49.1% to the incumbent, extreme right President Jair Bolsonaro, representing a difference of only two million votes in a country of 215 million people. Lula's back in office on January 1, 2023.

Lula's first speech was somewhat anti-Lula; noted for his Garcia Marquez-style improvisations and folksy stream of consciousness, he read from a measured, carefully-prepared script.

Lula emphasized the defense of democracy; the fight against hunger; the drive for sustainable development with social inclusion; a "relentless fight against racism, prejudice and discrimination."

He invited international cooperation to preserve the Amazon rainforest and will fight for fair global trade, instead of trade "that condemns our country to be an eternal exporter of raw materials."

Lula, always an exceptional negotiator, managed to win against the formidable state machine apparatus unleashed by Bolsonaro, which saw the distribution of billions of dollars in vote-buying; an avalanche of fake news; outright intimidation and attempts of voter suppression against the poor by rabid Bolsonarists; and countless episodes of political violence.

Lula inherits a devastated nation that, much like the US, is completely polarized. From 2003 to 2010 - he rose to power, incidentally, only two months before America's "shock and awe" against Iraq - it was quite a different story.
Read More...
Bad Guys

UK responds to Russian accusation over Nord Stream


RT
Sat, 29 Oct 2022 14:21 UTC
Nord Stream 2
© Danish Defence/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesDanish Defense shows the gas leaking at Nord Stream 2 seen from the Danish F-16 interceptor on Bornholm, Denmark on September 27, 2022.
London denies it was behind the pipeline sabotage, dismissing Moscow's claim as an "invented story."

The United Kingdom has rebuffed a Russian accusation that it orchestrated an attack on the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea. The statement came hours after Moscow claimed that the Royal Navy was involved in the explosions.

Writing on Twitter on Saturday, the UK Ministry of Defence claimed that Moscow "is resorting to peddling false claims of an epic scale" in an effort to detract the global community from "their disastrous handling of the illegal invasion of Ukraine."

Comment:
See also:

Read More...
Cell Phone

Liz Truss's personal hacked phone was so compromised it was locked away in a 'secure location' as experts fear top secret negotiations and private messages may have been leaked

Glen Owen and Dan Hodges
Daily Mail
Sat, 29 Oct 2022 22:00 UTC
liz truss phone
The former Prime Minister's phone was reportedly compromised while Ms Truss was Foreign Secretary.
Liz Truss's personal mobile phone was hacked by agents suspected of working for the Kremlin, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The cyber-spies are believed to have gained access to top-secret exchanges with key international partners as well as private conversations with her leading political ally, Kwasi Kwarteng.

One source said that the phone was so heavily compromised that it has now been placed in a locked safe inside a secure Government location.
Read More...
Attention

Bill Gates meets with UK opposition leader Starmer to discuss 'global health' and climate

Kurt Zindulka
Breitbart
Thu, 27 Oct 2022 00:00 UTC
Keir Starmer Bill Gates
© Stefan Rousseau/ PA Images via Getty ImagesKeir Starmer & Bill Gates
Two days after the installation of Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Microsoft founder Bill Gates met with Sunak's counterpart in the parliament, Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer to reportedly discuss climate change and "global health".

On Wednesday, leader of the opposition Sir Keir Starmer met with 'master of the universe' Bill Gates in his office in the Parliament.

Commenting on the meeting, a Labour Party spokesman said: "Keir Starmer was pleased to meet with Bill Gates today and discuss a number of issues of mutual concern including how the UK best supports global health and equitable development, and how we use the goal of net zero to invest in science and technology to deliver the jobs and growth of the future."

Comment: For more on Keir Starmer check out the articles below:

Read More...