Puppet MastersS


Chess

Durham the incorruptible

TheDarkMan
The Duran
Thu, 20 Oct 2022 00:00 UTC
Justice
© iStock
In 2002, John Durham secured the conviction of John J. Connolly, a corrupt FBI agent who had thrown in his lot with organised crime in New England. It was Durham's stellar record that led William Barr to appoint him Special Counsel to investigate the conspiracy to subvert and then to overthrow the Presidency of Donald Trump. Yet the two prosecutions he initiated have both resulted in total acquittals with neither defendant even taking the stand.

First, Michael Sussmann was acquitted, and now, this month, Russian national Igor Danchenko has been cleared. Zero out of two doesn't sound good, but there was a lot more to both prosecutions than mere convictions or the lack thereof.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Stormtrooper

US advisor to Ukraine's military reveals war goals


RT
Thu, 20 Oct 2022 18:07 UTC
Dan Rice us advisor ukraine
Dan Rice, a U.S. combat veteran and Special Advisor to Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces
An aide to a top Ukrainian commander said Kiev seeks to reclaim all territories lost to Russia since 2014

Ukraine will refuse to negotiate with Russia and fight to return to its 1991 borders - established following an independence vote during the collapse of the Soviet Union - according to Dan Rice, an American citizen advising the commander in chief of Kiev's armed forces.

In an interview with CNN's Erin Burnett on Tuesday, Rice appealed to Western states for additional arms shipments to Ukraine, adding that while the country desperately needs air defense systems and aircraft, it has no interest in diplomacy with Moscow.

Comment: Err, good luck with all that.

Read More...
Magic Wand

Escobar: 'Peaceful modernization': China's offering to the Global South

Pepe Escobar
The Cradle
Thu, 20 Oct 2022 17:47 UTC
Xi Jinping
© The CradleXi Jinping just offered the Global South a stark alternative to decades of western diktats, war, and economic duress. 'Peaceful modernization' will establish sovereignty, economy, and independence for the world's struggling states.
President Xi Jinping's work report at the start of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) this past Sunday in Beijing contained not only a blueprint for the development of the civilization-state, but for the whole Global South.

Xi's 1h45min speech actually delivered a shorter version of the full work report - see attached PDF - which gets into way more detail on an array of socio-political themes.

This was the culmination of a complex collective effort that went on for months. When he received the final text, Xi commented, revised and edited it.

In a nutshell, the CPC master plan is twofold: finalize "socialist modernization" from 2020 to 2035; and build China - via peaceful modernization - as a modern socialist country that is "prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, and harmonious" all the way to 2049, signaling the centenary of the foundation of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

The central concept in the work report is peaceful modernization - and how to accomplish it. As Xi summarized, "It contains elements that are common to the modernization processes of all countries, but it is more characterized by features that are unique to the Chinese context."

Comment: The above article by Escobar builds on a previous article from 2 days ago about the Chinese leadership congress.

China: Xi gets ready for the final countdown

Read More...
Dollars

Current and ex-agents allege Director Christopher Wray's use of FBI jet amounts to 'embezzlement,'

Miranda Devine
New York Post
Wed, 19 Oct 2022 17:19 UTC
ChristopherWray
© FBI/FlickrFBI Director Christopher Wray is facing criticism over his alleged misuse of the bureau's private jet.
Former and current FBI agents are fuming about Director Christopher Wray's use of the FBI's private jet, which originally was intended by Congress only to be used for counterterrorism purposes.

A lot of other Americans would like to know why Wray cut short a Senate oversight hearing on Aug. 4 to fly in the FBI jet to his family holiday destination in the Adirondacks, after telling Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) that he had "business" to attend to.

Republican members of Congress sent a formal letter to Wray on Aug. 15 asking whether the flight was in "compliance with the applicable federal regulations and requirements" and whether he is "properly reimbursing federal taxpayers for your personal travel aboard government aircraft."

Comment: So, let's see Wray's receipts reimbursing the government. Arrogance aside, his actions could cripple agents' response times as:
"The FBI acquired the Gulfstream for the express purpose of moving its own Counterterrorism Rapid Deployment teams to anywhere in the world to deal with an act of terrorism,
Of course, as the FBI is famous for arranging many of the 'terrorist acts' it busts, perhaps Wray knows when the jet's schedule is clear.

Read More...
Russian Flag

Russia looking to reduce diplomatic presence in West - Lavrov


RT
Tue, 18 Oct 2022 23:07 UTC
russian foreign minister lavrov
© Getty Images / Russian Foreign Ministry
"There is no work" in the US and Europe, but other parts of the world are full of opportunities, the foreign minister has said.

Russia may pull back on its diplomatic efforts in the West, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told new ministry recruits on Tuesday, citing the increasingly open hostility faced by Russian diplomats and the need to focus on building and expanding relationships in the rest of the world.

"People work in conditions that can hardly be called human," Lavrov said, referring to the "constant problems, constant threats." He added that there is "no point" in maintaining the same level of diplomatic presence. "There's no work there ever since Europe decided to close itself off from us."

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Post-It Note

Report on alleged Ukrainian war crimes presented to UN


RT
Tue, 18 Oct 2022 16:38 UTC
Ukrainian soldiers
© Getty Images / Carl CourtUkrainian soldiers pictured by a US-supplied MaxxPro MRAP vehicle.
The transgressions related to at least two cases, a UN-backed commission of inquiry claims.

A commission set up by the UN human rights watchdog, the OHCHR, has documented at least two war crimes committed by the Ukrainian military amid the conflict between Moscow and Kiev.

The preliminary, unedited version of the document, compiled by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, was submitted to the General Assembly on Tuesday.

Comment: Their whole 'Russia is worse' attitude shows the repercussions for these war crimes will likely be zero.

See also:

Read More...
Wolf

European energy crisis is 'good' says Bill Gates


RT
Thu, 20 Oct 2022 10:47 UTC
Bill Gates
© Getty Images / Mike Lawrence
Europe's gas supply and affordability crisis is actually "good for the long run," Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told CNBC on Tuesday. He explained that it would ultimately force the continent to embrace renewable energy, adding that "people won't want to be dependent on Russian natural gas."

Gates acknowledged that the public "did get a little optimistic about how quickly the transition [to renewables] could be done," admitting the need to find "non-Russian hydrocarbon sources."


Comment: It wasn't the public that set any of the climate policy agendas. It was technocrats seemingly hell bent on destroying their own economies.


Elaborating on the matter, the founder of climate-oriented venture capital fund Breakthrough Energy Ventures published an essay titled 'State of the Energy Transition' on his blog on the same day. Speaking about global greenhouse gas emissions, Gates noted that the ultimate goal of going "from 51 billion tons a year to zero" should be achieved "in the next three decades."

Comment: Markets would adjust if there were sufficient and capable means. The reason markets aren't transitioning is because the technology necessary for such a transition simply doesn't exist. Without the requisite technological innovations it doesn't matter what plans get drawn up or implemented because the failure of those plans are inevitable.

Of course, from the way Gates talks it seems even a destroyed economy is preferred if it means net zero emissions. Apparently the destruction of a few billion of peoples' livelihoods and lifestyles are nothing when an unreachable utopia is at stake.

Read More...
Magic Wand

US media accuses Russia of election interference once again


RT
Tue, 18 Oct 2022 10:13 UTC
American voting station, voting precinct
© Getty Images / Octavio Jones
With US Democrats facing low chances of winning next month's congressional midterm elections, Yahoo News has come up with a likely and familiar culprit in advance: Russian interference.

This time, Moscow is putting its thumb on the US election scales by triggering soaring inflation through the Ukraine crisis, Rick Newman, a senior columnist for the online news outlet, wrote on Tuesday. With the US inflation rate hovering near a 40-year high, voters are struggling financially, portending an uphill election battle for President Joe Biden's party.

"When voters struggle, they blame incumbents, which is why President Biden and his fellow Democrats face long odds of keeping control of Congress in November," Newman said. He added that "Russian acts of aggression, both military and economic, are probably the biggest factors pushing food and energy prices higher."

Comment: Rising prices have nothing to do with previous Federal Reserve actions, Biden's sanctions, Covid policies, and so forth. No. It's all Putin's fault. One wonders just how these buffoons can tie their shoes in the morning.

Read More...
Arrow Up

Ethiopia exposes western hypocrisy over Ukraine

Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture
Wed, 19 Oct 2022 04:23 UTC
Ethiopian Fighters
© REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri
The two-year war in Ethiopia has flared up again in its besieged northern Tigray region where millions of people have been displaced and are suffering from famine. The United States, the European Union, and other Western governments are doing nothing to avert the war in the Horn of Africa.

The scale of suffering and violations in Ethiopia totally overshadows what is happening in Ukraine where the U.S. and its NATO partners are showering billions of dollars in financial aid and military weapons. The indifference among Western governments and media toward Ethiopia's horror illuminates the rank hypocrisy and cynical political motivations for their purported "concern" about Ukraine.

Concern for Ukraine is a cynical geopolitical game to do with confronting and subduing Russia. We know this because millions of people suffering in Ethiopia register hardly a blip of attention, never mind condemnation, among Western governments and media.

Indeed, the Western lack of concern about Ethiopia is not merely due to apathetic indifference. Arguably, the United States and its dutiful European allies share responsibility for the humanitarian disaster in Africa's second-most populous nation.

The World Bank has released millions of dollars to the Ethiopian government of Abiy Ahmed despite his army's ongoing offensive against the Tigray region and despite his policy of laying siege on the entire population of some six million people, preventing any form of humanitarian access. The financial support from the West props up the Abiy government in Addis Ababa.

Washington and the European Union say little if anything in terms of protesting against the genocidal aggression being waged by Ethiopia's central government against the Tigray.

Not only that but Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is aided and abetted by Eritrea's dictator Isaias Afwerki to attack the Tigray region. The war has flared up in recent weeks with Ethiopian national defense forces allied with the Eritrean military to launch air and ground assaults on towns and villages.
Read More...
Quenelle - Golden

Malaysia busts Mossad team, secures release of kidnapped Palestinian activist


Press TV
Tue, 18 Oct 2022 11:25 UTC
malaysia palestine
© Anadolu AgencyA file photo shows a part of a rally held in support of the Palestinian people in Malaysia.
Malaysian authorities have secured the release of a Palestinian activist who was kidnapped by agents of the Israeli spy agency over alleged links with the armed wing of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.

According to an Al-Jazeera report, the Palestinian activist, a computer programmer by profession, was kidnapped in Kuala Lumpur on September 28 by Malaysian agents who had been recruited and trained by the Israeli spy agency Mossad in Europe.

The report said the man was interrogated by Mossad officers in Tel Aviv via video conference on matters related to Hamas and its armed wing, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

Comment:

See also:

Read More...