Puppet MastersS


Pocket Knife

Ukraine's new commander-in-chief is an unpopular 'butcher' - Politico


RT
Fri, 09 Feb 2024 13:58 UTC
Syrsky
© Efrem Lukatsky/APGeneral Aleksandr Syrsky (R) looks at a map with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky
Kharkov Region, Ukraine • November 30, 2023
Troops are wary of General Aleksandr Syrsky, and reportedly fear that he will throw them into "fruitless assaults"...

Ukraine's new armed forces chief, General Aleksandr Syrsky, is deeply unpopular among the rank and file of the Ukrainian military, who view him as a "butcher" willing to sacrifice waves of troops, Politico reported on Thursday.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky named Syrsky as the new head of the armed forces on Thursday, after firing General Valery Zaluzhny from the post. The switch had been the subject of media rumors for several weeks, and Zelensky hinted in an interview last week that it would form part of a wider "reset" of the country's military and civilian leadership.

Syrsky is a controversial choice, best known for "leading forces into a meat grinder in Bakhmut [called Artyomovsk in Russia], sending wave after wave of troops to face opposition fire," Politico said.

The unsuccessful defense of Artyomovsk/Bakhmut last year cost Ukraine dearly, and earned Syrsky the nickname 'butcher', an anonymous source within the Ukrainian military told the news site. A captain told the outlet that Syrsky's appointment is a "very bad decision," adding that soldiers refer to him as 'General200', a nickname that Politico said refers to 200 of his men dying, but could also refer to 'Cargo 200', a Soviet and Russian military code used to describe corpses being removed from the battlefield.
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Bullseye

US strike kills senior Kataib Hezbollah commander in Baghdad


Middle East Eye
Wed, 07 Feb 2024 22:24 UTC
funeral
© Ahmed al-Rubaye/AFPMembers of the group Kataib Hezbollah carry the body of fallen comrade Hassan Hannadi al-Amiri during his funeral 26 December 2023
The US military said it killed a high-ranking commander in Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia in Iraq, on Wednesday night in Baghdad in retaliation for a drone attack in Jordan that killed three US soldiers.

The strike killed at least three people, including senior Kataib Hezbollah commanders Abu Baqir al-Saadi and Arkan al-Alaywi. Video footage of the strike site in eastern Baghdad showed an SUV engulfed in flames.

US Central Command said it conducted a "unilateral strike" in retaliation to a drone attack last week at a remote desert outpost in Jordan that killed three US soldiers.

The US said the Kataib Hezbollah commander killed in Wednesday's strike was "responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on US forces in the region".

The strike on Tower 22 in a remote sliver of northeast Jordan sent a shockwave through Washington, as it marked the first public deaths of US soldiers since attacks on US troops began, following the outbreak of war in Gaza in October. The attack came just as US officials had assessed that Iran was looking to rein in its proxies to prevent attacks on US forces that could lead to the outbreak of a wider war.

On Friday, the US launched strikes on 85 targets in Syria and Iraq that it said were affiliated with Iran and its allies. But Wednesday's strike marks the most powerful response yet. A former senior US defence official previously told MEE that Washington was weighing strikes on senior Iran-backed commanders in Iraq.
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USA

Pakistan election: Imran Khan's party wins majority, despite American puppet regime throwing him in jail

Ben Farmer
The Telegraph
Sat, 10 Feb 2024 13:29 UTC
Gen. Asim Munir Pakistan
© CopyrightGen. Asim Munir praised the successful conduct of Pakistan's bitterly contested elections. The military's favoured party failed to win a majority amid a swell of support for jailed Imran Khan
Pakistan's army chief praised the successful conduct of bitterly contested elections and called on politicians to show "maturity and unity" after the military's favoured party failed to win a majority.

Party leaders began coalition horse-trading after a swell of support for jailed Imran Khan prevented the army-backed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) from winning.

With results still coming in, Mr Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party continued to claim it had been cheated out of seats by systematic rigging.

Comment: Imran Khan authorised the following release:


Footage:




See also: Jeffrey D. Sachs: The US toppling of Imran Khan

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TV

Best of the Web: Tucker Carlson also met whistleblower Edward Snowden and Biden sexual assault victim Tara Reade in Moscow

Gustaf Kilander
Independent
Sat, 10 Feb 2024 17:01 UTC
Edward Snowden
© Associated PressEdward Snowden was granted asylum in Russia in 2013. NSA whistleblower featured heavily in Russian media before seeking more privacy in his family life.
Tucker Carlson met with NSA leaker Edward Snowden while in Moscow, according to Semafor.


Comment: Russian news agency TASS confirmed the meeting.


The former whistleblower featured heavily in Russian media before seeking more privacy in his family life.

Mr Snowden was initially granted asylum in Russia in 2013 after leaking a trove of classified National Security Agency (NSA) documents, and then was granted permanent resident status in Russia in 2020.


Comment: Snowden may have narrowly escaped a fate similar to that of Julian Assange, who is currently suffering cruel and unusual punishment in prison in England.


That year, he announced his decision to seek duel citizenship, stating in a tweet that "after years of separation from our parents, my wife and I have no desire to be separated from our son."

Comment: Here's an example of how Western media conduct interviews:


The following is an interesting article explaining why Putin chose to explain the history of the region to a Western audience:
[...]
He is saying: We have our own unique historical existence and our own world. You have no right to impose your historically nihilistic reign of instant-gratification upon our existence.

The separation between the Western and Russian world is not just a separation between two civilizations. It is a separation between two completely different relationships to history itself.

For the 'Western world' is just as ignorant of its own history, as it is of Russia's!

To appreciate the gap between the Western and Russian world, is the only way Russia and the West can ever come to an understanding.

But that will take an education far greater than what can be communicated in a few hours.

This animation shows the build up to Russia's SMO:



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Attention

What NO ONE is saying about Tucker Carlson's Putin interview

Kit Knightly
Off-Guradian
Sat, 10 Feb 2024 16:51 UTC
Tucker and Putin
© Off-Guardian
Everyone is talking about Tucker Carlson's interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The two-hour long conversation was live-streamed on twitter. Every major news outlet has had some form of coverage.

You can watch the whole thing here:

After eight years of covering the Ukraine coup/civil War, and more specifically Western propaganda on Russia, I could pretty much tell you everything Putin was going to say before he said it.

Anybody who has covered Russia or Ukraine could tell you that.

He was always going to detail, in cogent and historically literate terms, Russia's position on Ukraine.

He was always going to cite the (very real) broken promises Western diplomats made about NATO's Eastward expansion.

He was almost certainly going remake his very worthy point about US foreign policy never seeming to change no matter who is President.

He's an intelligent and persuasive speaker, and he was always going to do well.

And, if this was 2014, that would be great.

But it's not 2014 is it?
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Tank

Biden says Israel's military response in Gaza 'over the top'

Aldgra Fredly
The Epoch Times
Fri, 09 Feb 2024 00:00 UTC
US President Joe Biden
© Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty ImagesPresident Joe Biden delivers remarks in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House on February 8, 2024 in Washington, DC. Biden addressed the Special Counsel's report on his handling of classified material, and the status of the war in Gaza.
President Joe Biden has called Israel's response in Gaza "over the top" and said he had pushed for a temporary ceasefire in the conflict to allow the release of hostages held by Hamas.

"I'm of the view, as you know, that the conduct of the response in the Gaza Strip has been over the top," President Biden told reporters at the White House on Thursday.

President Biden said that he has been working to increase humanitarian assistance into Gaza. "A lot of innocent people are starving. A lot of innocent people are in trouble and dying. And it's got to stop," he said.

Comment: So they are playing for time. The longer they put off a ceasefire and stall negotiations about it, the more innocent people can be eliminated. And the whole world is watching.

See also:

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Brain

Biden's own DOJ said he has 'diminished faculties and a faulty memory'

Rob Crilly and Wills Robinson
Daily Mail
Thu, 08 Feb 2024 22:26 UTC
biden garage
President Joe Biden will not be criminally charged with stashing classified documents in his garage and private office.
The Department of Justice released its long-awaited investigation into Joe Biden's mishandling of classified documents Thursday, delivering a damning assessment of the president's 'diminished faculties' and limited memory.

Although the report did not recommend bringing charges against the 81-year-old, it provides a cascade of damaging findings about files found in Biden's garage as well as the president's fitness for office.

In interviews with investigators, Biden became muddled about the dates he was vice president and could not even remember the year in which his son Beau died.

Comment: The double-standard here is glaring once again proving the two-tiered justice system - what's OK for Biden is not OK for Trump.

See also:

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Alarm Clock

Poland's President believes Trump could end Ukraine War in 24 hours

Kaitlin Lewis
Newsweek
Wed, 07 Feb 2024 19:41 UTC
trump duda
© Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesThen-U.S. President Donald Trump, left, greets Polish President Andrzej Duda at the White House on June 24, 2020, in Washington, D.C. Duda told reporters Wednesday that he trusts Trump to follow through on his promises, including the former president's vow to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours.
Polish President Andrzej Duda told reporters on Wednesday that he believes former President Donald Trump would keep his promise to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours.

"I can say from my personal experience as the president of the Polish Republic ... What [Trump] promised to me was fulfilled," Duda said at a press briefing during his trip to Rwanda on Wednesday.

"Therefore, I can say that President Trump keeps his word and if he says something, he takes it seriously," the Polish leader added. "That is as much as I can tell right now."

Comment: Trump's methods for ending the Ukraine conflict probably has little if anything to do with peace negotiations. Cut all funding and weaponizing of Ukraine and the conflict ends.

See also:

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Alarm Clock

UK 'ideologues' want Ukraine conflict to engulf all of Europe - Moscow


RT
Thu, 08 Feb 2024 19:41 UTC
Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin walks in central London in February 2022
© Stefan Rousseau/PA Images via Getty ImagesRussian Ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin walks in central London in February 2022.
Russia's ambassador to London has argued that there is no legitimate threat of a military clash with British forces

Russia's ambassador to London has dismissed warnings of a potential war between Moscow and the UK, accusing British "idealogues" of trying to escalate hype around the Ukraine crisis into fueling a wider conflict, for which he sees no underlying basis.

Asked in an interview with Russian media outlet RTVI about the threat of a military clash with the UK, Ambassador Andrey Kelin said he doubts that such a conflict could develop. "We are quite far from each other, we have no territorial claims against each other, we have no ideological differences," Kelin said in the interview, published on Wednesday.

Comment: The talk from the UK 'ideologues' may also be inspired by a long term strategy:

NATO is desperate for war (2014)
To avoid losing control of Europe, the U.S. has a war plan for Europe and Russia (2014)
Pentagon's plan for Europe? Make it the frontline in a war with Russia (This was 2017!)

Reading a few headlines illustrates the scope of the issues faced by the UK military:

Russia demilitarizing the West: The Times reports Britain's weapons stockpiles reduced to 'nothing'
Rishi Sunak disagrees with Army chief who says UK must be ready to fight Russia
Public face call-up if we go to war, military chief warns
New UK Army chief tells troops to be ready to 'defeat Russia in battle'
Western 'idiots' want World War III - ex-Russian president
British warships lack firepower to attack Houthi land targets - former defence chief
British Army spends millions in gay recruitment drive as soldier numbers fall
British Army slammed over recruitment video capitulating to PC culture, focusing on gender and racial identity politics
British Army chief complains politicians 'spawned fallacies' about war to justify military spending cuts
Head of British Army: Millennials' narcissism making recruitment difficult
UK's flagship aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth suffers ANOTHER malfunction and won't lead major NATO war game
$3.5bn UK aircraft carrier breaks down again
Britain's Royal Navy finally bans porn & saucy pin-ups aboard its warships
British Army loses fight to claim diplomatic immunity from prosecution over Kenya bushfire
British navy involved in Nord Stream 2 'terrorist attack' - Russia
British Royal Navy resorts to cannibalism to stay afloat
Little Britain: UK aircraft carriers can't be sent to Red Sea because of Navy staffing crisis
British Royal Navy wasted £1.4 million "escorting" Russian fleet to Syria, despite being broke
British nuclear sub collides with merchant vessel off Gibraltar
British warship is out of action after CRASHING into another Royal Navy vessel, ship 'got stuck in reverse'
Big revelation: UK's Royal Navy rescued Manchester bomber from Libyan war 3 years before he killed 22
What you don't know about the Manchester bomber 'rescued from Libya' by the Royal Navy
Royal Navy 'detects' and 'marks' Russian warships on non-secret voyage in the English Channel, sends British media into a frenzy
British Air Force last month 'lost' Special Forces plane while protecting ISIS in Syria

The size of and the state of the army is not the only factor for exerting influence:
On the one hand: Putin 'tried everything possible' to make peace - Ukrainian diplomat but who needs Russia when the British PM was at hand.

Did Boris Johnson scuttle the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine?
Russia's top spy explains why Ukrainian crisis remains deadlocked

One can find many other articles about the British and American role in derailing the peace talks in Ukraine. From this angle, there is no reason to underestimate the potential of the UK for stirring up strife and conflict also west of Ukraine.

If the UK military is weak, its work can to some extent be made up for by outsourcing, by proxies and by stirring up problems where they are needed, just as happened in Syria and Ukraine. Will that happen in the EU area too, or have the UK 'ideologues' already achieved "Ukraine conflict to engulf all of Europe", considering how the EU coffers, the citizens and and military supplies of its countries have been depleted since the derailing of the peace initiatives in Ukraine in 2022? Of course there is no need to lay all the blame on the UK or even the US, there are willing supporters within the EU, just as there was in a place like Syria.

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Bad Guys

Best of the Web: German foreign minister's grandfather was 'ardent Nazi' - Bild


RT
Fri, 09 Feb 2024 08:12 UTC
Annalena Baerbock
© AP / Aaron FavilaAnnalena Baerbock gestures during a press conference in Makati, Philippines, January 11, 2024
Annalena Baerbock's office said she had no idea that her ancestor was a committed follower of Hitler.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock's grandfather was "an unconditional National Socialist" who had read 'Mein Kampf' and fully stood with the Nazi regime, according to documents seen by the tabloid Bild.

Baerbock has spoken publicly about her grandfather's wartime experiences, telling an audience in 2022 that Waldemar Baerbock returned to Germany from the east in early 1945 "as a defeated soldier."

What Baerbock did not mention was that her grandfather was an officer in the Wehrmacht, and had been awarded one of the Third Reich's highest military honors, the War Merit Cross with Swords in 1944, Bild reported on Thursday. The cross was bestowed on soldiers for "special services when deployed under enemy weapons or for special services in military warfare."

Comment: See also:

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