Puppet MastersS


Passport

EU planned for 'vaccination passports' since 2018

Kit Knightly
Off Guardian
Fri, 22 May 2020 00:00 UTC
EU/coronavirus
© BioWorld
"Roadmap on Vaccination" outlines 3 year plan for boosting "vaccine confidence" and advancing "electronic tracking." A report published by the European Commission in late 2019 reveals that the EU has been looking to increase the scope and power of vaccination programmes since well before the current "pandemic".

The endpoint of the Roadmap is, among many other things, to introduce a "common vaccination card/passport" for all EU citizens.

This proposal will be appearing before the commission in 2022, with a "feasibility study" set to run from 2019 through 2021 (meaning, as of now, it's about halfway through).

To underline the point:
The "vaccination roadmap" is not an improvised response to the Covid19 pandemic, but rather an ongoing plan with roots going back to 2018, when the EU released a survey of the public's attitude toward vaccines titled "2018 State of Vaccine Confidence".
On the back of this research, the EU then commissioned a technical report titled "Designing and implementing an immunisation information system", on - among other things - the plausibility of an EU-wide vaccination monitoring system.
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Mail

Pelosi's mail-in ballot push: 'We're now calling it voting at home'

Tony Lee
Breitbart
Sun, 24 May 2020 00:00 UTC
Pelosi
© CSpanHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) this week signaled that Democrats are going to push for more expanded mail-in voting by referring to it now as "voting at home." Pelosi told MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell:
"We're now calling it voting at home because that's really what it's all about — enabling people to vote at home."
Pelosi said the $3.6 billion in the House's HEROES Act is "necessary to conduct an election" where all voters would receive absentee ballots. The House Speaker also reportedly said this week $3.6 billion is just
"a small price to pay for our democracy and the good health of people going to the polls."[If Republicans "don't support the resources, then they have stood in the way of voting, which is in keeping with their voter suppression in general."

Voting is "under assault both from a systematic national, nationwide campaign of voter suppression and from the coronavirus. People should not have to choose between voting and preserving their good health and that of their families."
The House Speaker has also said that more funds are needed for same-day registration services and to provide more and safer opportunities for voters to also "vote well in advance of Election Day."

Comment: How secure will this election be? Very __, Sort of __, Unlikely __, When hell freezes over _X_.

See also:

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Light Sabers

NATO rejects Russia's offer to MUTUALLY freeze military drills amid Covid-19 pandemic


RT
Tue, 26 May 2020 18:16 UTC
us troops poland
© Kacper Pempel / Reuters
NATO has ignored Moscow's proposal to jointly put military exercises on hold while the world is dealing with the deadly Covid-19 pandemic. Russia said it can't afford "unilateral concessions" to the Western bloc.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had addressed NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, proposing to mutually halt military drills as a "constructive and positive step" towards restraint amid the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak, Russian business newspaper Kommersant reported. NATO promptly rejected this idea.

The US-led military bloc's spokesperson, Oana Lungescu, told the paper that NATO's exercises are purely defensive and proportionate,while the enhanced posturing near Russia's western borders is a response to Moscowramping up its military potential in the Baltic Sea region.

Comment: The West hypocritically goes around crowing about "Russian aggression" but when the time comes to give an example of friendly, diplomatic relations they instead decide to behave like the warmonger Empire they actually are.

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Snakes in Suits

Poroshenko fails to appear for questioning as witness in illegal transfer of paintings

RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
RFE/RL
Tue, 26 May 2020 18:10 UTC
Petro Poroshenko
Petro Poroshenko
Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has failed to appear at the State Bureau of Investigations (DBR) for questioning as a witness in a case about the alleged illegal transfer of cultural objects across the border.

Poroshenko's lawyer, Ihor Holovan, said on Facebook that his client did not appear at the DBR headquarters in Kyiv on May 26 because the summons for questioning was "illegal" since his client should have been served the subpoena personally, which was not the case.

Holovan called his client "the main political rival" of incumbent President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and claimed that the case in question, as well as other cases against Poroshenko, were politically motivated.
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Question

Why are Arab states no longer bound to follow Washington's policy on Iran?

Salman Rafi Sheikh
New Eastern Outlook
Mon, 25 May 2020 17:30 UTC
Donald Trump, Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud
With the US military presence in the Persian Gulf dwindling on the back of Pentagon's recent withdrawal of troops from Saudi Arabia, an important question that the Gulf Arab states need to consider is whether they are to follow the US-imposed anti-Iranian line. For the US, Iran remains an enemy state. Accordingly, the US continues to thrash fresh sanctions, issue warnings to the Iranian navy against any 'misadventure' in the Gulf, and find ways to block the sale of Iranian oil. For the Saudis and the rest of erstwhile Iran's rival states — the UAE, Kuwait etc — this enmity, while real in its own sense, does no longer reflect the true reality of the Middle Eastern geo-politics. For the Gulf states, the US strategy of "maximum pressure" has not worked to their advantage. If "maximum" economic and political pressure has not worked, nothing will, especially if one is to consider the feeble military potential of the Gulf states vis-à-vis Iran, which means there's a need to approach the situation from a different angle.

As it stands, if Gulf states continue to mindlessly pursue the "maximum pressure" strategy, it will only make future diplomatic initiatives and normalisation of relations difficult. Therefore, in the wake of US withdrawal from the Middle and relocation of military systems, it is important that the Gulf states exploit the relaxed security scenario and build better relations with Iran. Extended cooperation to combat COVID-19 can provide an additional boost to the fragile diplomatic ties.
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Brick Wall

Erdogan says Turkey 'won't allow' Israel to claim new West Bank territories


Sputnik
Tue, 26 May 2020 17:43 UTC
erdogan
© AP Photo / Burhan Ozbilici
The Turkish president's comments come a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his intention to "apply sovereignty in a wise way in Judea and Samaria", calling parts of the West Bank by their biblical names.

In a televised address for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr on Sunday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened Israel over its new government's plan to claim parts of the West Bank.

"We are witnessing a new plan of occupation and annexation by Israel that threatens Palestinian sovereignty and is contrary to international law", Erdogan said, adding Turkey is the "only voice defending the Palestinians today".
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Chess

Afghan government to free 900 more Taliban prisoners


RFE/RL
Tue, 26 May 2020 17:25 UTC
Taliban Prisoners
An earlier release of Taliban prisoners by the Afghan government
The Afghan government plans to release 900 more Taliban prisoners as a three-day cease-fire with the militants draws to an end.

The break in fighting, which came into effect on May 24 to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, was for the most part holding out across the country, officials said.

The government earlier responded to the Taliban's cease-fire offer by announcing plans to release up to 2,000 militant prisoners.

"There is a decision to release 900 today," National Security Council spokesman Javid Faisal said on May 26, adding that the precise number could vary subject to legal procedures.

If completed, it would be the biggest group of Taliban prisoners freed so far.
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Network

Iranian fuel tanker reaches Venezuelan refinery


RFE/RL
Mon, 25 May 2020 00:29 UTC
Iranian vessels
One of the Iranian vessels (right) is seen in international waters crossing the Gibraltar stretch on May 20.
An Iranian tanker carrying fuel has reached port in Venezuela amid escalating tensions between Washington and the two U.S.-sanctioned countries.

Iran's English-language Press TV reported on May 25 that the vessel, the first of five Iran has sent to the South American country, moored at El Palito, a Venezuelan port run by state oil company PDVSA.

The ship-tracking service MarineTraffic also confirmed the arrival of the tanker.

"The Iranian oil/chem Handymax tanker, FORTUNE, which loaded 43 million liters of gasoline during mid-March at Port Shahid Rajaee, Iran, has now moored at berth 2 at the refinery of El Palito, Venezuela, situated [200 kilometers] west of capital city, Caracas," tweeted TankerTrackers.com.
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Dominoes

Putin: The peak of the spread of Covid-19 in Russia has passed. Postponed Victory Day parade will be held on June 24

Jonny Tickle
RT
Tue, 26 May 2020 17:16 UTC
putin
© RIA Novosti
President Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia's postponed Victory Day parade will take place on June 24. First planned for May 9, the 75th-anniversary celebration of Soviet victory over Nazism was canceled due to Covid-19.

According to the president, the peak of the spread of coronavirus in Russia has passed, and it is now possible to plan a victory parade.

"I order you to begin preparations for the military parade in honor of the 75th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War in the capital of Russia, Moscow, and in other cities," he told Russia's Minister of Defence Sergey Shoigu.

June 24 will be the 75th anniversary of the first-ever victory parade, which took place on Red Square in 1945.
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Propaganda

NY Times on Memorial Day weekend: US military celebrates white supremacism

Talia Kaplan
Fox News
Tue, 26 May 2020 16:39 UTC
The new york times
© AP Photo / Bebeto Matthews
As Americans reeling from coronavirus stay-at-home orders struggle to celebrate the nation's heroes on Memorial Day, The New York Times published an editorial over the weekend that claims the U.S. military celebrates white supremacy.

On Sunday, The New York Times Editorial Board published the piece titled "Why Does the U.S. Military Celebrate White Supremacy?" The editorial made the argument that it's time to rename military bases after "American heroes, not racist traitors."

Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Rath Hoffman tweeted Sunday night in response: "On a solemn day for remembering those that have given their lives for our country fighting against tyranny and subjugation, the NYT has more than a million possible stories of the ultimate sacrifice by American patriots that they could tell. But they don't."
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