Puppet MastersS


Stop

Pentagon and State Department: Trump wants US troops out of Iraq, but not just yet


RT
Tue, 07 Jan 2020 21:20 UTC
Trump
© Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting/San Diego Union-TribuneUS President Donald Trump
While he'd like to bring US troops home at some point, President Donald Trump has ruled out leaving Iraq at this time, claiming most Iraqis support the ongoing US presence and that pulling out would lead to an Iranian takeover.

"It's something ultimately that I want to see, we can't be there forever," Trump said Tuesday, asked if he would pull out troops from Iraq. "Eventually, we want to be able to let Iraq run its own affairs... but this isn't the right point," he quickly added. "If we leave, that means Iran would have a much bigger foothold."

The president's words echoed the rhetoric coming from the Pentagon, where Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters earlier in the day that there were no plans to pull out of Iraq, regardless of the unsigned draft letter sent to the government in Baghdad on Monday suggesting otherwise.

Trump did contradict Esper's stated justification for staying in Iraq - the need to maintain a presence against the resurgence of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorists - by saying that the US "got rid of the Caliphate, a hundred percent of the Caliphate is gone."

Comment: The argument for Iraq running its own affairs is a good one. The US is no shining model, nor has its 'wisdom' and 'presence' been particularly beneficial.

See also: Russia offers Iraq S-400 air defense system to protect airspace

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Camera

The lands of the surveilled and tracked

mapi
Mass Private Blogspot
Tue, 07 Jan 2020 17:27 UTC
Biodata Collection by Countries
© Comparitech
Does anyone really believe America is still the land of the free?

Since 9/11, DHS, the FBI, the CIA, and countless other alphabet soup agencies have turned the United States into a public surveillance monstrosity.

In 19 years, one terrorist attack has done what no one else could have dreamed of: turn America's freedoms into a distant memory.
Abusing citizen's rights and privacy used to be the hallmark of dictatorships and police states like the CCCP or North Korea.

A recent study conducted by Comparitech, rated 50 countries from best to worst at protecting citizen's biometric data.
The study found that America is one of the world's worst abusers of citizen's biometric privacy.
"While China topping the list perhaps doesn't come as too much of a surprise, residents of (and travelers to) other countries may be surprised and concerned at the extent of biometric information that is being collected on them and what is happening to it afterward."
This really should not come as a surprise, because last year Comparitech revealed that American and Chinese cities lead the world in spying on their citizens. Last week, I wrote an article explaining how 2019 would go down as the year that facial recognition and corporate surveillance became commonplace in America.
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Eye 2

Reports says Iraqi prime minister forced to resign, alleges Trump threatened his life


SouthFront
Wed, 08 Jan 2020 17:16 UTC
Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi
Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi
On January 5th, the Iraqi parliament voted on a resolution to expel US troops from the country. In attendance was, caretaker Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, who, according to reports provided insight into why specifically Iraq was in this situation, and predominantly spoke about threats that came his way from US President Donald Trump and the US policy towards the country.

The following is the summary of reports regarding Abdul-Mehdi's comments during the January 5 vote of the Iraqi Parliament. These reports have been nor officially confirmed nor denied by the Prime Minister office.

Abdul-Mehdi adressed the US hostile actions against the country. For example, the politician reportedly said that the US refused to complete the infrastructure and electricity grid projects unless it is promised 50% of oil revenues. The Prime Minister refused to make the concession.
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Bulb

France wants to push reset button in economic relations with Russia


RT
Wed, 08 Jan 2020 16:57 UTC
reset button
© Reuters / Fabrice Coffrini
Paris is looking for ways to avoid US sanctions in order to relaunch and deepen economic cooperation with Moscow, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has reportedly said.

"We want to restart our economic exchanges with Moscow, complying with international law and not being constrained by extraterritorial financial sanctions," the minister said, as quoted by Sputnik. He added that the restrictions are the main obstacle for economic relations between the two countries and vowed to find solutions to skirt the consequences within six months.

Le Maire was apparently referring to recent US measures targeting companies involved in the construction of the underwater Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is set to deliver Russian gas to Germany and other European customers. The launch of the project was recently postponed as Swiss-Dutch firm Allseas decided to stop the works in the Baltic Sea, where the last kilometers of pipes were set to be laid.

France has its own interest in the multi-billion-dollar project, as its energy provider ENGIE holds a nine-percent stake in it, along with other foreign investors.

In December, Le Maire and his Russian counterpart, Economic Development Minister Maksim Oreshkin, signed a "roadmap" to further boost economic ties between the two nations. The agreement covers some joint projects in the energy, nuclear and space sectors, among others.
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Yoda

Putin & Erdogan call on warring Libyan sides to fully cease fire on Sunday


RT
Wed, 08 Jan 2020 16:46 UTC
libyan fighters
© Reuters / Goran Tomasevic
Russia and Turkey have called for all parties in the ongoing Libyan conflict to declare a ceasefire, even as both countries seem to support opposite sides in the affray. Earlier, Turkey began moving troops toward Libya.

Following a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Wednesday, Moscow and Ankara released a joint statement calling on all sides in the Libyan conflict to "declare a sustainable ceasefire, supported by the necessary measures to be taken for stabilizing the situation on the ground and normalizing daily life in Tripoli and other cities."

Libya is currently contested by the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), and the Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR), the latter backed up by General Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA).
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Snakes in Suits

UK media uses Christopher Steele (of all people!) to push new conspiracy theory about Cambridge Analytica & 2020 election hacking

Dr Norman Lewis
RT
Wed, 08 Jan 2020 16:29 UTC
hacking
© Getty Images / Bill Hinton
A fresh Cambridge Analytica leak of more than 100,000 documents exposing its work in 68 countries claims to show that global electoral manipulation is now on an 'industrial scale' and 'is totally out of control'. Is it really?

100K documents leaked

Carole Cadwalladr, a journalist for the Observer, the Guardian's sister paper, whose exposure of Cambridge Analytica's misappropriation of 87 million Facebook profiles brought the company down in 2018, is making these claims after a raft of documents from Brittany Kaiser, an ex-Cambridge Analytica employee turned whistleblower, began to appear on an anonymous Twitter account on New Year's Day.

The leaks from the now-defunct data firm are supposedly 'explosive.' They contain material on elections in Malaysia, Kenya and Brazil. Apparently, they expose the inner workings of the data company and lay bare the global infrastructure of voter manipulation. The documents retrieved from Kaiser's email accounts and hard drives, are only the start of thousands more to come. According to Kaiser, these reveal the true depth of the sinister data firm's operation that go 'way beyond what people think they know about 'the Cambridge Analytica scandal.'
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Snakes in Suits

French ex-president Sarkozy to stand trial in October on graft charges


Franc24
Wed, 08 Jan 2020 16:23 UTC
sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy will on October 5 become France's first ex-president to stand trial on corruption charges in a case in which he is accused of trying to obtain classified information from a judge.

The trial will last until October 22, a Paris court said.

This will be the first trial in several graft investigations against Sarkozy, who was president from 2007 to 2012.

Jacques Chirac, who died last September, was the first ex-president put on trial but not on corruption charges -- he was found guilty in 2011 of embezzlement and misuse of public funds during his time as mayor of Paris.
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Chess

Putin and Erdogan celebrate launch of TurkStream gas pipeline as example of international cooperation amid ME uproar


RT
Wed, 08 Jan 2020 14:20 UTC
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vlavimir Putin Istanbul
© Reuters / Sergei GuneevRecep Tayyip Erdogan and Vlavimir Putin meet in Istanbul
With regional tensions flaring, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed the launch of the near-1,000km TurkStream gas pipeline as an example of international cooperation.

"We live in a difficult world, and unfortunately, in the region we're in now, there are tendencies for the worsening of the situation," Putin said at the pipeline's inauguration ceremony in Istanbul on Wednesday, referring to ongoing tensions in Iran, Iraq and Syria.

He added that the ambitious project was "for the good of both our nations and our neighbors."

Comment: Putin added:
"The supply of Russian gas through TurkStream will undoubtedly be of great importance not only for the economy of Turkey and the Black Sea region, but will also have a positive impact on the development of many South European countries, and will contribute to improving the energy security of Europe in general."
This new venture also benefits some European nations:
Some EU states are separately building their sections of the pipeline to get the gas supplies from Russia. In late December, Bulgaria announced its readiness to receive natural gas from Russia's Gazprom via Turkey. The new route is more economically viable for the country and could make gas cheaper for its consumers by around 5 percent, according to the country's Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova.

Serbia is also looking forward to getting Russian gas supplies and has already completed its section of the pipeline. But the country is not directly linked to the pipe, and will have to wait until neighboring Bulgaria extends TurkStream to its border. Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier accused Sofia of deliberately delaying the construction of its section, warning that Moscow can find ways to bypass its territory, if necessary.

"This pipeline will allow Serbia to get gas at decent prices, better than we've had been so far," Serbian President Vucic said on Wednesday, as cited by the local media. He noted that the project would allow Serbia to attract more investment and develop industrial production.


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Shoe

Canadian troops 'temporarily' moving from Iraq to Kuwait for 'safety reasons' - UPDATE - Spain joins the exodus


RT
Tue, 07 Jan 2020 18:57 UTC
Canadian soldiers Iraq
© Reuters / Ints Kalnins
Some Canadian troops stationed in Iraq are being moved "temporarily" to Kuwait "for safety reasons," defense chief Jonathan Vance has announced. Iraq's parliament recently called for all foreign troops to leave the country.

The move was made public in a letter to the families of Canadian soldiers in and near Iraq, posted to Twitter on Tuesday. Canada has about 500 troops in Iraq, out of 800 in total in the region, and it's not clear how many are leaving or for how long.

Comment: UPDATE Jan 8: Spain has announced it is pulling some troops from Iraq as a security precaution. Around 500 Spanish troops were in Iraq to help train Iraqi security forces, and it's not clear yet how many of them are leaving Iraq.

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Light Saber

Russia offers Iraq S-400 air defense system to protect airspace


Al-Masdar News
Tue, 07 Jan 2020 10:00 UTC
s-400
Russia has offered Iraq their S-400 air defense system to protect their airspace, RIA Novosti reported this week, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense.

According to the report, the Iraqi military may purchase the Russian S-400 system after it was offered to them to "ensure the country's sovereignty and reliable protection of airspace."

"Iraq is a partner of Russia in the field of military-technical cooperation, and the Russian Federation can supply the necessary funds to ensure the sovereignty of the country and reliable protection of airspace, including the supply of S-400 missiles and other components of the air defense system, such as Buk-M3, Tor -M2 "and so on," a member of the Public Council for the Russian Ministry of Defense said, as quoted by Avia.Pro.

Comment: Russia's advanced military tech is certainly helping to bring a modicum of balance elsewhere:

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