Welcome to Sott.net
Tue, 02 Nov 2021
The World for People who Think

Puppet Masters
Map

2 + 2 = 4

Trump explains the obvious: It's the president's job to talk to foreign leaders


RT
Sun, 19 Aug 2018 00:19 UTC
Russian President Putin and US President Trump meet in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, 2018
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Russian President Putin and US President Trump meet in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, 2018
Apparently seeking once again to dispel his opponents' scorn over his diplomatic practices, US President Donald Trump has tweeted out a video address. In it, he explains that world leaders sometimes meet and it's a good thing.

It takes Trump just under a minute to state something that only needs spelling out in the craziness that is the current American politics: World leaders talk to each other. It's called diplomacy.
      Read More...
Newspaper

Lawyer to RT: Accused 'Russian agent' Butina deprived of sleep & medication


RT
Sat, 18 Aug 2018 21:57 UTC
Jailed Russian gun activist Maria Butina, accused in the US of "espionage," has been unexpectedly transferred to another prison, her lawyer told RT. Butina is suffering from leg swelling and she was effectively deprived of sleep.
Maria Butina
© mvbutina / facebook.com / Global Look Press
Maria Butina has been experiencing health problems in jail, yet she has been deprived of proper treatement, her lawyer, Robert Driscoll told RT. Maria has a "history of problems" with one of her legs and bad prison conditions triggered swelling of her limb.

"The conditions in prison in which [she was] on the cold side because of very strong air conditioning and also humid and damp, I think that has exacerbated the swelling. And so she sought treatments for that and so far she's just received Tylenol and nothing else," Driscoll sad.

Comment:

      Read More...
Light Saber

Good riddance: Poland deports top Soros organizer and agitator back to Ukraine

Jim Hoft
The Gateway Pundit
Sat, 18 Aug 2018 20:44 UTC
soros Lyudmyla Kozlovska

Lyudmyla Kozlovska, President of the Open Dialog Foundation (ODF) and George Soros
On Tuesday August 14, 2018, Poland deported top Soros organizer Lyudmyla Kozlovska from the Schengen (EU) area without an explanation.

The George Soros Open Dialog Foundation called this an "act of political nature carried out by the Polish authorities in order to stop the activities of the organisation in the country and abroad."

Kozlovska's husband, Mr Bartosz Kramek, Head of the Open Dialog Foundation's Board, who had been calling for various civil disobedience actions in Poland.

Poland sent her packing on Tuesday.

Comment: Excellent move on Poland's part! They join an accelerating trend:

      Read More...
Mr. Potato

The Mind of The Mass Media: Email Exchange With a leading Washington Post Foreign Policy Reporter

William Blum
The Anti-Empire Report
Sat, 18 Aug 2018 20:27 UTC
mainstream media lies
July 18, 2018

Dear Mr. Birnbaum,

You write Trump "made no mention of Russia's adventures in Ukraine". Well, neither he nor Putin nor you made any mention of America's adventures in the Ukraine, which resulted in the overthrow of the Ukrainian government in 2014, which led to the justified Russian adventure. Therefore ...?

If Russia overthrew the Mexican government would you blame the US for taking some action in Mexico?

William Blum
      Read More...
Oil Well

Maduro's monetary revolution versus the Empire's economic sanctions

Nino Pagliccia
teleSUR
Wed, 08 Aug 2018 20:07 UTC
Maduro Venzuela new currency
© Reuters
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro holds a bank note of the new national currency, the 'Bolivar Soberano' (Sovereign Bolivar).
It is encouraging to see that a new campaign is taking shape "to end U.S. and Canada sanctions against Venezuela," writes Nino Pagliccia.

Venezuela has undergone many challenges in the last 20 years since Hugo Chavez was elected president and continued after his death in 2013. The main reason is that Venezuela has taken seriously the internationally recognized right to be sovereign and establish its own social model. Violence has never been part of the model. However, violence has been the reaction of those who do not want to change the status quo despite the people's majority democratic electoral choice.

The new social model chosen by Venezuela has been widely called the Bolivarian Revolution. It is a revolution that is still under construction. In fact, having defused the rampant right-wing violence, and with Nicolas Maduro as the re-elected president as of May 20, Venezuela continues building an unequivocal socialist anti-imperialist society by strengthening its Bolivarian Revolution. It is succeeding socially and politically by retaining considerable popular support, while it's struggling economically because of foreign-induced hyperinflation, crippling sanctions and the U.S.-led financial blockade.

Comment: More information on Venezuela's end run around the Empire's attempt at financial strangulation:

      Read More...
Question

Will Turkey back or break with militants in Northern Syria?

Tony Cartalucci
New Eastern Outlook
Sat, 18 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
TurkFlagMilitants
© Unknown
Syria once again finds itself at another critical juncture. Having secured virtually all territory in the nation's southwest, Damascus' attention is now fixated on Idlib in the north.

Reuters has recently reported on a so-called "National Army" based in northern Syria that appears poised to confront Syrian efforts to restore peace and security nationwide.

In an article titled, "Syrian rebels build an army with Turkish help, face challenges," Reuters would claim:
A "National Army" being set up by Syrian rebels with Turkey's help could become a long-term obstacle to President Bashar al-Assad's recovery of the northwest...

The National Army compromises some 35,000 fighters from some of the biggest factions in the war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced some 11 million people from their homes over the last seven years.

Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, has vowed to recover "every inch" of Syria, and though he has now won back most of the country, the Turkish presence will complicate any government offensive in the northwest.
The idea of having NATO military forces on the ground in Syria, providing protection for Western-backed militants in safe-havens has been stated US policy since the beginning of the Syrian conflict.

Comment: Turkey is a fence-rider, always looking to play one benefactor off the other to its advantage. However, the idea it could be secretly manipulating for the US is not out of the realm of possibility - given Erdogan might be that smart and sneaky. Are the recent US/Turkey hostilities and lira war real manifestations of opposing circumstances and demands, or are they, as well, a ballooned grand cover for a devious scheme as described above?

      Read More...
Attention

Pentagon hypes the China threat during renewed strategic competition


RT
Fri, 17 Aug 2018 19:27 UTC
B-6k strategic bombers
© Jason Lee/Reuters
B-6k strategic bombers, Chinese Air Force
The Pentagon is raising an alarm about "rapidly" growing Chinese military capabilities, from long-range bombers to a blue-water navy, as mainstream media warn that Chinese pilots are "likely" training for strikes against the US.

Long-range bomber training missions "targeting the US" - this is how the US mainstream media reported the findings of the Pentagon's annual assessment of Chinese military capabilities in 2017, published Thursday.

What the 145-page report actually says is that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) air force has "rapidly expanded its overwater bomber operating areas, gaining experience in critical maritime regions and likely training for strikes against US and allied targets."

Comment: One country's 'encroachment' is another country's 'taboo'. The US and China both ascribe to these perceptions of engagement that increase the chances of military escalation.

      Read More...
Attention

Former US Benghazi operator accuses Brennan of 'putting his politics before' his CIA team


Sputnik
Fri, 17 Aug 2018 21:58 UTC
Kris Paronta John Brennan
© Screen Shot Mediate/AFP/Jewel Samad/KJN
Kris Paronta • John Brennan
Although the former CIA director enjoyed a lot of support from his former colleagues in the intelligence community after US President Donald Trump stripped him of his security clearance, the news also caused a stir among a number of widely known special operations stars, who suggested Brennan deserved it and even got off cheap.

"He is lucky the security clearance is all he is getting away with," Kris "Tanto" Paronto, a former Army Ranger and private security staffer who fought back during the 2012 Benghazi terror attack as part of the CIA team, told Fox News in an interview on Friday.

Separately, in response to former CIA Director John Brennan's earlier tweet that his "principles are worth far more than clearances," Paronto fired back:
"My principles are greater than clearances too John, especially when you and the @CIA kool-aid drinkers punishes us for not going along with the Benghazi cover-up story in order to protect you, @HillaryClinton's & @BarackObama's failures. You put your politics before us."

Comment: Nice try by intel officials to conflate revoked security clearance with freedom of speech. Who are they kidding!

      Read More...
Tornado1

N. Korea criticizes Trump's opponents for hampering peace efforts and denuclearization


RT
Sat, 18 Aug 2018 17:28 UTC
TrumpKim
© Reuters
President Donald Trump • North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un
North Korea lashed out at Donald Trump's rivals for "a deadlock" in bilateral relations, calling upon the US leader to act in a "bold" manner, in a statement that differs dramatically from the North's stance on the US last year.

In a lengthy editorial, Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North's ruling party, praised US President Donald Trump for seeking to improve relations between Washington and Pyongyang. "However, he faces too many opponents," it said.

According to the paper,
Democrats and even some Republicans are hampering Trump's peace efforts and the media is undermining his policies. Bureaucrats and presidential aides are "speaking and moving in contradiction to the president's will" and are "distorting facts and covering up his eyes and ears in order to mislead him to a wrong decision."
The editorial says that the political opponents of the US president are
"raising their voice, dismissing the Singapore joint statement and boycotting a declaration of an end to the war." But what it thinks will end the "current deadlock in the DPRK-US relations" is "President Trump's bold decision."
Rodong Sinmun's position shows a U-turn in North Korea's attitude towards Donald Trump - from "hammers of war" in summer 2017 to "Trump's improving ties with Pyongyang" a year later.

Comment: If/when the North Korea-US threat fest is finally over, it won't be because Trump has overwhelming support from Congress or his neocon crew. The credit should be attributed to Trump, Kim and the involvement of other nations eager to see a potentially volatile situation peacefully resolved.

      Read More...
Snakes in Suits

Academi proposal to 'privatize' war in Afghanistan under review

Paul Antonopoulos
FRN
Sat, 18 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
Blackwater
© reseauinternational.net
Academi
The cost and duration of the US war in Afghanistan has renewed President Trump's interest in a proposal by Blackwater founder Erik Prince to hand over the mission to private security companies. "I know he's frustrated," Prince told the NBC news network, "He gave the Pentagon what they wanted ... and they did not deliver [the expected result]."

According to a top government official, Trump's renewed interest in Prince's plan was fueled by a YouTube video in which Erik suggests the move would save money and US resources.

Prince, a former US Navy SEAL, founded the private security company Blackwater (now Academi) in 1997 and obtained major security contracts after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. In 2007, Blackwater received world attention when a group of its employees was convicted of killing 14 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad. The following year, Prince announced organizational changes after severe criticism of its role in the war with the creation of a "private army."

The businessman was never an advisor or part of Trump's team, but his $250,000 donation to the Republican candidate during the 2016 election campaign earned him access to many members of Trump's national security team. He is also the brother of Trump's education secretary, Betsy Devos.

Prince has been trying to sell his idea about the privatization of the Afghan War since August when he proposed in an article in the New York Times that troops be replaced by private military personnel overseen by a special US envoy reporting directly to the president.

Comment: So far the proposal is a 'no go'. Encouragingly, Trump is stated to want a political solution rather than a military one.

      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts