Puppet Masters

'We never left and we will be happy to see everyone in Moscow': Putin on Trump's call to have Russia back with G7'

RT
Sun, 10 Jun 2018 10:14 UTC

Putin attends a news conference on the results of the SCO summit in China

Russia has never turned its back on the G8 (now G7), Vladimir Putin said, speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The latter, however, is now stronger in some aspects, including power parity, he added.

"As for Russia's return to 'the seven,' 'the eight' [G7, G8] - we have not left it. Our colleagues once refused to come to Russia due to well-known reasons. We will be happy to see everyone in Moscow," Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a news conference in Qingdao, where the SCO summit took place.

The SCO gathering concluded just shortly after the G7 summit, which was marred by strong divisions between US President Donald Trump and his allies over, among other things, US tariff policies. The contentious summit came to a head when Trump gave a clear 'no' to a joint resolution. He then called the Canadian prime minister "weak and dishonest."

Comment: The summit will officially start Friday in the Canadian province of Quebec and run until Saturday. US President Trump is expected to leave the summit early to fly to Singapore, skipping the climate session. Russia announced its permanent withdrawal from the G8 in 2017; the group was thereafter renamed the G7.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitriy Peskov responded to Trump's remark, concerning Moscow's participation in the G7 meeting, set to kick off on Friday:

"Russia is focused on other formats, apart from the G7," the spokesman stated, referring to formats for interaction between governments such as the G7 forum and BRICS.

Seriously? James Clapper (fmr director of National Intelligence) says he never heard of Carter Page, George Papadopoulos, or Stefan Halper until leaving office

Nick Givas
The Daily Caller
Thu, 07 Jun 2018 00:47 UTC

Former director of national intelligence James Clapper claimed Thursday on The Hugh Hewitt Show he'd never heard of Carter Page, George Papadopoulos, or Stefan Halper until after he had left office.

"Did you know, Mr. Halper, the academic at Cambridge? [Halper] Do you know him at all," Hewitt asked.

"No, I do not. I didn't know anything about that until it came out in the media," Clapper replied. "I didn't know anything about it contemporaneously."

Comment: Seriously? With Clapper's record for prevarication, how can anyone buy this latest whopper.

Another marathon Q&A with Vladimir Putin: God, steel and World War III among the highlights

RT
Thu, 07 Jun 2018 22:17 UTC

As Vladimir Putin tried to answer as many of the 2 million questions from Russians he could in four and a half hours, personal answers served as interjections to sharp commentary about Russia's complex relationship with the West.

Tariffs are sanctions by another name

"The introduction of US tariffs on steel, on aluminum, not only for Europe but also for Canada and Mexico, are sanctions disguised in other terms," said Putin, noting that both Donald Trump's recent tariffs, and the long-standing sanctions against Moscow over alleged election meddling and Ukraine, both served to advance "American national interests."

"Did they also allegedly annex Crimea?" Putin asked sardonically of the affected Western allies, reminding them that he had warned them of American overreach as far back as his Munich speech in 2007.

Provocation: NATO trying to scare Russia near its borders with multiple war game exercises of enormous size named 'Sabre Strike'

Alex Gorka
Strategic Culture Foundation
Wed, 06 Jun 2018 00:00 UTC

This year, NATO has already organized about 100 exercises, 20 percent more compared to the same period in 2017. Saber Strike-2018, a large-scale US-led exercise involving 18,000 soldiers from 19 NATO members and partner nations, kicked off on June 3 to last till June 15. The scope of the exercise has been steadily expanding with every year. It was 11,000 troops in 2017, 9,000 in 2016, 6,000 in 2015, 4,700 in 2014 and 2,000 in 2013 - that's how a relatively small drill turned into the regular deployment of substantial force in the proximity of Russia's borders. Moscow expressed its concern about it at the NATO-Russia Council's session held on May 31.

The annual multination training event organized every year since 2010 is being held across the training areas in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Non-NATO countries taking part are Finland and Macedonia. Air assault landings are part of the scenario to hone the skills for launching offensive operations.

Sabre Strike is timed with Swift Response airborne drill in Latvia to culminate on June 8. It involves 800 paratroopers from US, Latvia, Lithuania, Israel and Poland.

Google executive, Eric Schmidt, says new algorithm will hide RT, Sputnik articles

Sputnik
Mon, 20 Nov 2017 13:36 UTC

Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google's parent company, Alphabet, announced Saturday that the company will "engineer" algorithms that will make it harder for articles from Sputnik News and RT to appear on the Google News service.

"We are working on detecting and de-ranking those kinds of sites - it's basically RT and Sputnik," Schmidt said during a question and answer session at the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada. "We are well of aware of it, and we are trying to engineer the systems to prevent [the content being delivered to wide audiences]. But we don't want to ban the sites - that's not how we operate."

Comment: Google backs off (for now): Assures Russia media watchdog it won't change search algorithm to 're-rank' RT, Sputnik

Trump calls for G7 inclusion of Russia ahead of summit

Julian Borger, Anne Perkins
The Guardian
Sat, 09 Jun 2018 05:24 UTC

Donald Trump has called for Russia to be readmitted to the G7 club of world leaders, opening up a new rift with US allies who swiftly contradicted him at a contentious summit in Quebec.

Although there were smiles and handshakes between Trump and his counterparts from Europe, Canada and Japan, there was no sign by Friday night that they were any closer on the deeply divisive issues of trade, climate change and policy towards Moscow.

Trump made his comments on the way to the summit, saying: "Why are we having the meeting without Russia being in the meeting? Russia should be in the meeting, it should be a part of it."

In a Russian television interview due to be aired on Saturday, President Vladimir Putin said that dialogue with Trump could be "constructive". Trump is "a serious-minded person who knows how to listen to people and respond to their arguments. This leads me to believe that dialogue may prove to be constructive." The last meeting between Trump and Putin was a brief exchange in Vietnam last November.

In meetings on Friday with Emmanuel Macron of France and Canada's prime minister, Justin Trudeau, a jovial Trump claimed to have good personal relations with the leaders, and claimed at his meeting with Trudeau: "We've made a lot of progress".

Comment: Sounds like the meeting from hell - so far. Leaders do not want to budge their comfort zone nor evaluate their biases, even if it is to eventually make 'a better deal' in the offing or reset the broken paradigm. See also:

Apparently, in addition to saying that it would be good for the world for Russia's inclusion, Trump said, "We are looking for peace in the whole world, and not playing games".

Be it space, nuclear projects or North Korea, Putin-Xi meeting shows 'special relations'

RT
Fri, 08 Jun 2018 19:06 UTC

From space exploration to peaceful atomic projects to billion-dollar projects, the relations between Russia and China show "exemplary interstate relations," as Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping put it during their meeting in Beijing.

The Russian leader arrived in China on Friday and is set to stay there till June 10, taking part in the summit of the leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member-states.

But before that, Putin and Xi showed unity on a number of issues. Moscow and Beijing have long enjoyed a rather predictable and pragmatic relationship, largely based on economic and strategic concerns. The sides have been steadily expanding their economic cooperation and are planning to make additional efforts to increase trade. The neighbors signed a number of agreements, including one on joint space projects.

Angry Guardian cartoonist denies picture of Netanyahu, May and Palestinian medic is anti-Semetic

RT
Fri, 08 Jun 2018 11:40 UTC

Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell has strenuously denied his picture, depicting Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, UK PM Theresa May, and an image of murdered Palestinian medic Razan Al-Najjar burning in a fireplace, is anti-Semitic.

The cartoon was spiked by the Guardian's editorial staff. After which Bell wrote an angrily-worded email to his boss and Guardian editor, Katharine Viner, after claims from colleagues that his cartoon played on anti-Semitic tropes, report Buzzfeed.

Comment: There is a fine line between crude humor and just bad taste - regardless the anti-Semitism criticism. Did this artist step over that line? Was this anti-Semitic? Or was it disrespectful of the slain Palestinian medic?

And then this revealing answer:

"Why could you not use rubber bullets? ... Why did you have to kill them?" Netanyahu replied: "Hamas wanted the Jews to kill more. Their goal was to have as many casualties. Our goal was to minimize casualties."

Hogwash. Lies. Dodge. Deception. Perception management. Netanyahu is a master spin doctor, revealing a twisted pathological mindset.

Putin: Trump is a thoughtful person, our dialogue may be constructive

RT
Fri, 08 Jun 2018 18:59 UTC

US President Donald Trump is a thoughtful person who listens to others, said Russian President Vladimir Putin, expressing hope that the meeting between the two will be "constructive."

"He's a thoughtful person, he can listen to the person he's talking to and reacts to his arguments," Putin said of Trump in an interview with Russian journalist Sergey Brilyov that is to be aired on Saturday night.

Earlier on Friday, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS that the ministry is conducting preliminary work for a meeting between Putin and Trump. It still remains unclear, however, where and when such a meeting might take place.

Such a meeting is greatly needed since it would facilitate the process of fixing relations between the two countries, the official added. "The American side realizes the scale of problems, which have piled up as well" and understands that they "have to be solved," according to Ryabkov.

Comment: There is always an undercurrent with Trump, but in talks with Putin there is a chance it will be positive and beneficial.

World leaders try but fail to get Donald Trump

Z. Byron Wolf
CNN
Fri, 08 Jun 2018 00:00 UTC

Imagine you're the leader of a major world power.

How do you deal with Donald Trump? None of them can figure it out.

They've tried flattery. They've sucked up to him. They've wined and dined him. They've golfed with him. Stayed at his private club and eaten his chocolate cake.

They've shaken his hand for as long as he wants. Over... and over... and over again.

They've thrown him military parades (which only makes him jealous).

They've tried to project strength against him, tried to play the alpha.

They've been extremely deferential.

They've taken his daughter out to dinner and championed her causes. They've pointed out the very long historical ties between their countries.

But none of it has worked.

Comment: In the current, stagnant, state of the nation and the world...it just might take an 'enigma' to shake things up enough to get people thinking and acting.

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Puppet Masters

'We never left and we will be happy to see everyone in Moscow': Putin on Trump's call to have Russia back with G7'

Seriously? James Clapper (fmr director of National Intelligence) says he never heard of Carter Page, George Papadopoulos, or Stefan Halper until leaving office

Another marathon Q&A with Vladimir Putin: God, steel and World War III among the highlights

Provocation: NATO trying to scare Russia near its borders with multiple war game exercises of enormous size named 'Sabre Strike'

Google executive, Eric Schmidt, says new algorithm will hide RT, Sputnik articles

Trump calls for G7 inclusion of Russia ahead of summit

Be it space, nuclear projects or North Korea, Putin-Xi meeting shows 'special relations'

Angry Guardian cartoonist denies picture of Netanyahu, May and Palestinian medic is anti-Semetic

Putin: Trump is a thoughtful person, our dialogue may be constructive

World leaders try but fail to get Donald Trump

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