Puppet MastersS


Footprints

Popov: Brexit replication in continental Europe

Eduard Popov
Fort Russ
Sun, 03 Jul 2016 00:00 UTC
One does not simply
© euanalysis.blogspot.com
On 1st July, "The People's Party - Our Slovakia" (LSNS) started collecting signatures for the holding of a referendum on secession of Slovakia from the EU and NATO. This was stated by the party leader Marian Kotleba speaking in front of the Parliament building, according to the Bratislava newspaper SME. "Signatures will be collected solo (for each of the two subjects - ed.)," said Kotleba. "Ideally, there would be two referendums". He explained this option by the fact that some citizens may wish to vote differently in each referendum. For the announcement of a referendum in Slovakia it is necessary to collect at least 350,000 signatures, despite the fact that the population of the country is 5,400,000 people.

On the same day the message from their neighbouring Czech Republic came. Czech President Milos Zeman urged the country to hold a referendum on the membership of the Republic in the European Union and NATO. However, he noted that he would vote for continued membership in both organizations.

"I do not agree with those who support an exit from the European Union. But I will do my best to arrange a referendum where they can express their opinion. The same applies to an exit from NATO," said M. Zeman. Under the Constitution, Zeman has no right to convene a referendum. However, this does not prevent him from creating a public initiative. Zeman potentially risks repeating the fate of British Prime Minister David Cameron, a supporter of continued membership in the EU, who initiated a referendum with a reverse result.

Even if the majority of Czechs would vote for the preservation of EU membership, (probable if the referendum takes place) the fact is that a popular vote will seriously strengthen the position of eurosceptics from the Communists (Communist party of Bohemia and Moravia) to the nationalists ("ANO" party ("Yes").

Comment: Brexit happened and, so far, Britain is withstanding the increasing pressure to revert course, though the situation is increasingly muddy. The US/NATO/EU megablock will be pulling no punches to silence the eurosceptics and stop the stampede even to the point of using military force -- and, magically, those forces are already there!

Read More...
Eye 2

War crimes: Amnesty slams US proxy armies in Syria for torture and killings of civilians in areas under their control


RT
Tue, 05 Jul 2016 17:14 UTC
daesh fighters
© Truthloader / YouTube
Jihadists operating in northern Syria are committing torture and summary killings of civilians in areas under their control, a new report by Amnesty International has revealed.

The probe, "Torture was my punishment: Abductions, torture and summary killings under armed group rule in Aleppo and Idlib, Syria "documents widespread abuse carried out by jihadists in the Aleppo and Idlib provinces of northern Syria. It's based on interviews with some 70 individuals living or working in the areas.

"This briefing exposes the distressing reality for civilians living under the control of some of the armed opposition groups in Aleppo, Idlib and surrounding areas. Many civilians live in constant fear of being abducted if they criticize the conduct of armed groups in power or fail to abide by the strict rules that some have imposed," Philip Luther, director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Program, said.

The 36-page brief accuses five jihadist groups of carrying out abductions and torturing their victims in "war crimes" that have been taking place since 2012. The NGO highlights atrocities committed by the Nour al-Dine Zinki Movement, al-Shamia Front and Division 16 alongside Jabhat al-Nusra and the Ahrar al-Sham Islamic Movement.
Read More...
Dollars

China invests over $2billion in Russian Far East development


Sputnik
Tue, 05 Jul 2016 17:01 UTC
russian far east
© Sputnik/ Prihodko
Russia's mechanisms for developing its Far East have attracted 16 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) worth of Chinese investments to the region, Russian Far East Development Minister Alexander Galushka said Tuesday.

Chinese investors have invested in a cement plant and plan investing in an oil refinery in the Amur Region's Belogorsk ADT, as well as working in the Sakha Republic's Kangalassy and Primorsky Territory's Nadezhdinskaya ADTs. Chinese businesses also became cornerstone investors in the new Amuro-Khinganskaya ADT in the Jewish Autonomous Region, providing some 10 billion rubles ($157 million) in funds, according to the statement.

"Due to new Far East development mechanisms, such as Advanced Development Territories [ADT], the Vladivostok free port area, the Far East Development Fund and targeted infrastructural project support, the volume of investments that was attracted came to 1.1 trillion rubles, or around 110 million yuan. All of these mechanisms are popular with Chinese businesses. The volume of Chinese investments came to 163 billion rubles, or 16 billion yuan," Galushka was quoted as saying in a ministry statement.

Chinese investments have also gone into projects located outside of the Russian Far East's special zones. Over seven billion rubles have been invested in a timber plant in the Berezovyi village located in the Khabarovsk territory, while a joint Russian-Chinese agroindustrial development fund has generated 10 projects worth 80 billion rubles that are ready for investment and will be presented at the Eastern Economic Forum due to be held in Vladivostok in September.

In March, the Far East Development Ministry told Sputnik that Chinese investors have injected more than $1.9 billion in Russian Far East development projects, which include an oil refiner and a logistical center, as well as a cement factory and a plant for reworking ferrous scrap metals.
Read More...
Yoda

Putin gives visa-free entry to all visitors of 2018 World Cup


Sputnik
Tue, 05 Jul 2016 16:19 UTC
russia world cup
© Sputnik/ Alexander Vilf
All fans visiting the 2018 World Cup will enjoy visa-free entry for the entirety of the event.

Vladimir Putin signed a bill into law that entitles visitors with "fan ID" issued by the Russian Government to visa-free entry into Russia for the time of the championship, as well as for a period of ten days before and after the competition.

To enter the country, the "fan ID" holders will need to provide an identification document, the ticket to the match and a document that verifies the purchase of the ticket.

The system will be similar to the one used during Sochi Olympics in 2014, which let spectators enter their personal information to an online database in order to receive the identification document from the Russian authorities.

The draft law that verifies the visa-free entry announced by Vladimir Putin in 2014 was passed last month by both houses of the Russian parliament, namely the Federation Council and the State Duma.
Read More...
Attention

More protests? France government bypasses parliament again to push through labor law


RT
Tue, 05 Jul 2016 16:15 UTC
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls
© Philippe Wojazer / ReutersFrench Prime Minister Manuel Valls delivers a speech to use the article 49.3, a special clause in the Constitution to bypass parliamentary opponents and impose by decree a labour law reform bill, during its second hearing at the National Assembly in Paris, France, July 5, 2016.
France's Socialist government once again used its emergency constitutional powers to force through a second reading of a controversial labor reform law, which has provoked months of street protests in the country.

"This country is too used to mass unemployment," Prime Minister Manuel Valls told parliament, as he invoked Article 49 of the French constitution, which allows laws to be approved without a parliamentary vote. "This is not posturing, it's not intransigence."

Valls said that 800 amendments had been made to the legislation - aimed at cutting down the country's 10 percent unemployment rate - since the first version of the law was driven through the lower chamber, the National Assembly, in May.

The prime minister, on the centrist wing of his party, labeled those who opposed the law, "the coalition of immobility," and said he was acting "in the general interests of the nation."

The National Assembly now has 24 hours to stage a no-confidence vote in the government, but it is unlikely to pass, as most of the Socialist party, and the center-right opposition, have already said that they will not attempt to topple Valls.
Read More...
Megaphone

Surprise, surprise: FBI says Clinton shouldn't be charged but was 'extremely careless' with classified emails


RT
Tue, 05 Jul 2016 16:08 UTC
FBI Director James Comey
© RT
Though the FBI found that Hillary Clinton and her staff were "extremely careless" with State Department emails hosted on a private server, no criminal charges will be brought against the former secretary and current presidential candidate.

"No reasonable prosecutor" would bring criminal charges in this case, FBI Director James Comey told reporters Tuesday morning, after going into the details of the bureau's two-year investigation, which he described as a "painstaking undertaking requiring thousands of hours of effort."

"Three of those were classified at the time," he added.

Clinton used "several different servers and numerous mobile devices" to send and read emails on her personal domain during her tenure as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, Comey explained. The FBI set out to investigate any intentional or grossly negligent handling of classified information, as well as whether any hostile actors gained access to the files, after the intelligence community Inspector-General requested a probe.
Read More...
Eye 2

FBI caves - recommends Killary be able to wiggle out of charges


FBI Press Release
Tue, 05 Jul 2016 15:21 UTC
hillaryclinton email server
© Keven Siers/Charlotte Observer

Comment: As expected, the anointed candidate for the Democratic party has dodged formal charges of criminality over her "mishandling" of classified information. The American public is being forced to choose between two of the most corrupt candidates ever seen.

In the words of former Asst. U.S. District Attorney Andrew McCarthy:
"These attempts to suggest she was unaware of any wrongdoing are likely unavailing. .. The laws against mishandling classified information are prosecution-friendly. For example, it is a felony for one entrusted with classified information not only to communicate it to a person unauthorized to have it, but also to enable its removal from its secure storage facility through gross negligence. It is also a crime to fail to report that information's improper removal or communication. So is retaining materials containing classified information at an unauthorized location... Secretary Clinton systematically conducted official business on a private unsecure system, and had subordinates do likewise, knowing the nature of their duties made classified communications inevitable."
Statement by FBI Director James B. Comey on the Investigation of Secretary Hillary Clinton's Use of a Personal E-Mail System
Washington, D.C. July 05, 2016

Remarks prepared for delivery at press briefing.

Good morning. I'm here to give you an update on the FBI's investigation of Secretary Clinton's use of a personal e-mail system during her time as Secretary of State.

After a tremendous amount of work over the last year, the FBI is completing its investigation and referring the case to the Department of Justice for a prosecutive decision. What I would like to do today is tell you three things: what we did; what we found; and what we are recommending to the Department of Justice.

This will be an unusual statement in at least a couple ways. First, I am going to include more detail about our process than I ordinarily would, because I think the American people deserve those details in a case of intense public interest. Second, I have not coordinated or reviewed this statement in any way with the Department of Justice or any other part of the government. They do not know what I am about to say.
Read More...
War Whore

Pentagon's $416mn program trained less than 100 Syrian fighters


RT
Tue, 28 Jun 2016 09:22 UTC
FSA TRAINER
© Ammar Abdullah- ReutersA Free Syrian Army trainer addresses fellow fighters as he conducts a demonstration on how to use anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons at a training camp in the northern countryside of Aleppo
Fewer than 100 Syrian fighters have been trained under a revamped train-and-equip program run by the Pentagon, US media report. The new focus is on training rebel leaders as "spotters" of Islamic State targets for US-led coalition airstrikes, officials say.

The additional 100 Syrian rebel leaders have been trained to fight Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) under a new Pentagon-run train-and-equip program since March, US officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity told reporters on Monday.

The revamped $416-million-worth program does not include training entire rebel units, according to Stars and Stripes. It mostly focuses on training Syrian rebel leaders as local informants and spotting potential targets on the grounds for US and coalition airstrikes."Rather than training 10 people to use a rifle, if you can train a smaller number of people to accurately describe their own position relative to the position of enemy forces, it enables them to better coordinate resupply and describe enemy positions," one official was cited by the newspaper as saying.

Comment: What are the chances of finding cookie cutter 'rebels' with no backgrounds of atrocities, who swear an allegiance to the US and promise not to sell their weapons to their friends? Train-and-equip directly fuels the war in Syria and continues to destabilize the region in the hopes of toppling the Assad government. The elites are trying to maintain the illusion that they are supporting the Syrian people in the public eye so unfortunately the show must go on!

For more information check out the links below:

Read More...
Che Guevara

The history of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard & Quds forces

Igor Pejic
South Front
Tue, 05 Jul 2016 12:42 UTC
Iran revolutionary guard
After the events in 1979 and the Islamic Revolution, which took place in Iran by overthrowing the Pahlavi dynasty, the new government of Iran was charged with a serious task: maintaining order and preventing a counter-revolution. The survival of the new government was crucial, especially since the previous dynasty was very close to the Western governments and the US. The most reliable mechanism for achieving this was, of course, military control. Regular forces of Iran's army were not enough to ensure the survival of the Islamic Republic - we should keep in mind that much of the regular forces were leftovers of the previous regime and could not be fully trusted. However, revolutionary forces, which include the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Basij militia and the Quds Force, have had an enormous impact on maintaining the Islamic Republic's government, but also, the IRGC gained a significant position in Iranian society and state policy. The IRGC, which was formed in 1979, is a product of the Islamic Revolution and since then, as a military organisation in Iran, it became one of the pillars of the Iranian state. On the 5th of May 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini issued a decree with which the IRGC was formed as a parallel military structure beside the Iranian Army. The IRGC was focused on internal matters rather than on external ones. The Revolutionary Council also stated eight categories of duties for the IRGC:
  • Assisting security apparatus in dealing with counter-revolutionary elements
  • Fighting armed counter-revolutionaries
  • Battling against foreign forces inside the country
  • Cooperating with the armed forces of the country in training subordinates in moral, ideological and political matters
  • Assisting the government in implementing the Islamic Revolution
  • Supporting liberation movements across the world in their fight for justice under the tutelage of the leader of the Islamic Revolution
  • Utilising all resources in dire times of catastrophes and calamities in order the help and improve the society of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Read More...
Dollar Gold

Russian-Chinese Alliance: Putin completes 15th round of talks with Chinese leadership

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Tue, 05 Jul 2016 13:05 UTC
China Putin Xi
© Unknown
Putin's meetings with the Chinese leadership in Beijing and Tashkent consolidate the most powerful alliance in the world today.

Though it has received minimal attention in the West, last week Putin completed his 15th visit to China where he held intensive talks with the Chinese leadership led by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

This came directly after Putin met Xi Jinping at the immediately preceding Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tashkent. According to Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, whom Putin also met in Beijing, Xi Jinping has met Putin more often than he has met any other foreign leader.

On the Russian side the talks between Putin and the Chinese leadership in Beijing did not involve Putin alone. Putin's meeting with Xi Jinping in Beijing started as a one-to-one meeting with just the two leaders and their interpreters present. It was then expanded to include top officials and ministers of both the Russian and Chinese governments.

Comment: Further reading: Pepe Escobar: As world digests the implications of Brexit, Putin goes to China

Read More...