Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

Did Iran just knife Putin in the back?

Mike Whitney
Information Clearing House
Mon, 18 Aug 2014 02:38 UTC
On Thursday, Ukraine's parliament passed a law that will allow foreign investors to lease up to 49 percent of Ukraine's transit pipelines and underground gas storage facilities. The bill, which had failed to pass just weeks earlier, was approved by the slimmest of margins, 2 votes, suggesting that there might have been some arm twisting or bribery behind the scenes. The new law is a victory for the Obama administration and western elites who want to control the flow of gas from Russia to the EU, set prices, and make sure that transactions continue to be denominated in dollars. Here's a little more background from an article in Reuters:
"Ukraine's parliament approved a law on Thursday to allow gas transit facilities to be leased on a joint venture basis with participation from firms in the European Union or United States....The government has said the joint venture will bring in investment and remove the need for the South Stream pipeline, which Russia's Gazprom is building to take gas to southeastern Europe across the Black Sea, avoiding Ukraine.

If South Stream is built, it threatens to deprive Ukraine's badly strained budget of the transit fees that it currently receives from Russia for gas heading towards Europe.

The EU imports 30 percent of its natural gas needs from Russia, and about half of that comes via Ukraine, with some already having been diverted through the Nord Stream pipeline under the Baltic Sea." ("Ukrainian parliament backs bill to open gas pipelines to EU, U.S. firms", The Star)
You can see that the bloody, fratricidal conflict in Ukraine has nothing to do with democracy, sovereignty or even "evil" Putin. It's all about gas and pipelines. It's all part of Washington's grand plan to put a wedge between Russia and the EU, control the flow of vital resources, and establish NATO bases on Russia's western flank. The fact that the article mentions South Stream is particularly revealing. The Obama administration is doing everything in its power to sabotage South Stream so that Russia will be unable to bypass troublemaking Ukraine and sell its gas directly to countries across Europe. (Here's a map of South Stream.)
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© WikipediaSouth Stream map
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Bomb

Kiev guarantees safety for Russian humanitarian convoy only in areas controlled by its troops


RT.com
Tue, 19 Aug 2014 17:27 UTC
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© (AFP Photo / Dmitry Serebryakov)Lorries part of a Russian humanitarian convoy approach a checkpoint at the Ukrainian border some 30 km outside the town of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky in the Rostov region, on August 17, 2014.
Ukraine is ready to ensure the safety of the Russian humanitarian aid convoy, but only in areas controlled by the country's security forces, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.

"For its part, Ukraine has repeatedly reaffirmed its readiness to provide security guarantees in the area controlled by the troops involved in the anti-terrorist operation," Foreign Ministry spokesman Evgeny Perebiynis said at a briefing in Kiev.

As for the areas held by the self-defense forces, it's the responsibility of their leaders to provide safe passage for the convoy, he added.

The delivery of the Russian humanitarian aid to eastern Ukraine could start in the next couple of hours, Vitaly Churkin, Russia's permanent representative to the UN, said during a Security Council meeting.

"We hope that no one will resume attempts to hamper the delivery of humanitarian aid from Russia, and in the next couple of hours these activities will begin," Churkin said.

The humanitarian convoy with Russian aid for Ukraine's war-affected Donetsk and Lugansk regions has been stuck at the border between the two states since August 14.

A total of 280 trucks with almost 1,800 tons of medical supplies, food and other essential goods were unable to move on without safety guarantees from the Ukrainian authorities.

Comment: This is rich. Kiev will not guarantee the convoy's safety in the regions most in need of humanitarian aid. Doesn't get more evil than that!

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Star of David

Locked and loaded following fourth fake truce, Israel relaunches massive airstrikes on defenceless Gaza


France24
Wed, 20 Aug 2014 06:29 UTC
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Israel said militants fired rockets from Gaza on Tuesday in violation of a truce and that it struck back with attacks in the Palestinian enclave, fighting that put talks in Cairo on a long-term ceasefire in jeopardy.

An Israeli official said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his negotiating team in Egypt to return home. But there was no immediate word from Israel whether the move spelled the end of the indirect talks with the Palestinians.

Three rockets struck southern Israel, near the city of Beersheba, the military said, nearly eight hours before a ceasefire - extended by a day on Monday - was due to expire.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the salvoes, which the military said caused no casualties or damage.

"This rocket attack was a grave and direct violation of the ceasefire," said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Netanyahu.
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Blue Planet

Best of the Web: The Ukrainian conflict explained in historical context: Interview with Sergei Glaziev, advisor to President Putin

The Saker
The Vineyard of the Saker
Tue, 19 Aug 2014 05:36 UTC
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Sergey Glazyev
Thanks to the superb work of the Russian Team, it is my huge pleasure to present you with one of the most interesting interviews about the war in the Ukraine and the global struggle for the future of the planet and the views of one of the best informed men in Russia: Sergei Glaziev.

Glaziev is an advisor to President Putin and a close friend. I personally believe that the western media is either wrong or deliberately lying when then say that Dugin is Putin's ideological mentor. I am not sure that Putin has - or needs - any kind of mentor, but over the years I have found that Glaziev seems to say out loud what Putin does not, but seems to be acting on.

Glaziev, who was born in the Ukraine and who is an economic himself, has a superb understanding of the behind-the-scenes power plays in the Ukraine and in Russia. This man really *knows* what is going on. Furthermore, he is one of the leading "Eurasian Sovereignists" and he is therefore absolutely hated by the pro-US circles in Russia. He is equally hated in the USA who put him on their recent sanctions list for no other reason then the fact that they don't like what he has to say.

I urge everybody to listen to this 15min interview which is one of the most interesting ones I have ever had the pleasure to post here.

Enjoy!

The Saker

(please turn on the subtitles by pressing on the 'cc' button)

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TV

Blatant censorship: Kiev orders crackdown on Russian TV channels


RT.com
Tue, 19 Aug 2014 18:58 UTC
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© AFP Photo / Viktor Drachev
Ukrainian cable providers could face heavy fines or have their licenses revoked if they broadcast leading Russian channels - including RT - which were earlier "suspended" by a series of court orders.

"Ukraine is a sovereign state and must defend its media space from outside aggression from Russia, which is purposely inciting hatred between different groups of Ukrainians within the country," said interior ministry adviser Anton Geraschenko in a statement on his Facebook page.

Kiev has promised "total monitoring" of all outlets, including "hotels, sanatoriums and hospitals" which have been instructed to switch off their Russian feeds "before officers of the law pay a visit."

Major providers have not carried Russian channels since a ban that followed Crimea's vote to join the Russian Federation in March. Officials then claimed that the sanction was a result of Ukrainian channels being cut off on the peninsula.

A further order to curtail Moscow broadcasts was produced by a Kiev court in July, but many cable operators in the east have continued to show their audiences Russian broadcasts, in defiance of the law.
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Eye 1

Masters of the internet: GCHQ scans entire countries for vulnerabilities


RT
Mon, 18 Aug 2014 16:06 UTC
GCHQ
© he.wikipedia.orgGovernment Communications Headquarters
GCHQ is scanning servers in multiple foreign countries for vulnerable ports, according to German newspaper Heise. Using a tool called Hacienda, the intelligence agency seeks to 'master the internet' for sources of espionage.

Spanish for estate, Hacienda can port scan all of the servers in a country to provide information on user endpoints and scan for potential vulnerabilities. The ability to port scan is not new, but the scale of its use by government spies, with 27 countries scanned by 2009, has shocked many familiar with the software.

"In 2009, the British spy agency GCHQ made port scans a 'standard tool' to be applied against entire nations," Heise reports. "Twenty-seven countries are listed as targets of the Hacienda [program]."
The process of scanning entire countries and looking for vulnerable network infrastructure to exploit is consistent with the meta-goal of "Mastering the Internet", which is also the name of a GCHQ cable-tapping program. Targeted protocols include SSH, HTTP and FTP, among others.
Systems may be attacked simply because they might eventually create a path towards a valuable espionage target, even without indications this will ever be the case. Based on this logic, every device is a target.

Comment:
BORG eyepiece
© www.technovelgy.com
The image of GCHQ is like looking into the eyepiece of the BORG. As the BORG adapt, due to vast amounts of integrated knowledge and a continuous upgrading of the "collective mind," the victim's weakness renders him useless and he is assimilated. It doesn't take much to make this comparison. What is most disturbing is the scope and implications of this global eye-spy "tool." Who holds the power and what, if any, are the legal restraints? Apparently there are none when you can scan whole nations and every device is a target.
Say it with me..."Resistance is Futile!"

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Brick Wall

Obama administration sued yet again, this time for stonewalling FOIA requests

Jeffrey Scott Shapiro
The Washington Times
Mon, 18 Aug 2014 00:00 UTC
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© UnknownThe comparisons made between the Obama and Nixon administrations' drive for secrecy are actually a misnomer. Many believe that no administration comes even close to the amount of extreme control the Obama administration tries to exercise over the release of information that is even produced by other Federal agencies.
The administration that vowed to be the most transparent in history now must defend itself against a federal lawsuit accusing it of thwarting the release of public information. It's a case that could reveal just how much politics influences the processing of Freedom of Information Act requests, especially when such releases could embarrass the president.

The civic watchdog group Cause of Action on Monday sued the Obama administration, claiming that presidential attorneys have interfered improperly in the release of public documents under the landmark FOIA law in an effort to curb the release of derogatory information about the White House.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by the nonpartisan Cause of Action, names 12 federal agencies that the group says slowed the release of documents so officials could consult with White House attorneys under a review process established in spring 2009. FOIA analysts say this practice never occurred in prior administrations.

The process gave White House officials review authority over documents that mentioned the White House or presidential aides, and was based on an April 15, 2009, memo by White House Counsel Gregory Craig that instructed all federal agencies to consult with President Obama's attorneys on the release of documents containing "White House equities."

Comment: The administration's memo/directive referring to 'White House equities' is an interesting use of language in and of itself.
First, as mentioned in the article and video, it has no legal meaning whatsoever and, as such, should not wield the power of compelling other Federal agencies and departments who have received FOIA requests to first forward the documents relating to the Obama administration to the administration itself for their approval. This process reeks of an effort towards totalitarian control.

Secondly, when we look up the definition of equities, which is used rather opaquely here, we come up with this from Investopedia:

Definition of 'Equity '
1. A stock or any other security representing an ownership interest.

2. On a company's balance sheet, the amount of the funds contributed by the owners (the stockholders) plus the retained earnings (or losses). Also referred to as "shareholders' equity".

3. In the context of margin trading, the value of securities in a margin account minus what has been borrowed from the brokerage.

4. In the context of real estate, the difference between the current market value of the property and the amount the owner still owes on the mortgage. It is the amount that the owner would receive after selling a property and paying off the mortgage.

5. In terms of investment strategies, equity (stocks) is one of the principal asset classes. The other two are fixed-income (bonds) and cash/cash-equivalents. These are used in asset allocation planning to structure a desired risk and return profile for an investor's portfolio.

So, what else can one surmise from the use of the word equity except that the White House or Obama administration thinks it somehow 'owns' all the other Federal agencies and should therefore have complete control over them as their owner? Perhaps it shouldn't come as any surprise since Obama himself was put into office and is, himself, owned by the financial services/banking industry; he essentially being an equity of the financial elite.

See also:

Moore: "Wall Street Has Their Man And His Name Is Barack Obama"

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USA

Best of the Web: How we'd cover Ferguson if it happened in another country


Vox.com
Tue, 19 Aug 2014 16:42 UTC
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US regime forces have been brutalizing minority sect protestors in Ferguson
How would American media cover the news from Ferguson, Missouri, if it were happening in just about any other country? How would the world respond differently? Here, to borrow a great idea from Slate's Joshua Keating, is a satirical take on the story you might be reading if Ferguson were in, say, Iraq or Pakistan

Ferguson - Chinese and Russian officials are warning of a potential humanitarian crisis in the restive American province of Missouri, where ancient communal tensions have boiled over into full-blown violence.

"We must use all means at our disposal to end the violence and restore calm to the region," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in comments to an emergency United Nations Security Council session on the America crisis.

The crisis began a week ago in Ferguson, a remote Missouri village that has been a hotbed of sectarian tension. State security forces shot and killed an unarmed man, which regional analysts say has angered the local population by surfacing deep-seated sectarian grievances. Regime security forces cracked down brutally on largely peaceful protests, worsening the crisis.

America has been roiled by political instability and protests in recent years, which analysts warn can create fertile ground for extremists.
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Bad Guys

Britain can buy bombs to kill Palestinians and support Israel but doesn't have enough money for school meal program


RT
Tue, 19 Aug 2014 16:20 UTC
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© Reuters / Suzanne PlunkettStudents receive their lunch at Salusbury Primary School in northwest London
British schools have warned they will struggle to feed their students and will be forced to sacrifice spending on maintenance and resources to provide meals under the government's controversial new school meals policy beginning next month.

British schools have warned they will struggle to feed their students and will be forced to sacrifice spending on maintenance and resources to provide meals under the government's controversial new school meals policy beginning next month.

Research produced by the Local Government Association (LGA) showed that nearly half of local councils will have to dip into other budgets to provide school meals to every child under a plan spearheaded by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg last year.

As a result, councils need more than £25 million to be able to deliver the policy in the future.

The scheme, which was announced at last year's Liberal Democrat party conference, was designed to provide all students in their first year of primary education with free school meals.
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Magnify

UN calls for screening of all international travelers leaving Ebola-affected African countries


RT
Tue, 19 Aug 2014 16:14 UTC
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© AFP Photo / Carl de SouzaA girls suspected of being infected with the Ebola virus has her temperature checked at the government hospital in Kenema, Sierra Leone, on August 16, 2014.
The number of cases of West Africa's Ebola outbreak has climbed to 2,240, including 1,229 deaths, the World Health Organization said. It urged affected countries to screen all people at international airports.

The Ebola virus killed 84 people between August 14 and 16, the WHO said Tuesday, reporting the toll in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

Confirmed infections jumped by 113, bringing the total number of cases to 2,240, said the WHO, which is the United Nations health agency responsible for dealing with epidemics.

The virus, which has hit four West African nations since it broke out in Guinea at the start of the year, is by far the deadliest since Ebola was discovered four decades ago in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The WHO called for Ebola-affected countries to conduct exit screening of all people at international airports, seaports and major land crossings "for unexplained febrile illness consistent with potential Ebola infection."

"Any person with an illness consistent with EVD [Ebola virus disease] should not be allowed to travel unless the travel is part of an appropriate medical evacuation," the WHO said in a statement. "There should be no international travel of Ebola contacts or cases, unless the travel is part of an appropriate medical evacuation."

Meanwhile, Liberian authorities reported that the 17 Ebola carriers who fled a quarantine center in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, have been tracked down and re-hospitalized.

The patients escaped from the medical center over the weekend when it was attacked by looters who stole bloodstained sheets and mattresses.
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