Puppet MastersS


Snakes in Suits

German politician Peter Ramsauer accuses US of waging 'economic war' against Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank building
© Ralph Orlowski / Reuters
Washington has a "long tradition" of waging trade wars, if they are favorable to the US economy, and the Deutsche Bank case is an example of that, said the German parliament's economics committee chairman Peter Ramsauer in an interview with Welt am Sonntag.

According to the German politician, the threat to force Deutsche Bank to pay a $14 billion fine over its mortgage-backed securities business before the 2008 global crisis "has the characteristics of an economic war." "Extortionate damages claims" in the case are an example of that, said Ramsauer.

Another German politician, Merkel ally and MEP Markus Ferber has suggested the Deutsche Bank investigation is a "tit for tat response" from the US Department of Justice after Brussels imposed a record €13 billion penalty against Apple's tax misdoings in Europe.

Comment: This all happened before in 2014 against France's BNP Paribas bank: BNP Paribas agrees to record $8.8bn settlement for US sanctions violations as blackmail for Paris to cancel Russia deal fails


Gold Coins

Ruble at 11 month high fuels hedge fund interest

Ruble coins
© Vladimir Trefilov / Sputnik
US Hedge funds continue to bet on further improvement in the ruble, signifying a belief the Russian currency may extend its recent gains.

In the week through September 27, investors acquired another 1,425 contracts for the ruble against the dollar, according to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The bet on the ruble is at a historic high of 24,052 contracts. The number of ruble short positions fell by almost 50 percent to 3,013.

On Monday, the Russian currency showed its best performance against the US dollar since October last year, trading at 62.24 against the greenback. The ruble was also trading below 70 against the euro for first time since July.

Propaganda

Special interest groups create the "good", the "bad" and the "compelling" stories - the media's only job is to tell them

propaganda neocons media spin
A thoughtful analysis by Amanda Taub of the New York Times describes why some wars get more "western" public attention than others:
Conflicts gain sustained American attention only when they provide a compelling story line that appeals to both the public and political actors, and for reasons beyond the human toll. That often requires some combination of immediate relevance to American interests, resonance with American political debates or cultural issues, and, perhaps most of all, an emotionally engaging frame of clearly identifiable good guys and bad guys.
...
Yemen's death toll is lower than Syria's, and although Al Qaeda does operate there, Yemen's conflict has not had the kind of impact on American and European interests that Syria's has. There is no obvious good-versus-evil story to tell there: The country is being torn apart by a variety of warring factions on the ground and pummeled from the air by Saudi Arabia, an American ally. There is no camera-ready villain for Americans to root against.
Those are good observations. But they themselves are part of the process they describe. They artificially create "good" and "bad" and are driven by "interests". (Side note: I doubt the sweeping claim "Yemen's death toll is lower than Syria's". The famine in northwest Yemen is very severe. The number of dead is simply not known yet but like in the hundred-thousands.)

Reporting does not depend on the existence of good and bad or the existence of a compelling story. Such thinking is just idealized nonsense. It is the media that creates the (often artificial) sides of a war on behalf of the interests. Good and bad are not inherent, they are constructs. A real compelling story is not needed. One can be created any time though it will likely not be a true one.

Bad Guys

One year after US airstrike on MSF facility in Afghanistan hospitals are still part of the battlefield


One year ago, an MSF hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan was hit by over 200 shells during an infamous US airstrike which killed 42 people including three children. Medical facilities continue to be "part of the battlefield," according to Doctors Without Borders.

Speaking to reporters in Kabul on the anniversary of the deadly Kunduz strike, MSF president Meinie Nicolai said the organization has "recorded 77 attacks against medical facilities operated or supported by MSF in Syria and Yemen."


Calling the situation "unprecedented," Nicolai said that "hospitals are now part of the battlefield," AFP reported. Most of the facilities, according to Nicolai, are targeted "in the name of war against terrorism." She noted that attacks against civilian medical centers and ambulances are "systematic" in Syria.

Comment: See also:


Jet4

Syria on brink of final victory in Aleppo

aleppo
© Unknown
With Jihadi counter offensives crushed, the Jihadis in eastern Aleppo trapped, and the US out of options, the Syrian government backed by Russia is on the brink of winning 'the Great Battle of Aleppo' and restoring its full control over Syria's biggest city.

Whilst all the attention is focused on the diplomacy, the fighting in Aleppo progresses steadily towards what is now starting to look like an inevitable government victory.

Die

Colombians reject FARC peace deal by tiny margin

FARC deal rejected by colombia
© AFP
In a dramatic turn of events, Colombians have rejected a landmark peace agreement reached with FARC rebels, with just over 50 percent voting against the deal in a snap referendum.

Colombian voters rejected a peace deal with the Marxist FARC organization, with 50.24 percent of people voting against peace in a public referendum on Sunday.

Comment: This all may not be what it appears to be, however we would point out there is a reason why Ponerology was written as a study of Communism and its attempt to implement Marxist economics.


Attention

Majority of Paris & Brussels attackers infiltrated EU posing as refugees - Hungarian intelligence

paris attacks flowers
© Benoit Tessier / Reuters
The majority of Islamic State militants directly involved in carrying out the Paris and Brussels terrorist attacks used the Balkan route to enter Europe under the guise of being refugees, the Hungarian intelligence chief stated.

Analysis of phone call intercepts established that seven of the nine attackers involved in the November Paris onslaught, which killed 130 and injured 368 people, entered the EU through Hungary last year, the Hungarian Counter Terrorism Center (TEK) chief, General Zsolt Bodnar, revealed. The seven were allegedly part of a larger 14-member terrorist cell that used Hungary as the springboard for their bloody actions in Europe.

Comment: This kind of narrative 1) is incredible and 2) continues to misscharacterize both the humanitarian nature of the refugee crisis and its costs on the refugees and host countries. At the very least this only demonstrates full incompetence on the part of intelligence services and their profound incapability of providing security, at the most perhaps it only serves as yet another datapoint in favor of possible collusion or genesis.


MIB

Best of the Web: U.S. Special Forces officer: How the CIA armed and trained jihadists for war in Syria

jihadists in training
The West blames Russia for the bloody mess in Syria, but U.S. Special Forces saw close up how the chaotic U.S. policy of aiding Syrian jihadists enabled Al Qaeda and ISIS to rip Syria apart, explains ex-British diplomat Alastair Crooke.

"No one on the ground believes in this mission or this effort", a former Green Beret writes of America's covert and clandestine programs to train and arm Syrian insurgents, "they know we are just training the next generation of jihadis, so they are sabotaging it by saying, 'Fuck it, who cares?'". "I don't want to be responsible for Nusra guys saying they were trained by Americans," the Green Beret added.

In a detailed report, US Special Forces Sabotage White House Policy gone Disastrously Wrong with Covert Ops in Syria, Jack Murphy, himself a former Green Beret (U.S. Special Forces), recounts a former CIA officer having told him how the "the Syria covert action program is [CIA Director John] Brennan's baby ...Brennan was the one who breathed life into the Syrian Task Force ... John Brennan loved that regime-change bullshit."

In gist, Murphy tells the story of U.S. Special Forces under one Presidential authority, arming Syrian anti-ISIS forces, whilst the CIA, obsessed with overthrowing President Bashar al-Assad, and operating under a separate Presidential authority, conducts a separate and parallel program to arm anti-Assad insurgents.

Comment: Yes, pity Syria - that has, however indirectly, and for the last how many years, bravely fought a life or death struggle against one of the most maniacal, covert and pathological forces ever to walk Earth - the CIA. And if that isn't bad enough, it has one of the most maniacal, covert and pathological forces on Earth spreading lies about the whole tragedy - the Western media.


Bad Guys

Defense bill allows government to steal sacred Native American sites to give to billionaire mining corporation

native land
© Unknown
When last year's National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was passed overwhelmingly the bill tacked on riders that gave Native American land to foreign investors.

Every year the NDAA passes through congress and every year it passes. With a bloated budget of 585 million, it flew through Congress with a whopping 89 to 11 vote. From the sound of the name, you would think that it was a defense bill but everything DC is smoke and mirrors.

A rider in the Bill called the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act, had twice failed to win support in the House of Representatives and was blocked both by conservationists and conservatives.

The Act was added into the NDAA largely thanks to the efforts of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) who sees the project as an "economic boon" that will create 3,700 jobs over several decades.

Secret negotiations gave a subsidiary of the Australian-English mining firm Rio Tinto 2,400 acres of the Tonto National Forest in exchange for several other land parcels in order to mine a massive copper deposit.

Rio Tinto has a uranium mine in Namibia in which 15% is owned by Iram since the days of Shah Pahlavi. The company supposedly removed Tehran from the mine board and claim it has not active connections with Iran. Under Namibian law, it is impossible to buy out Iran's share or forcefully remove Tehran.

Black Cat

Hurricane Matthew to show horrific cost of Clinton Foundation theft from Haiti

hurricane mathew
© Twitter: CapitalWeather
The Category 4 Hurricane set to devastate Haiti with 145MPH winds, 40 inches of rain, and 12 foot storm surge looks to be an unprecedented human tragedy with the country failing to recover after the 2010 earthquake with many in Haiti faulting the State Department, Clinton Foundation.

Two weeks ago the former Senate President of Haiti Bernard Sansaricq told a crowd of Donald Trump supporters that the Clinton Foundation stole "billions" from the Haiti relief fund following the tragic earthquake that left some 316,000 people dead due to the cascade of weakly supported structures and an outbreak of cholera.

The Clinton Foundation has been much maligned in the years that have followed for alleged malfeasance in their relief work following the 2010 natural disaster as Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State at the time and decided to contract with the Foundation, despite the obvious conflict of interest, to provide for the relief effort.

The Foundation reportedly raised $30 million for Haiti relief projects, but locals say that the projects never fully materialized while others point to luxury hotels that were allegedly constructed with relief funds in order to benefit the country's ruling establishment.