Puppet MastersS


Red Flag

World commemorates victims of NATO's illegal bombing of Yugoslavia (Photos)


Voice of Russia
Mon, 24 Mar 2014 19:04 UTC
Image
© AFP
Cities of the Former Yugoslavia are commemorating all those who fell victim to NATO's bombings in 1999

March 24, 2014, marks the 15th anniversary of the beginning of NATO-led operation against Yugoslavia codenamed Operation Allied Force. The facilities situated on the territories of Serbia and Montenegro became the targets of the attacks that were carried out by NATO's bombers and cruise missiles.

The failure of talks on Kosovo in Ramboulliet in France and Serbia's refusal to sign a "peace plan', and also the mass graves of the peaceful Albanian civilians who were allegedly killed by the Serbian troops that were discovered in the village of Racak served as a pretext for an act of aggression against Former Yugoslavia in which 19 NATO member-states led by the U.S. took part. Later it became known that is was a falsification that was organized by the Western special services - the majority of graves belonged to the militants of the "Kosovo Liberation Army". As a result of those bombings which lasted 78 days, 2,000 civilians were killed, and nearly 7,000 people were wounded, with children, making up 30 percent of them.
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Chess

Pepe Escobar shows why the EU can't 'isolate' Russia

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times Online
Thu, 27 Mar 2014 15:01 UTC
German Chancellor Angela Merkel could teach US President Barack Obama one or two things about how to establish a dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

As if Obama would listen. He'd rather boost his constitutional law professor self, and pompously lecture an elite eurocrat audience in the glittering Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, like he did this Wednesday, on how Putin is the greatest threat to the US-administered global order since World War II. Well, it didn't go that well; most eurocrats were busy taking selfies or twittering.
Putin and Joe Kaeser
© UnknownPutin meets the CEO of German engineering and electrical conglomerate Siemens, Joe Kaeser, at his official residence outside Moscow
Putin, meanwhile, met with the CEO of German engineering and electrical conglomerate Siemens, Joe Kaeser, at his official residence outside Moscow. Siemens invested more than US$1.1 billion in Russia over the past two years, and that, Kaeser said, is bound to continue. Angela was certainly taking notes.
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Display

Leaked: Turkey (NATO member) officials discuss military strike on Syria


Press TV
Thu, 27 Mar 2014 14:36 UTC
Youtube blocked in Turkey

A new audio recording has emerged online, playing a discussion by top Turkish officials of possible military operations in Syria.

The audio uploaded on YouTube plays the voices of Turkey's intelligence chief, foreign minister and deputy head of the country's armed forces discussing the possible assault.

Ankara reacted by blocking users' access to YouTube throughout Turkey, saying the leaking of the controversial recording had created "a national security issue."

The You Tube ban comes a week after the government imposed a ban on Twitter, accusing the social networking website of violating Turkey's laws.

The ban on Twitter followed publication of documents allegedly exposing corruption in Erdogan's ruling elite.

The limitations come days ahead of the upcoming municipal elections scheduled for March 30.
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Books

Putin's emancipation of Russia's Jews


Haaretz
Wed, 12 Mar 2014 11:05 UTC
putin jews
Putin being shown around Moscow's new $50 million Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center
Some see President Vladimir Putin as a great friend of Russia's Jews, while others argue his motives are cynical.

When even Russian policemen had to pass security checks to enter the Sochi Winter Olympics, Rabbi Berel Lazar was waved in without ever showing his ID.

Lazar, a Chabad-affiliated chief rabbi of Russia, was invited to the opening ceremony of the games last month by President Vladimir Putin's office. But since the event was on Shabbat, Lazar initially declined the invitation, explaining he was prevented from carrying documents, among other religious restrictions.

So Putin ordered his staff to prepare an alternative entrance and security-free route just for the rabbi, according to one of Lazar's top associates, Rabbi Boruch Gorin.

"It is unusual, but the security detail acted like kosher supervisors so Rabbi Lazar could attend," Gorin said.
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Vader

Collapse of the American myth: Anger and disbelief following Brussels speech in which Obama claims U.S. intervention in Iraq was virtuous compared to Russia's 'invasion' of Crimea

Jon Queally
Common Dreams
Thu, 27 Mar 2014 09:06 UTC
Obama Brussels speech
© ReutersPresident Barack Obama delivers a speech Palais des Beaux-Arts (BOZAR) in Brussels. ()
'In order to not appear hypocritical, Obama rewrites history around Iraq War while denouncing Russia' - Jon Queally

President Obama is on the receiving end of scorn for remarks made during a high-profile speech in Brussels on Wednesday in which he defended the U.S. invasion of Iraq in an attempt to chastise Russia for recent developments in Crimea and Ukraine.

Speaking to the international community about the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and fending off repeated accusations that the U.S. has lost its moral authority given the invasion of Iraq and other breaches of international law in recent years, Obama said:
Russia has pointed to America's decision to go into Iraq as an example of Western hypocrisy. Now, it is true that the Iraq war was a subject of vigorous debate, not just around the world but in the United States, as well. I participated in that debate, and I opposed our military intervention there.

But even in Iraq, America sought to work within the international system. We did not claim or annex Iraq's territory. We did not grab its resources for our own gain. Instead, we ended our war and left Iraq to its people in a fully sovereign Iraqi state that can make decisions about its own future.
But instead of tamping down accusations of hypocrisy, Obama inflamed it.
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Battery

Obama aligned with public opinion: Americans oppose greater U.S. involvement in global politics

Richard McGregor
Financial Times
Sun, 23 Mar 2014 15:57 UTC
Image
© AP Photo/Michael KappelerPresident Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.
US President Barack Obama arrives in Europe after Russia's annexation of Crimea grappling with conflicting advice, anxious allies and unsure about Russian President Vladimir Putin's next move in Ukraine.

After the rebalancing of US diplomacy towards Asia, Mr Obama is also facing the challenge of sustained re-engagement with the continent's leaders, who often felt neglected in his first term and, more recently, bruised by allegations of US espionage.

Mr Obama will spend three days in The Hague and Brussels, at a summit of G7 leaders in the Dutch city, followed by a visit to Nato headquarters and a meeting with the EU. The overriding focus will be how to fashion and hold together a tough line against a Russian leader whose lightning incursion into Ukraine has startled the west.

So far, the US has responded with a series of sanctions against some of Mr Putin's closest associates ahead of the meeting at The Hague, taking place alongside an already scheduled nuclear security summit.

But Mr Obama's pushback against Moscow has been too little and too late, according to former administration advisers, and has failed to match the tough rhetoric from the White House about the Crimean takeover.

Comment: Coming to her senses: Merkel not ready to back economic sanctions against Russia

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Chess

Russia's Federal Assembly considers sanctions against U.S. businesses


RT
Thu, 27 Mar 2014 12:19 UTC
Image
© RIA Novosti / Vladimir Fedorenk
Russia might take reciprocal action against US companies as soon as it finds suitable replacements in other countries, several lawmakers have said.

The issue of mirror sanctions is often being raised in parliament, MP Vadim Dengin told the mass circulation daily Izvestia. In particular, Russia might impose limits on companies owned by US citizens or affiliated with US-owned corporations. "If the United States is not afraid to lose business contacts with us by introducing similar sanctions, we should have already given full support to a domestic producer," Dengin said.

A member of the Lower House committee for the financial markets, Boris Kashin, emphasized that sanctions against US companies would only be imposed if the United States first introduced such measures against Russia. The lawmaker also said that it was important if Russia could do without certain services and products.

"Not all of these [US-made] goods can be produced in Russia or replaced with imports from other countries. At present we cannot do without American computers, but if we discover an alternate, for example, a China-made one,we can include the US products in the possible sanctions list," Kashin said.
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Bad Guys

Appalling U.S. double standards: Obama says Iraq invasion not as bad as Crimea - Say what?


RT
Thu, 27 Mar 2014 13:19 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Vasily FedosenkoA man prepares to cast his ballot during the referendum on the status of Ukraine's Crimea region at a polling station in Simferopol March 16, 2014.
President Obama's key speech in Brussels on Ukraine and attempts to isolate Russia appears to be an exercise of omission, mutually-exclusive statements and unveiled double standards.

Here's a quick look at what Obama told an audience of some 2,000 people in his damning 30-minute speech.


"Each of us has the right to live as we choose."

But it's true only for those good pro-European protesters in Kiev, who used firebombs and batons to make their point. The bad pro-Russian residents of Crimea are not allowed to, right?
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War Whore

Best of the Web: Obama's latest retarded statements at E.U.-U.S. summit: "Freedom isn't free, it costs folks like you and me, and if we don't all chip in, we'll never pay that bill"


RT
Thu, 27 Mar 2014 07:51 UTC

Comment: Is anyone else noticing how low the US has fallen as a result of their Ukrainian misadventure? Someone needs to tell them to stop digging, although we don't think they know what else to do other than keep on "catapulting the propaganda".

True, President Obama didn't quite say the above, but he did say "Freedom isn't free" at the E.U.-U.S. summit today, as part of a really weak effort to convince his reluctant NATO allies to "chip in" for the "collective security" of its members in Eastern Europe.

Obama's statement is nearly identical to the lyrics from a song in 'Team America: World Police', a movie that lampooned American special forces going around the world and blowing it up in order to 'save it'!

Have a listen:



Image
President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho (aka Barry Obama): "Now y'all listen to me, this how is gonna be..."
NATO must have a sustained presence in countries that feel "vulnerable" to Russia, US President Barack Obama said at a meeting with EU leaders in Brussels. He added that neither Ukraine nor Georgia was currently being considered for NATO membership.

Obama insisted that contingency plans had to be examined and "updated" to guarantee "that we do more to ensure that a regular NATO presence among some of these states that may feel vulnerable is executed." The comments came during a four-day trip to Europe by the US president.

However, Obama expressed concern that defense spending in Europe had fallen in several countries across the continent. "If we have collective defense it means everyone has to chip in, and I have concern about diminished efforts by some in NATO," he said.

"Our freedom isn't free," he said, adding that it was necessary to "pay for the assets, the personnel, the training... for deterrent force."

Comment: This comes on the heels of another rather cringe-worthy moment yesterday, March 26th 2014, when a room full of international journalists and European diplomats responded to Obama's resounding reaffirmation of the USA's apocryphal principles of "privacy, rule of law and individual rights", with....well...complete silence.


Obama also claimed today that "Russia is completely isolated".

In his 'reality-creating' reality, perhaps.

In the real world, it's the United States that is fast becoming isolated as the world collectively watches its implosion.

The reason why no one applauded was because Obama said that America's values were "PRIVACY" (NSA wiretapping of everyone), "RULE OF LAW" (illegal US invasion and occupation of Iraq, and drone attacks in Yemen, Pakistan and elsewhere), "INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS" (meaning the ones the PATRIOT act took away).

That's something to laugh at, not applaud. In fact, the only reason his nonsense wasn't met with raucous laughter was probably because the audience's collective jaw was sitting on the floor, making it hard to laugh.

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HAL9000

Coming to her senses: Merkel not ready to back economic sanctions against Russia


RT
Thu, 27 Mar 2014 05:21 UTC
German Chancellor Angela Merkel
© UnknownGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel
The West has not yet reached a stage where it will be ready to impose economic sanctions on Russia, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, stressing that she hopes for a political solution to the stalemate over Ukraine crisis.

The chancellor said she is "not interested in escalation" of tensions with Russia, speaking after Wednesday meeting with the South Korean president in Berlin.

"On the contrary, I am working on de-escalation of the situation," she added, as cited by Itar-Tass.

Merkel believes that the West "has not reached a stage that implies the imposition of economic sanctions" against Russia, advocated by US President Barack Obama. "And I hope we will be able to avoid it," she said.

Berlin is very much dependent on economic ties with Russia with bilateral trade volume equaling to some 76 billion euros in 2013. Further around 6,000 German firms and over 300,000 jobs are dependent on Russian partners with the overall investment volume of 20 billion euros.

Germany is currently the European Union's biggest exporter to Russia. German car manufacturing companies are likely to suffer first if sanctions against Russia become more substantial, as about half of German exports to Russia are vehicles and machinery.
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