Puppet Masters

Rampant corruption? Criminal proceedings initiated against 60% of Brazilian Senators

Sputnik
Thu, 12 May 2016 14:19 UTC

At least 60 percent of Brazilian senators have criminal charges against them, including of bribery and money laundering, a local television network reported, citing the Brazilian fact-checking website Lupa.

"The most frequently cited crime among sitting senators is money laundering and concealment of assets. The second most common crime is accepting bribes, with 25 Brazilian senators currently being investigated for such crimes," the report quoted by the TeleSUR broadcaster on Wednesday claimed.

American musicians scared their careers 'will be destroyed' if they speak up for Palestinians

Philip Weiss
Mondoweiss
Wed, 11 May 2016 02:51 UTC

For years now we have admired Roger Waters's (Pink Floyd) moral courage, his refusal to back down from his criticism of Israel even if his career is torched by his witness.

And I have heard rumors of that career-blackmail being levied at the legendary musician who never met his father or grandfather (because they died freeing Europe) and who burst into rock and roll fame without even wanting that when he was in his early 20s because he was political before he was musical.

Those rumors are confirmed; now this committed soul has burst out in the English press with a description of the vicious smears the Israel lobby has used against him, which he has overcome, in an effort to get others to join him in speaking out against Israeli apartheid.

Pointing out that British musicians have supported BDS - Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign - Waters says that American artists are "scared sh**less" against such actions because their careers "will be destroyed." But we need them desperately, as we did in Vietnam days.

Turkey threatens to send refugees back to EU if visa-free deal fails

RT
Thu, 12 May 2016 02:35 UTC

Ankara will send migrants back to the EU if the European Parliament won't grant visa-free travel to Turkish citizens, warned Burhan Kuzu, a high-ranking deputy for Turkey's ruling AKP party and former adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Kuzu made several statements on Twitter in anticipation of Wednesday's session of European parliament, at which visa exemption for Turkish nationals in the Schengen zone - as part of a migrant deal between Brussels and Ankara - was to be discussed.

"The European Parliament will discuss the report that will open up visa-free travel in Europe to Turkish citizens. If it makes the wrong decision, we will send the migrants back!" he wrote.

He also told Bloomberg: "If Turkey's doors are opened, Europe would be miserable."

Comment: Further reading: Appalling: Turkish border guards continue to shoot and abuse Syrian refugees

Trying again: Moscow, Kiev agree on Ukraine demilitarized zone

Press TV
Wed, 11 May 2016 00:05 UTC

© Reuters
Foreign ministers Sergei Lavrov of Russia, Pavlo Klimkin of Ukraine, Jean-Marc Ayrault of France, and Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany (L-R) pose for a picture outside German foreign ministry's guest house Villa Borsig in Berlin, Germany, May 11, 2016.

Moscow and Kiev have agreed upon establishing demilitarized zones in areas held by pro-Russia fighters in eastern Ukraine, Germany says.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier made the announcement following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, and French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault in Berlin on Wednesday.

He stressed that the implementation of the new measures would be "a big step forward" in the talks and would strengthen the present shaky ceasefire.

During the three-hour meeting, several other steps were agreed upon including further information-sharing and halting of military drills close to the border line, which divides areas held by pro-Russians and the Ukrainian territory.

Democracy to be crushed in Brazil after US-engineered Rousseff impeachment

Glenn Greenwald
The Intercept
Wed, 11 May 2016 23:57 UTC

Brazilian Vice President

In 2002, Brazil's left-of-center Workers Party (PT) ascended to the presidency when Lula da Silva won in a landslide over the candidate of the center-right party PSDB (throughout 2002, "markets" were indignant at the mere prospect of PT's victory). The PT remained in power when Lula, in 2006, was re-elected in another landslide against a different PSDB candidate. PT's enemies thought they had their chance to get rid of PT in 2010, when Lula was barred by term limits from running again, but their hopes were crushed when Lula's handpicked successor, the previously unknown Dilma Rousseff, won by 12 points over the same PSDB candidate who lost to Lula in 2002. In 2014, PT's enemies poured huge amounts of money and resources into defeating her, believing she was vulnerable and that they had finally found a star PSDB candidate, but they lost again, this time narrowly, as Dilma was re-elected with 54 million votes.

In sum, PT has won four straight national elections - the last one occurring just 18 months ago. Its opponents have vigorously tried - and failed - to defeat them at the ballot box, largely due to PT's support among Brazil's poor and working classes.

So if you're a plutocrat with ownership of the nation's largest and most influential media outlets, what do you do? You dispense with democracy altogether - after all, it keeps empowering candidates and policies you dislike - by exploiting your media outlets to incite unrest and then install a candidate who could never get elected on his own, yet will faithfully serve your political agenda and ideology.

The SWIFT System: Banking as another potential weapon in the hybrid war

Valentin Katasonov
Strategic Culture Foundation
Tue, 03 May 2016 23:44 UTC

The acronym SWIFT (The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) has once again popped up in the global media headlines. Experts usually describe SWIFT as an international, interbank network for transmitting information about payment transactions.

Globalization would be impossible without SWIFT

The society was founded in 1973. By that time the post-war monetary system established in 1944 in Bretton Woods had virtually collapsed. The dollar as well as other currencies had been divorced from gold, and the printing presses at the US Federal Reserve and other Western central banks were furiously at work. The volume of international payments had increased sharply. The traditional systems for sharing data about payment transactions (the teletype, telegraph, and telephone) could not cope with the increased traffic.

It was necessary to draw upon the latest technology in order to centralize the isolated channels used to exchange information. Two hundred thirty-nine banks from 15 countries worked together to set up an organization devoted to solving this problem. SWIFT is a cooperative society, established under European law, with a head office in Brussels. Currently almost 11,000 institutions from over 200 countries, including 9,600 banks, are members of SWIFT. Every year 2.5 billion payment orders are transmitted through the SWIFT network, which processes billions of dollars each day.

Comment: If Russia is "showing interest" in an alternative to the SWIFT program, you can bet that, behind the scenes, things are much further along.

Rising terror threat casts doubt on US-led coalition's effectiveness in Iraq - Russia's UN envoy

RT
Sat, 07 May 2016 00:00 UTC

Russia's UN envoy has questioned the effectivity of the US-led counter-terror operation in Iraq, as terrorist activity has intensified there. He also urged the UN to delve into the origin of chemical agents obtained by militants "via Turkey."

Speaking at Friday's UN Security Council meeting on Iraq, Russia's Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, commended the Iraqi government's efforts in combatting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), while questioning the role of the international coalition under the leadership of US forces, which he said has not achieved any feasible progress on the ground so far.

"...The dramatic rise in terrorist activity, especially in Bagdad, makes us grow wary and question the efficiency of the activities of the 'coalition' which has been calling itself 'global' in the recent time due to some reason," he said, pointing out the rapid expansion of Islamic State's operations in Libya, Afghanistan, and Europe.

Comment: See also:
Syria SITREP - 'Rebel' infighting, refugee camp bombed, ceasefire largely holding

Turkey begins operation in Syria to establish buffer zone: Report

Press TV
Wed, 11 May 2016 00:00 UTC

Turkey has reportedly launched a military operation on the Syrian side of the border as part of a plan to establish a buffer zone in Syria.

According to a Tuesday report by the Turkish Yeni Safak newspaper, the operation allegedly aims to push back the Takfiri Daesh terrorists from an area that is 18 kilometers long and 8 kilometers deep in Syria's Jarablus region.

Under the plan, the Turkish military will use artillery shells, guided missiles and mortars to target the militants who have repeatedly fired rockets at the southern Turkish border town of Kilis.

The newspaper said the operation will be supported by the international coalition, particularly the United States and Germany.

Comment: South Front analysis of Turkish invasion of Syria:

Rosneft Oil CEO Igor Sechin: OPEC is dead

RT
Tue, 10 May 2016 14:16 UTC

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has virtually ceased to exist as a single institution able to influence the oil market, said Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin in an interview to Reuters, published on Tuesday. "The 1970s, when the larger Middle East producers could determine the global oil market by creating cartel structures such as OPEC, should be forgotten," Sechin told Reuters. He added that Rosneft had been skeptical about the chances of a positive result from the meeting in Doha on April 17, where OPEC and non-members were trying to agree to freeze production at January levels.

The deal went bust after Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations said they wouldn't agree unless all OPEC members joined in.That included Iran, which didn't attend the meeting. Tehran has repeatedly said it will not cap output until it reaches the pre-sanction level of four million barrels per day. "At the moment a number of objective factors exclude the possibility for any cartels to dictate their will on the market. ... As for OPEC, it has practically stopped existing as a united organization," Sechin said.

Sechin is known for his skepticism about OPEC, saying that Russia as a leading oil producer has to adhere to its own strategy and to protect its market share. "Just to remind you, we only responded to one question about our position: 'Who should we agree with, and how?' The development of the situation has clearly shown we were right," Rosneft CEO said. According to Reuters source, Sechin insisted that Russia as a superpower should not participate in any alliance with OPEC.

OPEC members have failed to reach a unified stance on oil production since 2014, when oil prices started plummeting. While Venezuela, Algeria, Angola and Ecuador are in favor of limiting supply, Middle Eastern members led by Saudi Arabia want to increase production and compete for market share, ignoring the low prices.

The last time OPEC was able to agree a production quota was at the June 2015 Vienna meeting. Since then, the cartel has failed to keep to its self-established quota of 30 million barrels per day.

World's central banks buying up gold to diversify from US dollar

RT
Wed, 11 May 2016 20:52 UTC

The demand for gold has renewed worldwide with the price for the precious metal climbing to nearly $1300 per ounce for the first time in 15 months. The rally has been led by the world's central banks loading up on gold to diversify from the US dollar.

Russia has been the most active buyer in the bullion market. The country has purchased 46 tons of the yellow metal this year, while China comes second with 35 tons.

The demand by the central banks increased 28 percent from January through March compared to the same period a year ago, Capital Economics' commodities economist Simona Gambarini told Business Insider.

The major driver for gold purchasing by central banks is seen by the economists as trend towards diversification away from the US dollar, with some economies seeking protection against currency volatility.

Gold prices have also been driven by increased consumer demand in India and the US. India, one of the world's largest gold consumers, returned to the market after a strike by the country's jewelers association. Demand for bullion in the US has climbed the most in 30 years.

Optimistic figures seen in the first quarter along with a steady increase in demand support the positive forecasts on prices, according to Capital Economics.

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Puppet Masters

Rampant corruption? Criminal proceedings initiated against 60% of Brazilian Senators

American musicians scared their careers 'will be destroyed' if they speak up for Palestinians

Turkey threatens to send refugees back to EU if visa-free deal fails

Trying again: Moscow, Kiev agree on Ukraine demilitarized zone

Democracy to be crushed in Brazil after US-engineered Rousseff impeachment

The SWIFT System: Banking as another potential weapon in the hybrid war

Rising terror threat casts doubt on US-led coalition's effectiveness in Iraq - Russia's UN envoy

Turkey begins operation in Syria to establish buffer zone: Report

Rosneft Oil CEO Igor Sechin: OPEC is dead

World's central banks buying up gold to diversify from US dollar

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