Puppet Masters

Moscow: Countries that stood up for INF Treaty have now 'de facto blessed' US for scrapping it

RT
Sat, 22 Dec 2018 13:05 UTC

The very same nations that blasted the White House for deciding to pull out of the landmark 1987 INF Treaty have now helped to defeat the UN resolution calling for its support, the Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out.

Russia expressed "disappointment" as a resolution in support of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was voted down by a narrow margin in the UN General Assembly on Friday.

Forty-three states, including China and South American countries, voted for the document drafted by Russia.

Forty-six voted against the resolution, with 78 abstaining. The US' allies in NATO and the EU voted 'No' despite previously speaking in favor of keeping the arms agreement intact, the Russian Foreign Ministry noted.

"These countries, especially the NATO members - contrary to their own statements about the importance of the INF Treaty - acted as its opponents."

Comment: The treaty is worthless if all who qualify are not signatories, or if innovation has found its way around the stipulations. Could it have been amended and new participation encompassed if the US and Russia were the only countries beholden to outdated restraints? What impetus would make China, et al, sign on?

Will Trump remain firm on pulling our troops out of Syria?

Patrick J. Buchanan
The American Conservative
Fri, 21 Dec 2018 01:05 UTC

"We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there," wrote President Donald Trump as he ordered the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Syria, stunning the U.S. foreign policy establishment.

Trump overruled his secretaries of state and defense, and jolted this city and capitals across NATO Europe and the Middle East. Yet Trump is doing exactly what he promised to do in his campaign.

And what his decision seems to say is this: We are extricating America from the forever war of the Middle East so foolishly begun by previous presidents. We are coming home. The rulers and peoples of this region are going to have to find their own way and fight their own wars. We are not so powerful that we can fight their wars while also confronting Iran and North Korea and facing new cold wars with Russia and China.

As for the terrorists of ISIS, says Trump, they are defeated.

Yet despite the heavy casualties and lost battles ISIS has suffered, along with the collapse of the caliphate and expulsion from its Syrian capital Raqqa and Iraqi capital Mosul and from almost all territories it controlled in both countries, the group is not dead. It lives on in thousands of true believers hidden in those countries. And like al-Qaeda, it has followers across the Middle East and inspires haters of the West living in the West.

Comment: President Trump will have the support of a great many Americans on this decision. That, in itself, is a victory.

Michael Isikoff cutting his losses at 'Russian Roulette'

Ray McGovern
Consortium News
Wed, 19 Dec 2018 00:00 UTC

Michael Isikoff, one of the biggest proponents of the Russia-gate story now says that Robert Mueller's investigation is "not where a lot of people would like it to be," says Ray McGovern.

Last Saturday, veteran Washington journalist Michael Isikoff began a John Ehrlichman/Watergate-style "modified limited hangout" regarding the embarrassing overreach in his Russia-gate "collusion" reporting. He picked an unctuous, longtime fan, radio host John Ziegler, to help him put some lipstick on the proverbial pig. Even so, the interview did not go so well.

Those who can muster some residual empathy for formerly serious reporters who have gotten Russia-gate so wrong, may feel genuine sadness at this point. Those fed up with pretense, unprofessionalism, and dodging, however, will find it hard to listen to the audible squirming without a touch, or more, of Schadenfreude - the word Germans use to denote taking joy at the misfortune of others.

In a word, it proved hard to square the circle inside which Isikoff and other Russia-gate aficionados have been living for more than two years after last week's disclosures. Ziegler's repeated expressions of admiration for Isikoff's work, plus his softball questions, utterly failed to disguise Isikoff's disappointment that Robert Mueller's Russia-gate investigation is "not where a lot of people would like it to be." "A lot of people" includes Isikoff.

Comment: A bit of damage control for a lot of damage done. At least it was offered.

Trump: Mattis out January 1, replaced by deputy Shanahan as acting defense secretary

RT
Sun, 23 Dec 2018 16:47 UTC

Not willing to wait for the resigning US defense chief James Mattis to finish his term, President Donald Trump has announced that his deputy Patrick Shanahan will serve as acting defense secretary from January 1.

Mattis resigned from Trump's administration this week citing policy differences and offered to stay in his post for two more months until the end of February. While Trump himself had confirmed the time frame, he has now made it clear Mattis will be out of the team quite a bit earlier.

Reports and speculation emerged that the abrupt change was caused by Mattis' resignation letter and the attention it received. Trump was irked by the letter, which implicitly criticized his policies and the decision to withdraw from Syria, and decided to oust the Secretary of Defense immediately, Reuters reported, citing a source.

Comment: See also:

UN experts demand Assange's unconditional release, having lost last appeal over newly restrictive rules

RT
Sat, 22 Dec 2018 04:27 UTC

A UN-endorsed team of experts has urged London to "immediately" allow WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange to leave the Ecuadorian Embassy, as the court of last resort denied his appeal over a newly imposed set of 'censure' rules.

Seong-Phil Hong, chair-rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and Michel Forst, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, reiterated calls for the UK to abide by international law and allow Assange to leave the Ecuadorian Embassy without any precondition.

"It is time that Mr Assange, who has already paid a high price for peacefully exercising his rights to freedom of opinion, expression and information, and to promote the right to truth in the public interest, recovers his freedom,"

the UN experts demanded in a statement on Friday.

The experts argued that "pre-trial detention must be only imposed in limited instances," adding that the charges Assange faces in the UK for skipping his bail while applying for asylum cannot justify his six years within the embassy's walls.

Foreign policy swamp on Syria: Why they are wrong and Trump is right

Col. Rob Maness
Breitbart
Fri, 21 Dec 2018 04:12 UTC

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, I have been directly involved in advising the country's top National Security Team in planning and executing the United States and Allied Powers response to the attacks. I've trained troops to deploy, supervised and conducted intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations and deployed myself in the first Operation Enduring Freedom, as well as Operation Iraqi Freedom as a commander.

My support for President Trump's decisions to bring American forces out of Syria now and soon Afghanistan is informed not only by my experiences since 9/11, but also four decades of military and civilian experience planning and executing national security policy. I have studied national security matters under retired US Marine Lt General Mick Trainor at Harvard, and many other great thinkers at the U.S. College of Naval Warfare.

As you can see from my background, I'm no pacifist, but I've also seen the horrors of war firsthand and understand that military force should always be a final resort and that it is the duty of the Commander in Chief to bring our troops home as soon as the stated mission is complete.

Comment: We all pick what we choose to believe until our views and desires are replaced by undeniable facts and realistic assessments. Time will tell if the 'right' decisions have been made - and too late to change if they are not.

Director of National Intelligence: No evidence of foreign interference found in US midterm elections

Associated Press
Sun, 23 Dec 2018 20:05 UTC

Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats

Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats said Friday that his agency has not found any evidence of any direct interference in the midterm elections. Coats said he has submitted a required report to President Donald Trump that says the intelligence community has not uncovered any compromise of election infrastructure that would have disrupted balloting or changed results.

Coats said the intelligence community did find a continuation of previously disclosed "influence activities" and "messaging campaigns" by countries such as Russia, China and Iran ahead of the election.

Comment: This last statement is designed to prime readers with the idea that Russia, China, and Iran are still 'trying' to subvert US elections. Never-mind that there is no reference of what these 'disclosed influence activities' might be, and please disregard the details in the prior paragraph saying there is no evidence of interference.

Trump talks with Erdogan about 'slow and coordinated' US troop withdrawal from Syria

Reuters
Sun, 23 Dec 2018 19:55 UTC

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he spoke with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan about "a slow and highly coordinated" withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, a decision that sparked criticism from U.S. lawmakers, including fellow Republicans.

"We discussed ISIS, our mutual involvement in Syria, and the slow and highly coordinated pullout of U.S. troops from the area," Trump said in a tweet. "After many years they are coming home."

Trump said he and Erdogan also discussed "heavily expanded" trade between the United States and Turkey, after the two NATO allies' relationship went into a tailspin over the summer.

Venezuela and Cuba sign new health cooperation agreement

teleSUR
Sat, 22 Dec 2018 19:27 UTC

Cuba And Venezuela Strengthen Agreements On Health And Education

Venezuela and Cuba have signed a new health cooperation agreement.

The governments of Venezuela and Cuba have signed a new agreement of cooperation on health in order to deepen and strengthen the health coverage of the Venezuelan National Public Health System. The agreement comprehends the training of technicians as well as the presentation and advice for electromedicine services, from Cuba to Venezuela.

The Venezuelan Minister of the Popular Power for Health, Carlos Alvarado, stated that "within this project a company is being created that will be named VenSalud and its goal will be to perform the repair and maintenance of the equipment of the Autonomous Service of Pharmaceutical Processing (SEFAR), entity attached to the Ministry of Health."

The Beltway is in hysteric melt down over Trump's Syria withdrawal

Matt Purple
The American Conservative
Fri, 21 Dec 2018 18:39 UTC

Their obsession with Vladimir Putin misses the point and obscures the hard costs of our military misadventures.

He's a wily one, that Vladimir Putin. Consider all that he's managed to accomplish over the last 24 hours, according to the geopolitical wizards on Twitter. At Putin's behest, President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a withdrawal of American troops from Syria. That's now cleared the path for Russia to exert control over Damascus, the Middle East, indeed the world itself, because Moscow has at last secured the jewel in its neo-Soviet empire...a strip of chaotic desert in northeastern Syria.

If that's actually Putin's thinking, then he's not playing checkers or chess so much as 13 Dead End Drive right before the chandelier falls on his head. Yet that was the gist of the analysis from America's smart set yesterday. Think tank functionaries and journalists and right-wing radio hosts were all united in furious opposition to Trump's Russia-influenced absconding from Syria. Somehow they've yet to muster similar unanimous outrage over our massive national debt or our loneliness-cum-opioid crisis, but I'm sure that's just a matter of time. Until then, the Syria page of Washington's mad-lib book yields all the usual buzzwords: "adversaries," "strength," "surrender."

Comment:

.. .. Ernesto Guido, you know much that his hidden! [Link]

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Puppet Masters

Moscow: Countries that stood up for INF Treaty have now 'de facto blessed' US for scrapping it

Will Trump remain firm on pulling our troops out of Syria?

Michael Isikoff cutting his losses at 'Russian Roulette'

Trump: Mattis out January 1, replaced by deputy Shanahan as acting defense secretary

UN experts demand Assange's unconditional release, having lost last appeal over newly restrictive rules

Foreign policy swamp on Syria: Why they are wrong and Trump is right

Director of National Intelligence: No evidence of foreign interference found in US midterm elections

Trump talks with Erdogan about 'slow and coordinated' US troop withdrawal from Syria

Venezuela and Cuba sign new health cooperation agreement

The Beltway is in hysteric melt down over Trump's Syria withdrawal

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