Welcome to Sott.net
Thu, 04 Nov 2021
The World for People who Think

Puppet Masters
Map

Eye 2

A (short) list of despicable acts by George W. Bush before and after 9/11

george bush
© CBS News
Eight years of this.
Let's look at 50 reasons, some large and some small, why W. inspired so much anger.

1. He stole the presidency in 2000. People may forget that Republicans in Florida purged more than 50,000 African-American voters before Election Day, and then went to the Supreme Court where the GOP-appointed majority stopped a recount that would have awarded the presidency to Vice-President Al Gore if all votes were counted. National news organizations verified that outcome long after Bush had been sworn in.

2. Bush's lies started in that race. Bush ran for office claiming he was a "uniter, not a divider." Even though he received fewer popular votes than Gore, he quickly claimed he had the mandate from the American public to push his right-wing agenda.

3. He covered up his past. He was a party boy, the scion of a powerful political family who got away with being a deserter during the Vietnam War. He was reportedly AWOL for over a year from his assigned unit, the Texas Air National Guard, which other military outfits called the "Champagne Division."

4. He loved the death penalty. As Texas governor from 1995-2000, he signed the most execution orders of any governor in U.S. history—152 people, including the mentally ill and women who were domestic abuse victims. He spared one man's life, a serial killer.

Comment: Apparently the American people learned nothing under either of the Bushes. Obama's list is likely to be even longer.


Binoculars

Putin warns Middle East terrorists recruit fighters from ex-Soviet states, seek to expand into other regions

Putin
© Aleksey Nikolskyi / RIA Novosti
Staying vigilant.
After securing a beachhead in Syria, the terrorists wish to destabilize whole new regions, widen their expansion and recruit more fighters, including from Russia and former Soviet republics, the Russian president said at a meeting with the country's military top brass.

The extremists from the Middle East "have been recruiting militants and continue doing so in many countries, unfortunately including Russia and CIS countries," Vladimir Putin said, adding that Moscow launched its air operation in Syria as a preventive action against Islamic State extremists.

Putin insisted that Russia's assistance to Syria fully complies with Moscow's military doctrine and international law.

Comment: Putin must remain vigilant, especially now that the US has been shamed in its fight against terrorism. US may lash out in dirty ways.


Attention

Russian jets strike 60 ISIS targets in 55 sorties including 19 command posts in the past 24 hours

russian air strikes
© Russian Defense Ministry / YouTube
The Russian Air Force has attacked 60 Islamic State targets in Syria in the past 24 hours, destroying 19 command posts, Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"In the past 24 hours, as a result of the strikes two ammunition warehouses, a plant producing ammunition and explosives, 30 firing positions and a machinery collection have been destroyed," the ministry's spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, said Tuesday.

The Su-24M, SU-25SM and SU-34 jets deployed for the mission have all returned to Russia's Khmeimim airbase in Latakia, he added.

The strikes hit targets associated with Islamic State and Al-Nusra in the provinces of Hama, Latakia, Damascus, Aleppo, Idlib and Deir al-Zor, Konashenkov said.

Comment: Playtime is over! Russia to increase missions in Syria to 300 a day


Bad Guys

NATO to follow U.S. orders, keep troops in Afghanistan indefinitely to continue Russia provocation

Image
© AP Photo/ Maurizio Gambarini
Germany, Turkey and Italy will maintain their current troop levels in Afghanistan, NATO officials said on Monday after the United States announced that it will prolong its military presence there.

General Philip Breedlove, NATO's top commander in Europe, said he had assurances that NATO countries will continue alongside the nearly 10,000 US troops in Afghanistan. "Several of our largest contributors have already communicated with us that they will remain in their current posture," Breedlove told Reuters.

Germany, NATO's top contributor, has around 850 troops in Afghanistan, followed by Italy with 760 and about 500 for Turkey, according to the latest NATO data.

Comment: This comes on the heels of the U.S. changing its position on removing troops from Afghanistan by 2017, which incidentally only occurred after Russia's intervention in Syria and, most importantly, Afghanistan asked Russia for help fighting ISIS. Once the U.S. realized that Afghanistan may be cozying up to Russia, they immediately changed their plans to leave and told their NATO stooges to do the same. They also don't want their multi-billion dollar terrorist infrastructure to be lit up by Russian SU-25's like what's happening in Syria.


Attention

Moscow protests incident with Swiss military jet: Excuses 'do not look convincing'

Image
© AFP 2015/ FABRICE COFFRINI
Moscow has voiced strong protest over a Monday's incident in French airspace involving a Swiss military jet and a Russian delegation plane heading to Geneva.

On Monday, Switzerland confirmed that its F/A-18 military aircraft had neared a plane with the Russian parliamentary delegation on board, but said that it had been performing standard verification procesures adding that "such checks were carried out hundreds of times a year.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that attempts of some Swiss authorities to present the air incident as a verification procedure does not look convincing.

Comment: A Swiss military jet nearly colliding with a plane carrying senior Russian lawmakers seems designed to send a message.

Also see: Swiss MOD admits sending military jet but denies it avoided collision with Russian diplomatic flight


Eye 1

British Muslim communities accuse David Cameron of treating them as 'aliens to be bashed from time to time for political gains'

David Cameron and Theresa May
© Steve Parsons / Reuters
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May.
David Cameron has been accused of treating Muslims as "aliens to be bashed from time to time for political gains" with his new counter-extremism strategy, which he set out on a visit to Luton on Monday.

The Prime Minister vowed to "aggressively" pursue radical preachers as he announced measures to treat people convicted of terrorism or extremism like sex offenders who will be automatically barred from working with children and vulnerable people.

However the Ramadhan Foundation said Mr Cameron's latest measures, which include giving powers to police to shut down mosques where extremist meetings take place, withdraw passports from teenagers and ban extremists from the internet, would not succeed because of "little support from the Muslim community".

Its chief executive, Mohammed Shafiq, dismissed Mr Cameron's new approach as a "PR exercise".

In a scathing attack on the Government's plans, he said: "What we require now is for British Muslims to be engaged without prejudice and a new approach adopted that will see Muslims as equal citizens and not some sort of aliens to be bashed from time to time for political gains.

"Today's counter extremism announcement by the Government is a missed opportunity to really engage the Muslim community and work in partnership against terrorism and extremism."

The new plans announced by Mr Cameron on Monday will introduce the ability to ban radical preachers from posting material online, while powers for parents to withdraw passports from their children will be extended to all youngsters under the age of 18. In July he announced plans to apply it to children under 16.

Comment: If the British Government were really sincere in combating 'extremism' and stopping it "right where it starts", they ought to look first at their poisonous foreign policy. As a Kremlin official noted last year, "First of all we must talk about the sharp surge of religious extremism that is largely a consequence of the, diplomatically speaking, shortsighted policy of a number of Western countries."


Compass

Real change? Canada's Trudeau topples PM Harper in shock election win

Image
© Reuters/Chris Wattie

Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau gives his victory speech after Canada's federal election in Montreal, Quebec, October 19, 2015.
Canada's Liberal leader Justin Trudeau rode a late surge to a stunning majority election victory on Monday, toppling Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives with a promise of change and returning a touch of glamour, youth and charisma to Ottawa.

Harper conceded defeat and the Conservative party announced his resignation, ending a nine-year run in power and the 56-year-old's brand of fiscal and cultural conservatism that voters appeared to sour on.

The Liberals seized a Parliamentary majority, a turn in political fortunes that smashed the record for the number of seats gained from one election to the next. The center-left Liberals had been a distant third place party before this election.

"My friends, we beat fear with hope. We beat cynicism with hard work. We beat negative, divisive politics with a positive vision that brings Canadians together," Trudeau, 43, told a crowd of cheering supporters in Montreal.

"This is what positive politics can do."

Comment: Trudeau seems to be saying the right things but will he act on those promises and if so, will he be allowed to do so?


Attention

Risk of instability in Saudi Arabia a rising storm

Saudi Arabia
© AP Photo/ Hasan Jamali
A black hole that has opened up in the region after the US fiasco in Iraq and overthrow of Saddam Hussain is apparently beginning to drag down Saudi Arabia.

In the last few months the debates about the future of the Saudi regime have been gaining momentum. Saudi Arabia is the world's largest oil exporter and one of the leading consumers of high-tech weapons of the US. If the Saudi regime falls, the oil markets will turn over upside down, and Saudi weapons will disperse throughout the world, Ergin Yıldızoğlu wrote.

Comment: For more on this story: The collapse of Saudi Arabia is inevitable


Bullseye

'New jungle' grows: Shocking images show migrant camp in French port Calais, mayor considers calling in army

Image
© Denis Charlet / AFP
An aerial picture taken on October 8, 2015 shows the "New Jungle" migrants camp where some 3,500 people live while they attempt to enter Britain, near the port of Calais, northern France.
Aerial images of France's 'New Jungle' refugee camp show the surging number of people currently living in makeshift tents in the port of Calais hoping to move on to the UK. Meanwhile, the city's mayor is considering calling in the army to maintain order.

Comment: Read more:
  • Banksy's Dismaland will be stripped for parts to provide shelter to refugees in France



Eye 1

The killing of Serena Shim and the 'suicide' of former BBC journalist Jacky Sutton

Serena Shim
© Twitter/Hamid Farajollahi
Reporter and mother of two, Serena Shim was killed in Turkey - "the largest prison for journalists". She had expressed fears for her own safety
Exactly a year ago - on October 19th, 2014 - the journalist Serena Shim was killed after reporting from Kobani in Syria as a war correspondent. Her death was almost certainly the work of the Turkish intelligence community. It's a rather remarkable, and depressing, 'coincidence' that just as I was sitting down to put together a post in tribute to her, I've just come across news that another journalist and activist, Jacky Sutton, has just been found dead in Turkey - exactly a year to the date of Serena Shim's suspicious death.

Former BBC journalist, Jacky Sutton (aged 50) is reported to have been found dead in a toilet in Istanbul's main airport. The British journalist (pictured below), who had been working as Iraq director for the Institute of War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), was in Turkey en route to Irbil in Northern Iraq. Turkish sources have allegedly suggested that she has killed herself after missing a flight connection - a rather poor, even insulting, suggestion, which colleagues of Ms Sutton are dismissing. In her role as acting Iraq head of the (London-based) IWPR, Jackie Sutton's role has been to support local journalism in countries affected by war and crisis. As The Guardian notes, the organisation's previous Iraq director, Ammar Al Shahbander, was killed in a car-bomb in Baghdad on 2nd May this year. It is claimed the British woman's body has been found hanging from boot laces.

Sudipto Mukerjee, a director with the UN Development Programme, has said, according to The Independent; "Very difficult to believe that my colleague in Iraq, staffer and seasoned traveller Jacky Sutton committed suicide." Ms Sutton had, among other things, previously worked for the BBC World Service, reporting from Africa, the Middle East and London.

Comment: See also: At this point, we just don't know what Sutton may or may not have known that would cause Turkish intelligence to want to assassinate her. Her NGO, IWPR, is headed by former Financial Times chairman David Bell, Christiane "Let's bomb Syria!" Amanpour, MSM mainstay Anne "Putin invaded Crimea!" Applebaum, among others. Interesting bedfellows, to say the least.