Puppet Masters
The monopoly it enjoys grants it the unwarranted power and influence it has wielded throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. And because big-oil is integrated into big-finance and other corporate-financier monopolies through various mutual interests, its influence reaches even further still.
The ability to manipulate prices in the markets, starve or bolster any particular nation by targeting energy essential for modern civilization constitutes a weaponization of energy. However, despite this immense power, there are some who claim big-oil's days are numbered. On one hand they are wrong, on the other, they are absolutely right.
Text of Abayomi Azikiwe's presentation to Left Form, City University of New York, May 22, 2016
In February of 2008 under the administration of President George W. Bush, Jr., the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) was officially launched with its base in Stuttgart, Germany.
The reasoning behind the creation of AFRICOM has evolved over the last eight years from being a necessary security measure to protect vital American interests on the continent to a mechanism designed to assist post-colonial African states to enhance their national security apparatuses in light of the so-called "war on terrorism", by then in full operation some four to five years after the invasion of Iraq and Haiti, and six-and-a-half years after the Pentagon occupation of Afghanistan.
There was much controversy within the African Union (AU) member-states over whether AFRICOM should establish its headquarters on the continent. This idea initially was rejected by the Pentagon due to this objection by numerous African states of varying political outlooks and governmental systems.
At this time, 2007-2008, the U.S. had initiated a war in Somalia in order to prevent the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) from fully consolidating power in that Horn of Africa nation fractured since 1991 after the collapse of the regime of Mohamed Siad Barre, a close ally of Washington. The administration of President George H.W. Bush in its final days had deployed 12,000 Marines to Somalia in December 1992, under the guise of responding to a humanitarian crisis of food deficits and internal conflict.
However, the way in which both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton endanger all people's lives and property and health and welfare, has to do with something else, something that's even more evil than what Bill Clinton did, and it's the Obama-Clinton (that's Secretary of State and now Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton) foreign policy, to overthrow the leaders of nations who are allied with or supportive of Russia — such as most recently Syria's Bashar al-Assad, but before that Ukraine's Viktor Yanukovych, and before that Libya's Muammar Gaddafi. It's no mere coincidence that all three had had cordial relations with Russia.
George W. Bush's 2003 overthrow of yet another pro-Russian head-of-state, Saddam Hussein, had already done enormous damage not only to Iraq but to the U.S., and yet Obama and Clinton are at least as determined to surround Russia by enemies, as Bush was; and they now even support the installation, on-and-near Russia's very borders, of a 'Ballistic Missile Defense' system that's actually designed to disable Russia's ability to retaliate against a U.S. surprise nuclear attack on Russia — the BMD is astoundingly aggressive, especially considering that whereas in 1991 the Soviet and then Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev terminated both the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact on the basis of an understanding from George Herbert Walker Bush and his agents, that NATO would not move "one inch to the east", this crucial promise from the U.S. government was violated by Bill Clinton's extending NATO into the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland; and by Bush's son Bush then extending NATO into Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia; and by Obama then extending NATO into Albania and Croatia and trying to bring into it also Ukraine and some other nations bordering or near Russia.
American President JFK didn't allow the Khruschev regime to place nuclear missiles 90 miles from the U.S. in Cuba in 1962, and Russian President Putin can't stand the Obama regime to place nuclear missiles right on Russia's borders, but it's happening now, and it endangers us all — not only the Russian people. Post-communist Russia is vastly different than the communist USSR was, and the U.S. government's treating it even more aggressively than the USSR ever was treated is simply mega-criminal and can be 'justified' only on the basis of lies.
Comment: Since we can now say that U.S. politics is, for all intents and purposes, insane - and there exists little to no chance of any sane leadership holding the reins of power any time soon - the probability of a major conflagration with Russia now seems, sadly, to be inevitable.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Avigdor Lieberman (L), the head of hardline nationalist party Yisrael Beitenu, are seen during a ceremony in which they signed a coalition agreement on May 25, 2016 at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem
On Wednesday, US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that the US has concerns about the new Israeli government, formed earlier in the day when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman reached a political deal to bring Lieberman's right-wing nationalist party into the ruling coalition.
Lieberman was given the defense ministry post following Moshe Ya'alon's resignation from the job last week. Ya'alon indicated that he decided to step down due to his "lack of trust" in Netanyahu's policies, with the two men sparring in recent weeks over the use of deadly force on neutralized Palestinian assailants. Prior to his resignation, the defense minister said that Israel had "lost" its "moral compass for basic questions."
Commenting on the political shuffle, Toner said that the State Department had "seen reports from Israel describing [the new government] as the most right-wing coalition in Israel's history, and we also know that many of its ministers have said they oppose a two-state solution."
Comment: Inbar has made his bias towards a right-wing Israel quite clear in his remarks about Lieberman. The man is a thuggish bully, a former nightclub bouncer who once beat up a 12-year-old child.
- Paramoralisms, twists and lies are the psychopath's trade: Spiegel interviews Avigdor Lieberman
- Spoken like a true psychopath: Israeli foreign minister Lieberman claims Gaza Freedom Flotilla is 'violent'
- Psychopath Avigdor Lieberman: Israel needs to conquer and thoroughly cleanse Gaza Strip
- Alternate reality? New York Times tells its readers Netanyahu is dangerous
Ahead of my visit to Athens, I would like to share with the readers of Kathimerini, one of the most popular and respected Greek newspapers, some ideas regarding the further development of the partnership between Greece and Russia, as well as about the situation on the European continent in general.
We value the centuries-old traditions of friendship between our peoples. Our cooperation rests on a rock-solid base of common civilizational values, the Orthodox culture and a genuine mutual affection. A vivid example of how closely our people's lives are intertwined is the story of Ioannis Kapodistrias, who was a Russian minister of foreign affairs in the 19th century and later became a head of the Greek state.
The celebrations of the Millennium of Russian Monasticism on the Holy Mount Athos will be a landmark event this year. Throughout completely different periods of history, their moral courage, faith and patriotism helped our peoples to overcome severe ordeals and preserve their identity.
Comment: In his first visit to an EU country in over a year, Putin plans on meeting with the Greek president and prime minister and signing bilateral agreements. More on Putin's plans in Greece:
"Issues of bilateral economic and investment cooperation, including the implementation of joint projects in the energy sector" will be discussed during the visit, said the announcement of the Kremlin.
Saturday, May 28, the Russian president will visit Mount Athos, a visit in the nature of a pilgrimage.
"Particular attention will be given to cultural and humanitarian cooperation (...) in the context of the celebration in 2016 of the Millennium (monastic) of the Russian presence on the Holy Mountain," says the statement of the Kremlin.
The Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Kirill will visit Greece from 27 to 29 May to take part in these celebrations. "On May 27, I hope to visit Mount Athos and to remain there until May 29, commemorating the inhabitants of Mount Athos and numerous pilgrims for the millennium of the first reference to a Russian monastery on Mount Athos," said Patriarch Kyril.
As Gail Sheehy pointed out in her biography of Hillary, it was Mrs. Clinton who hectored her husband into bowing to a chorus of neoconservative and liberal interventionist voices and finally giving the order to bomb the former Yugoslavia. Traveling to Kosovo when Serbs in the northern part of the country were demanding some form of local autonomy to stave off violent attacks by Kosovar ultra-nationalists, Mrs. Clinton reassured her hosts that the US would stand behind Pristina: "For me, my family and my fellow Americans this is more than a foreign policy issue, it is personal." She then physically embraced Kosovo President and Mafia chieftain Hacim Thaci - who has since been credibly accused by the Council of Europe of stealing human organs from Serb victims and selling them on the black market.
Mush for brains: Saudi FM says only Saudi-backed 'Syrian' opposition can speak for the Syrian people
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir, who is in Moscow for a strategic Russia-Arab Gulf dialogue, said Riyadh and Moscow differed in their views of who Syrians should send to Switzerland for peace talks.
"We... believe that only the Riyadh group can act as a legitimate representative of the Syrian people at the negotiations. In its turn, Russia thinks that other Syrian groups that want to partake in the talks should be allowed to attend," Jubeir said.
Russia has been calling on the United Nations to invite Syrian Kurds to the proximity talks. Moscow also supports a domestic Syrian opposition group based in Hmeymim, in the western Latakia province.
Comment: This man is an idiot. Or a comic genius. Essentially, he's saying that the only legitimate Syrian opposition is a rag-tag bunch of uncompromising, Saudi-backed terrorists, and that truly Syrian domestic opposition is illegitimate. What a nut!
The sane opposition from Hmeymim, in contrast, is actually willing to talk and not insist on absurdities like "Assad must go", in the hopes of actually solving the problems, not simply maneuvering for regime change:
The Hmeymim group will support the Syrian opposition Moscow platform's proposal to appoint five vice presidents in Syria's transitional government only as a part of a wider comprehensive peace settlement plan, Tarek Ahmad, a member of the Hmeymim group, told Sputnik on Thursday.
"We will support this or any other proposal only if it includes a comprehensive approach towards solving the Syrian crisis and fulfills the UN Security Council resolution on war on terror and all conditions of Vienna talks rather than only a political aspect of the solution," Ahmad said.
The Moscow platform of the Moscow-Cairo-formed group proposed appointing several vice-presidents, deputies for Syrian President Bashar Assad, during the latest round of intra-Syrian talks in Geneva on April 13-27. The arrangement, which enables the formation of a transitional governing body, allegedly received a positive response from UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura. The Riyadh-formed High Negotiations Committee opposition delegation, however, ruled out the proposals, saying that Assad must go, and it is the "red line."
"We need to search for a complete package to end the war in Syria. That means that the Saudis, the Turks and the Americans and those who are behind them along with some European states should support fight against terrorism as the Russians always point," Ahmad stressed.
"In regard to Russian-American coordination in the fight against terrorism, this coordination has not yet been formed completely. There is progress in terms of agreeing actions when already on the battlefield in the Syrian airspace, but we are moving slower than [Moscow] would like," Lavrov told reporters.
"At first, they were ready just for a mechanism to avoid incidents, then they agreed to establish a communication channel to exchange information about who had joined the ceasefire. But they are not ready yet for real combat coordination," he added.
Comment: Meanwhile, the U.S.-backed SDF, who are currently launching an offensive on Raqqa, and who took over an important strategic town and several villages yesterday, say they are debating whether or not to cooperate with the Russians in the offensive. SDF spokesman Talal Selo: "The Syrian Democratic Forces General Staff, in coordination with the US-led international coalition, will decide whether to accept the proposal of cooperation with the Russians, or the operation will be continued only by us and the international coalition. The alliance [SDF] and the coalition will make a decision on the issue."
Why are the Americans so hesitant? They want the same thing - the defeat of Daesh - right? Not quite. This might have something to do with it:
The Syrian city of Raqqa will become a part of the Federal Democratic System of Rojava and Northern Syria following its liberation from Daesh terrorists, a representative of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Iraqi Kurdistan, Gharib Hassou, said Thursday.Ahh, the spoils of war... John Kerry must be cackling with Plan B glee.
...
"Since the assault on Raqqa is carried out by the SDF, it makes sense that after its recapture, the city will become a part of the democratic federal system created by us in northern Syria," Hassou told RIA Novosti. The Syrian government cannot do anything to oppose the city joining the Kurdish federal system, as "the Syrian army failed to do something with the terrorists in Raqqa," Hassou said. He noted that the Syrian army was not taking part in the offensive to retake Raqqa.
Bill Clinton rape allegations...
Vince Foster's death...
Email server scandal...
and Whitewater.
Are we missing anything?
If we are, then we are sure Donald Trump will find it and throw it out to the American public as his "Crooked Hillary" campaign continues full steam ahead. Just a few days ago Trump launched an Instagram ad bringing hubby Bill's sexual misconduct front and center.
Yesterday Trump was at it again questioning the death of Bill Clinton's longtime friend and deputy White House counsel Vince Foster.
Now Trump is moving his attention to Whitewater.
Comment: Besides the interesting revelation on the direction the Trump campaign is taking, this incident is an indictment of the competency of the Trump team. Not one to inspire confidence.
While JASTA would allow for families of victims of 9/11 to overcome the current restrictions, the new section of the bill would essentially allow the heads of the Justice and State departments to stay any lawsuits indefinitely. The provision allows for the organizational heads to simply "inform the judge hearing the case that the US government has engaged with Riyadh in diplomatic talks to resolve the issue," according to the NY Post.
Comment: One can only deduce that there won't be any lawsuits against the US if 9/11 truth ever goes mainstream.
Truth be told: Saudi press just accused US Govt of blowing up World Trade Centers as pretext to perpetual war














Comment: Is there anywhere - anywhere - in the world today where the presence of some form of U.S. aggression isn't felt?