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

Puppet Masters
Map

Dollar

High financial crime is now standard business procedure

Helen Chaitman
Helen Davis Chaitman was the lead attorney representing the victims of the $65 billion Bernie Madoff scam. Madoff had help form JP Morgan Chase Bank, and what she found out was stunning. Chaitman explains, "JP Morgan Chase was the subject of a criminal complaint . . . it was charged with a criminal violation of the Bank Secrecy Act, which is a felony violation. JP Morgan Chase disgorged a small percentage of the profits it made on the Madoff relationship, and the government called it quits. Nobody was fired. Nobody disgorged bonuses, they just went on doing other crimes."

Chaitman, who wrote a book called "JP Madoff," documented that JP Morgan Chase paid nearly $36 billion in fines for various crimes just in the last four years. Chaitman says all the big banks are basically criminal organizations, and "all of them regularly engage in fraud." Chaitman also says, "I could have written this book about HSBC, Bank of America or Citi Group. All the banks, and the government encourages them to do this, all of the banks have been operating like criminal enterprises. . . . The bankers have become such criminals it threatens the entire world economy."

Comment: It should be clear to everyone that high financial crime is not only standard business procedure, but also protected by government and its lapdog news media.


Radar

Russia responds to NATO's eastward expansion by deploying 3 military divisions on western border

russian soldier
© ITAR-TASS/Artyom Korotayev
Russia's decision to deploy three divisions along its western borders is only one of the measures to respond to NATO's eastward expansion, Russia's Permanent Representative at NATO Alexander Grushko said on Tuesday.

"The Russian president has repeatedly said that Russia is not interested in confrontation that we will not let anyone drag us into an arms race," the Russian diplomat noted. "As of today, our armed forces, our military technical potential make it possible for us to choose various military technical ways to ensure security and not fall into an arms race spiral."

"Our interests will be reliably protected. The deployment of three divisions is only one of the measures that should be considered in this context," the envoy said during a Moscow-Brussels video link-up.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu announced plans to deploy three new divisions along the western border back in January 2016. It became known later that a new motor-rifle unit will be deployed near Rostov-on-Don, and two more - in the Smolensk and Voronezh regions. Each of them will have about 10,000 servicemen.

Megaphone

Former US diplomat: US will continue to use ISIS to topple Assad, have been cooperating with terrorists since 9/11

isis fighters
© Diaa Al-Din / Reuters
Ahrar al-Sham Islamic fighters
After the Al-Qaeda 9/11 attack on America the US is cooperating with the terrorist group as it did in Libya, Bosnia, and Kosovo, says former US diplomat Jim Jatras.

A senior figure from a Syrian rebel group Ahrar Al-Sham with links to Al-Qaeda reportedly visited the United States at the end of last year, according to an American news website.

Syrian militant group leader Labib al Nahhas, who calls himself "chief of Foreign Political Relations at Ahrar al-Sham," allegedly arrived in the US capital for a short visit in December.

Vader

NATO finding its anti-Russian propaganda blitz falling on deaf ears in Europe

nato hq
© REUTERS/ Francois Lenoir
As Montenegro is slated to become yet another NATO member state, some military experts suggest that the Alliance won't stop until it swallows up all of Europe; while others note that few states are now wishing to contribute to NATO's announced priority of "deterring Russia."

NATO's initial plan to step up its so-called "deterrence of Russia" was set to create a force of about 4,000 troops, a battalion for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

However just recently Washington informed the Alliance that it is sending only one battalion to the European eastern flank, instead of the planned two. Germany and the UK have volunteered to provide a battalion each. However, there is a big question: which country will fill the void.

Undisclosed US military sources revealed to the Wall Street Journal that America's European allies should form the fourth battalion themselves, in order to play a "greater role in their own defense."

Light Saber

Syrian Army begins large-scale offensive to liberate Raqqa from Daesh

syrian fighters
© AFP 2016/ Delil souleiman
A representative of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has told Sputnik Turkey that the SDF has launched a large-scale three-pronged offensive to liberate Syria's third-largest city Raqqa, which has been the 'capital' city of Daesh terrorists for over 2.5 years.

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tuesday began a massive three-pronged offensive on Raqqa, Daesh the self-proclaimed capital in Syria and the third-largest city in the country.

The offensive began simultaneously from three flanks under the command of Ehrar Rakka and Liva Tahrir units which are comprised of Raqqa residents and are part of the SDF. Up to 12,000 fighters are reported to be taking part in the operation.

Light Sabers

Armed opposition in Syria wants to reconcile with Syrian Army to fight Al-Nusra

syria militant
Syrian battlefield sources announced that the armed opposition groups in the city of Aleppo have voiced their readiness to join the Syrian government forces to fight against the Takfiri terrorists there.

"The militant groups in the old part of Aleppo city have asked for reconciliation with the Syrian government and joint the country's army to confront the Al-Nusra Front," a military source told FNA on Monday.

He said now that the residents of the old Aleppo city have voiced their readiness to join the army, the Syrian government troops can launch their attacks on Al-Nusra Front's military positions in the old Aleppo city.

The ceasefire regime brokered by Russia and the United States on February 22 officially came into effect in Syria at midnight Damascus time on February 27.

Chess

Chinese and Russian military meet in Beijing to discuss strategic cooperation

Sergey Rudskoy
© EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV
Sergey Rudskoy
The 18th round of strategic dialogue between the Russian Armed Forces and Chinese People's Liberation Army was held in Beijing today, the Chinese Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

China was represented by Deputy Chief of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission Admiral Sun Jianguo, Russia - by Chief of the Main Operations Department of the Russian General Staff Lieutenant General Sergey Rudskoy.

"The sides exchanged their opinions on international and regional situation in the sphere of security, military reforms, as well as cooperation between the Armed Forces of the two countries, and achieved broad consensus," the Chinese Defense Ministry said.

Sun Jianguo said that cooperation between the defense ministries of China and Russia has been actively developing over the last years. "In order to contribute to development of Russian-Chinese relations of strategic partnership, China wants to constantly uncover the potential of cooperation together with Russia, expand cooperation spheres and deepen strategic trust," the military official.

Rudskoy in turn said that Russia and China are effectively cooperating in all spheres. "The consensus reached during this round of strategic dialogue will leads to gradual increase in the level of cooperation between the Armed Forces of the two countries, which will give a new impetus to development of Russian-Chinese relations in general," he said.

Attention

Putin to Poroshenko, Merkel and Hollande: 'Stop shelling Donbass, now!'

Normandy Four meeting
© REUTERS/ Mykola Lazarenko/Ukrainian Presidential Press Service
Putin called on APU to stop shelling of Donbass immediately.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, and President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has called for an immediate end to the attacks on settlements in Donbas from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, according to the Kremlin press service.

A telephone conversation between the leaders of the Norman Quartet was held on Tuesday night.

"Putin has called for an immediate end to attacks by the armed Ukrainian formations on the settlements Donbass. It was emphasized that a key element of the settlement should be direct dialogue with Kiev-Donetsk-Luhansk for the full and comprehensive implementation of the Minsk agreement of 12 February 2015," concluded the press release.

RusVesna, May 24, 2016
Translated from Russian by Tom Winter

Blackbox

Rumors that Putin will purge his cabinet are 'almost certainly' wrong

Putin
© Sputnik/ Sergey Guneev
As the Russian government weathers a period of unpopularity caused by the recession, there is talk that Putin is about to purge his cabinet, but this is almost certainly wrong.

An article has recently appeared in The Huffington Post which discusses rumours of an imminent purge of liberals from Russia's government.

According to this view Russia's President Putin is coming under increasing pressure from hardliners within Russia's political elite to carry out a thorough purge of Atlanticists and liberals within the government.

The hardliners are also supposedly demanding a thorough overhaul of economic policy. They want Putin to jettison the current liberal oriented free-market policy in favour of an economic mobilisation of the country to withstand the challenge of the West. The details are sketchy but undoubtedly what is being talked about involves the reintroduction of capital controls and of forms of central planning that go far beyond what Russia has now.

Quenelle - Golden

Russia's Foreign Ministry slams 'external forces' for crisis in Venezuela

nicolas maduro
© REUTERS/ Marco Bello
Russia's Foreign Ministry has spoken out against "outside" efforts to destabilise Venezuela, warning against the consequences of imposing "colour scenarios" on the South American nation.

On Monday, Russian news agency Tass and Sputnik International reported that Russia's Foreign Ministry had released an official statement addressing the current situation in Venezuela.

"The upsurge of tensions in Venezuela is being fed from outside," asserted the Foreign Ministry statement.

"We are confident that a political solution to Venezuelan problems is to be found by the Venezuelan people who have elected its legitimate authorities... Destructive interference from outside is inadmissible," it continued.

Comment: Further reading: Brazil, Venezuela, South Africa threatened by CIA soft coups