Puppet Masters

Israel: President Rivlin considering pardoning Netanyahu, strings attached

Sputnik
Thu, 05 Dec 2019 02:49 UTC

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is charged in three high-profile criminal cases related to bribery, fraud, corruption and misuse of power. Netanyahu denies wrongdoing and has threatened to stay in power even if sentenced after having been found guilty.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin was reported on Wednesday to be mulling a pardon for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under conditions that the latter retire from politics and admit to every charge against him, according to The Jerusalem Post, citing Israel's Channel 12. Netanyahu reportedly has not yet responded yet to the president's recommendation, which has been suggested numerous times by several mediators and has every time been rejected by the PM.

A former lawyer for Netanyahu, who died in October 2018, reportedly tried in the past to convince his boss to accept the bargain, but his attempts failed every time.

Israel's Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit is also reported to be ready to support President Rivlin's suggestion of a pardon for Netanyahu in exchange for full culpability and retirement. Neither Rivlin nor Mandelblit have publicly confirmed the offer.

The Jerusalem Post's report noted that pressure on Netanyahu to accept the deal may hinge on a guarantee to avoid a third election this year.

Barr disputes major Horowitz finding based on Durham, CIA evidence

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Thu, 05 Dec 2019 20:16 UTC

Attorney General William Barr will dispute a fundamental finding in the upcoming Inspector General report - namely that the FBI was justified in launching an operation Crossfire Hurricane, the agency's official covert counterintelligence investigation into links between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, according to the Washington Post.

While IG Michael Horowitz is said to have concluded that the agency had enough information to launch the probe on July 31, 2016 after Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos repeated a rumor that Russia had dirt on Hillary Clinton, Barr has reportedly told associates that Horowitz does not know about - or did not include - potentially exculpatory evidence held by other US agencies such as the CIA, which could alter his report's conclusion.

Putin: 'Bulgaria is deliberately holding up TurkStream gas pipeline extension to Serbia'

RT
Thu, 05 Dec 2019 09:39 UTC

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Bulgaria of delaying the construction of its section of the TurkStream gas pipeline. He said that Russia could, however, find ways to bypass the country, if necessary.

Despite Sofia repeatedly asking Moscow to implement the gas project "at any cost" after abandoning the South Stream route, Bulgaria is slowing down the construction of the new pipeline under external pressure, according to Putin. At a joint news conference with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Sochi on Wednesday, the Russian president said:

"Well, let's wait and see how this project is carried out in the future on Bulgarian territory. If the Bulgarians do not want it, I mean the Bulgarian leaders rather than the Bulgarian people, we will find other ways of delivering on our potential in the south of Europe."

Comment: The last time someone leaned on Bulgaria to cancel/delay a Russian gas pipeline, John McCain was instrumental in it.

Bulgaria later BEGGED Putin to reconsider her for the project that came AFTER 'SouthStream', i.e. the current project, 'TurkStream', which is just a clever way of rebranding/rerouting Russian gas into southeastern Europe.

Well, now Bulgaria is again allowing itself to be America's plaything. Which is par for the course when you're a paid-up wage-slave of the NATO Club.

See also:

Iranian President Rohani: Release 'innocent' unarmed protesters

RFE/RL
Wed, 04 Dec 2019 10:33 UTC

Iran's President Hassan Rohani has called for the release of protesters who were arrested in recent demonstrations against a sharp hike in gas prices if they were unarmed and simply voicing their opinion.

"Religious and Islamic clemency should be shown and those innocent people who protested against petrol price hikes and were not armed...should be released," Rohani said in a televised speech on December 4.

Protests erupted on November 15 after the government announced a fuel price hike of up to 200 percent but were quickly stifled by security forces who also imposed a week-long near-total Internet blackout.

Earlier this week rights group Amnesty International said at least 208 people were killed in the crackdown, a number that is "evidence that Iran's security forces went on a horrific killing spree." Iranian judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili rejected the high death toll estimates on December 3, calling them "utter lies."

Comment: See also:

The '80s called! Impeachment witness Karlan mocked for suggesting Ukrainians are helping prevent Russian invasion of US

RT
Wed, 04 Dec 2019 20:02 UTC

Stanford law professor Pamela Karlan raised eyebrows online for suggesting during congressional impeachment hearings that the US must keep Ukraine strong "so they fight the Russians there and we don't have to fight them here."

Yes, you read that right. It seems in Karlan's mind, all that's stopping "the Russians" from invading the US is the Ukrainian army, which must be kept strong to stave off the ultimate disaster. The law professor made the baffling comment during the House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearing on Wednesday.

Karlan's emphatic doomsday warning produced stunned reaction online, with conservative journalist Jack Posobiec describing the moment as one in which the respected professor went "full neocon."

"The students who are paying through the nose at Stanford are really not getting value for money," added author and commentator George Szamuely, referring to Karlan's teaching role at the prestigious university.

Comment: These are the kind of low-intellect dinosaurs behind U.S. foreign policy. It should give you an idea of the utterly sub-standard level of mentation informing actual decision-making in the circles that determine where money, bombs, and ill-will flow. Karlan isn't an anomaly; she's a textbook case of the Cold War thinking so in vogue these days. It really is time to drain the swamp.

India "Keenly Watching" China's Presence In Indian Ocean: Navy Chief

NDTV
Tue, 03 Dec 2019 00:00 UTC

Addressing a press conference in Delhi ahead of the Navy Day celebrations on December 4, Admiral Singh said: "China has increased presence in the Indian Ocean since 2008. We are keenly watching them."

Indian Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh

Admiral Karambir Singh also stressed that the India Navy is fully aware about Pakistan's intention.

India is keenly watching China's increasing presence in the Indian Ocean region, Indian Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh said on Tuesday, assuring that India is capable of thwarting any threat.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi ahead of the Navy Day celebrations on December 4, Admiral Singh said: "China has increased presence in the Indian Ocean since 2008. We are keenly watching them."

Comment: Indian ocean island nation Sri Lanka elected Gotabaya Rajapaksa as their new president last month. Newly elected Pro-China Sri Lankan president paid his first foreign visit to India. It will be interesting to see how India's relations with Sri Lanka change.

According to observers, with pro-China Rajapaksa winning the election, the result will have a bearing on India's presence in the Indian Ocean region where Beijing is increasingly making inroads.

China, which has acquired Sri Lanka's Hambantota port in 2017 as a debt swap, has been ramping up its ties with the island nation and expanded its naval presence in the Indian Ocean with an established logistics base in Djibouti.

Beijing in July gifted a warship to Sri Lanka, in a growing sign of its deepening military cooperation with the strategically located island nation in the Indian Ocean.

Rajapaksa's election manifesto had outlined a new approach to build relations with India for regional security.

Another 'deplorables' moment? Buttigieg calls all Trump supporters racist

RT
Thu, 05 Dec 2019 19:06 UTC

Pete Buttigieg, an Indiana mayor suddenly leading in polls for the DNC presidential nomination in early primary states, has accused supporters of President Donald Trump "at best looking the other way on racism."

Campaigning in South Carolina on Tuesday, ahead of Wednesday's Democrat debate, the South Bend mayor was was filmed accusing "anyone who supported this president" of either being racist or unacceptably tolerant of it.

Accusing Trump of racism has been an article of faith among the Democrats for years, and asking for evidence is a surefire way to get branded a racist oneself. Just two months prior to the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton famously declared half of Trump's supporters as an irredeemable "basket of deplorables... racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic you name it."

White House considered kicking Huawei out of U.S. banking system - sources

Alexandra Alper
Reuters
Thu, 05 Dec 2019 08:23 UTC

The Trump administration considered banning China's Huawei from the U.S. financial system earlier this year as part of a host of policy options to thwart the blacklisted telecoms equipment giant, according to three people familiar with the matter.

© REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo
A Huawei company logo is pictured at the Shenzhen International Airport in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China July 22, 2019.

The plan, which was ultimately shelved, called for placing Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL], the world's second largest smartphone producer, on the Treasury Department's Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list.

One of the people familiar with the matter, who favors the move, said it could be revived in the coming months depending on how things go with Huawei.

The plan was considered by the White House National Security Council, and seen by officials as a nuclear option atop a ladder of policy tools to sanction the company, two of the people said. Such a designation can make it virtually impossible for a company to complete transactions in U.S. dollars.

Comment: Huawei or the West's way: Which kind of spying comes with your phone?

US Navy seizes suspected Iranian missile parts set for Yemen

Lolita C. Baldor
AP
Wed, 04 Dec 2019 18:52 UTC

© AP Photo/Patricia De Melo Moreira, Pool
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands during their meeting in Lisbon Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019.

A Navy warship has seized a "significant cache" of suspected Iranian guided missile parts headed to rebels in Yemen, U.S. officials said Wednesday, marking the first time that such sophisticated components have been taken en route to the war there.

Comment: Probably U.S. propaganda. But even if it isn't, shouldn't Iran be praised for arming the Houthis? The Saudis have been waging a war of aggression for years. Who else is helping to fight them, or otherwise stop the Saudi bloodbath?

The seizure from a small boat by the U.S. Navy and a U.S. Coast Guard boarding team happened last Wednesday in the northern Arabian Sea, and the weapons have been linked to Iran.

Comment: Vague and ambiguous, as usual.

Officials said the incident illustrates the continuing illegal smuggling of weapons to Houthi rebels and comes as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were meeting, with Iran as the main topic.

Comment: Convenient timing.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details about a sensitive military mission. In a statement, Cmdr. Sean Robertson, a Pentagon spokesman, said a U.S. warship inspection discovered a cache of weapons and advanced missile components. He said, "An initial investigation indicates that these advanced missile components are of Iranian origin."

Den of vipers: Netanyahu's top aides indicted on corruption charges

Sputnik
Thu, 05 Dec 2019 18:35 UTC

The Israeli State Prosecutor's Office on Thursday published charges in the large-scale corruption scheme, known as Case 3000, that involved bribes to Israeli officials for soliciting multi-million-dollar state contracts on nuclear submarines with German company Thyssenkrupp, media reported on Thursday.

In November 2018, the police recommended prosecutors to indict several individuals close to Netanyahu over Case 3000 on various corruption-related charges, including suspicion of fraud, breach of trust, and conspiring to commit a crime.

The prosecution laid out bribery charges against former navy chief Eliezer Marom, former Netanyahu bureau chief David Sharan, former cabinet minister Eliezer Zandberg, and Thyssenkrupp representative in Israel Miki Ganor, the Times of Israel reported, citing a publication by the state attorney's office.

According to the report, Netanyahu's personal attorney and cousin, David Shimron, was charged with money laundering.

Former Deputy National Security Adviser Avriel Bar-Yosef, though recommended for indictment by the police, was not indicted, the newspaper added.

The charges now are pending a hearing in court.

Comment: There was another a time in Palestine's past when Jerusalem was host to a similar batch of scum and villainy: just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 70 AD. Maybe its current occupiers should take a lesson from history to avoid a repeat performance.

See also:

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Puppet Masters

Israel: President Rivlin considering pardoning Netanyahu, strings attached

Barr disputes major Horowitz finding based on Durham, CIA evidence

Putin: 'Bulgaria is deliberately holding up TurkStream gas pipeline extension to Serbia'

Iranian President Rohani: Release 'innocent' unarmed protesters

The '80s called! Impeachment witness Karlan mocked for suggesting Ukrainians are helping prevent Russian invasion of US

India "Keenly Watching" China's Presence In Indian Ocean: Navy Chief

Another 'deplorables' moment? Buttigieg calls all Trump supporters racist

White House considered kicking Huawei out of U.S. banking system - sources

US Navy seizes suspected Iranian missile parts set for Yemen

Den of vipers: Netanyahu's top aides indicted on corruption charges

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