Puppet Masters

Trump's trade war with China may drag on past the 2020 election

Lia Eustachewich
New York Post
Tue, 03 Dec 2019 07:35 UTC

President Trump on Tuesday warned that the trade war with China could drag on beyond the 2020 election, saying there's "no deadline" to strike a deal.

Trump told reporters in London, where he was due to attend a NATO summit:

"In some ways, I think it's better to wait until after the election with China. In some ways, I like the idea of waiting until after the election for the China deal. But they want to make a deal now, and we'll see whether or not the deal's going to be right. It's got to be right."

Last month, the US and China announced they reached a "substantial" interim trade deal, staving off a tariff increase on Chinese goods and raising hopes of a de-escalation.

Trump, who in September said he didn't need a deal before the 2020 election, put the pressure on China on Tuesday.

"The China trade deal is dependent on one thing — do I want to make it, because we are doing very well with China right now, and we can do even better with a flick of a pen. And China is paying for it, and China is having by far the worst year that they have had in 57 years. So we'll see what happens."

China reported its slowest economic growth in 27 years in October.

Lunacy: Bolsonaro claims actor DiCaprio funded Amazon forest fires

Drago Bosnic
Fort Russ
Sat, 30 Nov 2019 17:16 UTC

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro accused, without providing evidence, Hollywood actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio of financing nonprofit groups that he claimed are partly responsible for fires in the Amazon rainforest this year.

The far-right leader appeared to be commenting on social media postings claiming that the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) environmental organization had paid for images taken by volunteer firefighters that it then used to solicit donations, including a $500,000 contribution from DiCaprio, Al-Jazeera reported. The WWF has denied receiving a donation from DiCaprio or obtaining photos from the firefighters.

Comment: RT reports the reactions to Bolsanaro's ludicrous statement:

DiCaprio came under fire from Bolsonaro over the weekend, with the Brazilian president accusing him of funding NGOs that supposedly set the Amazon rainforest ablaze in order to attract more donations, without providing any evidence.

The bizarre spat, meanwhile, prompted a flurry of jokes on Twitter, mostly parodying iconic scenes from DiCaprio's movies with reference to him trying to burn the Amazon. A handful of memes came straight from this year's Quentin Tarantino flick Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, in which Leo's character wields a flamethrower.

Others brought up his role in The Revenant, which earned DiCaprio an Oscar for Best Actor.

Earlier this year, Bolsonaro had a high-profile Twitter fight with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, who sent an alarmist "our house is burning" tweet about the Amazon fires during a G7 event in France. Bolsonaro responded by accusing him of using an outdated photo of the Amazon and exhibiting a colonialist attitude towards Brazil.

The Amazon and its native peoples are under far more threat from oil and mining companies:

NATO expansion towards Russian borders 'one of the potential threats' to us but Moscow remains ready to partner on 'actual challenges' - Putin

RT
Tue, 03 Dec 2019 17:24 UTC

© REUTERS / Inquam Photos / Adel Al-Haddad
U.S. M1 Abrams tanks advance while taking part in Justice Eagle 17 joint military exercise at Smardan shooting range

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that NATO getting closer to the nation's borders poses a threat to the country, as the alliance keeps beefing up military might and citing Moscow as a perceived threat.

Speaking at a defense-themed event on Tuesday, Putin said that NATO's outdated "bloc-focused" way of thinking cannot serve as a "good instrument for making effective decisions" in the present-day world.

The president was commenting on the NATO summit, currently under way in London, where the bloc's members gathered to celebrate its 70 anniversary.

Russian Defense Ministry lobs truth bomb at NYT propaganda mill over 'bombing of Syrian refugee camp'

Sputnik
Tue, 03 Dec 2019 16:48 UTC

The NYT wrote 1 December that "eyewitness photos and videos, flight logs and cockpit tapes obtained by The Times enabled reporters to trace an airstrike on a Syrian camp for displaced families to a Russian pilot."

The Russian Defence Ministry dismissed a report by The New York Times (NYT) about Russia's Aerospace Forces' alleged bombing of a Syrian refugee camp in August.

"Like a month and a half ago, the ridiculous accusations by the authors of the fake are based on a video of unknown origin with swindlers from the White Helmets against the backdrop of buildings of the 'refugee camp'; pictures of the blue sky in which a Russian plane was supposed to be and fragments of Russian phrases, allegedly belonging to the Russian Aerospace Forces pilots", ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.

Macron tells NATO Russia must come in from the Cold War

Michael Luongo
Guns, Gold 'N Goats
Sat, 30 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC

Last week I went through just some of the highlights as to why Russia is becoming a destination for global capital.

For years it's been a little lonely out here banging on about how well the Russian state headed by Vladimir Putin has navigated an immense campaign by the West to marginalize and/or isolate Russia from the world economy.

But that is changing rapidly. And 2020 will likely be the year the New Cold War begins to end. And it starts with Europe. In recent weeks there have been a number of moves made on both sides to end the economic isolation of Russia by Europe.

As always, however, it begins politically. French President Emmanuel Macron speaking at a press conference before 70th Anniversary NATO Summit in London no less, made it clear that he no longer wants the EU positioning itself as an adversary of Russia or China.

Standing next to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Macron put a further down payment that he is looking to replace German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the person setting the tone for European Foreign Policy.

Comment: See also:

Britain's Chief Rabbi is helping to stoke antisemitism

Jonathan Cook
Mondoweiss
Mon, 02 Dec 2019 10:47 UTC

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis has not only misrepresented the known facts about Labour and its supposed antisemitism crisis. He has not only interfered in an overtly, politically partisan manner in the December 12 election campaign by suggesting that Jeremy Corbyn - against all evidence - is an antisemite.

By speaking out as the voice of British Jews - a false claim he has allowed the UK media to promote - his unprecedented meddling in the election of Britain's next leader has actually made the wider Jewish community in the UK much less safe. Mirvis is contributing to the very antisemitism he says he wants to eradicate.

Mirvis' intervention in the election campaign makes sense only if he believes in one of two highly improbable scenarios.

Comment: The evidence of Israel and its acolytes meddling in UK (and international) affairs abounds:

And check out SOTT radio's:

NATO at 70: The sclerotic & bureaucratic zombie should be pensioned off

John Laughland
RT
Tue, 03 Dec 2019 08:55 UTC

Seventy is normally considered a ripe old age at which people should be enjoying retirement. The NATO alliance, which meets to celebrate its anniversary in London, should have been pensioned off long ago.

The French president, who told the Economist in early November that NATO was "brain dead", seems determined to jolt the alliance and its members out of their collective coma. In a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Paris on November 28, Macron tried to inject a large dose of realism and clarity into a body which years ago haemorrhaged into a sclerotic and bureaucratic zombie.

Macron's shock therapy consists of asking the one question which, according to the German political theorist Carl Schmitt (although Macron did not quote him), constitutes the very essence of politics itself: "Who is the enemy?" Without an answer to this question, a military alliance has no purpose whatever. The fact that Emmanuel Macron had to ask it at all shows how badly NATO has lost the plot; in the theatre of the absurd, the Atlantic alliance is a character in search of an author.

NATO lists so many threats in its official Strategic Concepts of 1999 and 2010 that it sounds like Piglet in Winnie the Pooh, frightened of everything... terrorism; piracy; ethnic violence; inadequate economic reform; threats to energy supplies; arms proliferation; drug trafficking; cyber attacks; laser weapons; electronic warfare; health risks; climate change; even undefined "instability." Yet, the word "enemy" is nowhere in the mountain of challenges NATO says it faces.

Comment: After the end of Cold War NATO contributed generously to the dismemberment of Yugoslavia and that of Libya, offered a hand in the illegal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and assured its expansion up to the borders of Russia, just to name a few of its activities. Despite its munificent nature however, the entire world will breathe a sigh of relief once it is gone for good!

White House threatens to sanction $2.4bn worth of French imports in retaliation for digital tax targeting US tech giants

RT
Mon, 02 Dec 2019 22:47 UTC

Comment: The US is pretending this is all a 'response' to 'EU protectionism', 'forgetting' that it started this trade war...

The US has proposed new tariffs on over two billion dollars in French goods, retaliating to a "digital tax" which it says "discriminates" against American products. Some of the products could be penalized by 100 percent.

The new levies could target trade in handbags, sparkling wines, cheeses, makeup products and other household goods, valued at $2.4 billion in total, the office of the US trade representative said on Monday.

"France's Digital Services Tax is unreasonable or discriminatory and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce," the statement read, proposing "additional duties of up to 100 percent on products of France."

Comment: See also:

Trump campaign refuses to credential Bloomberg News reporters

Joshua Caplan
Breitbart
Mon, 02 Dec 2019 00:15 UTC

President Donald Trump's re-election campaign announced Monday that it will no longer provide credentials to Bloomberg News reporters after the corporate news outlet ended investigations into 2020 Democrat candidates in the wake of its billionaire owner, Michael Bloomberg, launching a bid for the presidency.

Late last month, Bloomberg joined the crowded Democrat primary field, prompting Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait to announce that the news organization would refrain from investigating the owner and his family, calling the decision a "tradition" of journalism. However, Micklethwait said reporters will continue to investigate President Trump and his administration.

"The decision by Bloomberg News to formalize preferential reporting policies is troubling and wrong," Brad Parscale, President Trump's 2020 campaign manager, said in a statement Monday.

Comment: Michael Bloomberg may be in for a rough road despite his deep personal campaign pockets.

And in an echo of a comment on Bill Clinton and 'the famous (Epstein) island' made in 2015, Trump hints there may be some interesting skeletons in Bloomberg's background.

Trump on Bloomberg: 'He's got some personal problems' - Preparations for 2020's US Presidential run begin

Rogue state: Netanyahu begs for just 6 months more as PM so he can annex Jordan Valley

RT
Mon, 02 Dec 2019 15:58 UTC

Benjamin Netanyahu's playing the security card in an effort to stay in power. Six months as premier in a national unity government will be enough for him to annex a large swath of the West Bank... and become immune from prosecution.

The Jordan Valley, the eastern part of West Bank bordering Jordan, was targeted by Netanyahu in September ahead of Israel's second general election this year. The embattled prime minister promised that, if he stays in power, he would annex the area as Israel's sovereign land, because that's what is needed for national security.

How big an impact his pledge made is not clear, but Netanyahu's Likud party ended up almost tied with the Blue and White party of Benny Gantz. The outcome was just as inconclusive as the one from April's election, and the two parties have since been struggling to form a government of national unity.

On Monday Netanyahu repeated his annexation pledge, saying he'd discussed the plan to formally incorporate the Jordan Valley with US President Donald Trump during an earlier phone call. He said Israel currently has a "historic opportunity" to move its eastern border towards Jordan and called on Gantz to work harder on a coalition agreement.

Comment: See also:

They ain't arctic terns, they're IMmigrants! (Illegal ones!) SOTT Headline Department: Y'all favor truth. At least here, can't we see the right...

Rowan Cocoan

.. .. "..wuss off than before"? " That guy's a wuss.." [Link]

Jibrish

More importantly, truthers will not be involved. R.C.

Rowan Cocoan

"Is this really about the vaccine or is it about something else?" A classic example of a rhetorical question

Good Optics

The State Department is obviously trying to start a war. What will then happen is hopefully something like in Vietnam / the Mining of Haiphong,...

Rowan Cocoan

Puppet Masters

Trump's trade war with China may drag on past the 2020 election

Lunacy: Bolsonaro claims actor DiCaprio funded Amazon forest fires

NATO expansion towards Russian borders 'one of the potential threats' to us but Moscow remains ready to partner on 'actual challenges' - Putin

Russian Defense Ministry lobs truth bomb at NYT propaganda mill over 'bombing of Syrian refugee camp'

Macron tells NATO Russia must come in from the Cold War

Britain's Chief Rabbi is helping to stoke antisemitism

NATO at 70: The sclerotic & bureaucratic zombie should be pensioned off

White House threatens to sanction $2.4bn worth of French imports in retaliation for digital tax targeting US tech giants

Trump campaign refuses to credential Bloomberg News reporters

Rogue state: Netanyahu begs for just 6 months more as PM so he can annex Jordan Valley

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