Puppet Masters
Pompeo said on Saturday that his department had responded in writing to a congressional request for documents linked to the probe into whether US President Donald Trump tried to pressure Ukraine to investigate the son of a top political rival, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
"We will obviously do all the things we are required to by law," Pompeo said on Saturday. However, he insisted that there were "clearly politics" involved in the Democrats' probe, and vowed to protect his colleagues from any improper tactics that might be used by lawmakers.
Pompeo noted that there had been congressional inquiries in the past that tried to contact State Department employees directly, in the hopes that they would provide documents and records. "That's harassment and I will never let that happen to my people," he warned.
Take a look:
I refer to the extraordinary, and frankly revolutionary decision of the "Supreme" Court to declare unlawful the Prime Minister's decision to prorogue Parliament for what was — in effect — a period of ten days.
The first thing to say is that Mr Johnson's decision to ask the Queen to give her assent to his plan to prorogue Parliament was not unlawful under any convention within the British Constitution that existed prior to the judgement. One of the basic questions to ask is this: if it was unlawful, what law did it break? I have not seen a proper answer to that question, neither in the judgement itself, nor in the commentary I have read since then.
The reason for this is that there was no statute governing such a thing. And the reason there was no statute governing such a thing is that Parliament — by which is included the Crown — had passed no such law. And if Parliament had not passed such a law, then there cannot have been one, because — and here is the really important point — it is Parliament, not the "Supreme" Court that makes law — at least it was until 24th September 2019.
One was to prevent Khums (tithes, a religious obligation referring to one fifth, or 20%, of acquired wealth at the end of a fiscal year) paid by Shia immigrants from reaching Hezbollah. Another was to impose heavy sanctions on Iran, Hezbollah's main ally and financial provider. And the last was to impose sanctions on Shia individuals and banks in Lebanon dealing with Hezbollah ministers or members of parliament or other wealthy Shia with close ties to the organisation.
The objective was to push Shia society - which represents a third of the entire Lebanese population - to distance itself from Hezbollah. The US aims to break the policy of unity approved by the parliament, the council of ministers and the President, which calls for the solidarity of "the Army, the People and the Resistance" against any Israeli aggression on Lebanon. Can the US succeed in undermining the status of Hezbollah in Lebanese society, and in neutralising its finances?
The Israel Defense Forces officer can be seen rebuking his soldiers after they hid behind a wall to avoid stones hurled by young Palestinians in the West Bank village of Kafr Qaddum on Friday, the Palestinian news agency Sama reports.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech to supporters of his Likud party after polls closed in the Israeli parliamentary elections.
Israel must inject billions of shekels into its defence budget to fight a growing threat from Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the newly sworn-in Knesset as he upped the ante in his struggle for a unity government and the future of his prime ministership.
Speaking to lawmakers on Thursday, Netanyahu said that defence spending must increase by "many billions immediately and then many billions every year".
Comment: Take a hint from the Americans' experience: this isn't going to work.
According to Netanyahu, the rationale behind this is the growing strength of Iran: "We are facing an enormous security challenge, which only intensifies from week to week. It increased profoundly in the last month or two, and, in particular, in the last few weeks. This isn't spin, it's not a whim, this is not 'Netanyahu trying to scare us'".
Comment: Well, yes and no. Iran is a huge security threat, i.e., not an easy target. But this is still definitely Netanyahu trying to scare us. Iran poses no actual threat, as long as the Israelis behave themselves. The problem is, the Israelis don't plan on behaving themselves. When have they ever?
As of September, Rosneft is seeking euros as the default option of payment for its crude oil and products, Reuters reported on Thursday, quoting tender documents the Russian firm has published.
"Rosneft has recently adjusted all the new contracts for export supplies to euros," a trader at a company that regularly procures oil from Rosneft told Reuters, adding that buyers have already been notified of the change.
Comment: Encouraging Euro based trade might also encourage cooperation from those in the European establishment particularly those who are fearful of US retribution:
See also:
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It has been six weeks since Jeffrey Epstein died in his jail cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Manhattan.
"Let me assure you this case will continue on against anyone who was complicit with Epstein. Any co-conspirators should not rest easy". Despite assurances from Attorney General Bill Barr - who presides over prisons and justice in the U.S. - we are no closer to knowing the truth about Epstein, his money, or his crimes than we were the day he mysteriously died.
I've reported before that Epstein was an intelligence asset for Israel. This was confirmed by two independent sources. Now, one of those sources, a former senior member of the Israeli intelligence community, has gone on the record to confirm this about Epstein and is making significant claims about Epstein's human trafficking operation.
Ari Ben-Menashe is an Iranian-born Israeli consultant and former arms dealer who also served as a senior executive for Israel's Directorate of Military Intelligence (1977 to 1987). This puts Ben-Menashe in a unique position to know about Epstein and also Ghislaine Maxwell. He met them both 40 years ago, when Ben-Menashe when he worked for Israel alongside Maxwell's father, Robert Maxwell.
Comment: The point of blackmail is that it doesn't ever see the light of day. You just hint - publicly or privately - that you have it, and your mark starts dancing.
In any event, while there may be no physical evidence of blackmail, the circumstantial evidence is strong: the investigating cops in New York and Palm Beach found Epstein's pads rigged for video surveillance and DVDs in safes marked 'Young [redacted] + [redacted]'...
See also: Former Israeli Intel Official Claims Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell Worked for Israel
For those who have examined Epstein's ties to intelligence, there are clear links to both U.S. intelligence and Israeli intelligence, leaving it somewhat open to debate as to which country's intelligence apparatus was closest to Epstein and most involved in his blackmail/sex-trafficking activities.
In a recent interview with Zev Shalev, former CBS News executive producer and award-winning investigative journalist for independent outlet Narativ, former senior executive for Israel's Directorate of Military Intelligence, Ari Ben-Menashe, claimed not only to have met Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, back in the 1980s, but that both Epstein and Maxwell were already working with Israeli intelligence during that time period - specifically, running a sexual blackmail enterprise as an Israeli intelligence operation for the purpose of entrapping powerful individuals and politicians in the United States and abroad.
Whatever one thinks of Donald Trump and impeachment, it is the political establishment that is trying to bring him down. That the 'whistleblower' is a CIA agent who has since returned to active duty at the agency isn't lost on Mr. Trump's supporters. As much as the NPR tote bag set believes that it is the fount of wisdom and truth, they, along with the CIA, inflicted three years of the cynical farce of Russiagate on us and came up empty handed.
The CIA was the central protagonist in Russiagate. The origins of the New Cold War are found in Bill Clinton's first term, when administration neo-cons looted, plundered and moved NATO against a prostrate Russia in contradiction to explicit guarantees not to do so made by the George H.W. Bush administration. Vladimir Putin's apparent crime was to oust the Clintonites from Russia and restore Russian sovereignty.
Comment: It would be more correct to say that the establishment/deep state/CIA is opposed to any viable foreign policy that prohibits their profoundly criminal enterprises from behaving unimpeded.
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