Puppet Masters

'The Kissinger model': Trump floats idea of expanding Pompeo's powers to fill Bolton's shoes

RT
Thu, 12 Sep 2019 14:52 UTC

The White House may hand Secretary of State Mike Pompeo the additional role of national security adviser following John Bolton's departure, giving the ex-CIA director enormous power, insiders have warned.

Pompeo would continue to serve in his current position but would also assume Bolton's responsibilities, sources close to the discussion told CNN on Wednesday, adding that such a move could make Pompeo "too powerful for Trump's taste." The diplomat would become only the second person in US history to hold both posts simultaneously. The first, Henry Kissinger, wielded enormous power under Richard Nixon during the 1970s, shaping the foreign policy of that period.

Even if Pompeo is not permanently appointed to fill Bolton's shoes, he will assume the uber-hawk's duties on a temporary basis until a replacement is named, the source said, though initial reports from the White House on Tuesday claimed that Bolton's deputy, Charles Kupperman, would assume the role in the interim. Pompeo told reporters that he was not surprised by Bolton's dismissal, but would not elaborate.

Czech president wants to withdraw recognition of Kosovo - 'Warn him of consequences' says former US ambassador

RT
Wed, 11 Sep 2019 19:54 UTC

Speaking in Serbia, the anti-mainstream Czech President Miloš Zeman said he'd like his goverment to withdraw recognition of the breakaway Kosovo province as an independent state. This has immediately attracted attention in the US.

Zeman expressed his Kosovo wish on Wednesday, during his official visit to Belgrade. He also said that he would discuss the issue with Czech lawmakers when he gets back to Prague.

The president would "ask the Czech government if it's possible to review the recognition of Kosovo," his spokesman Jiri Ovčaček wrote on Twitter.

Should Prague follow through on Zeman's desire, Czechia would become the first European country to withdraw the recognition of Kosovo, as well as the first EU and NATO member to do so.

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Michael Gove's hamfisted attempts to spin the Yellowhammer Brexit plan are a disgrace

Owen Bennett
The Telegraph
Thu, 12 Sep 2019 07:51 UTC

When the Yellowhammer document assessing the effect of leaving the EU without a deal was leaked to The Sunday Times last month, Michael Gove, the minister in charge of no-deal planning, dismissed it as an "old document".

It turned out to have been 16 days old, drawn up eight days after he and Boris Johnson took office.

Gove also said that the paper - with its warnings of medicine shortages and civil unrest - set out "the absolutely worst case". Now the government has published a version of the document headed "Reasonable Worst Case Planning Assumptions", so he appeared to be guilty merely of exaggeration.

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Major Venezuelan oil company registers office in Moscow, facilitates oil trade with China, India

RT
Thu, 12 Sep 2019 00:25 UTC

© Reuters / Carlos Garcia Rawlins
Cutouts depicting images of oil operations are seen outside a building of Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA in Caracas, Venezuela.

Venezuelan state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, has registered its office in Moscow. The move comes after Russian state oil major Rosneft last month became the main trader of Venezuelan crude.

"We've registered PDVSA in the Russian jurisdiction," Venezuela's minister for oil Manuel Quevedo told reporters on Wednesday. In July, Quevedo stated that Russia had asked PDVSA to register its own legal entity in the country to help ensure the work of the Moscow representative office of the company.

The PDVSA office was opened in Moscow in March, on the instruction of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro. It replaces the company's Portuguese branch.

BRICS New Development Bank approves investments worth over $10bn - Lavrov

RT
Wed, 11 Sep 2019 08:51 UTC

The total value of investment projects approved by the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) has exceeded $10 billion, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

"Building up strategic partnerships within BRICS is one of the priorities for Russia's foreign policy," Lavrov said in an interview with the National Institute of Information of Suriname.

According to him, the economy remains an integral part of the BRICS partnership, "particularly since the BRICS association surpassed the Group of Seven (G7) in terms of aggregate economic power."

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Newspapers turn to lobbying lawmakers against Facebook and Google

Sara Fischer
Axios
Tue, 10 Sep 2019 20:05 UTC

Senior executives from 7 major newspaper publishing companies will head to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to convince lawmakers to do something about the dominance of tech companies over content creators, executives tell Axios.

Why it matters: This will be just the 2nd time that the newspaper industry has sent members to formally lobby members of Congress. It speaks to the major increase in lobbying efforts that the newspaper industry has used in recent years to combat the economic decline of its industry.

The big picture: "Our belief is that the current antitrust laws don't allow us to work together," says Timothy Knight, CEO of Tribune Publishing Company. "I view what we're trying to do as rethinking how the game is played."

Sheldon Adelson needs Donald Trump more than Trump needs Adelson (no kidding!)

Philip Weiss
Mondoweiss
Tue, 10 Sep 2019 01:00 UTC

Today in an unprecedented show of autonomy, Donald Trump fired the fire-breathing national security adviser John Bolton. Bolton was gifted to the Trump administration in 2018 by Sheldon Adelson, Trump's biggest donor, and Trump duly ended the Iran deal once Bolton came aboard.

Now Trump has fired Bolton, thereby signaling that he is open to renegotiating the Iran deal. And Trump's Defense Department has all but criticized Israel for its drone war in Iraq and Syria that is threatening Americans and American proxies.

Trump is showing more independence of the rightwing Israel lobby than he has his entire administration - after three years of doing everything for Israel that the rightwing lobby wanted, from Jerusalem to the Golan to UNRWA.

The simple explanation for Trump's conduct is that he at last has the upper hand in his relationship with Netanyahu and Sheldon Adelson.

Trump slams WaPo-ABC 'phony suppression poll' showing him getting smoked by 2020 Democrats

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Wed, 11 Sep 2019 09:47 UTC

President Trump on Wednesday slammed a WaPo-ABC poll that has him 'significantly or modestly' trailing the top Democratic candidates in the 2020 general election.

"In a hypothetical poll, done by one of the worst pollsters of them all, the Amazon Washington Post/ABC, which predicted I would lose to Crooked Hillary by 15 points (how did that work out?), Sleepy Joe, Pocahontas and virtually all others would beat me in the General Election," tweeted Trump.

"This is a phony suppression poll, meant to build up their Democrat partners," Trump continued. "I haven't even started campaigning yet, and am constantly fighting Fake News like Russia, Russia, Russia. Look at North Carolina last night. Dan Bishop, down big in the Polls, WINS. Easier than 2016!"

Bombshell at Flynn hearing: DOJ memo exists exonerating Michael Flynn

Sara Carter
saraacarter.com
Tue, 10 Sep 2019 00:00 UTC

A bombshell revelation was barely noticed at National Security Advisor Michael Flynn's hearing Tuesday, when his counsel revealed in court the existence of a Justice Department memo from Jan. 30, 2017 exonerating Flynn of any collusion with Russia. The memo, which has still not been made available to Flynn's attorney Sidney Powell, is part of a litany of Brady material she is demanding from prosecutors. The memo is currently under protective order and Powell is working with prosecutors to get it disclosed, SaraACarter.com has learned.

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan presided over the hearing Tuesday and set a tentative Dec. 18 sentencing date. He told the prosecution and defense that the sentencing date could be moved depending on the outcome of requests for Brady material requested by Powell and how the case will unfold in the upcoming months. Sullivan also noted during the hearing that the Brady order takes precedence over the plea agreement.

Powell will likely seek to have case dismissed for 'egregious' prosecutorial misconduct and withholding of exculpatory material. Powell told SaraACarter.com:

"Judge Sullivan is obviously taking the Brady issues very seriously and clearly told the prosecutors that his Brady order stands regardless of the plea agreement or the plea. If the prosecutors here were seeking justice instead of a conviction, General Flynn would not have been prosecuted. They have been hiding evidence that he was exonerated in early 2017."

Iran's 'dark tanker fleet' has become the 'oil world's' biggest mystery

Grant Smith
Bloomberg
Sat, 07 Sep 2019 07:01 UTC

While one Iranian tanker is attracting global attention, serious oil watchers remain absorbed by a bigger mystery: the hunt for the rest of Iran's fleet.

The quest has led to ever more inventive methods of tracking ships, and divergent views on the amounts of crude secretly slipping into world markets. That's because the vessels have mostly "gone dark" since sanctions were tightened this year, switching off transponders that would reveal their location.

"Iran is a black box, but it's also not a black box" as there are ways to uncover secretive activity, said Devin Geoghegan, global director of petroleum intelligence at Genscape Inc. in Denver, Colorado. "Iran is simply doing a better job of putting their oil into other people's hands -- or their own storage tin-cans -- than anybody has expected."

A Fox News host (Lisa Booth) asking some of the right questions (nothing new if you're not new to the ranks of SOTTypes though). Her spiel begins...

Animanarchy

I've got a LOT of rope. Just let me know.

DeliciousTears

Brand new JP Sears video. Spiritual People Then vs Now: [Link]

Animanarchy

Well, if anyone would know a 'rigger', it's Obomber. The democratic party is filled with riggers, as the last 'election' amply demonstrated.......

Winston Smith

Government, aided by mainstream media: lie upon lie upon lie....

ReRan

Puppet Masters

'The Kissinger model': Trump floats idea of expanding Pompeo's powers to fill Bolton's shoes

Czech president wants to withdraw recognition of Kosovo - 'Warn him of consequences' says former US ambassador

Michael Gove's hamfisted attempts to spin the Yellowhammer Brexit plan are a disgrace

Major Venezuelan oil company registers office in Moscow, facilitates oil trade with China, India

BRICS New Development Bank approves investments worth over $10bn - Lavrov

Newspapers turn to lobbying lawmakers against Facebook and Google

Sheldon Adelson needs Donald Trump more than Trump needs Adelson (no kidding!)

Trump slams WaPo-ABC 'phony suppression poll' showing him getting smoked by 2020 Democrats

Bombshell at Flynn hearing: DOJ memo exists exonerating Michael Flynn

Iran's 'dark tanker fleet' has become the 'oil world's' biggest mystery

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