Puppet Masters

US Senate OKs 9/11 families suing Saudi Arabia as Treasury Dept 'outs' Islamic state's US Treasury holdings for first time - Figure WAY smaller than expected

RT
Tue, 17 May 2016 19:54 UTC

Saudi Arabia tops all other oil exporting countries in holding US debt, with $116 billion, US Treasury documents reveal. The first such disclosure in four decades ranks the kingdom alongside China, Japan, and other Treasury securities-owning nations.

The US Treasury Department released its data on foreign ownership of its securities on Monday, showing that total holdings had risen 0.8 percent to a record $6.29 trillion.

China, the largest holder of US debt, has $1.24 trillion despite trimming its portfolio by 0.6 percent this year, followed by Japan, which increased its holdings by 0.4 percent to $1.14 trillion in March. The Cayman Islands ranked behind China and Japan with $265 billion in holdings, up 3.9 percent since February.

Among the oil exporting countries, Saudi Arabia leads the pack, while ranking 13th overall, holding $116.8 billion in US debt.

Comment: Saudi Arabia had 'threatened' to 'dump' its US Treasury holdings, which were, until this 'act of benevolent transparency', believed to have been massive - somewhere in the region of a trillion+ dollars - if the US Senate gave the go-ahead to families of 9/11 victims to sue the Islamic state over its involvement in the 'day that changed the world'.

Well, that did happen... on the same day that the US Treasury released the above figures. Was this a pre-emptive move on Washington's part? Some sort of defensive maneuver? It's hard to say for sure at this point, but the two events occurring on the same day sure seems coincidental.

Syrian Army captures more U.S. and Israeli weapons in Daraa

Al-Masdar
Tue, 17 May 2016 20:26 UTC

During a raid in the eastern countryside of Daraa, the Syrian Armed Forces seized 2 American supplied TOW-missiles, 32 Israeli manufactured mines and other improvised weaponry from a truck driver who was arrested during the confiscation. Since the beginning of the war, the TOW-missile has been utilized very effectively by rebels to take out hundreds of Syrian Arab Army (SAA) tanks. Some MENA analysts have even argued the anti-tank guided missile has "kept the revolution alive". Although it is unclear if the CIA supplies the TOW-missile directly to Syrian rebels, a Saudi Arabian official said the Gulf Kingdom had given 500 TOW-missiles to rebel forces last summer, while Qatar is also believed to be a major supplier. Footage from the bust can be seen here:

Senate passes bill that would allow 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia

RT
Tue, 17 May 2016 19:10 UTC

The US Senate adopted unanimously a proposed bill that would allow Americans to sue nation-states for terrorist attacks on US soil, despite opposition from the White House and allies such as Saudi Arabia.

Dubbed "Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act," the bill sailed through the upper chamber of Congress without opposition Tuesday. It now heads to the House of Representatives, which has its own version of the proposal.

"This bill is very near and dear to my heart as a New Yorker because it would allow the victims of 9/11 to pursue some small measure of justice," said Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, according to The Hill. "[This is] another example of the [John] Cornyn-Schumer collaboration, which works pretty well around here."

Senator John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, co-sponsored the bill and apparently prevailed over his South Carolina colleague Lindsey Graham, who had put a hold on the bill last month, citing concerns it would open the US up to lawsuits by foreign governments.

Graham's office said he dropped the hold over the recent recess, The Hill reported.

The bill faces bipartisan opposition in the lower chamber and the executive branch, however.

Senators challenge government surveillance powers with new bill

RT
Tue, 17 May 2016 19:06 UTC

Senators Ron Wyden and Rand Paul will introduce a bill this week to halt implementation of a rule easing the government's ability to hack untold numbers of devices around the world. They argue the rule is too broad and was approved without public debate.

"This is a major policy change," Senator Wyden (D-Oregon) told the Los Angeles Times. "This has been buried from the public and from their elected officials. And they should know about it. This is not just a modest administrative change."

The amendment contested by Wyden and Senator Paul (R-Kentucky) was requested by the Department of Justice to update Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Adopted by the Supreme Court last month and passed on to Congress for review, it would create a sweeping expansion of law enforcement's ability to engage in hacking and surveillance.

$90bn London gold vault set to be acquired by China's ICBC Standard Bank

RT
Tue, 17 May 2016 19:26 UTC

China's state-owned ICBC Standard Bank has agreed to buy a massive precious metals storage business from Barclays. The deal is expected to boost China's access to the London gold market. The vault, one of the largest in Europe, is in a secret location in London that can store 2,000 tons of gold, silver, platinum and palladium. It was opened in 2012 by Barclays, which is now exiting the business as part of restructuring.

At current prices (about $1,300 per ounce) up to $90 billion worth of gold could be stored inside the London-based storage.

The world's biggest bank by assets, ICBC will become the first Chinese lender to own a vault in London. The bank intends to expand its role in the gold business and will gain more influence in trading, pricing and storage of precious metals. Last week, ICBC became a member of London's precious metals clearing system where trades are settled.

The purchase "enables us to better execute on our strategy to become one of the largest Chinese banks in the precious metals market," said Mark Buncombe, ICBC Standard Bank's head of commodities, as cited by the BBC. The deal is expected to be completed in July but no financial details have been released thus far.

China is the world's largest consumer of gold. According to Wells Fargo, the country now consumes about 40 percent of the gold mined around the world annually. Chinese imports of the yellow metal have surged over 700 percent since 2010.

Gold has been traded in London for over 300 years. About $5 trillion in transactions were handled in London's bullion market in 2015.

Comment: Apparently the Chinese are not the only ones who think gold is a prudent buy.

Lavrov, Kerry: Syria meeting made progress, agrees to turn truce into ceasefire

RT
Tue, 17 May 2016 14:53 UTC

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry have stated that there is progress in Syria peace talks after a meeting in Vienna, also saying that the powers there agreed to turn the Syria truce into a real ceasefire.

"We pledged our support for transforming the cessation of hostilities into a comprehensive ceasefire. We are committed to use our influence, to use the parties to [push for] cessation in order to ensure compliance," Kerry said.

Lavrov stressed "that we've made progress in all directions of our work, namely the cessation of hostilities, the expansion of the humanitarian assistance and the political process."

Kerry also announced that the ISSG sees progress in the situation, stating, however, that specific actions should be taken to make real changes.

Comment: See also: Russia holding the line to prevent total global war

What does he know? Soros dumps US stocks, buys gold

RT
Tue, 17 May 2016 19:40 UTC

Billionaire George Soros has cut investment in US stocks by one-third and acquired a $264 million stake in the world's biggest bullion producer, Barrick Gold, Bloomberg reports, quoting the investor's fund data.

Overall, in the first quarter of 2016 the value of publicly disclosed holdings of Soros Fund Management fell by 37 percent to $3.5 billion. At the same time, Soros bought a 1.7 percent stake in Toronto-based Barrick Gold for $264 million, the biggest US holding in the company.

"Gold is always a safe haven at times when risks for investors are escalating. It's better to sit out turbulence with gold," economist Natalya Volchkova told the Ridus news agency. "Soros is killing two birds with one stone. He goes to gold, when it is cheaper so that he could profitably get rid of it in [the] future. At the same time, he leaves the more volatile dollar for a more stable asset," she added.

Gold prices have grown 16 percent in the first three months of 2016. This is the biggest quarterly growth in thirty years. Barrick shares have skyrocketed 39 percent since March 31 on news that the company has been rapidly cutting costs and reducing debt. On Tuesday, the precious metal was trading at $1,280 per troy ounce.

Many proponents of gold in the US are suggesting that the dollar should be backed by gold again. Among them is Ted Cruz, who was running for the Republican nomination for US president. He said the Federal Reserve "should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy, and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold."

Opposition newspaper leaks report of kids harrowing stories of being raped by employee at Turkish refugee camp

RT
Tue, 17 May 2016 19:03 UTC

Harrowing accounts by pre-teen victims of a rapist at Turkey's Nizip refugee camp paint a picture of systematic abuse at the site designed to be a sanctuary. Amid the ongoing probe, neither reporters, nor opposition MPs are able to freely access the camp.

Sputnik agency has obtained an indictment of the 27-year old serial rapist who worked as a cleaner at the Nizip refugee camp in Antep, Turkey. The alleged perpetrator, who faces up to 230 years behind bars, is accused of sexually abusing some 30 children as young as eight years old from June to September 2015.

The indictment sheet contains the names of only eight boys, all of them from war-torn Syrian regions, who have been confirmed by the court as victims of the offender identified only as "E.E.". Families of other underage victims decided not to proceed with charges, as they were afraid of being deported back to the conflict zone, according to Erik Acarer, a journalist with the BirGün newspaper, which first broke the story.

"E.E." - a native of the southeastern Turkish district of Bozova in Şanlıurfa province - stands accused of "premeditated sexual abuse towards children, forcing minors to enter into sexual relations in a perverted form" for exchange of a slightly more than a US dollar on average. The court is expected to deliver its verdict on June 1.

Child raped in Turkish refugee camp - Amnesty says Turkey hinted we'd never be allowed to visit, only pro-government journalists

RT
Tue, 17 May 2016 18:34 UTC

Turkey should make sure no refugees are mistreated; an Amnesty International spokesman told RT after it emerged a cleaner has been charged with raping children at a camp. Amnesty also called for Ankara to give the human rights group more access to camps.

The accounts given by children from the Nizip refugee camp are harrowing. Around 30 kids, some as young as eight, were allegedly raped by a 27-year-old Turkish man working as a janitor at the facility.

Andrew Gardner, a researcher from Amnesty International spoke to RT and said the Turkish authorities must take action not only against the man, but also to make sure there is no repeat in the future.

"If this is true, this is certainly a very concerning allegation and it needs to be investigated by the Turkish authorities," he told RT. "But they need to take steps not to just investigate this case, but also make sure that there is no chance that this sort of occurrence can happen again in the future."

The chain of abuse was horrific. The man who has only been named as 'E.E.' in leaked indictment papers - a native of the southeastern Turkish district of Bozova - has been charged with rape and faces 230 years in jail if he is found guilty.

Comment: Make sure to watch the video. In their arrogance, Turkey has violated Syria's sovereignty (again!) by constructing these camps within Syrian territory. The camps are controlled by Daesh which is supported by Turkey. They also deny Kurdish refugees entry or support.

Snowden NSA revelations: Guantanamo, Bosnia, SIDtoday newsletters

RT
Mon, 16 May 2016 19:47 UTC

The NSA participated in Guantanamo Bay interrogations, while the US military took part in a rendition from Bosnia, newly released leaks by whistleblower Edward Snowden show. A decade's worth of NSA newsletters will be published over the coming months.

On Monday, The Intercept published the first three months' worth of SIDtoday, the NSA newsletter named after the Signals Intelligence Directorate (SID). The first release contains 166 documents from 2003, and will run until the publication of the most recent issues in its Snowden Archive, the trove of documents collected by the former NSA contractor, which are dated through 2012.

SIDtoday contained revelations that NSA worked alongside other government agencies on interrogating prisoners at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba, including formulating the questions and interrogation strategies.

An October 2003 article advertised the opportunity to "get to GITMO for 90 days." It described the duties of the NSA liaison at Guantanamo as coordinating with the "[Department of Defense], CIA, and FBI interrogators on a daily basis in order to assess and exploit information sourced from detainees," as well as providing "sensitive NSA-collected technical data" to help the interrogation efforts.

During a week at the base, one NSA liaison reported in the newsletter, he would "pull together intelligence to support an upcoming interrogation, formulate questions and strategies for the interrogation, and observe or participate in the interrogation." The NSA declined to comment on that story, The Intercept noted.

Comment: Snowden revelations: Brrrrr! The cold that came in from the spy.

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Rowan Cocoan

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Winternights3

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sbc

Puppet Masters

US Senate OKs 9/11 families suing Saudi Arabia as Treasury Dept 'outs' Islamic state's US Treasury holdings for first time - Figure WAY smaller than expected

Syrian Army captures more U.S. and Israeli weapons in Daraa

Senate passes bill that would allow 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia

Senators challenge government surveillance powers with new bill

$90bn London gold vault set to be acquired by China's ICBC Standard Bank

Lavrov, Kerry: Syria meeting made progress, agrees to turn truce into ceasefire

What does he know? Soros dumps US stocks, buys gold

Opposition newspaper leaks report of kids harrowing stories of being raped by employee at Turkish refugee camp

Child raped in Turkish refugee camp - Amnesty says Turkey hinted we'd never be allowed to visit, only pro-government journalists

Snowden NSA revelations: Guantanamo, Bosnia, SIDtoday newsletters

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