Puppet Masters

US' ultimate goal is to deprive Russia of its nukes and finish it off

Mikhail Khodarenok
RT
Wed, 24 Oct 2018 13:19 UTC

The US' single strategic objective, in terms of Russian nuclear triad, is to strip it of its arsenal. This is what shapes all of the White House's foreign policy while any talk about nuclear arms reduction is just cover for that.

Last week, US President Donald Trump announced plans to pull out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Since signing the document in 1987, the USSR/Russia had to get rid of several highly promising pieces of military hardware, such as intermediate-range two-stage solid-fuel ballistic missile, known as Pioner, with the associated mobile launchers and the Oka mobile theatre ballistic missile system. It's worth noting that these systems had outstanding operational capabilities, and their combat potential was a great concern to the US.

Under Boris Yeltsin, Russia almost lost its strategic air force and heavy multiple-warhead ballistic missiles. In comparison, what the US had to give up looks like a bare minimum.

So, let's not be under any illusion that negotiations with the US on limiting or reducing any types of nuclear weapons could actually lead to strengthening global peace and security or building mutual trust. Their one and only goal is to disarm Russia completely and finish it off.

Comment: See also:

Lockheed and loaded: How the maker of junk fighters like the F-22 and F-35 came to achieve full-spectrum dominance over the US defense industry

Jeffrey St. Clair
Counter Punch
Thu, 18 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC

Lockheed-Martin is headquartered in the Bethesda, Maryland. No, the defense titan doesn't have a bomb-making factory in this toney Beltway suburb. But as the nation's top weapons contractor, it migrated to DC from southern California because that's where the money is. And Lockheed rakes it in from the federal treasury at the rate of $65 million every single day of the year.

From nuclear missiles to fighter planes, software code to spy satellites, the Patriot missile to Star Wars, Lockheed has come to dominate the weapons market in a way that the Standard Oil Company used to hold sway over the nation's petroleum supplies. And it all happened with the help of the federal government, which steered lucrative no bid contracts Lockheed's way, enacted tax breaks that encouraged Lockheed's merger and acquisition frenzy in the 1980s and 1990s and turned a blind eye to the company's criminal rap sheet, ripe with indiscretions ranging from bribery to contract fraud.

Now Lockheed stands almost alone. It not only serves as an agent of US foreign policy, from the Pentagon to the CIA; it also helps shape it. "We are deployed entirely in developing daunting technology," Lockheed's new CEO Robert J. Stevens told the New York Times report Tim Weiner. "That requires thinking through the policy dimensions of national security as well as technological dimensions."

Trump: 'Saudis have been helping US a lot with respect to Israel, funding a lot of things'

RT
Wed, 24 Oct 2018 03:07 UTC

© Jonathan Ernst
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump, White House senior advisor Jared Kushner and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

US President Donald Trump said Saudi Arabia has been helping the US with Israel, with which the Kingdom has no official diplomatic relations. It marks the first time Trump has publicly recognized the sneaky alliance.

Speaking in the White House, Trump stood up in defense of Riyadh as it is facing mounting international pressure over the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in its consulate in Istanbul on October 2. As more gruesome details of the murder, allegedly perpetrated by a Saudi hit squad, emerge, the White House is increasingly bombarded by calls to punish Riyadh and cancel multi-billion dollar arms deals with the Saudi government.

While the US President has cast doubt on the official version of the events, calling it the "worst cover-up ever," he pointed to the virtues of the Saudi government, "a very good ally of ours."

Among other things, Riyadh has "been helping us a lot with respect to Israel. They've been funding a lot of things," Trump said without elaborating.

Comment: And boy oh boy has Israel been reciprocating, see: Israel lobbyists smear Khashoggi as 'terrorist who deserved to die' in order to maintain Saudi alliance

Comment: For more on the Dark Triad of the US/Israel/Saudi Arabia partnership, see:

Despite Khashoggi killing, Trudeau sticks to $12bn arms deal with Saudis

RT
Wed, 24 Oct 2018 14:41 UTC

FILE PHOTO: A Canadian army Light Armoured Vehicle (LAV III) reacts to simulated chlorine gas as part of a training scenario during Operation Maple Resolve 2015 in Wainwright, Alberta, Canada

© REUTERS / US Army / Handout
FILE PHOTO: A Canadian army Light Armoured Vehicle (LAV III) reacts to simulated chlorine gas as part of a training scenario during Operation Maple Resolve 2015 in Wainwright, Alberta, Canada

Canada's PM says it is "very difficult" to drop the US$12 billion (Can$15 billion) deal on arms sales to Riyadh. It comes despite mounting allegations that the killing of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was "pre-planned."

The murder of the self-exiled writer which Turkey says was planned beforehand "is something that is extremely preoccupying to Canadians, to Canada and to many of our allies around the world" Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged. However, even on the heels of the latest tough accusations from Ankara, the North American country is not mulling to halt arms deliveries to the Saudi Kingdom.

Indian state government boat capsizes with chief secretary and officials on board

RT
Wed, 24 Oct 2018 14:21 UTC

A boat belonging to the Maharashtra government in India and carrying the state chief secretary has capsized, local media reports. At least one person is believed to be missing.

The boat, also carrying other government officials, upturned near Shivaji Smarak, about 2.6 km west of Mumbai's Nariman point.

The Coast Guard is at the scene of the incident. Most passengers have been rescued, Indian TV channel NDTV reports, but at least one person is reportedly unaccounted for.

Britain's biggest £3.1 billion warship parks off the US coast, looking just a little bit desperate

Simon Rite
RT
Tue, 23 Oct 2018 15:14 UTC

If the Statue of Liberty looked a little surprised this week, it could be because Britain just sailed a 65,000 ton, £3.1 billion phallic symbol up the Hudson River.

The Royal Navy's brand spanking new aircraft carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth has been deployed on its first major mission, a jolly to New York. It's being used as a giant floating trade fair. There are no hostesses in bikinis luring in businessmen with free pens, instead there are highly-trained sailors standing to attention thinking "I didn't sign up for this shit".

My advice to the crew would be to try and enjoy it, get ashore, sample the restaurants, catch a show maybe, because they're more likely to be parked off countries covered in sand in the decades ahead.

Seeing 'Big Lizzie' (that's what they're calling it) steaming towards New York made me wonder if all this was part of the Admirals' original funding pitch for a brand new aircraft carrier or two. "You see minister, these ships will allow us to continue our pretense of being able to project power around the globe, and if that fails, we could just use it as a very expensive trade stall?"

Comment: They must be proud - that it didn't sink: Sinking feeling? UK's brand new £3.1bn aircraft carrier has sprung a leak as cost for F-35 jets skyrockets

See also:

And check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Perfidious Albion: If Russia is a Rogue State, What is the UK?

Turkish investigators granted permission to search well at Saudi consulate

Sputnik
Wed, 24 Oct 2018 20:13 UTC

© Associated Press / Emrah Gurel
Turkish police barriers block the road leading to the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, Sunday, Oct. 7, 2018

Saudi authorities have granted Turkish police permission to inspect the well in the garden of the residence of the country's general consulate in Istanbul as part of an investigation into the murder of opposition journalist Jamal Khashoggi, NTV reported Wednesday, citing an investigative source.

Earlier, Turkish media reported that the Saudi Consulate General had prohibited Turkish police from inspecting the well during their search of the diplomatic mission and the residence of the Consul General.

On Tuesday, Turkey's Patriotic Party (VATAN) leader Dogu Perincek told Sputnik citing security sources that the body of the murdered journalist had been found in a well in the residence of the Saudi consul general in Istanbul.

The EU-Russia-China co-op plan to avert Iran oil sanctions

New Eastern Outlook
Tue, 23 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC

It may well be that the unilateral wrecking ball politics of the Trump Administration are bringing about a result just opposite from that intended. Washington's decision to abandon the Iran nuclear agreement and impose severe sanctions on companies trading Iran oil as of 4 November, is creating new channels of cooperation between the EU, Russia, China and Iran and potentially others. The recent declaration by Brussels officials of creation of an unspecified Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to legally avoid US dollar oil trade and thereby US sanctions, might potentially spell the beginning of the end of the Dollar System domination of the world economy.

According to reports from the last bilateral German-Iran talks in Teheran on October 17, the mechanisms of a so-called Special Purpose Vehicle that would allow Iran to continue to earn from its oil exports, will begin implementation in the next days. At end of September EU Foreign Policy chief Federica Mogherini confirmed plans to create such an independent trade channel, noting, "no sovereign country or organization can accept that somebody else decides with whom you are allowed to do trade with."

Comment: US targets, threatened in the Iran sanctions edicts, are forced to re-evaluate stagnant concepts of finance, trade and loyalty. The result is a rapid shift in policies and the creation of new ways of doing business. Good thing? Maybe so. A gamble? Time will tell.

Erdogan's speech brings forth questions whether Turkey has 'sold out' Khashoggi

Feras Abu-Helal
Middle East Monitor
Wed, 24 Oct 2018 01:46 UTC

Many Arabs seemed to wish that Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan would come out and directly accuse the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) of murdering journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Yet they were disappointed by the speech, with some even accusing Turkey and its president of "selling out" the Khashoggi case.

There are two very different readings of Erdogan's speech on Tuesday: a populist reading and a political reading. This is very natural for a speech that was awaited by millions of observers around the world. Perhaps the Saudi authorities themselves waited for it the most anxiously. The majority of those awaiting the speech were hoping it would satisfy their high expectations, and it should, therefore, have been expected that would be disappointed. They held mistaken expectations that a populist speech would be made by a head of state in a case of such sensitivity.

Did Turkey sell out Khashoggi's case?

We must remember that this question was not just raised after Erdogan's speech, and it is perhaps not an exaggeration to say it was the most-asked question after the outbreak of the Khashoggi crisis. It was perhaps asked even more than the question regarding the identity of the murderer.

Comment: Not typically known for his restraint, it appears Erdogan has managed to finesse his questions in order to gain the most information and cooperation concerning this bizarre and horrific murder.
See also:
Erdogan: Strong evidence Khashoggi's 'vicious' murder was a planned op

Trump is with Obama '100%' on immigration

RT
Wed, 24 Oct 2018 00:15 UTC

Agreeing with Barack Obama is not something you'd expect out of US President Donald Trump, especially not on immigration. Yet that's exactly where Trump is '100 percent' behind the words of Obama - a 2005 Obama, that is.

"I agree with President Obama 100%!" the current occupant of the White House tweeted out on Tuesday night. Unfortunately for Trump's critics, the video contained in his tweet featured Obama, then a US senator from Illinois, condemning illegal immigration.

"We simply cannot allow people to pour into the US, undetected, undocumented, unchecked and circumventing the line of people who are waiting patiently, diligently, lawfully to become immigrants in this country," said Obama in December 2005.

Comment: There is nothing spontaneous about this migration and the timing of its arrival at the US southern border in synch with US elections.
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Puppet Masters

US' ultimate goal is to deprive Russia of its nukes and finish it off

Lockheed and loaded: How the maker of junk fighters like the F-22 and F-35 came to achieve full-spectrum dominance over the US defense industry

Trump: 'Saudis have been helping US a lot with respect to Israel, funding a lot of things'

Despite Khashoggi killing, Trudeau sticks to $12bn arms deal with Saudis

Indian state government boat capsizes with chief secretary and officials on board

Britain's biggest £3.1 billion warship parks off the US coast, looking just a little bit desperate

Turkish investigators granted permission to search well at Saudi consulate

The EU-Russia-China co-op plan to avert Iran oil sanctions

Erdogan's speech brings forth questions whether Turkey has 'sold out' Khashoggi

Trump is with Obama '100%' on immigration

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