Puppet Masters

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon: Boris Johnson aiming for no-deal Brexit, despite rhetoric otherwise

RT
Tue, 30 Jul 2019 17:39 UTC

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she suspects the new UK prime minister has no interest in renegotiating Britain's European exit, and that Boris Johnson is instead looking to leave the EU without a deal.

After a meeting with the new PM in Edinburgh on Monday, Sturgeon said it remained unclear how Johnson could make a new exit deal when the EU has repeatedly refused to renegotiate the agreement reached with his predecessor, Theresa May.

"That makes me think that whatever Boris Johnson might be saying publicly about his preference being to strike a deal, in reality he is really pursuing a no-deal Brexit because that is the logic of the hardline position that he has taken," Sturgeon said.

Trump threatens worse trade deal for China if Beijing stalls until after his re-election

RT
Tue, 30 Jul 2019 17:36 UTC

US President Donald Trump has once again criticized China's trade practices, warning negotiations could get tougher. The statements come as Beijing and Washington are headed into another round of trade negotiations in Shanghai.

In a series of tweets on Tuesday, Trump warned if China waits and he wins re-election, the trade deal will be much tougher for Beijing.

"China is doing very badly, worst year in 27 - was supposed to start buying our agricultural product now - no signs that they are doing so. That is the problem with China, they just don't come through," Trump wrote.

"My team is negotiating with them now, but they always change the deal in the end to their benefit. They should probably wait out our Election to see if we get one of the Democrat stiffs like Sleepy Joe. Then they could make a GREAT deal, like in past 30 years, and continue to ripoff the USA, even bigger and better than ever before."

A humanitarian intervention? Situation in Libya created by Western regime change is 'catastrophic', says ex-foreign minister

RT
Tue, 30 Jul 2019 17:28 UTC

NATO's bombing of Libya has set the North African nation back decades, the country's ex-foreign minister has told RT, challenging the notion that the West had launched its military campaign there for humanitarian reasons.

Washington invoked a flashy new doctrine, R2P ("Right to Protect"), in order to justify the 2011 military intervention in Libya. Instead of protecting civilians, the campaign has led to massive instability which has destroyed the fabric of Libyan society, Dr. Mustafa El Zaidi, the country's former health minister and former minister of foreign affairs, told Afshin Rattansi on RT's Going Underground.

Describing the humanitarian situation there as "catastrophic," El Zaidi said that Tripoli suffers from daily power shortages, while the southern part of Libya is gripped by fuel shortages.

"There is no health service at all. Libyans are now going back to life in the early 40s and 50s."

Forbes: There's no real reason to sanction Russia anymore

Kenneth Rapoza
Forbes
Mon, 29 Jul 2019 17:12 UTC

Other than just hating Russia because it's, well, run by super Bond villain Vlad Putin, there is no reason to sanction Russia anymore.

Comment: Even when American commentators make a sane point, it's surrounded by juvenile nonsense. Bond villain? Grow up.

Market rumors of Senate hawks like Marco Rubio hitting Russian government and quasi-sovereign bonds with sanctions have been around ever since Trump took the oath of office. But now that the Special Counsel investigation is over and the only thing Robert Mueller could find involving Russians that was worth punishing were these 13 "troll farms" that had no impact on the election outcome, and whose participants will never see a U.S. court or prison, Russia, for Wall Street anyway, has been exonerated.

The Mueller testimony was — as one hedge fund manger put it — a total face plant for the Democrats and anyone looking to link Trump to a villainous Russia. This story is officially over as a market mover.

On the day Mueller testified before Congress about his 400-plus page report about the Trump campaign and the Russians, the VanEck Russia (RSX) exchange-traded fund had already been dumped the night before — going from a trading volume of over 6 million shares to 4.2 million on Wednesday. By Friday, RSX volume rose to 5.5 million shares, hitting $23.64 per share.

Year-to-date, Russia is the hottest-performing emerging market. The VanEck ETF is up 26% while No. 2 Brazil is up 18.9% and the MSCI Emerging Markets benchmark is up 9.3%.

Pompeo says Trump wants to reduce foreign forces in Afghanistan by Nov. 2020

RFE/RL
Tue, 30 Jul 2019 16:57 UTC

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says President Donald Trump wants combat forces of the United States and its allies reduced in Afghanistan before the next U.S. presidential election in November 2020.

Pompeo made the remarks on July 29 during a talk on foreign policy hosted by the economic Club of Washington, D.C. -- a nonprofit organization based in the U.S. capital.

Asked whether he expects the United States to reduce troops in Afghanistan before the next U.S. presidential election, Pompeo said: "That's my directive from the president of the United States."

"He's been unambiguous: end the endless wars, draw down, reduce. It won't just be us," Pompeo said about Trump's directive. "We hope that overall the need for combat forces in the region is reduced."

Trump's South Asia strategy, unveiled in August 2017, calls for an open-ended deployment of U.S. forces with the goal of compelling the Taliban to negotiate a peace deal with Afghanistan's internationally backed government.

Pompeo said there had been "real progress" at peace talks with the Taliban.

Comment: This comes just as two more American servicemen were killed in Afghanistan in another insider attack.

See also:

How to fail upwards in the German Bundeswehr: Story of the general who ordered airstrike killing hundreds of Afghan civilians

RT
Tue, 30 Jul 2019 16:41 UTC

A German general who was behind arguably the nation's bloodiest operation since WWII recently took charge of the Bundeswehr's military training department — and reports say he may have medical issues to boot.

Readers hoping to hew out a career with NATO and the European military, meet Brigadier General Georg Klein, the man who was promoted this year to lead the department overseeing the training of young Germans joining the military.

Fruitful career

Klein rose from tank platoon commander to a member of the German High Command, racking up a range of fancy army titles and accolades - all before reaching his 60s. He has served on the German General Staff, was part of the nation's permanent mission to NATO and joined the Alliance-led force in Bosnia and Herzegovina, known as SFOR. Klein has also served in Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force and led a provincial reconstruction team in the northern province of Kunduz.

Klein's exploits paid off with his appointment to lead the Bundeswehr rank and file personnel management department in 2012, before eventually being tipped for the training department in March.

'Don't walk into Trump and his poodle Johnson's trap': German govt split over sending navy to Gulf

RT
Tue, 30 Jul 2019 19:40 UTC

A prospect of German warships being sent to patrol the troubled waters of the Strait of Hormuz has ignited a debate in Berlin. Critics are warning against joining a potential US- and UK-led mission.

Proponents of the London-proposed mission say Germany should take part just because it is an inherent part of global trade. "Hardly any other country is as dependent on the freedom of international shipping as export champion Germany," former envoy to the US Wolfgang Ischinger told Die Welt. That said, Germans should not just "watch from the sidelines," he argued.

His words were echoed by the influential Association of German Industries, whose president told the paper that such a mission would be "a question of solidarity among us Europeans."

India's CBI officially charges politician Kuldeep Singh Sengar over Unnao rape case

India Today
Tue, 30 Jul 2019 10:04 UTC

The CBI filed its first chargesheet on Wednesday against Unnao BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in Unnao rape case. Sengar is currently lodged in Sitapur jail.

The chargesheet names Sengar and his alleged associate Sashi Singh as accused in the case, according to sources. Sengar has been charged with criminal conspiracy, abduction of minor, rape and threat.

In April 2018, a case against Sengar was registered by the Uttar Pradesh police where he was booked under IPC Sections 363 (kidnapping), 366 (abduction of woman), 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) and also under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Comment: Also see: Teen who accused Indian legislator of rape seriously injured in 'suspicious' crash

Modi: India will not succumb to 'international pressure' on national security

ANI News
Tue, 30 Jul 2019 10:04 UTC

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asserted that India will not succumb to any international pressure on the issue of national security and ensure modernisation of defence forces, while noting that the Vajpayee government had given "an effective answer" to Pakistan's 'deceit' on Kashmir in 1999 Kargil war.

Addressing a commemorative function here at Indira Gandhi Indoor (IGI) Stadium on 20th anniversary of Kargil victory that is celebrated every year as "Kargil Vijay Diwas", Modi spoke of the need of "jointness" of the three wings of armed forces, saying it was the need of the time.

Without naming Pakistan, he said the people defeated in wars were resorting to proxy war for their political objectives and were giving encouragement to terrorism.

Israeli warplanes bomb Iraq twice in ten days claiming they're Iranian military targets

Sputnik
Tue, 30 Jul 2019 12:01 UTC

The alleged airstrikes come as the Islamic Republic continues to deny the Jewish state's right to exist; Israel, in turn, blames Iran for supporting what Tel Aviv describes as "terrorist" groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas.

Israeli Air Force planes have launched a series of strikes on Iranian targets in Iraq, which they bombed twice in ten days, the Times of Israel reported, citing Asharq Al-Awsat, an Arabic-language newspaper published in London, which in turn cited unnamed Western diplomatic sources as saying.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have not commented on the reports yet.

Comment: Israel is now actively bombing Syria, Iraq and Palestine, and it's 'intelligence' is partly responsible for the tensions with Iran, and so is it any wonder they're a pariah of the Middle East?

Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Israeli-French Deception Downs Russian Spy Plane Off Syria, US Escalates 'Regime Change' Against Iran

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Puppet Masters

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon: Boris Johnson aiming for no-deal Brexit, despite rhetoric otherwise

Trump threatens worse trade deal for China if Beijing stalls until after his re-election

A humanitarian intervention? Situation in Libya created by Western regime change is 'catastrophic', says ex-foreign minister

Forbes: There's no real reason to sanction Russia anymore

Pompeo says Trump wants to reduce foreign forces in Afghanistan by Nov. 2020

How to fail upwards in the German Bundeswehr: Story of the general who ordered airstrike killing hundreds of Afghan civilians

'Don't walk into Trump and his poodle Johnson's trap': German govt split over sending navy to Gulf

India's CBI officially charges politician Kuldeep Singh Sengar over Unnao rape case

Modi: India will not succumb to 'international pressure' on national security

Israeli warplanes bomb Iraq twice in ten days claiming they're Iranian military targets

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