Puppet Masters

Insights: Iran deal, BRICS and the handling of a crisis in Venezuela

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Mon, 28 Jan 2019 04:04 UTC

An exclusive interview with former Brazilian foreign minister Celso Amorim on how BRICS came into being, how the nuclear deal was done with Tehran and how the South dealt with Chavez

Brazil is once again in the eye of a political hurricane, after President Jair Bolsonaro's appearance at Davos and explosive revelations directly linking his clan to a criminal organization in Rio de Janeiro. With his administration barely a month old, Bolsonaro is already being seen as expendable to the elites that propelled him to power - from the powerful agribusiness lobby to the financial system and the military.

The new game among the elites of a major actor in the Global South, BRICS member and eighth biggest economy in the world consists of shaping a scenario capable of rescuing one the great frontiers where global capitalism is expanding from total irrelevancy.

That includes the possibility of a "soft coup", with the Bolsonaro clan sidelined by the Brazilian military rallying around the vice-president, General Hamilton Mourao.

Under these circumstances, a conversation with former Brazilian foreign minister Celso Amorim is more than sobering. Amorim is universally recognized as one of the top diplomats of the young 21st century, a symbol of the recent past, under President Lula, when Brazil was at the top of its game as a resource-rich continental nation actively projecting power as a BRICS leader.

Comment: An interesting interview that offers important bits of background and context to the complicated and volatile international relations in South America today.

Acting AG Whitaker: Mueller's Russia investigation close to completion

RFE/RL
Tue, 29 Jan 2019 05:00 UTC

The top U.S. justice official has said that the investigation into alleged Russian election meddling being conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller is nearing completion.

The comments January 28 by Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker came just days after Mueller's prosecutors indicted another close associate of President Donald Trump.

The arrest of that associate, Roger Stone, suggested that Mueller's investigation still had some time to go, according to legal experts.

Speaking at a news conference in Washington, D.C., Whitaker said he had been "fully briefed" on Mueller's probe. "The investigation is, I think, close to being completed, and I hope that we can get the report from Director Mueller as soon as possible," Whitaker said.

Comment: From Whitaker's lips to Mueller's ear!

Netanyahu cancels mandate for international observers' presence in Hebron

RT
Mon, 28 Jan 2019 19:21 UTC

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to allow international observers to continue their mission in Hebron, where they have been present since a spike in Israeli-Palestinian tensions in the 1990s.

"We will not allow an international force to act against us," Netanyahu said.

Consisting of 64 members, the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) has been observing the conditions under which the Palestinians live since 1994 when 29 Palestinians were killed in the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre. Its staff would report on incidents of conflict, but would not interfere.

The West Bank city of Hebron has a Palestinian majority but is partially controlled by the Israeli military, who were placed there to protect the settlers in 1997. The actions of the Israeli troops conducting searches of the Palestinian population at checkpoints have often been criticized.

Comment: In Israeli terms: What is not observed doesn't happen.

Turkey completes preparations for offensive east of Euphrates in Syria

Sputnik
Tue, 29 Jan 2019 14:26 UTC

The Turkish military has completed their preparations for a military operation in the northern Syrian city of Manbij, and east of the Euphrates River, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said on Tuesday.

"The Turkish Armed Forces have completed their preparations for the operation. When the time comes, all necessary measures against terrorists will be taken both in Manbij and to the east of the Euphrates," the minister said, as quoted by the Anadolu news agency, adding that Turkey had no intention of fighting either the Kurds or the Arabs in the area.

Turkey has been opposing the presence of Kurdish militia in the north of Syria, claiming that the militants posed a threat to the country's security.

Comment: See also:

Pakistan court rejects challenge to charge Asia Bibi for blasphemy

M Ilyas Khan
BBC
Tue, 29 Jan 2019 12:00 UTC

Asia Bibi's case had been hugely divisive in religiously conservative Pakistan

Pakistan's top court has rejected a challenge to the acquittal of a Christian woman on blasphemy charges.

The Supreme Court upheld its decision to overturn Asia Bibi's conviction and death sentence.

She was originally convicted in 2010 after being accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad in a row with her neighbours, and spent eight years on death row.

She has always maintained her innocence in a case that has polarised Pakistan.

The Supreme Court's quashing of her sentence last October led to violent protests by religious hardliners who support strong blasphemy laws, while more liberal sections of society urged her release.

Comment: This ruling is a step in the right direction for Pakistan:

Also check out SOTT radio's:

China shows off its 'carrier killer' missiles to send 'a clear message to the US'

Lee Jeong-ho
South China Morning Post
Tue, 29 Jan 2019 19:48 UTC

China has revealed footage of its next-generation Dongfeng-26 ballistic missile showing improved stability and accuracy, a move analysts say aims to send a message to the United States about its military strength.

Footage of the missile was released for the first time in a report on state broadcaster CCTV, amid intensifying military rivalry between China and the US.

Four fin-like flight control surfaces are seen around the missile nose in the report on an exercise in northwest China. The People's Liberation Army Rocket Force launched at least one DF-26 missile during the drill.

Military analysts said the fin-like flight control surfaces provided better stability for the missile as it neared a moving target, such as a US aircraft carrier.

The intermediate-range ballistic missile is also known as the "Guam killer" for its range - 3,000km to 5,741km (1,864 to 3,567 miles) - that puts the US island in the western Pacific within striking distance.

UK foreign minister recommends Bank of England send Venezuela's gold to Western puppet Guaidó

Patrick Wintour
The Guardian
Mon, 28 Jan 2019 19:35 UTC

A UK foreign office minister has suggested that the Bank of England grant access to £1.2bn in Venezuelan gold reserves to the self-proclaimed interim leader Juan Guaidó rather than Nicolás Maduro.

In a statement to British MPs, Sir Alan Duncan said the decision was a matter for the Bank and its governor, Mark Carney, and not the government. But he added: "It is they who have to make a decision on this, but no doubt when they do so they will take into account there are now a large number of countries across the world questioning the legitimacy of Nicolás Maduro and recognising that of Juan Guaidó."

Guaidó has already written to Theresa May asking for the funds to be sent to him.

The former chair of the foreign affairs select committee Crispin Blunt said the current Venezuelan central bank president was not legitimate, since he had not been appointed by the country's national assembly. Blunt has sent letters to the foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, and to the chancellor, Philip Hammond, urging a decision.

Novichok full 'o nuts! Police Commissioner MacPherson lifts the lid in Skripal case

John Helmer
Dances with Bears
Tue, 29 Jan 2019 18:05 UTC

The Wiltshire county police have revealed in separate statements last week that they were at the house of Sergei Skripal within minutes of his having fallen ill on a park bench in the centre of Salisbury last year, in the case which has damaged relations between Britain and Russia beyond foreseeable repair.

The speed of response was much faster than Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner Angus Macpherson has given reason for at the time; in the eleven months of his tweeting after the incident; or under direct questioning over several days of last week.

"We can confirm that police attended Christie Miller Road in Salisbury on the evening of 4 March 2018", Macpherson said through a spokesman, "as part of our early enquiries into the incident." That was not an answer to the question Macpherson was asked.

The new police evidence - an excerpt from the Wiltshire police incident response log and Macpherson's cover-up of the particulars - contradicts the allegations the British government and police in London have made that the outside door-handle of the Skripal house had been sprayed by Russian assassins with a "military grade nerve agent" named by the British authorities as Novichok.

An unpublished Wiltshire police report indicates the likelihood that British secret service surveillance of the Skripals was under way on March 4, during their movements around Salisbury on March 4, before their collapse, and led to an anonymous call to the emergency services. That call was the first to report the incident to the police. Secret service agents then appear to have been at the Skripal house, with a police guard, several hours before local detectives conducted a search of the interior, telling the BBC later that the house "looked normal. There was nothing untoward."

Comment: More of Helmer's coverage of the Skripal saga:

Lavrov: 'Cynical' US sanctions meant to confiscate Venezuela's assets

RT
Tue, 29 Jan 2019 18:24 UTC

The Russian FM condemned the US for basically confiscating Venezuela's state property, as Washington announced sanctions against government-run oil company PDVSA.

Sergey Lavrov slammed the US sanctions against Venezuela, calling them "cynical", as Washington froze the $7 billion assets of the state-run oil company PDVSA and its US subsidiary Citgo. Moscow's top diplomat implied that the White House is pursuing vested interests in Venezuela.

"US companies operating in Venezuela are excluded from the sanctions regime. Simply put they want to overthrow the government and gain profits at the same time," the Russian diplomat said.

Lavrov believes that what the US is doing is simply trying to confiscate Venezuela's money under the guise of sanctions, noting that the US "has experience" in such "illegal" affairs, giving Iraq, Libya, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Panama as examples.

The new plan for Africa is the same as the old imperial one

Phil Butler
New Eastern Outlook
Tue, 29 Jan 2019 18:08 UTC

When US National Security Advisor John Bolton unveiled the new United States plan for Africa last December, few in Congress knew the closely guarded secrets of the plan that was already in progress for almost a year. The journalists, African dignitaries, US government officials, and political groupies in attendance at the Heritage Foundation event built around the announcement were "enlightened" on Donald Trump's plans for recolonization of Africa.

The Africa policy Bolton revealed the essence of Donald Trump's mission to assist in the final solution for underdeveloped nations worldwide. Trump's "American First" campaign promise was the wakeup call to Africa and other continents, a call to pay attention to renewed American aggression. The National Security Advisor, making a speech on policy the Secretary of State should probably have made, warned all in attendance at the event:

"The United States will no longer provide indiscriminate assistance across the entire continent, without focus or prioritization... From now on, the United States will not tolerate this longstanding pattern of aid without effect, assistance without accountability, and relief without reform."

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Puppet Masters

Insights: Iran deal, BRICS and the handling of a crisis in Venezuela

Acting AG Whitaker: Mueller's Russia investigation close to completion

Netanyahu cancels mandate for international observers' presence in Hebron

Turkey completes preparations for offensive east of Euphrates in Syria

Pakistan court rejects challenge to charge Asia Bibi for blasphemy

China shows off its 'carrier killer' missiles to send 'a clear message to the US'

UK foreign minister recommends Bank of England send Venezuela's gold to Western puppet Guaidó

Novichok full 'o nuts! Police Commissioner MacPherson lifts the lid in Skripal case

Lavrov: 'Cynical' US sanctions meant to confiscate Venezuela's assets

The new plan for Africa is the same as the old imperial one

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