Puppet Masters

'Pro-China' Boris Johnson 'enthusiastic' about belt and road plan

Zhenhua Lu
South China Morning Post
Wed, 24 Jul 2019 17:32 UTC

Boris Johnson, Britain's prime minister-designate, said his government would be very "pro-China", in an interview with a Hong Kong-based Chinese-language broadcaster shortly before he was chosen to succeed Theresa May on Tuesday.

Speaking to Phoenix TV, Johnson backed Chinese President Xi Jinping's infrastructure-based Belt and Road Initiative and said his government would maintain an open market for Chinese investors in Britain.

"We are very enthusiastic about the Belt and Road Initiative. We are very interested in what President Xi is doing [for the plan]," he said.

EU trade chief: We have 35 billion euro list ready if US hits EU with car tariffs

CNBC
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 17:17 UTC

The European Union would retaliate with extra duties on 35 billion euros ($39.1 billion) worth of U.S. goods if Washington went ahead with tariffs on EU cars, the bloc's trade chief said on Tuesday.

"We will not accept any managed trade, quotas or voluntary export restraints and, if there were to be tariffs, we would have a rebalancing list," European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom told a committee of the European Parliament.

"It is already basically prepared, worth 35 billion euros. I do hope we do not have to use that one," she continued.

JP Morgan says dump US dollar as its century of global dominance coming to end

RT
Wed, 24 Jul 2019 17:09 UTC

The US dollar will struggle to remain the top international currency in the coming decades as the rising power of Asian economies is set to undermine its leading position, Wall Street bank JPMorgan Chase has predicted.

"The US dollar has been the world's dominant reserve currency for almost a century," the bank's strategist Craig Cohen wrote in a report earlier this month.

However, we believe the dollar could lose its status as the world's dominant currency...due to structural reasons as well as cyclical impediments.

Many other currencies came to their demise throughout history, thanks to shifts in global economic centers, which is now poised to move towards Asia, the strategist points out. While China's accession to global superpower status is believed to be one of the factors of this shift, it's not the only one.

Facebook agrees to pay record $5bn fine to FTC over privacy violations, critics call it a 'parking ticket'

RT
Wed, 24 Jul 2019 17:07 UTC

The Federal Trade Commission announced on Wednesday that Facebook agreed to pay a record-breaking $5 billion fine over privacy violations. The penalty follows an investigation into the Cambridge Analytica data-sharing scandal.

"The $5 billion penalty against Facebook is the largest ever imposed on any company for violating consumers' privacy and almost 20 times greater than the largest privacy or data security penalty ever imposed worldwide," the FTC said in a press release. It added that "it is one of the largest penalties ever assessed by the US government for any violation."

According to FTC Chairman Joe Simons, "Despite repeated promises to its billions of users worldwide that they could control how their personal information is shared, Facebook undermined consumers' choices."

Facebook has also agreed to pay an additional $100 million to settle allegations that it misled investors about the seriousness of the misuse of users' data, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said.

No foreign military presence is key to Persian Gulf stability - Russia's security concept

RT
Wed, 24 Jul 2019 16:38 UTC

Russia has unveiled its Concept of Collective Security in the Persian Gulf, outlining arms control, joint anti-terrorist efforts and giving up on foreign military presence as keys conditions for stability in the turbulent region.

The concept singled out security in the Persian Gulf as "one of the prime regional problems of today." The document, presented by Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov at the Foreign Ministry in Moscow on Tuesday, with diplomats from Iran, Gulf Arab States, the US, UK, China, EU and other countries in attendance, noted that tensions in the strategic area, which have remained high over the past several decades, threaten the political and economic wellbeing on a global scale.

As Trump Backs Down, the Pips Squeak

Tom Luongo
Strategic Culture Foundation
Sun, 21 Jul 2019 16:08 UTC

© Hussam Al-Sanabani/Twitter
Houthi leader Saleh Alsmad unveils a Qasef-1 drone, an indigenous hi-tech development, on February 26, 2017

Last week it was all fire and brimstone. The US was threatening more sanctions on Iran, the Brits were seizing oil tankers and Iran was violating the JCPOA.

This week things look different all of a sudden. An oil tanker goes dark while passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the story fails to get any real traction and the US allows Iranian Foreign Minister, recently sanctioned, to do his job at the United Nations.

Comment: This was before Iran's announcement that it had, indeed, seized the tanker, which has created a new, but smaller, wave of hysteria.

Trump then holds a cabinet meeting where he reiterates that "We're not looking for regime change. We want them out of Yemen."

I thought National Security Advisor John Bolton said the US would apply pressure until "the pips squeak."

Comment: Then again, it's at least plausible that Bolton isn't so much of an adviser as a negotiating strategy.

Where the pips are squeaking is on the Arabian Peninsula, not across the Persian Gulf in Bandar Abbas. Specifically, I'm talking about the United Arab Emirates. The UAE sent a delegation to Tehran recently that coincided with its partial withdrawal of troops from Yemen.

Comment: See also:

Bolton's threat: The US will squeeze Iran with sanctions 'until the pips squeak'

Laughable nonsense: Netanyahu claims Middle East would fall to Islamic extremism without Israel

RT
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 15:29 UTC

Never one to mince his words, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel is the sole force fending off a radical Islamic takeover of the Middle East, arguing Tel Aviv is an indispensable defender of the entire region.

Netanyahu shared this insight with a delegation of Arab journalists and bloggers on a visit to Israel on Tuesday.

"I have told them one thing I believe in: the only force that prevents the collapse of the middle east from within it is Israel," the prime minister said in a Facebook post quoting his remarks, adding "without Israel, the middle east would collapse under the yoke of the forces of Islamic extremism."

By being present here, ... Israel is preventing the collapse of the middle east and falling into the hands of radical Islam.

Though the PM's post only said the attending journalists had come from nations that "do not maintain any diplomatic relations with Israel," a Knesset press release said that the visiting media figures came from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

Comment: Only Netanyahu can lie so much in so few words. Everything he says is not only wrong, but completely opposite to the truth. Without Israel, the Middle East would probably be much more peaceful - Israel has been the instigator and cause of countless wars, intrigue and injustice since its inception. Its behavior is the main spark of tension in the region. It is NOT the "defender" of the entire region, nor is it anywhere close to being the "sole force" fending off radical Islam. In fact, Israel was conspicuously absent in the fight on al-Qaeda and ISIS in Syria, choosing instead to treat their fighters and offer them air support whenever the Syrian Army threatened the terrorists' hold. Not only did Israel not fight the extremists in Syria, it actively supported them.

US says military 'may have' downed second drone, but is only 'confident' they downed the first one

Sputnik
Wed, 24 Jul 2019 15:09 UTC

Late last week, the Pentagon claimed that a US warship in the Strait of Hormuz had destroyed an Iranian drone after it came within "threatening range." Iran denied the claims, calling US statements "quite a big lie" and saying the US might have downed one of their own drones by mistake.

The US Navy warship operating in the Strait of Hormuz which reported destroying an Iranian-operated drone last week may have actually destroyed two, US Central Command commander Gen. Kenneth McKenzie has alleged.

Speaking to CBS News on Tuesday, Gen. McKenzie said the US was "confident we brought down one drone," adding that "we may have brought down a second."

McKenzie made the remarks aboard the USS Boxer, the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship claiming to have destroyed the Iranian drone last Thursday.

"As always it was a complex tactical picture, we believe two drones. We believe two drones were successfully - there may have been more that we are not aware of - those are the two that we engaged successfully," the commander said.

Comment: In other words, they don't even know for sure, which gives credibility to Iran's denial. But here's Trump's 'proof':

President Trump on Monday refuted Iran's claims U.S. forces had not destroyed its drone.

"There's a lot of proof -- it's called take a look at it on the ocean floor. Take your scuba gear and go down there," the president said sitting next to Pakistan's prime minister Imran Khan in the Oval Office.

Brown did say that they observed one drone crash in the water:

"This was a defensive action by the USS Boxer in response to aggressive interactions by two Iranian UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) platforms in international waters. The Boxer took defensive action and engaged both of these platforms. We observed one UAS crash into the water but did not observe a 'splash' for the other. The United States reserves the right to defend our personnel, facilities, and interests and calls upon all nations to condemn any attempts to disrupt freedom of navigation and global commerce."

Iran still denies it:

Iranian Defence Minister Amir Hatami dismissed on Wednesday US claims that the latter had downed Iranian drones in the Strait of Hormuz.

"We showed the body of the (U.S.) drone that we brought down," Hatami said, according to ISNA. "If anyone claims they brought down our drone, show it. No drone from the Islamic Republic of Iran has been brought down."

Galloway: You'd have to be mad to think Boris Johnson is the answer to Britain's problems

RT
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 14:20 UTC

As Noel Coward sang, "Only Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon-day sun." You could say the same about the Conservative Party, which just chose Boris Johnson to lead it.

Getting his sole challenger Jeremy Hunt's name wrong has become a national obsession. Mind you, he got his own wife's nationality wrong when he claimed she was Japanese (she's Chinese) on a mission to...China!

You'd have to have been out in the noonday sun, would certainly have to be English and being mad would help, if you thought Boris Johnson was the answer to Britain's now rather critical problems.

Comment: As they say, you get what you deserve. Although it's unlikely, even after being lumped with Bojo as their representative, that UK citizens will mobilize and try to sort out their rapidly deteriorating country:

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

Mueller signals he'll be a tough witness - that could play right into the GOP's hands

Cody Fenwick
Raw Story
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 00:00 UTC

Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller is sending a very clear message: He doesn't want to testify.

That's the not-so-subtle subtext of the announcement that Mueller plans to submit the 448-page report detailing the findings of the Russia investigation as a statement for the record during his hearing before the House scheduled for Wednesday. Of course, Congress already has the report, so the move isn't necessary. It's Mueller's way of saying, as he has previously, "The report is my testimony."

In other words: Leave me alone.

But the Democratic chairs for the House Judiciary Committee and Intelligence Committee have subpoenaed Mueller to testify, and he will comply. He just won't be happy about it.

What will he actually say? "The report is my testimony" phrasing actually leaves open two possibilities. First, it could just mean that, with respect to any of the questions explored or addressed in his report, he will simply recite the answers provided (or omitted) by the report. But there's a second, potentially more sweeping interpretation, which is that he literally won't answer any questions from Congress aside from providing information already detailed in the report.

Comment: See also:

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Puppet Masters

'Pro-China' Boris Johnson 'enthusiastic' about belt and road plan

EU trade chief: We have 35 billion euro list ready if US hits EU with car tariffs

JP Morgan says dump US dollar as its century of global dominance coming to end

Facebook agrees to pay record $5bn fine to FTC over privacy violations, critics call it a 'parking ticket'

No foreign military presence is key to Persian Gulf stability - Russia's security concept

As Trump Backs Down, the Pips Squeak

Laughable nonsense: Netanyahu claims Middle East would fall to Islamic extremism without Israel

US says military 'may have' downed second drone, but is only 'confident' they downed the first one

Galloway: You'd have to be mad to think Boris Johnson is the answer to Britain's problems

Mueller signals he'll be a tough witness - that could play right into the GOP's hands

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