Puppet Masters

Four impacts of the blockade against Venezuela

Misión Verdad
telesur
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 00:00 UTC

The financial blockade directly affects routine international payments for goods and services. No doubt remains that the blockade of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is intended to deepen the sabotage of the Venezuelan people's social and economic life.

1. Funds were frozen for the import of insulin

Ever since President Donald Trump's decree towards the end of this year, the Venezuelan state has confronted various difficulties trying to import medicines and foodstuffs not produced domestically. The financial blockade directly affects routine international payments for goods and services.

The Venezuelan government has repeatedly denounced this. On Sept. 7, President Nicolas Maduro denounced in the National Constituent Assembly the hold up in an international port of a cargo of over 300,000 doses of insulin, thanks to the "Donald Trump-Julio Borges pact."

President Maduro explained that the U.S.-based Citibank financial institution refused to receive the money Venezuela was depositing to pay for the importation of this huge cargo of insulin for diabetic patients. As a result, the insulin shipment was held up for many days in port. President Maduro explained, "Even though we have the money to pay, they do not accept it."

"Starting this week, I hold Trump and Borges responsible for the blockade of medicines," President Maduro said, referring to the requests during 2017 from the leader of the Justice First party for these boycott measures.

Comment: See also:

Official docs of New Zealand's Operation Speargun surveillance program vindicate Snowden cover-up revelations

Sputnik
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 10:01 UTC

Official New Zealand government documents show that a mass surveillance program, which former Prime Minister John Key insisted had been halted, had in fact continued during his time in office, according to an investigation by the New Zealand Herald.

Whistleblower Edward Snowden has accused Key, who was in office from 2008 to 2016, of "stealing" the 2014 general election by falsely claiming that the program had been stopped.

Shortly before the election, investigative reporter Glenn Greenwald, who examined the files Snowden leaked from the NSA, and Snowden alleged that the New Zealand government was carrying out mass surveillance of its residents. Snowden warned New Zealanders that "If you live in New Zealand, you are being watched," and accused Key of "not telling the truth about mass surveillance."

Comment: Election by way of deception. Seems to be a lot of that going around.

Israel, Google, YouTube to censor Palestinian videos of conflict

IMEM News
Mon, 27 Nov 2017 06:04 UTC

The Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, Member of Knesset Tzipi Hotovely, held meetings this week with representatives of YouTube and Google, to find ways of cooperating to censor Palestinian videos from occupied Palestine, videos she dubbed as "inciting violence and terrorism." Israeli daily Maariv said Hotovely will be working with Google and YouTube officials in a joint mechanism that will be in charge of "monitoring and preventing" any publication of materials deemed by Tel Aviv to be "inflammatory."

Hotovely announced in a Hebrew-only press release that she met with YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, and Google's Director of Public Policy, Jennifer Oztzistzki, at Google's Silicon Valley Offices.

Hotovely said that she received a comprehensive review mechanism for companies to monitor the films that allegedly incite violence, claiming that the supposed 'incitement videos' drive young children to go out and stab: 'The attacks daily in Israel are the result of youths and children incited by the education system and the social networks, this is a daily war of incitement.'

She said that Google agreed to strengthen the bilateral relations with Israel's Foreign Ministry, and build a mechanism of "collaborative work" that would make both parties partners in monitoring the published materials and censoring them.

The Israeli move comes amidst escalating tension in occupied Palestine, and a large number of videos, including those showing Israeli soldiers and officers killing Palestinians execution-style after injuring them, and many videos that in general highlight the suffering of the Palestinian people, living under the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine.

The Israeli coordination with Google and YouTube has very serious implications, and many journalists have spoken out in opposition, saying it is a direct assault on the Freedom of the Press.

Comment: Google (Alphabet) and Youtube (a Google subsidiary) have become self-appointed gatekeepers on information, freedom of expression, and censorship. The public has the means to censor them back.

Pentagon blocks report on child sex abuse by US allies, troops forced to remain mum

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Tue, 28 Nov 2017 00:00 UTC

Despite 93 members of Congress requesting information on the horrific sexual abuse of children by US allies in Afghanistan, the Pentagon has denied it.

U.S. soldiers stationed in Afghanistan often witnessed acts of sexual abuse committed by US allied commanders against local children. As the Free Thought Project reported at the time, it was later revealed that the soldiers were told to look the other way and keep quiet about it - or face punishment. Now, according to a bombshell report, it appears that the Pentagon was complicit in the cover up too.

According to the NY Times, the Pentagon tried to block an independent assessment of child sex abuse crimes committed by Afghan soldiers and police, instead insisting on the creation of its own report offering a far less authoritative review of human rights violations perpetrated by U.S. allies, according to an aide to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).

Israel plans will block Arabs from residing in 1000 neighborhoods

Middle East Monitor
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 10:44 UTC

Israel is planning to block its Arab citizens from living in almost 1,000 neighborhoods and villages under the pretext that they were built for Jews only, Quds Press reported on Tuesday. According to a report in Haaretz, the Knesset (Israeli parliament) is set to discuss a law to build Jew-only areas in the country.

Describing the proposed legislation as "racist", the director of the Alternative Planning Centre, which specialises in planning and construction, said that it aims to prevent Arabs from living in new neighborhoods. Hanna Sweed added that municipalities used to prevent Arab citizens from living in Jewish neighborhoods, but this practice looks set to become enshrined in law.

"There have been indirectly-racist laws in Israel," explained Sweed, "but this law stipulates clearly the building of Jewish neighborhoods without any Arab residents." He warned that this might lead to more racist laws to put extra limits on Israel's Arab citizens, who make up 20 per cent of the population.

The former MK pointed out that there is no law that prevents Jews from living in Arab neighborhoods. "What's more, consecutive Israeli governments have built hundreds of Jewish towns and neighborhoods in occupied Palestine [Israel], but have never built any Arab neighborhoods since 1948."

Comment: The Bum's Rush is but the next elimination squeeze play on the Arab/Palestinian population after revoking their rights, degrading their existence, demolishing their neighborhoods, imprisoning their children, and committing violence against them.

See also:

Judicial Watch: State Department won't complete release of Clinton emails until 2020

Judicial Watch
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 20:27 UTC

Judicial Watch announced that a hearing will be held on Thursday, November 30, 2017, regarding Hillary Clinton's emails from her tenure as secretary of state from February 2009 to January 31, 2013 (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:15-cv-00687)).

Judicial Watch has asked the court to increase the State Departments processing requirement of 500 pages of Clinton emails per month. It has also requested the court order the State Department to provide the number of records withheld in full and provide information on the withheld records.

The State Department acknowledged in their last status report to the court they have processed 32,000 of the 72,000 pages of records turned over by the FBI. Under the current pace of production, the Clinton emails and other records will not be completely released until at least 2020.

At the previous October 19, 2017 hearing, Judge James E. Boasberg issued an order in response to Judicial Watch's requests instructing the State Department to explain on November 30 "how its anticipated increase in resources will affect processing of records in this case..."

Crazed war hawk Nikki Haley threatens to totally destroy N. Korean regime if war breaks out

RT
Thu, 30 Nov 2017 20:01 UTC

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley ratcheted up talk of war with North Korea in reaction to the isolated country's most recent intercontinental ballistic missile test, warning that Kim Jong-un's government is on a road to ruin.

During an emergency session of the UN Security Council on Wednesday, Haley asked the members of the panel to increase the sanctions imposed on North Korea and to implement penalties established by the council earlier in the year, The Hill reported.

Haley also warned the panel that North Korea's latest missile test has brought Pyongyang and Washington "closer to war."

"If war comes, make no mistake, the North Korean regime will be utterly destroyed," Haley said.

"The dictator of North Korea made a choice yesterday that brings the world closer to war, not farther from it," Ambassador Haley added.

Comment: Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made the obvious point about N. Korea's ICBM tests, which is that the US is deliberately trying to provoke North Korea. He called out the US to clearly say what they intend to do in North Korea:

"The Americans should start with explaining their intentions to us all. If they are really looking for an excuse to destroy North Korea, as the US envoy to the UN said at a Security Council meeting, let them spell it out clearly and let the US leadership confirm it. Then we will decide how to react"

Cut off from Russian markets, Ukraine's economy shrinks by 20%

RT
Thu, 30 Nov 2017 19:59 UTC

Kiev lost $15 billion after Russia closed its borders to consumer goods from Ukraine. It is almost a fifth of the country's GDP.

"The sum [lost] is about $15 billion," said Ukraine's Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv on Thursday.

"In 2014, the annexation of the Crimea and the conflict in the east resulted in a 20 percent loss for the economy, seven percent of the territory," Kubiv added. Moscow's position is that an absolute majority of Crimean people voted for secession from Ukraine and re-joining Russia in a democratic referendum in 2014.

Comment: Ordinary Ukrainians are paying a heavy price for their leadership's groveling to the West in the faint hope of EU membership. Ukraine's only role was meant to be a 'thorn in the side of Russia'. It's clear Russia is well able to get along without Ukraine, but equally clear the opposite is not true. What will Poroshenko and co. do now?

'The time has come to finally lift the anti-Russian sanctions' - German FM urges US

RT
Thu, 30 Nov 2017 20:46 UTC

The US should not seek further confrontation with Russia, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said. He added that his country is, on the contrary, interested in developing cooperation with Moscow.

"A discussion... in the US [about the policy toward Russia and particularly about the anti-Russian sanctions] should not be held in such a way that would lead to further confrontation with Russia," the minister said, talking to RT during the 10th Russian-German Resource Forum in St. Petersburg. He went on to say that Germany has fundamentally different interests in relations with Russia and is focused on developing a dialogue with Moscow.

"Despite some political differences, particularly those that concern... Crimea and the situation in the Eastern Ukraine, both sides [Russia and Germany] have genuine interest in developing cooperation in the fields of economy, politics and culture," Gabriel told journalists. He also said that "the right time has come for strengthening our economic partnership," adding that there are already "numerous forms of dialogue" between the two countries.

Comment: See also:

Awan tries to use "attorney-client privilege" to block access to laptop tied to Wasserman Schultz

Luke Rosiak
The Daily Caller
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 19:55 UTC

A court date for a former Democratic IT aide has been postponed by more than a month after the defendant's attorney, a former Hillary Clinton aide, said he's seeking to block prosecutors from using evidence that appears to include a government laptop tied to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

"The government has been in discussions with counsel for the defendants regarding complex discovery issues and other legal issues in this case, in particular issues surrounding claims of attorney-client privilege being raised by defendant Imran Awan," court papers filed Tuesday say.

"Last night, counsel for both defendants indicated that they need additional time to review and analyze these issues, along with the voluminous discovery the government provided in this case," according to the documents. "The government consents to this request."

Chris Gowen, Awan's attorney, said at the last hearing: "We do expect there being an attorney-client privilege issue in this case... What occurred is a backpack from my client was found, he was trying to get a better signal, there was a note that said attorney client privilege and a hard drive. We feel very strongly about this."

Comment: What are Awan and Schultz trying to hide? Surely nothing unsavory...

At least the WHO, stopped their concert immediately, when that tragedy happened in Cincinnati. This, on the other hand is reprehensible.

JTF Truth

Designer Federica Cavenati, who was known to friends as Kikka, has very sadly passed away, aged just 28, after a short and sudden illness Another...

HashAttack2

Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to the USA via Sweden where he faced sex offence allegations for which...

JTF Truth

i can imagine a future msnbc commercial airing between cnn's propaganda blurbs: "drones....coming to a neighbourhood near you.... ...this...

life

What an evil person. Pure lies, sticking to the script so she doesn't incur the wrath of her minders. It is time for the human race to stand up.

tekdude

Puppet Masters

Four impacts of the blockade against Venezuela

Official docs of New Zealand's Operation Speargun surveillance program vindicate Snowden cover-up revelations

Israel, Google, YouTube to censor Palestinian videos of conflict

Pentagon blocks report on child sex abuse by US allies, troops forced to remain mum

Israel plans will block Arabs from residing in 1000 neighborhoods

Judicial Watch: State Department won't complete release of Clinton emails until 2020

Crazed war hawk Nikki Haley threatens to totally destroy N. Korean regime if war breaks out

Cut off from Russian markets, Ukraine's economy shrinks by 20%

'The time has come to finally lift the anti-Russian sanctions' - German FM urges US

Awan tries to use "attorney-client privilege" to block access to laptop tied to Wasserman Schultz

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