Puppet Masters

Philippines continues pivot to Russia with port visit, submarine talks

Carmela Fonbuena
Rappler
Fri, 10 Aug 2018 14:52 UTC

© The Malacañang
Allies: President Rodrigo Duterte meets with Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 24, 2017.

The Philippine Navy may have its first submarine by 2023 - if the timeline of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana pushes through

The Philippine Navy plans to make a port call in Russia this year, the latest sign that President Rodrigo Duterte's push to warm ties with Moscow is serious.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the country is also looking at finalizing within the next 12 months talks to acquire 2 submarines from Russia. This is on top of an ongoing negotiation for grenade launchers, the first military acquisition from Russia should it push through.

"Gantihan. Nag-visit din sila sa atin ilang beses na. (We are returning the gesture. They've visited the country several times)," Lorenzana told the Defense Press Corps on Thursday, August 9.

The Philippine ships will be docking at Vladivostok, the nearest Russian port from the Philippines which is located west of Japan, according to the defense chief.

Comment:

Law professor on Cohen deal: 'Everyone breaks election laws, it's like jaywalking'

Source
Thu, 23 Aug 2018 13:45 UTC

Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz has sought to dampen excitement over a plea deal taken by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, saying that "every candidate" violates election laws when they run for president.

Speaking on Tucker Carlson's Fox News show on Tuesday, Dershowitz said that breaking campaign finance laws - which Cohen recently admitted to doing "at the direction" of Trump - is regarded as being similar to "jaywalking" in the world of political campaigns.

Dershowitz said that "every candidate violates the election laws when they run for president" and usually the violations end up with the candidate paying a fine before it all goes away.

South Africa rejects Trump tweet on land seizures & 'killing of farmers, says he's 'misinformed'

RT
Thu, 23 Aug 2018 14:26 UTC

The South African government has slammed US President Donald Trump's "narrow perception" over land seizures in the country after he ordered US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to study the situation.

"South Africa totally rejects this narrow perception which only seeks to divide our nation and reminds us of our colonial past," the government tweeted, tagging the US leader.

Comment: Is South Africa the next to be put on America's sanctions list?

Is South Africa the next to be put on America's sanctions list?

Adam Garrie
Euraisa Future
Thu, 23 Aug 2018 13:56 UTC

South Africa is currently the 39th largest trading partner of the United States while Pretoria runs a comparatively small trade surplus of $2.2 billion with the US. Donald Trump has already put substantial tariffs and/or sanctions on far larger trading partners of the US. With the full scale trade war with China continuing to escalate, with the US now threatening at 25% tariff on all cars manufactured in the European Union, with Canada and Mexico still trying to save NAFTA, with full-scale Iran sanctions set be in force in November and with looming further tariff and sanction threats against NATO ally Turkey on the horizon, the Trump administration is already playing rough with trading partners that are far more significant to the US than South Africa.

But what has South Africa done to directly upset the United States? The short answer is that this seemingly obvious question is the wrong one. It remains clear that the current administration in Washington does not require any sound reason to implement tariffs and sanctions as its use of sanctions is not "corrective" in the traditional sense nor are the use of tariffs about redressing minor trade imbalances. Instead, both tariffs and sanctions are used by the Trump administration as a tool to help and strengthen the internal US position by forcing developing nations into an inflationary debt spiral at a time when the US Dollar goes from strength to strength. A full report on this particular phenomenon can be read.

Comment:

Federal prosecutors derail re-election bids of two prominent Trump supporters - candidates say timing of charges 'dirty tricks'

RT
Wed, 22 Aug 2018 13:32 UTC

In at least two congressional districts at opposite ends of the US, federal indictments of Trump-supporting lawmakers may play a key role in handing over their solid Republican constituencies to Democrat challengers.

Congressman Duncan Hunter, representing California's 50th district, and his wife Margaret were charged on Tuesday with 60 counts of misusing about $250,000 in campaign funds for personal purchases, and with filing false reports to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

California has a "jungle primary" system, in which the top two candidates proceed to the general election regardless of their party affiliation. As the primaries took place on June 5, there is no mechanism to replace Hunter on the ballot, which means his Democrat challenger, Ammar Campa-Najjar, will basically run uncontested despite winning less than 18 percent of the primary vote.

Elvis, UFOs & Big Foot are (probably) attempting to hack the US political system, too

RT
Thu, 23 Aug 2018 11:49 UTC

It seems everyone wants a piece of the US democratic action these days. Yet little do these meddling outsiders know, the system was already 'hacked' many years ago by the Americans themselves.

In Hans Christian Andersen's famous fable, The Emperor's New Clothes, two enterprising tailors promise the emperor a new suit of clothes that they say will be invisible only to those who are stupid or incompetent. In reality, the weavers produce no clothes at all. Terrified at the thought of being betrayed as fools, not a single soul in the king's court dared say aloud what their eyes could plainly see - until one boy merrily pointed to his highness' exposed assets.

Comment:

Lucy Komisar: I've Been Browder's Number One Journalist Critic for Two Decades. What President Trump Should Know About Handling Him

Lucy Komisar
The Komisar Scoop
Fri, 20 Jul 2018 12:51 UTC

Sleazy US oligarch William Browder admits in U.S. Federal Court deposition that Sergei Magnitsky didn't go to law school or have law degree, which means he lied to President Trump.

Dear President Trump,

William Browder sent you a letter before your meeting with President Putin, and I'd like to offer you a perspective about Mr. Browder that you probably aren't getting elsewhere. I am copying the form of his letter, but substituting Browder where he wrote Putin, and including facts you and the public probably don't know. Though there are indications your State Department does know.

As a journalist, I've have been investigating Mr. Browder for nearly two decades. I'm probably his number one enemy journalist. He had me banned from a public talk December 2016 at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton where he feared I would ask him about his corruption.

As he said with some irony about President Putin, Mr. Browder is a bald-faced liar. Whatever he tells you, it's not true.

Comment: As with all psychopaths, Browder accuses Putin of what he himself is guilty of. Ms. Komisar turned the tables. The result is a most useful guideline for handling the dangerous, slippery Mr. Browder.

NATO claims its military buildup is 'justified' since it deters 'scary Russia'

RT
Thu, 23 Aug 2018 11:53 UTC

NATO claims its military buildup in Eastern Europe is justified as it deters Russia's superior might. Yet, any Russian activity is overshadowed by the US-led bloc's huge border drills, supposedly held to 'counter' Moscow's moves.

"NATO's actions are defensive, proportionate and fully in line with our international commitments," the alliance's spokeswoman Oana Lungescu told Reuters, commenting on NATO military activities. She further added that the troops deployed by the Alliance to Eastern Europe "cannot compare to the divisions deployed by Russia" on its western borders.

Comment: Oana also hallucinated that Russia had 'thousands' of invisible troops stationed in Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova:

"NATO has deployed 4,000 troops to the eastern part of the Alliance - to deter any possible aggression," spokeswoman Oana Lungescu told Reuters. "These troops cannot compare to the divisions deployed by Russia. In contrast, Russia has troops in Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova against the wishes of their governments."

The rant was provoked by the words of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who rebuked NATO for building up its military infrastructure right on Russia's doorstep. "We do not deploy our military contingents away from our borders and close to the NATO states, it is the NATO infrastructure that advances to our own borders," Putin told journalists in Sochi.

Comment: Also see:

Kadyrov: Poroshenko must shoulder blame for Putin's increasing support in Ukraine

RT
Thu, 23 Aug 2018 11:51 UTC

© Sputnik
Participants of the protest against the current Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko near the Presidential Administration in Kiev

The fact more politicians in Ukraine are now backing Vladimir Putin's position must be blamed on Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's cowardly tactics of fighting imaginary threats, according to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

"The president of Ukraine has formed an imagined adversary for himself and this adversary is Russia. However, he cannot nobly and decently oppose such an "enemy" and there are two reasons for this," Kadyrov wrote in his Telegram messenger-blog on Wednesday.

Comment: No. 1 supporter: Kadyrov calls Putin a 'superhero' who should rule Russia for life

Trump ramps up threats to slap every European car with 25% tariff

RT
Thu, 23 Aug 2018 11:53 UTC

European cars coming to the United States will be levied with additional taxes, according to US President Donald Trump.

"We're going to put a 25 percent tax on every car that comes into the United States from the European Union," Trump said at a campaign rally in West Virginia.

Trump first warned about possible tariffs on European cars in May. He asked the Commerce Department to examine whether such imports are threats to national security, using a similar argument to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

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Puppet Masters

Philippines continues pivot to Russia with port visit, submarine talks

Law professor on Cohen deal: 'Everyone breaks election laws, it's like jaywalking'

South Africa rejects Trump tweet on land seizures & 'killing of farmers, says he's 'misinformed'

Is South Africa the next to be put on America's sanctions list?

Federal prosecutors derail re-election bids of two prominent Trump supporters - candidates say timing of charges 'dirty tricks'

Elvis, UFOs & Big Foot are (probably) attempting to hack the US political system, too

Lucy Komisar: I've Been Browder's Number One Journalist Critic for Two Decades. What President Trump Should Know About Handling Him

NATO claims its military buildup is 'justified' since it deters 'scary Russia'

Kadyrov: Poroshenko must shoulder blame for Putin's increasing support in Ukraine

Trump ramps up threats to slap every European car with 25% tariff

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