© Thomas Mukoya / Reuters
"I would especially like to note that Russia is planning to step up its assistance in development of national energy in African states," said the Russian president during the BRICS-Africa Outreach panel on Friday.
Puppet Masters
"I would especially like to note that Russia is planning to step up its assistance in development of national energy in African states," said the Russian president during the BRICS-Africa Outreach panel on Friday.
The following is a segment of discussion from a chat show on Russia 1 TV hosted by Vladimir Solovyov, giving us some idea of the Russian take on the Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki earlier this month.
As one commentor to this video put it: "The Russians seem to understand American politics better than the majority of Americans themselves. Why is that?"
Rand Paul
And that makes him someone worth watching.
On two key issues this week Paul took the Deep State head on to diffuse the outcry over Trump's performance at Helsinki. First, in an article published the day of the summit he announced he would be traveling to Russia as a diplomatic envoy to build on Trump's meeting with Putin.
But, more importantly Paul sided with the President on another matter, NATO and, by extension, our entangling military alliances. On these issues he truly rises to take on the mantle of his father's foreign policy, a foreign policy which nearly won him the Republican nomination in 2012.
Comment: Goodness knows Trump and those willing to see things more or less objectively in Washington need a few sane allies
The ruling was issued by a US district judge in Florida on Tuesday, in a defamation lawsuit filed by a Russian tech executive against BuzzFeed News, which published the full, unverified dossier in January 2017. Multiple other outlets, including CNN and the New York Times, declined to publish the dossier, as they could not verify its claims.
Now, Fusion GPS will have to answer a wide-ranging series of questions; about the Democrat-connected law firm that requested the dossier, about the efforts the company made to fact-check its allegations, and about the man who actually compiled it; former British spy Christopher Steele.
Compiled by Fusion GPS as a piece of opposition research for the Democratic Party in the run-up to the 2016 election, the dossier contained a series of salacious and scandalous claims about the then-presidential candidate. Among them was the claim that Trump had been recorded by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) when hiring two Russian prostitutes to urinate on a bed in a Moscow hotel room in 2013.
© Grigory Dukor / Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with President of Russia, Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, February 2018
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with President of Russia, Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, February 2018
No single act of Donald Trump's presidency has engendered more criticism than his performance at the Helsinki summit with Vladimir Putin. For declining to endorse US intelligence claims that the Kremlin meddled in our election and faulting both countries for the poor state of US-Russia relations, Trump was roundly accused of "shameful," "disgraceful," and "treasonous" behavior that has sparked a full-blown "national security crisis."
But does the American public at large share the prevailing elite assessment? Save for a White House vigil led by two longtime Hillary Clinton staffers and a few scattered rallies - and in stark contrast to mass protests over Trump's misogyny, Muslim ban, and zero-tolerance immigration policy - Americans have not poured into the streets to confront the "crisis." A poll byThe Hill and the HarrisX polling company found 54 percent support for Trump's now-scuttled plan for a follow-up summit with Putin at the White House. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that Trump's post-Helsinki approval rating slightly increased to 45 percent. While the uptick does not necessarily signal an embrace of Trump's behavior, it is not difficult to see why his numbers did not plummet. In a recent Gallup poll on problems facing the country, the "Situation with Russia" was such a marginal concern that it did not even register. While an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found that 64 percent believe Trump has not been tough enough on Russia, it also saw a near-even split on whether Putin is a foe or an ally, and 59 percent support for better relations.
© Erik Mcgregor / Global Look Press
"NO," Trump tweeted Friday morning. "I did NOT know of the meeting with my son, Don jr. Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam (Taxi cabs maybe?). He even retained Bill and Crooked Hillary's lawyer. Gee, I wonder if they helped him make the choice!"
Comment: Trump Tower has been the site of nefarious doings, but 'Russian collusion' wasn't one of them. The Obama administrations wiretapping operation is the real scandal.
- 'This is McCarthyism!' Trump accuses Obama of wire tapping Trump Tower before election win
- Mr. President, your predecessor wire-tapped all our phones... what are you going to do about it?
- Trump wiretap is the real election scandal - Russian hack is the cover-up
- Former Trump adviser Roger Stone: Wiretapping at Trump Tower 'a bigger scandal than Watergate'
- Two instances of spying on Trump now confirmed - Zero connection to Russia found
- Another Russiagate fail: WSJ vindicates Trump Jr., Russian lawyer after release of new emails
- DOJ's concealed FISA docs could hold key to Trump surveillance plot
Michael Cohen, former attorney for Donald Trump
Russiagate has dominated the news cycle for close to two years now. Consider what that means.
Two years of breathless allegations.
Two years of "we've almost got something on Trump!" by the likes of CNN and other anti-Trump organizations.
Two years of propaganda of the most slanderous sort, intended to block or destroy the agenda of this President.
And also... two years of blowhard with nothing to show for it at all, other than maybe ratings for the networks who have become, through this enigmatic pursuit, the new night time drama show for millions of American viewers.
Comment:
- Mueller grossly overstepped in seizing Michael Cohen's files
- Trump's personal lawyer Cohen subpoenaed by House Intel Committee
- Trump was taped talking of paying for Playboy model's tell-all of their (alleged) affair
- Trump's response to secret lawyer tapes: 'Totally unheard of and perhaps illegal'
- Rosenstein allowed Mueller request to authorize FBI raid on office of Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen
- Trump blasts the FBI in Twitter tirade - 'Attorney-client privilege a thing of the past'
- Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who allegedly paid off adult film actress Stormy Daniels, demanded refund from Trump for payoff
- Giuliani didn't stumble on Trump admission - he knows exactly what he's doing
© Reuters/Aaron P. Bernstein
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 25 July 2018.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 25 July 2018.
Democrats demanded that Pompeo explain what Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed at the summit in Helsinki last week, what (if anything) actually happened as a result of the Singapore summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and why the White House wasn't imposing more sanctions against Russia.
"All we've come to expect is a saber-rattling president who embraces and provides legitimacy to some of the world's most notorious bad actors and who denigrates our closest allies," declared ranking member Senator Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey). "We've seen our president look weak as he stands beside our adversaries."Menendez also described Putin as a "thug" and insisted Russia was continuing to actively undermine US elections.
Comment: Interesting how Trust is primarily tied to personal beliefs and loyalties, not truth nor logic. Trump cannot divulge 'his means' to 'his end' as it would disengage the tensions and allow the processes he desires to fall flat. And, Congress cannot take anything on faith it isn't privy to.
© Rodolfo Buhrer/Global Look Press
"We're ready to invite Trump to Moscow. By the way, he has such an invitation. I told him about that," the Russian leader said during a press conference at the sidelines of the BRICS summit. "I'm also ready to come to Washington if proper working conditions are created."The Russian and US leaders held a much-anticipated summit in Helsinki, Finland earlier this month, with Putin saying that both he and Trump were interested in more high-level contacts.
"As for our meetings, I think, they're useful," Putin said.
Weighing in on the harsh criticism faced by Trump in America after the Helsinki summit, the Russian leader acknowledged that there were "internal political problems" in the US, but stressed that "life goes on."
Contact between Moscow and Washington continue and new meetings with Trump are also possible "in the shortest of time frames" at international platforms, including the G20, Putin said.
Comment: In addition from RT:
President Trump is "open" to the idea of visiting Moscow, but only if he receives a formal invitation from Russian President Vladimir Putin, the White House has said.
"He is open to visiting Moscow upon receiving a formal invitation," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said on Friday, adding that the President also looks forward to hosting Putin in the US next year.
Earlier this week, Trump postponed a Washington meeting between the two leaders until next year, citing political fallout over Special Counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing and still fruitless 'Russiagate' investigation.
The Kremlin had not formally agreed to a meeting, which had been slated to take place this fall. Aide Yuri Ushakov said that while a meeting should take place, "it would be wise to let the dust settle" first.
Trump was heavily criticized by Democrats, Republicans, and the US media for meeting with Putin in Helsinki, Finland, earlier this month. They argued that Trump should have pressed his Russian counterpart harder on allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, and should have warned Putin against interfering with the upcoming 2018 midterm elections.
While Trump was eviscerated in the media for his handling of the Helsinki summit, a recent poll conducted by The Hill found that 54 percent of Americans support a second summit between the two leaders in Washington, and 61 percent say that better relations with Russia are in the best interests of the United States.
© CNN.com
White Helmets stage a rescue.
White Helmets stage a rescue.
"The fate of White Helmets will be the same as any other terrorist. They have two choices: to lay down their arms and use the amnesty we have offered over the last four or five years, or be killed like the other terrorists," Assad said.The Syrian president maintained there is no such legitimate organization as White Helmets.
"It's a mask, a mask for Al-Nusra (an Al-Qaeda affiliate)," he said. "You have videos and photos of this group's members holding swords and celebrating the death of Syrian soldiers. What more evidence do you need that they are not a humanitarian organization, but a mask used by Al-Qaeda?" Assad said.The self-styled rescue organization operates only in areas of Syria under control of anti-government militants, who have received backing from the US, UK and some of Syria's neighbors since the conflict began in 2011. They have been key witnesses to claims of Syrian atrocities, including allegations of chemical weapons use, that have been used as pretext for attempted intervention by Western powers.
Comment: Amnesty is beyond exceedingly generous.
Comment: Be Like Putin of South Africa,' ANCYL Encourages Zuma