Puppet MastersS


Chess

The dragon bites back: China arrests third Canadian national amid worsening diplomatic spat

Tyler Durden
Zerohedge
Wed, 19 Dec 2018 11:26 UTC
Michael Spavor, Michael Kovrig
© AFPMichael Spavor (L) and Michael Kovrig have been put under "compulsory measures"
That didn't take long.

Three days after warning Canada about "escalation" and "grave consequences" amid a worsening diplomatic crisis, China has arrested a third Canadian national, according to Canada's National Post, which cited a spokesman for Global Affairs Canada, the international arm of the Canadian government. No further details were provided, other than saying the Canadian government was "aware of a Canadian citizen" being detained.

Global Affairs diplomatically refused to connect this third arrest to the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver earlier this month. The executive, the daughter of one of China's most successful businessmen, was released on bail last week.

According to the Straits Times, when asked about the arrest at a press briefing on Wednesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said: "I have not heard about this."

Former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor are both being held by Chinese authorities for "threatening National Security."

The National Post noted that China and Chinese media have lashed out at Canada over the arrest of Meng. It also confirmed that the captured Canadian isn't a diplomat or an entrepreneur.

Comment: As Finian Cunningham so presciently warned, Canada will pay a heavy price for its dubious service to Washington...
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Footprints

Rouhani's son-in-law resigns new post after 2 days amid nepotism accusations


RFE/RFL
Tue, 18 Dec 2018 14:59 UTC
Kambiz Mehdizadeh
Kambiz Mehdizadeh
The newlywed son-in-law of Iranian President Hassan Rohani has resigned from a senior institutional appointment two days after starting the job amid accusations of nepotism against Rohani's already embattled government.

The lightning appointment and exit of 33-year-old Kambiz Mehdizadeh comes roughly four months after reports said he married one of Rohani's daughters in August.

In his December 17 letter of resignation, Mehdizadeh thanked the minister of Industry and Mines for entrusting him to head the Geological Survey of Iran but asked "to be relieved of my service so that I can continue my scientific and research activities."

His mid-December appointment had sparked questions about Mehdizadeh's experience and qualifications to lead the Geological Survey, a mostly scientific body responsible for exploring and mapping Iran's geology and its resources and cooperating on related topics with its counterparts abroad.

It is a potentially embarrassing blow to Rohani, a longtime establishment figure who has won two terms as a reformist bent on providing jobs and -- more controversially -- reengaging with the West.
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Briefcase

Sentencing has been delayed in Flynn case: Judge blasts ex-National Security Adviser

Chuck Ross
The Daily Caller
Tue, 18 Dec 2018 13:26 UTC
Flynn
© REUTERS/Joshua Roberts /FileFormer U.S. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn departs after a plea hearing at U.S. District Court, in Washington, U.S., December 1, 2017.
Michael Flynn's sentencing in the special counsel's case was delayed for 90 days on Tuesday during a hearing that saw the judge handling the case question whether the former national security adviser committed treason against the U.S.

Flynn's lawyer, Robert Kelner, took Judge Emmet Sullivan up on an offer to delay sentencing until the retired lieutenant general finishes his cooperation with prosecutors handling other criminal investigations.

The delay comes as a surprise since Flynn's team appeared poised to go through with sentencing at the beginning of Tuesday's hearing. The special counsel's office had recommended that Flynn be sentenced to the low-end of a zero to six month sentencing guideline because of his "substantial cooperation" with prosecutors.

Comment:

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Pirates

Who are the real state sponsors of terrorism?

Eric Zuesse
Strategic Culture Foundation
Wed, 19 Dec 2018 11:29 UTC
Clinton
© flickr
On 30 December 2009, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent a cable (subsequently released to the public by wikileaks) to America's Ambassadors in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, and Pakistan, headlined, "Terrorist Finance: Action Request for Senior Level Engagement on Terrorism Finance."

She told those Ambassadors to make clear to the given nation's aristocrats that, under the new US President, Barack Obama, there would no longer be any allowance for continuation of their donations to Al Qaeda and other jihadist groups that attack the United States.

It opened, "This is an action request cable," meaning that the operations of the local US Embassy in the given nation would be monitored for compliance with the Secretary of State's "request."

Clinton's focus was:
on disrupting illicit finance activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan and the external financial/logistical support networks of terrorist groups that operate there, such as al-Qa'ida, the Taliban, and Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT). The IFTF's [Interagency Illicit Finance Task Force] activities are a vital component of the USG's [US Government's] Afghanistan and Pakistan (Af/Pak) strategy dedicated to disrupting illicit finance flows between the Gulf countries and Afghanistan and Pakistan. The IFTF has created a diplomatic engagement strategy to assist in the accomplishment of this objective. The strategy focuses on senior-level USG engagement with Gulf countries and Pakistan to communicate USG counterterrorism priorities and to generate the political will necessary to address the problem. The IFTF has drafted talking points for use by all USG officials in their interactions with Gulf and Pakistani interlocutors. These points focus on funding for terrorist groups threatening stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan and targeting coalition soldiers. These points have been cleared through the relevant Washington agencies.

Comment: See also:

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Snakes in Suits

Is the FBI withholding evidence of the Clinton Foundation's 'Pay to Play' schemes?


Sputnik
Wed, 19 Dec 2018 11:13 UTC
Hillary Clinton winking
© AP Photo / Charlie Neibergall
Republicans in the House of Representatives' Oversight Committee held a hearing on Thursday to examine allegations of quid pro quo agreements at the Clinton Foundation during Hillary Clinton's time as Secretary of State.

Mark Meadows (R-NC), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations, a powerful investigative team for the House of Representatives, began the hearing by expressing his concern over reports of a massive drop in donations to the Clinton Foundation after the former secretary lost her bid for the White House.

​The Center for Responsive Politics reported yesterday that the charity's cash flow "nosedived to a 15-year low" following the results of the 2016 election. The foundation pulled in some $38.4 million in 2017, compared to $249 million in 2009, Clinton's first year as Secretary of State, and $62.9 million in 2016. That's a 58 percent decline in one year.
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Snakes in Suits

The FBI is muzzling the only person with credibility left in the Flynn investigation

Sara Carter
saraacarter.com
Wed, 19 Dec 2018 11:13 UTC
Mike Flynn
There is a shroud of mystery regarding the actual facts that surround the first interview former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn had with two FBI Special Agents at the White House. Pieces of the puzzle, however, have slowly come together over the past year. In the past week, those pieces of evidence, or lack thereof, have become even more pronounced after Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office was ordered by Judge Emmet Sullivan to turn over all documentation and FBI interviews - known in the bureau as 302s - to the court.

The highly redacted documents revealed a startling fact, the 302 from the first interview with Flynn on Jan. 24, 2017 appears to be missing. The only document referencing the interview conducted by both Former FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and his partner at the time FBI Special Agent Joe Pietka III, is an August 2017 document. The 302 from Aug. 22, 2017, is of an interview the bureau had with anti-Trump agent Strzok based on notes he had put into the FBI system on July 19. Those notes apparently were regarding his impressions of his interview with Flynn in January.
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Star of David

Republicans and Democrats find something they can agree on - a 'free speech exception' for Israel 

Lara Friedman
Medium
Wed, 19 Dec 2018 11:13 UTC
Congress Constitution First Amendment
In the turbulent Trump era, concern about free speech is a bipartisan affair. Republicans decry efforts to silence voices of the political and religious Right; Democrats celebrate protests against the Trump administration and its policies. At the same time, however, lawmakers from both parties are working together to erode the First Amendment, in a joint effort to create a new political free speech exception for Israel. The potential ramifications of this effort are far-reaching and should provoke deep bipartisan alarm.

In Congress, these efforts take the form, most prominently, of pending legislation - long a key element of AIPAC's legislative agenda - that would criminalize many voluntary boycotts of Israel or Israeli settlements, if the decision to boycott is undertaken in support of a call by the United Nations or the European Union. Grounded in the clear goal of preventing pressure on Israel for its policies vis-à-vis the territories it occupied in the 1967 War, most notably with the construction of civilian settlements, this legislation is justified as nothing more than an "update" to existing U.S. laws that prohibit compliance with the Arab League boycott of Israel. This justification discloses at best a flawed understanding either of the new legislation or existing law, and at worst a deliberate effort to deceive the public about both.
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Question

UN Envoy: The prospect of negotiated peace in Afghanistan is 'closer than ever'


RFE/RL
Wed, 19 Dec 2018 11:13 UTC
Taliban militants soldiers
Former Taliban militants are shown turning over their weapons during a reconciliation ceremony in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on September 3.
The United Nations envoy for Afghanistan says the prospect of negotiated end to the war in Afghanistan is closer than it has ever been.

The comments by Tadamichi Yamamoto on December 17 came as the Afghan Taliban said its representatives met with U.S. officials in the United Arab Emirates.

The preliminary talks were seen as an important step to launch formal peace negotiations with the Taliban.

Comment: There is one major caveat - the Taliban are not interested in peace with the Afghan government. The New York Times reports:
Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said late Monday that Taliban representatives had "no plans to meet and will not meet with the representatives of the Kabul administration."

The Taliban have long refused to hold formal talks with the Afghan government. The militants have insisted on first brokering an agreement with the United States, which the group sees as the force that toppled their government in 2001.

The group seems to have shown more flexibility in recent weeks after a series of meetings with Zalmay Khalilzad, the American envoy assigned to bring everyone to the table. Taliban representatives participated in a conference on Afghan peace hosted by Russia last month that was also attended by a delegation from the Afghan side.

In addition to meeting the Taliban on several occasions, Mr. Khalilzad has been visiting countries in the region and trying to persuade them to push the insurgents to the table.
And, as Voice of America reports:
The Taliban say ongoing bilateral "serious discussions" with the United States are entirely focused on the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan and reports to the contrary are "propaganda."

The marathon three-day dialogue, being hosted by the United Arab Emirates, is due to conclude Wednesday. Pakistan says it has arranged the meeting with the insurgents to assist in the Washington-initiated bid to end the 17-year-old Afghan war.


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Black Magic

Porky's election ploy: US Orthodox priest blasts splitting of Ukrainian Church from Russia


RT
Tue, 18 Dec 2018 15:24 UTC
Poroshenko Epifaniy
© REUTERS / Gleb GaranichUkraine's President Petro Poroshenko shake hands with Metropolitan Epifaniy
A US priest who joined the Russian Orthodox Church told RT the creation of Ukraine's own church was done against any canonic rules and came conspicuously close to the 2019 presidential elections in the country.

Father Nectarios Trevino just recently moved from the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese (ACROD) to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR).

"My principal reason was because of my belief that the actions of the ecumenical patriarch [of Constantinople]... did not proceed in accordance with canonic law in order to create a national church [of Ukraine]," Father Nectarios told RT.

There are certain procedures that must be followed historically, he explained, adding that over the last centuries the Constantinople patriarch "acted very much unilaterally, establishing his own rules and doing what he wants and disregarding the wishes of other 14 autocephalous churches."

Comment: The schismatic US backed, illegitimate Ukrainian church serves many agendas, the least of which is a feeble attempt to buoy up support for Porky in the elections, along with the not so subtle martial law for provinces bordering Russia, following Kiev's Kerch strait provocation. The more insidious agenda is to corrupt the foundations of faith for people in the region and to cause even greater divisions between them and Russia.

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Bomb

Kosovo army violates constitution, UN resolutions, laws and risks worsening crisis - supported by US, "toothless" response from EU


RT
Tue, 18 Dec 2018 03:54 UTC
Kosovo's security forces
© REUTERS/Laura HasaniMembers of Kosovo's security forces parade in Pristina
The creation of Kosovo's own 5,000-strong army is a threat to peace and security in a turbulent region and may lead to a new escalation, Russia's UN envoy has warned, calling the EU's lackluster response irresponsible.

Speaking at the UN Security Council emergency meeting on Kosovo, Russia's ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzya said that the EU could have and should have done more to stop the breakaway region from creating its own army to replace its lightly armed emergency response force.

"The EU reaction to the decision by Pristina cannot be described as other than toothless. This irresponsible policy has crossed the line," Nebenzya said, after the UNSC meeting on Monday.

The diplomat said the lack of decisive action on the part of the 28-member bloc was a "great disappointment," adding that the EU seems to "have turned a blind eye on the illegal creation of Kosovo's 'army.'"

Comment: RT also reports:
'Creation of Kosovo army is illegal & dangerous move that can lead to war'

If Pristina decides to push the army into northern Kosovo, which is mostly populated by Serbs, Serbia will have to act to protect its people, filmmaker Boris Malagurski told RT.

As the UN Security Council was debating Kosovo's move to transform its security forces into a professional military on Monday, Russia and Serbia decried the act as being without any legal basis.

[...]

RT spoke to Serbian-Canadian filmmaker, producer and screenwriter Boris Malagurski who says Pristina's decision runs the risk of igniting another war in the Balkans.

RT: Serbia and Russia say the creation of a Kosovo army violates resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council. How do you see it?

Boris Malagurski: Serbia and Russia see it this way. But it is also the way that the so-called Constitution of the so-called Republic of Kosovo sees it. If you look at their own constitution it forbids the formation of an army, and this is also contrary to the UN Security Council resolution 1244 which is still in effect, it is working still until a new resolution is passed. It is illegal not only to Serbia, Russia, the UN but it is also illegal according to those who have created it, their own constitution... And this is a very dangerous move because you have violations of law on several fronts.

RT: Do you expect this to escalate tensions in the region?

BM: It is a very dangerous situation. And we had many conflicts when it came to Kosovo in the 1990s. NATO intervened and illegally bombed the sovereign state. They have claimed that was to stop the humanitarian crisis. Serbia was claiming it had the aim to separate Kosovo from Serbia and turn it into an independent state. And what we've actually seen happen was the realization of what Serbia was warning the world as we saw a province of a sovereign country being detached from it in 2008 when Kosovo declared independence contrary to international law, contrary to UN Security Council resolution 1244 and yet it was recognized by many Western countries, they supported this illegal act.

And those same countries are now are supporting the illegal formation of the army. That is very dangerous, because we've seen many escalations in the past couple of weeks.

Not only this formation of the army, but the Pristina authorities in Kosovo increased taxes to 100 percent to products coming from central Serbia. And many Kosovo Serbs as we speak are protesting every day against these taxes. And now with the formation of the army, it is very dangerous because if Pristina decides to push that army into northern Kosovo that is mostly populated by Serbs, the Serbian president has said that 'we will not watch this.'

Possibly, Serbia will have to act to protect its people and if that happens, if Kosovo decides to opt for the military solution to gain control of all of Kosovo - because it does not currently control all of Kosovo - that could plunge the region into a war.
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