Puppet Masters

Putin responds to complaints of rising anti-Semitism by offering Russian refuge

RT
Wed, 20 Jan 2016 17:52 UTC

© RT
President of Austrian Jewish Community Ariel Muzicant and President of European Jewish Congress Viatcheslav Kantor during President Vladimir Putin's meeting with representatives of the European Jewish Congress in the Kremlin, January 19, 2016

As a rising wave of anti-Semitic attacks engulf Europe, the Russian president has offered European Jews protection by proposing that they immigrate to Russia.

In a meeting with members of the European Jewish Congress in the Kremlin, the president of the congregation complained to Vladimir Putin about the rising anti-Semitism across Europe that has manifested itself in an increased number of attacks against Jews.

Focusing on the tragic events in France last year Vyacheslav Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress (ECJ), said that European Jews are facing mass discrimination, the biggest since the end of World War II.

"The position of Jews in Europe today is the worst since the end of World War Two. Jews [are] gripped by fear and the very real new Exodus of Jews from Europe," Kantor told Putin.

US Defense Dept. wasted millions on half-baked Afghan reconstruction projects funding

Press TV
Thu, 21 Jan 2016 02:29 UTC

A US government watchdog has found that a Defense Department agency wasted millions of dollars on reconstruction projects in Afghanistan. John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR), accused the Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO) of "poorly planned and ill-conceived projects" in Afghanistan.

TFBSO, a division of the Pentagon established in 2006 to "stabilize" the post-invasion Afghan and Iraqi economy, has spent some $800 million on development projects over a five-year period. The US Congress created SIGAR to provide independent and objective oversight of the Afghanistan and Iraq reconstruction funds.

Speaking before senators from a special committee on military management, Sopko said had "not been able to find credible evidence showing [the task force's] activities in Afghanistan produced the intended economic growth or stabilization outcomes that justified its creation. On the contrary, [its] legacy in Afghanistan is marred by unfinished, poorly planned, and ill-conceived projects."

Among the wasteful schemes highlighted by Sopko was a project to help the local cashmere industry. The $6 million initiative saw a small herd of rare blond Italian goats imported. But Sopko said oversight was so ineffective he could not be sure that the goats were not eaten. The Pentagon has disputed several of his findings.

Last year, the embattled Pentagon agency was also blamed by the special inspector for building a $43 million gas station in Afghanistan and renting luxury housing for its employees.

Comment: The totals above do not include the loss of Afghani infrastructure, homes and property, local livelihoods, nor the cost of US troops, equipment, supplies and lives lost. Maybe we should ask where waste starts.

Saudi Arabia given US, Brit, Israeli jets to bomb Yemen

Press TV
Thu, 21 Jan 2016 01:18 UTC

Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom have been contributing to Saudi Arabia's deadly war on Yemen by sending warplanes to bomb the impoverished nation, a Yemeni army official reveals. Sharaf Luqman, a spokesman for the Yemeni army, said on Thursday that fighter jets belonging to the US, Britain and Israel have been directly bombing Yemen as Saudi pilots are unable to conduct sorties with modern warplanes over Yemen. The army official said that Yemeni army and fighters of the Houthi Ansarullah movement have so far managed to down three F-16 fighter jets,10 Apache helicopters and dozens of drones.

Luqman said about 400 military personnel from the European and Latin American countries, mainly from Colombia, have been recruited to fight for the Saudis in Yemen.

Reports emerged in late December 2015 that six Colombian troops and an Australian commander had been killed in clashes with Yemen's Houthi fighters and allied forces in the southwestern part of the country. According to Yemeni sources, the Colombians have been dispatched to Yemen under an agreement between the United Arab Emirates, a major ally of the Saudis in the Yemen war, and a US-based security services company formerly called Blackwater.

The New York Times reported on November 25 that the UAE has "secretly" deployed 450 Latin American troops, most of them from Colombia but among them Panamanian, Salvadoran and Chilean soldiers, to fight in the war on Yemen

Comment: In December, 2015, Colombian troops were assigned to Yemen by UAE, and were supposed to pass unnoticed as local Emirati soldiers. Many of the Colombian fighters deserted, refusing to be substitute canon fodder.

Washington has also been helping the Saudis in their nearly nine months of bombardment of Yemen by providing logistics and intelligence to the Saudi air force.

Comment: The privatization of war, by the US/UK/Israel and Saudi Arabia, has become big business. How else to prop up failing economies, provide layers of distraction and facilitate the continuity of chaos all over the Middle East.

Pepe Escobar: Wall Street psychos and Mid-East minions crashing global economy to strangle Russia

Pepe Escobar
Sputnik
Thu, 21 Jan 2016 13:58 UTC

The World Economic Forum in Davos is submerged by a tsunami of denials, and even non-denial denials, stating there won't be a follow-up to the Crash of 2008.

Yet there will be. And the stage is already set for it.

Selected Persian Gulf traders, and that includes Westerners working in the Gulf confirm that Saudi Arabia is unloading at least $1 trillion in securities and crashing global markets under orders from the Masters of the Universe - those above the lame presidency of Barack Obama.

Those were the days when the House of Saud would as much as flirt with such an idea to have all their assets frozen. Yet now they are acting under orders. And more is to come; according to crack Persian Gulf traders Saudi Western security investments may amount to as much as $8 trillion, and Abu Dhabi's as $4 trillion.

In Abu Dhabi everything was broken into compartments, so no one could figure it out, except brokers and traders who would know each supervisor of a compartment of investments. And for the House of Saud, predictably, denial is an iron rule.

How will Russia react now that Turkey's military has entered Syria?

Rudy Panko
Russia Insider
Thu, 21 Jan 2016 13:22 UTC

With peace negotiations to begin next week, and with almost no bargaining chips left to play with, Erdogan has decided to send Turkish forces into Syria.

Turkey has seized the ISIS-controlled town of Jarabulus, but faced no resistance, according to reports:

Eyewitnesses to the incursion reported that the Turkish forces have not encountered any resistance from ISIS fighters in the area. These reports once again raise the question of possible collaboration between Turkey and ISIS aimed at halting the advance of the Kurdish militias in north Syria.

The fact that Turkey faced zero resistance is suspicious, but even more troubling is Erdogan's level of desperation. The Kurds are slowly retaking northern Syria from ISIS. For Turkey this is an unacceptable reality. As Patrick Cockburn wrote earlier this week, "Turkey is getting close to the point where it has to become militarily engaged in the war for northern Syria or become a marginal player."

Comment: No doubt that, after Turkey took down a Russian bomber, Russia was well aware that further escalations were simply a matter of when and where. As Pepe Escobar pointed out back in December, 2015:

The current shadow play - which includes the deployment of US Special Forces to northern Syria - opens the possibility that Turks and Americans are about to launch a major offensive to expel Islamic State from the crucial Jarabulus crossroads. Erdogan's pretext is well known: to block by any means the attempt by YPG Syrian Kurds to unite their three cantons in northern Syria. In this corridor, Erdogan wants to install a dodgy, hazy bunch of Turkmen - his proxies - mixed with unspecified Sunni "moderate rebels," keeping all lines of communication (and smuggling) with Turkey open.

Syrian Kurds, on the other hand, want to get there first. With American air support. And with Russian air support. This is one of the few things Team Obama and the Kremlin do agree on in Syria - to the absolute despair of the Sultan. The inside word from Ankara is that Turkey would be ready for a ground push on Jarabulus but only under American cover. Quite absurd, considering Washington and Ankara hardly are looking for the same endgame.

Syria: The break for the border

Israeli report reveals ISIS is close to making armed drones

Sputnik
Thu, 21 Jan 2016 11:45 UTC

While the terrorist group has long used small, recreational drones to film propaganda videos, Daesh is now producing military-grade models - and working toward an armed variant.

Earlier this week, Iraqi militias spotted a familiar sight in the skies above Anbar province. While Iraq is no stranger to the presence of UAVs, two seen over Daesh-held Fallujah and Haditha were not American Reaper or Predator drones.

Upon inspection, the UAVs were more crude, but nevertheless outfitted with cameras and capable of transmitting surveillance data back to units on the ground. Analysis also showed that the aircraft were capable of covering a distance of at least 42 miles.

Comment: Well of course if Israel's colonels hadn't helped ISIS take Mosul, where they're creating these drones, the terrorist group wouldn't have grown into the beast that it is today.

Syrian forces retake major ISIS supply and communication routes

Sputnik
Thu, 21 Jan 2016 11:41 UTC

The Syrian forces together with units of the people's militia cut off Daesh communication routes from al-Mansur al-Miass and al- Karyateyn areas, destroying a large number of terrorists, official representative of the Syrian Armed Forces Brigadier General Ali Mayhub said on Wednesday.

The Syrian Armed Forces in cooperation with the national militia killed more than 40 terrorists in areas of Jabhurin and Tallaff, Mayhub added.

"Syrian Armed Forces in conjunction with the forces of the national militia took control of two mountains, Mhin Al-Kabir and Mhin Al Sagyr, district warehouses, settlements Mhin, villages Hauvarin and Al Hadas, commanding heights along the road Al Mhassa — Al Karyateyn cutting the most important communication of Daesh in the direction of Al-Mankura- Al Mhassa — Al Karyateyn. During the fighting a large number of terrorists, weapons and military equipment were destroyed," Mayhub elaborated.

Comment: Further reading: South Front: Heavy clashes between SAA and ISIS in Deir Ezzor (VIDEOS)

'Recapturing' digital space: ISIS should be cornered to dark web, Google says

RT
Wed, 20 Jan 2016 04:39 UTC

In order to defeat Islamic State propaganda online, it needs to be pushed to the sidelines of the dark web, Jared Cohen, director of Google Ideas, has said.

Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) needs to be made to fear being caught when posting messages online, which will help us to "recapture digital territory" from the terror organization, Cohen said while giving a talk on'Waging a Digital Counter insurgency' at Chatham House, an international affairs think tank based in London.

US legislation permitted ISIS expansion in Afghanistan

Sputnik
Thu, 21 Jan 2016 03:21 UTC

President Barack Obama is rectifying a previous mistake by reportedly approving the targeting of Daesh militants in Afghanistan, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said in a statement. Corker recently returned from his fifth visit to Afghanistan on January 7 - 8, where he met with US and Afghan officials to assess the current state of US security and assistance efforts, the statement noted.

"I'm glad the administration is using the legal authority it already has to combat ISIS [Islamic State] in Afghanistan," Corker stated on Wednesday. "It has been a mistake to target al-Qaeda, but not ISIS in Afghanistan — a mistake that has permitted ISIS to expand its reach and influence."

Corker noted that any further drawdown of allied forces in Afghanistan would create even bigger risks for the Afghan people, the region, as well as for US national security.

"[T]he president should make clear our continued commitment... to sustain the current force in Afghanistan," he added.

The Daesh is a designated terrorist organization outlawed in the United States and Russia as well as in numerous other countries.

Comment: It's no mistake that the US hasn't been targeting ISIS in Afghanistan. Russia has put the spotlight on the United States' phony 'war on terror' and now the US is scrambling to shore up loose ends. We can be certain, though, that no legislation will change their behavior.

War on Cash escalates: China readies digital currency as IMF approves

Tyler Durden
Zerohedge
Wed, 20 Jan 2016 02:25 UTC

Remember when Bitcoin and its digital currency cohorts were slammed by authorities and written off by the elite as worthless? Well now, as the war on cash escalates, officials from The IMF to China are seeing the opportunity to control the world's money through virtual (cash-less) currencies. Just as we warned most recently here, state wealth control is the goal and, as Bloomberg reports, The PBOC is targeting an early rollout of China's own digital currency to "boost control of money" and none other than The IMF's Christine Lagarde added that "virtual currencies are extremely beneficial."

By way of background, as we explained previously, What exactly does a "war on cash" mean?

It means governments are limiting the use of cash and a variety of official-mouthpiece economists are calling for the outright abolition of cash. Authorities are both restricting the amount of cash that can be withdrawn from banks, and limiting what can be purchased with cash.

These limits are broadly called "capital controls."

Comment: Also read: Two phases in the War on Cash

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Puppet Masters

Putin responds to complaints of rising anti-Semitism by offering Russian refuge

US Defense Dept. wasted millions on half-baked Afghan reconstruction projects funding

Saudi Arabia given US, Brit, Israeli jets to bomb Yemen

Pepe Escobar: Wall Street psychos and Mid-East minions crashing global economy to strangle Russia

How will Russia react now that Turkey's military has entered Syria?

Israeli report reveals ISIS is close to making armed drones

Syrian forces retake major ISIS supply and communication routes

'Recapturing' digital space: ISIS should be cornered to dark web, Google says

US legislation permitted ISIS expansion in Afghanistan

War on Cash escalates: China readies digital currency as IMF approves

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