Puppet Masters
Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said in an address to the Iranian Navy on 28 November that Iran is not planning 'to start war against any country', but cautioned the armed forces that they must boost their readiness for encounters with an enemy, Iran's Press TV reported. According to Khamenei, with well-prepared military forces at country's disposal, Iran's foes 'would not even dare threaten [this] great nation'.
'Reality - alongside the need for the country to address the areas where it is lagging behind - necessitates additional and extraordinary diligence in all spheres, including naval power', he said.
The supreme leader also noted the 'astounding' progress that the Country's navy had made since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, saying that the current generation of the navy 'deeply believes in its own creativity and capabilities'.
If actually adopted by the Senate with a veto-proof majority, the resolution would force the Trump administration to stop logistical and other support to the Saudi coalition, and require authorization from Congress before such support is given.
Proposed by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), the resolution has found backers in many Senate Democrats, as well as Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rand Paul (R-Kentucky). Judging by the vote on Wednesday, several more Republicans are in favor of at least having a floor vote on the issue.
Earlier in the day, the Senate was briefed in a closed session by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense James Mattis, both of whom argued that the resolution would weaken Washington's leverage with Riyadh and urged the legislators to back down.
In prepared remarks provided to select media outlets, Mattis said:
"I know all too well the difficulty in reconciling human aspirations with war's grim reality; but I also recognize that we cannot limit civilian casualties or advance the peace effort commencing early next month in Sweden by disengaging.
"Pulling back our limited US military support, our weapons sales to our partners, and our protection of the Saudi and Emirati populations would be misguided on the eve of the promising initial negotiations."
ISIS is plotting false flag chemical attack on Syrian Kurds, Russian military is monitoring activity
Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) has launched production of toxin-filled mortar shells in the east of the Deir ez-Zor province, Russian military said on Wednesday. The shells are filled with chemicals by a crew of 11 terrorists, who received foreign training and came to Syria specifically to carry out the false-flag attack.
IS militants are seeking to shell positions held by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), framing Damascus for the attack. The terrorists seek to trigger massive airstrikes by the US-led coalition against the government forces, the military said.
Russia will send a nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) warning system to the location, as well as Russian NBC specialists, to monitor IS activities, it added.

Migrants make their way to the border fence between Mexico and the United States in Tijuana, Mexico, November 25, 2018.
The latest installment of the periodic "must-run" commentary by Sinclair's chief political analyst and former aide of President Donald Trump, Boris Epshteyn, focused on the migrant caravan at the US-Mexico border. All of Sinclair's 173 local television stations were required to run the segment, according to reports. Speaking on the hot topic in a brief commentary, Epshteyn described the clashes between hundreds of migrants and US border guards earlier this week as "an attempted invasion of our country."
He went on to accuse "some on the left" of not supporting "our men and women in uniform" who guard the border.
"Here's the bottom line: The notion that a caravan of migrants can be allowed to break through our borders is ludicrous and dangerous. The United States of America should not and cannot be intimidated by those willing to use force to get into our country illegally."
Comment: Polarizing positions in the media for political posturing? Some 'help' does not help.
The hawkish Mercer, a former British army captain who served in Afghanistan, later added, somewhat ambiguously, that "at some point - somewhere - someone - is going to have to stand up to Russia in the traditional sense."
Comment: Twitter was right, he's not that much different to those fighting for ISIS: Political Ponerology: A Science on The Nature of Evil adjusted for Political Purposes

Ecuadorians hold up pictures of Julian Asssange in a show of support at the Government Palace in Quito, Ecuador, on Oct. 31, 2018.
Behind the revelation of those secret charges for supposedly threatening U.S. national security is a murky story of a political ploy by the Ecuadorian and British governments to create a phony rationale for ousting Assange from the embassy. The two regimes agreed to base their plan on the claim that Assange was conspiring to flee to Russia.
Trump and his aides applauded Assange and WikiLeaks during the 2016 election campaign for spreading embarrassing revelations about Hillary Clinton's campaign via leaked DNC emails. But all that changed abruptly in March 2017 when WikiLeaks released thousands of pages of CIA documents describing the CIA's hacking tools and techniques. The batch of documents published by WikiLeaks did not release the actual "armed" malware deployed by the CIA. But the "Vault 7" leak, as WikiLeaks dubbed it, did show how those tools allowed the agency to break into smartphones, computers and internet-connected televisions anywhere in the world-and even to make it look like those hacks were done by another intelligence service.
Comment: So much for Western values re freedom of expression, the press, human rights, etc, etc, etc.
The White House chief is interested in whether Ukraine has warned the Russian side before Ukrainian ships breach the Russian border and are subsequently detained in the Kerch Strait.
"There was a question - was a warning given? Did they [the Ukranian vessels] let them know they're coming through? Because they have a system I guess. It's been working," Trump said.
The Atlantic Council is an American non-governmental organisation under the authority of NATO that defines its aims as:
"...promoting constructive leadership and engagement in international affairs based on the Atlantic Community's central role in meeting global challenges".Among the sponsors of the Atlantic Council are: private charity foundations; NATO; federal agencies including the CIA, the US State Department, the National Intelligence Council (NIC); the analytical center at the US Intelligence Community, which coordinates the work of 17 intelligence agencies; the Department of Defence; US energy companies; and also the leading American corporations (Chevron, Lockheed Martin, Exxon Mobil, 21st Century Fox).
[ Editor's note - In addition the Atlantic Council works with Google, Adsense, Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter to ensure that FRN's message is hard to get. ]
Comment: See also:
- The Atlantic Council wants to form NATO coordinated propaganda network to target Russia
- Facebook Announces Partnership With Atlantic Council to 'Protect Democracy
- Atlantic Council want us to be propagandized - for our own good
- Dismantling the anti-Russian lies of the Atlantic Council
- The Atlantic Council, Western media, and the 'Big Lie' about Putin's Russia

US President Donald J. Trump, accompanied by White House senior advisor Jared Kushner, met with Saudi Arabia’s then Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 20, 2017.
What makes it even more explosive is the context. The toxic aftermath of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder has got allies feuding, adversaries scheming and competitors jockeying for influence among Muslims globally.
One possible outcome in the below scenario is the worst regional war the Middle East has seen. Another could be a historic rupture in US relations with Saudi Arabia.
A Middle Eastern government analyst, when asked what risk keeps him awake at night, frames the scenario this way:
Comment: The Atlantic Council has been NATO's 'diplomatic' catalyst for war for a long time. Many are now recognizing the Atlantic Council's rank hypocrisy and for what it is:
Kyiv imposed martial law in 10 of its 27 regions for 30 days on November 28 after Russian forces fired on Ukrainian ships and seized 23 sailors in the Black Sea off the coast of the Russian-controlled Crimean Peninsula.
"In connection with the introduction of martial law, the administrative border with temporarily occupied Crimea can be crossed exclusively with Ukrainian documents," a spokesman said on November 29.
Citizens from all nations were previously allowed to enter Crimea through the administrative border via mainland Ukraine. But the process for doing so for non-Ukrainians was fraught with bureaucracy.













Comment: Don't start a war but be extremely prepared. Prudence can be misinterpreted by those looking for an excuse.