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Putin's speech at Valdai on how Western media is controlled by "the hidden hand"

Arjun Walia
Collective Evolution
Thu, 05 Nov 2015 17:49 UTC
Putin
"Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men's views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it." - Woodrow Wilson, American academic, politician and the 28th president of the United States
What are politics today, and how do they relate to what's happening on the planet? On the surface, it seems to be nothing more than the 'political leaders' of one country using their media outlets to 'bash' the 'political leaders' of another country.

A great example right now is the ongoing situation between the United States and Russia. Here in Canada, newly elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently called Putin, Russia's President since May of 2012, a bully, and the United States did the same. On the other side of the pond, you have millions of people listening to Russian and Chinese media outlets saying something completely different.

Apart from mass propaganda that's dished out to us regarding political issues via the mainstream media, where are we to turn to get more information on this subject when global media outlets are basically supporting the interests of their own country? On some issues it seems a little clearer, for example, what is the United States doing with regards to their infiltration of so many countries across the world? Why have they established so many military bases? What is going on here?

Comment: See also:
  • Vladimir Putin and the new pattern of geopolitical power

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Bad Guys

International Gangsterism: How the U.S. really functions, from Benghazi to Baltimore

Ajamu Baraka
CounterPunch
Thu, 05 Nov 2015 15:26 UTC
NATO War

NATO želi rat
A mere two months after clashes between black youth and police in Baltimore following the murder of Freddie Gray while in police custody, President Obama's Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the indictment of twenty-four year old Raymon Carter for his alleged involvement in the torching of a CVS pharmacy. The national government's intervention into the case had an unmistakable message - if you engage in "unauthorized" forms of resistance - in this case, crimes against property - expect to confront the full power of the national government.

U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein made it even clearer: "Anyone in the future who participates in a 'riot' should know that police, prosecutors and citizens will track them down and send them to prison."

This aggressive and speedy move on the part of the DOJ to criminalize poor, black kids in Baltimore differed sharply from the DOJ approach to high government officials, armed servants of the state at the local level and the big banks and investment firms. For the officials involved in torture under the Bush Administration, the financial gangsters who engineered the 2008 economic crisis, and the killer cops across the country who have yet to experience one indictment from Obama's DOJ after months of "investigations," DOJ-granted impunity has been the operative principle in practice.

Comment: Also see: Alternate reality? US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher stands up to State Department, tells the truth about US policy in Syria and Russia

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Light Saber

Lavrov: Russia will never seek out enemies or self-isolation


Sputnik
Thu, 05 Nov 2015 19:00 UTC
lavrov
Russia will never chart a course of self-isolation and seek out enemies, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday.

"As [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin has repeatedly emphasized, despite all the actions of our colleagues, we will never take the path of self-isolation and search for enemies. We will always be ready to cooperate with all those who reciprocate and indeed build relationships on an equal and mutually respectful basis," Lavrov said at the fifth World Congress of Compatriots Living Abroad held in Moscow.

The key goals of the event include looking at the effectiveness of protecting the rights of Russians living abroad, assessing the influence of the Russian diaspora and discussing how to strengthen the position of the Russian language and culture.

The last congress took place in October 2012 in St. Petersburg, which Putin addressed by via video link and stated that supporting the Russian diaspora abroad was a very important part of the country's policy.

Comment: So basically, they are going to act completely opposite to the way the US does.

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Info

How will the Pentagon actually put US boots on the ground in Syria?


Sputnik
Thu, 05 Nov 2015 18:45 UTC
US soldier
© Flickr/ expertinfantry
US military advisers tasked with training rebels on the Syrian soil are capable of reaching their destination in almost a blink of an eye since the US Air Force likely laid the groundwork for this top secret mission years ago, military analyst Joseph Trevithick asserted, citing documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

"One of the Air Force Special Operations Command's main missions is to sneak America's elite troops in and out of hostile countries with its fleet of specialized aircraft. But the flying branch's top commando headquarters also relies on specially trained airmen to first find places to drop troops and equipment," he explained.

Known as Assault Zone Reconnaissance Teams (or AZRTs), they are responsible for locating landing and drop sites but they could also carry out rescue missions.
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Target

Don't hurt yourselves: US coalition launches a hefty 3 airstrikes against ISIS in Syria


Sputnik
Thu, 05 Nov 2015 18:40 UTC
Image
© US Air Force / Senior Airman Matthew Bruch
The US-led coalition against ISIL conducted 3 airstrikes on targets in Syria, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a release on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Russian Aerospace Forces have performed well over 1,600 combat missions, targeting more than 2,000 terrorist targets since the start of the air campaign in Syria at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad on October 30, according to Russia's Defense Ministry.

"In Syria, coalition military forces conducted three strikes," the CENTCOM release stated.

The airstrikes in Syria destroyed two ISIL tactical units, a fighting position and two buildings held by the terrorist group, according to the release. The air attacks in Iraq, destroyed 12 ISIL tactical units, 29 fighting positions, two mortar positions, five weapons caches and four buildings. "Separately in Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 20 strikes."

Comment: Sounds like some real progress there. In another 10 years the US may actually put a dent in the spread of terrorism. It's almost like they don't want to actually stop ISIS from spreading...

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Megaphone

Decision by Estonia to freeze bank accounts of Russian news agency shows Europe's disregard for free speech


Sputnik
Thu, 05 Nov 2015 18:34 UTC
Image
© Sputnik
Rossiya Segodnya editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan
The decision of an Estonian bank to close the accounts of Rossiya Segodnya International News Agency is evidence of Europe's fearfulness and its disregard for the freedom of speech, agency's editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan, said Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Tallinn Business Bank informed Rossiya Segodnya that it unilaterally terminated an agreement covering the agency's account with the bank. The bank explained that its actions were motivated by concerns that the frozen account might include funds controlled by the agency's director general, Dmitry Kiselev, who was the subject of EU sanctions in connection to the Ukrainian conflict.

"Europe has become fearful, there is no space for freedom of speech. We could lobby the freezing of accounts of similar international organizations here in Russia in response to the closing of our accounts and other attacks on us, but we don't do so, because we believe in freedom of speech for all and not only for us," Simonyan said.
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Rocket

Combat report: Russian warplanes hit 263 ISIS targets in Syria in past 48 hours


Sputnik
Thu, 05 Nov 2015 18:20 UTC
Image
© Sputnik/ Dmitriy Vinogradov
Russian warplanes have carried out 81 sorties and hit 263 terrorist targets over the past 48 hours in 8 provinces in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday.

"In the past two days, aircraft from the Russian air group in the Syrian Arab Republic have conducted 81 sorties and hit 283 [terrorist] targets in the provinces of Aleppo, Damascus, Deir ez-Zor, Idlib, Latakia, Raqqa, Hama and Homs," the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said.


A Su-24 bomber destroyed an ISIL fortified area near the city of Palmyra, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.

"In the area of Tadmur in the province of Homs, a Su-24 bomber destroyed a major ISIL fortified area, as well as a tank firing position, a Zu-23 anti-aircraft gun and a mortar battery. The destroyed fortified area was located over 30 kilometers away from ancient Palmyra."

"I draw your attention to the fact that Russian aviation launched airstrikes only against terrorist infrastructure targets that are located at a considerable distance from historical landmarks."
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Dollar

Israel requests $2 billion increase from the U.S. in annual defense 'aid'


Ynet
Wed, 04 Nov 2015 22:14 UTC
Image
© Truth Revolt
Israel has made an initial request for its annual U.S. defense aid to increase to as much as $5 billion when its current aid package, worth an average $3 billion a year, expires in 2017, US congressional sources said on Wednesday.

Israel wants $5 billion per year in military aid for 10 years, for a total of $50 billion, the congressional aides said. It has been signaling that it wants more money to counter threats it says will arise as a result of the international agreement on Iran's nuclear program, which Israel's government has staunchly opposed.

Congressional and other US officials cautioned that negotiations on the new aid deal were still in the early stages and the proposal is not yet at the stage where it has been formally brought to Congress, which must approve the funds.

"First they have to negotiate with the White House," one senior congressional aide said of Israel.

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

The Saudi King goes to Vlad

Pepe Escobar
RT
Thu, 05 Nov 2015 18:14 UTC
King Salman
© Carlo Allegri/Reuters
King Salman of Saudi Arabia.
Amidst the wilderness of mirrors surrounding the Syrian tragedy, a diamond-shaped fact persists: Despite so many degrees of separation, the Saudis are still talking to the Russians. Why?

A key reason is because a perennially paranoid House of Saud feels betrayed by their American protectors who, under the Obama administration, seem to have given up on isolating Iran.

The Saudis can't intellectually understand the see-saw of incoherent Beltway policies due to the power struggle between Zionist neocons and the old establishment. No wonder they might be tempted to move to the Russian side of the fence. But for that to happen there will be many a price to pay.

So let's talk about oil. In energy terms, an oil deal with the House of Saud would mean a lot to Russia. A deal could produce incremental oil revenue for Moscow of around $180 billion a year. The rest of the GCC does not really count: Kuwait is a US protectorate; Bahrain is a Saudi resort area; Dubai is a glitzy heroin money-laundering operation. The UAE itself is a wealthy group of pearl divers. And Qatar, as 'Bandar Bush' famously remarked, is "300 people and a TV station," plus a decent airline that sponsors Barcelona.

Riyadh - paranoia included - fully took note of the Obama administration's supposed "policy" of dumping Saudi Arabia over an alleged Iranian natural gas bonanza, which would supposedly replace Gazprom in supplying Europe. That won't happen, however, because Iran needs at least $180 billion in long-term investment to upgrade its energy infrastructure.

Moscow for its part fully took note how Washington blocked South Stream. It's also been trying to block Turk Stream - but that may come to nothing after Erdogan's recent election landslide in Turkey. Additionally, Washington has been pressuring Finland, Sweden, Ukraine and Eastern Europe to weaponize further against Russia in NATO.
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Eye 2

Sickening: US aircraft gunned down medical staff and patients as they fled Kunduz hospital bombing


Sputnik
Thu, 05 Nov 2015 18:10 UTC
Image
© REUTERS/ Stringer
A US ground-attack aircraft gunned down patients and medical staff as they fled a burning hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said in a report released on Thursday.

"Patients burned in their beds, medical staff were decapitated and lost limbs, and others were shot by the circling AC-130 gunship while fleeing the burning building," the report stated.

On October 3, US forces bombed a MSF hospital in Kunduz, killing at least 30 medical staff and patients, including three children, in what might be the deadliest incident of civilian casualties since the Afghan conflict began in 2001.

The MSF, according to the report, concluded an initial review of the bombing comprising of a view from inside the Kunduz hospital, but the report lacks "the view from outside the hospital — what happened within the [US] military chains of command."

Comment: How psychopathic does the US military have to be to not just knowingly bomb a hospital (the claim it was "mistakenly" hit is BS) but also to shoot at people trying to flee the destruction? All their claims about not killing innocent civilians, not invading nations, not torturing, it's all hot air! Unfortunately they are going to have a hard time blaming this catastrophe on Putin.

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