Puppet Masters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Russian President Vladimir Putin that supplying the weapons systems to "irresponsible players" would increase security risks in the region, adding that Israel would continue to protect its security.
Commenting on the issue earlier, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov noted that the S-300 supplies would not affect relations between Russia and Israel, stressing that Moscow and Damascus have a sovereign right to supply and purchase weapons.
Russia decided to boost security in Syria after the downing of an Il-20 aircraft with 15 servicemen on board near Hmeymim Airbase. According to the Russian military, four Israeli F-16 military jets, which were attacking Syrian targets in the province of Latakia, used the Il-20 as cover, thus subjecting it to an attack by the Syrian air defenses, which led to the catastrophe.
Moscow blamed Israel for the incident, stating that the Israeli Air Force provided Russia with misleading information on its operations in Syria and informed the Russian side about the attack just one minute prior to the airstrikes.
Known as "Pegasus," researchers from the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab linked the malware to infections in 45 countries, including the U.S., Canada and the U.K., in addition to dozens of other nations, democratic and otherwise, Washington Times daily has reported.
Sold by NSO Group of Herzliya, Israel, Pegasus is capable of exfiltrating private data from infected cellphones, including passwords, text messages and live voice calls, and has previously been deployed against targets including Mexican journalists and a prominent United Arab Emirates human rights activists, among others.
To get a UK visa Boshirov and Petrov would have had to attend the UK Visa Application Centre in Moscow. There not only would their photographs be taken, but their fingerprints would have been taken and, if in the last few years, their irises scanned. The Metropolitan Police would naturally have obtained their fingerprints from the Visa Application.
One thing of which we can be certain is that their fingerprints are not on the perfume bottle or packaging found in Charlie Rowley's home. We can be certain of that because no charges have been brought against the two in relation to the death of Dawn Sturgess, and we know the police have their fingerprints. The fact of there being no credible evidence, according to either the Metropolitan Police or the Crown Prosecution Service, to link them to the Amesbury poisoning, has profound implications.
The piece starts out not with a summary of the story, but with the news that Democrats in Washington are taking it seriously - a weaselly attempt to pass the buck if I ever saw one ("People are saying!"). After that throat clearing, it is acknowledged that the person making the accusation around which the piece revolves had not mentioned it until Kavanaugh was nominated, "was reluctant to characterize Kavanaugh's role in the alleged incident with certainty," and agreed to make the charge on the record only after she had spent "six days [] carefully assessing her memories and consulting with her attorney."
There are no corroborating witnesses. None. Of the "dozens" of classmates The New Yorker contacted, all either failed "to respond to interview requests . . . declined to comment, or said they did not attend or remember the party. Indeed, we learn late in the piece that the authors could not establish that Kavanaugh was even there.
Comment: Whether or not Kavanaugh is a viable nominee, this circus is about denying Trump. The New Yorker is just one of the tools.
The UK Ministry of Defence announced on 21 September the establishment of yet another British spy agency, an amalgam of military and security service professionals designed to wage cyber war against terrorists, Russia and organised crime. The new agency will have upwards of 2000 staff (the size MI5 was when I worked there in the 1990s, so not inconsiderable). I have been asked for a number of interviews about this and here are my thoughts in long form.
"What will allow solving the crisis between Israel and Palestine?... Not unilateral initiatives, not ignoring the legitimate right of Palestinians to obtain durable peace, nor underestimating the legitimate rights of the Israelis, that is, security... It is in the name of this friendship [of France with Israel] that I am calling on it to rapidly put an end to the policy of fait accompli that is threatening the very possibility of reaching a peace agreement," Macron said.
The French president stressed that the two-state solution was the only possibility for Israel and Palestine.
Comment: It seems the international community is no longer able to ignore Israel's unconscionable treatment of the Palestinians - and for Macron, it may be that there were other motivations:
- Italy's city councils demand military embargo against Israel
- Spain's third largest city endorses pro-Palestinian BDS, Podemos leader calls Israel a "criminal country"
- Ireland: Dublin City Council votes for Israel boycott
- George Washington University students who protest Israel's human rights abuses in Palestine threatened for their BDS activities
There is a "chasm of awareness" that exists between American veterans and civilians who don't know what war is really like, former marine Lyle Jeremy Rubin wrote in The Nation. Rubin said that he used to "believe every word" from Bush-era officials after the September 11 terror attacks, but that he had begun to start questioning the war even before he was deployed in 2010.
The former marine took aim at liberal media for cheering on US military adventurism and for failing to properly cover wars which cause "needless destruction" and death. In particular, he said that "celebrated commentators" like MSNBC's Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell "fail to cover America's ongoing wars and the role some of their favorite guests have played in launching and expanding them".
The idea of the commenting system is for the public to have a say on proposed law changes, or at least get the feeling that they're involved. There's more than a sneaking suspicion that it's more for show than substance.
Ironically, the comments which were highlighted as coming from abroad overwhelmingly supported continued freedom of the internet for all, a concept known as net neutrality.
Comment: What about the vast influence of AIPAC? Is that not also foreign influence on American democracy? The NYT is looking for influence where almost none exists and ignoring the most glaring evidences of foreign influence that should be pointed out.
Comment: And how exactly did the Guardian learn of this meeting pray tell?
A tentative plan was devised that would have seen the WikiLeaks founder smuggled out of Ecuador's London embassy in a diplomatic vehicle and transported to another country.
One ultimate destination, multiple sources have said, was Russia, where Assange would not be at risk of extradition to the US. The plan was abandoned after it was deemed too risky.
Comment: If this story were true (and by all indications it isn't), Assange really should have sought Russian help long ago.
Trump's comments at the UN General Assembly come as oil hit a four-year high of $82 per barrel on Tuesday. Earlier, he repeatedly accused OPEC of "pushing for higher" crude prices despite the military protection provided by the US. The US president is against high oil prices, since they result in higher gasoline prices in America.
Speaking on Tuesday, Trump said that OPEC members were "as usual ripping off the rest of the world."
Comment: Clearly, the United States' military bases aren't positioned all over the globe to protect; they're there to squeeze countries like the gangster racket they are.
















Comment: Who caused the catastrophe? Israel is the security risk in the region and Netanyahu is the irresponsible player and tried to lie his way out of it.
See also: