Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

Rumsfeld documentary reveals what an unaccountable slippery bastard he is

Thomas Delapa
AlterNet.org
Sat, 05 Apr 2014 00:31 UTC
Image
So what do we know now that we didn't after documentarian Errol Morris's 100-minute Q&A with Donald "I Don't Do Quagmires" Rumsfeld in "The Unknown Known"? Only that the former U.S. secretary of defence is still a master strategist of evasion, contradiction, misdirection and malapropism.

As a footnote, here's what we do know to date about that dirty little Iraq War that "Rummy," the George W. Bush White House and their nincompoop Pentagon neo-cons cooked up and spoon fed to the omnivorous American public: more than 4400 U.S. military deaths and 32,000 wounded, at least 100,000 to as many as 500,000 Iraqi fatalities, millions more displaced, and an estimated price tag of $3 trillion, give or take a few hundred billion.

Yet like most of the questions that Morris tosses - gently - at his subject, any such factual horrors are sidestepped, parried and danced around by a fitfully nimble Rumsfeld. Relaxed, nattily dressed and imperiously self-assured as ever, Morris' hollow yet overstuffed man does his imitation of "Hogan's Heroes" Sgt. Schultz ("I know nothing, nothing") while implausibly denying personal culpability for any stink that blew back from the Iraq War, whether the phony Weapons of Mass Destruction raison d'être, prisoner torture or the fictitious links between Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 World Trade Centre attacks.
Read More...
Eye 1

Rwandan president accuses France of direct role in political preparation and actual execution of 1994 genocide

Anne Penketh
The Guardian
Sun, 06 Apr 2014 21:11 UTC
Image
© Carl Court/AFP/Getty ImagesPaul Kagame, the Rwandan president

France has reacted with fury after the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, renewed accusations of direct French involvement in the 1994 genocide, on the eve of ceremonies marking the 20th anniversary.

The French government announced that the justice minister, Christiane Taubira, would not attend the commemorations in Kigali after Kagame, in an interview with the weekly magazine Jeune Afrique, accused both France and Belgium of having a "direct role" in the genocide.

A total 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in the four-month killing spree triggered by the assassination of Rwanda's Hutu president Juvénal Habyarimana.

The spirited French reaction highlights France's tormented relations with Rwanda since Kagame, the former leader of the Tutsi rebels who swept to power after the genocide, became president.

Comment: To get a better picture of Alain Juppé, check out the following articles:

Alain Juppé accused by his own Administration of having falsified reports on Syria

Philosopher says former French minister 'caught in orgy with young boys'

Retired editor of Le Figaro newspaper names former French Minister who "organized orgies with underage boys"

French Foreign Minister Alliot-Marie quits over Tunisia

The Rwandan genocide, by the way, was absolutely a Western 'humanitarian' intervention:

Rwanda and the Scramble for Africa: Turns out the U.S. is 100% responsible for the slaughter of a million Rwandans in 1994

Read More...
Chess

Relax and do some yoga, Moscow tells sanctions-waving US leaders


RT
Sat, 05 Apr 2014 18:15 UTC
Smolenskaya-Sennaya Square in Moscow
© RIA Novosti/Yu. LevyantBuilding of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Smolenskaya-Sennaya Square in Moscow
Russia's barrage of sarcastic comments to the Obama administration, which is seeking to impose sanctions to change Moscow's stance on Ukraine, has been enriched with a piece of advice to relax and look for inner tranquility.

The comments came from Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, who was speaking with Interfax news agency about the worst period of tension between Russia and the US over the past two decades.

"The American leadership is apparently stuck, and they just can't accept the new situation, which arose to a great degree as a result of the deliberate effort of the US and their European allies to bring anti-Russian forces to power in Ukraine," the diplomat stated.

"What can we advise our American colleagues to do? Spend more time outdoors, do some yoga, have healthy food, probably, watch more comedy series on TV. That would be better than working yourselves and others up, knowing that the train is already departed and that no tantrums, crying and hysterics can help," he added.
Read More...
Take 2

Might makes right: North Korea says U.S. is 'hell-bent on regime change'


The Guardian
Fri, 04 Apr 2014 13:55 UTC
Image
© Ministry of Defense/EPAA damaged drone found after an artillery bombardment between South and North Korea.
Pyongyang's deputy UN ambassador warns US that moves viewed as crossing 'red line' will provoke countermeasures

North Korea on Friday accused the US of being "hell-bent on regime change" and warned that any manoeuvres with that intention will be viewed as a "red line" that will result in countermeasures.

Pyongyang's deputy United Nations ambassador, Ri Tong Il, also repeated that his government "made it very clear we will carry out a new form of nuclear test" but refused to elaborate, saying only: "I recommend you to wait and see what it is."

His comments came at North Korea's second press conference at the UN in two weeks, a surprising rate for the reclusive Communist regime.

Ri blamed the US for aggravating tensions on the Korean peninsula by continuing "very dangerous" military drills with South Korea, by pursuing action in the UN security council against his country's recent ballistic missile launches and by going after Pyongyang's human rights performance.
Read More...
Dollar

Vietnam sentences corrupt bankers to death by firing squad

TruthFeed
Political Blindspot
Sun, 06 Apr 2014 17:33 UTC
Firing Squad
© Unknown
American bankers who brought on the 2008 global financial collapse, by and large, didn't get indicted, or face any significant consequences for their actions. In fact, many of them even got huge bonuses.

That wouldn't have been the case in Vietnam, another nation struggling with corrupt and unscrupulous bankers.

During a recent cleanup of Vietnam's financial sector, the strictly authoritarian nation sentenced three bankers to death by firing squad in the past six months alone.
Read More...
Newspaper

"No neo-Nazis in the Interim Government" - The media's disinformation campaign on Ukraine

Professor John Ryan
Global Research
Thu, 03 Apr 2014 16:19 UTC
Image
© GlobalResearch.caDmitry Yaroch (centre), leader of Right Sector.
Since the overthrow of the Yanukovych government in Ukraine at the end of February 2014, the mainstream media en masse has attempted to whitewash the nature of the current Ukrainian government. This has occurred even in some progressive publications and websites, e.g., a recent two-part series in Rabble.ca.

As soon as this government took over, the New York Times referred to it as a new wave of democracy, and this then set the tone for the media in the West. Although here and there it's sometimes mentioned that Svoboda, a member of the coalition government, "once had some quasi-fascist inclinations," that's as far as it goes. All else about Svoboda and the paramilitary Right Sector has been effectively swept off into Orwell's memory hole.

This is not to say that no one on the Internet has commented on the true nature of Svoboda. To their credit a number of well qualified observers have had no problem spelling out that Svoboda has a solid neo-nazi fascist basis, and not just "inclinations" towards these beliefs. For example, consider the views of Max Blumenthal, Professor Stephen F. Cohen, Professor Francis Boyle,Professor Michel Chossudovsky,Dr. Inna Rogatchi, David Speedie, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, Oleg Shynkarenko, Andrew Foxall and Oren Kessler.
Read More...
Dollar

Obama lied again: Private health insurance, outside Obamacare, still available

Jeryl Bier
The Weekly Standard
Fri, 04 Apr 2014 07:02 UTC
Image
© Unknown
In the months and weeks leading up to March 31, the Obama administration pushed the message through press releases, tweets and blog posts that the last day in March was the final opportunity to get health insurance in 2014. A White House blog post on Monday is typical, beginning with the words, "If you don't have health insurance, today is the last day to get coverage that starts in 2014." Many of the White House's celebrity endorsers proclaimed on Twitter, "TODAY is the Last Day to #GetCovered!" Although exceptions were noted for extraordinary circumstances, certain "life events," and a special extension for those "in line" as of March 31, the impression given was that those who missed the deadline were out of luck.

However, the day after open enrollment for Obamacare ended, the website for Healthcare.gov updated the entry under the topic, "How can I get coverage outside of open enrollment?"
Read More...
Sheriff

Depth and extent of federal domestic militarization should shock U.S. taxpayers

Rob Nikolewski
Watchdog.org
Thu, 03 Apr 2014 04:00 UTC
Image
© Watchdog.org[1]The Long Arm of the Law Getting Longer: The number of law enforcement agents, such as these from the Environmental Protection Agency, have grown in recent years
In late February, four federal agents carrying side arms with a drug-sniffing dog descended on the Taos Ski Valley [2]in what was called a "saturation patrol."

Authorities were working on tips of possible drug selling and impaired driving in the ski resort's parking lot and surrounding area.

But the agents weren't from the FBI, ATF or even the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Rather, the agents represented the U.S. Forest Service.

"It's one of the untold stories about government," said former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson [4], who lives in Taos, is an avid skier and has been a leading critic of the operation that turned up only a few minor infractions. "People don't grasp the size and the scope of these entities and their law enforcement arms."

It may come as a surprise to many U.S. taxpayers, but a slew of federal agencies - some whose responsibilities seem to have little to do with combating crime - carry active law enforcement operations.
Read More...
Telephone

U.S. blasts EU's plan for anti-snooping network as 'draconian'


RT
Sun, 06 Apr 2014 16:38 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach
US officials on Friday slammed plans to construct an EU-centric communication system, designed to prevent emails and phone calls from being swept up by the NSA, warning that such a move is a violation of trade laws.

Calling Europe's proposal to build its own integrated communication system "draconian," the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) said American tech companies, which are worth an estimated $8 trillion per year, would take a financial hit if Brussels gives the initiative the green light.

"Recent proposals from countries within the European Union to create a Europe-only electronic network (dubbed a 'Schengen cloud' by advocates) or to create national-only electronic networks could potentially lead to effective exclusion or discrimination against foreign service suppliers that are directly offering network services, or dependent on them," the USTR said in its annual report.
Read More...
Snakes in Suits

'Eat pork or go hungry': France's Marine Le Pen tells school canteens to stop offering alternatives to Muslim children


Daily Mail
Fri, 04 Apr 2014 09:36 UTC
Image
Marine Le Pen says schools in towns run by her National Front party will stop serving non-pork alternatives to Muslim children
Far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen said on Friday it would prevent schools from offering non-pork alternatives to Muslim pupils in the 11 towns it won in local elections, saying such arrangements were contrary to France's secular values.

France's republic has a strict secular tradition enforceable by law, but faith-related demands have risen in recent years, especially from the country's five-million-strong Muslim minority, the largest in Europe.

'We will not accept any religious demands in school menus,' Le Pen told RTL radio. 'There is no reason for religion to enter the public sphere, that's the law.'

Pork is forbidden under Jewish and Muslim dietary laws.
Read More...