Puppet Masters

Different this time? Taliban open' to resuming talks with the US despite deadly Afghan bombings

RFE/RL
Wed, 18 Sep 2019 08:27 UTC

The Taliban has said the "doors are open" to resuming talks with the United States despite continuing violence ahead of a presidential election in Afghanistan.

The Taliban's chief negotiator, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, made the statement after two recent attacks claimed by the militants killed at least 48 people in Afghanistan.

Peace talks between the United States and the Taliban meant to reach a deal on the withdrawal of thousands of U.S. troops collapsed last week after President Donald Trump cited an attack that killed a U.S. soldier as his reason for calling off negotiations. The talks did not include the Afghan government.

Stanikzai told the BBC that the insurgents had done nothing wrong by continuing to fight throughout the talks. Stanikzai said the Americans had also admitted to killing thousands of Taliban during the discussions.

"From our side, our doors are open for negotiations," he was quoted as saying.

Comment: See also:

John Kiriakou: US lawsuit against Edward Snowden is a warning to whistleblowers to keep mouths shut

RT
Wed, 18 Sep 2019 04:17 UTC

The US government is suing NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden for his memoir profits not just to punish him, but also to intimidate others into staying silent, CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou tells RT.

"The CIA takes every opportunity to threaten whistleblowers and to warn whistleblowers to just keep their mouths shut," Kiriakou said, explaining how no ex-intelligence agent trying to speak out publicly has ever prevailed against the government in cases where they did not get their books "cleared" with the agency before publication since a precedent-setting case in the 1970s. "They lost every single time."

In this case, Snowden has already been paid - and both he and his money are safe from Washington's clutches in Moscow - leaving the whistleblower's unfortunate publisher to pick up the tab. Macmillan Publishing was named as a co-defendant in the civil lawsuit filed on Tuesday, which accused Snowden of violating his non-disclosure agreements with the CIA and NSA by failing to submit his book, Permanent Record, for pre-publication review.

US General Dunford claims NATO's advantage over Russia has 'eroded'

RFE/RL'
Wed, 18 Sep 2019 17:40 UTC

Amid a resurgent Russia and violent extremism growing in parts of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, NATO must ensure that every decision it makes now and in the future is strategy-driven, U.S. General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said.

Summarizing deliberations from the September 15 NATO military committee's meeting in Slovenia, Dunford said the alliance's advantage over Russia has worn away. "Russia is a competitor, and the NATO advantage over a resurgent Russia has eroded," the general said in a Defense Department interview on September 17.

Dunford said the NATO defense chiefs "recognize this," which is why the alliance approved a new strategy in May. "We are bringing a coherence to the planning that is going on inside NATO, and the collective efforts to develop capability," Dunford said of the alliance's broad concept on defense and deterrence. He said the meeting in Ljubljana was

"a continuation of efforts to operationalize the alliance's military strategy. Much like in the United States, we didn't have much competition in the 1990s, the need to be much more deliberate in the process of capability development, making assessments, developing concepts and strategy is what the focus is."

He noted the alliance was making progress in support of "360-degree security" as part of its new strategy and changing environment.

Tucker Carlson: What the revival of the left's smear campaign against Kavanaugh is really about

Tucker Carlson
Fox News
Wed, 18 Sep 2019 18:23 UTC

Believe it or not, it was a year ago this week that a constellation of left-wing activist groups cooked up a series of outlandish lies designed to keep Brett Kavanaugh off the Supreme Court.

The national news media, as you remember, joined the smear campaign. They repeated and magnified the slurs. But in the end, it was to no effect. Kavanaugh was confirmed anyway. Why? Because not a single allegation against him turned out to be true -- not one. And so the only lasting effect was to traumatize Brett Kavanaugh's wife and children.

And yet the left never to this day apologized for their dishonesty or their profound cruelty. Nor did they ever accept defeat. They never do accept defeat. Why? Because when politics is your religion, acknowledging reality looks like sin, and so it continues.

Apartheid accomplished: The 'deal of the century' is a ploy and annexation is the new reality

Ramzy Baroud
Middle East Monitor
Mon, 16 Sep 2019 18:04 UTC

© Kobi Gideon/GPO/Anadolu Agency
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the West Bank town of Hebron, on 4 September 2019

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is moving quickly to alter the political reality in Palestine, and facing little or no resistance.

On September 10, Netanyahu declared his intentions to annex swathes of Palestinian land adjacent to the Jordan River, an area that covers 2,400 square kilometres, or nearly a third of the Occupied West Bank. That region, which extends from Bisan in the north to Jericho in the south, is considered to be Palestine's food basket, as it accounts for an estimated 60 percent of vegetables that are produced in the West Bank.

While Israel has already colonized nearly 88 per cent of the entire Palestinian Ghoor (or Jordan Valley), dividing it between illegal agricultural settlements and military zones, it was always assumed that the militarily occupied region will be included within the border of a future Palestinian state.

Why would Israel spy on Donald Trump? Why wouldn't they!

The Electronic Intifada
Fri, 13 Sep 2019 17:00 UTC

© Kobi Gideon / Flickr
President Donald Trump has accepted at face value Israel's denial that it placed listening devices near the White House.

Benjamin Netanyahu categorically denies a report in Politico that Israel placed sophisticated eavesdropping devices near the White House.

"We have a directive, I have a directive, no intelligence work in the United States, no spies. And it's vigorously implemented, without any exception," the Israeli prime minister said in response to the report.

"It is a complete fabrication, a complete fabrication."

Amos Yadlin, a former Israeli intelligence chief, is even trying to discredit the Politico report with the usual smear of anti-Semitism:

Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of sponsoring oil-plant attack, says it 'couldn't have originated in Yemen'

RT
Wed, 18 Sep 2019 17:25 UTC

Saudi Arabia has claimed that Iran was the sponsor of attacks on its oil treatment facilities, presenting wreckage of drones and missiles as "definitive proof" of Tehran's involvement.

Speaking to the press on Wednesday, a spokesman for the Saudi Ministry of Defense displayed what he said was wreckage from the projectiles used in the strikes on petrol plants in Abqaiq and Khurais last weekend.

The type of weapons used proved that the assault "could not have originated in Yemen," Colonel Turki al-Maliki claimed. He said the capabilities of the drones and the cruise missiles have been known to Riyadh from previous attacks.

Accusing Iran of sponsoring the attack, the spokesman called on other countries to "acknowledge Iran's malign activities in the region."

The attack was launched from the north and unquestionably sponsored by Iran.

He also presented surveillance footage from one of the oil facilities, claiming it depicted a drone in flight, though the UAV was difficult to make out in the video.

Comment: Rouhani responded after the Saudi presentation:

"The Yemeni nation was not the source of the conflict but it was Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the Americans, some European countries and the Zionist Regime that began the war and destroyed Yemen. The Yemenis did not target a school, hospital or market, but they attacked an industrial centre to warn their enemies," Rouhani said at a cabinet meeting, as quoted by his website.

The president reiterated that "accusing Iran of being behind the Aramco attacks is groundless." The accusations, he says, come in "the context of pressure" on Tehran in light of Washington's attempts to start talks on a new nuclear deal.

"If Washington wants a dialogue with Iran, they must stop all the pressure, otherwise it's not possible," he added.

The Iranian leader urged the countries dubbed by him as "enemies of the region" to finally realize the "power of nations," stressing that Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and others were still there, despite years of attempts to destroy them.

"Instead of admitting that Lebanon's Hezbollah has high capabilities and power both in scientific and military knowledge and bravery in the field, or that a part of brave young people of Iraq have liberated different cities across the country from the hands of terrorists, and instead of admitting to the growth and greatness of nations like Syria and Yemen, they ['enemies of the region'] are seeking to accuse others," Rouhani said.

Iran's defence minister, for his part, has denied that Tehran had any role in the attack.

"Quite obviously, it was a military clash between two countries. The Yemeni were one of the sides, they said themselves they did it", the minister said as quoted by the news agency ISNA.

Pompeo idiotically called the attack "an act of war". No s***, Sherlock. The Houthis are at war with Saudi Arabia, who are the criminal aggressors in Yemen.

Russia & Iran to switch to SWIFT-free banking system

RT
Tue, 17 Sep 2019 14:58 UTC

Russia and Iran will transfer payments using an alternative system to the internationally recognized SWIFT money transfer network, the governor of the Iranian central bank, Abdolnaser Hemmati, announced.

Instead of SWIFT, a system that facilitates cross-border payments between 11,000 financial institutions in more than 200 countries worldwide, the two countries will use their own domestically developed financial messaging systems - Iran's SEPAM and Russia's SPFS.

"Using this system for trade and business exchanges between EAEU [Eurasian Economic Union] member states can help develop and expand trade exchanges between the member states as well," Abdolnaser Hemmati said, as cited by Mehr News Agency on Tuesday.

Comment: See also:

All prison documents about Epstein's death withheld from release

Sharyl Attkisson
sharylattkisson.com
Sun, 15 Sep 2019 17:12 UTC

There's a bit of news in the case of Jeffrey Epstein. He's the convicted sex offender who somehow managed to commit suicide in a New York jail last month while he was supposed to be under close watch.

My public information request about his death — has been formally denied.

Shortly after Epstein died in August, I filed a Freedom of Information request for public documents about his injuries and medical care for both the day he died and earlier, in July, when he reportedly attempted suicide.

Member of the public and press are entitled to review documents and communications generated and collected by federal agencies and officials because - we own them. However, federal agencies often delay, obstruct and resist the release of such documents.

Guidance from FOI court cases and the executive branch indicates that federal agencies are supposed to make every effort to release as much information as possible - and at least partial information if exemptions are at play.

In the case of the Epstein documents I requested, the federal Bureau of Prisons responded by stating that it is withholding all of the documents entirely.

Comment: Consider that exemption (b)(7)(F). Exposing criminal behavior on the part of any government official "could reasonably be expected to endanger" their physical safety. That is and always has been the "national security" defense. Sure, it can be legitimate in theory. But in practice, it tends to simply mean that exposing certain things would make the U.S. government look bad. Therefore it can't be released, because that would threaten the government. Pretty simple, really.

Video shows NATO jets shadowing Russian nuke-capable bomber over Baltic sea

RT
Wed, 18 Sep 2019 16:58 UTC

Russian airmen have filmed a swarm of Belgian, Danish, Polish and Swedish fighter jets flanking a Tu-160 Blackjack bomber and its escort while on routine patrol over the Baltic Sea.

Released by the Defense Ministry on Wednesday, the spectacular footage shows the supersonic Tupolev Tu-160 bomber taking off from an undisclosed airfield and heading for the Baltic airspace.

The bomber and an escort of two Russian fighters were met by a Finnish F-18 and a Swedish JAS-39 Gripen somewhere over neutral waters. Later, several F-16s from the Belgian, Danish and Polish air forces joined in, replacing the Nordic jets.

Comment: These kind of incidents are becoming worryingly regular:

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Puppet Masters

Different this time? Taliban open' to resuming talks with the US despite deadly Afghan bombings

John Kiriakou: US lawsuit against Edward Snowden is a warning to whistleblowers to keep mouths shut

US General Dunford claims NATO's advantage over Russia has 'eroded'

Tucker Carlson: What the revival of the left's smear campaign against Kavanaugh is really about

Apartheid accomplished: The 'deal of the century' is a ploy and annexation is the new reality

Why would Israel spy on Donald Trump? Why wouldn't they!

Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of sponsoring oil-plant attack, says it 'couldn't have originated in Yemen'

Russia & Iran to switch to SWIFT-free banking system

All prison documents about Epstein's death withheld from release

Video shows NATO jets shadowing Russian nuke-capable bomber over Baltic sea

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