Welcome to Sott.net
Wed, 27 Oct 2021
The World for People who Think

Puppet Masters
Map

Snakes in Suits

Cuomo appoints billionaires to lead post-pandemic 'reforms', never mind pesky conflicts of interest


RT
Wed, 06 May 2020 20:22 UTC
SchmidtGatesBloomberg
© Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann/Lucy Nicholson/Pool/KJN
New York, meet your new overlords: Eric Schmidt, Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has appointed ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt to lead a panel on post-pandemic "reform" of health and education systems, despite criticism for taking other billionaires with conflicts of interest on board.

Schmidt will head a 'Blue Ribbon Commission' tasked with "reimagining" New York's existing systems of healthcare and education, Cuomo announced on Wednesday during his daily coronavirus briefing. The decision to place such power in the hands of another unelected billionaire has riled critics already uneasy about the governor's post-Covid-19 plans.

Comment: Doesn't take much to see where this is going. Welcome to Phase Two of the plandemic.

See also:

      Read More...
Whistle

Exclusive: OPCW chief misled investigation with false claims to denigrate Douma whistleblower's reputation

Aaron Maté
The Grayzone
Wed, 06 May 2020 00:00 UTC
OPCW building
© Sputnik International
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has made false and misleading statements about two veteran inspectors who challenged a cover-up of their investigation in Syria, leaked documents show. The inspectors probed an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Syrian city of Douma in April 2018, and later objected when their evidence was suppressed.

Documents obtained by The Grayzone reveal that OPCW leaders have engaged in a pattern of deception that minimized the inspectors' senior roles in the Douma mission and diminished the prestige they enjoyed within the world's top chemical weapons watchdog.

OPCW Director General Fernando Arias has claimed that the first inspector, South African chemical engineering and ballistics expert Ian Henderson, "was not a member" of the Douma investigative team and only played a "minor supporting role."

However, contemporaneous communications from the OPCW's Douma Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) directly contradict Arias. They show that Henderson was indeed a Douma team member, and that OPCW leadership directed him to lead its most critical inspections. They also show that Arias, rather than acknowledge that Henderson was an FFM member, offered up a false explanation for why Henderson was in Syria at the time of the probe.

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
Star of David

Biden's blind-eyed positions on Israel and the Palestinian people

Josh Ruebner
Mondoweiss
Mon, 04 May 2020 00:00 UTC
Joe and Neti
© US Embassy Jerusalem
US VP Joe Biden • Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu • Biden's visit to Israel, March 2016
With presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden currently enjoying a six-point lead in a recent national poll conducted by USA Today/Suffolk University, it is not too early to speculate about what a Biden administration foreign policy toward Israel and the Palestinian people might look like.

Based on the former vice president's current campaign pledges, and past statements made during the Obama administration and throughout his lengthy tenure in the Senate, a Biden administration would not be likely to content itself with reverting to Obama era policies of providing lip service toward Palestinian rights while nevertheless reinforcing US diplomatic and military support for Israel.

Instead, Biden is a throwback to a bygone era when Democrats and Republicans demonstrated equal fealty toward Israel and disregarded Palestinian rights altogether. A Biden administration would likely reflect that outmoded worldview.

Comment: Biden is currently a loose canon, perception-managed and under tight control. That he is able to (has been allowed to) get this far underscores public gullibility to accept an unbelievable narrative, flawed judgement and criminal behavior.

      Read More...
Snakes in Suits

Who might be the biggest loser of the Russian probe declassification? Weasel Adam Schiff!

John Solomon
Just the News
Wed, 06 May 2020 01:25 UTC
Schiff
© AP/Andrew Harnik
Rep. Adam Schiff
Review of Democratic House Intelligence Committee chairman's public statements finds many contradicted, some linked to Russian disinformation.

In a packed hearing room two months into Donald Trump's embattled presidency, Rep. Adam Schiff played the willing protagonist by dramatically reading into the congressional record some of the most explosive claims from Christopher Steele's dossier.

At the time, Steele's dossier had recently burst on the scene, and the Trump White House was under siege as a far-reaching FBI investigation examined allegations — later disproven — that former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page and others tried to collude with Russia to hijack the 2016 election. Schiff declared at a March 20, 2017 House Intelligence Committee hearing:
"According to Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer who is reportedly held in high regard by U.S. intelligence, Russian sources tell him that Page has also had a secret meeting with Igor Sechin, CEO of Russian gas giant Rosneft.

"Sechin is reported to be a former KGB agent and close friend of Putin's. According to Steele's Russian sources, Page is offered brokerage fees by Sechin on a deal involving a 19 percent share of the company."
Schiff's decision to embrace the dossier and read it into a government proceeding gave the document enhanced public credibility with the media, just weeks after it had been leaked to the news site Buzzfeed and before its funding origins and accuracy were determined.
      Read More...
Star of David

The double whammy: Netanyahu-Gantz coalition deal approved by Supreme Court, swearing in set for May 13


Sputnick
Wed, 06 May 2020 20:27 UTC
NetanyahuGantz
© AFP
Benjamin Netanyahu • Benny Gantz
On Wednesday, the High Court of Justice has unanimously rejected the petitions against Benjamin Netanyahu forming the new government while being under indictment, as well as those against Netanyahu and Gantz making a coalition deal.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz have issued a statement on their agreement to swear in a new government on 13 May, which was approved by the Supreme Court.

The High Court, consisting of 11 judges, on Wednesday unanimously ruled that there is "no reason to interfere with the Cabinet's imposition of Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud-Blue coalition agreement", according to state-run Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation. A petition that sought to invalidate the coalition agreement was also rejected.

"The judge did well to not intervene. The people are sovereign in Israel, and it has spoken", Culture Minister Miri Regev from Netanyahu's Likud party said, cited by The Times of Israel.

The judges noted that although the coalition agreement "raises serious legal difficulties", there is no precedent to intervene in its clauses.
      Read More...
X

Despite Israeli attacks, Iran won't abandon land bridge plan from Damascus to Tehran


AMN
Wed, 06 May 2020 00:00 UTC
Iranian army
© Unknown
Iranian Army
The Israeli military launched several attacks against the Iranian forces in Syria this year, including two powerful assaults in the last ten days. However, despite some claims that the Iranian forces are withdrawing from Syria, it appears quite the opposite, as Syrian military sources in Damascus report that the Islamic Republic is moving forward with their railroad and highway plans to link the capitals of both countries via Iraq.

According to the military sources, the Iranian government reached an agreement with their Syrian counterparts last year to build a railroad that stretches from Tehran to Damascus.

Furthermore, the highway, which is still being restored between Damascus and Baghdad, will not only provide an economic boost to the three countries, but also, it will provide Iran their much desired land bridge between their capitals.

Iran has established bases in Syria's two largest cities, Aleppo and Damascus, and continues to maintain a presence along the M-4 and M-5 highways, which are the Arab Republic's two largest roadways.

Comment: According to a Hezbollah expert: Israeli Air Force bombed a scientific research facility and military base belonging to the Syrian Armed Forces in the Aleppo Governorate on 5/5/2020:
"The Israeli aircraft carried out the aggression on two military sites in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, from the atmosphere of the areas controlled by the American occupation forces east of the Euphrates.

"Internal and external motives intersect on the Israeli agenda in terms of pushing it to continue the aggression against Syria. On the one hand, Israel is well aware that with the expected elimination of terrorist groups in the north, which have so far received very strong strikes, an important part of the balance of Syrian deterrence towards Israel will be restored.

"From here it appears that there is a confirmed conflict between Israelis and terrorist groups, and this is not limited to providing them directly with weapons as the former chief of the Israeli staff admitted, and with Israeli certainty that preserving terrorism in the northern region, and the tendency of isolationism in the north-east is the last of its cards in the project to foil the Syrian state."
In addition, Dr. Ayman al-Raqab, a professor of political science and a leader in the Fatah movement, said:
"Many reports indicate a dramatic shift in the relationship between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies, by agreeing to a peaceful transition to rule in Syria by forming an interim government and appointing a new president until holding elections.

"Israel exploits these conditions well and increases its attacks on Syria, to impose itself on the table of the international agreement on Syria, and to be a party to it and decide with them the future of Syria.

"In addition to Israel taking advantage of Hezbollah's preoccupation with what is happening in Lebanon, which constitutes direct pressure on the party and its political future, Israel sees this as an opportunity to strike any weapons depot or security center for Hezbollah and Iran."


      Read More...
Bad Guys

Craig Murrey: Emergency powers being used to extinguish civil liberties


craigmurray.org.uk
Wed, 06 May 2020 18:54 UTC
John Shipton protest Westminster Crown Court
The sinister potential of coronavirus lockdown to suppress dissent was on display on Monday as police broke up a small group of protestors outside Westminster Crown Court during a case management hearing for Julian Assange. The dozen protestors, who included Julian's father John Shipton, were all social distancing at least 2 metres apart (except where living in the same household). The police did not observe social distancing as they broke up this small and peaceful protest.

This is a stark illustration of the use of the current emergency powers to suppress legitimate dissent.

For the first time, there was something of a court victory for Assange's defence team, as they obtained their preferred date of September for resumption of the extradition hearing. Last week magistrate Baraitser had tried to impose a choice of July or November based on the availability of Woolwich Crown Court. As defence witnesses have to come from around the world, July was too early for the defence, while November would mean another lengthy period of incarceration for the unconvicted Assange. This is not the first time the defence have secured the agreement of the US-led prosecution to a procedural request, but it is the very first time Baraitser has acceded to anything proposed by the defence, throughout all the lengthy proceedings.

      Read More...
Propaganda

'Peak cringe': New York Times roasted for Biden 'hottest-bad-boy' election campaign strategy article


RT
Thu, 07 May 2020 18:43 UTC
New York Times, Joe Biden
The New York Times is being credited with finally achieving "peak cringe" on the topic of Joe Biden, after the publication of an election strategy article that casts the presidential hopeful as "the hottest bad boy" in media.

The opinion piece by Democratic communications strategist Lis Smith attempts to plot Biden's course to the White House amidst the unprecedented election scenario brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

Smith, who was an adviser on Pete Buttigieg's failed presidential bid, says that the pandemic could be a "blessing in disguise" for Biden, as it offers him the opportunity to skip the grueling travel schedule of a normal presidential election and instead to beat incumbent Donald Trump by broadcasting from his basement.

Comment: Who's more cringe-worthy, Biden or his supporters?

      Read More...
Bad Guys

Judicial Watch: Emails show extensive communications between senior defense official and columnist who published leaked info on Flynn calls with Russian ambassador


Judicial Watch
Wed, 29 Apr 2020 18:38 UTC
michael flynn
© Reuters / Joshua Roberts / File
Former US national security adviser Michael Flynn departs the US District Court in Washington, DC.
Judicial Watch released 143 pages of new records today from the U.S. Department of Defense, showing extensive communications between the Pentagon's Director of the Office of Net Assessment James Baker and Washington Post reporter David Ignatius.

Lawyers for Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn alleged in a November 1, 2019, court filing that Baker "is believed to be the person who illegally leaked" to Ignatius the transcripts of Flynn's December 29, 2016, telephone calls with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak. The Washington Post published Ignatius' account of the calls on January 12, 2017, setting in motion a chain of events that lead to Flynn's February 13, 2017, firing as National Security Advisor and subsequent prosecution for making false statements to the FBI about the calls. U.S. Attorney John Durham is reportedly investigating the leak of information targeting Flynn.
      Read More...
Black Cat

Did FBI operative Stefan Halper's lie launch the Flynn investigation, and did IG Horowitz run cover for it?

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Sun, 03 May 2020 17:47 UTC
Halper Lokhova Flynn russiagate

(L-R) Stefan Halper, Svetlana Lokhova, Michael Flynn
For those who haven't been paying attention, recently unsealed materials in the case against former Trump National Security Advisor Mike Flynn all but prove that the FBI set him up with a perjury trap (a 'squeeze' which even Bloomberg's Eli Lake says 'undermines the rule of law').

And as the case against Flynn continues to unravel, perhaps the most important dots have been connected by investigative researcher @JohnWHuber, better known as "Undercover Huber" on Twitter, who makes a cogent argument that Stefan Halper - the portly spy who the FBI used to conduct espionage on the Trump campaign during the 2016 US election - may have sparked the Flynn investigation after lying to the FBI.

What's more, IG Michael Horowitz's report makes no mention of the lie, or the recently-learned fact that the FBI tried to close the Flynn case, dubbed 'Crossfire Razor', in Jan. 2017, only for agent Peter Strzok to go 'off the rails' and demand it not be closed.
      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts