Puppet Masters
The second batch of restrictions relating to the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury last year will come into force on Monday. These new sanctions prohibit US banks from certain types of engagement in the Russian sovereign debt market, as well as imposing licensing restrictions on goods controlled by the Department of Commerce. The US will also oppose any lending to Russia by international financial institutions. However, many consider these new restrictions to lack the determination of previous measures, with experts divided on the reasons behind the sudden softening of Washington's attitude towards Moscow.
Vladimir Batyuk, a senior fellow with the Moscow-based Institute of USA and Canada, believes the attitude stems from Washington's attempts to salvage its own economy.

Quds Force Commander Major General Qassem Soleimani • Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu
"These insane operations are absolutely last struggles of the Zionist Regime," Qassem Soleimani tweeted after the IDF accused the chief of Iran's Quds Force of personally devising a plot to strike Israel with a flock of 'killer drones.'
Well, that didn't go down well with the highly educated and well informed YV. Many of them actually felt insulted by the Macronites - 'for whom does this guy [Macron] take us?' - And right they are. There is not a shred of comparison between the two movements, except that they are protests - but for widely different reasons, and serving widely different agendas. The YV can in no way be associated with the Hong Kong "protests" - which are equal to US funded Color Revolutions.
We, the YV leaders said, are fighting against an ever more totalitarian French government that is ever more stealing our legitimate income in the form of all sorts of taxes and keeps a minimum wage on which ever-more French families cannot survive. Life is unaffordable on a regular workers pension. The Macron Government is creating poverty, by shifting the financial resources - the few that are left, from the bottom to the top. - That's what we are fighting and protesting against. We want a fundamental change in the French economic structure and the French leadership. You see, all of this has nothing to do with the Washington funded Hong Protests that are directed on Washington's behalf by Hong Kongers against the Government of Mainland China.
Iranian authorities have issued an ominous warning to Israel, saying that it should understand that its recent "aggressive actions" in the region will have consequences, as Iraq, Syria and Lebanon have the right for self-defence.
"Israel must understand the consequences of its aggressive actions and that they come at a price", Iranian Government spokesman Ali Rabiei said at a Monday news conference broadcast by Iranian television.
Aistrikes on 'Iranian' Targets in Syria
The comments by Rabiei followed Israel's confirmation on Sunday that it had conducted airstrikes on what it described as "Iranian Quds Force operatives and Shiite militia targets" in Syria to foil a professed attack by multiple drones on the Jewish state.
Comment: For which the only evidence provided was a blurry video of some people carrying something somewhere.
"Iran has no immunity anywhere. Our forces operate in every sector against the Iranian aggression. I have directed that our forces be prepared for any scenario. We will continue to take determined and responsible action against Iran and its proxies for the security of Israel", said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Comment: Translation: "Israel has impunity everywhere. Our forces operate wherever we want, regardless of basic human morality or international law." Israel has no legitimacy.
Comment: Lebanese reports say Israeli fighters and drones have been spotted flying over Lebanon, scouting the city of Baalbek and flying into Marjayoun. Israel routinely breaks the law by violating Lebanese airspace, because they're God's chosen people, and God's chosen people can do whatever the hell they want.
Lebanese President Aoun called the attacks on Beirut and Qousaya a declaration of war. Israel is smarter than that, though. They know they would be destroyed by Hezbollah in a real war. That's why they behave like such cowardly weasels, striking sporadically but repeatedly, knowing such attacks aren't worth going to war over, and that no one will rein in their blatant, criminal aggression.
Meanwhile, the Israelis have released what they claim are the names of two "Lebanese Shiite operatives" they killed in their airstrikes near Damascus.
And here's a shot of Netanyahu flying to America to receive his own drone-operation training (just trust us, like you'd trust the IDF):
"The story by Axios that President Trump wanted to blow up large hurricanes with nuclear weapons prior to reaching shore is ridiculous. I never said this. Just more FAKE NEWS!" Trump tweeted on Monday.
Citing unnamed government sources, Axios reported that Trump had urged senior Homeland Security and national security officials to explore the idea of using nuclear weapons to stop hurricanes from hitting the US.
The suggestion was never seriously considered as a possible policy, the outlet said.
The White House declined to comment on the story. The possibility of using nukes to decimate hurricanes is not a concept that originated with Trump. The proposal dates back decades, but has been dismissed by the scientific community as a bad idea.
The pipeline would link Iran with the Syrian port city of Biniyas on the Mediterranean Sea, al-Sumaria television channel reported, citing a source said to be familiar with the proposal. The trans-Iraq pipeline would allow Iran to sidestep the Strait of Hormuz for oil transportation and circumvent US sanctions "amid growing fears [the Strait of Hormuz] may be closed in case of direct military confrontation between the United States and its allies with Iran."
According to the source, the pipeline would consist of two parts. First, Iran would construct a new 1,000km pipeline through Iraq into Syria, going through the Nineveh plain in northern Iraq and entering Syrian territory through Deir al-Zour province, leading to the Syrian coast. Secondly, Iran would reopen the Kirkuk-Baniyas pipeline, which was shut in 1982 during the Iran-Iraq War. It was revived for three years in 2000 but was severely damaged by airstrikes during the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. The proposal provides that both the construction of the pipeline and its maintenance would be carried out by Tehran.
"Moscow became aware of the talks regarding Russia's return to the group through media. In all these years we have never touched the topic in our contacts with anyone," Lavrov said at a news conference in Moscow.
Russia was suspended from the G8 in 2014 due to its annexation of Crimea as well as its political and military support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.
At the G7 summit in France, the U.S. President Donald Trump created a flutter, by demanding to readmit Russia into the group.
Trump on Sunday said on the sidelines of the summit that Washington will "certainly possible" invite Russian President Vladimir Putin as a guest of next year's G7 summit, which will be held in the U.S.
Lavrov said that the readmission was never part of Russia's foreign policy endeavor.
"In all these years we have never touched the topic of the G8 in our contacts with anyone, and, frankly speaking, we did not even have it in mind when we were building our foreign policy," he said.
Israeli officials recently admitted what they have really been aiming to achieve through the inhumane, 13-year siege of Gaza.
The blockade has not been imposed for security reasons, or to punish a specific Palestinian faction. Rather, it is part of an ongoing process of "more land, less Arabs," initiated by Zionist gangs to expel and displace the indigenous people of Palestine.
According to a report last week in Ynet News, a government source acknowledged that Israel has sought to push Palestinians to leave Gaza, noting that "attempts have been made" to persuade "certain nations" to take in Palestinians, but the attempts failed.
The Fatah Coalition, an influential bloc in the Iraqi Parliament, has called recent airstrikes on the country, allegedly conducted by Israel, a "declaration of war" by the Jewish state and stated that it holds the US fully responsible for Tel Aviv's actions. In light of this, the coalition has called for the withdrawal of the about 5,000 remaining American soldiers from Iraq.
The parliamentary bloc also said in the statement that the country reserves the right to respond to Israel over the air raid purportedly conducted by it.

Iranian naval forces attend a Dec. 1 inauguration ceremony for the destroyer Sahand, in Bandar Abbas, Iran.
Piracy is a major concern in the Gulf of Aden, located between the Arabian Peninsula and Africa, and ships must pass through it when transiting the Suez Canal.
Iranian state TV said Monday that the destroyer Sahand carries surface-to-surface missiles, air defense systems and torpedoes, while the supply ship/replenishment oiler Kharg has a helicopter pad and serves in a logistical role.
The move comes amid a growing confrontation between Iran and the West.
Iran still holds a British-flagged tanker seized in July the Persian Gulf after a supertanker carrying Iranian oil was detained off Gibraltar, a British overseas territory.
The Iranian ship was released earlier this month, and Iran said Monday that its oil has been sold to an unnamed buyer.














Comment:
From RT, 25/8/2019 Israel releases video claiming Iranians prepping 'killer drone' See also: