Puppet MastersS


Stormtrooper

Britons implicated in execution, torture in Syria

Syrian rebels
© Unknown
New footage posted online suggests that British citizens fighting in Syria have been involved in acts of execution and torture.

The footage obtained by the Sky News on Monday, shows British members of the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front torturing and beating their fellow militants.

The video, which first appeared on social media websites, is believed to have been shot in a militant-held area in northwestern Syria.

The material is also found to be uploaded onto the accounts of two men from London who are currently fighting as militants in Syria.

The London-based International Centre for the Study of Radicalization (ICSR) said the footage serves as a further sign of a worrisome trend, proving that British militants have engaged in serious acts of violence in the Arab country.

Crusader

Hezbollah to remain in Syria: Official

Hezbollah’s deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem
© UnknownHezbollah’s deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem
The Lebanese resistance movement of Hezbollah says it will continue its battle against the foreign-backed Takfiri militants inside Syria.

Hezbollah's Deputy Secretary General Naim Qassem said on Sunday that the presence of the resistance movement in Syria is aimed at stopping the spillover of violence into neighboring Lebanon.

He said Israel is supporting the foreign-backed militants.
"We will continue our work and remain in the field committed to our political stances. We will remain fighting where we are fighting. We are a resistance wherever we are: a resistance against Israel and its agents and a resistance fighting in Syria in defense of the resistance," he said.

Light Sabers

China blasts US meddling in regional sea disputes

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying
© UnknownChinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying
Beijing has blasted Washington's irresponsible warnings over the Chinese government's move to declare a new air defense zone in the South China Sea.

At a press briefing on Monday, China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said foreign officials should reflect carefully on their stances regarding China's legitimate rights before making such comments.
"We hope that relevant countries and officials can stop making irresponsible comments," the spokeswoman said.
The reaction comes after the US Pacific Air Force commander described China's new territorial claims as very provocative.

This is the latest in a series of Washington-Beijing rows after China declared an air defense zone over East China Seas in November.

Comment: It is quite something for the US to criticize China for creating insecurity and instability, when the US have military bases in more than 121 countries in the world and have initiated numerous agressive wars in recent years. When did China last make war on another country?


Dollar

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland says Washington has spent $5 billion trying to subvert Ukraine

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© Andrew Kravchenko / ReutersPhoto-op: U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian affairs Victoria Nuland distributing bread to protesters at the circus her imperial portfolio created, Independence Square, Kiev, Ukraine, Dec. 11, 2013
US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe, Nuland said: "Since the declaration of Ukrainian independence in 1991, the United States supported the Ukrainians in the development of democratic institutions and skills in promoting civil society and a good form of government - all that is necessary to achieve the objectives of Ukraine's European. We have invested more than 5 billion dollars to help Ukraine to achieve these and other goals." Nuland said the United States will continue to "promote Ukraine to the future it deserves."

International Business Conference, sponsored by Chevron. Ukraine-in-Washington lobby group

National Press Club - December 13, 2013

Speech by Victoria Nuland - Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasian Affairs



Quenelle

Washington's cloned female warmongers

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Washington's cloned female warmongers, aka psychopaths
What is it about America's women diplomats? They seem so hard and cloned - bereft of any humanity or intelligence. Presumably, these women are supposed to represent social advance for the female gender. But, far from displaying female independence, they are just a pathetic copy of the worst traits in American male politicians - aggressive, arrogant and completely arrant in their views.

Take Victoria Nuland - the US Assistant Secretary of State - who was caught using obscene language in a phone call about the European Union and the political affairs of Ukraine. In her previous posting as a spokeswoman for the US State Department, Nuland had the demeanor of a robotic matron with a swivel eye.

Now in her new role of covertly rallying anti-government protesters in Ukraine, Nuland has emerged to sound like a bubblegum-chewing Mafia doll. In her leaked private conversation with the US ambassador to Kiev, the American female diplomat is heard laying down in imperious tones how a new government in Ukraine should be constituted. Nuland talks about "gluing together" a sovereign country as if it is a mere plaything, and she stipulates which members of the US-backed street rabble in Kiev should or should not be included in any Washington-approved new government in the former Soviet republic.

Pineapple

Despite three years of bloody Western efforts to unseat him, thousands turn out in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

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People in Syria have held mass rallies to show their support for President Bashar al-Assad and the army.

Thousands of demonstrators gathered in the capital Damascus and its countryside on Saturday.

They expressed support for President Assad and the Syrian army forces in their fight against terrorism and foreign-backed militants.

Pro-government demonstrations were also held in the western city of Homs and its countryside.

On February 2, Syrians also took to the streets of Damascus and the town of Nabek in support of the government.

Similar rallies have frequently been staged in the country during the past couple of years.

The pro-government demonstrations came as 83 people, including children and women, were evacuated from Homs as part of a three-day ceasefire brokered by the UN between the Syrian army and the foreign-backed militants.

Gold Bar

Financial Times awakens to the paper gold fraud

Physical gold delivery
© UnknownFinancial Times advises readers to demand physical delivery of gold.
A year ago the Bundesbank announced that it intended to repatriate 700 tons of Germany's gold from Paris and New York. Although a couple of jumbo jets could have managed the transatlantic removal, it made security sense to ship the load in smaller consignments. Just how small, and over how long, has only just become apparent.

Last month Jens Weidmann, Bundesbank president, admitted that just 37 tons had arrived in Frankfurt. The original time scale, to complete the transfer by 2020, was leisurely enough, but at this rate it would take 20 years for a simple operation.

Well, perhaps not so simple. While he awaits delivery, Herr Weidmann is welcome to come and look through the bars in the Federal Reserve's vaults, but the question is: Whose bars are they?

In the "armchair farmer" fraud you are told: "Look, this is your pig, in the sty." It works until everyone wants physical delivery of their pig, which is why Buba's move last year caused such a stir. After all, nobody knows whether there are really 260 million ounces of gold in Fort Knox, because the US government won't let auditors inside.

Snakes in Suits

Bosnia violence orchestrated by same choreographers as Kiev protests

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© Reuters
Bosnia is bracing for more violence as anti-government sentiment is building in the country. Following Thursday's protests that left over 130 people injured Bosnia, which has the highest unemployment rate in the Balkans, is expecting more demonstrations on Friday. Police reported about 2,000 people took part in the anti-government demonstrations in Tuzla, whereas the opposition said the number of protesters reached 7,000. Amid the unrest federations' Prime Minister Nermin Niksic held an emergency meeting with regional security ministers and prosecutors. The Prime Minister condemned the violence in the country and urged people to stop using the situation to create more chaos. Stefan Karganovic, head of Srebrenica Historical Project, shared his insight on the issue with the VoR.

Star of David

"We must impose sanctions on Israel", says one of the few people allowed to say it, British Jewish MP, Sir Gerald Kaufman

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I'd like to share, especially with American readers, a great moment in the British parliament on 5 February when the MP for Gorton, Manchester, Sir Gerald Kaufman rose to speak in a debate on the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Here is what he said word for word so that you get the full flavour:
I once led a delegation of 60 parliamentarians from 13 European parliaments to Gaza. I could no longer do that today because Gaza is practically inaccessible. The Israelis try to lay the responsibility on the Egyptians, but although the Egyptians' closing of the tunnels has caused great hardship, it is the Israelis who have imposed the blockade and are the occupying power. The culpability of the Israelis was demonstrated in the report to the UN by Richard Goldstone following Operation Cast Lead. After his report, he was harassed by Jewish organizations. At the end of a meeting I had with him in New York, his wife said to me, "It is good to meet another self-hating Jew."

Stormtrooper

U.S. Army faces massive recruiting fraud scandal

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© Unknown
Criminal investigators suspect hundreds of US Army soldiers exploited a recruitment program to receive illegal kickbacks worth more than $29 million, lawmakers and officials said.

The scale of the potential fraud was "astounding" and ranks as one of the largest criminal probes in the Army's history, said Senator Claire McCaskill, who held a hearing on the scandal.

An Army audit has found that more than 1,200 recruiters had received payments that were potentially fraudulent, defense officials said.

"We now know that thousands of service members, their families and friends, may have participated in schemes to defraud the government they served and the taxpayers," McCaskill said.

The kickbacks grew out of a 2005 project launched at a time when the US Army and National Guard were struggling to secure new recruits amid heavy casualties in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The National Guard program, which was eventually extended to the active-duty Army, essentially paid troops for referrals of recruits.

These "recruiting assistants," which included National Guard soldiers and civilians, were allowed to earn between $2,000 to $7,500 for each person they persuaded to enlist.