Puppet Masters

NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg: Crimea not reason for NATO to isolate Russia, dialogue is key to reduce tensions

RT
Thu, 12 Jul 2018 09:40 UTC

The "illegal annexation of Crimea" is not a reason for NATO to isolate Russia and stop talking, Jens Stoltenberg said, sharing his vision of the bloc's future.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is certainly not the biggest fan of the Kremlin, but speaking at the 'NATO Engages' conference on Wednesday in Brussels, he opted for a softer rhetoric, saying re-engagement with Moscow would bring more good than harm.

While NATO should heavily invest in military buildup, "we can engage in political dialogue with Russia, because Russia is our neighbor, Russia is not going to go away and we need to talk to Russia," Stoltenberg said.

Comment: See also: Uneasy alliance: Transatlantic partners expect contention at NATO summit

Israel attacks Syrian army positions near Golan Heights, vows to 'decisively protect sovereignty' - Syria air defenses repel Israeli missile strike

RT
Thu, 12 Jul 2018 09:15 UTC

Several missiles launched by Israeli aircraft have struck Syrian army positions in the Quneitra Governorate near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, in what the IDF called a retaliation for an earlier drone infiltration.

The attack caused "limited damage" at some of the army positions in the vicinity of the towns of Hader and Tell Kurum, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported, providing no further details of the incident.

The IDF soon confirmed targeting sites in Syria, claiming it was their response to a drone infiltration earlier on Wednesday.

Comment: The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported late Wednesday that Syrian air defenses had responded to an Israeli attack on the Quneitra Province in southwestern Syria.

"The aircraft of the Israeli enemy fired several missiles in the direction of some army positions," SANA quoted the military source as saying. The report indicated the targets were Syrian army posts near the towns of Hadar and Juba. SANA said Syrian air defense blocked some of the strikes and that only material damage had resulted from the attack.

Reports also surfaced of heavy IDF activity over Syria near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

What a joke! Trump says Germany is 'hostage to Russia'

RT
Wed, 11 Jul 2018 21:50 UTC

Russia uses gas supplies to control Germany, said US President Donald Trump on Wednesday. Trump says it's unacceptable that Berlin is paying billions of dollars to Moscow instead of its NATO dues, which protect it from Russia.

Speaking to journalists before a meeting with the NATO secretary general in Brussels, Trump criticized bloc members that approved the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Europe. The president criticized Germany in particular, calling it a hostage of Russia.

"Germany is captive of Russia because it is getting so much of its energy from Russia. They pay billions of dollars to Russia and we have to defend them against Russia,' said Trump at a breakfast with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.

Comment: Merkel responds:

"I have experienced myself how a part of Germany was controlled by the Soviet Union," Merkel told reporters upon her arrival at the NATO summit on Wednesday. "I am very happy that today we are united in freedom, the Federal Republic of Germany. Because of that we can say that we can make our independent policies and make independent decisions. That is very good, especially for people in eastern Germany."

Obviously, Germany is not as independent as Merkel proclaims it is. But it is not Russia to which it is held hostage. The United States has long been the hegemon that demands vassals rather than partners. Europe has been acting against their best interests with their ridiculous sanctions at the behest of the US. Germany has perfectly good reason to enter into energy and business relationships with Russia. They are neighbors and have a long history of ties. Bowing to US pressure, however, hasn't benefited the people of Germany, nor of the people of the EU as a whole. Tides are shifting, and the US is rapidly losing its influence as a dominating and suffocating power.

UK to nearly double troops in Afghanistan on US orders

Sputnik
Wed, 11 Jul 2018 19:07 UTC

The British government has revealed that it is planning to reinforce the country's troops in the war-torn Middle East country, whose army is still struggling to counter Daesh* and Taliban* terrorists, who have claimed hundreds of victims.

Prime Minister Theresa May has announced that the UK would increase its group in Afghanistan up to 1,100 people, sending an extra 440 troops, to help the local army fight Daesh and Taliban militia. They are to participate in NATO's Resolute Support mission, training the Afghan security forces.The troops, which would be based in the country's capital Kabul, are not supposed to take part in active military activity, as the British forces finished combating in 2014 and have since been involved in assisting and training the local troops.

"In committing additional troops to the Train Advise Assist operation in Afghanistan, we have underlined once again that when NATO calls, the UK is among the first to answer. NATO is as vital today as it ever has been and our commitment to it remains steadfast. The Alliance can rely on the UK to lead by example," the British head of state said, commenting on the deployment.

Comment: Afghanistan will remain destabilized as long as Western presence remains. That is after all, the whole point.

Beijing promises retaliation if US imposes 'irrational' tariffs on $200bn of Chinese goods

RT
Wed, 11 Jul 2018 21:50 UTC

The Chinese commerce ministry has slammed the US plan to impose tariffs on additional imports worth some $200 billion as totally unacceptable, promising a mirror response to defend its national interests.

"The Chinese side is shocked by the actions of the US," a statement on the ministry's website declared. "In order to safeguard the core interests of the country and the fundamental interests of the people, the Chinese government will, as always, have to make the necessary counter-measures."

Calling Washington's behavior irrational, Beijing warned that the US is, in the first instance, hurting itself with protectionist measures and constant attacks on free trade. "At the same time, we call on the international community to work together to safeguard the rules of free trade and the multilateral trading system and jointly oppose trade hegemony," it added.

The US has definitely become a 3rd World nation

Charles Hugh Smith
oftwominds.com
Sun, 08 Jul 2018 00:00 UTC

I know it hurts, but the reality is painfully obvious: the USA is now a 3rd World nation. Dividing the Earth's nations into 1st, 2nd and 3rd world has fallen out of favor; apparently it offended sensibilities. It has been replaced by the politically correct developed and developing nations, a terminology which suggests all developing nations are on the pathway to developed-nation status.

What's been lost in jettisoning the 1st, 2nd and 3rd world categories is the distinction between developing (2nd world) and dysfunctional states (3rd world), states we now label "failed states."

But 3rd World implied something quite different from "failed state": failed state refers to a failed government of a nation-state, i.e. a government which no longer fulfills the minimum duties of a functional state: basic security, rule of law, etc.

3rd World referred to a nation-state which was dysfunctional and parasitic for the vast majority of its residents but that worked extremely well for entrenched elites who controlled most of the wealth and political power. Unlike failed states, which by definition are unstable, 3rd World nations are stable, for the reason that they work just fine for the elites who dominate the wealth, power and machinery of governance.

Comment: If the US is indeed a 3rd World nation, given its current trajectory and Trump's very limited power to effect system-wide change, it seems just a matter of time before the US finds itself as almost completely dysfunctional.

See:

Gun control goes global? Media silent as US agrees to "full implementation" of UN gun control agreement

Rachel Blevins
Free Thought Project
Sun, 08 Jul 2018 00:00 UTC

While the United States is typically set apart from other countries when it comes to gun laws, a recent conference with the United Nations has raised major red flags, as the U.S. agreed to enact "full implementation" of an international agreement on gun control that will violate Americans' constitutional rights by adding their personal information to a global database.

The Third Review Conference (RevCon) of the United Nations' Program of Action (PoA) on Small Arms and Light Weapons was held in New York last week with a 2018 agreement, which states that its purpose is to serve as "a renewed commitment to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects."

We, the States participating in the third United Nations Conference to review progress made in the implementation of the Program of Action to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects, convened at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 18 to 29 June 2018 to review progress made in implementation and identify priorities for strengthened implementation, reaffirm our commitment to the full and effective implementation of all of the provisions of the Program of Action and the International Tracing Instrument, with a view to ending the human suffering caused by the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.

A way with words! Savchenko likens Kiev regime to old prostitute sick with gonorrhea

Tom Winter
Fort Russ News
Wed, 11 Jul 2018 00:00 UTC

People’s Deputy Nadiya Savchenko

Translator note: I found this first on Novorosinform, which cited Glavred, which cited the Ukrainian Depo.ua site. Since this last is the ultimate source, I chose it, in keeping with standard FRN policy. The two Russian sites serving as a rosetta stone, and Ukrainian being very close to Russian, the translation was a piece of cake.

Savchenko compared the Ukrainian government with an old prostitute sick with gonorrhea

People's Deputy Nadiya Savchenko, who is suspected of treason and preparation of terrorist attacks, believes that the Ukrainian authorities are now "very sick" and require immediate "treatment."

Depo.Vladaya Today 12:30
She stated this during the court session, Depo.ua reports.

"Unfortunately, the Ukrainian authorities are behaving now like an old prostitute. When the gonorrhea is already stinking but she still wants to please her European partners, she is always lying to them, but has no concern to treat her body. We need to treat Ukraine!" Savchenko said.

Comment: Nadezhda Savchenko has come some way from where this outspoken firebrand was only a few years ago. And as crazy as she is, she may be the sanest that Ukraine's got at the moment!

A lesson from South Africa: Why Israel is doomed to fail

Iqbal Jassat
The Palestine Chronicle
Fri, 06 Jul 2018 00:00 UTC

Every time the right-wing regime of Israel led by warmonger Benjamin Netanyahu makes a move to consolidate its apartheid policies, one inevitably is reminded of its former partner in crime, apartheid South Africa.

The former National Party, whose claim to infamy was racism, discrimination, injustice, a brutal security apparatus - all rolled into an ideology known as apartheid, kept trying to market itself as a "democracy". It insisted that in defending western capitalism and Christian values, it was a bulwark against communism. Of course, it succeeded for a long while in persuading its imperial allies to overlook crimes against the indigenous black majority. Ultimately it crashed despite believing that its power was indestructible. Exactly what Netanyahu is doing.

Marketing Israel as an indispensable ally of the West in its "war on terror"; the "only democracy" in the Middle East; defender of western values; bulwark against Iran and Islam and all the while behaving with impunity and in defiance of all known international conventions in the knowledge that the lifeline it enjoys from America in particular, renders it indestructible.

Israeli folly is evident for all to see, especially those who lived through the terror which characterized the disastrous consequences of South African apartheid. Massacres, torture and utterly senseless targeting of anyone perceived to be a threat to Afrikanerdom, ruled out any notion of justice and equality, let alone democracy.

Comment: The more a lesson is ignored, the larger the lesson to learn.

US may shift or withdraw forces from Germany as part of wider process

Alex Gorka
Strategic Culture Foundation
Sun, 08 Jul 2018 00:00 UTC

The US Defense Department is exploring the option of withdrawal or transfer of US forces from Germany to Poland. The Washington Post (WP) reported that the costs and implications are being analyzed. On July 5, the White House said it had no such plans but there is no smoke without fire, otherwise why should Poland make an offer to pay $2 billion for an American base on its soil and do it now? The US Air Force began flying unarmed MQ-9 Reaper drones from Miroslawiec Air Base, Poland, in May.

"My statement on NATO being obsolete and disproportionately too expensive (and unfair) for the U.S. are now, finally, receiving plaudits," Trump tweeted during his 2016 presidential campaign. He frequently expressed his frustration over the allies' failure to abide by the unanimously agreed 2%-of-GDP defense-spending level. The WP report says President Donald Trump reportedly mulled the idea of full or partial withdrawal from Germany in early 2017.

The president has recently sounded very critical of the German chancellor. He is frustrated with her position on a range of issues, including contribution into the NATO collective defense.

Higher military spending is unpopular with German voters. The recent meeting of National Security Adviser John Bolton with German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen was quite disappointing for the United States as it was made clear that no substantial increase of German defense expenditure is in sight. German budget projections called for increasing it to 1.5 percent of the country's GDP only by 2024. Actually Germany refuses to abide by NATO commitment to spend at least 2% on its military.

Comment: Germany and France have since upgraded their commitments in the shadow of the upcoming NATO summit.

Comment: Different could be better.
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HashAttack2

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Buffalo_Ken

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Thanks, SOTT. Good read.

ReRan

Puppet Masters

NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg: Crimea not reason for NATO to isolate Russia, dialogue is key to reduce tensions

Israel attacks Syrian army positions near Golan Heights, vows to 'decisively protect sovereignty' - Syria air defenses repel Israeli missile strike

What a joke! Trump says Germany is 'hostage to Russia'

UK to nearly double troops in Afghanistan on US orders

Beijing promises retaliation if US imposes 'irrational' tariffs on $200bn of Chinese goods

The US has definitely become a 3rd World nation

Gun control goes global? Media silent as US agrees to "full implementation" of UN gun control agreement

A way with words! Savchenko likens Kiev regime to old prostitute sick with gonorrhea

A lesson from South Africa: Why Israel is doomed to fail

US may shift or withdraw forces from Germany as part of wider process

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