Puppet MastersS


Chess

Trump just hired the smartest officer in the Army for his National Security Adviser

Fred Kaplan
Slate
Mon, 20 Feb 2017 16:28 UTC
trump mcmaster
© Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty ImagesDonald Trump with Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, the new national security adviser, at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on Monday.
In choosing Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as his national security adviser, President Trump has made his most imaginative decision to date. Now we will see whether he and his inner circle let McMaster do the job.

McMaster is widely viewed as the Army's smartest officer. His service in Iraq and Afghanistan as a regiment commander and staff adviser drew justifiably high acclaim. But he has spent little time in Washington and has had no experience even participating in inter-agency meetings, much less running them.

He has strong ties to Secretary of Defense James Mattis, having known him in Iraq when Mattis was a division commander, and, along with Mattis, McMaster will likely resist policies that revive torture or paint Muslim nations with a broad and hostile brush. However, it is unclear what McMaster's views are on other broad issues of policy, regarding Russia, China, or Israel, for example. Some national security advisers push their views; some coordinate the views of others. McMaster may be more inclined toward the latter approach. If so, it's worth noting that he has little patience with paperwork and other organizational mundanities, which means he will need an excellent deputy—and that means the current deputy, K.T. McFarland, an incompetent ex - Fox News commentator who had done menial tasks in previous administrations, must go.
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Info

Stirring up the Kiev pot: Savchenko rejects parliamentary immunity

Translated by James Harmon
Ria Novosti / Fort Russ News
Tue, 21 Feb 2017 16:00 UTC
Nadezhda Savchenko
An Individual deputy from the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine, Nadezhda Savchenko, stated her decision to give up parliamentary immunity.

Savchenko stated on her facebook page: "On the third anniversary of Independence it is time the politicians keep their promises so a new Maidan does not need to appear: I waive parliamentary immunity and urge all people's deputies of Ukraine, President of Ukraine and Ukrainian judges to do the same!" She has also published a photo, in which she asks to remove her parliamentary immunity, explaining it as a fact that elected officials must hold equal rights with all other citizens.

The inviolability of deputies and judges is enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine.
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Sherlock

Trump's nomination of McMaster for National Security Adviser reflects his priorities of downgrading NATO and detente with Russia

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Mon, 20 Feb 2017 16:15 UTC
mcmaster
General H.R. McMaster
President Trump has continued his practice of picking senior military officers to the senior posts in his administration by naming General H.R. McMaster to the post of National Security Adviser following the recent forced resignation of General Michael Flynn.

This came after the President's original choice - Admiral Bob Hayward - turned down the offer.

Hayward's refusal to accept the post has led to speculation that he did not want to be associated with a "dysfunctional" White House. It seems that the real reason was that he insisted on bringing his own team with him to the National Security Council and filling all the top posts there. That was unacceptable to the President, which in turn led to Hayward turning the post down.

In choosing McMaster President Trump has once again resisted calls - notably from Senator Ted Cruz - to appoint a civilian neocon, in this case John Bolton, as his National Security Adviser. As is the President's way, he interviewed Bolton for the post, and in turning him down showered with praise, but in the end decided to go for McMaster.

This too follows a pattern the President has followed in his foreign and defence appointments. Various neocon veterans of the foreign policy and defence bureaucracy - John Bolton, David Petraeus and Elliott Abrams - appear to be considered for top posts. They are then invariably passed over, with the President instead bringing in new people - Tillerson, Mattis, Flynn, Kellogg and now McMaster - who would never have been in the running for such posts before.
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Heart - Black

Shameful! Israeli soldier sentenced to only 18 months for murdering already wounded Palestinian attacker


RT
Tue, 21 Feb 2017 16:12 UTC
israeli soldier
© Jim Hollander / Reuters Israeli soldier Elor Azaria is embraced by his mother at a military court in Tel Aviv, Israel February 21, 2017.
Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldier Elor Azaria, who shot and killed a wounded Palestinian assailant, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison by a military court.

The verdict was delivered on Tuesday. Prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Azaria to three-five years in prison, while the defense insisted the soldier should be freed.

Chief Judge Maya Heller said that Azaria "took upon himself to be both judge and executioner," Reuters reported.

"One cannot use this type of force, even if we're talking about an enemy's life," the court said.


Comment: Apparently a Palestinian's life is only worth 18 months.


Azaria's defense has vowed to appeal the court's ruling, and asked for a delay to the start of the sentence until an appeal is submitted, the Jerusalem Post reported.
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Attention

FSA sources say CIA-backed aid for Syrian rebels frozen after Islamist attack

Tom Perry, Suleiman Al-Khalidi and John Walcott
Reuters
Tue, 21 Feb 2017 15:44 UTC
Free Syrian Army fighters
© REUTERS/Khalil AshawiFree Syrian Army fighters carry their weapons as they stand on the outskirts of the Islamic State-controlled northern Syrian town of al-Bab, Syria February 4, 2017.
CIA-coordinated military aid for rebels in northwest Syria has been frozen since they came under major Islamist attack last month, rebel sources said, raising doubts about foreign support key to their war against President Bashar al-Assad.

Rebel officials said that no official explanation had been given for the move this month following the jihadist assault, though several said they believed the main objective was to prevent arms and cash falling into Islamist militant hands. But they said they expected the aid freeze to be temporary.

The halt in assistance, which has included salaries, training, ammunition and in some cases guided anti-tank missiles, is a response to jihadist attacks and has nothing to do with U.S. President Donald Trump replacing Barack Obama in January, two U.S. officials familiar with the CIA-led program said.
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Dollars

European Union could demand Britain pay multibillion-euro 'Brexit bill' to leave


RT
Tue, 21 Feb 2017 15:51 UTC
Various banknotes, British Pound Sterling
© Michael Weber / www.globallookpress.comVarious banknotes, British Pound Sterling
Britain will be paying billions into EU projects until 2023 - four years after it is due to sign a Brexit deal - if the European Commission gets its way.

President Jean-Claude Juncker says the commission would seek payment from Theresa May's government to cover future spending that Britain has already committed to but will not fulfil once it is no longer a member.

"The British should know this, they know this already, that it will not be at a discount or at zero cost. The British must respect commitments they were involved in making," he told the Belgian parliament, according to the Independent.

"So the bill will be, to put it a bit crudely, very hefty."
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Stormtrooper

Fighting IS with mercenaries is bad idea, says private military expert


RT
Tue, 21 Feb 2017 15:03 UTC
GK Sierra Security Contractors in Afghanistan
© WikipediaGK Sierra Security Contractors in Afghanistan
Sending mercenary forces into Syria to fight Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) would invite failure, according to an expert on modern private militias.

Ulrich Petersohn, who lectures in international politics at the University of Liverpool, has published a number of books and studies on privatized military forces and intervention.

In an essay for the Conversation website, he argued that using soldiers for hire to fight IS should be avoided. This despite a number of major mercenary firms, including Academi (formerly known as Blackwater), looking to cash in on the conflict.
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Dollars

Spreading war on cash: Russia considers introducing tax on cash transactions


RT
Tue, 21 Feb 2017 14:57 UTC
Russian ATM
© Maksim Bogodvid / Sputnik
The Russian Ministries of Finance and Economic Development are working on the way to reduce cash payments, business daily Vedomosti reports. The goal is to move away from the shadow economy and corruption that comes from money laundering and tax evasion.

According to the newspaper, the ministries are considering banning the payment of salaries in cash, limiting large cash purchases or introducing a cash tax.

Officials want to limit cash purchases of real estate, cars, and luxury items, but the cut-off price is being discussed. The economists are also looking at examples of India and Azerbaijan that limit not only cash transactions, but also cash withdrawals.
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Star of David

Israel nature exhibition at United Nations whitewashes occupation

Charlotte Silver
Electronic Intifada
Mon, 20 Feb 2017 14:53 UTC
wolf in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
Rather than showing “the northern part of Israel,” this photgraph depicts a wolf in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
Last week, while US President Donald Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Nature and Parks Authority quietly opened an exhibition at the United Nations headquarters in New York that asserts the occupied Golan Heights and West Bank as Israel's own territory.

The exhibition, title The Natural Side of Israel, features some 30 photographs that purport to display the "rare and inspiring variety of natural landscapes and unspoiled scenery" in Israel, but in fact include geographic sites that lie on land Israel has occupied for decades.

The first photo in a catalog of the exhibition shows a wolf stopped on a snow-covered opening in a forest in the Golan Heights - Syrian territory occupied by Israel since 1967. But the catalogue identifies the location of the photograph as the "Odem Forest in the northern part of Israel."
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Question

Is Russia about to mend what West left broken in Libya?


Sputnik
Tue, 21 Feb 2017 14:16 UTC
Libyan soldiers
© REUTERS/ Esam Omran Al-Fetori
Following a NATO-led intervention and forced "democratization," Libya has become one of Europe's worst nightmares, degenerating into a hotbed of terrorism and a source of mass migration. However, Russia may utilize the West's failures to strengthen its position in the Mediterranean, while also promoting a solution for the war-ravaged country.

Six years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, Russia is steering towards a new foreign policy triumph over the West, Danish columnist Jacob Svendsen wrote in the newspaper Politiken.

Of late, Russia has strengthened its cooperation with Libyan marshal Khalifa Haftar, a powerful warlord who controls not only the eastern part of the war-torn country, but also most of its vast oil deposits. According to Svendsen, Khalifa Haftar may become part of a sustainable political solution in Libya, and Russia may establish a stronghold in the Mediterranean.

Comment: For more analysis on the Libya situation: Libya Tribes leader: Trump's travel restrictions justified, terrorists using fake Libyan passports to enter U.S.

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