Puppet MastersS


Battery

Obama aligned with public opinion: Americans oppose greater U.S. involvement in global politics

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© AP Photo/Michael KappelerPresident Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.
US President Barack Obama arrives in Europe after Russia's annexation of Crimea grappling with conflicting advice, anxious allies and unsure about Russian President Vladimir Putin's next move in Ukraine.

After the rebalancing of US diplomacy towards Asia, Mr Obama is also facing the challenge of sustained re-engagement with the continent's leaders, who often felt neglected in his first term and, more recently, bruised by allegations of US espionage.

Mr Obama will spend three days in The Hague and Brussels, at a summit of G7 leaders in the Dutch city, followed by a visit to Nato headquarters and a meeting with the EU. The overriding focus will be how to fashion and hold together a tough line against a Russian leader whose lightning incursion into Ukraine has startled the west.

So far, the US has responded with a series of sanctions against some of Mr Putin's closest associates ahead of the meeting at The Hague, taking place alongside an already scheduled nuclear security summit.

But Mr Obama's pushback against Moscow has been too little and too late, according to former administration advisers, and has failed to match the tough rhetoric from the White House about the Crimean takeover.

Comment: Coming to her senses: Merkel not ready to back economic sanctions against Russia


Chess

Russia's Federal Assembly considers sanctions against U.S. businesses

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© RIA Novosti / Vladimir Fedorenk
Russia might take reciprocal action against US companies as soon as it finds suitable replacements in other countries, several lawmakers have said.

The issue of mirror sanctions is often being raised in parliament, MP Vadim Dengin told the mass circulation daily Izvestia. In particular, Russia might impose limits on companies owned by US citizens or affiliated with US-owned corporations. "If the United States is not afraid to lose business contacts with us by introducing similar sanctions, we should have already given full support to a domestic producer," Dengin said.

A member of the Lower House committee for the financial markets, Boris Kashin, emphasized that sanctions against US companies would only be imposed if the United States first introduced such measures against Russia. The lawmaker also said that it was important if Russia could do without certain services and products.

"Not all of these [US-made] goods can be produced in Russia or replaced with imports from other countries. At present we cannot do without American computers, but if we discover an alternate, for example, a China-made one,we can include the US products in the possible sanctions list," Kashin said.

Bad Guys

Appalling U.S. double standards: Obama says Iraq invasion not as bad as Crimea - Say what?

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© Reuters/Vasily FedosenkoA man prepares to cast his ballot during the referendum on the status of Ukraine's Crimea region at a polling station in Simferopol March 16, 2014.
President Obama's key speech in Brussels on Ukraine and attempts to isolate Russia appears to be an exercise of omission, mutually-exclusive statements and unveiled double standards.

Here's a quick look at what Obama told an audience of some 2,000 people in his damning 30-minute speech.


"Each of us has the right to live as we choose."

But it's true only for those good pro-European protesters in Kiev, who used firebombs and batons to make their point. The bad pro-Russian residents of Crimea are not allowed to, right?

War Whore

Best of the Web: Obama's latest retarded statements at E.U.-U.S. summit: "Freedom isn't free, it costs folks like you and me, and if we don't all chip in, we'll never pay that bill"


Comment: Is anyone else noticing how low the US has fallen as a result of their Ukrainian misadventure? Someone needs to tell them to stop digging, although we don't think they know what else to do other than keep on "catapulting the propaganda".

True, President Obama didn't quite say the above, but he did say "Freedom isn't free" at the E.U.-U.S. summit today, as part of a really weak effort to convince his reluctant NATO allies to "chip in" for the "collective security" of its members in Eastern Europe.

Obama's statement is nearly identical to the lyrics from a song in 'Team America: World Police', a movie that lampooned American special forces going around the world and blowing it up in order to 'save it'!

Have a listen:



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President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho (aka Barry Obama): "Now y'all listen to me, this how is gonna be..."
NATO must have a sustained presence in countries that feel "vulnerable" to Russia, US President Barack Obama said at a meeting with EU leaders in Brussels. He added that neither Ukraine nor Georgia was currently being considered for NATO membership.

Obama insisted that contingency plans had to be examined and "updated" to guarantee "that we do more to ensure that a regular NATO presence among some of these states that may feel vulnerable is executed." The comments came during a four-day trip to Europe by the US president.

However, Obama expressed concern that defense spending in Europe had fallen in several countries across the continent. "If we have collective defense it means everyone has to chip in, and I have concern about diminished efforts by some in NATO," he said.

"Our freedom isn't free," he said, adding that it was necessary to "pay for the assets, the personnel, the training... for deterrent force."

Comment: This comes on the heels of another rather cringe-worthy moment yesterday, March 26th 2014, when a room full of international journalists and European diplomats responded to Obama's resounding reaffirmation of the USA's apocryphal principles of "privacy, rule of law and individual rights", with....well...complete silence.


Obama also claimed today that "Russia is completely isolated".

In his 'reality-creating' reality, perhaps.

In the real world, it's the United States that is fast becoming isolated as the world collectively watches its implosion.

The reason why no one applauded was because Obama said that America's values were "PRIVACY" (NSA wiretapping of everyone), "RULE OF LAW" (illegal US invasion and occupation of Iraq, and drone attacks in Yemen, Pakistan and elsewhere), "INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS" (meaning the ones the PATRIOT act took away).

That's something to laugh at, not applaud. In fact, the only reason his nonsense wasn't met with raucous laughter was probably because the audience's collective jaw was sitting on the floor, making it hard to laugh.


HAL9000

Coming to her senses: Merkel not ready to back economic sanctions against Russia

German Chancellor Angela Merkel
© UnknownGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel
The West has not yet reached a stage where it will be ready to impose economic sanctions on Russia, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, stressing that she hopes for a political solution to the stalemate over Ukraine crisis.

The chancellor said she is "not interested in escalation" of tensions with Russia, speaking after Wednesday meeting with the South Korean president in Berlin.

"On the contrary, I am working on de-escalation of the situation," she added, as cited by Itar-Tass.

Merkel believes that the West "has not reached a stage that implies the imposition of economic sanctions" against Russia, advocated by US President Barack Obama. "And I hope we will be able to avoid it," she said.

Berlin is very much dependent on economic ties with Russia with bilateral trade volume equaling to some 76 billion euros in 2013. Further around 6,000 German firms and over 300,000 jobs are dependent on Russian partners with the overall investment volume of 20 billion euros.

Germany is currently the European Union's biggest exporter to Russia. German car manufacturing companies are likely to suffer first if sanctions against Russia become more substantial, as about half of German exports to Russia are vehicles and machinery.

Handcuffs

The IMF vultures unlocks up to $18 bn for Ukraine's shattered economy

Christine Lagarde
© AFPHead of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde
The International Monetary Fund has agreed to grant Ukraine between $14 billion and $18 billion to help the country avoid a default. The package includes a 50 percent rise in the cost of energy to Ukrainian homes.

The IMF promised to grant Kiev the lifeline over the next two years, after finishing its mission in Ukraine on Wednesday. Overall support from the broader international community will stand at $27 billion over the period, the IMF statement said.

"The agreement reached with the authorities is subject to approval by IMF Management and the Executive Board. Consideration by the Executive Board is expected in April, following the authorities' adoption of a strong and comprehensive package of prior actions aiming to stabilize the economy and create conditions for sustained growth," the document specified.

The money will help to stabilize Ukraine's economy and compensate for the damage incurred by four months of unrest across the country.

However, the IMF funds come with stringent terms; it is asking for a number of economic reforms particularly in energy.

"Energy sector reform will focus on reducing this sector's fiscal drag, while attracting new investment and enhancing efficiency. A key step is the commitment to step by step energy reform to move retail gas and heating tariffs to full cost recovery, along with early action towards that goal," the IMF said.

Megaphone

The latest in pretentious Putin propaganda: Washington psychopaths accuse enemies in typical hypocritical fashion

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Barack Obama declared there were no easy answers nor military solutions to the Crimea crisis, but cast Vladimir Putin's Russia as a lonely villain shredding the international rulebook to bully a smaller neighbour.

Russia's seizure of Ukraine's Black sea peninsula did not herald a new cold war, Obama told 2,000 people gathered in an arts centre in central Brussels in the big speech of his four-day trip to Europe.

But it was also clear that the Kremlin's actions in recent weeks had triggered a deep shift in western perceptions of Putin that would see Russia increasingly isolated internationally and exposed to a spiralling trade war with the west, depending on his next moves.


Comment: New heights of absurdity from the puppet in chief, accusing Russia of doing exactly what the United States has been engaged in all over the world, and for a very long time.


Putin's decision to redraw his region's borders had caused "a moment of testing", Obama said in a 40-minute speech on his first visit in office to Brussels."Bigger nations can bully smaller ones to get their way," he said. "We must never take for granted the progress that has been won here in Europe and advanced around the world, because the contest of ideas continues. And that's what's at stake in Ukraine today. Russia's leadership is challenging truths that only a few weeks ago seemed self-evident, that in the 21st century the borders of Europe cannot be redrawn with force, that international law matters, that people and nations can make their own decisions about their future."


Comment: In other words, Russia is standing up to the twisted "reality" created by the US, and this is inducing major cognitive dissonance in the headless chickens in Washington. The borders of Europe can be redrawn through force, and international law doesn't matter, as long as it's all in the name of "freedom and democracy".


Footprints

Venezuela moves against its fascists: Maduro puts agitators behind bars

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© Latino News Daily
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has used the military, legislative and judicial power consolidated during 15 years of socialist rule in a sudden series of blows against opponents who have spent more than a month protesting in the streets, knocking down their barricades and throwing dissident leaders in jail.

Thursday dawned with two more opposition politicians behind bars, one of them sentenced to more than 10 months in prison. And pro-government lawmakers had already started trying to jail another outspoken critic as well, moving to strip an opposition congresswoman of her legislative immunity from prosecution.

Maduro has been warning his rivals for weeks that they could soon meet the same fate as opposition hardliner Leopoldo Lopez, who was jailed on charges related to the Feb. 12 protests that initiated the wave of unrest, which has so far led to at least 28 deaths, most of them after Lopez was arrested.

San Diego Mayor Enzo Scarano was removed from his post by the Supreme Court, arrested and on the same day sent to begin a 10 1/2-month prison term for failing to heed a court order to have protesters' barricades removed from the streets of his city.

Take 2

NSA spying: Zuckerberg says Obama's reform steps are not enough

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© Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Facebook Inc., right, arrives to the White House for a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. on March 21, 2014.
Facebook Inc. (FB) Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg left a meeting with President Barack Obama unsatisfied with administration assurances that the government can protect privacy while continuing surveillance.

Zuckerberg and five other Internet and technology executives were invited to the White House yesterday to discuss National Security Agency spying following revelations the NSA may have infected millions of computers globally with malware to advance surveillance.

"While the U.S. government has taken helpful steps to reform its surveillance practices, these are simply not enough," Facebook said in a statement released after the meeting. "People around the globe deserve to know that their information is secure and Facebook will keep urging the U.S. government to be more transparent about its practices and more protective of civil liberties."

Facebook, Google Inc. (GOOG) and Apple Inc. (AAPL) are among the companies that have been pressing the administration to restrain spying following revelations about the extent of NSA surveillance and data collection by fugitive former contractor Edward Snowden. The NSA's global sweep also has drawn protest from other nations, including NATO ally Germany.

Comment: Zuckerberg calls Obama to express 'frustration' over NSA surveillance


Pirates

First Lady's Beijing hotel deemed 'prohibitive' for Biden

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Silk pillows: The Obamas are staying in the Jinmao Presidential Suite in the Westin Hotel near Beijing.
The White House has been tight-lipped about the cost of First Lady Michelle Obama's trip to China, but based on the choice for lodging, it could be considerable. Mrs. Obama and her entourage, which numbers seventy according to the Washington Times (including her two daughters and her mother), booked the Westin Chaoyang Hotel close to the U.S. embassy in Beijing for their first stop. According to USA Today, the presidential suite at the hotel is listed as $8,400 per night.

But when Vice President Joe Biden visited China in December 2013, he and his team stayed at the St. Regis Hotel after the contracting officer responsible for booking rooms determined that the Westin Chaoyang hotel "price was prohibitive when compared with St. Regis." This is according to the justification and approval documents just released on a government contracting website:

The following other hotels were reviewed but were not adequate because of the following:
Grand Hyatt Beijing - cannot meet security requirements for travel into and out of the building.
Westin Chaoyang - price was prohibitive when compared with St. Regis - otherwise met requirements.