Puppet Masters
Comments from several Russian oil executives and government officials sent oil prices surging at the end of January. Then prices retraced their gains when officials from OPEC dismissed the stories as just rumors. Nothing had changed, OPEC officials argued, even though some people in Russia were hinting at a meeting.
Health and environment commissioners were ordered by Governor Andrew Cuomo to begin an investigation into the leak of "radioactive tritium-contaminated water" at the Indian Point nuclear power plant after the operator, Entergy Nuclear Operations, raised the alarm.
Trump is also the person who recently in November said he does not care if torture doesn't work, because "they deserve it anyway."
On Saturday, he continued in the same vein. "I'll tell you what, in the Middle East, we have people chopping the heads off Christians. We have people chopping the heads off many other people. We have things that we have never seen before, as a group... I would bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding."
Earlier in the day, Yoo Jeh-seung, South Korean deputy minister for policy, said that South Korea and the United States had agreed to start talks on the deployment of the advanced US missile defense system.
"(We) have informed the Chinese and the Russian side [of the decision to start the negotiations] before the official Defense Ministry statement was issued," the statement reads, as quoted by the Yonhap news agency.
The UAE's preparedness to participate in a ground military operation in Syria was confirmed by Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash, who said that "US leadership on this" would be a prerequisite.
"We are not talking about thousands of troops, but we are talking about troops on the ground that will lead the way ... that will support ... and I think our position remains the same and we will have to see how this progresses," he added, as cited by Reuters.
Comment: Looks like the US might be successful in sending other Arab nations into the Syrian conflict under the pretense of fighting Islamic State and blowing up the Middle East. Can Russia prevent this scenario?
Endgame Syria: NATO's last desperate options in lost proxy war
Kyiv's politicians have already been negotiating changes to the government for several weeks. The general logic of a reshuffle is rather simple: Yatsenyuk must stay as prime minister, but there must be "fresh blood" in the government. This formula was agreed upon after the visit of US Vice President Joe Biden, who opposed dismissing the PM in order to maintain the balance of power between the president and the government.
The negotiations have already triggered several moves. A few days ago, the Samopomich (Self Reliance) party withdrew its minister (Agriculture Minister Oleksiy Pavlenko) from the government. Earlier, Infrastructure Minister Andrii Pivovarsky announced his resignation, citing a lack of changes in the way the government was functioning, and the way many of his decisions were being blocked. Yet Ambromavicius's resignation and how he announced it could be a real game-changer for many politicians and a final nail in the coffin of the Yatsenyuk government.
Comment: Further reading:
"Neither me, nor my team have any desire to serve as a cover-up for the covert corruption, or become puppets for those who, very much like the 'old' government, are trying to exercise control over the flow of public funds," Abromavicius said in his official statement on Wednesday.
Ukraine economic minister abruptly resigns, citing covert corruption
The initiative was outlined on Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources in the US and NATO. The official announcement is expected to come next week following a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.
"Officials said the size of the force and precise national contributions won't be determined until later this year. But they said defense ministers are likely to approve a mission to oversee and enlarge what are currently bilateral deployments to Poland and the Baltic States," Julian E. Barnes noted.
Comment: Further reading:
Russia says it will create four new military divisions this year in an effort to reinforce its military forces amid increased exercises by NATO members states. Russian Ground Forces Commander General Oleg Salyukov said on Friday Moscow plans to form the divisions in the western and central regions of the country in 2016. "Formation of these divisions is a measure to respond to the increase in intensity of exercises among NATO member countries that's been seen recently," said Salyukov.
Russia to create four new military divisions, response to NATO expansion threat
I am closing my eyes when the topic appears on TV, even on RT or Press TV.
I skip newspaper headlines.
I beg my friends, comrades and relatives not to bring up the subject in front of me.
I don't want to know anything about the US Presidential elections!
It is not some sort of pose or "rebellion"; it is just an honest, powerful fear of having my brain damaged, my thoughts derailed from searching for alternative humanistic and political concepts.
I see no need to know who, from all those already pre-approved by the Regime and therefore allowed to "compete", is going to get nominated by his or her political gang, and who will be finally mounting the saddle of that static wooden horse which is as a rule galloping nowhere, inspires no one and only jumps around crushing with its heavy murderous horseshoes everything and everyone who dares to demand true freedom.
Comment: Hilarious. Horrific. True.
Speaking about the possible use of Turkish aviation in Syria, Antonov said that the Russian air defense group in Syria makes it possible to use appropriate measures to ensure the safety of flights of Russian aircraft.
"Our air defense group allows to early detect a threat to Russian aircraft on combat missions in Syria and, if necessary, take adequate measures to ensure the security of their flights," RIA Novosti quoted Antonov as saying.
He also added that Turkey should fully adhere to the provisions of the Russian-US memorandum of flight safety in the Syrian Arab Republic, should Turkey use its aviation in Syria.

Airbus Defense & Space and 38 North satellite imagery from February 4, 2016 shows the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in North Korea in this image released on February 5, 2016.
North Korea had notified U.N. agencies that it planned to launch a rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite, triggering opposition from governments that see it as a long-range missile test. It initially gave a Feb. 8-25 time frame for the launch but changed that to Feb. 7-14 on Saturday.
The rocket was launched on a southward trajectory, as planned, passing over Japan's southern Okinawa islands, Japan's NHK reported, and appeared to have successfully separated its first stage booster, South Korea's Yonhap reported.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the launch "absolutely unacceptable."














Comment: How convenient for the US that North Korea has provided an opening for this missile defense system deployment.