Puppet Masters

Just days to the midterm elections, Russiagate is MIA...and that's a good thing

Aaron Maté
The Nation
Mon, 29 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC

The upcoming midterms are widely seen as a referendum on Donald Trump's presidency, but its defining issue to date is notably MIA. "Campaign ads and debates are mostly avoiding the Russia investigation," Politico reports, "in favor of other issues important to voters...like the economy, health care and taxes." One study of political ads over a four-week period through mid-October found that 0.1 percent of ads aired in congressional races mentioned Russia; there were zero mentions of Russia in ads for Senate races.

On one level, it is unsurprising that the election has been focused on issues that impact voters' lives, rather than the byzantine bureaucratic drama that has consumed Washington and elite media since Trump's election. But after months of fear mongering about a sweeping Russian interference effort and a compromised, complicit president, perhaps we are also seeing the penny start to drop: Russiagate, for all its hype, has not gone as advertised.

Take the supposed Russian threat to the midterms. For months, intelligence officials and prominent media outlets have bombarded us with warnings about "a pervasive messaging campaign by Russia to try to weaken and divide the United States" (Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats), a threat so dire that we might as well dub the vote the "The Moscow Midterms" (FiveThirtyEight) and acknowledge that "we're defenseless against Russian sabotage in the midterm elections," (Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin). The New York Times informed readers in July that Coats had likened "the persistent danger of Russian cyberattacks today...to the warnings the United States had of stepped-up terror threats ahead of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks." "The warning lights are blinking red again," he said.

Thousands of troops and razor wire: US border reinforcements ahead of caravan

RT
Sun, 04 Nov 2018 02:14 UTC

© Global Look Press via ZUMA Press/Alexandra Minor
US Army soldiers position concertina wire along the Mexico border, November 2, 2018

Sharp barbed wire fences are being erected along the US-Mexico border as thousands of US troops, supported by drones and choppers, prepare to repel what the country's commander-in-chief called a looming migrant "invasion."

The first coils of the razor-sharp fence were unwound in the vicinity of McAllen-Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge crossing in Texas on Friday, after the first units of American soldiers deployed at the border started reinforcing the frontier against any potential breaches.

The same fortification effort will soon start across other parts of the state as well as in Arizona, and California. "We have enough concertina wire to cover up to 22 miles already deployed, already to the border. We have additional concertina wire that we can string with over 150 miles available," the head of the Northern Command, Terrence O'Shaughnessy told reporters earlier this week.

The US commander-in-chief ordered over 5,200 soldiers to be deployed at the southern border by the end of the week to aid some 2,000 National Guardsmen already in place. By Saturday, more than 3,500 troops had been deployed, including about 1,000 Marines in California, the Pentagon said. Trump, however, said that the number might be increased to 15,000 active US personnel if the initial contingent is not enough.

Plot averted: Israeli man charged for planning to assassinate Netanyahu

Sputnik
Sun, 04 Nov 2018 15:20 UTC

According to the indictment, the man called the police and told dispatcher about his plans to kill the prime minister, "because he hates him," even confirming his intentions during an interrogation.

The Central District Attorney's Office has filed an indictment against 28-year-old Ra'anana citizen Elazar Laniv for sending death threats to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"I've been planning this for a while. If the prime minister dies, it was I who killed him so there should be no doubts," Laniv told a police dispatcher, according to the newspaper Arutz Sheva.

He was later arrested by the police and sent to have a psychiatric examination.

For Russia change comes SWIFT and sure

Tom Luongo
tomluongo.me
Fri, 02 Nov 2018 17:51 UTC

Russia Central Bank

During the ruble crisis of 2014/15 Russia announced in the wake of U.S. and European sanctions over reunifying with Crimea that it would begin building a domestic electronic financial transfer system, an alternative to SWIFT.

That system, System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS), is not only now functioning in Russia, according to a report from RT it now handles the financial transfer data for more than half of Russia's institutions.

Comment:

The US attempts an own goal: US threatens SWIFT with sanctions if it fails to cut off Iran's financial services

NewsReal: Is War on ('Islamic') Terror Morphing Into War on 'White Nationalism'?

Sott.net
Mon, 05 Nov 2018 17:00 UTC

The evils of 'white nationalism' has been a hot topic in the mainstream media lately, especially following the phony mail-bomb campaign targeting Democratic figures and the mass shooting of Jews at a Pittsburgh synagogue, sparking countless 'soul-searching' psychological profiles of 'the typical Trump supporter' ahead of the US Midterm elections.

If we reflect on older events, like the Battle of Charlottesville last year, or the massacre at a black church in Charleston in 2015, and even elsewhere in 'NATOstan' - the massacre of children of Norwegian elites by Anders Breivik in 2011, for example - it's clear that this theme of 'white extremists' holding severe grudges against 'all racial and ideological enemies' has been percolating to the surface for some time.

Is it mere coincidence then that - just as nationalist feeling is growing in countries the world over, and producing electoral results that 'shock' the status quo - extremist caricatures of nationalism begin proliferating, occasionally commit atrocities, and thus blacken nationalism and mandate government crackdowns on all dissent that 'smells like nationalism'?

This week on NewsReal With Joe & Niall, your hosts wonder if the 'War on Terror' has become what it apparently always wanted to be: a war on political dissidents...

Running Time: 01:12:20

Download: MP3

"Curiouser and Curiouser!" cried Alice as she stared at Skripal's door handle

Rob Slane
The Blogmire
Sat, 03 Nov 2018 16:50 UTC

Regular readers will have noticed that most of my pieces on the Salisbury poisoning have been dedicated to showing the implausibility of the official narrative, rather than attempting to come up with my own theory of what took place. I am merely debunking a conspiracy theory, not attempting my own.

There are two reasons for this. The first is that there are simply too many unknowns for me to have any confidence in any theory I could advance. The second is that despite the lack of facts available to make an all-encompassing theory, what is evident is that the official story did not happen. If it had happened, it would stack up and make sense. But it doesn't and it can't. Reality simply won't allow it. And so - for what it's worth - I have preferred to devote time on the case to exposing the flaws in the official myth, possibly in the hope that someone with more clout than the likes of me will pick it up and take it further.

In my last piece, I set out why the door handle theory is implausible. But I want to now take this a bit further. As I pointed out in that piece, because it was known that Mr Bailey visited Mr Skripal's house by 9th March at the latest (this was when that information was made public), and because The Maltings as the place of his poisoning had been ruled out, the source of Mr Bailey's poisoning can only have been at the house - according to investigators that is. And so the house should have been locked down, with forensic experts busy taking swabs from top to bottom, and inside out, from the moment it was known he had been there. Which would of course have included the door and door handle.

Comment: Se also:

Soros partnering with Mastercard to hand out money to economic migrants

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Sat, 03 Nov 2018 16:47 UTC

Billionaire investor George Soros has repeatedly denied rumors that he is helping to finance the migrant caravans making their way up from Honduras and Guatemala through Mexico with the ultimate aim of reaching the US.

But that's about to change, as the "Open Society" founder - who famously financed much of the opposition to Trump SCOTUS pick Brett Kavanaugh - is now partnering with Mastercard to hand out money (in the form of 'investment capital') to migrants, refugees and "others struggling within their communities worldwide," according to Reuters. Through their partnership, Soros is effectively providing open financial support for migrants and refugees seeking to enter the US and Europe.

Comment: Soros and MasterCard join forces to profit from illegal immigrant misery

Did Israel blackmail Nigeria into slaughtering Shiite protesters?

Andrew Korybko
Eurasia Future
Fri, 02 Nov 2018 16:39 UTC

The international Shiite community is awash with sorrow after the Nigerian military slaughtered over 40 of their protesting co-confessionals over the weekend, but while some might think that the reason for the government's militant sectarianism is because of Saudi Arabia, the real answer might lay with "Israel" blackmailing the country to aggressively "contain" what some regard as an Iranian "proxy organization" under pane of an exacerbated separatist crisis in "Biafra" if it refused.

The Nigerian military slaughtered at least 42 members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) last weekend who gathered in the capital of Abuja to protest the December 2015 arrest of their leader Ibrahim Zakzaky, who was jailed on suspicions of organizing an assassination plot against the country's Chief of Army Staff. This isn't the first time that the state carried out the large-scale killing of Shiites since at least 300 of them were murdered during the mission that led to Zakzaky's arrest almost three years ago. Some observers regard the IMN as an Iranian proxy because of Zakzaky's Shiite faith and the influence that his earlier time in Iran after the 1979 Revolution is said to have had on the group's formation, while its supporters claim that it's a peaceful grassroots organization that acts independently of any foreign power. It should be mentioned that the IMN isn't an exclusively Shiite organization and welcomes Muslims of all sects, but its opponents nevertheless still suspect of it secretly conspiring to carry out a Shiite-led Islamic Revolution in the country.

Trump's 'Game of Thrones' Iran threat sets off internet wildfire

RT
Sat, 03 Nov 2018 16:30 UTC

US President Donald Trump's decision to use a Game of Thrones-themed picture to threaten Iran with sanctions has set off social media like a band of wildlings attacking a freefolk village.

On Friday Trump tweeted an image of himself purposefully striding forward along with the words "Sanctions are coming. November 5" written in the iconic Game of Thrones style across his chest.

Unsurprisingly the internet jumped on the cinematic warning like a army of wights ripping apart human flesh. The speed and creativity of many of the photoshop efforts was something to behold.

Desperate: US Dept of Defense claims Taliban's victory over ISIS as its own

Bill Roggio
Long War Journal
Fri, 02 Nov 2018 16:30 UTC

In the Department of Defense's latest quarterly report on Afghanistan, the US military claimed the Taliban's victory against the Islamic State Khorasan Province in Jawzjan over the summer as its own. The US military's claim highlights just how desperate it is to report success in Afghanistan, and how infrequent those successes are in reality.

At the end of July 2018, the Taliban massed its forces and targeted a large cadre of Islamic State fighters that were based in Darzab district in Jawzjan. The Taliban operation was decisive; the Islamic State was routed. More than 150 of the 600 Islamic State operatives based in the district were killed and an estimated 100 more were wounded. Another 134 were captured by the Taliban. [See FDD's Long War Journal report, Taliban says Islamic State has been 'completely defeated' in Jawzjan.]

Following the drubbing by the Taliban, more than 250 Islamic State fighters and a handful of leaders, including the group's military commander for the north, surrendered to the Afghan government to prevent being captured by the Taliban.

At the time, both the US military and Afghan government spun the surrender as a successful operation. General John Nicholson, then the commander of US Forces - Afghanistan and Resolute Support, touted the Taliban's dominance over the Islamic State Khorasan Province as evidence that the security situation Afghanistan is improving.

Comment: The new US commander in Afghanistan has at least made a good start: New US commander in Afghanistan finally admits Taliban cannot be defeated after 17 years of useless war. With any luck, Trump will fulfil the spirit of his statements critical of the war - repeated in his campaign and recently - and get American troops out of Afghanistan. It has cost too much, killed too many, all with no strategic vision or substantive success.

I said this would happen...now they are looking to mandate companies with less that 100 employees...shits getting real, people[Link]

Bezel Bub

it's all a lie ! :O

cracker

"Falling out of windows" as an occupational hazard for people with access to sensitive information - compliments of the Soviet playbook and even...

Tsakoug

covid will seem like a walk in the park when the proper cold sets in later this month and beyond...

steven23

I've got an idea to help folks like this. Anyone know of any in Central Florida? R.C.

Rowan Cocoan

Puppet Masters

Just days to the midterm elections, Russiagate is MIA...and that's a good thing

Thousands of troops and razor wire: US border reinforcements ahead of caravan

Plot averted: Israeli man charged for planning to assassinate Netanyahu

For Russia change comes SWIFT and sure

NewsReal: Is War on ('Islamic') Terror Morphing Into War on 'White Nationalism'?

"Curiouser and Curiouser!" cried Alice as she stared at Skripal's door handle

Soros partnering with Mastercard to hand out money to economic migrants

Did Israel blackmail Nigeria into slaughtering Shiite protesters?

Trump's 'Game of Thrones' Iran threat sets off internet wildfire

Desperate: US Dept of Defense claims Taliban's victory over ISIS as its own

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