Puppet MastersS


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If alleged DOJ misconduct is true, a judge could dismiss the whole case against Trump

Will Scharf
The Federalist
Wed, 05 Jul 2023 00:00 UTC
Merrick
© The Justice Department/YouTubAG Merrick Garland • Deputy AG Lisa Monaco • Assistant AG Criminal Division Kenneth Polite
The conduct claimed is perhaps unprecedented and certainly flagrant. If proven true, the judge would be well within her rights to consider dismissal.

Lost in the breathless headlines over the indictment of President Trump for alleged violations of the Espionage Act is a story that deserves much more attention than it has received thus far: the allegation that a senior official at the Department of Justice attempted to shake down Trump's co-defendant's lawyer. It is a scandal in the making that could result in the investigation of senior DOJ officials, which should lead to public congressional hearings, and that might even result in the entire case against Trump being dismissed.

Trump's co-defendant is Waltine "Walt" Nauta, a Navy valet who served in Trump's White House and who remained a personal aide to Trump after he left office. Several weeks ago, Nauta's lawyer, a distinguished, highly-regarded Washington attorney named Stanley Woodward, leveled accusations against senior members of the Department of Justice, including DOJ Counterintelligence Chief Jay Bratt, who is now a part of Special Counsel Jack Smith's team of prosecutors. According to news reports, Woodward claimed in a sealed letter to D.C. District Chief Judge James Boasberg that, in a meeting to discuss Nauta's case, Bratt indicated that Woodward's application to be a D.C. Superior Court judge could be impacted if he could not get Nauta to testify against Trump.

If true, and I see no reason why Woodward would make such a threat up — and especially no reason why Woodward would risk his career by making such a representation to a federal judge — Bratt's alleged misconduct could result in heavy sanctions, and is a potential ground for dismissal of the entire case against Nauta and Trump. Depending on what exactly was said, Bratt could even face criminal prosecution himself.
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Fire

Circle the wagons: The government is on the warpath

John and Nisha Whitehead
The Rutherford Institute
Wed, 05 Jul 2023 00:00 UTC
Constitution
© Unknown'A nation up in smoke'
"Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear." — Harry S. Truman
How many Americans have actually bothered to read the Constitution, let alone the first ten amendments to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights (a quick read at 462 words)?

Take a few minutes and read those words for yourself — rather than having some court or politician translate them for you — and you will be under no illusion about where to draw the line when it comes to speaking your mind, criticizing your government, defending what is yours, doing whatever you want on your own property, and keeping the government's nose out of your private affairs.

In an age of overcriminalization, where the average citizen unknowingly commits three crimes a day, and even the most mundane activities such as fishing and gardening are regulated, government officials are constantly telling Americans what not to do.

Yet it was not always this way.

It used to be "we the people" giving the orders, telling the government what it could and could not do.
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Bomb

U.S. will provide cluster munitions to Ukraine as part of a new military aid package: AP sources

Nomaan Merchant, Lolita C. Baldor
The Washington Times
Thu, 06 Jul 2023 00:00 UTC
clusterbombs
© Mohammed Zaarari/APCluster bombs on view • Nabatiyeh, Lebanon military base
The Biden administration has decided to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine and is expected to announce on Friday that the Pentagon will send thousands as part of a new military aid package worth up to $800 million for the war effort against Russia, according to people familiar with the decision.

The decision comes despite widespread concerns that the controversial bombs can cause civilian casualties. The Pentagon will provide munitions that have a reduced "dud rate," meaning there will be far fewer unexploded rounds that can result in unintended civilian deaths.

U.S. officials said Thursday they expect the military aid to Ukraine will be announced on Friday.

Long sought by Ukraine, cluster bombs are weapons that open in the air, releasing submunitions, or "bomblets," that are dispersed over a large area and are intended to wreak destruction on multiple targets at once.

The officials and others familiar with the decision were not authorized to publicly discuss the move before the official announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity.


Comment: Obviously this is an approved 'secret leak'.


Comment: The Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), taking effect in 2010, produced an international treaty stating cluster munitions and human consequences are unacceptable and provided a categorical prohibition and framework for action. The treaty bans all use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster bombs.

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Heart - Black

Presidents keep hiring Elliott Abrams because the US empire is just that evil

Caitlin Johnstone
caityjohnstone.medium.com
Thu, 06 Jul 2023 18:18 UTC
EAbrams
© C-Span screenshotElliott Abrams
CNN reports that President Biden has nominated criminal neocon Elliott Abrams for a position on the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, which according to the US State Department is responsible for "appraising activities intended to understand, inform, and influence foreign publics" and pays "acute attention" to the US government's official foreign propaganda arm, the US Agency for Global Media.

Usually when you hear someone called a "neocon" it's not a strictly accurate description from a technical point of view and is frequently used to just mean "warmonger", but Abrams is actually a proper PNAC neoconservative ideologue with deep ties to the old-school neocons of the 1970s, and has helped promote violent US imperialism in Latin America and the Middle East for decades.

Comment: See also: 'Totally indefensible': Biden nominates death squad backer Elliott Abrams to diplomacy panel

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Popcorn

Russia's RT confirms BRICS will create a gold-backed currency

Neils Christensen
Kitco News
Fri, 07 Jul 2023 20:01 UTC
BRICS
The gold market could see new bullish momentum as the world could see a new type of gold standard.

Friday, according to state-run RT, the Russian government has confirmed that Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, also known as BRICS nations, will introduce a new trading currency backed by gold. The official announcement is expected to be made during the BRICS summit in August in South Africa.

The latest news is adding new momentum to the ongoing de-dollarization trend unfolding in the global economy. Since mid-2022, central banks worldwide have been buying gold at a historic pace in part to diversify their reserve away from the U.S. dollar.

For many analysts, a gold-backed currency is the next evolution in this process. Many analysts have seen China's recent gold purchases as an attempt to bring international credibility to the yuan.

Comment:



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Pistol

Zakharova: Arms sent to Kiev by Paris 'boomerang and damage their own people'


RT
Thu, 06 Jul 2023 16:51 UTC
French riot police
© JEFF PACHOUD / AFPFrench riot police
French weapons originally supplied to Ukraine have surfaced in their country of origin, and are being used by rioters to attack police, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson has claimed.

Maria Zakharova told a press conference on Thursday that Western countries' years-long support of radical Ukrainian nationalists has now emboldened like-minded forces on their own soil.

"According to multiple media reports, neo-Nazi groups are taking direct action in the riots in France," she said.

"Weapons, delivered to Kiev, end up in the hands of those very protesters and are being used against the police there, in France," Zakharova added, without specifying the type of arms involved.
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Chess

Vietnam makes pledge to 'always support' Russia


RT
Fri, 07 Jul 2023 16:51 UTC
Hoang Xuan Chien
© Alexey Filippov/SputnikVietnamese Deputy Defense Minister Hoang Xuan Chien
Vietnam is committed to preserving and developing cooperation with Russia regardless of changing international circumstances, Deputy Defense Minister Hoang Xuan Chien told senior Russian officials during his visit to Moscow this week.

"Whatever difficulties Russia faces, Vietnam always supports Russia," the general told Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu on Thursday. Later in the day, he reiterated the message to Deputy Prime Minister for Tourism, Sport, Culture and Communications Dmitry Chernyshenko: "Vietnam will be with you under any circumstances."

The senior Vietnamese military official was visiting Russia to update the strategic roadmap for long-term cooperation, which Moscow and Hanoi agreed to develop two years ago. According to Chernyshenko, the Russian government has almost completed its contribution for the comprehensive document and will soon deliver it to its Vietnamese partners.
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Newspaper

NBC reports US officials held secret Ukraine talks with top Russian diplomat in April - Zakharova immediately calls it 'fake news and disinfo'

Josh Lederman
NBC
Fri, 07 Jul 2023 10:55 UTC
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
© Sputnik/Sergey GuneevFILE PHOTO: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the presentation of the SCO National Center for People's Diplomacy in Moscow.
The aim of the discussions is to lay the groundwork for potential negotiations to end the war, people briefed on the talks told NBC News.

A group of former senior U.S. national security officials has held secret talks with prominent Russians believed to be close to the Kremlin — and, in at least one case, with the country's top diplomat — with the aim of laying the groundwork for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, half a dozen people briefed on the discussions said.

In a high-level example of the back-channel diplomacy taking place behind the scenes, Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov met with members of the group for several hours in April in New York, four former officials and two current officials said.

On the agenda were some of the thorniest issues in the war in Ukraine, like the fate of Russian-held territory that Ukraine may never be able to liberate and the search for an elusive diplomatic off-ramp that could be tolerable to both sides.

Comment: The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova immediately responded to this story on her Telegram channel by calling it fake news spread by Western media.



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Black Magic

Ukraine is a great 'testing ground' for Western weapons - Kiev


Press TV
Thu, 06 Jul 2023 18:47 UTC
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov
Kiev says Ukraine is a great "testing ground" for the military industry of the West, which is constantly pouring advanced arms and military equipment in the ex-Soviet republic despite repeated warnings by Russia that such a flow of arms will only prolong the war.

In a an interview with Financial Times published on Wednesday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said his country is an ideal "testing ground" for Western weaponry so that Kiev's allies can see how their weapons work in real war and to see whether they are efficient or need upgrades.

"For the military industry of the world, you can't invent a better testing ground," he said, claiming that American officials became very happy when Ukraine's military reported that a US Patriot missile system managed to down a Kinzhal, a Russian hypersonic missile.


Comment: Whether this claim by Ukraine is actually true remains to be seen.

Further, considering the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian dead and injured, the above comment provides real insight in to the rather sick mind of those working in the Kiev junta.


Comment: The proxy war has exposed to the world, and potential buyers of US military technology, how ineffective these weapons are against a worthy opponent. The West's deluge of weapons into Ukraine also threaten to destabilise the surrounding countries, and they've already been found to have been smuggled to terrorists in Africa, as well as more recently they were found to have fallen into the hands of some rioters in France:

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Recycle

Zelensky shifts blame for counteroffensive failures to West


RT
Thu, 06 Jul 2023 07:59 UTC
zelensky
© Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service / AFPUkraine's President Vladimir Zelensky attends a ceremony marking the Day of the Naval Forces in Odessa.
Delays in military assistance allowed Russia to create stronger defenses, the Ukrainian president has said.

Kiev had hoped to launch its military pushback against Russia much sooner, but was hampered by a lack of Western-supplied weapons, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said in an interview released on Wednesday.

Speaking to CNN, Zelensky admitted that Ukraine's counteroffensive, which has been running for about a month, has been "slowed down" by strong Russian defenses.

Comment: See also:

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