Puppet MastersS


Mr. Potato

US-backed Venezuelan opposition figure expelled by Columbia after illegal entry


RT
Tue, 25 Apr 2023 16:54 UTC
Guaido
© Rafael Hernandez/picture alliance via Getty ImagesJuan Guaido
Colombia has expelled US-backed Venezuelan opposition figure Juan Guaido, who had attempted to attend an international conference in Bogota. The staunch critic of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had earlier crossed into Colombia from his home country in defiance of a court-imposed travel ban.

The Colombian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Guaido had arrived in an "irregular manner," adding that immigration officials had taken the politician to El Dorado International Airport in Bogota so he could board a US-bound plane.

Guaido confirmed that he had been forced to leave for the US and condemned the way that Colombian authorities had treated him. "Because of the direct threats to my family and my daughters from the Maduro regime, which have spread to Colombia, I am taking this flight," he wrote on Twitter, promising to "continue to fight."

The former legislator had hoped to attend an international conference hosted by Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Tuesday. The summit is part of ongoing negotiations between the Maduro government and the opposition, which are being mediated by Norway. Colombian Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva confirmed to reporters on Tuesday that Guaido had not been invited to the summit.
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Card - VISA

Indonesia ready to bypass Visa and Mastercard


RT
Mon, 24 Apr 2023 16:45 UTC
credit cards
© Getty Images / Adam Gault
The Bank of Indonesia will launch its domestic card payment system in May as part of a strategy to reduce dependency on foreign systems and protect transactions from geopolitical fallout, RIA Novosti news agency reported on Monday.

Central bank Governor Perry Warjiyo reportedly said the country is officially launching physical domestic cards "in close cooperation with the government and the Indonesian Credit Card Association (AKKI)."

In March, the regulator announced it was preparing to phase out Visa and Mastercard as it seeks more autonomy over its payment infrastructure by minimizing the role of foreign payment providers.
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Target

Senators introduce bill to create digital identity for all Americans

Leo Hohmann
LeoHohmann.com
Thu, 20 Apr 2023 00:00 UTC
digital id
U.S. Senators Kyrsten Sinema, an independent of Arizona, and Cynthia Lummis, Republican of Wyoming, have introduced Senate Bill 884, also known as "the Improving Digital Identity Act of 2023."

The bill was introduced March 21 and ordered to proceed out of committee on March 29 without amendments and with a favorable recommendation.

The bill's text states:
"The lack of an easy, affordable, reliable, and secure way for organizations, businesses, and government agencies to identify whether an individual is who they claim to be online creates an attack vector that is widely exploited by adversaries in cyberspace and precludes many high-value transactions from being available online. Incidents of identity theft and identity fraud continue to rise in the United States, where more than 293,000,000 people were impacted by data breaches in 2021."
The bill calls for the formation of a public-private partnership to bring this digital ID system into being.
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Blue Planet

Welcome to NATOstan (formerly known as Europe)

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Sun, 09 Apr 2023 14:45 UTC
nato flag
And the vicious circular argument to eventual global catastrophe continues...
"The NATO expanders are telling us that Russia's actions inside its unchanged borders are exactly why we had to expand NATO's borders. Russia's reaction to NATO's expansion enlargement justifies NATO's enlargement expansion." - Patrick Armstrong
Natostan

Comment: See also:

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Microscope 2

U.S. Department of Defense issued a contract for 'COVID-19 Research' in Ukraine 3 months before Covid was known to even exist


The Expose
Mon, 27 Mar 2023 07:07 UTC
COVID-19 Research Contract
The world first started to hear about a novel coronavirus in early January 2020, with reports of an alleged new pneumonia like illness spreading across Wuhan, China. However, the world did not actually know of Covid-19 until February 2020, because it was not until the 11th of that month that the World Health Organisation officially named the novel coronavirus disease as Covid-19.

So with this being the official truth, why does United States Government data show that the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) awarded a contract on the 12th November 2019 to Labyrinth Global Health INC. for 'COVID-19 Research', at least one month before the alleged emergence of the novel coronavirus, and three months before it was officially dubbed Covid-19?

The shocking findings, however, do not end there. The contract awarded in November 2019 for 'COVID-19 Research' was not only instructed to take place in Ukraine, it was in fact part of a much larger contract for a 'Biological threat reduction program in Ukraine'.

Perhaps explaining why Labyrinth Global Health has been collaborating with Peter Daszak's EcoHealth Alliance, and Ernest Wolfe's Metabiota since its formation in 2017.

Comment: See also:

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Folder

US considered targeting Russia's Wagner commanders in Africa, leaked files reveal


PressTV
Tue, 25 Apr 2023 00:21 UTC
wagner
US officials have looked at a range of scenarios for “coordinated US and allied disruption efforts” against Wagner mercenaries.
American officials have reportedly considered taking lethal action against senior officers from the Russian private military company, Wagner.

According to documents leaked by a US guardsman and obtained by The Washington Post, US officials have looked at a range of scenarios for "coordinated US and allied disruption efforts" against Wagner, including "kinetic" options, in an effort to curb the group's growing influence in Africa.


Comment: Despite the dodgy nature of these leaks, with what seems to be truth mixed with propaganda and the MSM tasked with revealing them, this seems to be a believable claim.


The United States has been alarmed by the rapid expansion of Russia's influence in Africa, prompting a push to target Wagner's network of bases and business fronts with strikes, sanctions and cyber attacks.
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Toys

80 MEPs want China's France envoy to be declared persona non grata for calling Crimea 'historically Russian'


Sputnik
Mon, 24 Apr 2023 21:44 UTC
European parliament
© AFP 2023 / FREDERICK FLORIN
Members of the European Parliament have accused the Chinese diplomat of violating international law and threatening the security of France's European partners.

About 80 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have urged French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna to declare Chinese Ambassador to France Lu Shaye a persona non grata over his remarks about the status of former Soviet republics.

In a letter to Colonna published by a French newspaper on Monday, the MEPs noted that the Chinese diplomat "publicly stated that the former republics of the Soviet Union do not have effective status within the framework of international law."

Comment:





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Bullseye

Lavrov spearheads multilateralism and fairer world order as Russia set to chair UN Security Council, warns world at 'dangerous threshold'

Ekaterina Blinova
Sputnik
Mon, 24 Apr 2023 12:00 UTC
lavrov
© Sputnik / Russian Foreign Ministry
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is due to chair UN Security Council meetings on April 24-25 as Russia's month-long presidency in the international body is about to wrap up. What can we expect from Lavrov's trip to the US and how is Russia spearheading the idea of multipolarity amid the ongoing geopolitical shift?

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is expected to hold a high-level UN Security Council open debate on "Effective multilateralism through the Defense of the Principles of the UN Charter", one of the signature events of the Russian presidency, this April 24.

Meanwhile, on April 25, Lavrov is due to chair a discussion on the Middle East, which will feature Tor Wennesland, special coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. The meeting will focus on the stagnation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict resolution and the escalation of tensions.

Russia's Effective Multilateralism

Comment: Reuters reports:
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday that the risk of conflict between global powers was at an "historic high" and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the world was at a threshold "possibly even more dangerous" than during the Cold War.

Guterres, seated next to Lavrov in the U.N. Security Council, criticized Russia's invasion of Ukraine for causing massive suffering and devastation in the country and fueling global economic dislocation caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

"Tensions between major powers are at an historic high. So are the risks of conflict, through misadventure or miscalculation," Guterres told the meeting of the 15-member body on multilateralism and the founding U.N. Charter.

Lavrov chaired the council meeting because Russia holds the council's monthly rotating presidency for April.

"As during the Cold War, we have reached the dangerous, possibly even more dangerous, threshold," Lavrov said. "The situation is worsened with the loss of trust in multilateralism."

"Let's call a spade a spade. Nobody allowed the Western minority to speak on behalf of all of humankind," Lavrov said.

A string of Security Council members, including the United States, France and Britain, condemned Russia for its war on Ukraine.

"Our hypocritical convenor today, Russia, invaded its neighbor Ukraine and struck at the heart of the U.N. Charter," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told the council.

"This illegal, unprovoked, and unnecessary war runs directly counter to our most sacred principle: that a war of aggression and territorial conquest is never, ever acceptable," she said.


US reps spouting such hypocritical nonsense as this just further galvanises those who support the multipolar world order.


Thomas-Greenfield also accused Russia of violating international law by wrongfully detaining Americans, calling for the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and ex-Marine Paul Whelan. Whelan's sister, Elizabeth, was in the Security Council chamber on Monday.

As the United Nations seeks to save an agreement that allows the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine's grain that could expire on May 18, Guterres also urged the continued implementation of that deal and a related pact in which the United Nations pledged to help facilitate Russia's own grain and fertilizer exports.

"They clearly demonstrate that such cooperation is essential to creating greater security and prosperity for all," he said.


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Mr. Potato

Don't do it Joe: Poll says fewer than 50% of Democrats want Biden to run in 2024


RT
Mon, 24 Apr 2023 21:38 UTC
biden shake hands air
© @freebeacon/TwitterPresident Biden turned after his speech with his hand stretched out, but no one was there.
However, the majority of party supporters will back the 80-year-old anyway if he is nominated for the presidential race

Fewer than 50% of US Democrats believe President Joe Biden should run for a second term in the Oval Office, a new poll has indicated. However, the majority of respondents said they would still back the incumbent in 2024, if he is selected as the party's candidate.

On Friday, the Associated Press published the results of a survey it carried out among 1,230 adults between April 13 and April 17.

Only 47% of Democratic voters said they wanted Biden to run for president again, with that number notably lower among younger demographics. Only 25% of Democratic respondents under the age of 45 would definitely support him, AP reported.

Comment: It appears that AP has soft-pedalled its results. Other takes:

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Stormtrooper

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute: Defense spending in Europe back to Cold War levels


RT
Mon, 24 Apr 2023 20:58 UTC
81mm mortar rounds
© Getty Images / Andrew Chittock / Stocktrek Images81mm mortar rounds ready stacked ready for use
The UK was 2022's biggest spender in the region at $68.5 billion, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

Europe's military expenditure saw its sharpest year-on-year increase in at least 30 years in 2022, driven by the conflict in Ukraine, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's (SIPRI) latest annual report. Meanwhile, total global military expenditure was up 3.7% in real terms, reaching a new height of $2.24 trillion.

Worldwide, the three biggest spenders last year were the United States, China and Russia, together accounting for 56% of the total. US spending dwarfed that of its geopolitical adversaries, however, reaching a total of $877 billion, while Beijing spent $292 billion and Moscow about $86.4 billion, according to SIPRI data.

The sharpest rise by far (13%) was seen in Europe, however, largely driven by Russian and Ukrainian spending, but also by ramped-up fears in neighboring states.

Comment: Russia is driving Europe to madness. Their leaders (with exceptions like Hungary's Orban) are beggaring their nations in every possible way

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