Puppet MastersS


Magic Wand

Ukraine's Crimea military plans detailed by Bild


RT
Tue, 21 Mar 2023 15:36 UTC
Uke Tank
© Aris Messinis/AFPUkrainian servicemen on a 2S7 Pion tank
The German newspaper has cited an unnamed NATO official as claiming that Kiev is preparing to strike in Zaporozhye and Lugansk...

Russia and Ukraine are approaching a decisive period in their conflict, with Kiev aiming to sever the Russian land bridge to Crimea this spring, Germany's Bild newspaper has reported. The tabloid cited an anonymous NATO source who claimed the bloc is providing Ukraine with everything it needs to retake its former territories.

In a report on Tuesday, Bild quoted a "leading" NATO official as stating that the alliance's analysts expect the conflict to reach a climax in the spring and summer. The official expressed confidence that heavy weaponry being delivered to Ukraine will be brought to bear in several counteroffensives as early as May.

"The coming six months will be a key period in the war not only for Ukraine, but also for the allies," the unnamed source predicted.

While refusing to go into detail regarding planned operations, the official asserted that Ukrainian forces will focus their efforts on the regions of Zaporozhye and Lugansk.

Comment: 'A Hail Mary' to save the day...according to a west-obedient publication? More likely it would be the 'Last Hurrah'. Considering the tip of the hand, it is a deflection.

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Hiliter

Biden signs legislation to declassify info on COVID-19 origins

Brett Samuels
The Hill
Mon, 20 Mar 2023 05:20 UTC
Biden
© Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesUS President Joe Biden and the power of the pen
President Biden on Monday signed legislation to declassify information related to the origins of COVID-19 after the measure was passed unanimously in Congress.

The House had passed the bill earlier this month, but the White House had been non-committal about whether Biden would sign it into law.

Biden said in a statement:
"We need to get to the bottom of COVID-19's origins to help ensure we can better prevent future pandemics. My Administration will continue to review all classified information relating to COVID-19's origins, including potential links to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

"In implementing this legislation, my Administration will declassify and share as much of that information as possible, consistent with my constitutional authority to protect against the disclosure of information that would harm national security."
The president noted that he directed intelligence agencies in 2021 to investigate the virus' origins.

The legislation, titled the COVID-19 Origin Act, was originally sponsored by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). The bill directs the Director of National Intelligence to "declassify any and all information relating to potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin" of COVID-19.

Comment: Come clean? We know where this is going. The Fibber in Chief will obviscate pertinent details to misdirect perception and deter investigation. Question is: Why now?

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Dollars

Comer says '6 or 7 Biden family members' may have been involved in overseas business schemes

Victor Nava
New York Post
Thu, 16 Mar 2023 12:36 UTC
Comer
© Getty ImagesUS Rep James Comer (R-KY) Chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer believes that more than half a dozen members of the Biden clan may have been involved in various worldwide business schemes that profited off their family name.

Comer, whose committee is investigating the Biden family's business dealings, shared the insight in a Wednesday night interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham.

Referring to his panel's far-reaching probe, Comer (R-KY) said:
"At the end of this I think we're gonna see there are probably six or seven Biden family members that were involved in various business schemes around the world."
Comer didn't mention any names in the interview and declined to reveal the identity of the unnamed Biden family member who got proceeds from a $3 million wire to Hunter Biden associate John "Rob" Walker just weeks after Joe Biden left the vice presidency in 2017.

Comment: What took so long? The Bidens obviously had 'protection' given the length of time for these reveals to surface.

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Seismograph

Tremors before an earthquake: on the coming financial crisis


Gray Zone Research
Sun, 19 Mar 2023 00:00 UTC
$equake
© Brendan Lynch/AxiosThe Coming Financial Earthquake
Note: we haven't reached peak money printing yet, but that's coming.

With the current financial uncertainty, I wanted to take a few minutes and give you my take on what's happening with the banking industry, the financial crisis, the recession, and where I believe we're headed.

Bottom Line Up Front:
  • This financial crisis will end the short-term boom-bust cycle and, more importantly, end the long-term boom-bust cycle with catastrophic consequences. This is the event you should be preparing for.
Here's why I think this.

First, right now, banks can park their cash at the Federal Reserve risk-free at nearly a 5% yield, which reduces the incentive for them to approve loans heading into a period of financial uncertainty.

The net result is that we're likely to see credit rationing as banks improve their reserve ratios by pulling back on loans. This will decrease economic activity.

Second, this is accelerating the end of the short-term boom-bust cycle as credit availability dries up and commercial banks are less willing to provide loans.

Credit and loan deterioration are early warning indicators of a recession.
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Laptop

I am the "US-based Kremlin intermediary" that tried to help Tucker Carlson book an interview with Putin

Anya Parampil
The Grayzone
Mon, 20 Mar 2023 00:00 UTC
TuckVlad
© FOX NewsTucker Carlson • Vladimir Putin
Tucker Carlson accused the NSA of spying on his personal communications when he tried to schedule an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin. I can corroborate his story.

On March 10, Fox News host Tucker Carlson told the Full Send podcast that the US government "broke into [his] text messages" in the summer of 2021, just months before the launch of Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Carlson claimed the spying occurred as he was planning a trip to Russia, where he hoped to record a conversation with the country's president. According to Carlson, he learned of the surveillance after a US government source arranged to meet him in Washington and proceeded to share information with him that only someone with access to his private, personal text messages could have known.

"This person's like... 'Are you planning a trip to go see Putin?' This was the summer before the war started. And I was like, 'how would you know that? I haven't told anybody,'" Carlson recalled.

"I was intimidated," he added. "I'm embarrassed to admit, but I was completely freaked out by it."

Comment: The 'free press' has become a tool to kill the messenger and the message.

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Briefcase

Trump moves to crush 'flawed' Georgia election inquiry

Daniel Chaitin
The Daily Wire
Tue, 21 Mar 2023 19:26 UTC
trump georgia election fraud lawsuit
© ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty ImagesDonald Trump
Former President Donald Trump's lawyers moved on Monday to quash the report from a special grand jury in Georgia's 2020 election inquiry.

The legal team also seeks to "preclude the use of any evidence derived" from the report and the recusal of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis's office, according to The New York Times.

"The results of the investigation cannot be relied upon and, therefore, must be suppressed given the constitutional violations," Trump's attorneys wrote in their motion in Georgia court. The attorneys asked that the motion get a hearing by a different judge than the one who oversaw the special grand jury.
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Vader

Biden admin glosses over State Department's Ukrainian abuses in human rights report


RT
Tue, 21 Mar 2023 19:05 UTC
ukraine crackdown orthodox churches
Ukraine armed forces confront Orthodox priests
The State Department's annual assessment ultimately blames Russia for Kiev's transgressions

An annual human rights report, published by the US State Department on Monday, adopts a light touch in assessing human rights abuses in Ukraine.

The study blames the censorship of media, bans on political parties and extrajudicial executions in Ukraine on Russia, though some of these processes had begun before Moscow launched its military assault, in early 2022.

Kiev's crackdown on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is not mentioned at all.

The report notes that businessman Denis Kireev was "allegedly killed during his arrest by the Security Service of Ukraine [SBU] after it obtained a recording of Kireyev allegedly implicating himself in treason." It goes on to quote the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) saying "the circumstances of [Kireev's] death remain unclear."
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Bullseye

Observations on the Ukrainian War, no. 3

Gordon M. Hahn, Ph.D
Russian & Eurasian Politics
Mon, 20 Mar 2023 18:21 UTC
Putin Biden Zelensky Ukraine Russia US
© The CradleAs the balance of power shifts again in Ukraine, its reverberations will impact the very unity of the EU project
Ukraine Is Winning?

Westerners like Joe Biden and Michael McFaul continue to assert that Ukraine is winning the NATO-Russia Ukrainian War. The reality is far different. The war could end this year with a complete collapse of the Ukrainian army and Maidan regime. This is not a certain outcome as yet but is possible if not this year then certainly in 2024 — in lieu of some negotiated end to war or at least the fighting — when Russian, Ukrainian and American presidential elections are scheduled. The election offing raises the stakes of the Ukrainian outcome, which is bleak for Kiev and Washington. Ukraine is running out of artillery shells and firing systems are suffering high attrition. The US has announced plans to produce 50,000 shells next year for Ukraine, but Ukraine is using 90,000 per month, ten times less than Russian and allied forces are using. Moscow has still to commit its newly mobilized troops in an all-out counteroffensive, but nevertheless Russian, Donbass, and Wagner forces are making major headway in three key areas, while Ukraine still is proving incapable of pushing back Russian forces, outside of the strategic retreats undertaken by Moscow in Kharkov and Kherson last year, with minimal casualties, even fighting.
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Handcuffs

Trump posts late-night video to supporters


RT
Tue, 21 Mar 2023 18:08 UTC
trump supporter
© Getty Images / Alexi Rosenfeld
The former US president posted footage on Truth Social, warning Americans it would be in their best interests to stand up for him

Former US President Donald Trump rallied his supporters with a video posted on Monday night to his Truth Social platform, condemning the "four horrible, radical left Democratic investigations" that have not yet managed to sink his political career.

The video came days after Trump warned he would soon be arrested on charges stemming from the Stormy Daniels scandal, in which his former lawyer Michael Cohen allegedly paid hush money to the porn actress.

In the video, the 2024 presidential candidate described how previous lengthy, well-funded investigations against him had failed to prise him from the White House. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's "Russian collusion" probe, the FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, and the "Stormy Horseface Daniels extortion plot" were all "sick" and "fake news," he said.

Comment: Jan 6 was a wakup call to the real state of the American "justice system" and a lesson Trump supporters won't soon forget.

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Card - VISA

Indonesian President Jokowi wants local governments to ditch Visa, Mastercard


The Jakarta Post
Fri, 17 Mar 2023 00:01 UTC
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo
© BPMI Setpres/RusmanPresident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo speaks during the Mandiri Investment Forum in Jakarta, Feb. 2, 2023.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has urged regional administrations in the country to wean themselves off foreign payment networks like Mastercard and Visa and start using credit cards issued by domestic banks to shield any transactions from possible geopolitical fallout that could disrupt economic transactions.

Jokowi said that the war in Ukraine with the attendant economic sanctions imposed by the United States could create problems as economic tools, including payment systems, could be used against countries perceived to have any involvement in the conflict.

"Be very careful. We must remember the sanctions imposed by the US on Russia. Visa and Mastercard could be a problem," President Jokowi told a national meeting to promote the use of Indonesian-made products and services.
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