Puppet MastersS


Explosion

US bombs Syria in retaliation for American deaths


RT
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 23:42 UTC
Trump Hegseth
© Julia Demaree Nikhinson/APUS President Donald Trump • Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth • Dover Air Force Base • December 17, 2025
Washington says the strikes are an act of vengeance rather than a declaration of war.

The US has launched airstrikes against alleged Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) targets in Syria in what President Donald Trump described as "very serious retaliation" for the killing of American personnel earlier this month.

In a statement on Friday, Trump said the strikes were ordered in response to a December 13 attack near Palmyra that left two US servicemen and a civilian interpreter dead.
"Because of ISIS's vicious killing of brave American patriots in Syria... I am hereby announcing that the United States is inflicting very serious retaliation, just as I promised, on the murderous terrorists responsible. We are striking very strongly against ISIS strongholds in Syria."
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said US forces launched Operation Hawkeye Strike, targeting IS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites. The operation, he stressed, was punitive rather than the opening of a wider conflict.
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Bullseye

What are Israel Bonds, and why have they become a target for the BDS movement?

Michael Arria
Mondoweiss
Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:00 UTC
Israel Bond protest
© JVP-PhillyProtest against Israel Bonds in Philadelphia, PA
In recent weeks, activists have achieved major victories in getting states to divest from Israel Bonds. But what exactly are Israel Bonds, what role do they play in the Israeli occupation, and how are activists successfully mobilizing against them?

Last month, Florida Atlantic University (FAU) announced that it will invest an additional $5 million in Israel Bonds, making the school the largest Israeli bondholder among universities worldwide.

FAU president Adam Hasner declared in a press release:
"This is a sound financial decision — but equally important, it is a statement of solidarity that reflects our vision for the future. As a leading university and a member of the South Florida community, we cannot ignore what is happening to Jewish students across the country, and we are proud of the steps we are taking to become the safest and most welcoming university for Jewish life in America."
The announcement comes amid growing protests over the issue, as multiple states have divested from the bonds in recent weeks after pressure campaigns from activists.

What are Israel Bonds, what role do they play in the Israeli occupation, and how are activists successively fighting against them?

Comment: Q1: How subservient and infiltrated is the USA, given Israel taps individual states and institutions? It appears the money flows one way - to Israel. Q2: A 'shush' fund? Who is buying 'quiet' selloffs with low returns?

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Folder

DOJ sues Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger for voting records

Kim Jarrett
Just the News
Thu, 18 Dec 2025 11:11 UTC
BradRaffensperger
© Unknown/KJNGeorgia Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger • Dept of Justice
The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for access to the state's voter rolls.

The Justice Department said information provided by Raffensperger's office did not include all of the information requested, including the voter's full name, date of birth, residential address, state driver's license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number.

Raffensperger said he shared the state's maintenance practices and public voter roll data with the Justice Department on Dec. 8.
"Georgia has the cleanest voter rolls in the country because we verify citizenship through the federal SAVE database, use SSA data to remove dead voters, and share data with other states to identify and remove voters who have moved. We look forward to working together to eliminate the federal barriers that prevent even cleaner voter rolls. Hardworking Georgians can rest easy knowing this data was shared strictly in accordance with state law that protect voters' privacy."
The Justice Department is asking a judge to cite Raffensperger under the Civil Rights Act and order him to provide the date with all the information within five days of any court order.
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Wolf

SOTT Focus: The Oligarch Part 2: How one powerful man made Zelensky president, Ukraine his pocket state, and sent it to war


RT
Thu, 18 Dec 2025 20:08 UTC
zelensky
© RTVladimir Zelensky
This is the second part of RT's special investigation on Igor Kolomoysky. You can find Part 1 here to read about Kolomoysky's rise to the status of godfather of Ukrainian corruption, his involvement in the Maidan revolution and the following years leading up to Vladimir Zelensky's election.

Zelensky elected: The people's fantasies and Kolomoysky's favor

In April 2019, comedian Vladimir Zelensky defeated in a landslide incumbent Pyotr Poroshenko in the Ukrainian presidential election. It was an instance of life imitating art. In a TV series called Servant of the People, Zelensky played the role of a school teacher who launches a quixotic bid for the presidency running as an anti-corruption crusader. The series, which became wildly popular, aired on the TV channel 1+1, majority owned by Kolomoysky's 1+1 Media Group.

Zelensky positioned himself as the consummate outsider. During the election campaign, he preferred posting light-hearted videos to social media - and giving vague promises to stamp out corruption - over giving serious interviews or discussing policy. He did, however, promise to stop the war in Donbass and, being a Russian speaker himself, opposed the rigid language policies of Poroshenko. But otherwise, there wasn't much there. Ukrainian sociologist Irina Bereshkina called him "a screen on which every person projected his own fantasies." That, in addition to the support of Kolomoysky, proved to be his biggest advantage.
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Star of David

Hi-tech holocaust: How Microsoft aids the Gaza genocide

Alan Macleod
MintPress News
Mon, 27 Oct 2025 00:00 UTC
Microsoft and Gaza rubble
© Unknown
Israel's genocide is being powered by Microsoft.

From creating a massive digital dragnet, aiding in the production of A.I.-generated kill lists, hiring hundreds of Israeli spies to run its internal affairs, and suppressing figures opposing the slaughter, the Seattle-based tech corporation has played a key role in the violence.

MintPress has detailed the deep collaboration between the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Amazon, Google, TikTok, Apple, Palantir, and Oracle, but Microsoft's relationship with the government and armed forces of Israel is potentially the closest, leading then-CEO Steve Ballmer to state that "Microsoft is as much an Israeli company as an American company." MintPress explores the decades-long partnership between Microsoft and Israel, and the employees trying to break that marriage from the inside.

Turning Code Into Carnage

"Among U.S. tech firms," the Associated Press wrote, "Microsoft has had an especially close relationship with the Israeli military." That relationship, it notes, massively expanded after the October 7, 2023, attacks.

Comment: See also:

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Blue Planet

Trump's geo-politics: Correcting the imperial model and shaping the incoming economic architecture

Alastair Crooke
Strategic Culture Foundation
Wed, 17 Dec 2025 00:00 UTC
WHite house flags
© SCFThe White House • Flags flying
The NSS is not a pivot from Empire; it does, nonetheless, conclude that the means to domination requires a 'Trump corollary to the Monroe Doctrine'.

In his speech in Riyadh in May, President Trump set out his rationale to his transactional mode of policy formulation - making peace through commerce, rather than war.

The language in the 4 December US National Security Strategy (NSS) takes this several steps further: It is couched in the terms of 'regions of influence', rather than hegemony, and of managing stakeholder financial interests. It abandons the phraseology of a rules-based order and eschews appeals to democracy and Western values.

But what does this 'peace through commerce' really mean?

The core to the Trump geo-politics is revealed in the NSS as the risk of imperial collapse looming in the future. It talks about Atlas holding the globe aloft - and emphasises that the United States can no longer continue to shoulder the burden of empire.

The NSS, therefore, is ultimately centered around resolving the economic contradictions that has brought the US to this pass - burgeoning debt and an out-of-control fiscal matrix which, absent a solution, ordains that Empire will fold.

Comment: Trump's Venezuelan plan: Comprehendible via the NSS, current contexts and future trajectories.

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Arrow Up

Fearing risks in using Russian assets, EU agrees €90bn Ukraine war loan


Press TV
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 07:05 UTC
Mette Frederiksen
© AFPDenmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen • European Council President Antonio Costa, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attend a press conference after the European Council meeting • Brussels, Belgium • December 19, 2025
EU leaders have agreed to provide Ukraine with a €90 billion ($98 billion) loan backed by the bloc's common budget, while shelving plans to use frozen Russian state assets amid legal and financial concerns and repeated warnings from Moscow.

The agreement was reached early on Friday after overnight talks at a summit in Brussels, as the EU sought to secure funding to continue the war in Ukraine over the next two years.

Under the deal, the EU will raise funds through loans guaranteed by its shared budget, abandoning proposals backed by some member states to leverage around €200 billion in Russian central bank assets frozen in the bloc.

The plan failed to win consensus, largely due to objections from Belgium, where most of the assets are held. Belgian officials warned of legal risks and the potential for retaliatory measures that would disproportionately affect the country.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever welcomed the outcome, saying it avoided significant legal and financial exposure. "This was extremely risky and raised many unanswered questions," De Wever told reporters. "Rationality has prevailed."

Comment: Something for nothing and nothing for something...Ah Kiev!

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Arrow Up

DOJ releases thousands of Epstein records


RT
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 21:32 UTC
Epstein Clinton and Unknown
© US Dept of JusticeJeffrey Epstein • Bill Clinton • Unidentified
Files include court records, travel photos, and redacted investigative material.

The US Justice Department has released a large tranche of records related to its investigations into late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, publishing the files online on Friday.

The documents were made public under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, legislation signed by President Donald Trump that compels the Justice Department to release records tied to federal criminal investigations into Epstein and longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

The so-called 'Epstein Library' has been organized into four main categories: Court records; disclosures made under the Epstein Files Transparency Act; documents released in response to Freedom of Information Act requests; and records previously provided to the House Oversight Committee in September.

The archive includes a vast number of photographs showing Jeffrey Epstein, his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, and others during trips to locations such as Bali, Indonesia, Morocco, and St. Tropez, France. Many of the images are heavily redacted, in line with legal requirements to remove information that could identify potential victims or contain child sexual abuse material.
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Gift

Developments

James Howard Kunstler
kunstler.com
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 00:00 UTC
Dan Bongino
© UnknownDan Bongino leaves the J Edgar Hoover Building
"Leftists are evil scum who castrate children and invite Mexican rapists into the USA to peddle fent to your kids."
— Aimee Terese on "X"
The frantic ceremonies of Christmas shopping climax now. . . the stockings are hung by the chimney with care. . . and the republic judders into the darkest season of an evil era. You fear the one gift you have waited for lo these twelve months will not be delivered: the frog-marching of Brennan, Clapper, Comey, Strzok, HRC, Mayorkas, Monaco, Rosenstein, Priestap, Halper, Yates, Lynch, Garland, Wray, Haynes, Sullivan, Schiff, Warner, Eisen, Elias, Weissmann, Jack Smith. . . and many other deep state treason-goblins into the maw of a federal courthouse for processing like so many mackerel in a cat food cannery. "No arrests!" is the melancholy cry heard from sea to shining sea.

It's true. A whole year ticked by and no accountability for the immense decade-long free-ranging crime-spree against our country by so many government officials. Did I leave out Mr. Obama? Yes. He would probably have to dangle as an "unindicted co-conspirator," cuz president, and all. But maybe not. It's open to interpretation, I grant you. . . assuming anyone in the Trump DOJ could actually get serious and move a folder off his/her desk. Anyway, Christmas is upon us and the MAGA minions sulk in despair. No arrests!
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Warning

Putin gives European 'warmongers' a reality check: A timely attitude adjustment—NOT mincing words!

Henry Kamens
New Eastern Outlook
Thu, 18 Dec 2025 00:00 UTC
PUtin
© UnknownRussian President Vladimir Putin
President Vladimir Putin's blunt warning to Europe exposes a widening gap between Western peace rhetoric and a political reality in which European elites are increasingly invested in prolonging the Ukraine conflict rather than resolving it.

Europe's warmongering elite just received a reality check from Moscow — and their reaction reveals how deeply the continent's politics are tied to keeping the conflict alive.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has delivered one of his bluntest warnings to Europe to date, telling Western leaders that if they truly want a war with Russia, they can "start right now."

In a recent media exchange, Putin stressed that Moscow is ready for any scenario but made clear that a direct conflict with Europe would not resemble Russia's special operation (SMO) in Ukraine... And once it starts, there might not be anyone left on the European side to negotiate with in ending it.

By cautioning that if the continent chooses the path of war with Moscow, Russia is fully prepared to respond, and that it will not be like the special operation in Ukraine, which is being carried out in a surgical fashion, Putin has just handed Europe's political class a blunt reality check, warning that their war talk has consequences they're not prepared to face.

While Moscow avoids diplomatic sugarcoating, NATO leaders keep preaching "peace" while undermining every path toward it. Europe's loudest warmongers are the ones most threatened by a real peace deal — and their political survival depends on keeping the conflict alive.

Comment: Rutte is intimidating Russia, not the other way around. As Europe unravels, hyped rhetoric and phony blame is the obvious diversion.

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