Puppet MastersS


Eye 1

Hillary Clinton foments insurrection about the 2016 election — According to her own party's rules

hillary clinton
© AP Photo/Seth WenigHillary Clinton
There's something incredibly sad about a politician who is otherwise irrelevant, at least to the American public, but just can't let go.

Hillary Clinton is a 74-year-old grandmother who lost a presidential election, not during the last cycle, but well over five years ago. Yet, instead of just enjoying her grandkids and the hundreds of millions of dollars she's made grifting off her time in government, she continues to shoehorn her way into the public eye.

On Saturday, Clinton appeared at a political conference in Inglewood, CA. The specifics aren't really important, as all these things are a dime a dozen, i.e. a bunch of career politicians and bureaucrats preaching to the choir, saying the same things over and over, pretending to be profound. It's the world's largest back-slap circuit.

Comment: See also:


Megaphone

Trump claims he's the 'most honest human being, perhaps, that God ever created' during rally in North Carolina, video shows

trump selma 2022
© Chris Seward/AP PhotoFormer President Donald Trump smiles as he speaks at a rally on Saturday, April 9, 2022, in Selma, North Carolina.
Speaking at a rally in Selma, North Carolina on Saturday evening, former President Donald Trump claimed that he is one of the most honest human beings to walk on earth.

"I've got to be the cleanest sheriff," Trump said. "I think I'm the most honest human being, perhaps, that God ever created." There were ripples of laughter from his supporters as he said it.


Comment: It's pretty obvious from the clip that Trump was speaking tongue-in-cheek. He is a braggart and a boaster, and he's definitely prone to exaggeration. But is he a liar? Maybe a better question is: Does Trump lie more than other politicians?

See also:


Compass

Zelenskymania and Switzerland's ruined image

Western ant-Russian Propaganda
From left to right, the covers of Time's Feb. 14-21 edition, The Economist’s Jan. 8-14 edition and Time's Jan. 31-Feb. 7 edition. (Edited by Büşra Öztürk)
While negotiations seem to be progressing and the first contours of a possible solution in Ukraine are emerging (neutrality and partial demilitarisation of the country, handover of the Donbass and Crimea), the background to the conflict is beginning to be better understood. However, a quick ceasefire is not to be expected: the Americans and the Ukrainians have not yet lost enough and the Russians have not yet won enough to cease hostilities.

Before I continue with my reflections, however, I would like to ask those who do not share my realistic view of international relations to put this text aside. They will not like what is about to come, and it will save them heartburn and the time they would waste denigrating me.

Comment: See also Guy Mettan's The root causes of the war in Ukraine and read his views on Creating Russophobia that has spanned an enormous amount of historical time.

Readers may also be interested in MindMatters: Why Is Russia Like That? 400 Years of Russian Security Culture, with Gordon M. Hahn and last weeks:




Bad Guys

Lavrov: Russia seeks to end US-dominated world order

Lavrov
© Global Look Press/MFA RussiaRussian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
Russia's military action in Ukraine is meant to put an end to the US-dominated world order, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has explained. Washington has been seeking supremacy by imposing ad-hoc rules and violating international law, he claimed, in an interview aired by Russian television on Monday.

He was referring to America's attempts to impose its own so-called "rules-based international order," which have met with strong resistance from Moscow and China. Lavrov told Rossiya 24 news channel:
"Our special military operation is meant to put an end to the unabashed expansion [of NATO] and the unabashed drive towards full domination by the US and its Western subjects on the world stage. This domination is built on gross violations of international law and under some rules, which they are now hyping so much and which they make up on a case-by-case basis."
Russia is among the nations who would not submit to Washington's will, the Russian diplomat added. It will only be part of an international community of equals and will not allow Western nations to ignore its legitimate security concerns, Lavrov said.

Arrow Up

The results of American aggression that are positive for Russia

The Shove
© Unknown'The Shove'
Especially for thinking people - regular readers of this channel - I will briefly outline the reasons for the monstrous war that unfolded before our eyes in Ukraine. There is nothing worse than a war between social groups of the same people. In this case, ours, the Russian people, which for centuries was formed on the territory of present-day Ukraine, which at one time, at the initiative of Lenin, included Malorossiya, Novorossiya and Carpatho-Russia .

I grew up in Zaporozhye, near which heavy fighting is now taking place in order to destroy the Ukrainian Nazis, who never existed in my small Motherland. I studied at a Ukrainian school and I know Ukrainian literature and language well, which from a scientific point of view is a dialect of Russian. I did not notice anything Russophobic in Ukrainian culture. In the 17 years of my life in Zaporozhye, I have never met a single Banderist. It was considered an offensive word and for its use in someone's address one could get it in the face. In a nightmare, it could not be dreamed that we would live to see the current state of fierce fighting between the armed forces of Russia and Ukraine.

Our President has said many times that Russians and Ukrainians are one nation. From the point of view of historical, linguistic, archaeological, ethnographic, genetic science, this is a proven fact. It was artificially divided after the collapse of the USSR. Within three decades after this, according to our President, the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, pathological processes developed in the public consciousness of the Russian people of Ukraine, which led them to a serious, deadly disease - Russophobia. How could this happen?

Propaganda

Kiev Independent deep dive: The West's in-kind answer to Putin's propaganda

Filming Mayor
© Vadim Ghirda/APKiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko, right
Press Conference • Kiev, Ukraine • March 23, 2022
As the Russian attack on Ukraine has come to dominate global news feeds, so has a previously little-known outlet called The Kyiv Independent. Since its inception in November of last year, the Independent's profile has risen rapidly and has been promoted and endorsed by both social media giants and the corporate press.

The Kyiv Independent has become the toast of the town. It seems virtually impossible to turn on cable news without seeing its reporters on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, or other networks. Its staff has been given the opportunity to write multiple op-eds in the pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post, something considered the ultimate seal of approval by many journalists. NPR listeners might also have heard interviews with reporters from the Independent.

But, while almost universally presented as a collective of unbiased journalists producing credible content, the Independent's history, funding sources, and the proximity of many of its key staff to Western governments suggest that the news organization is not nearly as independent as its name implies.

Comment: Propaganda: Converting critical thinking into political intolerance.


Briefcase

'I'm daring them': Texas AG responds after White House shoots down migrant busing threat

Paxton
© Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Corbis/Getty ImagesTexas AG Ken Paxton
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has thrown down a gauntlet of sorts after the Biden administration rejected Gov. Greg Abbott's pledge last week to begin busing illegal migrants to Washington D.C. in protest over lax border enforcement policies.

The back and forth began when the Lone Star State's GOP governor vowed during a press conference last week to start busing illegal immigrants to the nation's capital as he laid out a series of additional steps to retake control of Texas' border with Mexico. Abbott has long accused the Biden administration of failing to adequately enforce the nation's laws against illegal immigration amid record numbers of encounters practically since President Biden took office.

Also, Abbott is part of a growing number of Republicans and Democrats upset with the administration's decision to end Title 42, which authorized border and immigration agents to immediately deport illegal migrants as a means of slowing the spread of COVID-19. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the agency that initially imposed the rule — has said it will end May 23.

Comment: Even if Abbott's plan is scrapped, the publicity generated by his announcement serves a purpose.


Attention

Ukraine War: Russia warns Sweden and Finland against NATO membership

Peskov
© Sergei Bobylev/TASSRussian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov
Russia has warned Finland and Sweden against joining NATO, arguing the move would not bring stability to Europe. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that "the alliance remains a tool geared towards confrontation".

It comes as US defence officials said Moscow's invasion of Ukraine has been a "massive strategic blunder" which is likely to bring NATO enlargement. US officials expect the Nordic neighbours to bid for membership of the alliance, potentially as early as June. Washington is believed to support the move which would see the Western alliance grow to 32 members. US State Department officials said last week that discussions had taken place between NATO leaders and foreign ministers from Helsinki and Stockholm.

Before it launched its invasion, Russia demanded that the alliance agree to halt any future enlargement, but the war has led to the deployment of more NATO troops on its eastern flank and a rise in public support for Swedish and Finnish membership.

Stormtrooper

EU morphed into a military organization - Lavrov

EU Defense
© RapplerEU Defense Force
The EU made a "serious U-turn" by morphing into a military organization acting in the interests of Washington and NATO, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday in an interview with Russian media. He cited a remark that EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell made last Saturday.

The European official said the conflict in Ukraine "will be won on the battlefield" as he announced more European military aid to Kiev. Lavrov called the statement "outrageous." Lavrov told Rossiya 24 news channel:
"When a diplomatic chief ... says a certain conflict can only be resolved through military action... Well, it must be something personal. He either misspoke or spoke without thinking, making a statement that nobody asked him to make. But it's an outrageous remark."
The EU has made a noticeable U-turn in its attitude towards Russia because Western powers are furious at Moscow for defending its vital interests in Ukraine instead of accepting a subservient role in the Washington-dominated "rules-based order", Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

Gold Bar

NATO's internal gold war

Queen/gold
© UnknownQueen of England • All That Gold
Brexitology focused keenly on UK fish but fully ignored the EU's gigantic gold reserves supposedly still vaulted in custody at the Bank of England. Adding insult to injury, a UK-EU no-deal financial services crash-out divorce went by almost unnoticed... not only without the bang of the still postponed 'financial equivalence' protocol... but also without a mere whimper from specialized media and Remainers. Now, the Ukraine crisis with its new payment requirements for the badly needed Russian oil & gas...overlapping with essential yet unfinished Brexit business...will necessarily evolve into a vicious NATO internal gold war. Paraphrasing James Carville spiced with some traditional British flavor, "It's the bloody gold, stupid."(1)(2)

Rule Britannia

As UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson would have it, the physical repatriation of the EU gold supposedly still vaulted in London would 'mightily' affect the future of Europe with very deep, high-voltage political impact both sides of the English Channel. In this scenario No.10 Downing Street would easily negotiate the EU gold bullion availability only under specific Brexit conditions favorable to the UK. Actually, doing this could turn out to be absolutely necessary and should go far beyond the enormous intrinsic value of the EU gold supposedly still vaulted at the BoE. Let me explain.(3-13)