Puppet MastersS


Snakes in Suits

French position on Ukraine revealed - media

Layla Guest
RT
Wed, 09 Feb 2022 19:37 UTC
Macron
© Chesnot/Getty ImagesFrench President Emmanuel Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron is said to have put forward under-the-table concessions on high-stakes European security issues, including a proposition to make Ukraine a neutral state, to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as they held crunch talks in Moscow, British media has claimed.

In a report published on Wednesday, the Daily Mail said a "senior government source" had disclosed that the French leader failed to consult with any of his partners about the private peace offerings ahead of the closed-door summit. Interlocutors claim that his failure to brief Paris' allies could endanger any prospect of establishing a meaningful agreement between Moscow and the West.

According to the outlet, one of Macron's propositions suggested Kiev adopt a position of neutrality, which would effectively bar the former Soviet Republic from joining NATO's ranks.
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Eye 1

Spy world wary as Biden team keeps leaking Russia intel

Nahal Toosi
Politico
Tue, 08 Feb 2022 06:13 UTC
Blink
© Olivier Douliery/APSecretary of State Antony Blinken
U.S. national security figures get that information war is the new battleground. But "how many freaking times do they need to warn that anything may be imminent?" one asked.

The Biden administration has gone to unusual lengths to publicly share intelligence about Russia's threat to Ukraine, using targeted media leaks and other methods to warn the world of everything from the specifics of Moscow's troop build-up to an alleged Kremlin plot to fake an attack that justifies an invasion. The strategy has its fans, but some national security veterans wonder if the administration is taking it too far.

U.S. officials say the disclosures are carefully vetted and represent only a small amount of the information America and its allies have gathered as Russian leader Vladimir Putin amasses troops along Ukraine's border. The goals, they say, include preemptively exposing — and thus derailing — Russian lies that could lead to a war while also putting America and its European allies on the same page.

"We believe ... that the best antidote to disinformation is information," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday during an appearance before reporters. It's an approach that could prove a blueprint going forward as countries increasingly rely on manipulating the information space to further their geopolitical aims.


Comment: Discernment of course plays no part. Just believe what we say.


Comment: The US government is merely rising to its standard level of ineptitude and pushing the bar.

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V

Dystopia disguised

John W. Whitehead, Nisha Whitehead
The Rutherford Institute
Tue, 08 Feb 2022 00:00 UTC
Illusion freedom
© freedom illusionIllusion of Freedom: When the puppet master doesn't know she's a puppet herself.
"The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater." — Frank Zappa
We are no longer free. We are living in a world carefully crafted to resemble a representative democracy, but it's an illusion.

We think we have the freedom to elect our leaders, but we're only allowed to participate in the reassurance ritual of voting. There can be no true electoral choice or real representation when we're limited in our options to one of two candidates culled from two parties that both march in lockstep with the Deep State and answer to an oligarchic elite.

We think we have freedom of speech, but we're only as free to speak as the government and its corporate partners allow.

We think we have the right to freely exercise our religious beliefs, but those rights are quickly overruled if and when they conflict with the government's priorities, whether it's COVID-19 mandates or societal values about gender equality, sex and marriage.

Comment: We wish we could say: 'It ain't so."

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Briefcase

John Solomon reveals who he thinks John Durham will go after next

Martin Walsh
Conservative Brief
Tue, 08 Feb 2022 00:00 UTC
Durham
© screengrabSpecial Counsel John Durham
Just The News founder John Solomon believes that Special Counsel John Durham is preparing to go after the FBI.

During an interview on Fox News, Solomon and host Maria Bartiromo spoke about the special counsel's investigation into the Trump-Russia witch hunt and what Durham's next move might be.

Russian-born analyst Igor Danchenko — key source for the unverified Steele dossier that alleged ties between Donald Trump's campaign and Russia — was arrested by federal agents last year as part of the Durham investigation.

Solomon explained that he believes Durham is dealing with "two buckets."

In one "bucket," there are the last two indictments against officials who were connected to Hillary Clinton and their plan to feed the FBI false information about Trump-Russia conspiracies.

Solomon said the other "bucket" focuses on the FBI and whether agents knowingly mislead the FISA court to obtain warrants to spy on members of Trump's 2016 campaign.
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Bullseye

Germany an 'occupied state' says Russia


RT
Tue, 08 Feb 2022 21:26 UTC
US Troops
© AP/Michael ProbstUS Troops in Wiesbaden, Germany
US ambassadors give orders in Berlin, backed by American boots on the ground, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman tells RT.

The US continues to "occupy" Germany by any scientific standard, while America's NATO allies have surrendered all their sovereignty to Washington and aren't allowed to have a say on issues like Nord Stream 2, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told RT in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.

Commenting on US President Joe Biden's talk of "shutting down" the Nord Stream 2 pipeline during the visit of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Washington on Monday, Zakharova pointed out that Berlin remains under Washington's thumb long after the Cold War's end. She told RT:
"Germany, according to a number of relevant characteristics - this is neither mine, nor Russia's opinion, this is according to politological terms and metrics - remains, one way or another, an occupied state: 30,000 of American [troops] are stationed there.

"American ambassadors to Germany, who are supposed to work there to improve bilateral relations, are giving orders to German officials."

Comment: Zakharova adeptly points out the self-serving elephant in the room. 'Sovereignty' is just a word.

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Video

Video surfaces showing Joe Biden using N word, here is the context

Carmine Sabia
Conservative Brief
Sun, 06 Feb 2022 00:00 UTC
Biden
© Getty ImagesThen Senator Joe Biden
There is a video making the rounds online that shows President Joe Biden, who was then a senator, using the N-word two times during a hearing.

It has been gaining traction online because of a similar compilation video of podcaster Joe Rogan using the N-Word several times on his podcast. But in both cases, the clips lack context, which is important.

The same as the video against Rogan, which carefully cuts any context from what he was saying, so does the video of Biden, Mediaite reported.

In the Biden video, the key context is that he was quoting the words of someone else when he said the word two times.

Biden was questioning then-Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights William Reynolds over his nomination — by then-President Ronald Reagan — to be promoted to Associate Attorney General.
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Vader

Biden's got just three options left on Ukraine, and none that's palatable for him

Scott Ritter
RT
Thu, 10 Feb 2022 20:45 UTC
us soldiers train Ukraine army
© AP Photo/Ukrainian Defense Ministry Press ServiceUS instructor trains Ukrainian soldier for the use of M141 Bunker Defeat Munition (SMAW-D) missiles at the Yavoriv military training ground, Ukraine, Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022.
As maintaining the status quo is not a viable solution to the US crisis with Russia over Ukraine, what are the president's other options?

As Europe teeters on the brink of war over Ukraine, the administration of President Joe Biden finds itself entangled in a policy nightmare for which there are no ready solutions.

Just a short time ago, the administration of Joe Biden was confronted with a regional national security problem - the crisis with Russia over Ukraine - where the worst-case scenario ended with the Russians invading and the US leading a global coalition of the willing in imposing massive sanctions against Moscow as punishment. The consequences of such an outcome - economic pain for Europe and the US, and possible fractures on the periphery of EU/NATO unity - were considered manageable over time.
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Bad Guys

Woke capitalism is a monopoly game

Michael Rectenwald
The Mises Institute
Thu, 10 Feb 2022 19:48 UTC
larry fink blackrock duncan niederauer
© Financial TimesBlackRock CEO Larry Fink with the then-chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, Duncan Niederauer, at the FT CNBC Nightcap in Davos in 2014.
In 2018, Ross Douthat of the New York Times introduced the phrase "woke capital." Essentially, Douthat suggested that woke capitalism works by substitut­ing symbolic value for economic value. Under woke capitalism, corporations offer workers rhetorical pla­cebos in lieu of costlier economic concessions, such as higher wages and better benefits. The same gestures of woke­ness also appease the liberal political elite, promoting their agendas of identity politics, gender pluralism, transgender rights, lax immigration standards, climate change mitigation, and so on. In re­turn, woke corporations hope to be spared higher taxes, in­creased regulations, and antitrust legislation aimed at monop­olies. Although woke capitalism alienates cultural conservatives, the Republican Party remains procorporate, making woke capitalism a win-win strategy for corporations.

Business Insider columnist Josh Barro suggested that woke capitalism provides a form of parapolitical representation for workers and corporate consumers. Given their perceived political dis­enfranchisement, woke capitalism offers them representation in the public sphere, as they see their values reflected in corporate pronouncements.

Comment: More from Michael Rectenwald on wokeness and the Great Reset:

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Yellow Vest

Why is the Freedom Convoy provoking unprecedented hysteria?

Rachel Marsden
RT
Thu, 10 Feb 2022 19:12 UTC
protest ottawa canada freedom convoy truckers
© Minas Panagiotakis / Getty ImagesProtesters near Parliament Hill hold signs condemning the vaccine mandates imposed by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on February 5, 2022 in Ottawa, Canada
The fact that it's ordinary people behind the Freedom Convoy, rather than professional activists, has caused alarm among the ruling class

In the two weeks since the Freedom Convoy of Canadian truckers and their supporters began rallying in Ottawa to demand an end to all pandemic-related mandates and restrictions nationwide, it has become clear that this movement isn't like other protest movements. And that's a scary proposition for those in charge who thought that they'd manage and exploit this crisis on their own sweet time and schedule regardless of the actual science and reality on the ground.

There has long been an agenda to corral as many humans as possible unwittingly into a global dragnet through technological adoption. That's what the revelations of National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden were about back in 2013. A technological panopticon provides those in charge with the ability to monitor and ultimately control or sanction dissidents or outliers as the state pursues the self-serving agenda of a select few. Algorithms that exploit this massive online presence enable the state to accurately craft propaganda to be deployed to vilify them in the eyes of the general population, while portraying the state as the great protector — all while selling citizens out to the interests of a select few elites. Essentially, people are manipulated into arguing against their own good.

Comment: Class dynamics: More thoughts on the Freedom Convoy

The UK bankster Mark Carney has been a pivotal figure for decades in pursuit of the globalist agenda:

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Russian Flag

Russia's Lavrov unhappy after talks with UK's top diplomat Truss

Story Ponvert
RT
Thu, 10 Feb 2022 18:42 UTC
lavrov and truss
© Sputnik / Russian Foreign Ministry
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has expressed frustration at the lack of progress made during high-stakes negotiations with his British counterpart, Liz Truss, as tensions between Moscow and the West continue to flare over Ukraine.

Speaking to journalists at a press conference following the talks in the Russian capital on Thursday, Lavrov said that the exchange had been "like a deaf person talking to a mute," and that the sides had struggled to find common ground. "Nobody is hearing each other, and unfortunately our efforts to explain ourselves have not been heard."

Truss used the meeting to urge the Kremlin "to take the path of diplomacy" and argued that "a war in Ukraine would be disastrous for the Russian and Ukrainian people and for European security."

Lavrov hit back, however, saying that "we have sued for diplomacy for all these years and we will continue to do so." According to him, "Russia has been cheated and wronged for many years, many times, when it comes to agreements and obligations from other states."

Comment: It later became clear just what it was that so angered Lavrov:
In an article published by Moscow daily Kommersant on Thursday, two Russian diplomatic sources claimed that British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss made the faux-pas while speaking in head-to-head discussions with her Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.

According to the outlet, London's top diplomat stressed that Moscow must withdraw its armed forces from the frontier with Ukraine, at which Lavrov reiterated that the Russian military is stationed in its own territory and has the right to conduct maneuvers within its borders.

The veteran Russian official is said to have turned to Truss and asked whether London recognizes Moscow's sovereignty over the regions of Rostov and Voronezh, where large troop movements are said to have taken place in recent days, close to the Ukrainian border.

After a moment's contemplation, the British diplomat reportedly replied that the UK "will never recognize Russia's sovereignty over these regions." The interaction is said to have spurred Deborah Bronnert, the UK's ambassador to Moscow, to swoop in and quietly remind her colleague that the two are actually considered Russian territory even by her own government.
Keep in mind, this is the UK's top diplomat. That she is so clueless on a topic she is supposed to be an expert in - she's the FOREIGN minister after all - reveals just how ignorant the West is in geopolitical terms.

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