Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

US triples gas shipments to Europe, Germany profits from its blockade of Nord Stream II by selling Russian gas at a mark up

gas tanker ship
While Russia and Europe deal with their tensions over the Yamal-Europe pipeline, Washington seems to take advantage by selling some of its goods on the side.

Could the US be projecting its fears of Europe's 'Russian dependence' on gas by binge-selling dry gas?

Vessels carrying liquefied natural gas carried from the US to European ports multiplied by a third this Christmas weekend, according to Bloomberg data.

One day before the Christmas Eve holiday, 15 vessels were observed. Over the Christmas weekend, 20 tankers carrying liquefied natural gas were reported heading to Europe. Another 14 vessels are also on their way.

Comment: With the US leaning on Germany to sabotage its own economy by blocking Nord Stream II, is Germany attempting to recoup some of its losses by selling on Russian gas at a mark up? It's telling that Poland is also willing to go along with these games, despite its people suffering for it.

The proof that this contrived crisis could be resolved is evident in Russia's readiness to agree to "astounding" gas contracts with countries like Hungary and Serbia. However, it's clear that the West is hellbent on attacking Russia in whatever way it can and its wishful thinking is blinding it to the damage that it's causing at home:


Umbrella

Joe Biden says US Covid surge should be 'a source of concern but not panic'

biden white house umbrella
© Carolyn Kaster/APBiden on Monday. The president outlined plans to help states tackle the rising caseload but uncertainty and disruption continued to spread.
President says Americans with boosters are 'highly protected' as CDC reduces isolation time for those with asymptomatic cases.

Speaking to state governors on Monday, Joe Biden said the dramatic surge in US Covid cases caused by the Omicron variant "should be a source of concern but it should not be a source of panic".

"If you're fully vaccinated and got your booster shot," Biden said, "you're highly protected. If you're unvaccinated, you're at a high risk of getting severely ill from Covid-19, being hospitalised and in some cases dying."

Comment: More from The Hill:
[Fauci] also continued to reiterate that wearing masks on planes is still a good idea despite airline CEO's saying they were not always necessary due to sufficient air filtration systems inside aircraft.

"I think the idea of taking masks off, in my mind, is really not something we should even be considering, and that's what we meant by it depends on what the goal of getting people vaccinated before they get on a domestic flight," Fauci said.

Fauci's comments follow an airline executive's comments on Capitol Hill that masks "don't add much" given that "99.97 percent of airborne pathogens are captured" by highly efficient filtration systems.

"Yeah, I think the case is very strong that masks don't add much, if anything, in the air cabin environment," Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly said in response to whether maskless air travel could ever resume. "It's very safe, and very high quality compared to any other indoor setting."

Kelly later tested positive for COVID-19 following the Senate Commerce Committee hearing on airline oversight last week, the company told Reuters on Friday.

Kelly testified alongside the president of the nation's largest flight attendant union and executives at United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines. The hearing examined the impact of $54 billion in pandemic aid Congress gave to airlines.

"I think the case is very strong that masks don't add much if anything in the air cabin environment," Kelly told senators Wednesday. "It's very safe, very high quality compared to any other indoor setting."



Map

EU warns relationship with Swiss is on the brink

switzerland EU flag
© Reuters / Francois WalschaertsSwitzerland's national flag and the European Union flag are seen at the European Commission building.
The European Union has raised concerns about a potential breakdown in its relations with Switzerland over EU internal market rules.

European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic has told Der Spiegel that the bloc's relationship with Switzerland is at risk of becoming "obsolete" if the two sides don't address their differences over internal market rules.

In an interview with the German news outlet, Sefcovic, who oversees EU-Swiss matters, warned that it was only a matter of time before bilateral agreements currently in force would expire.

Comment: See also:


Stock Down

Biden slips below Harris in latest poll

biden harris walking laughing
© REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The US president's approval rating is now lower than that of his vice president and numerous others in his administration.

President Joe Biden has been rated less favorably than Vice President Kamala Harris and Dr. Anthony Fauci in a new Gallup survey of the performance of US federal leaders published on Monday.

Only three figures gained a favorable response from the majority of those polled: Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, and Fauci. Roberts scored highest, with 60% approval from respondents, while Powell and Fauci received 53% and 52%, respectively.

Comment: See also:


Alarm Clock

NATO preparing for war - Russian Deputy Defense Minister

NATO tanks
© Reuters / Ints KalninsNATO tanks fire during the night shooting demonstration at Iron Spear 2021 military exercise in Adazi training grounds, Latvia on October 20, 2021.
Speaking during a briefing for military attachés and other foreign diplomats, in Moscow, on Monday, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin accused NATO of readying up for an all-out war with Russia.

"The military development of the bloc has been redirected in full to prepare for a large-scale, high-intensity armed conflict with Russia," Fomin stated.

The preparation comes with the expansion of the bloc's military capabilities, and is also reflected in NATO's program documents where Moscow has been unequivocally named "as the main source of threats to coalition security," Fomin noted. At the same time, older documents, including the 2002 Rome declaration, establishing that Russia and NATO do not regard each other as adversaries, remain in force, he added.

Comment: Note that it's Russia that is pushing for a peaceful and definitive resolution, whilst the US deflects and stalls knowing that to agree would hamper its pathological drive to antagonize Russia. But, Russia's tolerance of the West's increasingly erratic and dangerous belligerence is waning, fast: Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Pandemia Today, Pandemia Tomorrow, But Not Forever




Bad Guys

Boris Johnson to have D-Day meeting on Covid hospital data as he considers new lockdown

Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson will today hold D-Day talks on Covid as publicans urged him to resist a New Year's Eve-wrecking lockdown.

The PM is battling calls for new restrictions which would ban indoor drinking in pubs.

Instead, he is leaning towards guidance urging people to be careful over how many others they meet.

But he will make his decision only after a crunch meeting with medical advisers Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance on Covid hospitalisation rates today.

The PM and his advisers will trawl through new numbers on the rates in London — dubbed Omicron ground zero and seen as the canary in the coal mine for Covid.

Comment: See also: Stop panicking: You are a third less likely to catch Covid this Christmas than last Christmas and 80% less likely to die from it


Target

What if US, NATO talks are cover for more aggression towards Russia?

Flags
© Rusi.org
If there are no prompt responses to Russia's legitimate security concerns, then the next phase entails a more robust military-technical realm

It is quite clear that the clock is ticking on how the United States and its NATO allies respond to Russia's urgent security proposals.

For Moscow, if the forthcoming talks do not produce firm security guarantees in short order, then the suspicion is that the U.S. and NATO are using the engagement as a cover for continuing a long-term military build-up against Russia.

Russia's strategic patience has worn out. Years of relentless encroachment by the United States and NATO on Russia's territory has reached the point where Moscow has peremptorily declared red lines that must be respected. In short, no more eastward expansion by the U.S.-led military bloc and, secondly, the removal of U.S. strike weapons from neighbouring states.

The latest phase in the long post-Cold War game has been the vicarious menacing with Ukraine. Moscow could be criticized for being too complacent about the bad faith and backsliding by NATO since the late-1990s in ripping up assurances to Russia over no eastward expansion. But the NATO-backed Kiev regime threatening Russian people in eastern Ukraine and Russia's national security is the last straw. Better late than never.

Comment: US and NATO should walk away. There is only one winner here. Russia would need to tie both hands behind its back to lose.


X

After promising to 'shut down the virus', Biden now claims 'There is no federal solution'

JoBi.
© Reuters/Tom BrennerUS President Joe Biden
Democrat President Joe Biden told governors on Monday that there was "no federal solution" to combat the coronavirus pandemic and that challenges needed to be tackled at the state-level.

Biden made the remarks after Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (R), chairman of the National Governors Association, spoke about challenges his state is experiencing in responding to the pandemic. Hutchinson said:
"And so one word of concern or encouragement for your team is that as you look towards federal solutions that will help alleviate the challenge, make sure that we do not let federal solution stand in the way of state solutions. And the production of 500 million rapid tests that will be distributed by the federal government is great. But obviously that dries up the supply chain for the solutions that we might offer as governor."
A few moments later, Biden responded:

Syringe

CDC monitoring 8 cases of heart inflammation in 5- to 11-year-olds who got Pfizer vaccine

Heart medical
© The DefenderHeart inflamation after COVID vaccine
On the same day the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was aware of eight cases of heart inflammation in 5- to 11-year-olds vaccinated with Pfizer's COVID vaccine, Pfizer and BioNTech announced they would seek full approval for their Comirnaty COVID vaccine for children 12 through 15.

At least eight cases of myocarditis, or heart inflammation, in children 5 to 11 years old who got the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the agency said during a Dec. 16 meeting. The cases were reported in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and presented by a CDC official to a panel of its vaccine advisers.

The CDC acknowledged the reports on the same day Pfizer and BioNTech announced they had submitted a supplemental Biologics License Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expand the approval of their Comirnaty vaccine — not yet available in the U.S. — to include individuals ages 12 through 15 years.

During the Dec. 16 meeting of the CDC's vaccine advisory panel, the CDC said there had been more than 7 million vaccine doses administered in the 5 to 11 age group at the time the agency examined the data, including 5.1 million first doses and 2 million second doses.

The CDC said there had been 3,233 reports to VAERS of adverse events among 5- to 11-year-olds, including 14 reports of myocarditis, five reports with follow-up in progress, nine reports with follow-up information obtained and eight reports of myocarditis that met the CDC's working case definition, including four males and five females. Two cases occurred after the first dose and six cases occurred after the second dose. One report is under review.

Calendar

DOJ antitrust probes into Apple, Google reportedly delayed due to lack of cash

GoogAP
© SP/Kathy Willens/KJN
The Department of Justice reportedly planned to complete comprehensive probes into the two tech giants by 31 December, determining whether they were in violation of US anti-monopoly legislation.The Justice Department won't be proceeding with any steps to take Apple and Google to court until at least March of 2022, and possibly later, two sources said to be familiar with the situation have told Politico.

The DoJ has been probing the tech giants over anti-trust concerns. In the case of Apple, the government began an investigation into the company's control over iPhone-related software back in 2019, with media reporting in October that a lawsuit may be imminent.

In Google's case, the DoJ filed a suit against the company in October 2020 over its alleged violation of anti-trust laws on search and search advertising markets through excessive control over the tech used to buy and display ads. However, the DoJ may be preparing to file a new lawsuit against the company, according to Politico's sources.

The delay in action being taken reportedly revolves around an internal debate about where to fill the lawsuits, who will make the announcement, plus concerns about a possible lack of funds for government lawyers.