Puppet MastersS


Control Panel

Washington puts further pressure on Trump to blame and sanction Russia for Navalny poisoning

MK Bhadrakumar
Asia Times
Fri, 25 Sep 2020 00:00 UTC
Putin and Trump
© TwitterUS-Russia relations could be headed for another deep freeze if US lawmakers have their way in punishing Moscow for the alleged poisoning of Russian opposition leader.
Trump is under heavy pressure to take a punitive stance on Moscow's alleged poisoning of opposition figure Alexei Navalny

On September 24, a bipartisan group of US senators proposed sanctions against Russian officials over the alleged poisoning of the opposition politician Alexei Navalny in Siberia recently.

A targeted bill titled Holding Russia Accountable for Malign Activities Act of 2020 has been introduced by five prominent senators - Chris Coons, Marco Rubio, Ben Cardin, Mitt Romney and Chris Van Hollen.

The bill directs the administration to determine if the Kremlin has violated US laws prohibiting the use of chemical and biological weapons.

Significantly, it also requires a report on the personal wealth amassed by the corrupt practices of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his inner circle.


Comment: Boy oh boy do these rabid Russia-haters want to get some dirt on Putin. Till then though, they'll just have to keep making stuff up.


Senator Coons, who is leading the initiative, represents Delaware, the senate seat held by Joe Biden for 36 years from January 1973 till he took over as vice-president.

The senators have demonized Putin. Senator Coons said, "this bipartisan bill seeks to hold Putin and his inner circle accountable."

Comment: See also:

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Arrow Down

Battlefield cyberspace? Iranian military proposes video game in which it saves George Floyd's life


RT
Thu, 24 Sep 2020 14:52 UTC
George Floyd
© AFP / StringerL) Memorial and mural that honors George Floyd at the Scott Food Mart corner store in Houston's Third Ward Getty Images/Joe Raedle; (R) Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attends a military parade during a ceremony marking the country's annual army day in Tehran, on April 18, 2019.
A commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has suggested creating a video game in which the country's militia forces would rescue George Floyd from his fatal encounter with US police.

The concept was proposed by Mohammad Reza Naqdi, a senior officer of the armed forces branch, during a Wednesday conference on the Iranian military's digital efforts. Naqdi's idea is to "take back cyberspace" from the US by producing local content.

Naqdi underscored the artistic potential for a political statement in such a game, by saying that Floyd's death has become a "global issue."

The 'Save George Floyd' game is expected to be a mobile and computer game, with saving the "black citizen from the American police" being the core design element, according to Naqdi.

Comment: The Iranian military officials need to educate themselves, because aligning with an infiltrated color revolution movement is not worthy of support and won't help anybody, and, meanwhile, there are actual criticisms of the US that need addressing and are worthy of hijacking for their propaganda, unless they want to become like the monsters they claim to despise?

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Bad Guys

'Unjustified and irrational': Marseille's Mayor 'astonished' by new French lockdown rules


BBC
Fri, 25 Sep 2020 22:29 UTC
Marseille lockdown
© ReutersMarseille has been put on maximum alert amid a rise in coronavirus cases nationwide
France is set to close all restaurants and bars in its second city Marseille, prompting anger from local officials.

The move, which will come into effect from Saturday, follows a recent upsurge in coronavirus cases nationwide.

France recorded more than 13,000 coronavirus cases on Wednesday, a record since restrictions were eased.

But Marseille Mayor Michèle Rubirola said she was not consulted about the decision and had been left feeling "astonished and angry".


Comment: This tells us that these measures aren't because of the facts of the ground but because of a political command passed on down from upon high.


"The Marseille town hall was not consulted. Nothing in the health situation justifies these announcements," she wrote on Twitter.

"I won't allow the people of Marseille to become the victims of political decisions that no-one understands," she added.

Comment: See also: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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Vader

Craig Murray: Assange hearing day 16: The trap springs shut

Craig Murray
craigmurray.org.uk
Thu, 24 Sep 2020 19:44 UTC
assange justice legal scales court hearing
On Wednesday the trap sprang shut, as Judge Baraitser insisted the witnesses must finish next week, and that no time would be permitted for preparation of closing arguments, which must be heard the immediate following Monday. This brought the closest the defence have come to a protest, with the defence pointing out they have still not addressed the new superseding indictment, and that the judge refused their request for an adjournment before witness hearings started, to give them time to do so.

Edward Fitzgerald QC for the defence also pointed out that there had been numerous witnesses whose evidence had to be taken into account, and the written closing submissions had to be physically prepared with reference to the transcripts and other supporting evidence from the trial. Baraitser countered that the defence had given her 200 pages of opening argument and she did not see that much more could be needed. Fitzgerald, who is an old fashioned gentleman in the very nicest sense of those words, struggled to express his puzzlement that all of the evidence since opening arguments could be dismissed as unnecessary and of no effect.
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Bullseye

Best of the Web: 'Trump was right': Explosive new FBI texts detail internal furor over handling of 'Crossfire Hurricane' investigation

Sean Davis, Mollie Hemingway
The Federalist
Thu, 24 Sep 2020 00:00 UTC
ObamaComeyHolder
© White House photoPresident Barack Obama • FBI Director James Comey • AG Eric Holder • Oval Office 2013
Newly disclosed internal FBI notes and text messages detail the extent of the FBI's desire to take down Trump and his associates at any cost.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents tasked by fired former Director James Comey to take down Donald Trump during and after the 2016 election were so concerned about the agency's potentially illegal behavior that they purchased liability insurance to protect themselves less than two weeks before Trump was inaugurated president, previously hidden FBI text messages show. The explosive new communications and internal FBI notes were disclosed in federal court filings today from Sidney Powell, the attorney who heads Michael Flynn's legal defense team.

"[W]e all went and purchased professional liability insurance," one agent texted on Jan. 10, 2017, the same day CNN leaked details that then-President-elect Trump had been briefed by Comey about the bogus Christopher Steele dossier. That briefing of Trump was used as a pretext to legitimize the debunked dossier, which was funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign and compiled by a foreign intelligence officer who was working for a sanctioned Russian oligarch.

Comment: Special FBI Agent William Barnett doubted the clandestine proceedings against Flynn at the FBI:
William Barnett, an FBI special agent, was interviewed on Sept. 17 (2020) by Jeffrey Jensen, a U.S. attorney in Missouri who is leading a Justice Department review of the case against Flynn. Barnett, who worked out of the FBI's Washington field office, was the lead investigator on the Flynn component of Crossfire Hurricane. Barnett told Jensen and his team that he believed the collusion theory was "opaque," with little to no evidence of criminal activity.

Barnett drafted a memo from the FBI's Washington Field Office on Jan. 4, 2017 that recommended closing the counterintelligence investigation. He believed Crossfire Razor was "problematic" and could result in an inspector general's investigation.

Barnett remained on the case, and would eventually join the special counsel's team, which was formed on May 17, 2017 in the wake of James Comey's firing as FBI director.

"There was a lack of letting the evidence lead the investigation and more the attitude of 'the evidence is there we just have to find it.'"
Others had similar intuitions, calling it a nightmare:
The messages were culled from the FBI's internal "Lync" messaging platform. The employees are not identified in the document dump, though they appear to have had detailed knowledge of the probe.

One exchange suggests that an FBI official ordered the investigation of Flynn, whose code name was "Crossfire Razor," to be closed on Nov. 8, 2016. The time stamp for the message is 5:42 p.m., which would have been hours before Donald Trump pulled an upset victory over Hillary Clinton in the presidential election.

One analyst wrote that investigators had "put out traces" and "tripwires to community" and found "nothing." "We didn't find anything else from the investigation about him," the analyst wrote, according to the court filing.

Flynn's lawyers said in the court filing that the messages show that investigators used National Security Letters as "a ruse" to extend the investigation. The documents are the fifth production of records provided to Flynn's legal team since Attorney General William Barr ordered a review of the investigation in January.

The Justice Department filed a motion to withdraw charges against Flynn on May 7, citing the discovery of FBI notes and memos that had not been given to Flynn's lawyers. Barr has said that he believes the FBI under James Comey set a "perjury trap" for Flynn.
Trump had something to say about the revelations: the FBI targeted him for a "coup".
The new documents were disclosed in a federal court filing on Thursday by Sidney Powell, defense attorney for former Trump adviser Michael Flynn. Seizing on the new release, the president ran a victory lap at a campaign rally in Florida, telling the crowd the FBI had been "caught" attempting a "coup." Trump remarked:

"Today a trove of text messages was released from FBI agents involved in the Russian witch hunt. You gotta see this. These people are scum. They were trying to do a coup. And we've caught them before that, we caught them spying on our nation... Never forget: they are coming after me because I'm fighting for you."



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Magnify

Durham incorporated parts of John Huber's Clinton Foundation review into his investigation

Brooke Singman
Fox News
Thu, 24 Sep 2020 00:00 UTC
HuberClintonDurham
© AP/Rick Bowmer/Fox News/Wikipedia/KJNUS Attorney John W. Huber • Hillary Clinton • US Attorney John Durham
Aspects of U.S. Attorney John Huber's investigation into the Clinton Foundation have been assumed by U.S. Attorney John Durham as part of his review into the origins of the Russia probe, Fox News has learned.

A source familiar with Durham's investigation told Fox News on Thursday that parts of what Huber was investigating in 2017 -- involving the Clinton Foundation -- have been incorporated in Durham's investigation.

In November 2017, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed Huber, the U.S. attorney for Utah, and other senior prosecutors to evaluate "certain issues" involving the sale of Uranium One, and other dealings related to the Clinton Foundation. Sessions tapped Huber after requests by congressional Republicans, who had been calling for the appointment of a special counsel to review the matters.


Comment: We could soon see the results of an investigation into BillHill's covert foundation dealings and collusion by the FBI. Promises, promises...
Sources told the Times that Durham is comparing the FBI's investigation into alleged bribery at the Clinton Foundation with the investigation into President Trump's 2016 campaign's communications with Russian adversaries.

Those involved with the investigation described the move to compare the two as "unusual" and suggested a political motive. Barr and other supporters of the president have said the two investigations show a "double standard" the FBI upheld leading up to the 2016 election.

"There was a clear double standard by the Department of Justice and F.B.I. when it came to the Trump and Clinton campaigns in 2016," Sen Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in an August statement.
See also:

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Pocket Knife

Mueller's 'pitbull' blasts probe, says prosecutors 'could have done more'

Chuck Ross
Daily Caller
Mon, 21 Sep 2020 02:44 UTC
Weissmann
© Screenshot/YouTube/MSNBCAndrew Weissmann
A top prosecutor on the special counsel's team is criticizing the investigation and Robert Mueller for not going hard enough against Donald Trump, saying in a new book that prosecutors "could have done more" in their probe of the president.

"Had we given it our all — had we used all available tools to uncover the truth, undeterred by the onslaught of the president's unique powers to undermine our efforts?" Andrew Weissmann writes in the introduction of his forthcoming book, according to The Atlantic.

"I know the hard answer to that simple question: We could have done more."

Weissmann, who was labeled Mueller's "pitbull" by some Trump supporters, also told The Atlantic that Mueller let down the American public. "Absolutely, yep," Weissmann told the magazine when asked whether Mueller failed the public.

Comment: See also:

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Document

Best of the Web: Senate report links Hunter Biden to 'prostitution or human trafficking ring'

Bruce Golding
New York Post
Wed, 23 Sep 2020 12:46 UTC
HunterBiden
© Democratic National Convention/CNP via ZUMA WireHunter Biden
Hunter Biden allegedly sent "thousands of dollars" to people who appear to be involved in the sex industry, according to Wednesday's report released by Senate Republicans.

The report claims unspecified records show that Biden:
"has sent funds to non-resident alien women in the United States who are citizens of Russia and Ukraine and who have subsequently wired funds they have received from Hunter Biden to individuals located in Russia and Ukraine. The records also note that some of these transactions are linked to what 'appears to be an Eastern European prostitution or human trafficking ring.' "
The allegations are contained in a footnote to a section of the report that details potential "criminal concerns and extortion threats" involving Hunter Biden and other members of the Biden family.

The report also cites:
"extensive public reporting concerning Hunter Biden's alleged involvement with prostitution services. Records on file with the Committees do not directly confirm or refute these individual reports. However, they do confirm that Hunter Biden sent thousands of dollars to individuals who have either: 1) been involved in transactions consistent with possible human trafficking; 2) an association with the adult entertainment industry; or 3) potential association with prostitution."

Comment: See also:

Explosive GOP Report: Hunter Biden's alleged connections to Russian trafficking rings, Chinese and criminal activity

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Propaganda

Best of the Web: Leaked documents expose massive anti-Syria propaganda operation waged by Western governments and media puppets

Ben Norton
The Grayzone
Wed, 23 Sep 2020 00:00 UTC
Western anti-Syria propaganda network
Virtually every aspect of the Syrian opposition was cultivated and marketed by Western government-backed public relations firms, from their political narratives to their branding, from what they said to where they said it.

Western government-funded intelligence cutouts trained Syrian opposition leaders, planted stories in media outlets from BBC to Al Jazeera, and ran a cadre of journalists. A trove of leaked documents exposes the propaganda network.

Leaked documents show how UK government contractors developed an advanced infrastructure of propaganda to stimulate support in the West for Syria's political and armed opposition.

Virtually every aspect of the Syrian opposition was cultivated and marketed by Western government-backed public relations firms, from their political narratives to their branding, from what they said to where they said it.

The leaked files reveal how Western intelligence cutouts played the media like a fiddle, carefully crafting English- and Arabic-language media coverage of the war on Syria to churn out a constant stream of pro-opposition coverage.


Comment: That's being rather generous to the corporate media! Most (if not all) of these outlets are fully on board with their respective goverments' agendas and their 'journalists' are trained to churn out 'news coverage' on demand in support of goverment aims.


US and European contractors trained and advised Syrian opposition leaders at all levels, from young media activists to the heads of the parallel government-in-exile. These firms also organized interviews for Syrian opposition leaders on mainstream outlets such as BBC and the UK's Channel 4.

More than half of the stringers used by Al Jazeera in Syria were trained in a joint US-UK government program called Basma, which produced hundreds of Syrian opposition media activists.

Western government PR firms not only influenced the way the media covered Syria, but as the leaked documents reveal, they produced their own propagandistic pseudo-news for broadcast on major TV networks in the Middle East, including BBC Arabic, Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, and Orient TV.

These UK-funded firms functioned as full-time PR flacks for the extremist-dominated Syrian armed opposition. One contractor, called InCoStrat, said it was in constant contact with a network of more than 1,600 international journalists and "influencers," and used them to push pro-opposition talking points.

Comment: See also:

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Red Flag

With Ginsburg's death cue the last stand of the Dems and American marxists

Mike Luongo
Strategic Culture Foundation
Thu, 24 Sep 2020 00:00 UTC
Ginsburg protest
For all of the bad things that have happened in 2020 don't for a second believe that 2021 won't be infinitely worse. It has been clear to me for months that the fight for the White House is one for the ages.

While every election is 'the most important one ever' in the minds of the politicos who see the other side for what it is, an existential threat to their power, this election is, I feel, finally one worth that moniker. But, that said, nearly every election truly is one where voters are presented a Hobson's Choice where there is no real difference between the standard bearers of both major parties.

And the animating principle of these people is the accumulation of raw power, nothing more. Power, as a concept in modern political theory, is purely an outgrowth of Marxian thinking, defining everything that happens in our lives in terms of it. There are no win/wins in this worldview, only those who benefit and those who are exploited.

Basic concepts of comparative advantage and individual talents as expressed in free trade between sovereign actors are not only nullified by this doctrine but actively disparaged and denigrated through the language of envy and the rhetoric of victimization.

With the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg the day has come for the existent power structure where they have to reveal the final truth of their naked need to maintain their power.

Comment: Their act is indeed tiresome. The following video offers up another refreshing perspective on the Ginsburg death. Warning: very crude language:



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