Puppet MastersS


Bulb

Lebanon should look East and abandon the West

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Wed, 12 Aug 2020 00:00 UTC
Lebanese flag
Post-blast Lebanon has everything to gain from rejecting the West's neoliberal demands and embracing China's Belt and Road

As much as Covid-19 has been instrumentalized by the 0.001% to social-engineer a Great Reset, Beirut's massive port explosion is already being instrumentalized by the usual suspects to keep Lebanon enslaved.

Facing oh-so-timely color-revolution-style "protests," the current Lebanese government led by Prime Minister Hassan Diab has already resigned.

Even before the onshore portion of the port blew up, Beirut had requested a US$10 billion line of credit from the International Monetary Fund. It was denied, of course, so long as trademark neoliberal Washington consensus "reforms" such as a radical slashing of public expenses, mass layoffs and across-the-board privatization were not implemented.

Post-explosion, French President Emmanuel Macron, who's not even capable of establishing a dialogue with the Gilets Jaunes/Yellow Vests at home, has opportunistically jumped in full-neocolonial mode to pose as a savior of Lebanon - as long as the same "reforms," of course, are implemented.
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Mr. Potato

Lazy rehash: Iran paid bounties for targeting US troops, intelligence reportedly suggests

Zack Budryk
The Hill
Mon, 17 Aug 2020 15:43 UTC
US military
© Getty Images
U.S. intelligence reportedly indicates Iran's government offered bounties to Taliban fighters to target U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan.

A Pentagon briefing document said a foreign government paid the Haqqani network, led by a top Taliban leader, to attack Bagram Air Base last December, CNN reported. While the government in question is classified in the memo, two sources familiar with the intelligence told the network it was in reference to Iran.

Four U.S. personnel and more than 75 others were injured in the Bagram attack, which occurred less than a month before the U.S. killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran's Quds Force, in a drone strike in Baghdad. Both a current administration official and a former senior official told CNN that Iran-Taliban ties were cited as part of the justification for the strike against Soleimani.

In March 2020, the Defense Department reportedly made the decision not to take any specific action in response to the intelligence to avoid complicating peace talks with the Taliban. National Security Council officials recommended against a strike and also said the escalating coronavirus pandemic would likely limit the Afghan government's options for a diplomatic response, according to the network.

The briefing document stated that the Bagram attack likely qualified for compensation from the foreign government "based on the nature of the attack and agreed upon bounties." Although U.S. intelligence said the Haqqani network had reason to target the base without a financial motivator, CNN noted that the document states the alleged funding "probably incentivizes future high-profile attacks on US and Coalition forces."

Comment: It was a bald-faced lie when U.S. intelligence hacks tried to accuse the Russians of the same thing over a month ago.

See:

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Cut

Biden's lead over Trump narrows in new national poll

Rebecca Klar
The Hill
Sun, 16 Aug 2020 21:11 UTC
Biden Trump
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's lead over President Trump has narrowed since last month, according to a new national poll.

Biden leads Trump by just 4 points, with Biden at 50 percent and Trump at 46 percent, according to a CNN poll released Sunday. That marks a significant shift since the poll was last conducted in June, when the Democrat led Trump by 14 points, with Biden at 55 percent and Trump at 41.

The movement in the poll among voters is concentrated among men, who were split about evenly in June but who now back Trump over Biden 56 to 40 percent, and voters between the ages of 35 and 64, who tilt toward Trump now but were leaning toward Biden in June, according to CNN.

Among independents, Biden also held a 52 percent lead over Trump's 41 percent in June, but now independents are nearly evenly divided, with 46 percent backing Biden and 45 percent supporting Trump, according to CNN.

Comment: Given the US corporate media's strong tendency to "interpret" polling information in the ways that they prefer, even this minor lead over Trump may be more a case of wishful thinking than based on actual fact.

And don't think for a second that the Dems and other interests won't try to have things their way, despite how most of the country votes:

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Eye 1

Best of the Web: Belarus in the firing line for a colour revolution

Kit Knightly
OffGuardian
Sun, 16 Aug 2020 06:48 UTC
belarus protest
Belarus had their presidential election last Sunday, and the incumbent Alexandr Lukashenko apparently won. This was evidently not supposed to happen, or in some other way counter to the Western world's grand plan - because now we have a little colour revolution happening.

You can always tell an Eastern European colour revolution, because Shaun Walker emerges from his burrow, dragging with him 3000 words of total speculation, unsourced anecdotal evidence and some partisan quotes from Western-backed NGOs. You know, like this.

Another good indication is just how irate Simon Tisdall is, and judging by this column...he's pretty irate. Granted it's mostly about Erdogan and Turkey, but he has words for Lukashenko too, and they are not friendly. I wouldn't be surprised if he broke the keys on his laptop, so furious is his typing.

If you can't be bothered to read it, I don't blame you. To sum up: NATO needs to "do something", or "take action" or "intervene". He doesn't use the word "coup", because our side don't do those, but he definitely means coup.

Comment: See also:

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Chess

SOTT Focus: The Attempted Covid Coup of 2020

Angelo Codevilla
RealClear Politics
Thu, 13 Aug 2020 06:47 UTC
city street
What history will record as the great COVID coup of 2020 is based on lies and fear manufactured by America's ruling class — led by the Democratic Party and aided by the complaisance of most Republican politicians.

In March, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) presented the coronavirus to the Western world as a danger equivalent to the plague. But China's experience, which its government obfuscated, had already shown that COVID-19 was much less like the plague and more like the flu. All that has happened since followed from falsifying this basic truth.

Americans were led to believe that the virus was unusually contagious, and that it would kill up to one in 20 persons it infected — a 5 percent infection/fatality rate (IFR). Today, we still lack definitive, direct knowledge of COVID-19's true lethality. The absence of that knowledge allows bureaucrats to continue fearmongering.

By May, a host of studies in the U.S. and around the world showing that the vast majority of COVID cases cause mild symptoms or none, and showing the IFR to be equal to or lower than that for most flus, forced the CDC to conclude that the lethality rate, far from being 5 percent, was 0.26%--double that of a typical flu. Instead of amending their recommendations in the face of this reality, the CDC and the U.S. government tried to hide it by manipulating the definition and number of COVID "cases."
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Heart - Black

'Unbelievably disgusting': #WrongTrump trends after Robert Trump, president's younger brother, dies


RT
Sun, 16 Aug 2020 17:02 UTC
donald maryanne robert trump
© Global Look Press/Keystone PressDonald Trump, left, sister Maryanne Trump Barry, brother Robert Trump, right.
Shortly after US President Donald Trump announced the passing of his brother Robert, 3 years his younger, the hashtag #WrongTrump was launched on Twitter, quickly climbing to the top and drawing the ire of conservatives.

The president announced the passing of his brother Robert, also a real estate developer and business executive, on Saturday night.

"It is with heavy heart that I share that my wonderful brother, Robert, peacefully passed away tonight. He was not just my brother, he was my best friend," Trump said in a short statement.
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Life Preserver

Trump poised to look into pardon for Edward Snowden

Aishvarya Kavi
Independent
Sun, 16 Aug 2020 00:00 UTC
snowden
© Getty Images for WIRED25Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden
Donald Trump has said he will consider pardoning Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who faced criminal charges after leaking classified documents about vast government surveillance.

Mr Trump, during a news conference at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, said:
"There are many, many people - it seems to be a split decision - many people think that he should be somehow be treated differently and other people think he did very bad things. I'm going to take a very good look at it."
The remarks signal a shift for the president, who repeatedly denigrated Mr Snowden as a "traitor" and a "spy who should be executed" in the years before his election. The disclosures by Mr Snowden, who sought asylum in Russia in 2013, set off a broad debate about surveillance and privacy.

Comment: As if the political bickering needed more impetus, the Snowden speculation is adding fuel to the election fire. Weighing the optics: Trump will garner the positive aspects of constituency response leaving the Dems growling in threats and negative rhetoric.
People's attitude towards Snowden is not something that depends on party affiliation, Trump said, adding that he has seen "many people that are very conservative and very liberal that agree on the same issue, and they agree both ways."




Snowden's Russian lawyer claims Snowden isn't a criminal, needs not a pardon and claims Snowden's response would be good.
If the threat of prosecution no longer hangs over Snowden, "his reaction would be good, I know that," Anatoly Kucherena said. "Edward loves his country a lot and he certainly misses his homeland, family and friends."

Kucherena has represented Snowden since 2013, when he applied for political asylum in Russia after his American passport was revoked and he was stranded in the transit zone of a Moscow airport - apparently, on his way to Latin America. Speaking to the Interfax news agency on Sunday, the lawyer said pardoning his client would be a "humanitarian move", but not exactly what he deserves.

"Edward didn't commit any crime; he is not a felon. He acted in the interest of American citizens and humanity as a whole. In all the years of knowing him I have never doubted his honesty and genuine dedication to his cause."
Former National Security Advisor to Obama, Susan Rice reacted in horror:
The fact they are even considering a pardon for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden shows how low the Republican party has sunk under Donald Trump.

Rice's position was angrily rebuked by many people - including journalist Glenn Greenwald, whose reporting on Snowden leaks won him a Pulitzer Prize - it is hardly surprising.



MSNBC contributor Jennifer Rubin joined Rice in her shaming of the GOP for not standing up to the potential move. The take offered by colleague Malcolm Nance is that both Trump and Snowden are traitors to the country.


Civil rights activist Shaun King took a potshot at never-Trumpers:


See also: Snowden speechless: NSA whistleblower overwhelmed by push for presidential pardon

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Gear

Brookings Institute: Deep state hub connects to fake Russian collusion/Ukraine scandals and now China spying in US

Joe Hoft
The Gateway Pundit
Sat, 15 Aug 2020 12:40 UTC
Brookings Institute/HRC
© Brookings InstituteThe Brookings Institute seen here with Hillary Rodham Clinton as guest speaker.
The Brookings Institute was heavily involved in the Democrat and Deep State Russia collusion hoax and Ukraine impeachment fraud. These actions against President Trump were criminal. This institute is influenced from foreign donations from entities who don't have an America first agenda. New reports connect the Institute to Chinese spying.

As we reported previously, Julie Kelly at American Greatness released a report where she addresses the connections between the Brookings Institute, Democrats and foreign entities. She summarized her report as follows:
Accepting millions from a state sponsor of terrorism, foisting one of the biggest frauds in history on the American people, and acting as a laundering agent of sorts for Democratic political contributions disguised as policy grants isn't a good look for such an esteemed institution.

One would be hard-pressed to name a more influential think tank than the Brookings Institution. The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit routinely ranks at the top of the list of the best think tanks in the world; Brookings scholars produce a steady flow of reports, symposiums, and news releases that sway the conversation on any number of issues ranging from domestic and economic policy to foreign affairs.

Comment: See also:

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Arrow Down

US endures embarrassing UN defeat over Iran arms embargo proposal

Julian Borger
The Guardian
Fri, 14 Aug 2020 19:21 UTC
pompeo
© Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty ImagesUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
The US has suffered a humiliating defeat at the United Nations as its proposal to extend an arms embargo on Iran won support from only the Dominican Republic at the security council vote.

The US resolution was never likely to be passed in the face of Russian and Chinese opposition. It was proposed as a ploy by the Trump administration to open the way to more drastic action against Iran.

But the scale of the defeat on Friday underlined US isolation on the world stage ahead of a major diplomatic confrontation that threatens to consume the security council and further sap its authority.

The US stripped anti-Iran rhetoric from earlier drafts of the resolution in the hope of recruiting more supporters, but its insistence that an extension to the UN embargo would be indefinite made that impossible. Estonia and Tunisia withstood eleventh-hour US pressure to support the revised draft, a measure of diminished American clout at the UN. Russia and China voted against the resolution, the US and the Dominican Republic voted in favour, and all the other council members abstained.

In his response to the vote, the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, lashed out at other member states.
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Target

Nasrallah: Israel 'will pay the price' if it turns out Tel Aviv was behind Beirut blast


Sputnik
Fri, 14 Aug 2020 18:23 UTC
Nasrallah,
© Reuters/Khalil HassanHezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah
The powerful blast killed more than 200 people (numbers provided by the United Nations Refugee Agency), injured 6,000 and displaced as many as 300,000. According to Lebanon's president Michel Aoun the accident affected half of the city and the cost of damage amounts to $15 billion.

Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah said Israel will pay the price if it turns out it was behind the deadly explosion that hit Lebanon's capital Beirut on 4 August.

Lebanese officials said the blast was caused by 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate - a chemical compound used in agriculture as a fertiliser, but can also be used in explosives - that was stored unsafely in a warehouse at the port. The chemical compound detonated after a fire occurred at a warehouse. What caused the fire is unknown.

Together with international investigators, including from the United States, Lebanese officials plan to establish the cause of the tragedy. US President Trump previously claimed that the explosion might not have been an accident, but a "terrible attack".


Comment: Nasrallah also said his group was against an international investigation because its first purpose would be to "distance Israel from any responsibility for this explosion, if it had responsibility". He said the participation of the FBI in an investigation would serve the same purpose.


Comment: The US will give financial support to Lebanon but it is conditional on certain reforms:

David Hale Beirut
© APUS Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale visits the site of the August 4 explosion in Beirut, August 15, 2020.
Lebanon will receive financial support when its leaders implement reforms, and urged them to respond to their people's demands for good governance and an end to corruption, said US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale.

"When we see the commitment of Lebanese officials to real change, in word and deed, America and its international partners will respond to these systemic reforms with continuous financial support," Hale added.

Hale made the remarks at the end of a three-day visit to Beirut after it witnessed a catastrophic explosion at the port this month.

Hale also said that the United States is prepared to work with Congress to pledge $ 30 million in additional funding to allow the flow of grain through the Beirut port on an urgent and temporary basis.
The US will refrain from any decision that implicates Israel as the destroyer until well after the upcoming election, should the evidence match the accusation and it decide to do so. The FBI is joining the Lebanese invitation to assist in the investigation, claiming it is not an FBI investigation.

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