Puppet MastersS


Eagle

How NATO-member Turkey reverted back to being an Islamic dictatorship

Eric Zuesse
Strategic Culture Foundation
Sat, 18 Jul 2020 00:00 UTC
Turkey Erdogan
The gradual process of Turkey's becoming an Islamic sharia-law country, again, is no longer so gradual. It has taken a sudden and sharp rightward turn, into Islamic-nationhood. Turkey's Hagia Sophia, which had been "the world's largest cathedral for nearly a thousand years, until Seville Cathedral was completed in 1520," has now been officially declared by the Turkish Government to be, instead, a mosque.

On July 10th, the BBC bannered "Hagia Sophia: Turkey turns iconic Istanbul museum into mosque" and reported that the biggest, oldest, and the most important, cathedral in all of Orthodox Christendom — and the world's most important Byzantine building, which was constructed as the Saint Sophia Cathedral by the Byzantine Roman Emperor Justinian I in Constantinople (now Istanbul) in the year 537, and which stands on the site that had been consecrated in the year 325 by the Roman Emperor Constantine (and which cathedral was relabelled the Hagia Sophia "museum" in 1935 by Turkey's Constitutionally secularist Government) — has now become, officially, at last, designated, by the restored Islamic Government of Turkey, a Muslim house of worship, a mosque, a Muslim house of worship.
Read More...
Bullseye

Trump considers Afghan war critic for Ambassador to Afghanistan

Jason Ditz
Antiwar.com
Fri, 17 Jul 2020 00:00 UTC
US soldiers Afghanistan
Amid a substantial US pullout from Afghanistan, the administration still doesn't have a proper US Ambassador for that country. Reports, however, are that the short list includes a long-time war critic, Will Ruger.

Though not nominated yet, Ruger is undergoing vetting, and has been meeting with officials. The Vice President for Research and policy at the Charles Koch Institute, Ruger has frequently advocated ending the Afghanistan War.

Though the US is heading toward ending that war anyhow, with so many officials taking a wait and see approach, having a proper ambassador who is known to want a pullout would be a clear signal the administration intends to complete the process.

Comment: According to Politico:
Ruger, a Naval Reserve officer who served a year in Afghanistan a decade ago, is aligned with the president's thinking about the U.S. footprint in the Middle East and the wars in Afghanistan and Syria, and has been especially vocal about getting out of Afghanistan.

"President Trump has correctly concluded that a full and speedy withdrawal of our troops is imperative," he wrote in the American Interest in late May. "Our national interest isn't served by continuing to wage a futile battle but by exiting it."


Read More...
Dollars

Democrat fundraising machine 'ActBlue Texas' paid out small sums to hundreds of individuals for unknown purposes

Joe Hoft
The Gateway Pundit
Fri, 17 Jul 2020 09:24 UTC
rioters
© UnknownMinneapolis riot
The Gateway Pundit reported on May 30th the recent riots in Democrat-led cities around the country were coordinated and related to three main groups: 1) US based Islamist Organizations, 2) Domestic terrorists, and 3) Others related to the Democrat Party.

There clearly was no reason for the mass riots taking place around the country after the death of the individual at the hands of the police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Everyone who saw the police brutality was appalled and outraged at the sight of the policeman kneeling on the victims neck for an incredibly long period of time. The man died. But nothing warrants the wholesale destruction of property, the murder and and riots around the US since that event.

We also were the first to report that BLM was raising money using ActBlue as a resource. The Daily Caller confirmed this and reported that BLM is not a non-profit organization and nonprofit organization (Thousand Currents) said it provides 'fiduciary oversight, financial management, and other administrative services to BLM.

Comment: If the 'friends' of the Democratic Party can (allegedly) pay folks to riot, what else might they want to pay for...votes?

See more regarding ActBlue:

Read More...
Christmas Tree

Carry On Corona- Boris Johnson says 'Significant return to normality by Christmas'

Will Taylor
Yahoo! News
Fri, 17 Jul 2020 11:27 UTC
Boris Johnson
Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson has announced a further easing of the coronavirus lockdown, confirming a number of activities and businesses can reopen from next month."

Unveiling the next steps in the easing of England's COVID-19 restrictions, leisure settings, indoor performances and sports stadiums were given the green light to start welcoming people back in the coming months.

Johnson set out the new timetable at a Downing Street press briefing on Friday, saying that he hoped a "significant return to normality" could come by Christmas.

Comment: Just in time for the 'second wave'.

Read More...
Propaganda

The "Russian hacking" of UK vaccine research: The story that reveals the reality of the government's COVID 19 response

Iain Davis
In This Together
Fri, 17 Jul 2020 00:00 UTC
Russina hacking Covid-19
Russia tried to hack U.S., Canadian and UK COVID 19 vaccination programs. Or so we are told. Nearly every single UK mainstream media outlet carried the same headline story. This was a concerted, coordinated effort across all MSM channels, to convince the entire population that Russia are the baddies, we are the goodies and something must be done about those evil Ruskies.

Times article
There isn't a shred of evidence to back up any of it. It is nothing but fake news and the entire mainstream media (MSM) are peddling it.

The story comes from the National Cyber Security Centre's (NCSC) advisory report APT29 Targets COVID 19 Vaccine Development. There is no proof anywhere in that report to substantiate a single word of anything the British MSM have mindlessly regurgitated into the British public's consciousness.

This shouldn't really come as a surprise. From Russia Gate in the U.S. to the ludicrous Skripal poisoning narrative in the UK, it seems there is rarely, if ever, any evidence to back up these wild Russian attack claims.

There has been no meaningful analysis of the intelligence agency's story by any MSM outlet. None have questioned it, they have simply parroted baseless state propaganda without hesitation. If this ubiquitous fake news doesn't demonstrate to you that we do not have a functioning open and free MSM in the UK, then nothing will.
Read More...
Binoculars

China's economy versus globalization - A look into the future

Peter Koenig
New Eastern Outlook
Wed, 15 Jul 2020 00:00 UTC
China building railroad
After the corona crisis, may the world be facing a monumental paradigm shift of power towards a more balanced civilization - more social justice and equity? The global almost total lockdown, chosen by most governments around the globe in response to mastering the Covid-19 crisis, devastated the world economy, as we know it - and hundreds of millions of lives. Was it necessary? Will there be a time when those responsible for this universal, scientifically unnecessary lockdown be held accountable?

The last six months, governments around the world have almost unilaterally committed an auto-destruction of their socioeconomic fabric and collectively of the global economy. It may never return to the "normal" of the times before COVID. That, per se, may not be a bad omen, though, as our pre-corona existence - especially in the west - was everything else but an ethical "normal".

Pre-Corona Globalization and Economic Development

Neoliberal economics have "normalized" greed, inequity, exploitation of people and depletion of resources. This was largely possible due to an ever more reckless ultra-capitalist globalization and privatization of everything - goods, services and assets through international corporatism and globalized private banking.
Read More...
Bullseye

Best of the Web: US has 'lost its mind, morals and credibility' - China's foreign minister tells Russia's Lavrov, and he agrees

Laura Zhou
South China Morning Post
Sat, 18 Jul 2020 19:00 UTC
Wang
© APChinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was openly critical of the US in a telephone call with his Russian counterpart.
China's foreign minister told his Russian counterpart on Friday that the United States has "lost its mind, morals and credibility", while saying Beijing and Moscow should work together on issues of global importance, like Covid-19 and regional security.

"The US has bluntly pursued its 'America first' policy, pushing egoism, unilateralism and bullying to the limit, and that's not what a great power should be about," Wang Yi was quoted by Beijing as telling Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in a telephone conversation.

"The US, which has ... resorted to extreme measures and even created hotspots and confrontations in international relationships, has lost its mind, morals and credibility," he said.
Read More...
Cut

German court rules investigators' access to private data must be limited


Reuters
Fri, 17 Jul 2020 10:59 UTC
spying tech
© Pixabay / Gerd Altmann
A German federal court said on Friday that several laws giving investigators access to personal internet or phone data were unconstitutional and needed to be amended to better protect privacy.

The court ruling is a victory for privacy activists who had said there were not sufficient limits on when and why federal police or domestic intelligence can access the names and addresses or even e-mail passwords and mobile phone PINs of users.

One of the suits on which the ruling published on Friday is based was filed by Katharina Nocun and Patrick Breyer of the Pirate Party, along with around 6,000 joint plaintiffs, in 2013.

Comment: See also: EU dictatorship: ECB given ultimatum over €2 trillion stimulus scheme by Germany's top court UPDATE

Read More...
Eye 2

US sanctions are part of a multi-front war on Syria, and its long-suffering civilians are the main target

Eva Bartlett
RT
Mon, 13 Jul 2020 20:32 UTC
Syrian refugee patients
© AFP / KHALIL MAZRAAWISyrian refugee patients
The US is waging multiple fronts of war against Syria, including brutal sanctions, while claiming concern over the wellbeing of Syrian civilians - the vast majority of whom are suffering as a direct result of US policies.

On June 17, the US implemented the Caesar Act, America's latest round of draconian sanctions against the Syrian people, to "protect" them, America claims. This, after years of bombing civilians and providing support to anti-government militants, leading to the proliferation of terrorists who kidnap, imprison, torture, maim, and murder the same Syrian civilians.

Just weeks after these barbaric sanctions were enforced, cue American crocodile tears about Syrian suffering, and claims that Moscow and Damascus are allegedly preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid. More hot air from American hypocritical talking heads who don't actually care about Syrians' wellbeing.

America trigger-happily sanctions many nations or entities that dare to stand up to its hegemonic dictates. The word "sanctions" sounds too soft - the reality is an all-out economic war against the people in targeted nations.
Read More...
Attention

Setting Pompeo loose on the concept of 'human rights' is a warning the US is about to violate a lot more of them!

Helen Buyniski
RT
Fri, 17 Jul 2020 20:56 UTC
Pompeo
© Reuters/Brendan SmialowskiUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has unveiled what he calls a "moral foreign policy," attempting to limit other nations' power to declare unalienable human rights. The aim, as usual, is legitimizing the American empire's abuses.

The 60-page preliminary report, released on Thursday, is the product of a year's work from an advisory panel Pompeo appointed to devise "a moral foreign policy...grounded in [a] conception of human rights." It calls for a dramatic reevaluation of what constitutes "human rights" and advises the international community to get off the Trump administration's back regarding their enforcement.

It wasn't hard to guess when the project was announced that where US policy and human rights were at odds, Washington would win out - Pompeo even acknowledged as much, warning that "loose talk of 'rights' unmoors us from the principles of liberal democracy" (translation: you have too many rights, don't make us come over there and civilize you ) in an op-ed published at the time. He confirmed it again on Thursday in a speech he gave to celebrate the report's release, quoting the commission's chair Mary Ann Glendon while complaining about the "proliferation of rights."
"A rapidly expanding catalog of rights...not only multiplies the occasion for risks of collision, but risks trivializing core American values."

Comment: Pompeo's moral judgements and accompanying provocations are akin to 'lipstick on a pig'.

Read More...