Puppet MastersS


Bug

Macron's slow disintegration of the French Republic

Thierry Meyssan
Voltaire Network
Sun, 12 Jul 2020 00:00 UTC
Macron
© Benoit Tessierpool/AFP via Getty Images
For the past three years, a profound protest has been heard throughout France. It has taken on hitherto unknown forms. Claiming to be a republican ideal, it is questioning the way in which political personnel serve the institutions. Faced with it, the President of the Republic monkeys a dialogue that he manipulates at every stage. For Thierry Meyssan, the country's worst enemies are not those who want to divide it into communities, but those who have been elected and have forgotten the meaning of their mandate.

The first wave

In October 2018, in France, a deaf woman protested from small towns and the countryside. The country's leaders and the media were stunned to discover the existence of a social class they did not know and had never met before: a petty bourgeoisie, which had been excluded from the big cities and relegated to the "French desert", an area where public services are rationed and public transport is non-existent.

This protest, which in some places turned into an uprising, was triggered by the increase of a tax on oil aimed at reducing fuel consumption in order to achieve the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement. These citizens were much more affected than others by this increase because they lived far away from everything and had no transportation options other than their personal means.
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Propaganda

Best of the Web: The Russiagate Spectacle: Season 2?

Gerald Sussman
Counterpunch
Mon, 13 Jul 2020 00:00 UTC
The new cold war
If it's an election year, there must be a Russiagate story. The Clintons and their neoliberal progeny, including the current standard bearer for corporate liberalism, have turned the Democratic Party into a branch office of the Deep State Inc., whose propaganda drones, the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, and MSNBC act like hired guns for the Office of War Information.

There's nothing new about the mainstream media (MSM) being teammates with the State Department and the CIA. Carl Bernstein published a major investigative report back in 1977 that revealed that the Times and their fellow travelers had been functioning as the overseas eyes and ears of the Agency, what was called "Operation Mockingbird," since 1948. The MSM were practically owned by the CIA.

The Times still goes to "The Company" before reporting events abroad. Given that the largest section of Americans still depends on television for news, and TV in turn relies heavily on the New York Times for the international news agenda, the CIA is able to feed its propaganda to the public through establishment media, even though this violates its charter. The CIA also influences public opinion through its entertainment industry liaison program, established in the mid-1990s, that in effect co-directs many American film and television productions.

The warmongers in the liberal media are more gung-ho than even the president. Interviewing Mike Pence last year after Trump threatened to obliterate Iran, CNN's Jake Tapper expressed the concern that "Iran would get the wrong message from the president's restraint." The cowboy pundit asked Pence, "Is he willing to pull the trigger," salivating at the prospect of war.

Comment: In what was otherwise a fairly accurate article, the author just had to throw "racism" into the mix. Oh well.

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Eagle

RAND Corporation's hope that NATO opposes Russia in the Mediterranean is divorced from reality

Paul Antonopoulos
InfoBrics
Mon, 13 Jul 2020 00:00 UTC
NATO Mediterranean
Russia is conducting "military intimidation" in the Mediterranean according to RAND in a newly published article titled "Russia Is Eyeing the Mediterranean. The U.S. and NATO Must Be Prepared." The authors claim that "As part of its great power exertions Russia seeks more access and freedom of movement in the Mediterranean region, and is bolstering its military footprint to achieve this objective." The authors also urge the U.S. and NATO to meet "this rising challenge" by developing "a more robust southern strategy with a reinforced air and naval presence."

RAND is considered the U.S. Air Force's think tank as it was established by General H. H. "Hap" Arnold, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and by aeronautical engineer Theodore von Kármán. The bulk of its funding in its early formation was from the Air Force. Therefore, when reading RAND reports it must be noted that articles are written through the eyes of US unilateralism and unipolarity.

The authors argue that "By upgrading its military posture in the region, Russia seems to believe it can be more successful in projecting power and minimizing the influence of the United States and NATO." However, this would imply that NATO has a unified policy in the Mediterranean when in actual fact the Alliance has never been so divided over its so-called southern flank. The article claims that Russia is in direct conflict with NATO and their interests in the Mediterranean, but ignores that the Alliance is deeply divided in Libya, Syria and the Aegean.
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Sherlock

Serbia protests: President Vučić caught between coronavirus and color revolution

Joaquin Flores
Strategic Culture
Fri, 10 Jul 2020 18:51 UTC
serbia protest
© Strategic Culture/REUTERS/Marko Djurica
On the evenings of July 7th and 9th, a wave of unrest swept through several Serbian cities - chiefly Belgrade - in opposition to an announcement from Vučić that Belgrade would return to the government mandated coronavirus quarantine lockdowns.

Largely the protests were peaceful if energetic, with the vast majority of protesters of all ages and walks of life observing norms and voicing their opposition to the announcement that quarantine would return. Many of those protesting were not anti-Vučić per se, and their issues were not political in the electoral sense, but opposed the return to lockdowns which seem arbitrary and capricious at this point.

Vučić Responds Reasonably to Peaceful Protesters

In response to the protests, the Serbian government heard and understood the nature of the grievances, and did something quite rational - in a statement aired on live television, Vučić rescinded the return to quarantine order, which was otherwise to go into effect on the weekend of July 10th.
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Burka

UK govt rules muzzles mandatory for going to the shops, instructs police to issue fines for non-compliance

Jessica Elgot
The Guardian
Mon, 13 Jul 2020 22:30 UTC

Comment: Brexit Britain isn't any freer from oppressive rule after all...


bojo
© WPA/Getty ImagesBoris Johnson, wearing a face mask during a visit to the London Ambulance Service. Non-compliance will attract up to £100 fine. Photograph:
Face masks will become mandatory in shops across England, ministers are to announce on Tuesday, following mixed messages, a cabinet split and mounting pressure on Boris Johnson to change public advice.

New legislation will not come into force until Friday 24 July, however, raising concerns over the risk of coronavirus spreading over the next 10 days as lockdown is eased.


Comment: Masks were voluntary before and after the lockdown however it's only now, after the virus has spread throughout the country, that masks are being enforced. It only makes sense when one realises there's another agenda in play.


Enforcement, which will include a fine of up to £100 for non-compliance, will be down to police, though shop staff will be expected to encourage the policy, No 10 said.


Comment: Turning people against each other has been a running theme: Global Gestapo: UK police ask public to report on anyone who APPEARS to be breaching lockdown rules with new online tool


Comment: We note, again, that the 'rules' change from day to day, and depending on which govt minister is speaking. It's fairly clear to us that some supranational body is in regular backchannel communication with one or two senior govt people - likely the PM himself - issuing updates to pass on to 'the plebs'...



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Dominoes

The Erasure of Western History

Daithí O'Duibhne
The Burkean
Mon, 29 Jun 2020 00:00 UTC
Old mirrorS.of.L.
© yankeetherebel.com/KJNReflection of the past
Remember when you were told that slippery-slope arguments are fallacious?

Such a style of argument became particularly relevant during the last decade, often invoked by the right and ridiculed by the left. A slippery-slope argument was at the core of the 2017 debate over the statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia, which led to the now infamous 'Unite-the-Right' rally at Charlottesville.

The argument made by many on the right was simple: 'The taking down of Robert E. Lee would lead to the taking down of other statues deemed to be racist.' What started as the removal of a few Confederate generals will end with the removal of figures such as Washington and Lincoln.

The liberal left largely derided this style of argument, saying at the time that it invoked what they called the slippery-slope fallacy. Just because some statues are coming down over racism, they said, it does not mean statues of other, seemingly more decent men, will come down too.

Fast forward three years, and we can see that the right has been justified in its fears. Using the death of George Floyd in the US as an excuse, statues, monuments and buildings have been attacked by militant leftists, all in the name of fighting 'white supremacy'.

Comment: The 'plan' is to disintegrate human society. The mirror, should we manage to open our eyes, will reflect what we chose to ignore.

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Dollar

Soros donates $330M to radical BLM groups, includes movement to 'end policing as we know it'

Jim Hoft
The Gateway Pundit
Mon, 13 Jul 2020 09:10 UTC
G. Soros
© Jewish Business NewsGeorge Soros
The Soros Foundation announced $220 million donations to BLM and black-led justice organizations building power in black communities across the country. The Open Society Foundations added that the donations will help the movement to "end policing as we know it."

This is not the first time Soros has donated to Black Lives Matter. In August 2016 the mysterious "DC Leaks" website posted hacked documents from George Soros's Open Society. The documents included information on operations in Latin America, Eurasia, Asia, the US, Europe and the World Bank.

One document revealed Soros paid $650,000 to the Black Lives Matter movement.

The Washington Times accused Soros of giving at least $33 million in one year to the far left groups that emboldened black lives matter activists.

Comment: See also:

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Black Magic

Mad Maxine Waters: Trump, supporters, making sure blacks 'do not rise to any level of influence and power'

Eric A. Blair
The Gateway Pundit
Mon, 13 Jul 2020 18:37 UTC
Mad Maxine
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) said on Sunday that President Trump and his supporters are all racist and are actively working to keep black people down.

Trump and his base "believe that it is their right and their responsibility to ensure that blacks and people of color and others do not rise to any level of influence and power, significant that would cause them not to be in total charge of the country," Waters said on MSNBC's "AM Joy."

The California Democrat did not mention the fact that the last U.S. president, Barack Obama, was black, and that he won easily in two elections.

Waters also said the U.S. "justice system is broken," adding that for black people, "it has never really been in our favor, and it has basically been responsible for ensuring that we could never ever get beyond this suppression and this oppression that has been forced upon us for so many years."


Comment: Maybe she should read the news: Kanye's real success: Trump now supports criminal justice reform, reducing sentences and sending fewer to prison


"So those who criticize Black Lives Matter, they can continue to do that, but I want to tell you the time has come now where we are joined by so many others who really were not there for us in the past." Waters continued.
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Blue Planet

Iran-China pact turbocharges the New Silk Roads

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Fri, 10 Jul 2020 00:00 UTC
Rouhani and Xi
China will invest $400 billion in Iran energy and infrastructure but nothing in strategic pact allows for a Chinese troop presence or island handover

Two of the US's top 'strategic threats' are getting closer and closer within the scope of the New Silk Roads — the leading 21st century project of economic integration across Eurasia. The Deep State will not be amused.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi blasted as 'lies' a series of rumours about the 'transparent roadmap' inbuilt in the evolving Iran-China strategic partnership.

That was complemented by president Rouhani's chief of staff, Mahmoud Vezi, who said that 'a destructive line of propaganda has been initiated and directed from outside Iran against the expansion of Iran's relations with neighbours and especially (with) China and Russia.'

Vezi added, 'this roadmap in which a path is defined for expansion of relations between governments and the private sectors is signed and will continue to be signed between many countries.'

Comment: See also: Iran negotiates 25-year bilateral deal with China

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Arrow Down

WHO ramps up fear-mongering, warns pandemic will get 'worse and worse and worse' unless countries follow Covid precautions


France24
Mon, 13 Jul 2020 17:27 UTC
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
© Denis Balibouse, REUTERSTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), attends a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland on June 25, 2020.
The new coronavirus pandemic raging around the globe will worsen if countries fail to adhere to strict healthcare precautions, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Monday.

"Let me be blunt, too many countries are headed in the wrong direction, the virus remains public enemy number one," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual briefing from the U.N. agency's headquarters in Geneva.

"If basics are not followed, the only way this pandemic is going to go: it is going to get worse and worse and worse."

Global infections stand at 13 million, according to a Reuters tally, with more than half a million deaths.


Comment: Put those numbers into perspective: they're comparable to a bad flu season. The lockdowns have only made things worse. They were not designed to eradicate the virus or stop the virus (both of which are impossible), or even to stop deaths, just to spread them out over time to avoid overburdening the healthcare system. But the narrative has shifted now that deaths are trending downwards and populations are approaching, or have already achieved, herd immunity. Some people want to keep the world terrorized and locked down for the foreseeable future, it seems.

Tedros, whose leadership has been heavily criticised by U.S. President Donald Trump, said that of 230,000 new cases on Sunday, 80% were from 10 nations, and 50% from just two countries.

The United States and Brazil are the countries worst hit.

"There will be no return to the old normal for the foreseeable future ... There is a lot to be concerned about," Tedros added, in some of his strongest comments of recent weeks.


Comment: Only because of tyrants and toadies like Tedros.

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