Puppet MastersS


Star of David

Netanyahu: Israel is in 'state of emergency' as virus resurges


Ynet
Sun, 05 Jul 2020 12:43 UTC
Netanhyahu
© CBN NewsIsraeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel is currently in a "state of emergency" in light of the alarmingly high number of new coronavirus cases in the country. Israel has in recent weeks seen a resurgence of COVID-19, with the number of active patients, currently sick with the pathogen, passing the 10,000 mark on Friday, for the first time since the start of the epidemic.

He said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting:
"We are in a state of emergency, we cannot delay the legislation [on adopting virus measures], we must move forward with it to stop the spread. We will have to state steps beyond what was agreed upon during the coronavirus cabinet [meeting] last week."
Netanyahu said the World Health Organization recently pinpointed the Middle East as a coronavirus hotspot and it "does not exclude" Israel.
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Biohazard

Iran to upgrade Natanz nuclear site after mysterious incident causes 'significant' damage


RT
Sun, 05 Jul 2020 11:46 UTC
Natanz nuclear plant Iran
© AFP / Atomic Energy Organization of IranAn entrance to the Natanz nuclear plant.
Tehran plans to "work around the clock" to repair the damage caused by a mysterious incident at its Natanz nuclear-enrichment site, Iran's atomic agency spokesman said.

As part of the reparations, the damaged building would be replaced with a more spacious facility, Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for the National Atomic Energy Organization told the Islamic Republic News Agency. Some of the precise measuring equipment used at the site was "destroyed" and could no longer be used, he said, but "more advanced" equipment would be supplied forthwith.

The nature of the incident remains undisclosed for security reasons, Kamalvandi explained, although he confirmed that the cause has been determined and was known to the nation's Supreme Security Council. The official also admitted that the financial losses the atomic agency had suffered as a result were "significant."

Comment: Local media claim an unnamed 'senior' source revealed Israel was behind the explosion, but Iranian authorities insist it was caused by leaking gas tanks. However Haaretz reports more on the chain of mysterious incidents that have plagued Iran over the past week:
The chain of incidents in Iran began in the middle of last week, with an explosion at a weapons development facility in Parchin. It was followed by an explosion at a site in Tehran that was described as a hospital, and that resulted in casualties. The Natanz explosion came later, and on Saturday a fire was reported at a power station in the southern Iranian region of Ahvzaz, close to the Iraqi border.


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NPC

Democratic Senator & Biden's potential VP says she's 'open' to removing George Washington statues


RT
Sun, 05 Jul 2020 11:46 UTC
George Washington statue
© REUTERS/Jay PaulA statue of George Washington on a horse outside the Virginia State Capitol building in Richmond, Virginia
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) appeared to confirm conservatives' ''slippery slope' concerns about the tearing down of historical monuments, when she told CNN she is open to memorials to George Washington being removed.

Duckworth, who has been floated as a possible pick for Joe Biden's vice presidential nominee, took no umbrage with the idea of protesters targeting Washington statues when she was confronted with the idea in a Sunday interview with CNN.

"I think we should listen to everybody. I think we should listen to the argument there," she said, then quickly moving into the safer zone of criticizing President Donald Trump for giving a speech at Mount Rushmore - land the senator says was "stolen from Native Americans."
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USA

LA mayor warns citizens to cancel Fourth of July plans to 'save lives,' but supports Black Lives Matter protests


RT
Sat, 04 Jul 2020 19:56 UTC
Eric Garcetti
© REUTERS/Lucy NicholsonEric Garcetti speaks during a protest against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in Los Angeles, California.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is warning citizens to avoid Fourth of July celebrations during the Covid-19 pandemic, yet is fully in support of Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests and was even pictured at one not wearing a mask.

"We're going to have to celebrate differently this year. Everyone should cancel plans with others for the 4th of July. You shouldn't gather with anyone who doesn't live in your household," Garcetti tweeted on Friday.

He followed up on the actual holiday with multiple tweets doubling down on his warning.

Comment: The blatant hypocrisy is stunning.

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Light Saber

Nunes: Russian bounty leakers 'investigating themselves' is 'a real problem'

Daniel Chaitin
Washington Examiner
Sat, 04 Jul 2020 20:52 UTC
Devin Nunes
© Crooks and LiarsDevin Nunes, House Intelligence Committee Chair
Leaks about Russia offering bounties to Taliban-linked fighters to target U.S. and other coalition troops in Afghanistan likely came from counterintelligence officials aligned with the Democratic Party, according to the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee.

Rep. Devin Nunes also told Fox News on Saturday that it is unlikely the leakers will ever be found, lamenting how the nation's intelligence agencies have been "politicized" since the 2016 election.

"The idea that this would leak likely — and I'll say this, and I think this is the most important thing I'm going to say this morning — this leak probably came from the area of our intelligence agencies that look at counterintelligence," the California Republican said.

"These are the very people that are actually going to be investigating themselves. I think we have a real problem when the intelligence agencies within our counterintelligence capabilities ... when have to actually investigate themselves. I don't think we're going to find these leakers who were just helping the Left build a narrative to try to take down the Republican Party," Nunes added.

Comment: The timing of the "leak" coincided almost perfectly with some real progress in peace talks in aiming the decades-long war in Afghanistan. How surprising . . . . .

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Light Sabers

Moscow blasts US report accusing Russia of nuclear violations while also admitting there's no proof


RT
Sun, 05 Jul 2020 06:06 UTC
missile
© REUTERS/USAF/Airman John ParieFile Photo: A US Air Force missile maintenance team removes the upper section of an intercontinental ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead in an undated USAF photo at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana.
Russia's Foreign Ministry has responded to a report by the US State Department on arms control, which focused primarily on baseless allegations against Moscow, calling US diplomats out for "fact juggling" and "falsification."

The annual report, titled "Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments," was recently presented by the Department of State to Congress. While the piece is basically an internal US document from one government body to another, it is primarily focused on activities of other nations - instead of providing an account of the US' own activities, Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

"The American authorities use their traditional tactics of shifting responsibility in order to divert the attention of the international community from their own real efforts to break the decades-old system of treaties and agreements in the field of arms control. "
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Wolf

Running a senile candidate: The cynical strategies of Dementia Politics

Davis Hanson
National Review
Tue, 30 Jun 2020 20:36 UTC
Joe biden presidential campaign
© Mark Makela/ReutersFormer vice president Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event in Lancaster, Pa., June 25, 2020.
Stoke chaos, obstruct economic recovery, and hide Biden in the basement till Election Day.

Joe Biden is tragically suffering a mental eclipse and sliding away at a geometric rate. Understandably, his handlers have kept him out of sight. He stays off the campaign trail on the pretext of the virus and his age-related susceptibility to COVID-19 morbidity.

I say "pretext" without apology. Quarantine should not have otherwise stopped Biden over the past three months from doing daily interviews, speeches, and meetings. But each occasion, however scripted, rehearsed, and canned, would only have offered further daily proof that Biden is cognitively unable to be president or indeed to hold any office.

Often Biden cannot finish a sentence. Names are vague eddies in his mind's river of forgetfulness. He is in a far more dire mental state than a physically failing FDR was in his 1944 campaign for a fourth term.
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Bullseye

Venezuela catching a break? Columbian court orders US troops to leave the country

Drago Bosnic
Fort Russ
Sun, 05 Jul 2020 18:03 UTC
Colombian President Iván Duque
Colombian President Iván Duque
US troops have been ordered to suspend activities in Colombia for 48 hours after a court ruled that their presence in the South American country was unlawful.

The finding came after legal action was initiated by a group of opposition senators, arguing that President Ivan Duque had deliberately violated the constitutional requirement that the entry of foreign troops into Colombia must be debated in the Senate, Morning Post reported.
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Oil Well

Council of Sheikhs: Libya's tribal young men ready to fight if Turkey occupies oil fields, hold talks with Russia, Egypt


Sputnik
Mon, 29 Jun 2020 12:16 UTC
Sheikh Senussi al-Haleeq/oil
© Twitter/aa.comSheikh Senussi al-Haleeq and Libyan oil
Sheikh Senussi al-Haleeq, the deputy chairman of the Supreme Council of Libyan Sheikhs and Elders, told Sputnik in an interview that a great number of tribal young men were ready to engage in fighting if Turkey took over oil fields, controlled by the tribes:
"We have a formidable number of young men ready to fight in the case of Turkish occupation of our lands. If they go for the oil fields, I assure you that they will head to training camps and we will wage a war on the oil fields. This is not a [preferred scenario] because I do not wish for the fields to be involved in political divisions or to drag the oil sector into the war because that will be harmful to the Libyans and to those who are our allies among the Europeans and Americans."
Sheikh Senussi al-Haleeq confirmed that Libya was in talks with Egypt regarding the possibility for Cairo to train and arm Libyan tribes to repel Turkey's attacks. No final agreement has been reached yet, but if any training takes place, it will certainly happen in Libya, the official specified.

Comment: Libyan oil reserves:
Libya oil


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Briefcase

International Court of Justice: Iran to sue US for sanctioning it during Covid-19 pandemic


RT
Sun, 05 Jul 2020 14:11 UTC
The Peace Palace
© ReutersThe Peace Palace, the seat of the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Iran intends to sue the US at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), saying Washington's sanctions have damaged Tehran's ability to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. The intention to initiate litigation was announced by the country's Vice-President for Legal Affairs Laya Joneydi during a visit to the Pasteur Institute of Iran, which plays a leading role in dealing with the deadly coronavirus.

The ICJ is one of the principle bodies in the United Nations' system for handling disputes between UN members. Washington refuses to acknowledge its jurisdiction in full since The Hague-based body ordered the US to pay compensation to Nicaragua for waging an undeclared war against the Sandinista government in the 1980s.

The court is already reviewing a lawsuit filed by Iran over sanctions imposed by the Donald Trump administration. In 2018, it ordered the US to lift restrictive measures linked to humanitarian trade, food, medicine and civil aviation. Washington ignored the order and instead scrapped a treaty with Iran, which served as the basis for the Iranian legal case.
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