Puppet MastersS


Heart - Black

Princely protection: Is Andrew being shielded by the FBI over his paedo affair with Virginia Roberts?

Martin Jay
The Strategic Culture Foundation
Fri, 06 Mar 2020 19:58 UTC
prince andrew
© Reuters / Chris RadburnPrince Andrew
The royal family in the UK is having its very foundations shaken by both the controversial departure of Prince Harry and Meghan and now startling new revelations which compromise Prince Andrew even further, since his "car crash" interview with BBC, over his alleged relationship with a sex-trafficked child prostitute working for Jeffrey Epstein.

Andrew had always denied any link whatsoever with the then named Virginia Roberts who was in just 17 when the main allegation - that Epstein flew her to London in March 2001 for her to have sex with the British royal - was brought against him. Central to that allegation was a photo taken by Ghislaine Maxwell in her London home on the same night in question which Andrew claims is fake.

Roberts claims that she was forced into the act by Epstein and Maxwell and has gone on the record to talk about the intimate details of the incident, but her case have been light on witnesses or those who can corroborate her allegations. Until now.

Comment:

Read More...
Putin

Pepe Escobar: Putin just saved the Mad Sultan from himself (again)

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Fri, 06 Mar 2020 18:51 UTC
Erdogan
© AFP / PhotMurat Kula / Anadolu AgencyTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan makes a speech on November 9 last year on the 81st anniversary of the death of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Republic of Turkey.
At the start of their discussion marathon in Moscow on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with arguably the most extraordinary diplomatic gambit of the young 21st century.

Putin said: "At the beginning of our meeting, I would like to once again express my sincere condolences over the death of your servicemen in Syria. Unfortunately, as I have already told you during our phone call, nobody, including Syrian troops, had known their whereabouts."

This is how a true world leader tells a regional leader, to his face, to please refrain from positioning his forces as jihadi supporters - incognito, in the middle of an explosive theater of war.

Comment:

Read More...
Dominoes

Idlib: Moscow's difficult decision

Patrick Lawrence
Consortium News
Tue, 03 Mar 2020 00:00 UTC
PutinErdo
© Russian Government 2014Russian President Vladimir Putin • Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Turkey's leader, who nurses dreams of some kind of neo-Ottoman restoration across the Middle East, is now on a reckless tear.

As Recip Tayyip Erdogan prosecutes his latest military intrusion southward into Syria, all the old mythologies about the Turkish president and the 9-year-old Syrian conflict are rehearsed once again, hopelessly threadbare as they are. The problem now is not the fog of war. The problem is the war of fog.

Let us be clear from the start, then, as to what has unfolded since last week and what will be the desired outcome. The Syrian Arab Army, a force for good, must not stop short of decisive victory in Idlib, the governorate in northwest Syria sheltering the last jihadist militias operating on Syrian soil. Russia, which is correctly (and legally) supporting the S.A.A.'s campaign, should try to avoid a direct conflict with a NATO member but should engage Turkish forces if there is no alternative.

NATO, breaking its own Article 5 covenant, will not come to the aid of a member nation engaged in so despicable an assault on another sovereign nation. I am not alone in holding this opinion. Don't forget: Most NATO members are squeamish, mealy-mouthed Europeans who have given up the ghost in Syria.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Attention

Trump: It's 'possible' Taliban could seize power after US pullout


RFE/RL
Fri, 06 Mar 2020 16:32 UTC
Trump
© FirenewsUS President Donald Trump
U.S. President Donald Trump says the Taliban could "possibly" overrun the Western-backed government in Kabul after the United States withdraws from Afghanistan.

Trump was speaking to journalists at the White House on March 6, days after the United States signed a deal with the Taliban aimed at putting an end to the 18-year war in Afghanistan.

Asked whether an eventual U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan might lead to the Taliban overrunning the sitting government, the president said:
"It's not supposed to happen that way but it possibly will. Eventually, countries have to take care of themselves. We can't be there for another 20 years."

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Arrow Down

Backed by parliament, Zelensky fires Ukraine cabinet - too many foreigners on state company boards

Sophie Mann
Just the News
Thu, 05 Mar 2020 09:01 UTC
Zelensky
© Genya Savilov/Getty ImagesUkraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday dismissed his entire Cabinet of ministers, citing their decisions to place too many foreigners on the boards of state companies.

"The citizens of our country on governing boards of our companies are feeling like an ethnic minority," Zelensky said in a speech to Parliament, in which he also thanked Western nations that financially aid and support Ukraine.

Zelensky was also critical of poor job performances by his Cabinet members over the last six months, but expressed gratitude that none of them had been involved in a corruption scandal.

Of the Ukraine parliament's 450 members, 335 voted in favor of dismissing the Cabinet.
Read More...
Arrow Down

US rejects International Criminal Court's 'reckless' decision to back Afghan war crimes probe


RFE/RL
Thu, 05 Mar 2020 10:36 UTC
Pompeo
© Reuters/Erin ScottUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has denounced as "reckless" a ruling by the International Criminal Court (ICC) that an investigation into alleged war crimes committed in Afghanistan could go ahead.

"This is a truly breathtaking action by an unaccountable political institution, masquerading as a legal body," Pompeo said on March 5 following the ICC judges' decision to overturn on appeal a previous decision to block the probe into crimes allegedly committed by the Taliban, Afghan security forces, and the U.S. military and intelligence agencies.

The ruling by the ICC's Appeals Chamber in The Hague came days after the United States and the Taliban signed a deal aimed at putting an end to the 18-year war in Afghanistan.

"It is all the more reckless for this ruling to come just days after the United States signed a historic peace deal on Afghanistan -- the best chance for peace in a generation," Pompeo said in his statement.


Comment: How's that for a conflated argument!


He said the United States, which is not a party to the ICC, will take "all necessary measures to protect our citizens from this renegade, so-called court."

Comment: The ICC's decision has support:
The court's decision was applauded by many - but some warned that expectations should be tempered.

Mark MacKinnon, a correspondent for Canada's Globe and Mail, said that the ICC had done the "right thing" by pushing forward with the investigation. "Powerful nations can't be above international law, or the whole concept collapses," he wrote.

The Center for Constitutional Rights described the ruling as "the first time senior US officials may face criminal liability for their involvement in the torture program" in Afghanistan.

The ruling marks a "good day" for the ICC, but it's far from certain that the investigation will lead to formal charges, cautioned Kevin Jon Heller, an associate professor of international law at the University of Amsterdam.

Trump has slammed the ICC for its "broad" and "unaccountable" prosecutorial powers, and has repeatedly scoffed at the idea of US soldiers being charged with war crimes.
US and Taliban signed the peace agreement, but it hasn't held.

See also:

Read More...
Russian Flag

Putin approves state policy for key Arctic military force and coastal security system


RT
Thu, 05 Mar 2020 14:20 UTC
Russian arctic troops
© AFP/Maxime PopovNorthern military base on Kotelny Island beyond the Arctic Circle
Russia will enhance military forces deployed in the Arctic to ensure its sovereignty and maintain peace and stability in the region, according to the plan of Arctic development until 2035, signed by President Putin.

The document, entitled 'Fundamentals of the Russian state policy in the Arctic', confirmed that Russia has already created a conventional forces grouping and a coastal security system there.

Their main task during the 15 upcoming years will be to prevent the use of military power against Russia. To deter any aggression, the capabilities of the Arctic forces will be further enhanced. Air, water and underwater surveillance systems will also be upgraded as part of plans to repair and build new military infrastructure in the region.

Read More...
X

Why bully the ICC? It can't do anything about the war crimes in Afghanistan

Damian Wilson
RT
Thu, 05 Mar 2020 16:34 UTC
ICC logo
© AP/Mike CorderInternational Criminal Court
Despite bullying and threats from Trump, the ICC will investigate war crimes including cruelty, sexual violence and torture by US and Afghan soldiers and intelligence services during the nearly 20-year-long conflict.

The US thought it had avoided facing the music over claims of cruelty, rape, torture and other war crimes during the Afghanistan conflict, but now Donald Trump's military chiefs will be asked politely to answer for their alleged misdeeds. The International Criminal Court has made a brave decision — but ultimately a futile one.

The ICC investigators will call US soldiers and their secretive intelligence service colleagues who served in the Afghan conflict to explain the alleged breaches of human rights, but no answers will be forthcoming. The US is more likely to face down the embarrassment of the accusations and simply stonewall its inquisitors.

Comment: See also: US rejects International Criminal Court's 'reckless' decision to back Afghan war crimes probe

Read More...
Arrow Down

US envoy criticized after proudly greeting notorious White Helmets - 'Al-Qaeda's medical staff'


RT
Wed, 04 Mar 2020 08:39 UTC
Envoy Kelly Craft
© Reuters/Tuvan GumrukcuUS Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft poses with the 'White Helmets' in Turkey's Cilvegozu border gate.
Colorful images of Ambassador Kelly Craft enthusiastically shaking hands with 'White Helmets' members made rounds online, with users reminding the diplomat of their connections to a jihadi group the US once fought against.

Craft, who serves as the US Ambassador to the United Nations, showed up at the Turkey-Syrian border, posing with members of the self-described "civil defense group." She didn't come empty-handed, though, promising a hefty $108-million "humanitarian support package" intended for the people of northern Syria.

"Grateful to shake the hands of the brave men and women of the #whitehelmets," Kelly tweeted, hailing them as "ordinary people doing extraordinary things to save the lives of Syrian victims of Assad's brutality."
Read More...
Pistol

Idlib: DM reports two Turkish soldiers killed, three injured


Sputnik
Thu, 05 Mar 2020 19:02 UTC
Turkish soldiers
© AFP 2020/Omar Haj KadourTurkish soldiers in Idlib Province, Syria
Previously, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that they have negotiated a preliminary agreement to settle the ongoing conflict in the Idlib province.

Two more Turkish soldiers have died in the Syrian northwestern province of Idlib, Turkey's Defence Ministry said on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, the Ministry said its Operation Spring Shield in Idlib had led to the killing of 184 Syrian soldiers, the destruction of four tanks, five artillery guns, three anti-tank guns, eight military vehicles, two dock loaded vehicles and two armored combat vehicles over the past 24 hours.

"As a result of the shelling of our forces by the Syrian regime in the area of Operation Spring Shield, two of our military comrades were killed. Three others were injured. Retaliatory fire is being directed at regime positions in that region", the Ministry said in a statement.

Comment: Turkish payback:
Turkey's Defence Ministry said on Friday that they had 'neutralised' 21 Syrian government troops at about 4 pm on 5 March after its two soldiers had been killed in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib.

Two artillery systems and two MLRS belonging to Syrian government forces were destroyed by Turkish drones, it added.
See also:

Read More...