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Inside track: National security mandarins groomed Pete Buttigieg, managed his future

Max Blumenthal
The Grayzone
Thu, 17 Dec 2020 00:00 UTC
Buttigieg
© ForbesDemocratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg
Pledging to "end endless wars," Pete Buttigieg claims he has "never been part of the Washington establishment." But years before he was known as Mayor Pete, an influential DC network of military interventionists placed him on an inside track to power.

In his quest for front-runner status in the 2020 presidential campaign, Pete Buttigieg has crafted an image for himself as a maverick running against a broken establishment.

On the trail, he has invoked his distinction as the openly gay mayor of a de-industrialized Rust Belt town, as well as his experience as a Naval reserve intelligence officer who now claims to oppose "endless wars". He insists that "there's energy for an outsider like me," promoting himself as "an unconventional candidate."

When former Secretary of State John Kerry endorsed Joe Biden this December, Buttigieg went full maverick. "I have never been part of the Washington establishment," he proclaimed, "and I recognize that there are relationships among senators who have been together on Capitol Hill as long as I've been alive and that is what it is."

But a testy exchange between the South Bend mayor and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard during a November 20 Democratic primary debate had already complicated Buttigieg's branding campaign.

Comment: This candidate is packed, programmed and loaded! Buyer beware!

See also:

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Padlock

Feds seek 7 to 9-year prison sentence for Trump ally Roger Stone

Michael Balsamo
AP
Tue, 11 Feb 2020 00:00 UTC
Roger Stone
© AP/Jose Luis MaganaRoger Stone and wife Nydia leave federal court in Washington, November 15, 2019.
Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence President Donald Trump's confidant Roger Stone to serve between 7 and 9 years in prison after his conviction on witness tampering and obstruction charges.

Stone, who is scheduled to be sentenced next week, was convicted in November of a seven-count indictment that accused him of lying to Congress, tampering with a witness and obstructing the House investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to tip the 2016 election.

He was the sixth Trump aide or adviser to be convicted of charges brought as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

In a sentencing memorandum filed Monday evening, prosecutors asked for Stone to serve between 87 and 108 months in federal prison, in accordance with federal sentencing guidelines. Such a sentence would send a message to deter others who might consider lying or obstructing a congressional probe or tampering with witnesses.

Comment: See also:

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Life Preserver

Keiser Report: Trade deficit Trump wants to eliminate is a lifeline for US dollar


RT
Tue, 11 Feb 2020 13:48 UTC
FloatDollar
© Getty Images/philhol
The trade deficit with China may have cost US jobs, but it could be one of the few things keeping the greenback afloat, RT's Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert have found. Stacy Herbert, discussing what is causing job losses and the recent study from the Economic Policy Institute, commented:
"It's trade deficit which maintains the US dollar as that global unit of account. Without that trade deficit, the US dollar could not be the world's reserve currency. So that trade deficit harms American workers, but it helps Wall Street bankers."
Max Keiser explained that bringing China into the global economy was based "on people's conception of what a trade policy should be," with no global standard for money. Thus, instead of creating one, US tariffs and trade policies:
"replaced having a yardstick for the global economy like a gold standard. You need to have a standard unit of money in the globe to have to have global trade. Once you get rid of that, as now we have no global standard of money in the world, you will open yourself to fraud and gaming the system and hopeless collapse."

Comment: It's an election year and no matter what Trump does or doesn't do with the economy, it will be perceived as self-serving.

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Folder

AG Barr: Giuliani has been giving Ukraine data to the Justice Department

Chris Storm, Billy House
Bloomberg
Mon, 10 Feb 2020 11:06 UTC
BarrGiuliani
© Reuters/Aaron P. Bernstein, Mark Reinstein/Shutterstock/KJNAG William Barr • Trump Attorney Rudy Giuliani
Attorney General William Barr acknowledged for the first time Monday that President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has been giving the Justice Department information he collected in Ukraine, essentially bringing what was a stealth campaign into official government channels.

Barr said, however, that information coming from Ukraine must be carefully vetted to ensure it is accurate and authentic. Barr told reporters during a news conference in Washington:
"The DOJ has the obligation to have an open door to anybody who wishes to provide us information that they think is relevant. We have to be very careful with respect to any information coming from Ukraine. There are a lot of agendas in the Ukraine, there are a lot of cross-currents and we can't take anything we receive from the Ukraine at face value."
But House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler quickly objected to the Justice Department's arrangement with Giuliani, saying that it "raises serious questions about conflicts of interest -- both for the department, generally, and for you, specifically."

Comment: One more time...Trump didn't pressure the Ukrainian government. He didn't seek investigations to help his re-election. Some rumors die hard. Others never do. Bloomberg is owned by Michael Bloomberg, Democratic candidate for president.

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X

'A total racist!' Trump helps 'cancel' Bloomberg on Twitter whose audio blames minorities for '95% of murders'


RT
Tue, 11 Feb 2020 15:55 UTC
Bloomberg
© Global Look/Kristin CallahanDemocratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg
Leaked audio of Democratic presidential hopeful Mike Bloomberg calling for targeted police harassment of minorities, because 'that's where the real crime is,' has gone viral with a boost from Trump. "95 percent of your murderers — murderers and murder victims — fit one MO," Bloomberg appears to say in audio leaked from an Aspen Institute speech in 2015.

"You can just take the description, xerox it and pass it out to all the cops. They are male, minorities, sixteen to twenty-five. That's where the real crime is."
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Pocket Knife

Philippines shreds key military treaty with US


RT
Tue, 11 Feb 2020 06:20 UTC
Troops
© Reuters/Romeo RanocoUS troops patrol near a Philippine army camp in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija, 2012.
Relations between two traditional allies have reached a new low after Manila warned the US that it is ending an agreement that allows American troops to set foot on the Philippines soil.

Manila sent formal notice to the US embassy on Tuesday that it is terminating the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesperson Salvador Panelo said it was done in order to be independent from Washington in military affairs. "It's about time we rely on ourselves, we will strengthen our own defenses and not rely on any other country." Panelo told reporters that the nation is open to signing VFAs with other countries as long as they are "mutually beneficial, not one-sided."

Comment: One more country shouts 'Yankee go home!" Gotta give Duterte credit for speaking his mind and following through on his edict.

See also: Duterte counter-sanctions by 'terminating' US military's immunity from prosecution in the Philippines

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Cheese

Abbas urges UNSC to reject 'deal of the century' peace plan: It's 'like Swiss cheese!'


RT
Tue, 11 Feb 2020 18:57 UTC
Abbas map
© Reuters/Shannon StapletonPalestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks at the UNSC meeting in New York, US on February 11, 2020.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has appeared before the UNSC, criticizing the Trump administration's peace plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and urging the Security Council to firmly reject it.

The UNSC gathered in New York on Tuesday to discuss the decades-long conflict between Palestinians and Israelis, and the much-hyped 'deal of the century' plan unveiled by the US President Donald Trump and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu late in January.

Speaking before the Council, Abbas once again rejected Trump's peace plan, blasting the project as a gift to Israel. "This plan should not be considered an international reference for negotiations. It is an Israeli-American preemptive plan to put an end to the question of Palestine," Abbas stated.
He then produced a map of the "independent" Palestinian state envisioned by Trump, arguing that the proposed disarray of Palestinian enclaves within Israeli territory is meant only to "legitimize what was illegal" and reinforce "the apartheid regime." Such a "state" will not actually have any real sovereignty and will lack any control over its "land, sea and air," Abbas argued. "Here's the plan they gave us. It looks like Swiss cheese."
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X

Judge Sullivan cancels General Flynn's sentencing until further notice

Cristina Laila
Gateway Pundit
Mon, 10 Feb 2020 00:00 UTC
FLynn
© UnknownFormer National Security Advisor General Michael Flynn
Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan on Monday canceled General Flynn's sentencing scheduled for February 27 "until further order of the court."

General Flynn formally asked to withdraw his guilty plea last month and accused federal prosecutors of "egregious government misconduct." Federal prosecutors then backed down and offered Flynn probation after asking for up to six months prison time.

Flynn's lawyers are still working through withdrawing Flynn's guilty plea because the government asked for an extension to consider Flynn's motion to withdraw his plea.

Flynn's lawyer Sidney Powell opposed the extension and argued, "The Department of Justice should agree to the withdrawal of the plea. Accordingly we oppose any further extension of the briefing schedule."

So Judge Sullivan indefinitely postponed Flynn's sentencing hearing.
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Arrow Down

Rise and fall of Merkel's 'mini-me'

Michelle Fitzpatrick
Yahoo News
Mon, 10 Feb 2020 00:00 UTC
Kramp-Karrenbauer
© AFP/John MacDougallMerkel's onetime protegee in the end found it impossible to operate as the CDU's nominal leader when her mentor still held the chancellorship.
In the end, the "mini Merkel" nickname was perhaps too big to live up to. Barely a year after replacing her mentor as head of Germany's CDU party, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has thrown in the towel -- unexpectedly upending Chancellor Angela Merkel's succession plans.

Kramp-Karrenbauer, best known by her initials "AKK", said she was standing down as CDU leader and would not seek to become the centre-right party's new chancellor in a general election slated for next year. She said her stint as party leader had been "a difficult time" as mainstream parties grapple to respond to the rise of the far right. It's a swift fall from grace for AKK, whose spell in the spotlight was marred by high-profile blunders and weak showings by the CDU in regional polls.

A political fiasco in the small state of Thuringia last week cast further doubt on her leadership skills and proved the final blow. Not only did AKK fail to persuade rebellious CDU lawmakers there against siding with the far-right AfD in a key vote, she couldn't get them to back snap polls afterwards in the face of nationwide outrage.

Merkel had to weigh in from South Africa to condemn the vote as "unforgivable" -- breaking an unwritten rule not to comment on domestic rows from abroad.

Comment: See also:

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Gold Coins

Copy the best: Indonesia to create sovereign wealth fund based on Russian model


RT
Tue, 11 Feb 2020 16:18 UTC
jakarta skyline
© Reuters / Willy KurniawanA business district in Jakarta, Indonesia
Jakarta wants to establish a national wealth fund similar to the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to attract foreign investment to the country, the Indonesian deputy minister of state-owned enterprises (SOE) has said.

An initiative to establish the wealth fund was earlier unveiled by Indonesian President Joko Widodo during his visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to a top ministry official cited by the Jakarta Post. It is expected that the fund could attract at least $20 billion in foreign investment, and some countries have reportedly shown interest in financing the project.

The new sovereign fund won't be like similar structures in Norway or the US, which use it for investing in overseas projects. Instead, the body hopes to raise the necessary funds from private investors, SOE Deputy Minister Kartika Wirjoatmodjo explained.

Comment: Indeed, Russia has already put its funds to good use, encouraging investment in infrastructure projects at home and around the world. The US made a grave mistake under Obama, in walking away from opportunities because Russia. As a business man and developer, it probably drove Trump to distraction.

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