Puppet MastersS


Russian Flag

German investment in Russia highest in decade despite sanctions


RT
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 17:15 UTC
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel
© Alexei Druzhinin / SputnikRussian President Vladimir Putin and Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel
Investments by German businesses in the Russian economy exceeded €3 billion in 2018, marking the highest level since before the financial crisis more than a decade ago, according to the Russian-German Chamber of Commerce.

"Despite Western sanctions along with Russia's retaliatory measures the volume of investments by German corporations into the Russian economy last hit a record high in 2008," the German trade lobby said in a statement.

The chairman of the chamber Matthias Schepp highlighted that apart from substantial investment in projects such as the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, Russia's market offers great opportunities for German small and medium-sized businesses.

"Companies that are well aware of the Russian market are not in a hurry to be afraid of sanctions and political problems," Schepp said.

According to the statement, the total volume of financial inflows from German investors in 2018 amounted to €3.2 billion, exceeding the forecasts by the Deutsche Bundesbank that expected the figure to reach a maximum level of €2.1 billion.

Comment: U.S. policy is to destroy their enemies by any means possible in order to maintain global hegemony. And when actual warfare isn't possible, it resorts to economic warfare, among other forms. Unfortunately for the makers of this U.S. policy, Europe is simply too natural a trading partner of Russia to be completely cowed into obeying U.S. diktat. See also:

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Bad Guys

US war against Venezuela and Iran's 'deep states' goes public

Andrew Korybko
Oriental Review
Mon, 15 Apr 2019 17:09 UTC
Pompeo
© NEOUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
The US' desire to dismantle the network of Iranian influence in Latin America and specifically in Venezuela speaks to its commitment to counter the regional sway of its rivals' "deep states", though it's hitherto unprecedented for any country to make such a crusade public since the end of the Old Cold War, let alone clothe it in "anti-terrorist" and "anti-criminal" rhetoric.

US Secretary of State Pompeo recently reiterated his rhetoric that Iran is a "global threat", this time basing it on his claims that the country's network of influence in Latin America is supporting "transnational crime" and "terrorism". This comes shortly after Washington designated the IRGC as a "terrorist" organization and approximately half a year since the Justice Department began investigating Iranian ally Hezbollah's alleged links to drug cartels as a follow-up to the scandalous Obama-era "Operation Cassandra". Taken together, it's clear that the US desires to dismantle Iran and Venezuela's supposedly interconnected influence networks in Latin America as the next step in fortifying "Fortress America", and while "deep state" wars such as this one have been going on for decades, it's hitherto unprecedented for any country to make such a crusade public since the end of the Old Cold War when the US used to make similar claims about the USSR and its communist proxies.
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Cardboard Box

Amid chaos at Dept. of Homeland Security, Ron Johnson calls for honest, policy-focused immigration debate

Alexandra DeSanctis
National Review
Wed, 10 Apr 2019 14:58 UTC
Ron Johnson
© Erin Schaff/ReutersSenate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., May 15, 2018.
Wisconsin's Republican senator believes the issue is a lot more complex than either side is willing to acknowledge.

With Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen's departure from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) this week, the future of the Trump administration's immigration policy has been thrown into uncertainty, even as the situation at the southern border becomes increasingly unstable.

According to a New York Times report, Nielsen's relationship with the president worsened in recent months as he repeatedly blamed her for the ongoing surge in apprehensions at the border. The breaking point apparently came when Trump asked her to close ports of entry and stop accepting asylum seekers, and she refused. Some other reports suggested that the president also was frustrated with Nielsen's resistance to reinstating the "zero tolerance" policy of separating migrant children from their families at the border, which was scrapped last summer after months of controversy. (Trump denied this on Tuesday afternoon, telling reporters, "We're not looking to do that, no.")

Nielsen's resignation came amid a months-long spike in the number of asylum seekers and migrant families stopped at the southern border. In early March, the Times reported that "for the fourth time in five months, the number of migrant families crossing the southwest border has broken records." Weeks later, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) head Kevin McAleenan called the situation an "unprecedented humanitarian and border-security crisis."
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Pirates

Trump was 'just joking' about loving Wikileaks, says WH press secretary

Allan Smith
NBC News
Sun, 14 Apr 2019 15:50 UTC
wikileaks
President Donald Trump was just joking when commented during his campaign that he "loved" WikiLeaks, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Sunday.

"Look, clearly the president was making a joke during the 2016 campaign," Sanders told "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace about Trump's past praise for WikiLeaks. "Certainly we take this serious."

Sanders spoke about Trump's WikiLeaks remarks after the Department of Justice charged the website's fugitive founder Julian Assange with computer hacking following his arrest in London partly in connection with a U.S. extradition warrant. Assange had been living for nearly seven years in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid extradition.

Comment: It was obviously not a joke and that he really did love Wikileaks. This is just more evidence that the US president is not in charge. He was told to distance himself from Assange, and he obediently obliged.

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Bad Guys

Washington just had a secret meeting for 'US military assault' on Venezuela

Eoin Higgins
Common Dreams
Mon, 15 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
Juan Guaidó
© Edilzon Gamez/Getty ImagesWith the backing of the Trump administration, opposition leader Juan Guaidó declared himself "interim president" earlier this year.
A group dedicated to regime change in Venezuela held a secret meeting on overthrowing the country's government last week, according to reporting from The Grayzone Project.

Journalist Max Blumenthal on Sunday revealed a list of meeting attendees he obtained over the weekend from a source.


The list (in which the meeting is misdated as being on April 20) shows that the event, held at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., boasted as attendees members of the State Department, the Colombian and Brazilian embassies, members of the Venezuelan opposition, and other officials in the American national security state.

Comment: For more on what Washington's "considerations" are for military intervention in Venezuela, see: Where will the Trump administration go to war next?

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Bizarro Earth

Top US general urges communication with Russia


RT
Mon, 15 Apr 2019 23:16 UTC
US army poland
© Reuters/Kacper PempelUS 1st Armored Division deploying artillery at the Drawsko Pomorskie training area, Poland, March 2019
As US-Russia relations continue to wither, one top US general is pushing for greater cooperation between the nuclear adversaries, urging US officials to seek "more communication" with their Russian counterparts.

"It would ensure that we understand each other and why we are doing what we're doing," said Curtis Scaparrotti, four-star US Army general and the top NATO commander for Europe.

"It doesn't have to be a lot," Scaparrotti told the Associated Press on Sunday, adding that "communication is a very important part of deterrence."

Relations between the two countries have rapidly deteriorated in recent years, a development many analysts have deemed a "new Cold War." The general suggested US-Russia communications have all but ground to a halt.

Comment: Evidently, for some in the West, communication and cooperation with Russia would mean relinquishing their ultimate goal of unilateral world domination, and so they'll do just about anything to avoid it: Cooperation between NATO and Russia nonexistent - Russian deputy FM

See also:
NATO bases


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Bad Guys

Pompeo: China and Russia "spread disorder" in Latin America - By supporting leaders US doesn't like

Bill Faries
Bloomberg
Fri, 12 Apr 2019 21:20 UTC
pompeo
© Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Secretary of State Michael Pompeo blamed China and Russia for spreading "disorder" in Latin America by funding failing development projects and supporting leaders such as Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who the U.S. insists must step down from power.

Pompeo, speaking Friday in Chile at the start of a three-day South American tour, said Beijing and Moscow have fueled corruption and sought to undermine democracy across the region. He cited a failing dam project in Ecuador, Chinese loans to the Maduro and Chavez regimes in Venezuela and support for police training programs in Nicaragua.

When China does business in Latin America, Pompeo said, "it often injects corrosive capital into the economic bloodstream, giving life to corruption, and eroding good governance." Along with Russia, the two countries come to the region to "spread disorder," he added. .


Comment: That's an exact description of the US foreign policy, as well as the IMF and World Bank: Assange was sold for $4.2 BILLION - Former Ecuadorian President confirms IMF loan in exchange for Assange


Comment: China responds: 'Pompeo has lost his mind'

Pompeo seems to be on a tour of countries bordering Venezuela, which just happens to be the country the US is currently failing to overthrow: Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: US Regime Change Operation in Venezuela - This Time It's Legit?

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Chess

Iran says it 'cannot wait forever' for European trade mechanisms that avoid US sanctions


RT
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 09:49 UTC
Iran Europe flags
Tehran will not wait forever for the European nations to launch the promised payments mechanism aimed at avoiding the US sanctions against the Islamic Republic, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif has warned.

Ever since Washington unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, the European parties to the agreement - the UK, France, and Germany - have been considering the idea of a special payment channel with Iran, which would allow them to bypass re-imposed US sanctions. However, it seems that the Europeans did not make great strides on this path, sparking discontent in Iran, which did not only stick to its part of the 2015 accord but also created its part of the mechanism months ago.

On Sunday, Iran's top diplomat complained about a prolonged delay in the launch of the European non-dollar direct payment channel with Tehran called the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchange (INSTEX).
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Red Flag

'Pompeo has lost his mind' - China strikes back at Latin America remarks

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 09:49 UTC
Mike Pompeo and James Mattis listen to China's Foreign Affairs Director Yang Jiechi, November 9, 2018
© Reuters / Leah MillisMike Pompeo and James Mattis listen to China's Foreign Affairs Director Yang Jiechi, November 9, 2018.
China has come out swinging after Mike Pompeo's three-day Latin America tour in which the Secretary of State publicly called out China for spreading "disorder" in Latin America alongside Russia. Pompeo identified the two countries, both of which have over the past two months condemned US efforts toward regime change in Venezuela, of backing failing investment projects that only fuel corruption and undermine democracy, especially in Venezuela.

China's ambassador to Chile, Xu Bu, quickly lashed out in response to America's top diplomat blaming China for Latin America's economic woes which first came last Friday while standing alongside Chilean President Sebastian Pinera. Ambassador Xu told the Chilean newspaper La Tercera: "Mr Pompeo has lost his mind."

Pompeo had asserted during his tour that Chinese investment and economic intervention in Venezuela, now facing financial and infrastructural collapse amidst political turmoil, had "helped destroy" the country and said Latin American leaders must therefore see who their "true friend" is.
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NPC

Democrat In-Fighting: Sanders lashes out at progressive think tank for pointing out he's a 'millionaire'


RT
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 09:49 UTC
Bernie Sanders
© Reuters / Carlos Barria
Senator Bernie Sanders has written a scathing letter to the board of the Center for American Progress accusing it of being a "destructive" force in the "critical mission to defeat Donald Trump."

The accusations were prompted by an article and video published by one of CAP's projects, ThinkProgress, which claimed Sanders is a millionaire but wishes to downplay his finances because it's "very off-brand and embarrassing."

In the letter dated April 13 and published by the New York Times, Sanders takes aim at both CAP and ThinkProgress for alleged smears against him as well as fellow progressive Democratic candidates for 2020 Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, and suggests that this divisive approach to Democratic campaigning is going to damage the party's push to take the presidency from Trump.

Comment: Also see: Liberalism's hypocrisy: A case study of Senator Bernie Sanders, example of those to come

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