Puppet MastersS


Chess

Indian PM Modi points finger at Pakistan over 'persecution' of minorities as he defends new citizenship law

narendra modi
© Reuters / Anushree Fadnavis
India's PM Narendra Modi has attacked critics of his country's new law, which helps some minorities attain citizenship, saying the focus should be on the "activities of Pakistan," which he accused of persecuting religious groups.

Speaking at a rally on Thursday, the leader did not mince his words for the opposition or for his country's arch-rival, Pakistan, and vigorously defended the new law. Modi flatly accused India's main opposition party -the Indian National Congress (INC)- of attacking the country's legislature and vulnerable refugees, urging it to find a target for criticism elsewhere.

"Pakistan was formed on the basis of religion and minorities were being persecuted there. The persecuted were forced to come to India as refugees. But [the INC] and its allies don't speak against Pakistan, instead they are taking out rallies against these refugees," Modi said.
Those who are agitating against the Parliament of India today, I want to say that [the] need is to expose activities of Pakistan at the international level. If you have to agitate, raise your voice against Pakistan's actions of last 70 years.

Star of David

Bid to keep Netanyahu out of PM's office after election because he's facing bribery charges shot down in court

netanyahu
© REUTERS / Ammar Awad
Israel's High Court of Justice has refused an attempt to keep Benjamin Netanyahu from taking the office of prime minister should his party win the snap election in March, over the corruption charges against him.

A petition signed by 67 former government officials asked the court to rule that Netanyahu would not be fit for forming a new government due to his being prosecuted. The court ruled that it indeed had the power to rule on the matter, contrary to claims from the Likud party's lawyers, but refused to do so before the outcome of the election is clear.

It clears the way for Netanyahu to run in the snap election, but his theoretical premiership remains in question. The court pointed out that even if Likud wins the mandate to form the next Israeli government, its incumbent leader may not be the person who would be tasked with the job.

Netanyahu is currently seeking immunity from prosecution, which may be given him by the Knesset. However, even some of his allies in the previous snap election said they were not willing to grant this to him.

Snakes in Suits

'Only Latino candidate' Julian Castro drops out of US presidential race

Julian Castro
© Reuters / Mike BlakeCastro bids farewell
Former Obama housing secretary Julian Castro has dropped out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination after failing to crack 1 percent in most polls. His platform lives on in how it pushed other candidates leftward.

Castro released a video on Thursday thanking his supporters and promising to "keep fighting for an America where everyone counts." Touting his record of "speaking up for the most vulnerable folks in this country," the former San Antonio mayor boasted of "shaping the conversation" in the 2020 race, but admitted that he had realized "it simply isn't our time," with just a month to go before the caucuses in Iowa.

Castro made waves by promising on the debate stage to decriminalize illegal border crossings, leading many other candidates to adopt that position - unpopular as it may be among voters.

2 + 2 = 4

SOTT Focus: Major General Soleimani's Assassination Isn't Going To Start World War III

Iran vs USA
The US carried out a de-facto act of war against Iran after assassinating Major General Qasem Soleimani of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force in Baghdad last night, but despite the doomsday scenarios that many in Alt-Media are speculating that this will lead to, the commencement of World War III is extremely unlikely for several reasons.

The "Decapitation Strike" That Shook The World

Trump's approval of the US' assassination of Major General Qasem Soleimani of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) Quds Force in Baghdad last night amounts to a de-facto act of war against Iran, but it wasn't the decision of a "madman" or someone whose permanent military, intelligence, and diplomatic bureaucracies ("deep state") didn't think this completely through. Rather, it was a premeditated "decapitation strike" carried out to prove the US' conventional "escalation dominance" in its regional proxy war with Iran, one which America surely knows will elicit a kinetic response of some sort from the Islamic Republic but which the Pentagon and its regional allies are prepared for. Contrary to the narrative bandied about in Alt-Media, the US didn't "surrender" the Mideast to Russia and Iran in recent years (who, to be clear, are not "allies", but anti-terrorist "partners of convenience" in Syria) despite some regional setbacks to its grand strategy, but merely adjusted the nature through which it intends to restore its influence there.

Phoenix

Kurz returns to govt in Austria, but this time in coalition with the Greens - Promises to 'save planet and equate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism'


Comment: And just like that, another nationalist-conservative movement is snuffed out in Europe...


Sebastian Kurz
© LISI NIESNER/REUTERSSebastian Kurz and Werner Kogler were in talks for three months
Austria's conservative leader Sebastian Kurz is set to become chancellor again after his People's Party (ÖVP) entered into an unlikely coalition with the Greens.

The 33-year-old leader commended an "excellent" agreement at a press conference with Greens party chief Werner Kogler, but said that talks had not been easy because the "two parties are very very different".

Kurz said his party's coalition deal with the Greens "offers ''the best of both worlds'' and will allow both partners to keep their election promises.

"We will play a pioneering role in Europe in the field of climate change, environmental protection, and transparency", Kurz said. "Just as we pay attention to internal security, we will continue to fight against illegal migration, and of course, also lower taxes, as we promised in the election campaign."


Comment: While environmental concerns are relevant, of the policies mentioned above, which are also of top priority to voters throughout Europe, are: Transparency, illegal migration, taxes, and internal security.


Comment: It seems that the 'deep state' takedown of Kurz and his party has 're-educated' the Austrian elite: Not only are they going to 'go green', they're going to become the fifth or so country in the last few months to kowtow to Israel:
The new government said it was committed to fighting anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism on its soil and across the globe, and has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of anti-Semitism.



People

New government formed in Algeria following almost year-long political crisis

Algeria flag
© REUTERS / Ramzi Boudina
Algerian Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad has appointed the new government to be presented to President Abdelmadjid Tebboune as the country strives to recover after months of political crisis, Algerian media reported.

According to the Algerian state television, the new government will comprise Kamel Beldjoud as interior minister, Sabri Boukadoum as foreign minister, Mohamed Arkab as energy minister, Belkacem Zeghmati as justice minister, Abderrahmane Raouia as finance minister, Bendoudad Malika as culture minister, and Cherif Omari as the minister of agriculture — a total of 28 ministers, the youngest among them 26-year old Minister of Startups Yacine Oualid.

Said Chengriha will serve as vice minister for national defence and army chief of staff.

Comment: One wonders whether this will have any influence on the current situation in neighboring Libya. According to Joanna Moriarty in Turkey threatens to take Libya by force and install Turkish governor:
Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Chad and all countries surrounding Libya have stated that they will stand with the Libyan people against the egregious and illegal Turkish intentions.
See also:


War Whore

Best of the Web: The Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act: Why Washington is both corrupt and ignorant

syria
© Defense.gov
The creatures that lurk through the corridors of power in Washington DC have refined corruption to the point where almost anything goes and almost no one is ever held accountable. Traditionally, Congressmen reward their various constituencies by inserting riders into larger pieces of legislation that grant money, exemptions or favors to certain groups or individuals. It is sometimes referred to as "pork." The recent bloated omnibus spending bills totaling $1.4 trillion, which passed through Congress and were signed off on by President Donald Trump, were for the shameless denizens of Capitol Hill a gold mine. The process was so corrupt that even some Senators like Ted Cruz joked that "Christmas came early in Washington. While you were with your family, while you were shopping for Christmas, the lobbyists were spending and spending. I present to you, the massive omnibus bill that Congress is voting on."

And no one is more corrupt in Congress than some of those at the top of the food chain, where the Speaker and the Minority leader in the House and the Majority and Minority leaders in the Senate have the final say on what gets cut and what remains. The lugubrious Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is one of the most adept at milking the system to buy his continued reelection in a state where he is actually not very popular, with an approval rating of only 37%. Within the current spending bill he has managed to include more than $1 billion worth of federal spending and tax breaks for some choice constituencies among the Kentucky voters. A tax break for the state's whisky distillers alone came to a projected $426 million for 2020 and there were also breaks for the state's thoroughbred horse industry as well as hundreds of millions of dollars more for new federal construction.

One can only wish that politicians would actually commit themselves to doing good for the American people, but the sad reality is that they spend so much time raising and distributing money that they only respond to constituents with the deepest pockets or those who make the most noise. Rarely does anyone actually read the bills that are being voted on. Part of the omnibus spending bills was the $738 billion dollar defense policy component, and, as in the case of the larger amounts intended to keep the federal government funded, the devil is frequently found in the details.

Comment: The incredible thing about the American Empire is how successful it has been despite being so wrong about so much for so long.

How is that possible?

Under normal circumstances, if a business or family were to make decisions based on information that is directly orthogonal to truth, they'd fail.

Yet when the giant behemoth known as the US govt does this, systematically, it somehow eventually wins... even when it loses on that specific issue!

The only idea we can suggest is that the US, in its advanced state of entropy (at the level of beliefs/information), is somehow 'willed' or 'directed' by a foreign entity - and not necessarily one of this world - and that this 'alignment with some higher power' somehow staves off the manifestation of its entropy at the level of material things...

Now, for many Americans, that's a no-brainer. They would say, "Of course! God/Providence is on our side!" But that can't be the case because God without Truth is not 'the one true God'...

See also: Merry Christmas in Syria: Liberated from terror by Russia, oldest Christian country celebrates birth of Jesus


Newspaper

Imperial delusion: Turkey sending troops to Libya wouldn't solve chaos caused by 2011 NATO intervention - UPDATE: Trump calls Erdogan

With an emergency convening of Turkey's parliament, the path has been cleared for Ankara to send troops to Libya - but such a move may be less about ending the bloody civil conflict there and more about Turkey's power ambitions.
erdogan
The new year barely begun, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fast-tracked a motion to approve the potential deployment of Turkish troops, which passed handily in parliament on Thursday.

Erdogan's move follows a pattern of recent muscle-flexing and is an obvious play to force Ankara into a more influential position. This is a gamble that could backfire.

Ravaged by years of conflict, perhaps the last thing Libya needs is another foreign power sending its troops into an already desperate situation - but Erdogan hasn't hidden his desire to make Turkey a "top ten" world power and if it takes a military campaign in North Africa to do it, perhaps, he thinks, it's worth the risks.

The vote to clear the way for a deployment of troops follows a military cooperation deal signed in November between Ankara and the UN-recognized government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj. Sarraj has been locked in a bloody civil war with the rival government of General Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army to the east - the debacle is a direct result of NATO's 2011 'humanitarian' intervention, which saw Western powers back anti-government militants in ousting and murdering PM Muammar Gaddafi, leaving the country ripe for plunder and with a power vacuum needing to be filled.

Comment: See also, UPDATE: Friday 3rd 12:05 CET

RT reports:
None other than US President Donald Trump has stood up against foreign intervention in Libya, warning his NATO ally Turkey that its planned military deployment there could make the situation in the North African country worse.

During the phone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday, "President Trump pointed out that foreign interference is complicating the situation in Libya," the White House said in a statement.

No further details were given, but the call took place just after the Turkish legislature voted 325 to 184 to approve sending troops to the North African country, in order to prop up Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and his Government of National Accord (GNA).

Readout of the call given by Erdogan's cabinet merely said the two leaders had "stressed the importance of diplomacy in resolving regional issues," without making it clear whether Washington endorsed Ankara's decision or opposed it.

Erdogan's bid to back Tripoli against Tobruk resembles his power play in northern Syria in October, in that it is apparently unilateral and neither coordinated nor cleared with its NATO allies. One major distinction is that the Syrian incursion was aimed against the legitimate government in Damascus, as well as the US-backed Kurdish militias.

Trump advising against "foreign interference" is of course ironic on a whole different scale, given the US assertion of a free hand to intervene anywhere, anytime, against anyone - from illegally keeping troops in Iraq and Syria to launching a regime-change operation in Libya itself, back in 2011. At the time, NATO bombers provided cover for militants to overthrow the government of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and plunge Libya into a chaos from which it has yet to recover.



Black Magic

Flashback Best of the Web: October 2019: Mossad chief 'predicts' assassination of Iranian counterpart Soleimani


Comment: Considering that the only country in the world which perceives Iran as a threat to its existence is Israel, and in view of today's news of General Soleimani's murder, this piece of info is highly relevant.


Yossi Cohen
© Flash90Head of the Mossad Yossi Cohen speaks at a cyber conference at Tel Aviv University on June 24, 2019
In an interview published Thursday, Mossad chief Yossi Cohen said a potential Israeli assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, the head of the elite Quds Force in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was "not impossible."

In a profile piece for ultra-Orthodox newspaper Mishpacha, Cohen was asked about Soleimani's claim that Israeli aircraft targeted him and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut during the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

"With all due respect to his bluster, he hasn't necessarily committed the mistake yet that would place him on the prestigious list of Mossad's assassination targets," Cohen said.

"He knows very well that his assassination is not impossible. His actions are identified and felt everywhere... there's no doubt the infrastructure he built presents a serious challenge for Israel."

Iranian media also reported last week that Tehran stopped an "Israel-Arab" plot to eliminate Soleimani.

Comment: See also: Caitlin Johnstone: US assassination of top Iranian military official may ignite World War
Many are understandably claiming that this geostrategically pivotal confrontation was precisely what Trump was installed to facilitate all along. The largest donor to any campaign in 2016 was oligarch Sheldon Adelson, who gave $25 million to the Trump campaign, and who in 2013 said that the US should drop a nuclear bomb on Iran. After Trump's election win, Adelson gave another $5 million to his inauguration, the largest single presidential inaugural donation ever made. Newt Gingrich, another of the billionaire's hired politicians, has said that Adelson's "central value" is Israel.



Light Sabers

Caitlin Johnstone: US assassination of top Iranian military official may ignite World War

trump pompeo
The US has admitted to assassinating Iran's most beloved military leader, General Qassem Soleimani, in a drone strike which seems very likely to ignite a full-scale war. Six others are also reported killed, including Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

According to the Pentagon, Trump personally ordered the assassination. I'll keep following this hugely important story and will probably be writing a lot about it as it unfolds. I encourage everyone who values peace and humanity to follow it as well.

"Spoke to a very knowledgeable person about what Iran's response to Soleimani's assassination might be," The Quincy Institute's Trita Parsi tweeted regarding this developing story. "This would be the equivalent of Iran assassinating Petreus or Mattis, I argued. No, he responded, this is much bigger than that."


Comment: See also: Extrajudicial Murder: Trump Assassinates Iranian Quds Commander Soleimani at Baghdad Airport