Puppet MastersS


Hiliter

Trump supports Hong Kong protesters by signing 'human rights' bill - 'out of respect for President Xi'


RT
Thu, 28 Nov 2019 00:01 UTC
Trump
© unknownUS President Donald Trump
President Donald Trump has approved legislation backing Hong Kong's 'pro-democracy' protest movement, disregarding Beijing's repeated warnings for Washington to mind its own business and stop meddling in China's internal affairs.

Dubbed the 'Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act,' the bill blazed through both houses of Congress earlier this month with virtually unanimous consent from lawmakers. In addition to threatening sanctions over human rights violations, the law requires the State Department to "certify" once a year whether Hong Kong enjoys sufficient "autonomy," though exactly how officials will quantify that remains unclear.


Beijing repeatedly warned Washington not to underestimate China's determination to defend its "sovereignty, security and development interests. If the US side insists on going down the wrong path, China will take strong countermeasures."

Comment: Perhaps President Trump and Congress should solve America's problems first. There are a plethora of choices. At least he was finally able to get himself and Congress on the same page...for someone else's country!

RT, 28/11/2019 Meddling damages relations, sends wrong signal to protesters
The government of Hong Kong said a bill recently signed into law by US President Donald Trump backing ongoing protests in the territory will only inflame the situation, and slammed Washington for meddling in the city's affairs.
Protester HK
© Reuters Laurel ChorHong Kong 'pro-democracy' protester throws a petrol bomb at police.
"The two bills are unreasonable," a spokesman said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that despite one of the laws being named after 'human rights' and 'democracy,' "in fact some of the provisions relate to export control and Hong Kong's implementation of United Nations sanctions."
HKpolice
© Reuters/Thomas PeterHong Kong police pass a burning barricade, November 2, 2019.
RT, 28/11/2019 Beijing: US interference unites Chinese against Washington
Beijing warned that continued US meddling in Hong Kong is "doomed to fail" and threatened "firm counter measures." Washington has "ignored facts" and "blatantly supported violent radicals who oppose the rule of law" in Hong Kong, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. "Such an attempt aims to damage the practice of 'one country, two systems,' and the path of Chinese national rejuvenation."
See also:

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Camcorder

Ex-CIA officer Phil Giraldi: US may opt to base surveillance tech in Bulgaria targeting Russia


Sputnik
Wed, 27 Nov 2019 03:16 UTC
Borissov/Trump
© Official WH photo/Shealah CraigheadBulgarian President Boyko Borissov • US President Donald Trump
A new agreement between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Boyko Borissov of Bulgaria will allow the US military to use the Balkan nation as a base for surveillance systems targeting Russia, former CIA officer Phil Giraldi shared on Tuesday.

"The advanced technologies would be surveillance technologies targeting Russia, which of course the Kremlin has figured out," Giraldi, a former US Army Intelligence officer and member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), said.

The United States is eager to provide Bulgaria broader access to its high-end military technologies and eyes a ten-year road map for defence cooperation in the Black Sea region, Trump and Borissov said in a joint statement after meeting in Washington on Monday. The agreement confirmed Trump was piling pressure on Russia and seeking to surround and isolate it - in contrast to his expressed desire for good superpower relations, Giraldi said.

The agreement "demonstrated once again that if Donald Trump is [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's puppet, he is behaving in an odd way by constantly increasing the aggression against Moscow using NATO and other mechanisms", Giraldi said.

Comment: Surely the fallacy of these actions are obvious. Bulgaria has just increased its profile on both Russian and Turkish radar in exchange for dubious protection from the US and NATO.

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Snakes in Suits

Comments on monarchy's response to Prince Andrew sex scandal - Corbyn: 'Needs improvement'; Bojo: 'Beyond reproach'


RT
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 08:01 UTC
Debate Corbyn Bojo
© AFP/ITV/Jonathan HordleConservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson (L) and Britain's Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn on the set of "Johnson v Corbyn: The ITV Debate" in Salford, north-west England.
There are still unanswered questions in the wake of a shocking sex scandal that purportedly involved Prince Andrew, Jeremy Corbyn has said, following a disastrous interview in which the Duke of York denied the serious allegations.

The Labour Party leader was pressed about his thoughts on the royal family, and Prince Andrew in particular, during a televised election debate with Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday.

Asked if Andrew was "fit for purpose," Corbyn argued that focus should be put on helping Jeffrey Epstein's victims, adding that there are "very, very serious questions that must be answered and nobody should be above the law." He also said that the British monarchy "needs a bit of improvement."

His Conservative opponent insisted that "the institution of the monarchy is beyond reproach," but stressed that "all his sympathies" were with the girls and women abused by Epstein and his cohorts. "The law must certainly take its course," Johnson noted.
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Rocket

Macron wants 'new' security architecture with Russia, rejects its offer of moratorium on short- and mid-range missiles


RT
Thu, 28 Nov 2019 11:53 UTC
Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron
While France does not accept a Russian-proposed moratorium on short- and intermediate-range missiles, it backs building "a new security architecture" together with Moscow, President Emmanuel Macron pledged.

Earlier in the day, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Macron reached out to President Vladimir Putin, responding to the Russian proposal. "The reply wasn't detailed, of course. But at least, there is an understanding of [Russia's] concerns and readiness for dialogue on this matter," the official said.

In the meantime, the French leader urged NATO to have "robust and clear-headed" talks with Russia. Europe should strive for a new collective security system that would embrace Moscow, he opined. Macron had earlier championed mending the European Union's ties with Russia, warning against the "strategic error" of isolating the "deeply European" country.

The moratorium in question appeared in a letter the Kremlin sent out to several dozen countries in and outside NATO in September. The message, signed by Putin, said that Moscow will put a halt to the deployment of its own missiles in Europe as long as the US refrains from deploying their projectiles in the continent.
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Beaker

Syria criticizes US for not destroying its chemical weapons arsenal

Paul Antonopoulos
Fort Russ News
Wed, 27 Nov 2019 18:08 UTC
OPCW
Syria's Permanent Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCB), Bassam Sabah, said that since joining the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Syria has done more than the US in destroying its arsenals.

"In a very short time, Syria has done more than the United States, which has adhered to the Convention from the outset, but is delaying the complete destruction of its huge chemical weapon stockpiles," Sabah said at the 24th session of the Conference of Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention in The Hague.

The diplomat recalled that Syria acceded to the Convention in 2013, and the Convention entered into force in 1997.

"We have fulfilled all our commitments and completed the destruction of our chemical weapons and the facilities where they were produced, achieving them under extremely complicated conditions," said Sabah.

On November 25, OPAQ Director-General Fernando Arias stated that "as of October 31, 2019, a total of 68,600 tonnes, or 97.3% of declared Category 1 chemical weapons, were destroyed under verification. of the organization's Secretariat."
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Star of David

Expelled HRW official: 'Israel has lost even pretense of respect for international law'


RT
Wed, 27 Nov 2019 17:27 UTC
idf omar shakir
© REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman; Mussa Qawasma
A top Human Rights Watch official recently deported from Israel spoke to RT about his expulsion, warning that the world will hear about more rights abuses in the occupied Palestinian lands if it doesn't act.

Omar Shakir, an American citizen and Human Rights Watch (HRW) director for Israel and Palestine, was deported earlier this week under the pretext of calling for a boycott of the Jewish state. He told RT that evicting a HRW official for his professional activity was a telling move.

"This is without doubt an effort to muzzle down Human Rights Watch and to muzzle advocacy for Palestinian rights," Shakir proclaimed.

Israel is regarded a Western-style democracy, but free expression there actually excludes campaigning for the rights of Palestinians, Shakir pointed out.
This move shows the degree to which Israel has lost even the pretense of respect for basic international norms. If Israel, despite criticism from much of the world, deports me as it did earlier this week for my rights advocacy, how it will ever stop abusing rights?
By throwing out a representative of "one of the world's largest human rights organizations," Israel is trying to warn other rights groups that "your work documenting rights abuses could result in facing new punitive sanctions."
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Bad Guys

OK, boomer? Germany's Merkel says it's essential to preserve NATO

Geir Moulson
AP
Wed, 27 Nov 2019 16:57 UTC
merkel
NATO is at least as essential today as it was during the Cold War, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday, renewing a pledge to keep raising Germany's defense spending and arguing that it is important to keep Turkey in the alliance.


Comment: It's an amazing thing that becomes more essential even after its sole reason for existing - the Soviet Union - ceases to exist. You'd almost think Merkel was full of it!


Merkel told the German parliament before a NATO summit in London next week that "Europe cannot defend itself alone at the moment; we rely on this trans-Atlantic alliance."


Comment: Defend itself from what, exactly? Space aliens?


"The preservation of NATO is in our very own interest today, more strongly than during the Cold War — or at least as strongly as during the Cold War," she said. Merkel added that it's "right for us to work for this alliance and take on more responsibility."

French President Emmanuel Macron's recent public criticism of NATO — notably a perceived lack of U.S. leadership, concerns about Turkey since it invaded northern Syria without warning its allies, and the need for Europe to take on more security responsibilities — has shaken the alliance.


Comment: Macron stands by his statement, 'telling reporters that by referring to the alliance as "brain dead," he gave its members a "useful wake-up call."'


President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized alliance members for not spending enough on defense, and in the past has called NATO "obsolete."
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Arrow Up

Trump signs executive order creating task force on missing and murdered Native Americans

Grace Segers
CBS News
Tue, 26 Nov 2019 16:47 UTC
trump order
© Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump signs an executive order establishing the Task Force on Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Nov. 26, 2019.
President Trump signed an executive order establishing a task force to address the rash of violence against missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska natives, an issue the administration has been focusing on in recent months. The executive order comes after Attorney General William Barr's rollout of a nationwide plan on Friday.

Mr. Trump was joined by Barr and several administration officials when signing the executive order, as well as a number of Native American tribal leaders. Mr. Trump told reporters present that executive action on the issue "should've been done a long time ago."

Shannon Holsey, president of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indians, said in a statement after the executive order was signed that it was an "important first step."

"While there is so much that needs to be done to stop the violence perpetrated on Native women and girls, I appreciate the Administration for taking an important first step in establishing this Task Force," Holsey said.

The order created an interagency task force which will be led by the Department of Justice and Department of the Interior.

Barr announced the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Initiative during a visit with tribal leaders and law enforcement officials on the Flathead Reservation in Montana. The initiative will invest $1.5 million in hiring specialized coordinators in the offices of 11 U.S. attorneys who will be responsible for coming up with protocols for a more coordinated response to violence against indigenous people.
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Doberman

Flashback Confessed Hong Kong murderer wanted in Taiwan freed because anti-China riots ended extradition request

Austin Ramzy
New York Times
Fri, 22 Nov 2019 13:00 UTC

Comment: Yes, if you can quite believe it, this sordid affair between Hong Kong and Taiwan is the raison d'etre of the 2019 anti-China riots in Hong Kong...


Chan Tong-kai
© Lam Yik Fei /New York TimesChan Tong-kai, who killed his girlfriend in Taiwan last year, outside Pik Uk Prison in Hong Kong late October, where he had been serving a sentence for money laundering.
The suspect in a murder case that led indirectly to the ongoing protests in Hong Kong was released from prison on Wednesday and said he would surrender himself to Taiwan, where he is wanted for killing his girlfriend during a Valentine's Day trip last year.


Comment: Indirectly? This case is the DIRECT cause of the riots. The whole brouhaha was over whether this confessed and convicted criminal could be extradited from Hong Kong to TAIWAN, not 'mainland China'. The riots are about the 'civil liberties' of criminals to remain at large...


The suspect, Chan Tong-kai, who had been serving a sentence for money laundering, walked out of Pik Uk Prison in Hong Kong and said he wanted to apologize to his girlfriend's family for the "irreversible mistakes" he had committed. He thanked his family for standing by him.

But Mr. Chan's case — like Hong Kong's political crisis, which began with protests against an extradition bill meant to ensure his prosecution on murder charges in Taiwan — is far from being resolved.

Comment: The answer is: by having an impartial adjudicator over both of you.

The obvious solution is for both regimes to be fully incorporated into China.

Instead, they're holding out for the US to insert itself in that role:

Meddling in Chinese affairs: Trump signs 'Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act' into law

In ancient Zoroastrianism, they believed in a fundamental duality where there was natural order aligned with the cosmos, and its fake version that constantly usurped that order.

The HK riots are a manifestation of the fake order.

If nothing else, it's remarkable how they managed to make 'mainland commie dictatorship China' the scapegoat for this HK-Taiwan affair.

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X

Narrative managers faceplant in hilarious OPCW scandal spin job

Caitlin Johnstone
Medium
Thu, 28 Nov 2019 12:36 UTC
media matters bellingcat
Imperialist propaganda firm Bellingcat has published a response to the ever-expanding OPCW scandal, and it's got to be seen to be believed.

Before we begin I should highlight that Bellingcat is funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, which according to its own cofounder was set up to do overtly what the CIA had previously been doing covertly, namely orchestrating narrative management geared toward the elimination of governments which refuse to comply with US interests. NED is funded directly by the US government, which means that Bellingcat is funded by the US government via an organization set up to promote imperialist regime change agendas. Bellingcat is also funded by Open Society Foundations, another imperialist narrative management operation.

Comment: See also:

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