Puppet MastersS


Whistle

According to Schiff, all whistleblowers are equal - as long as they hate Trump

Graham Dockery
RT
Thu, 21 Nov 2019 00:34 UTC
Schiff
© Reuters/Yara NardiSchiffting the blame...
In his full-bore efforts to impeach President Donald Trump, Congressman Adam Schiff has repeatedly demanded that the whistleblower responsible for the fiasco need[s] protection. Just don't mention Snowden, Assange or Manning to him.

The whistleblower - reportedly a CIA officer whose name has been circulating in the media but remains officially anonymous - kicked off the impeachment inquiry by claiming that Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine unless President Volodymyr Zelensky reopened a corruption investigation into former US VP Joe Biden's family. Despite Trump's release of a transcript of the call that showed the allegation of 'quid-pro-quo' was flimsy at best, Schiff has nevertheless pressed ahead.

Cue a parade of deep state bureaucrats testifying over whether or not this quid-pro-quo took place, the answer to which varies wildly depending on the witness, and often on the wording of the question. Schiff has repeatedly denied knowing the identity of the whistleblower, but cuts off off any questioning by Republicans that comes remotely close to picking out the agency he works for, under the auspices of not "outing" him.

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Document

Leaked memo shows the US still does not understand Turkey's Syria operation

Paul Antonopoulos
InfoBrics
Thu, 21 Nov 2019 19:59 UTC
trump erdogan
© Reuters / Kevin Lamarque
An 'internal memo' that was intentionally leaked has blasted U.S. President Donald Trump's decision for the U.S. military to withdraw from Syria, or more accurately, relocate from northern Syria to the oilfields in the east, as well as his complacency as Turkey commits "war crimes and ethnic cleansing" against the Kurdish minority.

The author of the memo, diplomat and former ambassador to Bahrain, William V. Roebuck, took every opportunity to lambast Trump as he faces impeachment 12 months before the next U.S. presidential elections. Roebuck questioned whether the U.S. could have prevented the Turkish military operation in northern Syria by increasing military patrols, sanctions and threats, but conceded that "the answer is probably not," citing Turkey's membership in NATO and its large army against the small American presence in the region. "But we won't know because we didn't try," Roebuck added.

The New York Times claims that Roebuck's memo was delivered to the State Department's special envoy on Syria, James F. Jeffrey, and to dozens of officials focusing on Syria in the State Department, White House and Pentagon. However, the entirety of the 3,200-word memo failed to mention Ankara's motivation in conducting this operation.

The Syrian perspective is that this is part of a project for a Greater Turkey. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu emphasized in an October interview that Turkey is not interested in territorial expansionism, stating "Russia is concerned about some sensitive issues, such as territorial integrity and the unity of the country [Syria]. We are also worried. If we look at all the joint statements of Turkey, Russia and Iran, we emphasize it."
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Brain

Big-brain politics: Swedish PM won't blame immigrants for surge in immigrant crime

Graham Dockery
RT
Thu, 21 Nov 2019 18:54 UTC
swedish police
© Reuters / Johan NilssonA policeman looks on after an object exploded next to a police station in Rosengard, Malmo
With gang crime soaring in Sweden, the country's Prime Minister still refuses to blame immigration for the problem. The statistics prove him wrong, but in Sweden, social justice is more important than actual justice.

The country that gave the world ABBA and IKEA is now famed for a more sinister export: crime. Amid a wave of bombings and shootings, Denmark last week closed its border with Sweden, reintroducing passport controls and police checks for the first time since the 1950s. The tightening of security is necessary "to counter the threat from serious, cross-border crime," said Denmark's minister of justice, Nick Haekkerup.

Thirteen explosions and a double murder on Danish soil prompted the lockdown, but in Sweden, the problem is worse. There were 162 bombings in Sweden last year, and 120 in the first seven months of 2019 alone. The right have blamed immigrant-led gangs for the crime wave, but Sweden's Prime Minister, Stefan Lofven, isn't having any of it.

Deny, deny, deny

While Lofven admitted that the threat of gang violence is real and rising, he told Swedish TV network SVT on Sunday that the sources of the problem are "segregation," poverty and unemployment.

"The segregation is because there is...too high unemployment in these areas. But that would have been the same regardless of who had lived there. If you put people born in Sweden under the same conditions, you get the same result" he said.

"Because of the economic gaps, the social injustices would have been the same."


Comment: Good to know that in addition to being PM, Lofven is also adept at precognition.


Blaming 'segregation' in one breath, then telling Swedes that the problem would still exist without immigration in the next, requires a delusional level of doublethink and a willful ignorance of the facts.

Comment: See also:

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Mr. Potato

Propaganda fail: Ukraine claims Russia returned seized ships 'ruined & without TOILETS'... but FSB shows them to be intact


RT
Thu, 21 Nov 2019 18:31 UTC
Ukraine ships returned interior
© FSB press serviceThree ships filmed before handover to Ukraine
Kiev is claiming that Russia removed even mundane things such as lamps and toilet bowls from the ships they returned after last year's naval clash, but the FSB hit back with a video showing their condition to be far from 'ruined.'

Making big headlines in the Western mainstream press, Kiev decried the condition of its three warships - the gunboats Berdyansk and Nikopol, and a tugboat Yany Kapu - which Russia returned in a goodwill gesture on Wednesday.

"They do not go on their own. The Russians ruined them - they even took off lamps, power outlets and toilets," lamented Igor Voronchenko, the Ukrainian Navy's commander. "We will show the whole world the Russian barbarism towards them."

Comment: Ha! Just like Russians, along with sweeping for any useful tech (who wouldn't do that?), to detail the boats like an upscale auto dealer and give them back to Ukraine probably in better shape than when they got them.

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Vader

Bolivia's 'military mutiny' key factor in successful coup & main reason Venezuela's Guaido can't oust Maduro


RT
Thu, 21 Nov 2019 18:19 UTC
bolivia anez venezuela guaido
© Reuters / David Mercado; Reuters / Carlos Garcia RawlinsBolivian "interim president" Jeanine Anez (L) Venezuelan "interim president" Juan Guaido (R)
The ouster of Bolivian President Evo Morales was only possible with the support of the country's military, and Venezuela's opposition is unlikely to effect its own putsch plot while the army has Caracas's back, an analyst told RT.

After another lackluster attempt to launch mass demonstrations to depose Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro on Saturday, opposition figurehead Juan Guaido may be wondering how his counterparts in Bolivia obtained their coup with such speed. But Lucas Koerner, independent political analyst and editor of Venezuelanalysis.com, says it's all about the guns.

"The key factor are the armed forces," Koerner told RT's Rick Sanchez. "In Venezuela, the military has stayed on the side of the constitutionally elected president, where in Bolivia they opted to overthrow the likewise democratically elected President Evo Morales, who had just won an election with 47 percent of the vote."

Comment: And the most likely reason for the coup?

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Snakes in Suits

Who does Putin want in the White House in 2020? 'Experts' suggest reading RT to find out

Danielle Ryan
RT
Thu, 21 Nov 2019 18:08 UTC
putin
© REUTERS / Brendan McDermid / Loren Elliott / Eric Thayer / Scott Morgan; Sputnik / Sergey Guneev
Russian bots are so 2016. The best way to decipher who Moscow wants in the White House in 2020 is to read RT. That's according to internet sleuth Clint Watts, who is back with another timely analysis of Russian nefariousness.

Watts, for the uninitiated, is one of the most prolific media charlatans when it comes to fake Russian expertise - and one of the developers behind the 'Hamilton 68' dashboard 'tracking' Russian influence campaigns online. Launched with much fanfare in 2017, Hamilton 68's popularity soon fizzled out as even the most ardent Russia critics admitted that media coverage of bot influence was "totally overblown."
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Eye 2

Best of the Web: Serbian arms are being trafficked to Ukraine: Evidence of contraband mortars used against Donbass

Dilyana Gaytandzhieva
Arms Watch
Thu, 21 Nov 2019 17:33 UTC
serbian arms donbass
© DNR Ministry of Defense, 9 November 2019This Serbian mortar shell 60 mm M73 HE manufactured by the Serbian arms factory Krusik in 2016 was found on the front line in Donbass.
New evidence has emerged of Ukraine's Army using contraband Serbian weapons in the war in Donbass. Serbia officially has not exported weapons to Ukraine since the beginning of the armed conflict between Ukraine and the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR). However, Serbian weapons manufactured in 2016 appear to be used by Ukraine's Army in the war in Donbass.

This is not the first documented case of alleged Serbian mortar shells being fired by the Ukrainian Army.

Comment: Another great investigative effort by Dilyana Gaytandzhieva and Arms Watch. Here are some of her other reports holding illegal arms manufacturers and traffickers to account:

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Info

Vindman advised Zelensky about alleged plot but not Trump - and other testimony highlights

Sara Carter
SaraACarther.com
Tue, 19 Nov 2019 17:30 UTC
vindman
© AP Photo/Andrew Harnik“That’s Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, please.”
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman's bombshell testimony Tuesday raised significant questions as to what his authority is within the White House National Security Council when he delivered a direct message to the Ukrainian president in April and whether he undermined the White House when he spoke to the foreign leader.

At the hearing, Vindman stated to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, (D-CA), that during the scheduled bilateral meeting in April, at the inauguration of President Volodymyr Zelensky, he offered the foreign leader direct advice, to "stay out of U.S. politics."

Rep. Schiff specifically asked Vindman as to "why did he felt it was necessary for President Zelensky to stay out of U.S. domestic politics?"

"Chairman, in the March and April timeframe, became clear there were actors in the U.S. ...public actors, non-governmental actors that were promoting the idea of investigations and 2016 Ukrainian interference...and it was consistence with U.S. policy to advise any country...all the countries in my portfolio, any country in the world to not participate in US domestic politics," explained Alexander Vindman.

His advice to the Ukrainian president was based on his knowledge of an alleged plot being organized by public nongovernmental individuals to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden's sons dealings with a Ukrainian gas company and possible involvement of Ukraine in the 2016 presidential elections, he said.

Despite his concerns, he only advised the Ukrainian president and admits that he has never spoken personally with or directly advised Trump on these same facts. In fact, he's never met Trump, he told lawmakers.

Comment: Vindman apparently didn't think Biden's behavior in Ukraine was wrong:
During his line of questioning, Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) noted that Vindman's concerns of the July 25 phone call between President Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky were based on "moral, ethical, and policy differences" rather than legal concerns.

"So your concerns regarding this phone call were not legal. They were based on moral, ethical, and policy differences. ... To use your word. You said this was wrong. Not illegal, but wrong," he said, asking Vindman if he considered Biden's actions "wrong" as well.

"There are dozens of corrupt nations in the world. Hundreds of corrupt government officials. Exactly one time did a vice president go to a nation and demand the specific firing of one individual and give a six-hour time limit and withhold or threaten to withhold a billion dollars in aid if not," Stewart said, referencing the video of Biden bragging about his threat during an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations last year.

"It was the one individual who was investigating a company who was paying his son. So I'll ask you, was that also wrong?" Stewart asked.

"I frankly don't have any firsthand knowledge of that," Vindman began.

"Did you not see the video?" Stewart asked.

"I've seen the video," Vindman admitted.

"That's all I've described is the video. Everything I just said to you is in the video. Was that wrong as well?" Stewart asked again.

"Congressman, this is something I actually participated in," Vindman began, with Stewart adding, "Well I think the American people can make a judgment."

"The time of the gentleman has expired," Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) said, giving Vindman an option to answer the question.

Once again, Vindman refused to describe Biden's action as "wrong."

"I frankly don't know any — that much more about that particular incident," he said. "I saw the snippet of the video, but I don't know if I could make a judgment off of that."
See also:

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Arrow Down

'I said the FIRST!' Brain-dead Biden boasts he has support of 'only' female African-American senator while on stage with Kamala Harris


RT
Thu, 21 Nov 2019 17:18 UTC
Biden Harris
© Reuters / Brendan McDermidDemocratic presidential candidates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris at the fifth 2020 campaign debate in Atlanta, Georgia, November 20, 2019.
Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden was forced to swiftly correct himself during a debate after bragging that he had support from the "only" black female senator ever elected, despite standing mere feet from Kamala Harris.

While giving a brief monologue about the immense support he enjoys from African Americans, the former VP was stopped dead in his tracks by fellow contestant Kamala Harris (D-California), a US senator who is both black and female.

"I have more people supporting me in the black community, that have announced for me, because they know me, they know who I am," Biden said, listing a number of examples before adding as the cherry on top: "The only African American woman that's ever been elected to the United States Senate."
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Dominoes

State senator announces he's leaving Democratic Party over 'partisan purists'

Zachary Stieber
The Epoch Times
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 17:09 UTC
John Yudichak
© Pennsylvania State SenatePennsylvania state Sen. John Yudichak in a file photograph
A state senator in Pennsylvania said he's leaving the Democratic Party to become an independent, asserting the party's so-called tent "is shrinking every day."

State Sen. John Yudichak made the announcement on Nov. 19.

"As an Independent, I will continue to put people above politics. I will continue to support Democratic ideas as well as Republican ideas when it is clear that they serve the greater good and help government work for people rather than the narrow interests of partisan 'purists,'" he said in a press release.

Referencing the division during the Civil War, Yudichak said the country is, "again, in the throes of a fierce public debate where politics has become more about choosing sides than it is about working together toward 'a more perfect union.'"

The lawmaker said he's already been working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle: "Working outside the confines of an extremist political ideology is the foundation of my political career in Harrisburg, and it has helped me serve the people I care about the most — the people of northeastern Pennsylvania."
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