Puppet MastersS


USA

US Military's impunity: Pentagon maintains 'great faith' in justice after Trump pardons soldiers accused of war crimes

Us military war crimes
American soldiers are well trained to never commit war crimes, the Pentagon insists. When they sometimes do, the military always holds them accountable... and then the US president is free to pardon them to boost morale.

"I have great faith in the military justice system," US Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters, carefully avoiding any direct mention of Trump's controversial decision to pardon two soldiers charged for war crimes in Afghanistan, and reinstate the rank of a Navy Seal demoted over similar war crime accusations.

"If they don't, then the United States military will take action... to make sure that they are held accountable," Esper claimed.

The US fiercely defends American soldiers' immunity from any international or local law, and, on Friday, Trump demonstrated that even the Pentagon's rather lenient internal probes and court-martials aren't much to worry about.

Comment: Trump pardons 2 US Army officers for war crimes in Afghanistan; Pentagon says undermines military justice


Broom

Western media's whitewash of Bolivia's far-right coup

Jeanine Áñez Bolivia interim president
Jeanine Áñez declared herself “interim president” in a near-empty Senate chamber. Despite a lack of quorum rendering the move nakedly unconstitutional, Áñez was immediately recognized by the US and UK.
Bolivia has a new US-backed puppet leader, and the Western media can hardly conceal their adulation.

Jeanine Áñez declared herself "interim president" in a near-empty Senate chamber on November 12, proceeding to don the presidential sash with the assistance of uniformed soldiers. Despite a lack of quorum rendering the move nakedly unconstitutional, Áñez was immediately recognized by the Trump administration and 10 Downing Street.

Tuesday's scene seemed like a parody of January's events in Venezuela, in which a virtually unknown lawmaker, invoking highly dubious constitutional arguments, proclaimed himself "interim president" to the delight of Washington.

For all the supposed threat Trump represents and the enthusiasm sparked by his possible impeachment, Western media continue to march lockstep behind his administration's coups in Latin America.

Comment: A coup primer: How the hybrid war on Bolivia succeeded


Black Cat 2

Top NSC aide puts Sondland at front lines of Ukraine campaign, who bragged about 'speaking' for Trump

Ambassador Gordon Sondland Ukraine EU
© Fox NewsEU Ambassador Gordon Sondland
A senior White House official told House impeachment investigators last month that President Trump's hand-picked ambassador to Europe had pushed — on behalf of Trump himself — for Ukraine's president to launch two investigations that could help Trump politically.

Tim Morrison, a top aide at the National Security Council (NSC) who was expected to depart the White House after his testimony, said Gordon Sondland, U.S. ambassador to the E.U., had huddled with a top Ukrainian representative on Sept. 1, when he relayed the message that the release of U.S. military aid to the besieged country hinged on Kyiv opening the investigations Trump sought.

"What he communicated was that he believed ... what could help them move the aid was if the prosecutor general would go to the mic and announce that he was opening the Burisma investigation," Morrison testified privately on Oct. 31, according to the transcript released Saturday by Democrats leading the impeachment investigation.

Comment: Gateway Pundit summarizes what is know about Mr. Morrison's testimony:
Here are the key points (PDF) to Tim Morrison's testimony.

1. Mr. Morrison did not believe anything improper occurred on the July 25 call. (p. 60)

2. Mr. Morrison testified that the memorandum of conversation (a phrase used to describe the call transcript) of the July 25 call was complete and accurate. (p. 60)

3. Mr. Morrison, who listened to the July 25 call, testified that he was not concerned about the substance of what was discussed on the call - only that the transcript might leak. (p. 46-47)

4. Mr. Morrison was told by National Security Council lawyer John Eisenberg that the July 25 call record mistakenly ended up on the highly classified system, debunking the Democrats' allegations of an attempted "cover up."

5. Mr. Morrison repeatedly testified that he purposefully kept Lt. Col. Vindman out of the loop on this matter because he had concerns about Vindman's judgment, which were also raised to him by Fiona Hill and others.

6. Mr. Morrison testified that, as the final clearing authority for any edits made to the 7/25 call package, he accepted all of Lt. Col. Vindman's proposed edits. (p. 61-62)

7. Mr. Morrison testified that he does not believe Burisma came up on the call or that anyone suggested edits to the mem-con to include the word Burisma. (p. 64)

8. Mr. Morrison testified that Lt. Col. Vindman relayed two concerns to him about the July 25 call: that the call did not get into the subject matter they had hoped, and the fidelity of the translation. (p. 72-73)

9. Mr. Morrison testified that Lt. Col. Vindman never reported to Morrison any of the "light queries" that he received from Ukrainian officials in August regarding the hold on aid. (p. 93)

10. Mr. Morrison confirmed that President Trump generally does not like foreign aid generally, and specifically held concerns that corruption in Ukraine may cause U.S. aid to be "misused."
Breitbart reports on the selective editing the Democrats employed in their 'key excerpts" release:
In the Morrison case, Democrats released "key excerpts" that highlighted the few facts in his testimony that, they believe, help push the case for impeachment. Chief among these is that Morrison confirmed that he heard U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland claim that he told a Ukrainian official, in a private "sidebar" meeting, that aid would be released if the Ukrainian prosecutor general would publicly announce an investigation into Burisma.

But that is just hearsay evidence, as is Morisson's confirmation of Charge d'affairs William Taylor's testimony (repeated in public last week) that Sondland, after speaking to President Trump, "there was no quid pro quo, but President Zelensky must announce the opening of the investigations and he should want to do it."

Sure enough, CNN and other networks highlighted these and other supposedly damaging sections of Morrison's testimony.

These are the top news results on Google for the search "Tim Morrison," as of Sunday morning, November 17: But these reports downplay or omit the most important parts of Morrison's testimony for Trump's defense:
  • Morrison testified "I was not concerned that anything illegal was discussed" on the July 25 phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, to which he himself listened. That statement does not appear anywhere in the Democrats' "key excerpts" document. He also testified that he "did not have a view" on whether President Trump's comments to Zelensky on the phone call were "improper."
  • Morrison testified that he was afraid that the conversation would leak — not because he thought the president had done anything wrong, as Democrats' "key excerpts" document implies, but because he knew about what would happen, given "Washington's polarized environment." The Democrats' summary of the document omits this telling exchange between Morrison and chairman Adam Schiff — no doubt, because it damages their case:
THE CHAIRMAN: Okay. I just wanted to follow up a bit on this.

One of the concerns, and there may be an overlap between the first two concerns you mentioned about the caII, and if the call became public. First, you said you wene concerned how it would play out in Washington's polarized environment and, second, how a leak would affect bipartisan support for our Ukrainian partners.

Were those concerns related to the fact that the President asked his Ukrainian countenpart to look into on investigate the Bidens?

MR. MORRISON: No, not specifically.

THE CHAIRMAN: So you didn't think that the President of the United States asking his counterpart to conduct an investigation into a potential opponent in the 2020 election might influence bipartisan support in Congress?

MR. MORRISON: No.

THE CHAIRMAN: And you weren't concerned that the President bringing up one of his political opponents in the Presidential election and asking a favor with respect to the DNC server or 2016 theory, you weren't concerned that those things would cause people to believe that the President was asking his counterpart to conduct an investigation that might influence his reelection campaign?

MR. MORRISON: No.

THE CHAIRMAN: That never occurred to you?

MR. MORRISON: No.

THE CHAIRMAN: Did you recognize during the — as you listened to the call that if Ukraine were to conduct these investigations, that it would inure to the President's political interests?

MR. MORRISON: No.
  • Morrison contradicted Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the Democrats' star witness in the closed-door hearings, who reported to Morrison directly. Morrison testified that while he admired his subordinate's patriotism, he was irritated that Vindman failed to report concerns about the call directly to him. He said Vindman never raised concerns that something illegal had happened. He also said he accepted all of Vindman's proposed edits to the call record, contrary to Vindman's testimony. And while he did not think that Vindman was a leaker, he testified: "I had concerns that he did not exercise appropriate judgment as to whom he would say what." He said that Vindman's sloppy practices were partly the result of his own predecessor at the NSC, Dr. Fiona Hill — another one of the Democrats' star witnesses, who, like Morrison, is due to testify publicly this week.
  • Morrison testified that other foreign aid being offered by the U.S. at the time was reportedly under review — not just to Ukraine. And he confirmed earlier testimony that the aid being held up did not include the essential Javelin anti-tank missiles, which were being delivered to Ukraine through a separate procurement process.
  • Morrison testified that he had no concerns that President Trump asked President Zelensky, during the July 25 phone call, to meet with his personal attorney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
  • Morrison kept NSC lawyers informed about what was going on — not because he was concerned Trump had done anything wrong, but because he wanted "to protect the president" from whatever Sondland was doing.
All of these facts are missing in the Democrats' "key excerpts." The Democrats do acknowledge a few exculpatory moments, but downplay them.

For example, the "key excerpts" document includes Morrison's testimony that the transcript of the July 25 call was placed on a more secure server by "mistake" — but focuses on the fact that it was not removed from the more secure server after that.

Morrison also confirmed that the Ukrainians did not know that the aid was being held up until a Politico article appeared on August 28, and he said that Sondland's side conversation with a Ukrainian official in September was "the first time something like this [investigations] had been injected as a condition on the release of the assistance." Democrats include that latter quote, but downplay it.

Similarly, Democrats distorted the testimony of Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, whose testimony was also released on Saturday. Democrats highlighted the fact that Williams testified that she was told by another aide that Trump told Pence to skip Zelensky's inauguration in May — though she did not hear that first-hand.

They quote her as saying the July 25 call "for me shed some light on possible other motivations behind a secunity assistance hold." But they leave out her saying she "didn't have any firsthand knowledge as to the reasoning."

Both Morrison and Williams are scheduled to testify in public hearings before the committee on Tuesday.



Red Flag

Spanish election result: Socialist and Unidos Podemos parties strike deal to form radical left coalition government

spain coalition government
© Gabriel Bouys/AFPSánchez and Iglesias during today’s press conference.
Caretaker Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and the leader of left-wing Unidas Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, have signed a preliminary agreement to form a coalition government after Sunday's inconclusive repeat general election in Spain. Despite months of negotiations between the parties to strike a governing deal following the April poll, the two leaders have done this deal less than 48 hours after Sunday's vote.

At just before 2.30pm, Sánchez and Iglesias appeared before the press to sign their agreement, before they both made statements.

"As I said on election night after hearing the results, what was a historical opportunity in April has become a historical necessity," said the Unidas Podemos leader, who will be deputy prime minister should the deal come to fruition. "I'm pleased to announce today, together with Pedro Sánchez, that we have reached a preliminary agreement to create a progressive coalition government that combines the experience of the PSOE with the courage of Unidas Podemos."

MIB

Democrats want to hide origins of Ukraine investigation from the public just like they want to hide origins of Russia investigation

schiff gavel impeachment hearing
© C-SPAN2Adam Schiff "gavels down" Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY)
Why are House Democrats stonewalling questions about the identity of the Trump-Ukraine whistleblower?

Start by taking them at their word. Perhaps they really are concerned about the whistleblower's personal safety. They also know that, beyond a limited prohibition applying to the inspector general of the intelligence community, no law bars anyone, in politics, media, or anywhere else, from revealing the whistleblower's identity. So they worry.

But there is more to the story. Should the whistleblower have connections to prominent Democrats, exposure of his identity could be embarrassing to the party. And perhaps most of all, reading through the impeachment investigation depositions that have been released so far, it's clear that cutting off questions that could possibly relate to the whistleblower has also allowed Democrats to shut off any look at how the Trump-Ukraine investigation started. Who was involved? What actions did they take? Why did some government employees think President Trump's July 25 call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky represented a lost opportunity, or poor judgment, while others thought it represented wrongdoing requiring congressional investigation?

Bullseye

Yovanovitch dismissal not a big deal: Obama fired ALL George W. Bush-appointed ambassadors

Marie Yovanovitch Ukraine ambassador
© Andriy Dubchak/RadioSvobodsMarie Yovanovitch, former US ambassador to Ukraine
Former United States ambassador Marie Yovanovitch testified Friday about her dismay upon being fired by President Donald Trump, but it's actually quite common for presidents to do so after taking office.

The State Department issued a December 2008 notice to Bush-appointed ambassadors to submit their resignations, effective when President Barack Obama took office in 2009, according to the Washington Post.

Laptop

Open Society emails kept alleged whistleblower Ciaramella updated on Soros's Ukraine activities

Soros
© Paul J. Richards/AFP/GettyMastermind George Soros
Eric Ciaramella, whom Real Clear Investigations suggests is the likely so-called whistleblower, received emails about Ukraine policy from a top director at George Soros's Open Society Foundations.

The emails informed Ciaramella and a handful of other Obama administration foreign policy officials about Soros's whereabouts, the contents of Soros's private meetings about Ukraine and a future meeting the billionaire activist was holding with the prime minister of Ukraine.

A primary recipient of the Open Society emails along with Ciaramella was then-Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland, who played a central role in the anti-Trump dossier affair. Nuland, with whom Ciaramella worked closely, received updates on Ukraine issues from dossier author Christopher Steele in addition to her direct role in facilitating the dossier within the Obama administration.

The emails spotlight Soros's access to national security officials under the Obama administration on the matter of Ukraine.

Attention

Flashback The firing of Viktor Shokin: Ex-Ukraine prosecutor told to back off probe of Biden-linked firm

Shokin
© Reuters/Valentyn OgirenkoFormer Prosecutor-General of Ukraine Viktor Shokin
The fired prosecutor at the center of the Ukraine controversy said during a private interview with President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani earlier this year that he was told to back off an investigation involving a natural gas firm that was linked to Joe Biden's son, according to details of that interview that were handed over to Congress by the State Department's inspector general Wednesday.

Fox News obtained a copy of Giuliani's notes from his January 2019 interview with fired Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin in which he claimed that his "investigations stopped out of fear of the United States."

The notes from the interview stated:
"Mr. Shokin attempted to continue the investigations but on or around June or July of 2015, the U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey R. Pyatt told him that the investigation has to be handled with white gloves, which according to Mr. Shokin, that implied do nothing."
The notes also claimed Shokin was told Biden had held up U.S. aid to Ukraine over the investigation.

Comment: See also:


Folder

Jim Jordan: Schiff hiding 4 transcripts to prevent inconvenient questioning of impeachment witnesses

Jim Jordan
© Screenshot
GOP hero Rep. Jim Jordan (OH) blasted Adam Schiff Friday following the impeachment show trial starring disgruntled fired ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.

Schiff has been selectively leaking, and releasing transcripts and portions of transcripts from depositions taken in his secret bunker — Schiff does this to control the narrative and to damage Trump as much as he possibly can.

Schiff has yet to release FOUR transcripts from officials whose testimonies destroyed Schiff's Trump impeachment train. The reason for this is so Republican lawmakers cannot use the damaging information in the transcripts to question the impeachment witnesses in Schiff's public show trials. Watch:

Star of David

Netanyahu: 'Burn it all down' is his response to Blue & White's possible coalition with Palestinians

Neti and Bennett
© screenshotIsraeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu • Defense Minister Naftali Bennett
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu attacked publicly the possibility of a minority government of his rival Blue-White that would be dependent on the Joint List of Palestinians parties, crying (Hebrew) that the Blue White leadership "has lost its mind, stop this madness."

Netanyahu said this in a video on his Facebook page. There is to be an emergency rally against the inclusion of Palestinian parties tonight in Israel.

Prior to the video, the PM held a conversation with several of his eunuc... err, ministers, bemoaning the possibility of such a minority government. According to several reports, pounced upon by the opposition, Netanyahu called upon his followers to "burn it all down" should a minority government with the Joint List actually be created. Netanyahu, who is widely considered to be a notorious liar whose word means nothing, denied making such a call.

Comment: See also: