Puppet MastersS


Bizarro Earth

German MP threatened after denouncing Ukraine's Mirotvorets hit-list site

Tom Winter
Fort Russ
Fri, 18 Oct 2019 12:00 UTC
Mirotvorets
I am on Mirotvorets -- a badge of honor
Andrei Hunko, deputy in the German Bundestag with Ukrainian roots, and deputy chairman of the United European Left Faction in the PACE, has insisted on closing the scandalous Peacekeeper website. The deputy recounted his personal letter to Ukrainian President Zelensky on his own website:

"Last week, in a personal letter, I called upon the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky. In my appeal, I clearly identified topics such as political repression in Ukraine and the criminal website Peacekeeper, and attached a list of political prisoners and political prisoners. These are two big problems that the new president received as a heavy legacy from his predecessor. If he does not solve them, he will not succeed in transforming Ukraine into a democratic state," Hunko wrote.

He argues that Zelensky should stop political repression and close the controversial Peacekeeper.

Comment: Any hopes of change with Zelensky in power are, as of right now, looking shaky, with residents of the DPR reporting that under his leadership daily shelling has gotten worse, as reported in Eva Bartlett's newest article Under fire from a Western-backed Ukraine: The people of the DPR share their stories.

See also:

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Bizarro Earth

Best of the Web: Here's where Washington's focus will shift to after Syria

Darius Shahtahmasebi
RT
Fri, 18 Oct 2019 16:10 UTC
navy
© Global Look Press / US Navy
Much to Washington's dismay, China is gaining further momentum in the Indo-Pacific region. As the US president pretends to deploy a hands-off approach to the Middle East, expect China's gains to fare in the news more often.

The reason the US might be (at least, on the face of it) caring less about the Middle East and the situation in Syria is that Washington has a new priority theater it is allocating its time and resources to focus on: the Indo Pacific. In that vein, you may start to notice that China and its relationship to the Pacific region is starting to make headlines again.

The latest outcry appears to be another kink in a longer chain regarding Beijing's actions in the Pacific and the wider question of the future of Taiwan. According to reports, China has agreed to fund a multi-million-dollar stadium in the Solomon Islands for the 2023 Pacific Games in its capital, Honiara. Unfortunately, Taiwan had previously made a commitment to providing the funds for the sports complex, but that has all but fallen through. Just recently, the Solomon Islands cut ties with Taiwan in exchange for funding from Beijing ($730 million according to some reports). Kiribati followed suit shortly after, leaving Taiwan with just 15 full diplomatic allies. One would have to think that, given Beijing's mounting influence and the sorts of packages being offered, that perhaps Tuvalu and the other remaining three Pacific states would not be far behind.

Comment: See also:

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Star of David

Epstein disappears from view, but what about the Mossad?

Philip Giraldi
Strategic Culture Foundation
Thu, 17 Oct 2019 00:00 UTC
EpsteinMossad
© Corbis/Getty Images/Spirit of Metal/KJN
I have long argued that pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was clearly an intelligence agent and that he was most likely working for the Israeli external service Mossad. My belief was based on the nature of his activity, which suggested that he was able to blackmail important Americans using the sex tapes that he had been able to make at his Manhattan mansion. Put that together with the existence of his fake Austrian passport, as well as former Miami federal attorney Alexander Acosta's comments and it would seem that an intelligence connection is a sine qua non.

Acosta was particularly damning. When asked "Is the Epstein case going to cause a problem [for confirmation hearings]?" he replied "...that I had just one meeting on the Epstein case." He'd cut the non-prosecution deal with one of Epstein's attorneys because he had "been told to back off," that Epstein was above his pay grade. "I was told Epstein belonged to intelligence and to leave it alone."
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Briefcase

Trump campaign threatens to sue CNN for series of 'unfair, unfounded, unethical, unlawful' attacks on the president


RT
Fri, 18 Oct 2019 21:10 UTC
Trump
© US President Donald Trump, Reuters/Jonathan ErnstUS President Donald Trump
President Donald Trump's disdain for CNN is well documented. However, a series of undercover interviews with network employees who spilled the beans on bias in the newsroom has Trump's attorneys threatening legal action.

"Fake," "Phony," and "dead as a doornail" are just a small selection of the often-colorful words used by Trump to describe CNN and its overwhelmingly negative coverage of his presidency. However, Trump's re-election campaign has taken the next step and threatened to sue the network for its apparent bias, according to a letter sent to network president Jeff Zucker and general counsel David Vigilante.


The letter, from attorney Charles Harder, demands that CNN make "a substantial payment of damages" to the Trump campaign and take other "appropriate measures" to compensate the president's team. CNN, the letter claims, has broken the law by presenting its hosts to the public as "journalists," and violated the Society of Professional Journalists' code of ethics.
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Pirates

Best of the Web: Purpose of US-brokered ceasefire revealed? EU govts want to REPATRIATE ISIS terrorists from northeastern Syria

Martin Chulov & Michael Safi
The Guardian
Fri, 18 Oct 2019 11:16 UTC
EU repatriate ISIS belgium
Believe it or not, this one is NOT fake news
Belgium and other European states are preparing to evacuate citizens accused of having links to Islamic State from detention camps in north-eastern Syria through a newly declared safe zone being carved out by Turkish forces along the border.


Comment: So, that's why they wanted a ceasefire; to save ISIS, not 'the Kurds'. No doubt these are the fighters Belgium trained in its forests earlier this decade before sending them to topple Assad.


Belgian officials informed family members of detainees held in two camps on Friday that they would attempt to take advantage of a five-day ceasefire to retrieve nationals allegedly tied to the terror group. The Guardian has learned that other European states, including France and Germany, are also looking at ways to take advantage of the window declared by US vice-president Mike Pence on Thursday to repatriate women and children.

Whether Britain is willing to re-examine its policy of largely ignoring its 30 or so nationals detained in Syria remains unclear, but the decision by allies to move quickly is likely to increase pressure on Whitehall to do the same. What to do with accused ISIS fighters and their families has been a pressing global security concern in the wake of Donald Trump's decision to suddenly withdraw all US forces from Syria, with fears that an ensuing vacuum could lead to a collapse of security at the four main camps.

Comment: The French minister is right. It really is a no-brainer. Yet his and other EU govts are planning to repatriate what remains of ISIS. Will they get extra benefits like Sweden did for its ISIS terrorists?

Seriously? Sweden wants to welcome terrorists home from Syria with free driver's license, housing & tax perks

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Attention

State Dept. official raised concerns about Hunter Biden and Burisma in 2015

Bob Fredericks
New York Post
Fri, 18 Oct 2019 04:32 UTC
George Kent
© Alex Wong/Getty ImagesUS Deputy Undersecretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, George Kent
A State Department expert on Ukraine told lawmakers this week that he raised concerns about Hunter Biden's job with a Ukrainian natural gas firm in 2015 — but Joe Biden's staff blew him off because the then-veep was preoccupied with his other son Beau's cancer battle, Fox News reported Friday.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent, who testified behind closed doors before committees leading the House impeachment effort, said that he had qualms about Hunter Biden's role on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

The Washington Post first reported details of Kent's testimony on Friday, which included his concern that Hunter Biden's role in the company could complicate US diplomatic efforts with Ukrainian officials, and that he also raised conflict of interest concerns since the elder Biden was spearheading the Obama administration's efforts to fight corruption in the country.

Kent also said that he feared that Hunter Biden's position would make Ukrainian officials believe he was a backchannel to his father, Fox reported. The Post first reported that the staff said they didn't have the "bandwidth" to deal with the issue.
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Bullseye

China's top trade negotiator on same side with Trump: We 'have made substantial progress' in trade deal

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Sat, 19 Oct 2019 11:29 UTC
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He
© unknownChinese Vice Premier Liu He
Confirming a late Friday leak from Global Times' editor Hu Xijin...
... on Saturday, China's Vice Premier and top trade negotiator, Liu He, spoke to a technology conference audience and for the first time adopted the position represented by the Trump administration for over a week, namely that last Friday's "Phase 1" of the deal represented "substantial progress in many fields" and laid "an important foundation for the signing of a phased agreement."

"Stopping the escalation of the trade war benefits China, the U.S., and the whole world. It's what producers and consumers alike are hoping for," he added.
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Laptop

State Dept. concludes Clinton email review, identifies 91 violations from 38 people, another 497 remain unidentified

Zachary Stieber
The Epoch Times
Sat, 19 Oct 2019 00:00 UTC
HClinton
© Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty ImagesHillary Clinton
The review of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server has wrapped up. State Department investigators found nearly 600 security violations, they said in a report sent to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

Investigators found 91 "valid violations attributable to 38 individuals," they wrote (pdf). The individuals were described as current and former State Department officials but not identified in the report that was sent to Congress this week.

There were another 497 "valid violations where no individual was found to bear culpability, resulting in a 'valid, but not culpable' determination," investigators said.

They said there were a number of challenges in probing the case, including "the unprecedented nature and scale of this event. A typical spillage event involves a single email, not thousands of hard-copy documents to be sifted through. The scale alone caused considerable delay to the effort," the report stated. The significant time that elapsed between the time the emails were sent and the probe started, up to nine years for some of the emails, also posed challenges.

The probe concluded on Sept. 6 and the report was dated Sept. 13.
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Dollars

'Fun times in Beijing': Biden received $700,000 from company holding stake in Chinese investment firm

Andrew Kerr
The Daily Caller
Thu, 17 Oct 2019 18:53 UTC
Joe/Finnegan/Hunter Biden
© AFP/NG Han GuanPresidential candidate Joe Biden, granddaughter Finnegan Biden and son Hunter Biden
Hunter Biden received over $700,000 from a New York-based capital management company that held equity in a Chinese investment firm with close ties to the Bank of China, a Daily Caller News Foundation review of Hunter Biden's Chinese, Ukrainian and American business dealings has found.

And despite the deluge of media reports saying Hunter Biden received $50,000 a month for his work on the board of the Ukranian natural gas company Burisma Holdings, the records tell a much different story.

Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, did not receive any compensation directly from Burisma, according to available records. The oft-cited $50,000 a month figure is actually based on payments he received from a New York-based company called Rosemont Seneca Bohai, which was owned and controlled by his longtime business partner, Devon Archer.
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Wine n Glass

Best of the Web: Whining bigly: Israel supporters are flipping out over Trump's Syria withdrawal

Philip Weiss
MondoWeiss
Fri, 18 Oct 2019 16:49 UTC
trump israel
© Ariel Schalit / Reuters
Donald Trump's decision to abandon former Kurdish allies in Syria last week has been a shock to Israel and its US lobby. Israel thought it had a very special place in Trump's worldview, but the withdrawal appears to gives Iran far more leeway in the Middle East. We are on our own against Iran, several Israeli officials and Israel supporters have concluded fearfully.


Comment: Break out the Champagne!


Not surprisingly, Israel's interest in U.S. Syria policy was on display in American politics this week. For the first time Congressional Republicans broke with Trump over the move; and 129 Republicans voted to condemn the decision when the House voted by 354-60 on that resolution Wednesday.

Israel featured in Congressional debate of Trump's move. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and House Majority leader Steny Hoyer said Trump's move endangers Israel.

Rep. Lois Frankel of Florida said the decision forces the Kurds into the Iranian camp, and Israel is the loser:
Our Kurdish friends were betrayed and slaughtered and are now forced to align with Syrian forces backed by Iran creating an even bigger threat to our friend Israel.
Israel came up for the first time in four Democratic debates this week because of the Syria decision, with Sen. Amy Klobuchar saying, "This is an outrageous thing that happened here.... Think about our other allies, Israel. How do they feel right now? Donald Trump is not true to his word when they are a beacon of democracy in the Mideast."

Comment: Translation: Trump made the right choice. Just read the response from the American Jewish Congress: Every once in a while there is good news. Thank G-d!

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