Puppet MastersS


MIB

Officials: US hit Iran with secret cyber strike in wake of Saudi oil attack - Iran issues denial

Idrees Ali
Reuters
Wed, 16 Oct 2019 16:23 UTC
attack aramco oil saudi arabia damage
© Reuters/Hamad l Mohammed/File PhotoWorkers are seen at the damaged site of Saudi Aramco oil facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia, September 20, 2019.
The United States carried out a secret cyber operation against Iran in the wake of the Sept. 14 attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities, which Washington and Riyadh blame on Tehran, two U.S. officials have told Reuters.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the operation took place in late September and took aim at Tehran's ability to spread "propaganda."

One of the officials said the strike affected physical hardware, but did not provide further details.

The attack highlights how President Donald Trump's administration has been trying to counter what it sees as Iranian aggression without spiraling into a broader conflict.

Comment: Iran is becoming an expert at fending off cyber attacks:

'They tried hard, but failed': Iran foiled all US cyber-attack attempts

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Pirates

Expert reveals US plan to transfer thousands of ISIS terrorists from Syria to Iraq

Drago Bosnic
Fort Russ News
Tue, 15 Oct 2019 00:00 UTC
ISIS reality
A senior Iraqi security expert disclosed that Washington is attempting to transfer 3,000 members of the ISIS terrorist group from Syria to Iraq. Hafez Al-Basharah told the Arabic-language al-Ma'aloumeh news website on Tuesday that the US which has created and supported the ISIS terrorists in the past few years is now plotting to create a safe area for them in Iraq. He added that Washington, which has chosen three areas in Iraq for the ISIS relocation, wants to transfer the militants first to the regions under Turkey's military attacks in Syria and then to Iraq.
"The first region that the US intends to transfer the ISIS terrorists is an area between Albu Kamal in Syria and Qa'em in Iraq; the second region is Ein al-Assad base; and the third area is one of the US bases in the Iraqi Kurdistan region," al-Basharah said.
The Arabic-language media outlets had reported in July that Washington planned to bring back a more dangerous version of the ISIS terrorist group to Iraq and Syria after its failure to achieve its mischievous goals in the region. The Arabic-language website of the Russian Sputnik news agency quoted Hessam Sho'aib, a Syrian military expert on terrorist organizations, as saying that a recent report by the US-based Institute for Studies of War (ISW) on rebirth of the ISIS terrorists in Iraq and Syria exposes this reality that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has created the ISIS and is preparing the grounds for the return of the terrorist groups, especially the ISIS, to the region.

Comment: So, assuming Trump is sincere about ending "stupid wars," he is either unaware of the stated plan - or is aware but is powerless to do anything about it. And the CIA's long history of supporting and directing ISIS to do its bidding doesn't appear to be ending any time soon.

See also:

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Question

Trump wants to end the 'stupid wars' but it's quite possible that nothing will change

Philip Giraldi
The Unz Reader
Tue, 15 Oct 2019 00:00 UTC
us soldiers
The discussion, if one might even call it that, regarding the apparent President Donald Trump decision to withdraw at least some American soldiers from Syria has predictably developed along partisan, ideologically fueled lines. Trump has inevitably muddied the waters by engaging in his usual confusing explanations coupled with piles of invective heaped upon critics. The decision reportedly came after a telephone call with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but what exactly was agreed upon and who else might have been present in the room to report back to the intelligence community remains uncertain. Trump clearly believed that he had obtained some assurances regarding limits to any proposed Turkish military action from Erdogan, who almost immediately launched air attacks followed by ground troop incursions against the former U.S. supported Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

It should be observed that the Syrian incursion by the American military, which was initiated by President Barack Obama and his band of lady hawks during the so-called "Arab Spring" of 2011, was illegal from the gitgo. Syria did not threaten the United States, quite the contrary. Damascus had supported U.S. intelligence operations after 9/11 and it was Washington that soured the relationship beginning with the Syria Accountability Act of 2003, which later was followed by the Syrian War Crimes Accountability Act of 2015, both of which were, at least to a certain extent, driven by the interests of Israel.

Comment: On the flip side, it is quite possible this indicates the beginning of some real action showing the US pulling out of the Middle East and elsewhere. The pertinent question though is: Will Trump be allowed to do this? There are likely thousands of individuals in Washington whose bread is buttered by war, and who quite probably feel threatened by the risk of peace and common sense.

See also: The Kurds make a deal with Damascus: Trump's checkmate in Syria

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Bad Guys

IMF says carbon tax is most powerful way to fight climate crisis

Jordan Davidson
EcoWatch
Fri, 11 Oct 2019 14:02 UTC
IMF international monetary fund
© SAUL LOEB / AFP / Getty ImagesSigns for the upcoming IMF / World Bank Annual Meetings hang outside International Monetary Fund Headquarters in DC on Oct. 7.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a report that says action is needed urgently to tackle the climate crisis. It said that countries around the world need to drastically reduce their carbon emissions immediately and the most effective way is through a carbon tax and with global cooperation, as Reuters reported.

The report did not mince words when it came to the threat the climate crisis poses. "Global warming causes major damage to the global economy and the natural world and engenders risks of catastrophic and irreversible outcomes," the IMF said in its semi-annual fiscal monitor report released ahead of next week's IMF and World Bank fall meetings of finance leaders and policymakers, according to Reuters.

The IMF's report said a meaningful carbon tax is the "single most powerful way" to hand the climate crisis, since it allow businesses and households to find the lowest-cost ways of reducing energy use and transitioning towards cleaner alternatives.

Comment: Make no mistake, if the IMF are lobbying for it, it's because it will be oppressive to the people while making the 1% richer. The IMF doesn't care about 'global warming'. They care about enforcing stricter and stricter austerity measures on the plebes. Idiots like Greta and Extinction Rebellion are begging for their own enslavement.

See also:

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Network

Ankara-Moscow relations stay rock-solid amid Turkey's operation in Syria

Salman Rafi Sheikh
New Eastern Journal
Tue, 15 Oct 2019 12:00 UTC
turkey syria
While the mainstream Western media has spent last two years or so predicting a 'downfall' of Turkish-Russian relations because of some (perceived) fundamental strategic differences between the two countries in Syria, the actual trajectory of their bi-lateral relations has been just the opposite of what seemed imminent in the Western media reports. Again, while Turkish incursions into Syria seemed to have sowed the seeds of disruption, Turkish-Russian relations remain undisturbed even though a US decision to address Turkey's long-standing concerns was expected to give a positive spin to the bi-lateral relations of NATO's two biggest military members. This, however, isn't happening. Turkey, on the contrary, remains in the Russian camp and, in fact, is taking steps that potentially aim to disrupt the US-dollar financial empire and dent its ability to impose sanctions on countries that continue to oppose Washington's hegemonic moves.

Comment: See also:

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Snakes in Suits

'Hypocrisy': China furious at Macron for Hong Kong riots jibe despite France experiencing 48TH week of Yellow Vest protests

Romina McGuinness
Express, UK
Tue, 08 Oct 2019 19:10 UTC
Hong Kong black bloc
© The Yomiuri ShimbunA radical protester throws a molotov cocktail at a government building in Hong Kong on Sept. 15, 2019.
CHINA's embassy in Paris on Monday excoriated "hypocritical" French and European comments about the anti-government protests in Hong Kong, telling France to show more empathy in light of its own battle against rioters. Four months of violent protests have plunged Hong kong into its worst social crisis in decades and posed the biggest challenge to the government in Beijing.

"We express our deep dissatisfaction and our profound contempt for the hypocrisy of the European statement and the darkness of the intentions of some vis-à-vis China," the embassy said in a statement posted on its website. "The European Union has publicly glorified the rioters' abuses and has flouted the Hong Kong police's self-defence measures to defend their lives against their aggressors. This is both criminal and dangerous," the embassy continued. "If our police force - the pillar of social order and guarantor of citizens' safety - were to collapse under the battering of these odious attacks, Hong Kong would sink into irremediable chaos. Is that what European leaders want?" the embassy added.

When asked last week to react after Hong Kong police fired live bullets at demonstrators, France's foreign ministry referred to a statement from the European Union.

Comment: The protests in Hong Kong are being actively supported by foreign powers in a blatant attempt to take advantage of the genuine complaints of the people, to sow dissent and to smear and disrupt mainland China, what's Macron's excuse? The Yellow Vest protests have been ongoing for 48 weeks and have enjoyed the support of a large majority of French citizens, the same can't be said for the increasingly violent minority in Hong Kong.

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Attention

Trump to Ankara: 'Fully prepared to destroy economy', raise tariffs, scrap trade deal, sanction officials


RT
Mon, 14 Oct 2019 20:07 UTC
Trump
© Getty ImagesUS President Donald Trump
Accusing Turkey of endangering civilians and threatening peace and security with its Syrian operation, US President Donald Trump has announced upcoming tariffs and sanctions against Turkish officials and economy.

"Turkey's action is precipitating a humanitarian crisis and setting conditions for possible war crimes," Trump said on Monday, announcing the upcoming measures against Ankara.

In addition to an executive order sanctioning current and former officials involved in "destabilizing actions in northeast Syria," Trump said he would raise tariffs on Turkish steel to 50 percent, and immediately stop the negotiations over a trade deal valued at $100 billion.
[For full statement, go here.]

Comment: This is Trump's response to the criticism he has received for "abandoning the Kurds." It lets him appear tough and take the "correct" moral stance - by threatening to ensure that Turkey behaves in a way the critics of the withdrawal would prefer. By promising a response, he can still be perceived as a man of action, and not one who is simply picking up and hightailing it out of Syria. He's essentially siding with the critics of the withdrawal by focusing attention on the party both sides can agree is guilty - Turkey - leaving his critics stuck in the position of kind of having to agree with him. Ironically, because of Russia's mediation, those same folks - who have been cheerleading for the Kurds - are now in a position to also side with Assad, who has taken up the mantle of their protector. Must be a cause for some mighty cognitive dissonance.

See also:

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Smiley

High-level trolling? Greta Thunberg could be a Russian puppet, climate skeptic AfD


RT
Tue, 15 Oct 2019 00:00 UTC
Greta Thunburg
© Reuters / Rick Wilking
An Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) MEP has written to the European Commission to request a probe into whether Greta Thunberg's eco movement could represent a "hybrid threat" to Europe and be "financed and steered" by Russia.

In the written question to the Commission, Jörg Meuthen notes that he has been "following with interest" the measures being taken by Europe to "avert hybrid threats." He describes hybrid threats as being designed to "influence decision-making, to weaken societies and undermine unity."

But could we really be looking at yet another of the Kremlin's many feared discord-sowing tentacles wearing the doomsaying teen activist as a sock puppet?

Comment: See also:

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Sheriff

Best of the Web: Die or ask the Syrian government to take them in: The Kurdish militias simply have no other options

Mikhail Khodarenok
RT
Tue, 15 Oct 2019 19:12 UTC
Syrian army
© Reuters / SANALocals greet Syrian army soldiers in the town of Ain Issa, Syria.
Tensions in eastern Syria are flaring, after Turkey launched its military operation in the country's north-east. As Turks and their proxies advance, Kurds retreat, defending themselves - possibly right into the arms of Damascus.

The state of play

Turkish forces are targeting two areas, Ras al-Ayn and Tel Abyad. They have inched forward 10-15 km into Syrian territory towards Ras al-Ayn and are up to 30 km inside Syria on the way to Tel Abyad. They have even set up a foothold mid-way. The Turkish army wants to block the strategic M4 highway along the Turkish border, which links Syria's economic capital Aleppo with its administrative center, Al-Hasakah, in the country's north-east.

Turkey has deployed commandos, special ops forces, tanks and artillery. Its forces on the ground, all part of Operation Peace Spring, include 14,000 troops, 120 tanks, 230 armored combat vehicles and 240 artillery pieces.

Comment: See also:

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Caesar

SOTT Focus: Russia's Balanced Diplomacy in Middle East on Rise as US War Policy Crashes

Finian Cunningham
RT
Tue, 15 Oct 2019 20:45 UTC
Putin saudi arabia
© Reuters / Bandar Algaloud / Courtesy of Saudi Royal CourtRussian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabia's King Salman attend a meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 14, 2019
The timing is not merely coincidental. The shambolic policymaking of the Trump administration has thrown the Middle East into further chaos, while countries are increasingly viewing Russia as a source of stability.

The high respect afforded to Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit this week to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates speaks of a new geopolitical reality in the region. Both countries are traditional US allies, but it is Russia that appears to be the one held in more regard.


Comment: Check out how the Emirates welcomed Putin today:



Russia's pragmatic policy of "talking with everyone" sees it maintaining good relations with a host of nations, notwithstanding that several of these nations are among themselves either estranged or implacable enemies. Putin is hosted by the Saudi and Emirati monarchs despite the fact that Moscow has a growing alliance with Iran - the perceived Shia nemesis of the Sunni potentates in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.
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