Puppet MastersS


Snakes in Suits

The G7 is an obsolete, useless talking shop

Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture Foundation
Fri, 23 Aug 2019 13:24 UTC
G7 meeting 2019
© Wikimedia
The Group of Seven (G7) self-declared advanced nations meet this weekend in France for their 45th annual summit. US President Donald Trump caused a stir ahead of the gathering in Biarritz when he remarked that Russia should be included in the format, thereby making it a G8 summit.

"Russia should be at the negotiating table," said Trump, in a rare moment of lucidity.

His view of including Moscow appears to be shared by France's President Emmanuel Macron who hosted Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in southern France earlier this week, only days before the G7 summit.

Of course, Russia should be at the table to discuss resolving global economic problems. Not just Russia, but China, India and a few others as well.
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Light Sabers

Full-on trade war: Trump jacks up tariffs, China retaliates, markets dip


RT
Fri, 23 Aug 2019 21:09 UTC
Shipping
© Reuters / stringer
US President Donald Trump has announced yet another major hike of existing and future tariffs on some $550 billion in Chinese goods, criticizing Beijing's attempt to offset the losses as 'unfair' and 'politically motivated.'

Duties on $250 million worth of Chinese goods already taxed at 25 percent will increase to 30 percent starting on October 1, the US president tweeted on Friday, enraged that Beijing dared to respond to his previous tariff jab. In addition, he said, $300 billion in imports set to be taxed at 10 percent starting on September 1 will be taxed at 15 percent instead.

The latest salvo in the raging US-China trade war ups the ante after Beijing applied duties of its own to $75 billion in American goods, sending US markets into a tailspin. Chinese countermeasures envisage 5 to 10 percent duties on American farm products including beef, pork, and soybeans, a 25 percent duty on cars, and for the first time, a tax on US crude oil.

Comment: See also:

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Stock Down

China to hit back at Trump with higher tariffs on soy, autos

Natalie Lung, James Mayger, Miao Han
Bloomberg
Fri, 23 Aug 2019 15:29 UTC
china retaliates
China threatened to impose additional tariffs on $75 billion of American goods including soybeans, automobiles and oil, in retaliation for President Donald Trump's latest planned levies on Chinese imports that pushed U.S. stocks and farm commodities lower.

Some of the countermeasures will take effect starting Sept. 1, while the rest will come into effect from Dec. 15, according to the announcement Friday from the Finance Ministry. This mirrors the timetable the U.S. has laid out for 10% tariffs on nearly $300 billion of Chinese shipments.

china tariffs
An extra 5% tariff will be put on American soybeans and crude-oil imports starting next month. The resumption of a suspended extra 25% duty on U.S. cars will resume Dec. 15, with another 10% on top for some vehicles. With existing general duties on autos taken into account, the total tariff charged on U.S. made cars would be as high as 50%.

China's tariff threats take aim at the heart of Trump's political support -- factories and farms across the Midwest and South at a time when the U.S. economy is showing signs of slowing down. Soybean prices sank to a two-week low.

Comment: See also:

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Target

Syria to eliminate Turkish observation points supplying terrorists with weapons in Idlib


Sputnik
Sat, 24 Aug 2019 02:54 UTC
syria idlib
© Sputnik / Iliya Pitalev
The Syrian army may eliminate Turkish observation points in the Idlib de-escalation zone to cut off supplies of terror groups that are operating in the area, the aide of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Bouthaina Shaaban, told the Al-Mayadeen broadcaster.

"The Turkish observation point in the settlement of Morek is under siege. The Syrian army will be able to eliminate Turkish observation points and terrorists," Shaaban said on Friday.

She pointed out that Turkey was supplying terror groups with weapons.

"Turkey has not complied with the agreements, signed in Astana [currently, Nur-Sultan] and turned the observation points into facilities, used for redeploying weapons and occupying our territories," Shaaban added.

Comment: See also:

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Snakes in Suits

George Osborne as head of the IMF? It's as insulting as 'Tony Blair, peace envoy'

Neil Clark
Sputnik
Fri, 23 Aug 2019 15:00 UTC
George Osbourne
© AP Photo / Kirsty WigglesworthGeorge Osbourne
According to Bloomberg, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will use this weekend's G-7 meetings in France to seek the backing of Donald Trump and other world leaders for former British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne becoming the new head of the IMF.

Earlier in the week, the current UK Chancellor Sajid Javid said that Osborne 'would make an excellent, absolutely superb head of the IMF'. He added, in an interview with Rupert Murdoch's Times newspaper: 'As you know these processes are never straightforward. But there's still time to play out'.

​In fact, it's hard to think of a worse candidate to be head of the IMF. As Chancellor from 2010-16, 'Slasher' Osborne was the architect and chief-implementer of the policy of austerity which has done so much damage to the British economy and to the social fabric of the nation.

Comment: Or Saudi Arabia as Human Rights Council head - this is the inverted reality that dominates our planet... Then again, considering it is the legendarily corrupt, economy-imploding, nation-destroying IMF, Osbourne would make the perfect puppet; his previous 'successes' are solid proof he's made for the job:

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Arrow Up

Huawei #1 private firm in China thanks to success in Southeast Asia despite trade war


Sputnik
Fri, 23 Aug 2019 18:07 UTC
China city
© Sputnik
Support for Huawei has grown across Southeast Asia, with nations such as Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Brunei and Vietnam also sharing similar ambitions for partnering with the Chinese telecoms giant despite US president Donald Trump's trade war against Beijing.

Huawei Technologies is gaining a foothold in Southeast Asia as countries look to Beijing for their 5G infrastructure, despite the ongoing US trade war on China, experts have said in Asian media.

"It becomes necessary for Southeast Asian countries to explore the possibilities offered by 5G for the next generation," analyst at the Foreign Policy and Security Studies programme at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies in Malaysia, Farlina Said, told Asia One, adding that businesses will rely on Huawei to help ASEAN countries build their Smart Cities Networks to help with disaster management and sustainable development.

Comment: Huawei doing so well is a positive move for the multipolar world, and alternatives to the US tech giant dictatorship are surely welcome, all of which should hold company in good stead once citizens realize just what a disaster to life 5G is: Also check out SOTT radio's: Objective:Health #15 - The Dangers of 5G & WiFi - With Scott Ogrin of Scottie's Tech.Info

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No Entry

Best of the Web: Suddenly the West is miserably failing to overthrow 'regimes' all around the world

Andre Vltchek
New Eastern Outlook
Thu, 22 Aug 2019 00:00 UTC
Syrian flag
It used to be done regularly and it worked: The West identified a country as its enemy, unleashed its professional propaganda against it, then administered a series of sanctions, starving and murdering children, the elderly and other vulnerable groups. If the country did not collapse within months or just a couple of years, the bombing would begin. And the nation, totally shaken, in pain, and in disarray, would collapse like a house of cards, once the first NATO boots hit its ground.

Such scenarios were re-enacted, again and again, from Yugoslavia to Iraq.

But suddenly, something significant has happened. This horrific lawlessness, this chaos stopped; was deterred.

The West keeps using the same tactics, it tries to terrorize independent-minded countries, to frighten people into submission, to overthrow what it defines as 'regimes', but its power, its monstrously destructive power has all of a sudden become ineffective.

It hits, and the attacked nation shakes, screams, sheds blood, but keeps standing, keeps proudly erect.

Comment: It's producing a time of - relatively-speaking - world peace. But what happens when the 'energy' (military, financial, industrial) cannot go into what it normally goes into (warfare, domination, chasing hegemony)?

Is it transmuted somehow into positive forms of creativity? Some people hope so, but we fear other people will start wrecking everything.

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Megaphone

Best of the Web: Trump lashes out after China retaliates with counter-tariffs... by ordering US companies to come home and attacking Fed chairman!


RT
Fri, 23 Aug 2019 20:10 UTC

Comment: One is never sure if Trump is smoking crack, or some kind of dissembling genius.

He has once again gone on an angry rant against China's govt, but wrapped within an even more stinging attack against the Federal Reserve...


trump federal reserve
President Donald Trump has lashed out at the Federal Reserve chairman, after Jay Powell refused to cut interest rates to Trump's liking, a move that would have given the president ammunition to escalate his trade war with China.

"As usual, the Fed did NOTHING!" Trump tweeted on Friday, after Powell announced that he would "sustain the expansion" of the US economy, but not by slashing interest rates by a whole percentage point, as Trump has repeatedly called for. Instead, Powell is likely to lower rates by around a quarter of a percentage point, from their current level of 2.25 percent.

Interest rates are usually lowered during periods of recession to stimulate the economy, as low rates make borrowing cheaper and increase consumer spending and investment. However, when rates are too low, they can spur unsustainable growth and fuel rising inflation.

Crucially for Trump, a dramatic lowering of rates could help sustain the US' roaring economy heading into his re-election campaign, and insulate it from damage wrought by the president's ongoing trade war with China. Trump made no secret of this on Friday, asking "who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Chairman Xi?"



Comment: Here, it's quite clear that he's insinuating the Federal Reserve is the real enemy of the United States.


Comment: Well, the Chairman's job is to dissemble, so why shouldn't the President?

"We only conduct monetary policy" is the core scam of the US central bank (like all such dens of iniquity). Once you control monetary policy, you essentially control trade policy. Along with everything else.

'The market' has responded to Trump by tanking 700 points...

Maybe this is what's behind Trump's ridiculously exuberant "nobody loves Jews and Israel as much as me" statements of late?

Is he flattering in order to deceive? He's practically goading Americans to chant "End the Fed! Rein in the money-lenders!"

Or maybe he's just having one of those days where he attacks everyone and sees who blinks first...

Update 11:15 CET

Trump has upped the ante against China...





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Star of David

Lindsey Graham's 'blank check' defense agreement with Israel spells disaster for Americans

Philip Giraldi
Strategic Culture Foundation
Thu, 22 Aug 2019 00:00 UTC
Lindsey Graham
© Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesSenator Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Two world wars began because of unconditional pledges made by one country to come to assistance of another. On July 5, 1914, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany pledged his country's complete support for whatever response Austria-Hungary would choose to make against Serbia after the June 28th assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by a Serbian nationalist during an official visit to Sarajevo, Bosnia. This fatal error went down in history as Germany's carte blanche or "blank check," assurance to Austria that led directly to WW I.

In September 1939, World War II began when Great Britain and France came to the assistance of Poland after the German Army invaded, fulfilling a "guarantee" made in March of that year. What was a regional war, and one that might have been resolved through diplomacy, became global.

One would think that after such commitments were assessed by historians as the immediate causes of two world wars, no one would ever consider going down that road again. But that would be reckoning without Republican Senator Lindsey Graham who has been calling for a "defense treaty" with Israel since last April. In his most recent foray, Graham announced late in July that he is seeking bipartisan support for providing "blank check" assurances to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and is hoping to be able to push a complete defense treaty through the Senate by next year.

Comment: See also:

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Arrow Down

Having embraced Russia, the Liberal Order now wants 'regime change and revenge'

Phil Butler
New Eastern Outlook
Fri, 23 Aug 2019 00:00 UTC
PutinRoxburgh
© Unknown/goodreads.comRussian President Vladimir Putin • Agnus Roxburgh
A former adviser to Russia's government, Angus Roxburgh became famous for covering the fall of communism in eastern Europe. At a point, the former BBC Russian Service scriptwriter worked for the pan-European public relations firm GPlus, as part of a PR advisory team for the Kremlin. Since 2009 Roxburgh turned on the Kremlin. Now, like so many other "Putin experts," he wants a regime change and revenge.

More Putin Fairytales

This story's title is a spin on a The Guardian article "Putin began by embracing the west. Now, he wants revenge," by Angus Roxburgh. In his latest tirade on Vladimir Putin, the British journalist, broadcaster, and former PR adviser just spits out what he wants from relations with Russia with:
"There's little hope of an improvement in relations so long as the Russian president's 20-year reign continues."
It's the lead in a story right out of Mother Goose about how Vladimir Putin is the ruthless strongman who shocked the Fairy Godmother in Buckingham Palace and the Goody Two Shoes operators in the White House by being so, so, bad in Chechnya. Forgive my sarcasm. Another nincompoop Putin expert has reared his bobbly head. Roxburgh continues with a deep, deep, deep analysis of Mr. Putin's psyche and the deep, deep, deep concern by the westerners about the fate of the Russian people. According to Roxburgh:
"The problem lay elsewhere - in Putin's inability to understand the west's wariness and increasing hostility as his internal policies revealed him to be no democrat."
Wow! What a condemnation of the entire western hierarchy and political belief system. London, Paris, Berlin, Brussels, and Washington have been bitch-slapped repeatedly by a man incapable of reasoning! What does this say about the people who end up paying Roxburgh's bills? Let's move on.
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