Puppet MastersS


Cult

Flashback George Soros: "Xi Jinping is the most dangerous enemy of free societies" due to face recognition AI and social credit plan


South China Morning Post
Fri, 25 Jan 2019 19:55 UTC
soros
Soros is actually... a libertarian??
Billionaire investor George Soros on Thursday said Chinese President Xi Jinping was "the most dangerous enemy" of free societies for presiding over a hi-tech surveillance regime.

"China is not the only authoritarian regime in the world but it is the wealthiest, strongest and technologically most advanced.

"This makes Xi Jinping the most dangerous opponent of open societies," Soros told a dinner audience on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Communist China under Xi has been building a cutting-edge system including facial recognition to keep tabs on its citizens, and Soros said it would be used to calculate how dangerous a threat individuals might pose to the regime.

Comment: So, China-bashers, given that ye also tend to believe Soros is in league with the devil, what do you make of all that?

When Soros et al are cheering for (and paying for, no doubt) Hong Kong protesters, do you think it's their 'freedom' that motivates him?

Does it not concern you that, in cheering for their 'freedom' too... you may have inadvertently been enlisted as a Soros sockpuppet?

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Sun

SOTT Focus: Putin-Macron Meeting: Glorious Summer After a Long Winter of Discontent?

John Laughland
RT
Tue, 20 Aug 2019 11:00 UTC
Putin/Macron/Brigitte
© Sputnik/Sergei Guneevn/Kremlin via ReutersFrench President Emmanuel Macron and wife Brigitte • Russian President Vladimir Putin
Five years is a long time in politics. In 2014, relations between Russia and the West went into a nosedive over Ukraine and Syria.

The "annexation" of Crimea, the shooting down of the Malaysian airliner, and the conflict in eastern Ukraine destroyed the partial re-establishment of normal relations which had started in 2008 with President Obama's "re-set" and Nicolas Sarkozy's rapprochement with Vladimir Putin. This included the Georgian crisis of that year, of which the French president's decision in 2010 to sell two Mistral aircraft carriers to Russia was a potent symbol. The collapse in relations as a result of the Ukraine crisis led to EU and US sanctions against Russia, and to her expulsion from the G8 group of nations, as it then was, as well as to a war of words between East and West.

Vladimir Putin's visit on Monday to the fort at Bregancon, the official summer residence of the French president, demonstrates that that period is now officially closed. On every level, the West has now abandoned its earlier hostility to Putin and Russia. First, the symbolism: President Putin spends a lot of time governing from his own summer residence in Sochi, and the invitation to the Mediterranean coast, where the atmosphere is more intimate and relaxed than in Paris, was undoubtedly a gesture to Putin's predilection for warmer climes. The fact that the meeting took place just a few days before the Biarritz summit of what is now the G7 also shows that Paris intends to include Moscow in discussing world affairs at the highest level, even if it is unlikely that Russia will be formally readmitted to that structure. Even the substance of the meeting showed how much things have changed. When Emmanuel Macron said that Russia was essential to solving various crises in the world - Iran, Ukraine, Syria, the INF Treaty - he was announcing a 180-degree change in French and Western policy.
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Broom

Epstein murder fallout: Barr demotes Bureau of Prisons director to deputy role in criminal justice overhaul

Michael Balsamo
Associated Press
Mon, 19 Aug 2019 00:00 UTC
Barr/Hurwitz
© Fox News/Win McNamee/Getty ImagesUS AG William Barr • Hugh Hurwitz
Attorney General William Barr removed the acting director of the Bureau of Prisons from his position Monday, more than a week after millionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein took his own life while in federal custody.

Hugh Hurwitz's reassignment comes amid mounting evidence that guards at the chronically understaffed Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York abdicated their responsibility to keep the 66-year-old Epstein from killing himself while he awaited trial on charges of sexually abusing teenage girls. The FBI and the Justice Department's inspector general are investigating his death.

Barr named Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, the prison agency's director from 1992 until 2003, to replace Hurwitz.

Hurwitz is moving to a role as an assistant director in charge of the bureau's reentry programs, where he will work with Barr on putting in place the First Step Act, a criminal justice overhaul.


Comment: If he's been demoted because he's on the hook for Epstein's 'suicidization', it's not exactly consistent to name him as the man who will clean up the corrupt criminal justice system...

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Arrow Up

Bolton demands FCO speed up plans for moving UK embassy to Jerusalem - why the hurry?

Craig Murray
craigmurray.org.uk
Sun, 18 Aug 2019 00:00 UTC
Brit embassy Tel Aviv
© pelleg-arch.comBritish Embassy, Tel Aviv, Israel
Following US National Security Adviser John Bolton's talks with Boris Johnson and his ministers in London last week, FCO [Foreign Commonwealth Office] officials have been asked to speed up contingency planning for the UK to move its Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, with an eye to an "early announcement" post Brexit.

The UK is currently bound by an EU common foreign policy position not to follow the United States in moving its Embassy to Jerusalem. As things stand, that prohibition will fall on 1 November. FCO officials had previously been asked to produce a contingency plan, but this involved the construction of a £14 million new Embassy and a four year timescale. They have now been asked to go back and look at a quick fix involving moving the Ambassador and immediate staff to Jerusalem and renaming the Consulate already there as the Embassy. This could be speedily announced, and then implemented in about a year.

Johnson heads the most radically pro-Israel cabinet in UK history and the symbolic gesture of rejection of Palestinian rights is naturally appealing to his major ministers Patel, Javid and Raab. They also see three other political benefits. Firstly, they anticipate that Labour opposition to the move can be used to yet again raise accusations of "anti-semitism" against Jeremy Corbyn. Secondly, it provides good "red meat" to Brexiteer support in marking a clear and, they believe, popular break from EU foreign policy, at no economic cost. Thirdly, it seals the special link between the Trump and Johnson administrations and sets the UK apart from other NATO allies.
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Handcuffs

Epstein's lawyer claims his death in 'American gulag' to fuel conspiracies for years


RT
Tue, 20 Aug 2019 04:09 UTC
Metropolitan Correctional Center/Epstein
© Reuters/Chip East; Jeffrey Epstein, Reuters/New York State Division of Criminal Justice ServicesThe Metropolitan Correctional Center
The death of millionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein behind bars should trigger "system-wide self-reflection" on how prisoners are treated, Epstein's lawyer tells RT - and it will trigger conspiracy theories for years to come.

'Institutionally ill-equipped American gulag'

Metropolitan Correctional Center "is sort of like an American gulag for people who have not been convicted of anything," Epstein lawyer Marc Fernich tells RT. Insisting the wealthy pedophile was not a "security risk," Fernich laments that the prosecution painted him as an "exceptional flight risk and danger" - equipped as he was with at least one phony passport, a private jet, and a considerable fortune - and left him to languish in "uncivilized conditions" which took their toll on his mind and body.

MCC is "institutionally ill-equipped" to deal with someone like Epstein who wouldn't last long in general population but who isn't a hardened criminal, Fernich explains. "This is one of the toughest pre-trial detention facilities in the country. And the conditions are inhumane." Epstein, he insists, was "presumed innocent," despite his 2008 conviction for soliciting underage prostitutes - part of a slap-on-the-wrist plea deal the fallout from which culminated in this year's sex trafficking charges - and should not have been confined in such "barbaric" conditions.


Comment: See also:

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Pirates

Lull before another storm? China claims 'terrorist organizations' are stirring in Syria


Sputnik
Tue, 20 Aug 2019 15:47 UTC
IS fighters Syria
© APIS fighters clash with Kurdish-led Syria Democratic Forces in Manbij, Aleppo Province, Syria.
Jihadist rebels have withdrawn from a pocket of land near Idlib in northern Syria following an assault by President Bashar al-Assad's forces. The Idlib region is the last part of Syria to be holding out against the Damascus government.

China has warned of "terrorist organisations" including remnants of Daesh rising again in Syria if the international community ignores the "early warning" signs.

Xie Xiaoyan, Beijing's envoy in Syria, said: "There is now a danger of terrorist organisations like ISIS (Daesh) being revived. The international community should pay attention."

He was meeting in Geneva with the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen.

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Bad Guys

Hindsight: Top Iranian official says Iran should never have signed Obama-era nuclear deal

Ali Arouzi
NBC News
Mon, 19 Aug 2019 18:06 UTC
Ali Shamkhani Iran
© Iran Front Page NewsRear Admiral Ali Shamkhani
A top Iranian official and close adviser to Iran's supreme leader says his country should never have signed the international nuclear deal that has now been renounced by President Donald Trump.

In an interview with Lester Holt of NBC News, the official, Ali Shamkhani, who rarely speaks to the Western press, said that there were people in Iran who felt that signing the 2015 nuclear pact, known as the JCPOA, was a mistake.

Asked by Holt if he was one of those people, Shamkhani said, "Yes. ... I'm just following the viewpoints of my nation, the people of Iran."

Shamkhani is the military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and since 2013, has also been the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, making him Iran's top national security official. A former anti-Shah militant and Revolutionary Guard who once commanded Iran's naval forces, he previously served as minister of defense and mounted an unsuccessful campaign for Iran's presidency in 2001.

Comment: But as Trump has grudgingly admitted, Iran is a proud, not to mention resourceful nation. They have learned to cope with US bullying. Patience is a strong suit for this ancient country. They can wait for the US empire to engineer its own downfall.



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Light Sabers

Ex-wife of Pakistani PM makes explosive claim: 'Khan sold off Kashmir to India. He knew beforehand Modi would strike Article 370'


GND Online
Tue, 20 Aug 2019 17:45 UTC
Reham Khan
© Reham Khan/YoutuveReham Khan
Reham Khan, the former ex-wife of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, says there was a 'deal' on Kashmir.

In a video message posted on her YouTube channel 'Reham Khan Official', she talks about various issues including Kashmir.

"I would say that Kashmir has been sold off. We were taught from the beginning that 'Kashmir Banega Pakistan'," she said in the interview.


Comment: That's Hindi for "Kashmir will become Pakistan."


Comment: The rumor in Pakistan is that this woman works for MI6. Khan obviously didn't trust us, divorcing after a marriage that lasted just several months.

She's clearly trying to turn Pakistanis against Khan, accusing him of selling out Kashmir to India.

But what else can he do (for now) but play the nationalist card and beg for international sympathy and cash?

He knew what was coming, and even did what he hates doing: he went to DC to beg Trump for help prior to Modi's announcement. He has to at least look like he's fighting...

We suspect, however, that Reham may essentially be correct: Khan knows there's nothing that can stop Kashmir becoming India proper.

The only question is; what will become of Pakistan? Is Kahn only bluffing here? Khan warns India: Pakistan will respond to any aggression in Kashmir

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Caesar

Russian diplomacy racks up success after success in the Middle East

Thierry Meyssan
Voltaire.net
Tue, 20 Aug 2019 16:58 UTC
Turkey Iran Russia
For five years, Russia has been multiplying its approaches in order to re-establish international Law in the Middle East. It has relied in particular on Iran and Turkey, whose manner of thinking it does not really share. The first results of this patient diplomatic exercise are redefining the lines of division existing at the heart of several conflicts.
New balances of power and a new equilibrium are being set up discreetly in the Nile valley, in the Levant and the Arab peninsula. On the contrary, however, the situation is blocked in the Persian Gulf. This considerable and coordinated change is affecting different conflicts which in appearance have no connection with one another. It is the fruit of patient and discreet Russian diplomacy [1] and, in some cases, the relative good will of the USA.

Unlike the United States, Russia is not seeking to impose its own vision on the world. It begins on the contrary with the culture of its interlocutors, which it modifies by small touches at its contact.
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Bad Guys

US banned-missile test was apparently in works long before leaving INF


RT
Tue, 20 Aug 2019 16:50 UTC
romania us aegis
© AFP / DANIEL MIHAILESCUThe inauguration ceremony of the US Aegis Ashore site in Romania in May 2016.
It took the US just 17 days after it was no longer officially bound by the INF Treaty to conduct a missile test that would have breached its rules. And it probably was breaching the treaty, given how long preparation takes.

On Sunday, the Pentagon fired a Tomahawk cruise missile from a truck-mounted Mark 41 Vertical Launching System to a distance of over 500km. The test was hardly unexpected. Both the missile and the launcher are time-tested, and their capabilities are publicly known. The only novelty was that the Mk41 was placed on a ground vehicle as opposed to a warship.


If anything, the test was a demonstration of intent and attitude. It would have been legally impossible just a month ago, when the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty still forbade not only deploying but even developing weapon systems like the ground-based Tomahawk.

The INF kicked the bucket this year after years of bickering between the US and Russia over who was the worst at sticking to the spirit of the deal. Washington said the Russians had secretly developed a missile that was in violation. There was even secret intelligence to support the accusations - or at least to convince NATO allies not to question the US' justification for withdrawal.

Comment: So the U.S. develops and plans to test a missile banned under the treaty, leaves the treaty, conducts the test, and meanwhile blames Russia. Sounds legit.
The Kremlin said the U.S. missile test showed that Washington had long been preparing to exit the nuclear pact.

"It is simply not possible to prepare for such tests in a few weeks or a few months. This ...shows that it was not Russia, but the United States with its actions that brought the breakdown of the INF," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

China also expressed concern.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the test showed the United States was stoking a new arms race and confrontation, which would have a serious negative impact on regional and global security.

"We advise the U.S. side to abandon outdated notions of Cold War thinking and zero-sum games, and exercise restraint in developing arms," Geng told a daily news briefing.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov also responded:
The Pentagon's recent cruise missile test is "regretful" as it shows that "the US has clearly embarked on a path of inciting military tensions," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.
...
Ryabkov said that the new test by the US proves that it was actually the Pentagon that has been secretly violating the INF Treaty. "There can't be more striking and obvious proof that the US has been developing such systems for a long time," he told reporters, adding that Moscow will not jump the gun in response.

"We have been assuming this turn of events. We will not allow ourselves to be dragged into an expensive arms race. We don't fall for provocations."

The diplomat reiterated that if Russia ever obtains missiles that were previously banned under the INF Treaty, it will not deploy them unless the US does so first.


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