Puppet MastersS


Fire

Best of the Web: Manufacturing Normality

Caitlin Johnstone
Medium
Wed, 14 Aug 2019 00:00 UTC
cartoon
© unknown
If people could see the world with fresh eyes, as though they were viewing it for the very first time, they would suddenly find themselves smashed between two equally strong yet wildly different experiences.

On the one hand, they would experience breathless awe at the thunderous beauty of everything that exists. We tend to develop a mental habit of taking things for granted just because we have a thought story about knowing what they are and having seen them before. The labeling, dividing mind says "Oh yeah, I know what that is, that's a tree. I've seen a million of those, no big deal," and we make a habit of overlooking it. This habit combines with our fixation on looping mental chatter to pull the interest and attention out of our experience of the world which would otherwise be experienced as a nonstop eruption of staggering beauty.

On the other hand, someone seeing the world with fresh eyes would at the same time experience howling rage at all the immense evils that the mass media manipulators have convinced us to accept as normal. All the oppression, exploitation, violence, domination, ecocide and corruption which we were born into would no longer be seen as unfortunate but necessary mundane realities, and neither would all the horrible propagandists who deceived us into thinking they were.

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Snakes in Suits

Bolton dangles trade deal if Britain toughens line on Iran, China and anything else deemed useful!

Finian Cunningham
RT
Tue, 13 Aug 2019 16:05 UTC
Johnson/Bolton
© independent.co.uk/Reuters/Joshua Roberts/KJNUK PM Boris Johnson • US Natl. Security Advisor John Bolton
It's more than coincidence that on the first day of US National Security Advisor John Bolton's visit to London this week, Britain announced the dispatch of another warship to the Persian Gulf.

Since Boris Johnson became British prime minister nearly three weeks ago, President Donald Trump's administration has been pushing London to take a harder foreign policy line, in particular towards Iran and China.

Ahead of Bolton's visit to London, Washington was pointedly making it clear in media reports that a future US trade deal with Britain was dependent on Johnson's government being more amenable to America's policy of pressuring Iran and China.

It won't stop there either. The implication is for an open-ended demand by Washington for British compliance on other foreign policy interests. That is, for Britain to be more compliant than it usually is.

Comment: See also: 'Pro-China' Boris Johnson 'enthusiastic' about belt and road plan

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USA

2020 Democrats say they double down on diversity...but do they?


RT
Wed, 14 Aug 2019 20:28 UTC
DNC buttons/Trump
© Kiplinger.com/Unknown/KJN
Democrats vying to defeat President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election are insisting he's a racist and a bigot, while they represent diversity and the future of America. How is that working out for them?

There is certainly a lot of diversity among the candidates vying for the party's nomination. Senator Kamala Harris (D-California) is of Jamaican and Indian descent. South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is in a same-sex marriage. Businessman Andrew Yang's parents were from Taiwan. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) is part Samoan and a practicing Hindu.

That said, the most popular candidate in all the polls of Democrat voters is former Delaware Senator Joe Biden, who checks all the "bad" boxes on the diversity questionnaire: white, male, old (76)... Admittedly, he was also vice-president to Barack Obama, so he is presumably woke-by-proxy.
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USA

Beijing claims US is insanely, inappropriately involved in Hong Kong anti-Chinese criminal cases


RT
Thu, 15 Aug 2019 07:44 UTC
Chinese protester
© Reuters/Thomas PeterAn anti-extradition bill protester throws a tear gas cartridge during clashes with police in Sham Shui Po in Hong Kong, China August 14, 2019.
China has accused the United States of collaborating with violent extremists in an effort to undermine stability in Hong Kong.

A statement released by the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) condemned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other US lawmakers for their "erroneous" remarks about the ongoing unrest in Hong Kong.
"The distortion of reality, the blind observance of double standards by American politicians is already close to hysteria. They conspired with radical criminal elements and are insanely involved in anti-Chinese criminal cases in Hong Kong."
On Wednesday, the ranking members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee issued a statement warning Beijing that any violence used against "peaceful protesters" in Hong Kong would be a "mistake" and would be met with "universal condemnation and swift consequences."

Comment: More from RT 14/8/2019: Trump to XI - meet and discuss Hong Kong via Twitter
US President Donald Trump has proposed a summit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, in order to resolve the Hong Kong problem "quickly and humanely."
See also:

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Briefcase

Probe exonerated pro-Trump Pentagon analyst, report never given defense team

Rowan Scarborough
Washington Times
Thu, 15 Aug 2019 09:33 UTC
Lovinger/Halper
© neonnettle.comAdam S. Lovinger • Stephen Halper
A confidential counterintelligence investigation cleared suspended Pentagon analyst Adam S. Lovinger on allegations of leaking data to the news media, but officials never told his defense team.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) examined Mr. Lovinger's use of classified computer networks. In a 2018 report, the NCIS said its review "did not reveal any potential CI [counter intelligence] concerns," according to a copy obtained by The Washington Times.

Mr. Lovinger's attorney, Sean Bigley, has now filed a complaint with the Defense Department inspector general. He accuses Pentagon officials who targeted his client of a "serious ethics violation" by withholding the exoneration.

The NCIS probe was closed September 2018, and the report signed in November. Mr. Lovinger's administrative trial began the next month.

Mr. Bigley is trying to convince the Pentagon IG that his client is a victim of whistleblower reprisal. Mr. Lovinger's employer, the Pentagon Office of Net Assessment, accused him of mishandling "sensitive" material, a charge his lawyer said essentially is made up since there is no such classification.

"This single NCIS document undercuts about 80% of the government's sham case against him," Mr. Bigley told The Times. "No wonder DoD withheld it. No leak, and he didn't have any 'sensitive' documents on his computer so he couldn't have been mishandling 'sensitive' information on his computer."

Comment: For more on the circumstances surrounding the investigation of Mr. Lovinger and DoD activity to block the Trump administration, see also:

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Bullseye

China: Instant retaliation if US proceeds with new tariffs


RT
Thu, 15 Aug 2019 12:23 UTC
ChinaTariffs
© WBAY
Beijing has refused to sit idle if Washington hits $300 billion worth of Chinese imports with additional 10 percent levies, calling the decision a violation of agreements reached by presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.

"The Chinese side will have to implement necessary counter-measures," the State Council Tariff Committee said in a short statement on Thursday. The body did not elaborate on what steps it is going to take.

European stocks turned red after Beijing's threat with Britain's FTSE 100 Index losing 1.1 percent and the Stoxx Europe 600 down 0.8 percent. Germany's DAX weakened 1.23 percent, while France's CAC 40 fell nearly 1 percent.

Meanwhile, American markets also indicated deeper losses less than 24 hours after the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered the worst day of the year on Wednesday. The massive selloff was triggered by a recession signal from the bond market, called inverted yield curve, when short-term bond rates are higher than long-term ones (in this case 2-year treasury bonds were higher than 10-year bonds).

Comment: More from RT 15/8/2019: Trump: Trade agreement with China on US terms
There is no purpose to a trade deal with Beijing if it is not on Washington's terms, US president Donald Trump said, shortly after China threatened a retaliation to new US tariffs on its imports.

"China, frankly, would love to make a deal, and it's got to be a deal on proper terms. It's got to be a deal, frankly, on our terms. Otherwise, what's the purpose?" Trump said, speaking to New Hampshire's WGIR radio ahead of his campaign rally in Manchester on Thursday.

See also: Export ban? As China makes rare earths more rare, US will suffer a larger cost for its trade war

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Bullseye

Russia says WTO would likely cease to exist if United States quits trade body


RT
Thu, 15 Aug 2019 16:45 UTC
wto insignia
© Reuters / Denis Balibouse
The US withdrawal from the World Trade Organization (WTO) could lead to the extinction of the regulating body, the Kremlin said following US President Donald Trump's warning that Washington may leave the organization.

"The existence of [...] the backbone global economic organization after the world's largest economy leaves it will be a big question, it's obvious," the Russian president's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday, as cited by Interfax. However, according to him, whatever the decision, it is a "US internal affair." At the same time, the Kremlin official emphasized that Russia remains a devoted member of the WTO "with all the ensuing consequences."

Addressing a gathering in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Trump said he was considering his country's exit from the WTO if conditions within the organization are not improved.

"We will leave [the WTO] if we have to. We know that they have been screwing us for years and it's not going to happen again," Trump told an audience of workers at a Shell chemical plant in Pennsylvania.
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Light Saber

Best of the Web: A measure of vindication for Tulsi Gabbard

Scott Ritter
TruthDig
Thu, 15 Aug 2019 17:28 UTC
gabbard debate
© Paul Sancya / Associated PressRep. Tulsi Gabbard speaks in Detroit on July 31, 2019 during the second of two Democratic presidential primary debates hosted by CNN.
In the aftermath of the second Democratic primary debate on July 31, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard emerged as the most Googled of all candidates, an indication that her performance (which included a stunning takedown of California Sen. Kamala Harris over her criminal justice record) attracted the attention of many viewers. This heightened level of attention produced blowback, both from Harris, who dismissed Gabbard as "an Assad apologist" (a reference to Syrian President Bashar Assad), and from the mainstream media, typified by CNN's Chris Cuomo, who alleged that Gabbard — a major in the Hawaiian National Guard, with two tours of duty in the Middle East under her belt — is taking the side of Assad over the U.S. intelligence community and U.N. inspectors when it comes to assigning blame for chemical weapons attacks against Syrian civilians.

"What you are referring to are [sic] cynicism as skepticism that I have expressed, because I've served in a war that was caused by people who lied to us, who lied to the American people, who presented false evidence that members of Congress and U.S. senators believed and voted for a war that resulted in the loss of lives of over 4,000 of my brothers and sisters in uniform," Gabbard replied to Cuomo. "It's our responsibility as lawmakers and as leaders in this country to make sure that our U.S. military is not being activated and deployed to go to war unless we are certain a) that it serves the best interests of the American people; and b) that that action will actually have a positive impact. The questions I'm raising are based on this experience that I've had."
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MIB

CIA-MOSSAD cluster-f**k? Neutralizing the Jeffrey Epstein case

Ronald Thomas West
Fort Russ News
Thu, 15 Aug 2019 15:57 UTC
epstein white house prostitution ring
© Washington Times/Fort Russ News
"Cohn's job was to run the little boys. Say you had an admiral, a general, a congressman, who did not want to go along with the program. Cohn's job was to set them up, then they would go along" [1]
What is interesting about this small snippet is,
1) Concurrent to the present Epstein case, a subsequent Pentagon pedophilia scandal of epic proportions is not followed, juxtaposed to the Epstein reporting or even reported on at all by mainstream press [2]

2) The 'con' pimping little boys to the Pentagon and Congress happened to be Roy Cohn, a longtime mafioso attorney who cross-references both MOSSAD & CIA via organized crime and, as well, Cohn was a Donald Trump mentor.

3) "Many of the same names that surrounded Cohn until death in the late 1980s would later come to surround Jeffrey Epstein, with their names later appearing in Epstein's now-infamous "little black book"" [3]
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Better Earth

Decade in the making: US-Taliban peace deal appears within reach

Frud Bezhan
RFE/RL
Wed, 14 Aug 2019 17:00 UTC
taliban moscow
Members of a Taliban delegation, led by chief negotiator Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar (center), leave after peace talks with Afghan politicians in Moscow in May.
In the fall of 2010, U.S. officials secretly met a young Taliban representative outside the southern German city of Munich.

Tayyib Agha, a member of the militant group's political wing, presented the U.S. diplomats with a road map for a negotiated end to the war.

It was not the United States' first contact with the Taliban.

Since the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban regime in 2001, the militant group had sought a channel with Washington. There had been contact between U.S. and Taliban military commanders. But the 2010 meeting, brokered by Germany, was a turning point in the conflict.

"For the first time, both the Taliban and the United States had some degree of seriousness in seeking talks towards a political settlement," Jarrett Blanc, a former diplomat who was involved in former President Barack Obama administration's negotiations with the Taliban, tells RFE/RL. "Even then, people knew enough to know that we weren't going to 'win the war.'"

But in the intervening years, meaningful U.S.-Taliban talks failed to take off, hampered by mutual mistrust, missed opportunities, protests by the Afghan government, and the deaths of two successive Taliban leaders.


Comment: In other words, U.S. leadership insisted on continuing to fight a war it could never win, and doing all it could to make sure it stayed that way.


Now, nearly a decade since those initial secret contacts, the United States and the Taliban are apparently on the verge of agreeing to a landmark peace deal that would end the United States' longest-ever war.
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