Puppet MastersS


Attention

India strips Kashmir autonomy leaving Pakistan with limited options...call Trump?


RT
Tue, 06 Aug 2019 10:08 UTC
Protesters/Trump
© REUTERS/Al Drago/Amit Dave/Mohsin RazaProtesters • US President Donald Trump
India raised the stakes in its dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir by revoking the decades-old special status for its part of the region. This left Pakistan fuming, but there isn't much it can do in response, analysts told RT.

For decades, the Indian constitution gave the part of disputed Kashmir under India's administration special privileges, including having a constitution of its own, governing most of its affairs, and keeping people from other parts of the county at arm's length through restricting property rights and the ability to hold offices.

This arrangement was scrapped on Monday by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as promised several years ago. It was made possible by the landslide victory of his BJP party earlier this year which gave it enough seats in parliament to push the change through.

Comment: In addition from RT: Pakistani army ready to support Kashmiris
Islamabad's military says it's ready to go to "any extent" to support the "struggle" of people in the disputed Kashmir region, after India's President Ram Nath Kovind signed a decree revoking Kashmiri autonomy.

Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa said the military will never recognize the effort by India to "legalize its occupation" of Kashmir.
"Pakistan Army firmly stands by the Kashmiris in their just struggle to the very end. We are prepared and shall go to any extent to fulfill our obligations in this regard."
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) says that stripping J&K of its special status will allow for it to be better integrated with the rest of India. Home Minister Amit Shah said that axing the autonomy will also help to weed out militants in the region.
"Article 370 was the root of terror in Jammu and Kashmir. It is time for it to go... If it doesn't go today, we can't remove terrorism from Jammu and Kashmir."
Amid fears of violence, travel restrictions and a ban on rallies were imposed in some parts of Indian-held Kashmir. There were reports of an increased presence of police and security forces.
See also:

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Rocket

N. Korea missiles fired to protest US-SK 'hostile' drills


RT
Mon, 05 Aug 2019 21:47 UTC
NK rocket launch
© Reuters/Kim Hong/File
North Korea has fired several 'unidentified projectiles' into the Sea of Japan as its foreign ministry slammed joint US-South Korean military drills as "hostile" move in breach of all peace initiatives in the peninsula.

South Korean troops have been put on high alert in case Pyongyang launched additional missiles as Seoul analyzes the type of the two projectiles it detected Tuesday morning.

The missile launch is the fourth such test in two weeks and coincides with the start of the joint US-South Korea military drills that will last until August 20. "We remain unchanged in our stand to resolve the issues through dialogue. But the dynamics of dialogue will be more invisible as long as the hostile military moves continue," a spokesperson for the North's foreign ministry said.

The US and South Korea tried to keep their upcoming exercises low-key, amid Pyongyang's vigorous protests. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump dismissed North Korea's short-range ballistic missile tests last week, saying that short-range rockets did not bother him much. "These missiles tests are not a violation of our signed Singapore agreement, nor was there discussion of short-range missiles when we shook hands," Trump tweeted Friday, downplaying Pyongyang's concerns and response.

Comment: See also:

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Star of David

Israel's war on innocence: Palestinian children tried in Israeli military courts

Ramzy Baroud
Eurasia Review
Tue, 06 Aug 2019 17:57 UTC
palestinian children
© Salah Hosny
On July 29, 4-year-old Muhammad Rabi' Elayyan was reportedly summoned for interrogation by the Israeli police in occupied Jerusalem.

The news, originally reported by the Palestinian News Agency (WAFA), was later denied by the Israeli police, likely to lessen the impact of the PR disaster that followed.

The Israelis are not denying the story in its entirety, but are rather arguing that it was not the boy, Muhammad, who was summoned, but his father, Rabi', who was called into the Israeli police station in Salah Eddin Street in Jerusalem, to be questioned regarding his son's actions.

Comment:

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Attention

Iranian President Rouhani warns: War with Tehran would be 'mother of all wars'


Sputnik
Tue, 06 Aug 2019 17:30 UTC
Iranian soldiers
© AFP 2019 / STRINGER
The statement comes amid increasing tensions between Washington and Iran, as US President Donald Trump authorised sanctions in June on officials associated with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei. The decision was followed by the US slapping sanctions on Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has warned that a possible war against Iran would be the "mother of all wars", while peace with Tehran is "the mother of all peace".

In a speech broadcast live on state-run TV on Tuesday, Rouhani also reiterated Tehran's readiness to sit down with Washington if it scraps all the sanctions against Iran.
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Chess

Ukrainian President Zelenskiy appoints new commander in war against people of Donbas


RFE/RL
Mon, 05 Aug 2019 17:30 UTC
Ukrainian soldiers at a checkpoint slaviansk
© Reuters/Baz RatnerUkrainian soldiers stand guard at a Ukrainian checkpoint near the eastern town of Slaviansk
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has appointed Lieutenant General Volodymyr Kravchenko to lead the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) in eastern Ukraine where Kyiv has been fighting Moscow-backed separatists since 2014.

Kravchenko previously was commander of the "North" operational and tactical group composed of six regions and the city of Kyiv.

Issued on August 5, the presidential decree replaces General Oleksandr Syrsky who was made commander of the army's ground forces.

Comment: The last line completely demolishes the propaganda about 'Russia-backed separatists'. These people are clearly fighting for their lives and their homes.

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Bad Guys

Enough and not too much: Russia's cheap and effective military strategy

Patrick Armstrong
Strategic Culture Foundation
Mon, 29 Jul 2019 18:00 UTC
Sergei Lavrov, Vladimir Putin and Sergei Shoigu
Sergei Lavrov, Vladimir Putin and Sergei Shoigu
Moscow will not engage in an exhausting arms race, and the country's military spending will gradually decrease as Russia does not seek a role as the "world gendarme," President Vladimir Putin said. Moscow is not seeking to get involved in a "pointless" new arms race, and will stick to "smart decisions" to strengthen its defensive capabilities, Putin said on Friday during an annual extended meeting of the Defense Ministry board. "Intelligence, brains, discipline and organization" must be the cornerstones of the country's military doctrine, the Russian leader said. The last thing that Russia needs is an arms race that would "drain" its economy, and Moscow sure does not want that "in any scenario," Putin pointed out. -- RT, 22 December 2017
It's easy to forget it today, but the USSR was, in its time, an "exceptionalist" country. It was the world's first socialist country - the "bright future"; it set an example for all to follow, it was destined by History. It had a mission and was required by History to assist any country that called itself "socialist". The USSR had bases and interests all over the world. As the 1977 USSR Constitution said:
the Soviet state, a new type of state, the basic instrument for defending the gains of the revolution and for building socialism and communism. Humanity thereby began the epoch-making turn from capitalist to socialism.
A novus ordo seclorum indeed.

Russia, however, is just Russia. There is no feeling in Moscow that Russia must take the lead any place but Russia itself. One of the reasons, indeed, why Putin is always talking about the primacy of the UN, the independence of nation states, the impermissibility to interfere in internal activities - the so-called "Westphalian" position - is that he remembers the exceptionalist past and knows that it led to a dead end. Moscow has no interest in going abroad in search of internationalist causes.
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Eye 2

Damning report exposes Britain's 'central & widespread' role in CIA torture program


RT
Tue, 06 Aug 2019 17:39 UTC
MI6 headquarters guantanomo protest gitmo
© Reuters / Toby Melville ; Global Look Press / Peter Marshall(Main) MI6 building in London (Botton right) Guantanamo protesters in London
Britain played a "central" role in the rendition, secret detention, and torture of prisoners by the CIA in the "War on Terror," a journalistic inquiry claims.

Compiled by the Rendition Project and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the 400-page paper, entitled CIA Torture Unredacted, dates back to July but has gone largely unreported since then.

The study's authors say they managed to deliver "the most detailed public account to date of the CIA torture program." Part of the account focused on the UK's role in the disturbing practices which, it is claimed, was not insignificant.

Comment: MI6 and the CIA have been complicit in international criminality pretty much since the inception of both agencies. They operate as governments unto themselves.

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Bullseye

China blames US meddling for Hong Kong protests, warns criminals not to "play with fire"

Cate Cadell
Reuters
Tue, 06 Aug 2019 10:59 UTC
Hong Kong
© REUTERS/Kim Kyung-HoonA demonstrator throws a traffic cone at a group of people opposing the anti-government protesters, during a demonstration in support of the city-wide strike and to call for democratic reforms in Hong Kong, China, August 5, 2019.
Protesters in Hong Kong must not "play with fire" and mistake Beijing's restraint for weakness, China said on Tuesday in its sharpest rebuke yet of the "criminals" behind demonstrations in the city whom it vowed to bring to justice.

Hong Kong has suffered weeks of sometimes violent protests that began with opposition to a now-suspended extradition law, which would have allowed suspects to be tried in mainland courts.

But the protests have swelled into a broader backlash against the government of the Asian financial hub, fueled by many residents' fear of eroding freedoms under the increasingly tight control of the Communist Party in Beijing.

Comment: For more on US involvement, see: US 'color revolution' and its struggles in Hong Kong.



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Bad Guys

Saudi crown prince pursuing plan to target Turkey, weaken Erdogan: UAE document


PressTV
Tue, 06 Aug 2019 17:30 UTC
Erdogan Saudi Crown Prince
Turkish President President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are seen during the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, November 30, 2018.
A leaked UAE intelligence document shows Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been pursuing a "strategic plan" aimed at weakening the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has adopted a tough position against Riyadh over the state-sponsored assassination of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Entitled "Monthly Report on Saudi Arabia, Issue 24, May 2019," the confidential document was written by the Emirates Policy Centre and obtained by the Middle East Eye news portal.

It revealed that bin Salman had decided to confront Turkey following the murder of Khashoggi — an outspoken critic of the heir to the Saudi throne — by a Saudi hit team inside the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2, 2018.
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Camera

Guardian apologizes for fake news saying Sputnik posted fake Notre Dame photo vilifying Muslims


RT
Tue, 06 Aug 2019 17:40 UTC
notre dame muslims
© Facebook / Sputnik
The Guardian has issued a mealy-mouthed apology for accusing Russian news agency Sputnik of doctoring images in the immediate aftermath of the Notre Dame fire to perpetuate an anti-Muslim narrative online - four months later.

"In an episode of Fake or for real? published on 19 April, we suggested that a photo that went viral during the Notre Dame fire had been doctored," the Guardian wrote in an Instagram story Monday. Instagram stories only have a shelf-life of 24 hours, but thankfully screenshots of the story exist.

"We have been contacted by the copyright owner of the photo, Sputnik France, and accept that it had not been doctored; we apologise for suggesting otherwise."

The four-months late apology refers to the Guardian's coverage of a photo from Sputnik France's Facebook live coverage of the April 15 Notre Dame fire.
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