Puppet MastersS


Light Sabers

'Let me guess, you want to nuke them all': Trump constantly baiting John Bolton in front of officials, report says

Adam Forrest
The Independent
Mon, 22 Jul 2019 20:20 UTC
trump and bolton
Donald Trump likes to goad his national security adviser John Bolton about his lust for military action, according to officials who have spoken out on their relationship.

As Iran claims to have captured spies working for the US and accuses Mr Bolton of trying to start "war of the century", new details have emerged of the president's fondness for baiting his adviser in the company of top officials - including foreign dignitaries.

During a White House Situation Room meeting last year, Mr Trump reportedly said to his hawkish national security chief: "Ok, John, let me guess, you want to nuke them all?"

According to the report by the Axios website, Mr Trump turned to Mr Bolton in an Oval Office meeting with Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar and said: "John, is Ireland one of those countries you want to invade?"
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Target

Comey probed Trump on the sly; DOJ watchdog has evidence he targeted Trump from the start

Paul Sperry
RealClearInvestigations
Mon, 22 Jul 2019 00:00 UTC
Trump meets Comey
© YouTube.comPresident Trump meets then FBI Dir. James Comey
It is one of the most enduring and consequential mysteries of the Trump-Russia investigation: Why did former FBI Director James Comey refuse to say publicly what he was telling President Trump in private -- that Trump was not the target of an ongoing probe?

That refusal ignited a chain of events that has consumed Washington for more than two years - including Comey's firing by Trump, the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and ongoing claims that Trump obstructed justice.

Now an answer is emerging. Sources tell RealClearInvestigations that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz will soon file a report with evidence indicating that Comey was misleading the president. Even as he repeatedly assured Trump that he was not a target, the former director was secretly trying to build a conspiracy case against the president, while at times acting as an investigative agent.

Two U.S. officials briefed on the inspector general's investigation of possible FBI misconduct said Comey was essentially "running a covert operation against" the president, starting with a private "defensive briefing" he gave Trump just weeks before his inauguration. They said Horowitz has examined high-level FBI text messages and other communications indicating Comey was actually conducting a "counterintelligence assessment" of Trump during that January 2017 meeting in New York.

Comment: See also:

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Target

Since Russiagate narrative imploded, BuzzFeed offers Ukraine as the new 2020 pro-Trump bogeyman

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Mon, 22 Jul 2019 14:20 UTC
Trump and game box thingy
© UnknownUS President Donald Trump
With the Trump-Russia collusion narrative in smoulders, BuzzFeed - which notably published the fabricated 'Steele' dossier - has put forth a new bogeyman to explain a 2020 Trump victory (since of course the only way Trump could have beaten an establishment darling is with help).

Enter Ukraine

With the election of Ukraine's new President, Volodymyr Zelensky, times have apparently changed. Long gone are the days of just 20 short months ago in which a Ukrainian court ruled that government officials meddled for Hillary in 2016 by releasing details of Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort's 'Black Book' to Clinton campaign staffer Alexandra Chalupa.

Forget that Ukraine's previous administration fired its top investigator who was leading a wide-ranging corruption probe into a Ukrainian energy firm whose board Hunter Biden sat on, Burisma Holdings (after Joe Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in loan guarantees from the 'scandal free' Obama administration).

Nevermind that Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed in a recent interview with Oliver Stone that "it is perfectly obvious that Ukrainian oligarchs gave money to Trump's opponents." Perhaps Burisma's owners are included in that list.
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Attention

Giuliani: The Epstein case is 'going to implicate a lot of people'

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Mon, 22 Jul 2019 16:25 UTC
Rudy Giuliani
© Hill TVAttorney Rudy Giuliani
President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani said on Monday that the Jeffrey Epstein case "is obviously going to implicate a lot of people," adding "I can't tell you who but it's not going to end up with just Jeffrey Epstein."

Speaking with Hill.TV, Giuliani said that investigators will undoubtedly focus on Epstein's inner circle, and whether individuals knew or participated in Epstein's sex crimes.

"If you spent this much time with him and he was so involved with these underaged girls — who did you see him with and what was he doing and what did he tell you and what did he say to you and how could you have missed it," said Giuliani. "Maybe some were innocent — maybe some weren't, but I think they're going to investigate everybody."

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Dollars

Questions about the Vatican's hidden finances and real estate dealings persist

Edward Pentin
National Catholic Register
Mon, 22 Jul 2019 00:00 UTC
Vatican
© Pixabay/CC0The Vatican
Many of the issues identified as problematic are still in play, according to informed sources who spoke with the Register.

By October 2016, two years into his term as prefect of the Vatican's Secretariat for the Economy, Cardinal George Pell had become aware of a Vatican dicastery handling large amounts of unregistered cash in offshore accounts.

But nearly three years later the questions raised by Cardinal Pell about the management of Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See (APSA), the dicastery which handles the Vatican's real estate and financial assets, have seemingly gone unanswered. Pell had identified money laundering and fraud risks related to the APSA's use of foreign bank accounts and had questioned particular asset and real estate transactions.

Keen to move swiftly ahead with Pope Francis' mandate to root out mismanagement and possible corruption in Vatican financial operations, the cardinal prefect contacted Australian banking friends in London in 2016 to find out more. They estimated that possibly as much as €100 million could be held in these accounts, primarily in the branches of two private banks located in Lugano, Switzerland.
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Arrow Down

Virtue-signaling gone wrong: May refuses Trump offer to protect UK ships in order to please EU

Jack Montgomery
Breitbart
Mon, 22 Jul 2019 00:00 UTC
PM Theresa May
© UnknownBritish PM Theresa May
The United States reportedly offered to organise a joint naval security operation to protect British shipping in the Persian Gulf, but Theresa May turned it down because she "didn't want to upset the Iranians" or the EU.

Despite clear indications that the Iranian regime intended to target British shipping in the region in retaliation for Gibraltar's detention of an Iranian tanker accused of transporting crude oil to Syria in defiance of international sanctions, Mrs May is said to have declined "repeated overtures" to establish a British-American security operation, because "it would look like the UK backed Washington's wider hardline stance on Iran".

While the Trump administration has pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal and imposed sanctions on the theocratic regime, the United Kingdom has followed along with the EU in trying to keep it on life support — despite the Iranians' more or less naked belligerence towards them.

Comment: See also:

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Bullseye

Imran Khan: Pakistani intelligence led CIA to Osama Bin Laden


RT
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 14:56 UTC
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Khan
© ReutersYou know you're royally screwed when all you have left is the Nazi card
For the first time, Pakistan has admitted knowledge of Osama Bin Laden's whereabouts prior to his 2011 death. Prime Minister Imran Khan made the bombshell revelation Monday during a candid interview with Fox News.

Pakistan had, until now, denied all knowledge of Bin Laden's presence within its borders, but Khan confirmed that Pakistan's main spy agency, the Inter Services Intelligence agency (ISI), had provided the CIA with the lead that ultimately allowed Seal Team Six to kill the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in his Abbottabad hideout on May 2, 2011, after a ten-year-long, worldwide manhunt.

"And yet it was ISI that gave the information which led to the location of Osama Bin Laden. If you ask CIA it was ISI which gave the initial location through the phone connection," Khan said Monday, adding that the incident "hugely embarrassed Pakistan" at the time. "Here we were an ally of the US and the US did not trust us. And they actually came and bombed and killed a man in our territory," Khan said.
Osama bin Laden
© ReutersOsama bin Laden

Comment: The support for this web of deception continues with yet another layer of 'information'.
See also:

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Boat

Europeans planning naval mission to ensure safe passage in Persian Gulf


World Oil
Mon, 22 Jul 2019 00:00 UTC
Jeremy Hunt
© AP/KJN
European governments will assemble a naval mission to provide safe passage for ships through the Persian Gulf, after Iran seized a British oil tanker in the region last week, an act that U.K. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt described as "state piracy."

Hunt announced a "European-led maritime protection mission to support safe passage of crew and cargo" in a statement to Britain's Parliament in London on Monday.

The U.K. demanded the immediate release of the Stena Impero, and summoned Iran's charge d'affaires in London, Mohsen Omidzamani, following the incident in one of the world's critical shipping chokepoints. The government threatened Iran with "serious consequences" and advised U.K. vessels to avoid the area, and to inform the government if they planned to travel there.

"Let us be clear, under international law Iran had no right to obstruct the ship's passage, let alone board her," Hunt told the House of Commons. "It was therefore an act of state piracy."

The Foreign Secretary said the U.K. didn't want to escalate tensions with Iran, which have been rising after the U.S. pulled out of the international nuclear deal and imposed new sanctions. Hunt said Britain won't be taking part in the Trump administration's "maximum pressure" policy, because the London government remains committed to the 2015 multi-nation pact to limit Iran's nuclear program.
"If Iran continues on this dangerous path, they must accept the price will be a larger Western military presence in the waters along their coastline. Not because we wish to increase tensions but simply because freedom of navigation is a principle Britain and its allies will always defend."

Comment: More from Sputnik: Pompeo says US seeks coalition to secure Strait of Hormuz
Anything Iran says should be taken "with a grain of salt," US Secretary of State said in an interview with WFTV 9 on July 22 while on a work visit to Orlando, Florida, noting that the US is building a coalition that will patrol the Strait of Hormuz.

Pompeo noted that the US doesn't want war with Iran, yet wants it to "stop engaging in terror activities around the world."

"We are working to change the behaviour of the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran. And we are building out a coalition that will patrol the Strait of Hormuz to keep those shipping lanes, those sea lanes open. There'll be nations from all around the world that participate in that."
See also: Virtue-signaling gone wrong: May refuses Trump offer to protect UK ships in order to please EU

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Bizarro Earth

Venezuela: Nationwide blackouts blamed on 'electromagnetic attack'


RT
Mon, 22 Jul 2019 23:17 UTC
Blackout
© Blackout in Maracaibo, Venezuela, Reuters/Ueslei MarcelinoBlackout in Maracaibo, Venezuela
Massive power outages all across Venezuela were likely caused by an "electromagnetic attack," the government of President Nicholas Maduro said, stressing that authorities are working to restore the service as soon as possible.

The blackout affected the entire nation, Minister of Communication and Information Jorge Rodríguez said on Monday evening, claiming that the power was knocked out by outside interference. The government has activated all the necessary protocols to provide safety for Venezuelans and work crews are already working to restore power.

Preliminary probe into the incident has suggested the "existence of an electromagnetic attack that sought to affect the hydroelectric generation system of Guayana, the main provider of this service in the country," the minister told state channel VTV.

While authorities are struggling to resolve the crisis, the US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido has used the power outage to once again attack his political opponent, accusing President Maduro of "destroying" the country's electrical system.

Comment: See also:

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Nuke

Pakistani PM Kahn says he'd give up nukes if India reciprocated - 'Nuclear war is not an option'


RT
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 09:44 UTC
Khan, missiles
© ReutersPakistani nuclear-capable surface-to-air ballistic missiles • Pakistani Prime Minister Khan
In a stunning statement, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan said that he would be willing to give up his nation's nuclear weapons if its rival India vowed to do the same. He also urged New Delhi to come to the negotiating table.

When asked by Fox News' Bret Baier if India offered to relinquish it nuclear arsenal, would Pakistan, Khan answered with an emphatic "yes. Because nuclear war is not an option. And between Pakistan and India, the idea of nuclear war is actually self-destruction, because we have two and a half thousand-mile border," Khan said.

The Pakistani PM added that the recent escalation in tensions between the two nuclear rivals, following sporadic outbreaks of violence in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack, was unnecessary.

Khan said he had asked US President Donald Trump to mediate between the two regional powers over the Kashmir issue, which Khan said was the only reason for which, over the past "70 years that we have not be able to act like civilized neighbors." Khan played down India's fiery response to reports of potential talks mediated by the US, in which New Delhi insisted that negotiations could only take place bilaterally. He instead urged India's government to come to the table.

"We're talking about 1.3 billion people on this Earth. Imagine the dividends of peace if somehow that issue could be resolved."

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