Puppet MastersS


Chess

Flashback Best of the Web: The political forces that led to the shootdown of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17

Kees van der Pijl
Unz Review
Mon, 09 Jul 2018 18:39 UTC
MH17
© Reuters/ Maxim Zmeyev
Four years ago, on 17 July 2014, in the midst of a civil war raging in eastern Ukraine, Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was destroyed with all 298 passengers and crew. On 25 May last, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) entrusted with the criminal investigation of the downing and composed of the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and paradoxically, given its possible involvement, Ukraine, presented its second progress report. Like the first report in September 2016, it took the form of a press conference, with video animations supporting the investigation's findings. This time there was even less to report; the main conclusion was that elements from the Russian 53rd Buk missile brigade were the culprits, a claim already made by the London-based investigative group Bellingcat two years before. In February 2016 that assertion had still been dismissed as unfit for evidence by the Dutch chief prosecutor on the JIT, Fred Westerbeke, in a letter to victims' relatives. How can it possibly have become the core component of the case for the prosecution two years and two months later?

The JIT press conference was immediately followed by a formal declaration on the part of the Dutch and Australian governments that held Russia responsible. However, JIT member Malaysia dissociated itself from the accusation, whilst Belgium has remained silent. The obviously over-hasty conclusion, on the heels of the alleged Skripal nerve gas incident in Salisbury and the likewise contested Syrian government gas attack on jihadist positions in Douma, all point in the same direction: Putin's Russia must be kept under fire and there is no time to wait for a court verdict.
Read More...
Airplane

SOTT Focus: 'Call for Justice' - Investigative Report on Gaping Holes in The Official Story of MH17


Bonanza Media
Tue, 16 Jul 2019 21:27 UTC
MH17 amsterdam
Five years on from the MH17 terror attack, an investigative team from Bonanza Media has published the following half-hour video report comprising footage from exclusive interviews they've conducted in the intervening years with - among others - one of the suspects in the downing of MH17, the Malaysian prime minister and a Malaysian colonel who recovered black boxes from the crash site.

Their report includes testimony from eyewitnesses, evidence from experts, and footage of large sections of the downed plane still lying around in eastern Ukraine, leaving viewers with no doubt that the official JIT investigation is incomplete at best, corrupt at worst...

Read More...
Star of David

Israelis getting twitchy as former prime minister's ties with Epstein get attention

Julie K. Brown
McClatchy
Sun, 14 Jul 2019 18:47 UTC
Killary and then Defense Minister Ehud Barak
© ReutersEhud Barak and Hillary Clinton
Jeffrey Epstein's arrest is reverberating in Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing Likud party are calling for a criminal probe into former prime minister Ehud Barak's personal and business ties with the accused sex trafficker, Israeli media is reporting.

Barak, 77, served as prime minister from 1999 to 2001. This month he formed a new party to run for prime minister against Netanyahu, who called for new elections in September. Once political allies, Barak and Netanyahu have been sparring on social media, with Netanyahu producing a video raising Barak's relationship to the multimillionaire New York financier, and Ohio billionaire Les Wexner, who has given money to Barak, the Times of Israel reported.

Barak was a close friend and business partner with Epstein for years. Now some of those business partnerships are being scrutinized amid questions about Barak's own source of wealth. The Times reported Saturday that Barak is exploring whether to sever business ties with Epstein, 66, who was charged last week with sex trafficking underage girls.

In 2015, Barak formed a limited partnership company in Israel to invest in a high-tech startup called Reporty, now named Carbyne., which develops video streaming and geolocation software for emergency services, the Times reported. A large part of the investment money was supplied by Epstein.

Barak also received $2.5 million from the Wexner Foundation in 2004 for research, which has never been fully explained, Haaretz reported. Epstein was a member of that foundation.

Comment: Pure political opportunism by Netanyahu here. But that doesn't mean he's wrong. From the Daily Mail:
EXCLUSIVE: Married Israeli politician Ehud Barak is seen hiding his face entering Jeffrey Epstein's NYC townhouse as bevy of young beauties were also spotted going into mansion - despite his claim he NEVER socialized with the pedophile and his girls

Read More...
Attention

CNN's new Assange smear piece is amazingly dishonest - even for CNN!

Caitlin Johnstone
Medium
Mon, 15 Jul 2019 00:00 UTC
Julian
© UnknownJulian Assange
CNN has published an unbelievably brazen and dishonest smear piece on Julian Assange, easily the most egregious article of its kind since the notoriously bogus Assange-Manafort report by The Guardian last year. It contains none of the "exclusive" documents which it claims substantiate its smears, relying solely on vague unsubstantiated assertions and easily debunked lies to paint the WikiLeaks founder in a negative light.

And let's be clear right off the bat, it is most certainly a smear piece. The article, titled "Exclusive: Security reports reveal how Assange turned an embassy into a command post for election meddling", admits that it exists for the sole purpose of tarnishing Assange's reputation when it reports, with no evidence whatsoever, that while at the Ecuadorian embassy Assange once "smeared feces on the walls out of anger." Not "reportedly". Not "the Ecuadorian government claims." CNN reported it as a fact, as an event that is known to have happened. This is journalistic malpractice, and it isn't an accident.
Read More...
Umbrella

Is AOC right? Should US colony Puerto Rico be independent?

Nebojsa Malic
RT
Tue, 16 Jul 2019 22:33 UTC
AOC/Puerto Rico parade
© REUTERS/Jose Alvarado Jr.Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez marches in the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City, June 9, 2019.
Progressives in the US routinely denounce both colonization and racist oppression of "people of color." So why is only Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez advocating self-determination for the US colony of Puerto Rico?

Granted, the New York congresswoman made the statement way back in the mists of time otherwise known as September 2018, and hasn't circled back to it again. A lot of water has flowed down the Potomac since then.

That does not change the fact that the Caribbean island is a colony and that its people deserve the same kind of self-determination and democracy the US says it wants for the entire planet. May as well start right at home, no?

Puerto Rico spent centuries as a Spanish colony, before it was taken by US troops in July 1898 and ceded by a treaty in 1899. Most other territories seized by the US in the course of the Spanish-American War, such as Cuba and the Philippines, have since become independent. Not so Puerto Rico, which remains an "unincorporated territory" of the US.

Comment: Check out this article describing Puerto Rico's options: Puerto Ricans will vote between statehood and independence

See also: UN validates Puerto Rico's inalienable right to self-determination and independence

Read More...
Attention

Galloway: Dunce cap for CNN's Russiagate coverage

George Galloway
RT
Wed, 17 Jul 2019 13:48 UTC
CNN dunce
© Sadhill news/Twitter/KJNAll smoke, no fire!
If there was a dunce's cap awarded to the most gullible - or worse, complicit - news outfit in the whole 'Russiagate' affair, it would surely go to CNN.

The small consolation is that its ratings have plummeted in direct proportion to its fake news agenda. Unless trapped in a hotel room in Ulan Bator and having already read the Gideon's Bible, nobody in their right mind goes looking for CNN.

However, other media do, of course, amplify their prevailing narrative. This is that the Democratic Party didn't lose because they chose the only person in America who could possibly lose to Donald Trump, but because a bearded man with snow on his boots smelling of vodka and speaking with a thick Russian accent fooled everyone into voting for the GOP. And where no such man can be identified, then a Western cipher can be demonized as his proxy.

So unhinged has CNN - the last hold-out of the Russiagaters - become that they have now piled new levels of ordure on the political prisoner Julian Assange in a much touted "Special," heaping speculation upon speculation on what they hope is the coffin of a man they once lionized.
Read More...
Target

Amazon comes under EU antitrust fire

Foo Yun Chee
Reuters
Wed, 17 Jul 2019 04:33 UTC
Vestager
© FlipboardEU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager
Amazon became the target of an antitrust investigation by the European Union on Wednesday over its use of merchants' data, underlining regulators' increasing focus on how tech companies exploit customer information.

U.S. tech giants Amazon, Google, and Facebook have been in the regulatory spotlight as antitrust enforcers examine how they use data to boost their market power. Some U.S. politicians and even one of Facebook's co-founders have called for them to be broken up.

The European Commission has been seeking feedback from retailers and manufacturers since September into Amazon's dual role as a marketplace for merchants and acting as a competitor following complaints from traders about Amazon's practices.

The Commission said its investigation would focus on Amazon's standard agreements with marketplace sellers and its use of data in choosing winners of the "buy box", which allows consumers to add items from a specific retailer directly to their shopping carts.

Read More...
Bullseye

CNN's pick: White nationalist Richard Spencer to deliver Trump-hate blow


RT
Wed, 17 Jul 2019 05:44 UTC
Richard Spencer
© CNNRichard Spencer
CNN tapped white nationalist Richard Spencer to join the Orange Man Bad choir in response to President Trump's 'racist' tweets, proving the enemy of their enemy could be their friend - and uniting the internet against them.

After describing an upwelling of support for Trump from neo-Nazis, white nationalists and other racists over the president's tweets telling four progressive congresswomen to "go back" to where they came from, CNN's Jake Tapper wheeled out Spencer to deliver the death blow.


Comment: More from The Wrap: White Supremacist Richard Spencer Rejects Trump Tweets as 'Meaningless' on CNN
CNN described Spencer's criticism of Trump as "a twist," leading with footage of Spencer celebrating Trump's 2016 election victory in front of a crowd of people performing a Nazi salute. After his sound byte, CNN correspondent Sara Sidner reminded viewers that the nationalist championed the Unite the Right rally and believes "whites should live separately from non-whites and Jewish people."

"CNN invited an open white supremacist on national television today," wrote reporter Carlos Maza. "This isn't a news network with journalistic ethics. It's a circus that's willing to help promote open racists for attention."

Muslim American commentator and comedian Dean Obeidallah tweeted, "WTF?!!!! This are the same type of people who threatened to kill me for criticizing Trump and now the guy is on CNN!!!"

On Thursday, the House of Representatives voted to denounce the president's tweets as racist. Four Republican representatives and one independent joined their Democratic colleagues to vote 240-187 in support of the resolution.
See also:

Read More...
Bullseye

WTO creates path for China to sanction the US regarding tariffs from the Obama era


CNBC
Wed, 17 Jul 2019 18:15 UTC
Hu Jintao/Obama
© Brooks Kraft/Corbis Historical/Getty ImagesHu Jintao • Barack Obama
The United States did not fully comply with a World Trade Organization ruling and could face Chinese sanctions if it does not remove certain tariffs that break WTO rules, the WTO's appeals judges said in a ruling on Tuesday.

China went to the WTO in 2012 to challenge U.S. anti-subsidy tariffs on Chinese exports including solar panels, wind towers, steel cylinders and aluminum extrusions, exports that it valued at $7.3 billion at the time.

The office of U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer said the WTO ruling recognized that the United States had proved that China used state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to subsidize and distort its economy. But the ruling also said the United States must accept Chinese prices to measure subsidies, even though USTR viewed those prices as "distorted."

"This conclusion ignores the findings of the World Bank, OECD working papers, economic surveys, and other objective evidence, all cited by the United States," the U.S. statement said. "The WTO appellate report undermines WTO rules, making them less effective to counteract Chinese SOE subsidies that are harming U.S. workers and businesses and distorting markets worldwide," it added.

China's commerce ministry said the WTO appellate report proves the U.S. "repeatedly abused trade remedy measures, which seriously damaged the fairness and impartiality of the international trade environment."
Read More...
Arrow Up

NATO-linked pundits: Russia is set for a 'regional war' in Europe. Do facts back it up?


RT
Wed, 17 Jul 2019 11:43 UTC
tanks rollin'
© Reuters/Maxim Shemetov
A pair of German pundits, including a retired top NATO officer, tried their best to warn the world about nuclear-weapons-wielding Russia, but it was in fact the West that did everything to threaten Moscow, experts told RT.

There's no shortage of expert pieces these days that sound the alarm over Russia's "assertive" policies, with the bulk of the fearmongering expertise coming from other side of the Atlantic. This time though, two Germans, Joachim Krause, the head of the Institute for Security Policy, and retired three-star general Heinrich Brauss, took over the lead.

According to a bizarre Die Welt op-ed they contributed to, Moscow under Putin "is preparing - totally unprovoked - for regional wars in Europe, which they want to end with the help of nuclear weapons threats." And those "war preparations" are happening at a time "when our political attention is shrouded in climate change, the migration crisis, the EU crisis and many other issues."

If a war breaks out, Moscow could try a "surprise attack... which would be underpinned by nuclear threats before NATO can effectively respond," the pair asserted. Echoing some Pentagon hawks, they singled out Baltic states and Poland as the first victims of the Russian offensive.
Read More...