Puppet MastersS


Bulb

Pakistan wants peace with India, says resolving tensions through military is 'MADNESS'


RT
Thu, 13 Jun 2019 17:16 UTC
india and pakistan flags
© Global Look Press / Rana Sajid Hussain
India and Pakistan resolving differences by military means is "madness" and the only way the two nuclear-armed rivals can fix ties is through dialogue, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has stated.

"We hope that our tension with India decreases, so we do not have to buy arms because we want to spend money on human development," he was quoted by Sputnik. India and Pakistan should strive to defuse tensions by peaceful means because otherwise both countries would find themselves on the brink of an all-out war.
There is no way two nuclear-armed countries should think of resolving the differences through military means. It is madness.
The two rivals engaged in a cross-border standoff earlier this year, when India launched airstrikes on what it said were camps belonging to a Pakistan-based Islamist group that carried out attacks on Indian soil. Pakistani military retaliated, shooting down an Indian Air Force jet and capturing a pilot.
Read More...
Jet2

Turkish military requests Russian Air Force target militants in Syria's Idlib - Russia obliges


RT
Thu, 13 Jun 2019 17:19 UTC
russian air strike Idlib
© Agence France-Presse / Anas AL-dyabThis picture taken on May 22, 2019 shows smoke plumes rising from the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhun in the southern countryside of the rebel-held Idlib province.
Russia's Air Force has carried out four strikes in Idlib province, Syria's last jihadist stronghold, after Turkey asked for help in ensuring the safety of its troops in the area, the Defense Ministry said.

The Turkish side provided the coordinates of "terrorists in Idlib" to the Russian military after Turkish troops came under fire from Al-Nusra-linked militants, leaving three servicemen injured.

Comment: Russia is achieving diplomatic success in Indlib. Where are the Americans?
Russia has initiated an agreement on the full cessation of hostilities in the Idlib de-escalation zone in Syria, the Russian Center for Syrian reconciliation said on Wednesday in a statement.

"At Russia's initiative and under the Russian and Turkish mediation, an agreement on the full cessation of hostilities across the entire Idllib de-escalation zone starting from the midnight of June 12, 2019 [21:00 GMT on June 11], has been reached, As a result, the number of attacks of illegal armed groups has significantly decreased ... The Syrian government troops have not opened retaliatory fire [after two attacks in the province of Hama], respecting the reached agreements," the statement said.

Russia and Turkey, along with Iran, are guarantors of the ceasefire in Syria. Moscow has also been assisting Damascus by supporting the struggle against terrorist groups, providing humanitarian aid to local residents, and facilitating the return of refugees.


Read More...
Star of David

Russia, US, Israel to hold joint security meeting in Jerusalem - Syria and Iran on the table

Elijah J. Magnier
ejmagnier.com
Tue, 11 Jun 2019 17:06 UTC
Nikolay Patrushev Bolton
© SputnikNikolay Patrushev and John Bolton
This month of June, the National Security Advisors of Russia, the US, and Israel, Nikolay Patrushev, John Bolton and Meir Ben-Shabbat, respectively, are expected to meet in Jerusalem to talk about Iran and Syria and what Israel considers the "threat to its security" in the Levant.

Well-informed sources believe the meeting will bring nothing new, mainly due to continued Israeli violations of Syrian sovereignty and its bombing of Iranian targets far from the borders. Israel cannot expect any support from Russia in this regard, and this is why. The Kremlin's hands are tied, and it is unwilling to take a stand against the wishes of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies.

However, this meeting is significant only because it has no precedent and is a concession to a request by Netanyahu to President Vladimir Putin last February during the Israeli Prime Minister's visit to the Kremlin. Also, it shows US compliance with Netanyahu's request to President Donald Trump during the visit to the White House last March.

High-ranking sources among decision-makers say this:
"Netanyahu runs to his allies to cry on their shoulders when he is the aggressor, as in every single problem in the Levant, particularly when the Israeli military exceeds the limits and crosses red lines. Last year, Russia agreed with Iran to create a kind of safety perimeter for the Russian military to take control along the Quneitra-Golan Heights front. That would have made it possible to ease the situation on the borders and allow President Assad and his allies to concentrate on other fronts. Iran responded positively to the Russian request, following the approval of President Assad"
Read More...
People

Pakistan eyes arms from Russia & better ties with Moscow in 'changing' world - PM


RT
Thu, 13 Jun 2019 17:11 UTC
Russia Pakistan soldiers
© RIA Novosti / Denis AbramovFILE PHOTO
Islamabad wants to procure weapons from Russia and develop military-to-military relations, Prime Minister Imran Khan said, adding that he is happy Pakistan is moving "closer" to Russia in the "changing" world.

"Yes, we are looking for arms from Russia, and I know our military is already in touch with the Russian military," Khan told Sputnik News on Thursday.

Although the Pakistani military has relied on Western and Chinese suppliers for decades, its interest in Russian weapon systems has grown over the years. Recently, there have been reports that Pakistan is looking at an array of fighter jets and attack helicopters, including the Sukhoi Su-35 and Mi-35M.

Pakistani troops have also been taking part in Russian war games, while a number of their officers have been trained at military academies in Russia.
Read More...
Network

Texas seeks greater economic ties with China despite US trade war


Xinhua
Thu, 13 Jun 2019 16:54 UTC
Houston Texas
© Xinhua/Yi-Chin LeeA woman takes a photograph with a "moonGARDEN" sphere with urban scenery shadows at Discovery Green park in downtown Houston, Texas, the United States, Oct. 6, 2018.
U.S. state of Texas should keep developing economic and trade relations with China, its third largest trading partner, regardless of the uncertainty brought by the U.S.-initiated trade tensions with China, a business leader has said.

"Texas has been enjoying investment of Chinese capital, primarily in energy and agriculture sectors," but the foreign capital has been affected recently because of the trade conflicts, Texas Association of Business CEO Jeff Moseley said in a Monday interview with Xinhua.

In the name of protecting domestic industries, Washington has placed steep tariffs on billions of U.S. dollars' worth of products from China, a heavy blow to the two countries' economic and trade relations.
Read More...
Attention

It's happening: UK Home Secretary approves extradition request for Assange to stand trial in the USA on charges of 'spying'

Matthew Weaver and Owen Bowcott
The Guardian
Thu, 13 Jun 2019 17:02 UTC
assange belmarsh prison
© Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty ImagesJulian Assange gestures from the window of a prison van.
Home secretary opens way for court to consider whether Assange should be sent to US

The home secretary, Sajid Javid, has revealed he has signed a request for Julian Assange to be extradited to the US where he faces charges of computer hacking.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Thursday, Javid said: "He's rightly behind bars. There's an extradition request from the US that is before the courts tomorrow but yesterday I signed the extradition order and certified it and that will be going in front of the courts tomorrow."

Comment: George Galloway nails it:
Julian Assange's extradition to the US would be a deathblow for all truth seekers, George Galloway told RT, warning that anyone who fails to support Assange will one day share the same fate as the persecuted Wikileaks co-founder.

Galloway, a former MP who has campaigned tirelessly for Assange's freedom, quipped that the "dark" episode shows that Theresa May's "zombie" government was "not content with all the other disasters for which it's responsible."

He insisted that Assange's supporters would "never give up" the fight to stop his extradition to the US and secure his safe release from UK custody.

Failing to support Assange now will have disastrous consequences for journalism and all who profess to hold progressive values, Galloway warned. He expressed particular discontent with those who would have ordinarily protested Assange's treatment at the hands of the UK authorities, but remained silent because the Wikileaks co-founder was accused of sexual misconduct - what Galloway decried as a politically-motivated smear.
The liberals and the progressives, as they describe themselves, they will one day be a victim of this tyranny themselves, that is unless they eventually give up any pretense of actually being liberals and actually being progressives.
Asked about what would happen if Assange is ultimately extradited, Galloway said that the consequences for allowing such an injustice would be devastating.

"Every truth seeker will go down if Julian goes down."


Read More...
MIB

Why didn't the Mueller Report include an investigation of Seth Rich?

Daniel Lazare
Consortium News
Thu, 13 Jun 2019 16:19 UTC
Seth Rich
© LinkedInSlain Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich.
The idea that the DNC email disclosures were produced by a hack - not a leak -makes less and less sense.

After bungling every last aspect of Russia-gate since the day the pseudo-scandal broke, the corporate press is now seizing on the Mueller report to shut down debate on one of the key questions still outstanding from the 2016 presidential election: the murder of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich.

No one knows who killed Rich in Washington, D.C., on July 10, 2016. All we know is that he was found at 4:19 a.m. in the Bloomingdale neighborhood "with apparent gunshot wound(s) to the back" according to the police report. Conscious and still breathing, he was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead at 5:57.
Read More...
Yoda

Putin fires two police generals over drug-trafficking case launched against investigative journalist Ivan Golunov


RFE/RL
Thu, 13 Jun 2019 16:46 UTC
protester
Police detain a participant of a rally in support of Russian investigative journalist Ivan Golunov
Russian President Vladimir Putin has fired two police generals over a drug-trafficking case launched against investigative journalist Ivan Golunov, who was released on June 11 amid a public outcry and claims that the case against him was fabricated.

The Kremlin press service said on June 13 that Putin dismissed Major General Yury Devyatkin, the head of the Moscow police department's drug-control directorate, and Major General Andrei Puchkov, the police chief in Moscow's West administrative region.

Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev had said on June 11 that he would ask Putin to fire the two senior police officials over the Golunov case.

Kolokoltsev also said all charges against Golunov, a 36-year-old journalist who works for the Latvia-based online journal Meduza, were dropped because "the alleged crime has not been proven."

Comment: Previously:

Read More...
Dollars

Bernie Sanders: Americans 'will be delighted' to pay more taxes for free health care, education

Joseph A. Wulfsohn
Fox News
Thu, 13 Jun 2019 16:44 UTC
Bernie Sanders
© Gage Skidmore/Flickr
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, continued to defend Democratic socialism and argued that Americans would be "delighted to pay more in taxes" if his policies are carried out.

On Wednesday, Sanders attempted to sway voters into the ideology of Democratic socialism and argued in favor for what he called an "Economic Bill of Rights," where every American would have a right for items like free health care and education. He also insisted that President Trump is a "corporate socialist" for providing billions in subsidies and tax breaks for corporations.

During an appearance on CNN, the Democratic candidate was asked how he will respond to Trump's attacks on the campaign trail, specifically when the president invokes Venzuela as an example of failed socialism.
Read More...
Gold Bar

Russia bringing back the gold standard may kill US dollar & solve main problem of cryptocurrencies


RT
Thu, 13 Jun 2019 16:43 UTC
gold bars
© Global Look Press / Frank May
The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) is studying a proposal to create a gold-backed cryptocurrency, which could be used for cross-border settlements with other countries.

The bold proposal was made by Russia's State Duma member Vladimir Gutenev. He has suggested initiating discussion to set up national cryptocurrency, denominated in gold.

Commenting on Gutenev's proposal, the head of CBR Elvira Nabiullina said: "As for mutual settlements, we will consider, of course, a proposal on a cryptocurrency that is tied to gold. But, in my opinion, it is more important to develop settlements in national currencies."
Read More...