Puppet MastersS


Attention

Abrams warns Maduro: Don't trust anyone - not Russians, not Cubans, no one around you!


RT
Thu, 02 May 2019 17:09 UTC
AbramsMaduro
© unknownEnvoy Elliott Abrams • President Nicolas Maduro
President Nicolas Maduro should not trust anyone around him, especially not the Cubans and the Russians, said the US' point man for toppling the Venezuelan leader after the latest failed US-backed coup attempt.

Elliott Abrams was appointed by the Trump administration to lead the effort to oust Venezuela's elected President Nicolas Maduro and replace him with self-proclaimed 'interim president' Juan Guaido. The American protege on Tuesday tried to trigger a military uprising in the country by filming himself next to a military base in Caracas with a few uniformed men behind him while delivering a rousing speech, but failed. In the aftermath Abrams joined the chorus of top US officials telling the public that Maduro's government is actually about to fall.

Speaking to US-Venezuelan TV channel VPItv, the US special envoy for Venezuela said Guaido was engaged in negotiations with senior military commanders on the terms of their turning their back on Maduro, who was not aware of the meeting, Abrams assured - that is until he revealed it on air.

Comment: See also:
'United as never before' Maduro leads a military march and thanks the army for its loyalty

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Attention

Comey's account of how Trump, the Fiend in Chief, 'ate the soul' of Attorney General Bill Barr

Igor Ogorodnev
RT
Thu, 02 May 2019 21:32 UTC
Comey
© REUTERS/Kevin LamarqueFormer FBI director James Comey
The former FBI director hit a new shrieking high in the blossoming genre of Trump-is-the-Devil essays, portraying him as a literal fiend who can make grown Republican men forget their loyalties to their country and even family.

Even his most committed deputies would agree that working with the current US president (though probably some other bosses too) requires you to compromise and see things from his point of view.

Or as Comey calls it, letting him "eat your soul in small bites."

How does Donald Trump exert such power that Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Robert Mueller to the Russia investigation, now ignores the collusion Comey can see so plainly in the Mueller Report?

The president is part hypnotist.

"Speaking rapid-fire with no spot for others to jump into the conversation, Mr. Trump makes everyone a co-conspirator to his preferred set of facts, or delusions. I have felt it - this president building with his words a web of alternative reality and busily wrapping it around all of us in the room," Comey writes in the New York Times.
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Arrow Up

Tension rises between US and Russia over Venezuela standoff

Lesley Wroughton, Andrew Osborn
Reuters
Wed, 01 May 2019 08:50 UTC
Pompeo/Lavrov
© NPR/African Ripples MagazineUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo • Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
The United States and Russia traded warnings against interfering in Venezuela on Wednesday, a day after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Moscow of stopping President Nicolas Maduro from leaving the country.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Pompeo by phone that further "aggressive steps" in Venezuela would be fraught with the gravest consequences, the Russian ministry said. "The Russian side underlined that interference by Washington in the internal affairs of a sovereign state and threats towards its leadership was a flagrant breach of international law," the ministry said.

The U.S. State Department said Pompeo urged Russia in the call to stop supporting Maduro. He also "stressed that the intervention by Russia and Cuba is destabilizing for Venezuela and for the U.S.-Russia bilateral relationship," it said.

On Tuesday, Pompeo accused Russia of intervening to persuade Maduro to abandon a plan to leave the country following a call by opposition leader Juan Guaido for Venezuela's military to help him oust Maduro.

Russia rejected that allegation on Wednesday, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova calling it "fake news."
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Attention

Nellie Ohr's 'Hi Honey' emails to DOJ recipients on 'Russia collusion' should alarm us all

John Solomon
The Hill
Wed, 01 May 2019 04:30 UTC
NellieGlennBruce
© The Epoch TimesNellie Ohr • Glenn Simpson • Bruce Ohr
First came the text messages between FBI lovebirds Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, which gave us a painful glimpse at potential political bias inside America's most famous crime-fighting bureau.

Now, a series of "Hi Honey" emails from Nellie Ohr to her high-ranking federal prosecutor husband and his colleagues raise the prospect that Hillary Clinton-funded opposition research was being funneled into the Justice Department during the 2016 election through a back-door marital channel. It's a tale that raises questions of both conflict of interest and possible false testimony.

Ohr has admitted to Congress that, during the 2016 presidential election, she worked for Fusion GPS - the firm hired by Democratic nominee Clinton and the Democratic National Committee to perform political opposition research - on a project specifically trying to connect Donald Trump and his campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, to Russian organized crime.

Now, 339 pages of emails from her private account to Department of Justice (DOJ) email accounts, have been released under a Freedom of Information Act request by the conservative legal group Judicial Watch. And they are raising concerns among Republicans in Congress, who filed a criminal referral with the Justice Department on Wednesday night.
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X

Nasrallah: Israeli forces will be annihilated if they dare attack Lebanon


Press TV
Thu, 02 May 2019 05:34 UTC
Nasrallah
© UnknownThe secretary general of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, delivers a speech broadcast from the Lebanese capital Beirut, on May 2, 2019.
The secretary general of the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement has cautioned the Tel Aviv regime against launching a new military aggression against his country, stressing that "Israeli forces will be destroyed" in such a case.

Addressing his supporters via a televised speech broadcast live from the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Thursday evening, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah dismissed the possibility of a new Israeli war on Lebanon this summer, describing such speculation and related media reports as "psychological warfare." Nasrallah pointed out:
"All in Israel know that any war on Lebanon needs to be decisive and swift. Hezbollah remains fairly capable and utterly determined irrespective of sanctions imposed on it. The Zionist regime (of Israel) fears launching a new war, even on the besieged Gaza Strip, let alone Lebanon. All Israeli battalions will be destroyed under the eyes of mainstream media and the entire world, if they dare enter Lebanon. We will not compromise on even one iota of the Lebanese soil."
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Bandaid

Founder, executives of drug company found guilty of racketeering conspiracy

Nate Raymond
Reuters
Thu, 02 May 2019 14:16 UTC
John Kapoor
© Reuters/Brian Snyder (file photo)John Kapoor (R), the billionaire founder of Insys Therapeutics Inc., leaves the federal courthouse during the trial accusing Insys executives of a wide-ranging scheme to bribe doctors to prescribe an addictive opioid medication, in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., March 13, 2019.
The founder of Insys Therapeutics Inc on Thursday became the highest-ranking pharmaceutical executive to be convicted in a case tied to the U.S. opioid crisis, when he and four colleagues were found guilty of participating in a scheme to bribe doctors to prescribe an addictive painkiller.

A federal jury in Boston found John Kapoor, the drugmaker's former chairman, and his co-defendants guilty of racketeering conspiracy for engaging in a scheme that also misled insurers into paying for the drug.

Kapoor's 2017 arrest came on the same day U.S. President Donald Trump declared the epidemic that has caused tens of thousands of overdose deaths annually a public health emergency.

Kapoor, 76, was found guilty of running a wide-ranging scheme to bribe doctors nationwide by retaining them to act as speakers at sham events at restaurants ostensibly meant to educate clinicians about its fentanyl spray, Subsys.

Comment: See also: Industry-Sponsored Doctors: New study shows depth of commercial influence

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Gold Bar

Russia tops global gold buyers list as it turns away from US dollar


RT
Fri, 03 May 2019 18:58 UTC
gold bricks
© Global Look Press / Christian Ohde
Net gold purchases by central banks hit a six-year high in the first quarter of 2019, with Russia securing the leading position, as nations seek diversification of their assets and less dependence on the greenback.

Global gold reserves were up by 145.5 tons from the beginning of the year through the end of March - a 68-percent increase compared to the same period in 2018. It is the largest increase in global reserves for this period since 2013, according to the World Gold Council (WSG) report, issued Thursday.

The Russian Central Bank added 55.3 tons to its vaults in the first quarter, bringing its vast gold reserves to 2,168.3 tons, and making it once again the biggest gold buyer, the report said.
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USA

Trump to award Tiger Woods the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Nikki Schwab
New York Post
Fri, 03 May 2019 18:43 UTC
Tiger Woods, Donald Trump
© APTiger Woods stands with Donald Trump as he holds the Gene Serazen Cup for winning the Cadillac Championship golf tournament.
President Trump will give Masters champion Tiger Woods the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Monday.

The event will be "invitation only" and take place in the Rose Garden, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced Thursday. She said reporters will be invited to cover it as well.

Trump had tweeted throughout the Masters - which Woods won April 14 - calling it "very exciting" and encouraging Americans to tune in. "Congratulations to @TigerWoods, a truly Great Champion!" Trump wrote after Woods won his fifth green jacket - and first major title since 2008.
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Bad Guys

Myanmar army admits to killing six unarmed prisoners


BBC
Fri, 03 May 2019 18:51 UTC
Myanmar
© AFPMyanmar's military has in the past been accused of war crimes
Myanmar's army has said it shot dead at least six people detained in a village school in Rakhine state.

A spokesman confirmed troops fired on unarmed detainees saying they had tried to grab the soldiers' weapons.

The detained were being questioned for links to the rebels of the Arakan Army, who are ethnic Rakhine Buddhists.

More than 30,000 mainly Buddhist civilians have been displaced in the latest fighting between national forces and the rebels.

A multi-ethnic country, Myanmar is home to a number of rebel groups.
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Bad Guys

Ukrainian embassy confirms DNC contractor sought dirt on Trump for 2016 election

John Solomon
The Hill
Fri, 03 May 2019 17:31 UTC
Clinton DNC
The boomerang from the Democratic Party's failed attempt to connect Donald Trump to Russia's 2016 election meddling is picking up speed, and its flight path crosses right through Moscow's pesky neighbor, Ukraine. That is where there is growing evidence a foreign power was asked, and in some cases tried, to help Hillary Clinton.

In its most detailed account yet, the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington says a Democratic National Committee (DNC) insider during the 2016 election solicited dirt on Donald Trump's campaign chairman and even tried to enlist the country's president to help.

In written answers to questions, Ambassador Valeriy Chaly's office says DNC contractor Alexandra Chalupa sought information from the Ukrainian government on Paul Manafort's dealings inside the country, in hopes of forcing the issue before Congress.
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