Puppet MastersS


Heart - Black

SOTT Focus: Russian 'Agent' Maria Butina Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison on 'Conspiracy' Charge

Sara Murray and David Shortell
CNN
Fri, 26 Apr 2019 17:40 UTC
Maria Butina
© Alexandria Sheriff's Office / Reuters 2Maria Butina's police booking photo.
A federal judge sentenced Russian national Maria Butina to 18 months in prison on Friday, after she pleaded guilty to trying to infiltrate conservative political circles and promote Russian interests before and after the 2016 presidential election.


Comment: Like many people who plead guilty in the US, she did so because the system there makes you plead guilty in exchange for 'leniency', not because she's actually 'guilty'. In Butina's case, they tortured a confession out of her.


She is the first Russian citizen convicted of crimes relating to the 2016 election, though her efforts to infiltrate Republican circles appeared to be separate from the Kremlin's sweeping election-meddling campaign detailed in special counsel Robert Mueller's report.


Comment: That's CNN's way of saying she had no connection with the Kremlin whatsoever.


The 30-year-old gun rights enthusiast has been incarcerated since her arrest in July and will receive credit for the nine months previously served. She will be deported to Russia after serving her sentence.


Comment: Take note, American 'gun rights enthusiasts': they're 'gunning' for you next.


Comment: During the Cold War, the West could blame an Iron Curtain for the USSR's isolation (even though, like today, Western leaders themselves first imposed it).

Today, the technocrats running the Western system have reconstituted this isolation, but because the Russian Federation is effectively as open as most countries, they have to scheme a LOT harder to make Russia (seem) isolated.

Butina is being punitively subjected to additional solitary prison-time despite the flimsiest of charges brought against her. She never made any secret of her activities. She was a gun 'enthusiast' who wanted to advocate for gun rights in her home country, so who better to talk to than the NRA?

Butina, in fact, was working to export the US gun lobby model to her home country, something that should - if Americans believe their own narratives - have been promoted, not punished.

Moralizing over her relationship with an older man is the height of hypocrisy, especially in an amoral place like Washington, DC. Her treatment while imprisoned was deplorable, and now she faces more of the same. Still, the US feels it can rub Russia's nose in it... UPDATE 27 April 2019, 12:00 CET

Butina made a tearful plea for leniency, and begs for mercy.
"My parents discovered my arrest on the morning news they watch in their rural house in a Siberian village," she told a judge in a shaky voice at her hearing Friday. "I love them dearly, but I harmed them morally and financially. They are suffering from all of that. I destroyed my own life as well."

"Now I beg for mercy, and the chance to go home and restart my life."

"I came to the United States not under any orders, but with hope, and now nothing remains but penitence," she said, adding that "I just didn't register because I didn't know to."
The judge sentenced her anyway.

Her lawyer, Robert Driscoll, said that Butina was arrested and smeared for no other reason than her nationality:
"Anyone who thinks that someone who wasn't Russian would be in this situation is fooling themselves."
He appeared on RT today to voice his concern for his client, and the potential blow-back this precedent sets up for Americans caught up in copy-cat entrapment schemes abroad:


The Russian Foreign Ministry has issued a statement:
"From the moment of her arrest we have pointed out that the accusations against her of attempting to influence internal American political processes were completely contrived and fabricated. Her confession, which was coerced through harsh imprisonment conditions and threats of a lengthy sentence, changes nothing.

Our compatriot's only crime was being a citizen of Russia. She became a victim of a bitter battle between political forces inside the US, and an unbridled anti-Russian campaign in the spirit of McCarthyism. Butina's sentence is a shameful stain on the American judicial system."
Russia 'loses' to the US, again, but Truth, as usual, remains on Russia's side.

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Light Sabers

Hypocritical Macron vows fight against 'political Islam' that wants to 'secede' from France


RT
Fri, 26 Apr 2019 18:24 UTC
muslims praying
French President Emmanuel Macron vowed an 'intractable' fight against 'political Islam,' which he said seeks secession from the French Republic. His comments left many puzzled about his goals.

After delivering a speech addressing numerous social issues tied to France's burgeoning protest movement, the Yellow Vests, Macron's press conference took an odd turn when he laid into the French Muslim population.

"We are talking about people who, in the name of a religion, pursue a political project," he said. "A political Islam that wants to secede from our Republic," against which he asked the government to be "intractable." Macron also gave a ringing defense of French secularism, and called out "communitarianism."


Comment: Doesn't sound that much different than the identity politics that Macron plays wherein he pursues a political project in the name of social justice.


"We must not hide ourselves when we talk about secularism, we do not really talk about secularism, we talk about the communitarianism that has settled in certain districts of the Republic," Macron said, referring to Muslim communities.
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Vader

Cultural revolution, Ukie-style: Kiev bans Russian language in public office


RT
Fri, 26 Apr 2019 18:20 UTC
ukrainian activists
© AFP / Sergei Supinsky
Ukraine's parliament has passed a law requiring the use of the Ukrainian language in almost all aspects of public life. While the move aims to solidify national identity, it could disenfranchise the country's Russian speakers.

The law, which passed by 278 votes to 38 on Thursday, obliges all Ukrainian citizens to know the national language, and requires that it be used for all official duties. Doctors, politicians, judges, teachers, and soldiers are all among the groups that will have to speak Ukrainian in the workplace.

Under the new law, 90 percent of TV and film content produced in Ukraine must be in the national language, while 50 percent of books and other written media must also be in Ukrainian.

Outgoing President Petro Poroshenko was a champion of the law, describing it as "one more important step on the path to our independence." Poroshenko is expected to sign off on the law before his successor, comedian Volodymyr Zelensky takes office. The president-elect has been speaking mostly Russian during his performances but promised to brush up his Ukrainian skills. Although the recent election brought a change of leader, the makeup of the Rada (Ukrainian parliament) remains unchanged.

Comment: That is completely beyond the pale. But you won't hear a peep about it from the 'cultural Marxists' of whatever-the-Western-hive-mind-says-goes crowd.

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Eye 1

Report: NSA recommends dropping controversial mass surveillance program

Christopher Carbone
Fox News
Thu, 25 Apr 2019 18:15 UTC
snowden
© Fox NewsFormer National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden
The National Security Agency has reportedly recommended that the White House abandon a controversial surveillance program that collects vast amounts of information about Americans' phone calls and text messages, claiming the legal and logistical burdens of maintaining it outweigh its benefits to the intelligence community.

The recommendation, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal and involved input from NSA, the FBI and the Department of Justice, appears to represent an about-face regarding a program - long criticized by privacy advocates - that federal officials previously said was vital to finding and disrupting terrorist plots against the United States.

The once-secret program known as Stellarwind, which was revealed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and has been seen as not viable for some time now, is now seen as something that provides limited intelligence to the U.S., according to the Journal.
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Megaphone

Russia suddenly incapable of 'meddling' in North Korea, according to US mainstream media

John Stachelski
RT
Fri, 26 Apr 2019 18:12 UTC
putin and kim
© Sputnik/Alexei Nikolsky/Kremlin via Reuters
While the mainstream media seems to see Russia as omnipotent in propping up 'dictators' and subverting foreign elections, Putin's efforts at getting North Korea to quit its nukes are apparently in vain and not of much note.

While presumably efforts to thwart potential nuclear annihilation would be something of a news item, US news networks seemed to feel the meeting was more about posturing than peace. Coverage of the Putin-Kim summit gave off the distinct impression that Joe Biden's long-expected presidential run announcement was of far greater consequence.

US media moguls apparently figured that people are unlikely to tune in without President Donald Trump to inspire their hatred, which is likely why the talks in Vladivostok got a lot less hype than the February summit in Hanoi.

Over on CBS, foreign correspondent Charlie D'Agata claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin had "wedged himself" in between Trump and Kim to prove himself as a player in the important international issue. He even described the Vladivostok peace negotiations as "Putin taking advantage of a global crisis situation."
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Vader

US Treasury slaps sanctions on Venezuela's top diplomat Jorge Arreaza

Saleha Mohsin and Andrew Rosati
Bloomberg
Fri, 26 Apr 2019 17:32 UTC
Jorge Arreaza
© Carlos Becerra/BloombergJorge Arreaza
The Treasury Department sanctioned Venezuela's foreign minister for allegedly exploiting the U.S. financial system to support what it considers the "illegitimate" regime of Nicolas Maduro.

The U.S. added Jorge Arreaza, Venezuela's top diplomat since 2017, to its sanctions designation list, according to a statement released Friday. It also sanctioned Judge Carol Bealexis Padilla de Arretureta, according to the statement.

"Treasury will continue to target corrupt Maduro insiders, including those tasked with conducting diplomacy and carrying out justice on behalf of this illegitimate regime," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in the statement.

Comment: Arreaza is being targeted for having the audacity to call out the Empire in the court of world opinion..

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Jet4

France opens inquiry into leak that exposed use of French weapons in Yemen


France 24
Wed, 24 Apr 2019 17:24 UTC
Yemeníes
© AFP
French authorities have opened an investigation into the leaking of a classified military note which revealed French weapons are being used by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in Yemen, sources told AFP on Wednesday.

The note details the use of weapons -- including tanks, artillery and military ships -- in the war against Huthi rebels.

The use of French weapons in Yemen appears to contradict previous public statements from France's government.

The classified 15-page note from the French military intelligence service, published in April by new investigative media outlet Disclose, concluded that the UAE and Saudi Arabia had deployed French weaponry.

The note -- provided to the government in October 2018, according to Disclose -- said 48 CAESAR artillery guns manufactured by the Nexter group were being used along the Saudi-Yemen border.

Leclerc tanks, sold in the 1990s to the UAE, have also been used, as have Mirage 2000-9 fighter jets, while a French missile-guiding technology called DAMOCLES might have been deployed, according to the assessment.

Cougar transport helicopters and the A330 MRTT refuelling plane have also seen action, and two French ships are serving in the blockade of Yemeni ports which has led to food and medical shortages, the DRM military intelligence agency concluded.

Under pressure for years by rights groups over the sales, the Paris government has always insisted that the arms are only used in defensive circumstances to deter attacks by the Huthis.

Comment: As usual, the government isn't interested in finding out who lied, and why - and punishing the criminals involved. No, they're looking for the leaker who exposed the criminality. That's Western 'democracy' in a nutshell.

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Info

North Korean minister says his country isn't bothered by UN sanctions


Yonhap News Agency
Fri, 26 Apr 2019 17:18 UTC
Kim Yong-jae
© YonhapNorth Korea's External Economic Affairs Minister Kim Yong-jae attends a session at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, on April 26, 2019.
A senior North Korean official said Friday that U.N. sanctions are not a concern for his country and urged the United States to change its mind about its hard-line approach on the North's denuclearization.

"Let them impose sanctions, for a hundred, or thousand years, if they wish -- we cannot care less and are barely affected by them," North Korea's External Economic Affairs Minister Kim Yong-jae told Yonhap News Agency.

He was attending the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing.

The minister's remarks come a day after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held his first summit talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Russian port city of Vladivostok. Leader Kim was set to return home Friday afternoon.

"These people must not do things the way they're doing them now, and have got to change their way," he said.

Asked about whether the sanctions have deprived the North's economy of energy resources, the minister bluntly said there has been "no impact."

"Energy and electricity output has jumped from last year. Even South Korea thinks we're badly in need of the sanctions (relief), but it does not bother us," he said.

Comment: Even if Kim is exaggerating, and the sanctions are having an impact, it still proves the point: sanctions don't work. They only thing they achieve is harming the lives of ordinary people. But the people themselves, and especially their leaders, just double down in their opposition to the sanctioning bodies. It's the same in Venezuela, Iran, Russia... It'll be a long time before the United States learns that you can't just beat a country into submission and expect them to love you. Until that point, that is what they'll continue to do.

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Cell Phone

Juncker says EU won't reject Huawei 5G just because they're Chinese


Xinhua
Fri, 26 Apr 2019 17:14 UTC
5g china huawei
© Xinhua/Shan Yuqitors are seen at the 5G Arena during the 2019 Hanover Fair in Hanover, Germany, April 1, 2019.
"We are not rejecting someone because he is coming from faraway, because he is Chinese, the rules have to be respected," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Thursday, when asked on 5G at a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"As far as the 5G is concerned, I can simply say what we already said -- that the European Union and our internal market are open markets and all those respecting our rules governing this internal market are welcome," Juncker said.

Juncker was replying to a question from a Japanese reporter, who asked the European and Japanese leaders that "the U.S. is calling on the allies to eliminate telecom equipment of Chinese companies including Huawei, so what did you discuss about that? And on this issue, what do you plan to deal with at G20?"

Before Juncker, Abe first gave his answers, saying "We did not talk about specific countries or specific products. Dealing with cyber-security-related risks is extremely important, and we agree that we need to take coordinated actions at G20.

"In the past, the importance of ICT, the importance of security countermeasures related to the use of ICT has been recognized, and therefore based on that recognition, we will continue that discussion and we wish to continue to collaborate with the EU," Abe said, referring to information and communications technology (ICT).

Comment: More background on the targeting of Huawei and the wider antagonism toward China:

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Bullseye

China, Russia... 'we all have to get rid' of nukes, Trump says amid reports he eyes arms control deal


RT
Thu, 25 Apr 2019 18:39 UTC
anti-nuclear weapon poster
© AFP / JEWEL SAMAD 109
Donald Trump has called on the US, Russia, and China to reduce their nuclear arsenals amid reports that his administration is planning to propose a landmark arms control deal with Beijing and Moscow.

In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, the US president said that he welcomed Russia's efforts to help denuclearize the Korean Peninsula - but that more must be done.

"We want to get rid of the nuclear weapons, we all have to get rid [of them]. Russia has to get rid of them, and China has to get rid of them," Trump stated.


Comment: Hey Trump, they will get rid of their nukes when the US stops building military bases all around the world and ends the regime change operations against countries which stand up to the US imperial bully. Russia and China will also probably quite skeptical of any "agreement" the US signs, since they have routinely ignored or gone back on agreements in the past.


Comment: In response to Trump's comments on nuclear disarmament, Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky commented that such a decision could lead to real war:
"Balance of powers between Moscow and Washington is based on so-called mutual assured destruction. If it won't be the case anymore, there would be a risk of a real war, no more no less."


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