Puppet MastersS


Snakes in Suits

Report: Protecting arms sales, Pompeo favors sole voice backing renewed support of Saudis in Yemen


RT
Thu, 20 Sep 2018 20:19 UTC
Child/Pompeo
© CounterPunch/McNamee/Getty ImagesYemeni child • Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
Mike Pompeo certified that Saudi Arabia was reducing civilian casualties in Yemen, against the majority opinion in the State Department, siding with a minority report which warned US arms sales would be in jeopardy if he didn't.

Saudi Arabia and its allies have been engaged in a brutal military campaign in Yemen since 2015. The US has been instrumental in the war effort, providing weapons, air refueling and targeting data to its Arab allies. The support continues despite a mountain of evidence that Saudi air strikes have caused thousands of civilian deaths.

Last week Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the Congress that the Saudi-led coalition was "taking demonstrable action" to do less harm to civilians in Yemen. The certification is a requirement of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2019 and must be issued every six months for US military assistance to the campaign to continue. According to the Wall Street Journal, Pompeo's certification was issued against the opinions of all but one bureau at the state department that were consulted on the issue.


Comment: Pompeo negated any leverage over Saudi actions in favor of sales and profit. The bureaus were not much better with their excuse to continue military support due to America's national security interest. Since when were the Yemeni a national threat to the almighty US and selling bombs worth more than children?

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Star of David

Reacting to nuclear violation claim, Iran demands Israel be forced to join NPT


Sputnik
Fri, 21 Sep 2018 18:40 UTC
Dimona Nuclear Power Plant
© AFP 2018/JACK GUEZDimona Nuclear Power Plant in the Southern Israeli Negev desert.
Iran's permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued a biting response to his Israeli counterpart's claim that Iran and Syria posed "significant proliferation threats" to the Middle East and the world.

Iranian IAEA Ambassador Kazem Gharibabadi urged the international community to pressure Israel to sign onto Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), saying that doing so would be the only way to bring peace to the Middle East.

Speaking at the 62nd Annual Session of the ongoing IAEA General Conference in Vienna, Gharibabadi charged Israel with threatening its neighbors, pointed to its possession of nuclear weapons, and chastised the IAEA for giving in to Israeli pressure and not following up on what he said were the country's "dangerous" nuclear activities.

According to the ambassador, little progress has been made on nuclear disarmament, one of the NPT's major stated objectives, in the fifty years since the treaty was signed. Gharibabadi also pointed to the Middle East Nuclear Weapon Freeze Zone idea, a UN project dating back to 1970s aimed at prohibiting nuclear weapons in the region, and how this proposal too has suffered from a "lack of political will."
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Eye 2

The Kavanugh accusations: It's a set-up

Andrew C. McCarthy
National Review
Wed, 19 Sep 2018 19:03 UTC
kavanaugh hearings
© Joshua Roberts/ReutersSupreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh testifies during the second day of his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., September 5, 2018.
If Ford won't agree to testify, hold the vote tomorrow as planned.

In my column yesterday, I contended that the unverifiable sexual-assault allegation against Judge Brett Kavanaugh bore "all the hallmarks of a set-up." I based that assessment on the patently flimsy evidence, coupled with Senate Democrats' duplicitous abuse of the confirmation-hearing process. To repeat myself:
If the Democrats had raised the allegation in a timely manner, its weakness would have been palpable, it would have been used for what little it's worth in examining Kavanagh during his days of testimony, it would be put to rest as unverifiable, and we'd be on to a confirmation vote. Instead, we're on to a delay - precisely the Democrats' objective. They want to slow-walk Kavanaugh's confirmation vote until after the midterms, in the hopes that they swing the Senate in their favor and have the numbers to defeat the nomination.
Well, whaddaya know: Late last night, the partisan Democratic attorneys retained by the putative victim, Christine Blasey Ford, delivered a letter to Senator Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa), the Judiciary Committee chairman, contending that before any hearing at which she is summoned to testify takes place, there must be a "full investigation by law enforcement officials [to] ensure that the crucial facts and witnesses in this matter are assessed in a non-partisan manner."

Comment: The company you keep . . . .

Former Obama-Clinton Democrat operative now advising Kavanaugh accuser

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Bad Guys

Israeli gov't argues it can annex land and defy international law

Whitney Webb
MintPress News
Fri, 21 Sep 2018 13:34 UTC
ewish settlers wave Israeli flags during a protest outside the Supreme Court, in Jerusalem, Wednesday, June 6, 2012.
© Oded Balilty/APewish settlers wave Israeli flags during a protest outside the Supreme Court, in Jerusalem, Wednesday, June 6, 2012.
During an ongoing court case regarding the legality of Israel's controversial Settlement Regularization Law, the Israeli government has argued that the Israeli Knesset can "legislate anywhere in the world" and is "allowed to ignore the directive of international law in any field it desires." The statements, delivered to Israel's Supreme Court last month, show clear proof that the Israeli government is openly defying international law with the full approval of its top officials in its bid to annex occupied Palestine and wipe out any hope of a future Palestinian state.

Following the passage of the Settlement Regularization Law last year, several Palestinian rights groups led by Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel - filed a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court arguing that the Knesset is not legally permitted to enact or impose laws on territory occupied by the State of Israel that is not officially Israeli territory. As a consequence, according to the petition, the Knesset cannot pass laws that annex the West Bank or violate the rights of Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank.
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Pirates

US-led coalition evacuates ISIS commanders from Deir Ezzor to unknown destination


South Front
Sat, 22 Sep 2018 19:56 UTC
A door gunner
© Photo: U.S. Combat CameraMarch 2, 2017 – A door gunner from Joint Task Force Iraq’s Tactical Aviation Detachment keeps watch during a CH-146 Griffon helicopter flight near Erbil, Iraq as a part of Operation IMPACT
On September 22, local sources familiar with the situation in the Euphrates Valley told the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) that helicopters of the US-led coalition had evacuated several ISIS commanders from an area near the town of al-Marashidah in the southeastern Deir Ezzor countryside. According to the sources, the terrorists were taken to an unknown destination.

The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) confirmed the SANA's report claiming that the terrorists, who had been evacuated, were spies of the US-led coalition.

The US-led coalition and its proxies, mainly the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), are currently conducting a military operation to clear the ISIS-held pocket in the southeastern Deir Ezzor countryside. This explains why the coalition would evacuate its spies or even foreign fighters who may be relocated to other countries.

Comment: See also: Syrian sources: U.S. once again evacuating ISIS leaders from Deir Ezzor

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Light Sabers

China cancels top navy officer's visit to US over anti-Russia sanctions


RT
Sat, 22 Sep 2018 17:40 UTC
chinese american flags
China has canceled the visit of its Navy commander to the US in response to the sanctions imposed by Washington against Beijing over its military cooperation with Russia, the Chinese Defense Ministry said.

On Thursday, the US State Department imposed sanctions against Beijing's defense procurement agency, the Equipment Development Department (EED), for its "significant transactions" with Russian arms exporter, Rosoboronexport. The restrictions were triggered by two major arms deals agreed between Beijing and Moscow - a 2017 agreement for 10 Su-35 fighter aircraft, and a 2018 deal to supply the S-400 air defense systems.
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Chess

Netanyahu tries to persuade Putin to salvage understandings on Syria after Latakia plane crash

Nazir Magally
Asharq Al-Awsat
Sat, 22 Sep 2018 11:30 UTC
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem August 12, 2018
© Jim Hollander /Pool via Reuters/File PhotoPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem August 12, 2018.
Israeli Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin said that during his recent visit to Moscow he succeeded in limiting the crisis with Russia and resuming high-level security coordination between the two army commanders on their activities in Syria.

This came following the downing of a Russian plane off the coast of Syria. Fifteen Russian crew were killed when the IL-20 surveillance plane crashed near Latakia on Monday. Russia has said Syria shot the plane down shortly after Israeli jets hit a target in the area.

Upon his return from Moscow, Norkin told his government that the Russians had made it clear that they have banned foreign aircraft in Syrian airspace, political sources said.

Comment: Israel routinely meddles in other countries' affairs, then blames everyone else for the problems they create.

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Black Cat

Senator Grassley has allowed Kavanaugh hearing to be turned into a kangaroo court

Andrew C. McCarthy
National Review
Sun, 23 Sep 2018 17:18 UTC
Chuck Grassley
© Joshua Roberts/ReutersSenate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley
He must not let Democrats delay the Judiciary Committee's hearing or turn it into even more of a farce.

So now it looks like next Thursday.

On Judge Brett Kavanaugh's manifestly meritorious nomination to the Supreme Court, what was supposed to be the vote out of the Senate Judiciary Committee this past Thursday now appears to be sliding into a hearing to be held next Thursday. Or, who knows, maybe a Thursday or two after that. Or maybe The First of Never - though even that would undoubtedly be postponed to The Twelfth of Never.

Delay, delay, delay. It is what the Democrats want and it is what the Democrats are getting. They took the measure of their opposition and figured the GOP would bring a knife to a gunfight. From the first day of the confirmation hearing, committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) ceded control of the proceedings to the minority - in particular, to its ever-harder-Left, mak show presidential primary contestants.

It's a kangaroo court.
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Light Saber

Unafraid: Kavanaugh to Grassley regarding Senate questioning: 'I will be there'

Ben Marquis
Western Journal
Thu, 20 Sep 2018 16:58 UTC
Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh
Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett Kavanaugh
Following the bombshell allegation of sexual misconduct raised against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh last week, his impending confirmation vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee has been placed on hold indefinitely.

Republican committee members have scrambled in recent days to try and accommodate Kavanaugh's accuser - Palo Alto University professor Dr. Christine Blasey Ford - so that her story can be heard and taken into account, but obstructionist Democrats are refusing to cooperate with those efforts and have continuously shifted the goal posts to make new demands.

As such, it is unclear if Ford will be in attendance on Monday for a hearing to delve into her own allegations against Kavanaugh. But it has been made crystal clear that Kavanaugh himself will be there to mount his own defense against the accusations that he has vigorously denied.

Comment:

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Light Saber

Lavrov decries Balkans being forced to choose between Russia and West


RT
Sat, 22 Sep 2018 16:20 UTC
Eu European Union Servia
© Marko Djurica / ReutersA banner in front of Serbian parliament building in central Belgrade, Serbia.
Foreign interference into the Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro issues is unacceptable, Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister said, adding that the Balkans shouldn't be made chose either Russia or the West.

Lavrov said that the sides shared a common stance towards the problems that still remain in the Balkans Region.

Hot issues in the region "must be settled on the basis of mutual consent of all the interested parties, with full respect of the opinion of the population of the relevant countries," the foreign minister said After his meeting with the head of the Bosnian Serb Republic, Milorad Dodik, in Banja Luka.
The line of some external players, who are trying to put the peoples of the Balkan region before the choice - you're either with the West or with Russia is unacceptable.

Comment: Serbia know it has a staunch ally in Russia. It was the only voice of support as NATO illegally decimated the country.

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