Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

Washington making 'bad mistake by politicizing oil & using it as a weapon' - Iranian oil minister


RT
Tue, 23 Apr 2019 16:48 UTC
gas station
© Reuters / Eric GaillardA customer uses a petrol nozzle to fill up his tank at a gas station
The United States will not be able to bring Iran's crude exports to zero, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said. The statement follows US demands that buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May 1 or face sanctions.

"With all our power, we will work toward breaking America's sanctions," Zanganeh said in parliament, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA).

The Trump administration on Monday said it will not renew exemptions granted last year to buyers of Iranian oil, explaining the decision is "intended to bring Iran's oil exports to zero."
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NPC

Pelosi dials back impeachment talk while Democratic presidential candidates push it, Sen. Graham needles Dems on message conflict

Douglas Christian
Talk Media News
Tue, 23 Apr 2019 16:17 UTC
Elizabeth Warren
© Doug Christian
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is actively tamping down progressive Democrats' push to impeach President Donald Trump.

In a conference call to her House Democrats, she says, "We aren't going to go faster, we are going to go as fast as the facts take us."

And in an accompanying letter, Pelosi wrote, "While we do not have the full [Mueller] report...two of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's conclusions stand out: one, the "sweeping and systematic" Russian interference in our elections; and two, the President's repeated efforts to thwart cooperation with the independent prosecutors....'

Comment: In the "that aged well" category:

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Light Saber

Hezbollah chief Nasrallah says Israel's ground forces unprepared for war


Times of Israel
Tue, 23 Apr 2019 15:50 UTC
Hassan Nasrallah
© Associated Press/Bilal HusseinSupporters of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group listen to a speech of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, via a video link, in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, March 8, 2019.
Hassan Nasrallah says Jewish state will not be able to clinch victory with air power alone; mocks failure to thwart Gaza rocket fire at Tel Aviv

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Monday claimed Israel's ground forces were unprepared for a military offensive in Lebanon and the Jewish state could no longer win battles solely from the air.

In a speech, he estimated that Israel would not seek to initiate a conflict with the neighboring country, as its home front is not prepared to withstand missiles fired by Hezbollah at its major cities.

"I lean in the direction that Israel is unlikely to carry out a war on Lebanon," mused Nasrallah, whose Iran-backed terror group last fought with Israel in 2006. "This is my personal opinion."

Comment: Talk of war is worrying, regardless of who is doing it. But should Israel be foolish enough to start a conflict with Lebanon, it will probably be in for a nasty surprise. Lebanon is not the hapless prisoner Gaza, unable to fight back.

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Black Cat

Pakistan losing control? Taliban group's pamphlet warns police to leave South Waziristan area in three days

Dilawar Wazir
Dawn
Tue, 23 Apr 2019 15:30 UTC
South Waziristan Pakistan taliban
© Asad Hashim/FileSouth Waziristan
The proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan has allegedly warned police through pamphlets to leave South Waziristan tribal district within three days.

The pamphlets also asked local people sever relations with government officials.

The leaflets were distributed in the town two days ahead of the visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to the tribal district where he is scheduled to address a public meeting.

The pamphlets were distributed in Wana, the district headquarters of South Waziristan, on Sunday night. "Police should leave Wana subdivision and Mehsud area forthwith otherwise we (TTP) will force them out," reads the pamphlet written in Urdu. It said that vehicles used by police in Wana had been identified.

Comment:

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Crusader

Christian Zionism, Trump and the irrational drive towards catastrophic nuclear war

Alastair Crooke
Strategic Culture Foundation
Mon, 22 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
Trump Bolton Pompeo
© U.S. State DepartmentSecretary of State Mike Pompeo, President Trump and John Bolton during the NATO Foreign Ministerial in Brussels, Belgium, July 2018.
On March 14, Russia's National Security Council, headed by President Putin, officially raised its perception of American intentions toward Russia from "military dangers" (opasnosti) to direct "military threats" (ugrozy). In short, the Kremlin is preparing for war, however defensive its intention.

Why? Why would Putin do that? 'Trump doesn't want more wars... He has consistently called for good relations with Moscow. And now that Mueller has come up with zero...'.

This is the familiar refrain that suggests that a confrontation with Russia simply cannot happen: "It wouldn't make any sense: it would not be rational". Well, maybe Russia is reading the 'tea-leaves' differently, and maybe they simply understand that when it comes to wars, it is often the non-rational that trumps the rational.

As Russia might view things, the precursors for a conflict in the Middle East are fast falling into place. On the one hand, we have a very hawkish Israel, 'pie-eyed' from large draughts of team Trump's 'Greater Israel' cool-aid; then we have Bolton prosecuting his ancient hatred for Iran - trying to corner the Republic, and to implode it.

These represent major clashes of tectonic plates, especially as the northern tier of the region (including Turkey) is now with Iran (to one, or other extent). Moscow will be aware that colliding tectonic plates release hot plasma, which all too easily can spread to scald Russia.
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Info

Why US & Saudi Arabia fear Iran-Pakistan cooperation

Darius Shahtahmasebi
RT
Tue, 23 Apr 2019 13:38 UTC
Imran Khan Rouhani
© AFP / IRANIAN PRESIDENCY
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to Tehran has been marred by two recent deadly attacks. Despite an apparent willingness to cooperate, there remains many outside players who will push for this alliance to fail.

Someone clearly hates the idea of peaceful dialogue between Iran and Pakistan. Whether a coincidence or not, the timing of an attack in Pakistan within barely a day or two of a planned visit to Iran's capital by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is certainly perfect timing for those who view an increasing relationship between the two nations through negative terms. The attack in question saw at least 14 Pakistani security forces personnel killed in a bus ambush. Not helping the issue, is the fact that Pakistan's foreign office instantly blamed the attack on Iran, accusing Iran of inaction against ethnic Baloch separatist groups, even as Khan was set to visit Tehran.

In February, there was similarly an attack in eastern Iran that killed at least 27 Iranian security personnel. Tehran warned Islamabad it would "pay a heavy price" for allegedly harboring the militants who planned the suicide bombing, which was claimed by the Pakistan-based Jaish al-Adl group.

Comment: See also:

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Fire

2020 Democratic hopefuls want congress to 'take steps' toward impeaching Trump


Sputnik
Tue, 23 Apr 2019 13:46 UTC
Trump shotgun
© AP Photo / John Locher
Although many Democrats fear that an attempt to unseat Donald Trump could backfire and bolster his support ahead of the 2020 election, some of his most outspoken critics appear to be willing to go down this road.

California Democratic US Senator Kamala Harris, one of the party's top 2020 contenders, said that lawmakers should launch an impeachment process based on the findings of the two-year investigation into the alleged Trump-Russia conspiracy.

"I think we have very good reason to believe that there is an investigation that has been conducted which has produced evidence that tells us that this President and his administration engaged in obstruction of justice," Harris said at a televised town hall in New Hampshire on Monday.

Comment: The opening line of this piece, that "many Democrats fear that an attempt to unseat Donald Trump could backfire and bolster his support ahead of the 2020 election," shows that "many Democrats" at least have some understanding of what goes on outside of their bubble. While a popular idea with a rabid lefty minority, most Americans don't want to see Trump impeached and likely won't vote for a candidate who centers their campaign around this single issue. Let it go, Dems. Let it go.

See also:

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Light Saber

Best of the Web: After Syria & Venezuela, Russian military prepares for Hybrid war


Russia Insider
Tue, 23 Apr 2019 10:40 UTC
army
Moscow's new military doctrine will put less emphasis on countering a large-scale land invasion
The Russian military's main job has always been to defeat a large land invasion of the Russian heartland, such as those of Hitler, Napoleon, and Charles XII. But after the experience of Syria and Ukraine, Russian generals are adjusting their military doctrine to defeat a wider array of possible attacks, which, although less dangerous than all-out invasion, are more likely to occur.

This move is a response to US behavior. Over the past few decades, the US has involved itself in countless, never-ending, low-risk conflicts. Americans seem to have forgotten Clausewitzian purpose of war: to destroy your enemy in a decisive engagement in order to achieve your political ends. Instead, they have allowed their foreign policy to be shaped by the careerist ambitions of military officers, private contractors, and Beltway pseudo-intellectuals, whose resumes depend on a steady supply of easy-to-win, fake wars. For them, war has become an end in itself.

Russia no longer needs to face down a lion, but only stave off the jackals.

Comment: Russia is leagues ahead in one area that the deep state players are unable to fathom: mutually beneficial, interdependent partnerships, and, ultimately, following this war of attrition, this may decide the course of the future:

See also:

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Sherlock

Trump and PM Khan might have ruined Iranian-Indian relations

Andrew Korybko
Eurasia Future
Mon, 22 Apr 2019 12:00 UTC
TrumpKhan
© AFP/ReutersPresident Donald Trump • Prime Minister Imran Khan
The American and Pakistani leaders independently took two very important and uncoordinated moves at almost the exact same time that might coincidentally have the same effect of ruining Iranian-Indian relations.

Iranian-Indian relations might be about to enter their worst-ever period in modern history as a result of two very important and uncoordinated moves undertaken at almost the exact same time by the American and Pakistani leaders. PM Khan just paid his first visit to Iran where he and his hosts announced that they'll enter into a new era of anti-terrorist cooperation that geopolitical analyst Adam Garrie comprehensively analyzed in his recent piece on this breaking news event. The ball was indeed in Iran's court to stop India's anti-Pakistani Baloch terrorism like I wrote the other day, and to Tehran's credit, its leadership finally understood this and decided to expand its military partnership with the global pivot state of Pakistan. This will greatly complicate India's HybridWar capabilities in clandestinely using Iranian territory to carry out terrorist attacks against Pakistan by proxy as it obsessively seeks to sabotage CPEC, meaning that PM Khan's visit will have far-reaching and long-term geostrategic security consequences in the New Cold War.

Comment: See also:

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Eye 1

Washington offering $10 million reward in hunt for three alleged 'Hezbollah financiers'


RT
Tue, 23 Apr 2019 09:42 UTC
Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah
© Reuters/Aziz TaherHezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, September 20, 2018.
The US government is offering a bounty of up to $10 million for information about three alleged financiers of Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based organization that the US considers to be Iran-backed terrorists.

Adham Tabaja, Ali Charara and Mohamed Bazzi were named as Hezbollah financiers on Monday by State Department and Treasury officials, who announced the bounty for "disruption of financial activities that support the global terrorist organization Lebanese Hezbollah."

Hezbollah receives "weapons, training, funding" from Iran to the tune of $1 billion a year, Assistant Secretary of State Michael Evanoff told reporters on Monday. He claimed Hezbollah uses those funds for "malign activities" such as supporting the government in Syria, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, and "surveillance and intelligence gathering operations in the American homeland."

Comment: More from RT:



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