Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

BBC & friends conjure up baseless claim German MP against Russian sanctions is 'Kremlin agent'


RT
Fri, 05 Apr 2019 15:52 UTC
putin pirate
© FILE PHOTO Reuters / Fabian Bimmer
US Special Counsel Robert Mueller's search for a Russian hand may be fruitlessly over, but the greater hunt for the Kremlin bogeyman is not. Mainstream media are finding new targets, the latest being an opposition MP in Germany.

On Friday, the BBC dropped a fresh (-ish) bombshell: a German politician, it claims, could be "absolutely controlled" by Russia. Its sources are alleged emails, sent between Russian officials, provided in 2017 by an anti-Putin tycoon's "investigative" organization.

The MP in question is Markus Frohnmaier, from the right-wing opposition AfD party. He is not a surprising target, having spoken up against anti-Russian EU sanctions and taken trips to post-2014 Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

Comment: See also:

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Chess

Pentagon to deploy satellite capable of detecting Russian hypersonic missiles


Fort Russ
Sat, 06 Apr 2019 10:34 UTC
pentagon
© AP Photo /
U.S Undersecretary of Defense John Rood announced that the Pentagon is planning to start deploying "low cost" sensors into Earth's low-orbit, capable of detecting and launching hypersonic missile launches.

The announcement was made during a hearing on the US Senate Armed Services Committee, where Rood answered questions about how the US was fighting hypersonic weapons.

At the same time, the undersecretary gave no details on how the Pentagon plans to topple the missiles, noting that the military is working on developing ways to affect them during flight.

Comment: 200 missiles? More like a maximum of 200 warheads from 20 Bulava missiles, and all of them would not be nuclear warheads. Apparently, there are multiple types of warheads - including decoys - that would accompany actual nuclear warheads in each Bulava missile. As for US defenses, we'll see. Russia already has operational hypersonic missiles, new missile defense systems, and shiny new nukes. The USA is just starting to talk about it, and will no doubt spend $10 trillion per missile before anything actually lifts off the launchpad. This 'New Cold War' is great for business though, eh?

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NPC

Ocasio-Cortez demands 'agenda of reparations' as 2020 Dems get on board

Adam Shaw
Fox News
Sat, 06 Apr 2019 10:42 UTC
ocasio cortez green deal
© Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesUS Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, and US Senator Ed Markey (R), Democrat of Massachusetts, speak during a press conference to announce Green New Deal legislation to promote clean energy programs outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, February 7, 2019.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., called Friday for "examining and pursuing an agenda of reparations" as part of a lengthy list of proposals delivered before an Al Sharpton-sponsored conference in New York -- touting a controversial policy that's increasingly gained support from the 2020 field of Democratic presidential candidates.

Speaking about her cornerstone Green New Deal, which would entail a massive government-led overhaul of the economy and U.S. energy usage, the freshman Democrat also said the plan does not "shy away from bold conversations of health care, housing and education as human rights, of living wages and dignified work, of policy that isn't just drafted with the next election in mind but also with the next generation in mind."

She told the crowd at the National Action Network convention that such a generational attitude was the "underpinning" of a list of policies that include health care for all, free public college -- and reparations to black Americans for slavery.
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Snakes in Suits

Drug tests, stadium debate: Ukraine's presidential election turns into a reality TV show


RT
Fri, 05 Apr 2019 16:43 UTC
Valentyn Ogirenko; Poroshenko;
© Twitter /REUTERS/WikipediaValentyn Ogirenko; Poroshenko;
The three weeks leading up to Ukraine's presidential run-off are set to become an all-out spectacle, as the two contenders - incumbent Petro Poroshenko and comedian Volodymyr Zelensky - stop at nothing in their absurd duel.

The comedian not only managed to win almost twice as many votes as the president in the first round, but has cranked up his trolling campaign to the max. A video of Zelensky accepting Poroshenko's challenge, and in turn setting his conditions for a duel, shows him fully tapping into his showman vibe. Walking in epic slow motion into the center of Ukraine's Olimpiyskiy stadium, with blues guitar music playing in the background, he speaks in his signature gravelly voice.

"You challenge me to a debate. Did you hope I would run, tune out, hide? No. I'm not you in 2014."

'2014' is a reference to Poroshenko's refusal to hold a similar debate that year with Yulia Tymoshenko, when he said war is no time for political shows. This time, however, he appears to be getting pulled into just that. Zelensky, who excels putting on a show, seems to be deliberately maneuvering his opponent into familiar ground. He is demanding that the debate takes place in that same Olimpiyskiy stadium, that every channel has the right to stream it, and no media is denied access.

Comment: Since the candidates can't promise Ukrainians an increase of bread, they'll have to put with the spectacle of circuses to keep them distracted from the dire state of the country instead:

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Snakes in Suits

Note to Team Mueller: Prosecution isn't a game of 'horseshoes or hand grenades'

John Solomon
The Hill
Sat, 06 Apr 2019 10:14 UTC
Mueller
© Christopher Morris/VII/ReduxSC Robert Mueller
I've covered the Justice Department for three decades, and seldom have I seen a story like the one published in The New York Times this week under the headline, "Some on Mueller's Team Say Report Was More Damaging Than Barr Revealed."

What concerned me most is that the story's anonymous allegations reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the role prosecutors play, including special counsels such as Robert Mueller.

The job of prosecutors is not, as the Times headline suggested, to pen "damaging" narratives about people they couldn't indict. And it's not their job to air those people's dirty laundry, or that of suspects outside of a grand jury room or a courtroom.
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MIB

The curious man behind Nordic banking scandals: Bill Browder

F. William Engdahl
New Eastern Outlook
Fri, 05 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
Swedbank
In recent days Sweden's largest mortgage bank, Swedbank, fired its CEO amid charges she was involved in a multi-billion dollar money laundering operation. Swedbank now joins Denmark's largest bank, Danske Bank, and several other European Union banks implicated in laundering what has been claimed amounts to more than $1 trillion in funds of Russian or Ukraine or other origin in recent years. As impressive as the scandal appears, equally interesting is the curious man triggering the scandals.

On March 28 Swedbank AB fired its CEO, Birgitte Bonnesen, amid allegations she was complicit in a conspiracy to launder billions of dollars in money from former Soviet Union states via Swedbank's Estonia branch. At present Swedish SVT television reports suggest the mortgage bank laundered as much as 20 billion euros ($23 billion) in questionable funds each year, between 2010 and 2016 in Estonia, which, if true, would total some $140 billion. Swedbank allegedly also misled US authorities on its suspicious customer activities. Reportedly the Swedbank Estonia violations are tied to the even more dramatic allegations that Denmark's largest bank, Danske Bank, laundered an eye-popping $230 billion via its Estonia operation. Bonnesen was in charge of Swedbank's Baltic banking operations from 2011-2014.
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Newspaper

Israeli election ploy? Trump may declare Iran's Revolutionary Guard a 'terrorist organization'


RT
Fri, 05 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
Iran's Revolutionary Guards
© Reuters / Morteza NikoubazlMembers of Iran's Revolutionary Guards
The Trump administration is reportedly preparing to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization, the first such designation of another country's military, as early as next Monday.

The designation might come as early as Monday, three US officials told Reuters and the Wall Street Journal, speaking on condition of anonymity. Such a move would be a major escalation of the Trump administration's policy of pressure on Iran, which began with the pullout from the nuclear deal last May and continued with reimposition of sanctions suspended under the 2015 agreement.

Comment: Trump's Golan decision is a megalomaniac's own goal

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Black Magic

Court docs allege Democratic presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand's dad worked for NXIVM sex cult

William Davis
The Daily Caller
Fri, 05 Apr 2019 08:15 UTC
gillibrand
© Steve Pope/Getty ImagesU.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) speaks to a large crowd at the state capitol for the third annual Women's March on January 19, 2019 in Des Moines, Iowa.
Several court documents made public Thursday allegedly show that the father of 2020 presidential candidate and Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand worked on behalf of a sex cult.

Documents obtained by Big League Politics seem to confirm past rumors that Gillibrand's father Doug Rutnik worked for NXIVM, a sex cult in Albany, New York, that allegedly trafficked women. Rutnik reportedly worked for the organization for four months in 2004, at a monthly rate of $25,000.

"Her father Doug Rutnik came to work as a consultant for NXIVM. ... He was fired, they sued him, and they had to pay him $100,000," alleged former NXIVM employee Frank Parlato told Big League Politics. "Her father's wife, her stepmother, was also a member of NXIVM ... Doug got her into the cult, Gillibrand's father got Gillibrand's future stepmother into the cult. Doug left the cult because he was sued. Clare Bronfman, after her father was sued, donated money to Gillibrand. Gillibrand accepted it."
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Whistle

China protests deployment of US soldiers to guard Washington's 'embassy' in Taiwan


RT
Fri, 05 Apr 2019 04:00 UTC
American Institute in Taiwan
© Reuters / Tyrone SiuThe new office of American Institute in Taiwan (AIT)
Beijing has warned the US against stationing service personnel at a de-facto American embassy in Taipei, after the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) admitted to having a detachment of armed US guard on-site for over a decade.

"The US sending military personnel to Taiwan under whatever pretext constitutes a violation of the one-China principle," a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Thursday, urging the US to correct its "wrongdoing" to avoid "serious damage" to bilateral ties.

While rumors of American Marines being posted in Taipei have circulated for a while, the institute has never acknowledged their presence, until Wednesday.

Comment: See also:

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Eye 2

Creepy Joe Biden jokes about consent in first speech after 7 women accused him of inappropriate touching


RT
Fri, 05 Apr 2019 21:02 UTC
biden
© Reuters / Andreas Gebert
Obama's VP Joe Biden, mulling whether to run for president in 2020, has made his first public appearance after a number of women accused him of touching them inappropriately. In it, Biden attempted a joke about consent.

On stage at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers' conference in Washington, DC, "creepy uncle Joe" Biden, as he is known among his detractors, hugged the union's president Lonnie Stephenson.

"I just want you to know I had permission to hug Lonnie," he said.

"By the way, he gave me permission to touch him," he said to drive the intended hilarity home later, as he shook hands with some children.

Not everyone found it funny.

Comment: You also know someone is sincere in their apology, and has a conscience, when they make a crass joke about it a few days later. This guy is very likely a pedophile.

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