Puppet MastersS


Oil Well

OPEC threatens to kill US shale producers

Irina Slav
Oilprice.com
Thu, 14 Mar 2019 13:23 UTC
US Shale plant
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will once again become a nemesis for U.S. shale if the U.S. Congress passes a bill dubbed NOPEC, or No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act, Bloomberg reported this week, citing sources present at a meeting between a senior OPEC official and U.S. bankers.

The oil minister of the UAE, Suhail al-Mazrouei, reportedly told lenders at the meeting that if the bill was made into law that made OPEC members liable to U.S. anti-cartel legislation, the group, which is to all intents and purposes indeed a cartel, would break up and every member would boost production to its maximum.

This would be a repeat of what happened in 2013 and 2014, and ultimately led to another oil price crash like the one that saw Brent crude and WTI sink below US$30 a barrel. As a result, a lot of U.S. shale-focused, debt-dependent producers would go under.

Comment: More on OPEC's "war" on shale:

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Magnify

"Political scheming": Deripaska sues US over "devastating power" of Russian sanctions


RT
Fri, 15 Mar 2019 18:34 UTC
Deripaska
© Reuters / Sergei KarpukhinFILE PHOTO. Russian tycoon Deripaska attends the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska has sued the US over sanctions, calling them unjust and illegal. The businessman portrayed himself as a victim of "political scheming" in the US and said his net worth shrunk by $7.5 billion.

The case against the US was filed at a US District Court in Washington by the businessman on Friday. The billionaire asked the court to block the US Treasury from using the "devastating power" of sanctions and force it to remove him from the sanctions and "oligarch" lists.

The businessman accused the US government of being biased against him and making allegations based on "false rumor and innuendo." The sanction activities against him violate the US Constitution, he argued.

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

Would-be Maduro drone assassin speaks to CNN, claims he met with US officials after terror attack


RT
Fri, 15 Mar 2019 14:13 UTC
maduro drone
© Global Look Press / XinhuaProtecting Maduro mid-drone attack
The man who claims he planned the exploding-drone attack on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro along with defectors from the Venezuelan military has come forward to tell his story - to CNN, of all people.

The would-be drone bomber says he met with US officials three times after the attack that took place at a military parade in August last year. In an interview with CNN, he claims the US officials seemed receptive to giving them "things in return" for information about the assassination attempt.

A State Department spokesman declined to comment, saying only "Our policy is to support a peaceful transition in Venezuela."

The assassin, who wished to remain anonymous for obvious reasons, provided video of the conspirators tinkering with the improvised drone bomb, which they reportedly built themselves in a farmhouse in Colombia using materials they purchased online from the US. His footage also showed the group practising flying the drones "high enough to not be seen," then diving steeply to hit their target, before dismantling them and sneaking them into Venezuela.

Comment: US officials, rather than arrest him for his crimes, wanted to trade 'something' for information and then they let him go? It seems that so long as violence is committed on behalf of a cause that supports the US establishment scheme then it's legitimate. It's also notable that the terrorists built the weapon in Colombia and sourced the parts from the US: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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Chess

Senate sets up Trump's first veto by rejecting national emergency declaration

Emily Tillett
CBS News
Sat, 16 Mar 2019 10:46 UTC
Donald Trump
In a rebuke of the president, the Senate voted 59-41 to pass legislation Thursday afternoon rejecting President Trump's national emergency declaration concerning the U.S.-Mexico border. Twelve Republicans joined Democrats in voting to pass the resolution.

The president issued his emergency declaration as a way to free up funding to build his long-promised wall along the southern border after Congress refused to provide the $5 billion he originally requested. New budget requests now put that total dollar amount at over $8 billion.

When the bill moves to the president's desk, Mr. Trump will likely issue his first veto of his presidency. "I look forward to vetoing" the resolution, he tweeted Thursday.
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Bizarro Earth

US & Canada use Ukraine's Kerch Strait stunt to impose fresh sanctions on Russia


RT
Fri, 15 Mar 2019 17:23 UTC
white house
© Reuters / Jim BourgFILE PHOTO.
Washington has slapped a fresh batch of sanctions on Russia over "unjustified" actions during a maritime incident last November in the Kerch Strait near Crimea when three Ukrainian boats went into Russia's territorial waters.

The US Treasury Department included six people and eight entities in its Friday update of "Ukraine and Russia-related Designations." The deputy director of the Russian Border Guard Service, which is under the command of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), as well as the head of the FSB service in Crimea and Sevastopol are among the sanctioned individuals.

The list of entities consists of eight enterprises related to the shipbuilding industry and operating as Russia's defense contractors, including a St. Petersburg engine manufacturer, several shipyards located both in Crimea and mainland Russia, and companies producing hydroacoustic devices and ship automatics.


Comment: It's unlikely the US will sanction Russia's rocket manufacturers anytime soon: America will continue to use Russian rocket engines to fly into space


Comment: Ukraine's Kerch strait provocation seems to be the gift that just keeps giving to the anti-Russian mob; the US has excuse to slap on more sanctions and can test its 'allies' willingness to get even further enmeshed; Porkyshenko has a pre-election excuse for martial law and a lame attempt to foster some votes; and the anti-Russian mob along with their propaganda media can completely distort the story in another egregious effort to demonize Russia: Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: The Russia Collusion Ruse: Why the US Deep State Hates Russia, Not Trump

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Snakes in Suits

Best of the Web: Russia wipes US in Rand corp wargame, just in time for a defense budget increase

Finian Cunningham
Sputnik
Fri, 15 Mar 2019 17:40 UTC
pentagon
© AP Photo /
A recent US war-game report certainly made dramatic headlines claiming that in a conventional war with either Russia or China, American forces would get a whipping.

All the more remarkable was that the assessment came from the Rand Corporation, which is closely aligned with the Pentagon. It may seem therefore a rather rude admission by a Pentagon-funded think tank that US military forces would be so humiliated by would-be adversary Russia or China.

The Rand lead analyst put the scale of defeat for the American side rather colourfully. "The US would get its ass handed to it," he is quoted as saying.

The simulated war scenario found that US military formations in every domain would be vanquished.

What's going on here? Is the Pentagon, through its think tank, really admitting to such stark defeat? No.

Comment: Following the first ever audit of the Pentagon, at a cost to the taxpayer of $360 million, it was revealed that, even after changing the rules, billions (and maybe even trillions) of dollars were unaccounted for, to which the Pentagon responded that the result was "irritating".

Below are some shameful stories that show just how some of that money is being spent:

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Candle

'Lights out!' Did Trump and his neocons use a Bush-era plan to knock out Venezuela's power grid?

Whitney Webb
MintPress News
Mon, 11 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
2 with candles
© Ariana Cubillos/APRelatives of a patient walk the halls of a clinic with candles in Venezuela.
Even as the Venezuelan government blamed the recent power outage on U.S.-led "sabotage," the U.S. has long had a plan on the books for targeting the civilian power grid of adversarial nations.

For nearly four days, much of Venezuela has been without power, bringing the country's embattled economy to a near standstill. Though power is now returning, the outage saw U.S. officials and politicians blame the Venezuelan government for the crisis while officials in Caracas accused the U.S. of conducting "sabotage" and launching cyberattacks that targeted its civilian power grid as well as of employing saboteurs within Venezuela.

Although many mainstream media outlets have echoed the official U.S. government response, some journalists have strayed from the pack. One notable example is Kalev Leetaru, who wrote at Forbes that "the United States remotely interfering with its [Venezuela's] power grid is actually quite realistic."

Leetaru also noted that "timing such an outage to occur at a moment of societal upheaval in a way that delegitimizes the current government, exactly as a government-in-waiting has presented itself as a ready alternative, is actually one of the tactics" he had previously explored in a 2015 article detailing U.S. government hybrid warfare tactics "to weaken an adversary prior to conventional invasion or to forcibly and deniably effect a transition in a foreign government."

In addition to Leetaru's claims, others have asserted U.S. government involvement after U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), who is deeply involved in Trump's Venezuela policy, appeared to have prior knowledge that the blackouts would occur when he tweeted about them only three minutes after they had begun.

Comment: See also:

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Pistol

Bruce Ohr's testimony reveals political operatives got the FBI to investigate the NRA

Margot Cleveland
The Federalist
Thu, 14 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
Cleta Mitchell
© Gage SkidmoreCleta Mitchell
Instead of investigating the NRA, 'Glenn Simpson should be prosecuted for making a false statement to a federal agent,' former NRA board member Cleta Mitchell said.

Friday's release of a transcript of Bruce Ohr's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee revealed several new tidbits. It also raised serious concerns that fake claims of collusion pushed by Glenn Simpson and Democratic opposition research shop Fusion GPS prompted the launch of not one, but two federal investigations: the Russia collusion investigation and investigations into the National Rifle Association (NRA).

During his day-long testimony last August, Ohr, then an associate deputy attorney general, explained his involvement-or non-involvement, if he is to be believed-in the Russia-collusion investigation. Ohr testified that he knew former MI6 spy and dossier author Christopher Steele for more than a decade and was acquainted with Steele's boss, Fusion GPS head Simpson, for many years.

Ohr further explained that from July 30, 2016 until November 2017, both Steele and Simpson provided him "intel" related to supposed collusion between Russia and members of the Trump campaign. Ohr then passed this information on to the FBI, where it was used to, among other things, obtain FISA court orders to surveil and otherwise target the Trump campaign team.

But in an abbreviated aside, Ohr causally revealed one communique with Simpson that indicates the Fusion GPS founder pushed another false story that unleashed multiple federal investigations into the NRA.

Comment: See also:

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Newspaper

Congressional transcripts reveal Clinton, DOJ struck deal that blocked FBI access to Clinton Foundation emails on her private server

Jerry Dunleavy
Washington Examiner
Thu, 14 Mar 2019 18:58 UTC
strzok
Fired FBI agent Peter Strzok told Congress last year that the agency "did not have access" to Clinton Foundation emails that were on Hillary Clinton's private server because of a consent agreement "negotiated between the Department of Justice attorneys and counsel for Clinton."

That agreement was revealed in newly released congressional transcripts from Strzok's closed-door testimony at the House Judiciary Committee on June 27, 2018.

When asked by then-majority general counsel Zachary Somers if "the Clinton Foundation was on the server", Strzok testified that he believed it was "on one of the servers, if not the others." But Strzok stressed that due to an agreement between the DOJ and Clinton, they were not allowed to search Clinton Foundation emails for information that could help in their investigation.

The FBI would have been investigating Clinton's emails in 2016, when former President Barack Obama was still in office and when Clinton was running for president against then-candidate Donald Trump.

Comment: More from Zero Hedge:
"What's bizarre about this, is in any other situation, there's no possible way they would allow the potential perpetrator to self-select what the FBI gets to see," said former Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz - former chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee until 2017 and current contributor to Fox News. "The FBI should be the one to sort through those emails -- not the Clinton attorneys."

Chaffetz suggested that the goal of the DOJ was to "make sure they hear no evil, see no evil -- they had no interest in pursuing the truth."

"The Clinton Foundation isn't supposed to be communicating with the State Department anyway," said Chaffetz. "The foundation -- with her name on it -- is not supposed to be communicating with the senior officials at the State Department."
Republican-led concerns that the DOJ, under the Obama administration, was too cozy with the Clinton team during the 2016 presidential campaign have grown louder in recent days. Earlier this week, Fox News exclusively reviewed an internal chart prepared by federal investigators working on the so-called "Midyear Exam" probe into Clinton's emails. The chart contained the words "NOTE: DOJ not willing to charge this" next to a key statute on the mishandling of classified information.

The notation appeared to contradict former FBI Director James Comey's repeated claims that his team made its decision that Clinton should not face criminal charges independently.

But Strzok, in his closed-door interview, denied that the DOJ exercised undue influence over the FBI, and insisted that lawyers at the DOJ were involved in an advisory capacity working with agents. - Fox News


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Question

Did the West really 'lose' in Syria?

Neil Clark
RT
Fri, 15 Mar 2019 18:43 UTC
pro assad rally
© Reuters / Sana
Eight years after the conflict in Syria began, gloomy 'how did it all go wrong for the West' articles are appearing. Actually, there was no defeat for 'the West'. The alternative to the Assad government prevailing was far worse.

'We lost the war in Syria. What next?' is the title of an article recently published by the brand-new online media outlet Tortoise, set up by former Times editor James Harding. The premise of the piece, written by Giles Whittell, a former chief leader writer of the Times, is that "we", ie "the West" lost and that we should all be terribly upset about it. It's a premise that needs to be challenged.

In so doing, there is no attempt to minimize or deny the fact that all sides in the conflict have much blood on their hands. In 2011, many Syrians had legitimate grievances against their government and in particular against the brutality and unaccountability of the state security services (Mukhabarat). The authorities cracked down hard on dissent, but it is also true that outside powers hostile to Syria did their very best, or rather worst, to inflame the situation. They had no interest in political compromises being made, and encouraging dialogue between government and opposition, but wanted to embroil Syria in full-scale war to suit their geopolitical agenda.
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