Puppet MastersS


Star of David

ISIS terrorist convicted of 2014 Belgium Jewish museum shooting believes he was 'tricked' by Mossad

Matthieu Demeestere
Times of Israel
Thu, 07 Mar 2019 22:18 UTC
Mehdi Nemmouche
© AFPPictures released on June 1, 2014, show then-29-year-old suspected terrorist Mehdi Nemmouche.
Mehdi Nemmouche has been convicted of carrying out Europe's first terror attack by an Islamist fighter returning from the war in Syria.

But his journey from a French foster home to a Brussels court began not in a Middle Eastern desert but in a run-down industrial town.

On Thursday, after a two-month trial in the Belgian capital, 12 jurors found the 33-year-old guilty of the four murdered in an anti-Semitic attack during a shooting spree at Belgium's Jewish Museum on May 24, 2014.

He faces life in prison and is expected to be sentenced on Friday.

Nemmouche, an athletic-looking man with a trimmed beard, told the court in his final testimony this week that he had been "tricked."

He seemed to refer to arguments made by his lawyers that he was not to blame for the murders and had been caught up in some kind of plot targeting the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.


Comment: Almost certainly true. Rather, he was told he'd be targeting Mossad agents... by Mossad agents.


Comment: Don't get us wrong; he's guilty, and this monster needs to be behind bars.

Just remember that he's a tool of bigger monsters in our midst.

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Star of David

Best of the Web: Pakistan intelligence report: India plotted dangerous attack with Israeli help

Meher Bokhari
Dawn
Tue, 05 Mar 2019 21:37 UTC
modi netanyahu
India, with the backing of Israel, and at the peak of its standoff with Pakistan had last week, planned a "dangerous attack" to be executed from its Rajasthan airbase, a highly placed government source revealed on Monday.

Timely intelligence and backdoor messaging made it clear to India that a befitting response would be given if it were to go ahead with the planned attack, one which would possibly take the countries to a "point of no return".

And as the nuclear-armed neighbours wound up a tough week in what was possibly the most near-war situation the two have been in since decades, no one is quite sure of what to expect next.

However, the top civilian source observed that the next possible escalation by India would not be in terms of ground, air or missiles - but more likely in the form of a hybrid conflict in the nature of militant attacks, economic measures etc.


Comment: Israel certainly knows all about that.


Comment: India's debasement from pro-Palestinian supporters to Israeli boot-lickers is repugnant.

But, who else are you gonna call when you want something done?

India is determined to force Pakistan to finally deal with its terrorist problem, and both India and Israel benefit from regional tension thwarting China's leading role in Eurasian integration.

'Someone' here gave the Pakistanis a heads-up. Without it, India and Israel might have escalated this flare-up into something more serious than we've seen to date.

On the other hand, the 'plan' may have been deliberately leaked as psy-op, a bluff to put the Pakistan government on notice regarding what India could do, and what powerful backing its aggressive moves potentially have.

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Rocket

Pentagon revives Cold War-era 'Assault Breaker' program to fend off Russia and China with Cold War-era technology

Kyle Mizokami
Popular Mechanics
Mon, 04 Mar 2019 18:02 UTC
B-52G bomber
© ReutersA United States Air Force B-52G/H Stratofortress bomber.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is researching new long-range smart weapons designed to devastate attacking enemy forces, buying time for the U.S. to send reinforcements in a hypothetical future engagement.

The program, known as "Assault Breaker II," mirrors a Cold War era program designed to stop Soviet armored spearheads poised to roll into Western Europe. The effort would consist of a combination of long-range sensors and bombers loaded with smart weapons designed to seek out and destroy tanks, ships, and other enemy systems.

Back in the 1970s, NATO faced a numerically superior Soviet Army in Europe. In the event of war, Soviet forces would have streamed into Western Europe with waves upon waves of tank and mechanized divisions. The use of tactical nuclear weapons to strike back in such a scenario, while a centerpiece of NATO's defense strategy since the 1950s, risked escalation to all-out nuclear warfare.

Comment: It's worth noting the first flight of the B-52H bomber was in 1955. Russia and China must be scared out of their wits!

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War Whore

Best of the Web: Ex-president Musharraf admits Pakistani intel ISI used terror outfit JeM to carry out attacks in India during his tenure

Bobins Abraham
India Times
Thu, 07 Mar 2019 21:32 UTC
Pervez Musharraf
© GettyFormer Pakistan president General Pervez Musharraf

Comment: This is probably as close we'll get to governments admitting they use terrorists as proxy military forces. And make no mistake; Pakistan is NOT the exception...


Facing global isolation for harbouring terrorists, the establishment in Pakistan seems to have gone into a tizzy. While the civilian leadership is busy defending "unwell" Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar who "cannot even leave his home" the powerful Pakistan Army says there is no Jaish in Pakistan.

And even as Pakistan continues to deny the JeM links to the Pulwama terror attack and acknowledge the evidence handed over by India, the country had more international embarrassment on Wednesday after former Army Chief and President Pervez Musharraf admitted that the ISI has been using the terror outfit to carry out attacks in India during his tenure.

"Our intelligence men were involved in a tit-for-tat between India and Pakistan. They were conducting bomb blasts in Pakistan and we were getting it done there (in India)," he said. The exiled former leader made the revelations while talking to a Pakistani journalist for a talk show.
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Dominoes

U.S. to revoke visas of 77 others tied to Venezuela's Maduro

Roberta Rampton
Reuters
Wed, 06 Mar 2019 21:24 UTC
pence
The United States is set to revoke the visas of 77 people associated with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday, adding to a list of 49 others whose visas were revoked on Friday.

"Today the State Department is announcing that the United States will revoke 77 visas, including many officials of the Maduro regime and their families," Pence said in a speech to the Latino Coalition in Washington.
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Star of David

Warmonger Netanyahu accuses Iran of secretly smuggling oil to skirt economic sanctions

Stuart Winer
Times of Israel
Wed, 06 Mar 2019 20:50 UTC
netanyahu
© Meir Vaknin/Flash90
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday accused Iran of secretly smuggling oil to get past economic sanctions, and called on the international community to take action against the activity.

"Iran is trying to bypass the sanctions on it through the covert smuggling of petroleum via the sea," the prime minister said at a graduation ceremony for an Israeli Navy cadets course, held at the Haifa naval base. "As these attempts expand, the navy will have a more important role in efforts to block these Iranian actions.

"I call on the international community to halt, by any means, Iran's attempts to bypass the sanctions via the sea," Netanyahu said.

Israel, he added, constantly carries out sea-based operations against its enemies, "most of [which] are unknown."
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X

California federal judge bars Trump administration from adding citizen question to 2020 census

Jeff Daniels
CNBC
Wed, 06 Mar 2019 05:49 UTC
Commerce Sec Wilbur Ross/Trump
© Doug Mills/New York TimesCommerce Secretary Wilbur Ross (c) speaking to President Trump regarding adding citizenship question to the 2020 census.
A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the administration of President Donald Trump from adding a citizenship question on the 2020 U.S. census, ruling that it is unconstitutional and unlawful. It marks the second federal judge this year to rule against the administration on the issue.

California argued that Commerce Department Secretary Wilbur Ross' plan to add the question would discourage immigrants and Latinos from participating in the census. They also contended it would cause an undercount and jeopardize congressional seats and billions of dollars in federal funding.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco found that the citizenship question violates the Constitution's Enumeration Clause, which requires "actual enumeration" of all people in each state every 10 years. It also was found to be in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act's prohibition against agency action that is "arbitrary and capricious."

At least six lawsuits have been filed over the Trump administration's plans, including several in New York. A federal judge in Manhattan in January also blocked the Commerce Department's plans to add the citizenship question.

The U.S. Supreme Court also has weighed in on the controversy, announcing last month it will hear arguments on the administration's plans.

Comment: See also:

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No Entry

'Banned in the UK' - Hezbollah's badge of honour

John Wight
RT
Wed, 06 Mar 2019 15:35 UTC
Hezbollah funeral
© AFP/STRMembers of Hezbollah carry the coffin of a fighter killed in combat against IS in Syria.
Hezbollah has earned a formidable reputation for military prowess on the battlefield and political nous off it. It's no wonder 'they' want to ban it.

Attaining to the status of rule of thumb is that whenever a military and/or political organization is proscribed in the West, prudence demands a closer look; this on the basis that in most cases (though not all) what 'they' deem worthy of being proscribed and banned is in truth worthy of support.

Take Hezbollah, for example, and the British government's decision to criminalise the Shiite group's political wing. Previously only the group's military wing had been banned in the UK. Is there anyone left in the room that seriously believes this constitutes anything other than another feeble manifestation of the UK's servile toadying to Washington?

In what stands as a monument to opportunism, the Trump administration has consistently placed Hezbollah in same terrorism box as Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and Al-Qaeda, conveniently eliding the small detail that the Lebanese resistance and national liberation movement has done as much as, if not more than, any single military force in fighting and defeating IS and Al-Qaeda in Syria.

Comment: By virtue of labeling Hezbollah a terrorist organization, Israel legitimizes its invasions and incursions into Lebanon. Tarnishing Hezbollah's political influence garners support from the US and UK who dutifully follow suit. Not missing a step, Netanyahu domestically uses the threat of Hezbollah (most recently the Hezbollah tunnels PR stunt) to inject fear into his re-election rhetoric as a reminder of the enemy afoot, while diminishing public focus on his upcoming indictments. The reality is simple: Hezbollah is not a terrorist organization: neither its militant wing, nor its political wing.

See also:

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Arrow Up

As Kashmir flare-up continues, India reports 'heavy' shelling, Pakistan fends off 'aggression'


RT
Wed, 06 Mar 2019 09:09 UTC
Border Security Force
© REUTERS/Danish SiddiquiBorder Security Force (BSF) soldiers stand guard
India claims Pakistan shelled its territory along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir. Islamabad, in turn, accused India of numerous ceasefire violations.

Pakistani troops shelled the border town of Rajouri on the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir on Wednesday, Indian media reported, citing military officials. Islamabad used artillery, as well as small arms during the attack, and the Indian Army fired in retaliation, they said.

All schools were closed within 5km of the LoC in the area where the shelling took place.
This was the second ceasefire violation recorded by India that day. The previous incident also occurred in Rajouri district.

The spokesperson for the Pakistani Army, meanwhile, was quoted as saying that New Delhi is "continuously committing violations" along the LoC, and that the nation is "ready to answer Indian aggression."

Comment: More from RT, 3/6/2019:
Islamabad will return its ambassador to New Delhi as tensions "appear to be de-escalating," Pakistan's Foreign Ministry announced. The step comes after both countries appeared to be on the brink of all-out war.

"Pakistan has further increased diplomatic efforts and we have decided to send back the Pakistani high commissioner to New Delhi," Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told media on Wednesday. "This is a positive development," he said.

In a bid to improve bilateral ties, the Pakistani delegation is set to visit New Delhi to hold talks over the Kartarpur Corridor, which will allow Sikh pilgrims from India to visit the Gurdwara in Kartarpur, Pakistan without a visa.

The Pakistani foreign minister also thanked his counterparts in China, Russia, Turkey, UAE, Jordan, and the US for their role in calming recent tensions between India and Pakistan.
See also:

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Dollar

Russian telecom giant to pay huge US fine to settle corruption case in Uzbekistan


RT
Thu, 07 Mar 2019 20:03 UTC
scales of justice
© Reuters / Joshua Roberts
Russia's largest mobile operator MTS has agreed to pay $850 million in fines to resolve US federal charges over alleged bribing of a government official in Uzbekistan to gain access to the country's telecommunications market.

MTS, or Mobile TeleSystems, which has a secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange, said it managed to reach a voluntary settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the US Department of Justice (DOJ).

"The agreement puts an end to the investigation around the former MTS subsidiary in Uzbekistan carried out from 2004 to 2012," the company said in a statement. "The penalty will be paid from the funds that were reserved by MTS in the third quarter of 2018."

The SEC confirmed the information, saying that apart from the criminal and civil fines, the company also agreed to an independent compliance monitor for at least three years. According to the agency, MTS carried out illicit payments of at least $420 million to unnamed front companies controlled by the Uzbek official.
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