Puppet MastersS


Bullseye

Trump might have just won the 2020 election

Nick Gillespie
Reason
Sat, 02 Mar 2019 03:25 UTC
TrumpatCPAC
© TwitterThe U.S. president had some genuine insights about America’s international problems.
The president's speech at CPAC was a bedazzling mix of bravado, B.S., humor, and positive vision no Democrat will be able to top.

It's way too early to be thinking this, much less saying it, but what the hell: If Donald Trump is able to deliver the sort of performance he gave today at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the annual meeting of right-wingers held near Washington, D.C., his reelection is a foregone conclusion.

There is simply no potential candidate in the Democratic Party who wouldn't be absolutely blown off the stage by him. I say this as someone who is neither a Trump fanboy nor a Never Trumper. But he was not simply good, he was Prince-at-the-Super-Bowl great, deftly flinging juvenile taunts at everyone who has ever crossed him, tossing red meat to the Republican faithful, and going sotto voce serious to talk about justice being done for working-class Americans screwed over by global corporations.

In a heavily improvised speech that lasted over two hours, the 72-year-old former (future?) reality TV star hit every greatest hit in his repertoire ("Crooked Hillary," "build the wall," "America is winning again," and more all made appearances) while riffing on everything from the Green New Deal to his own advanced age and weird hair to the wisdom of soldiers over generals. At times, it was like listening to Robin Williams' genie in the Disney movie Aladdin, Howard Stern in his peak years as a radio shock jock, or Don Rickles as an insult comic. When he started making asides, Trump observed, "This is how I got elected, by going off script." Two years into his presidency and he's just getting warmed up.
Read More...
Caesar

Best of the Web: How Modi changed the India-Pakistan paradigm, and forced its neighbor to confront terrorism

Dr. Sreeram Chaulia
RT
Sat, 02 Mar 2019 13:16 UTC
NarendraModi
© Reuters/Kim Hong-JiIndia's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi
The sharp escalation of tensions and clashes between India and Pakistan in recent weeks symbolizes a new phase in an old confrontation that dates back to the bitter partition of the two countries in 1947 on religious lines.

The two South Asian rivals have fought three wars and one quasi-war over the last seven decades, besides engaging in periodic shorter clashes over their disputed border and sparring in international diplomatic arenas.

While it is hard to find any extended spell of normalcy in bilateral relations, the conflict had settled into a low-intensity pattern for years. Short of full-scale wars since 1971, the focus was on how India could respond to Pakistan's doctrine of 'bleeding India through a thousand cuts' through lethal Islamist terrorists that were trained, financed and let loose by the military dictatorship of General Zia-ul-Haq in the 1980s.

The unconventional threat posed by Pakistan-harboured jihadist terrorist outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad, which boasted thousands of holy warriors in their ranks ready to strike India and force it to concede Kashmir's accession to Pakistan, posed a conundrum to New Delhi. These terrorist proxies would infiltrate fighters into India through the mountainous Himalayan border or radicalize Indian Muslims to carry out deadly attacks on Indian civilians and Indian military personnel.

Comment: Why 'counter-intuitively'? Maybe that's Modi's strategy.

See also:

Read More...
Arrow Down

Cohen's flip was a flop

Peter Van Buren
The American Conservative
Fri, 01 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
MCohen
© C-Span/YouTube ScreenshotMichael Cohen testifying Feb. 27, 2019, to Congress
He said what he thought we wanted to hear--that Trump's a liar and a cheat. But what about collusion?

With the president of the United States practicing nuclear diplomacy 8,000 miles away in Vietnam, Americans at home got to watch former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen stand up on his hind legs and beg for a reduced jail sentence.

Cohen, testifying on Wednesday before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, told Americans who think they already know exactly what they wanted to hear: Trump is a vulgar con man, a racist, and a cheat. Also, water is wet.

The media is burying the lede: Michael Cohen did not provide any evidence of Russian collusion with the Trump campaign, nor of collusion, active coordination, or conspiracy with Wikileaks. Cohen's accusation of a Trump crime while in office is at best an evidence-free rendering of an unclear violation of a campaign finance law usually settled with a fine.

Any action going forward would be a big ask. It would mean building a criminal case, or even impeachment, around the uncorroborated testimony of a disbarred, convicted felon who violated attorney-client privilege to plead for a shorter sentence. Absent corroborating evidence, it is hard to see Cohen's testimony leading to much of anything. It all sounded very dramatic and will be played as such by the media, but when read closely, it's just another faux smoking gun. There's no meat on these bones.

Comment: Tucker Carlson on Michael Cohen's testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform:



Read More...
Handcuffs

Ukraine behind the arrest of a Russian energy expert in Greece


Sputnik
Sun, 03 Mar 2019 20:06 UTC
handcuffed
© Global Look Press/West Coast Surfer
Russian expert in energy Evgeny Kalinin was arrested in Greece at the request of Ukraine, attorney Yannis Rahiotis told Sputnik on Saturday.

"Late Thursday, Russian energy expert Evgeny Kalinin was arrested at the Athens airport. The arrest was made at the request of Ukraine. Kalinin was in Greece on a business trip. He is a well-known oil expert," Rahiotis said.

Rahiotis noted that a hearing on Kalinin's case took place on Friday and he was then sent to jail until Ukraine's extradition request would be transferred to Greece.

The lawyer said that Ukraine accused Kalinin of violation of the tax legislation during his work in the country.

At the same time, Rahiotis said he was sure that it was a political case, as Kalinin was on the list of Ukraine's Mirotvorets website, which was known for publishing private information of people who allegedly posed a threat to Ukraine's sovereignty, for his support of former President Viktor Yanukovych.
Read More...
Info

Lavrov to Pompeo: We can talk Venezuela, but US must stop threatening its legitimate govt


RT
Sat, 02 Mar 2019 19:57 UTC
maduro
© Reuters / Miraflores PalaceVenezuela's President Nicolas Maduro holds a copy of the Venezuelan constitution.
The US attempts to threaten Venezuela and meddle in the country's affairs under the guise of supplying humanitarian aid have nothing to do with democracy, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov told his American counterpart, Mike Pompeo.

The top diplomats talked on the phone on Saturday on the initiative of Washington, the Russia Foreign Ministry said.

During the conversation, Lavrov blasted the American threats against the government of Nicolas Maduro, calling them "blatant interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state and a flagrant violation of international law."

He also grilled the US Secretary of State over Washington's attempts to influence the situation in Venezuela under the "hypocritical guise" of providing humanitarian aid to the crisis-hit country. Such actions "have nothing to do with democratic process," Lavrov said.
Read More...
Arrow Up

US & South Korea agree to scrap major military drills to foster denuclearization


RT
Sun, 03 Mar 2019 01:31 UTC
South Korean marines
© REUTERS/Kim Hong-JiSouth Korean marines march during a military exercise as a part of the annual joint military training called Foal Eagle between South Korea and the U.S. in Pohang, South Korea, April 5, 2018.
Washington and Seoul will no longer conduct the large-scale Foal Eagle and Key Resolve war games, the South Korean Defense Ministry said on Sunday. It comes several days after US President Trump complained about the drills' cost.

The cancelation of the annual war games, originally scheduled to kick off in spring, was announced by the South Korean military, as it made public the details of a call between acting US defense chief Patrick Shanahan and his South Korean counterpart, Jeong Kyeong-doo, Yonhap reported.

Seoul said that the move to call off the exercises was in support of the diplomatic efforts to pursue a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. The drills have been paired since 2001 and traditionally take place in February and March. North Korea saw the allies' annual saber-rattling as preparation for invasion.

Comment: A small but positive, and common sense, step towards improving relations with North Korea, particularly after the recent summit between Kim and Trump appeared to yield very little:

Read More...
Bullseye

Russian MoD slams US for blocking evacuation convoys at Syria's Rukban camp - UPDATES


Sputnik
Sun, 03 Mar 2019 16:53 UTC
Rukban refugee camp Syria al tanf base
© Agence France-Presse/Khalil MazraawiSyrian refugee patients from the makeshift Rukban camp, which lies in no-man's-land off the border between Syria and Jordan in the remote northeast, cross over to visit a UN-operated medical clinic immediately on the Jordanian-side for checkups, on March 1, 2017
The United States has refused to let bus convoys, set to evacuate refugees from the Rukban camp, enter the US-controlled zone in Syria's At-Tanf, where the camp is located, Russian Defense Ministry Center for Syrian Reconciliation head, Lt. Gen. Sergei Solomatin, said Saturday.

"The US side has rejected the demand of the joint Russia-Syria coordination center on refugee repatriation to allow the transport convoys enter the territory of the At-Tanf zone", Solomatin said at a news briefing.

The Rukban camp, which houses about 40,000 displaced people, is located in the southern part of Syria, close to Jordan. The area that became a refugee camp for Syrian residents 2014 is now in the US-controlled zone.

Alexander Marchenko, a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said Friday that Washington was delaying the relocation of refugees from the Rukban camp, as it aspires to organize convoys with international humanitarian assistance that will enable the further existence of the camp.

Comment:

UPDATE: The US has issued a statement regarding the Rukban refugee camp:
The US-led coalition, fighting against Daesh had not prevented the exit of refugees from the Rukban camp, located in the US-controlled area in Syria's al-Tanf, a spokesman of the coalition, VR Col. Sean Ryan, told Sputnik on Sunday.

"The Coalition has never denied anyone regarding anything related to humanitarian efforts or the return of IDP's [internally displaced persons], and the Coalition mission is still the enduring defeat of ISIS," Ryan said.

The head of the Russian Defence Ministry's Center for Syrian Reconciliation accused the coalition on Saturday of refusing to allow bus convoys for evacuating refugees enter al-Tanf.

On Friday, Russia and Syria sent convoys to the Rukban camp, which houses around 40,000 displaced people, so that the refugees could return to the places of their permanent residence.

UPDATE 2: Russian MoD says US will not guarantee safety of humanitarian aid convoy
red cross humanitarian aid syria
© Agence France-Presse/Mahmoud TahaSyrian children stand on the side of a road watching a 48-truck convoy from the ICRC, SARC and UN driving through the Syrian rebel-held village of Teir Maalah, on July 26, 2016
Washington has refused to provide security guarantees for humanitarian convoy movements within the 55-kilometer (34-mile) zone around the US military base in Syria's At-Tanf, the head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria, Col. Gen. Viktor Kupchishin said.

Kupchishin noted that on Friday, Russia and Syria sent humanitarian bus convoys to the Rukban camp, located within the US-controlled territory in At-Tanf, to evacuate refugees. He stressed that the Syrian government guaranteed security for the internally-displaced persons living in Rukban.

"The US side refuses to provide security guarantees for humanitarian convoys' movement within the 55-kilometer zone around the US base in At-Tanf", Kupchishin said.


Read More...
Eye 2

Macron crackdown continues: Another man shot in face during Yellow Vest rallies


RT
Sun, 03 Mar 2019 18:49 UTC
yellow vest injury
© Zakaria Abdelkafi/Agence France-Presse/File
The horrid moment when a man was hit in the face during Yellow Vest rallies in Paris was caught on camera, with witnesses saying the projectile was fired from a riot gun - a controversial weapon used by the French police.

The video, apparently captured using a mobile phone camera, shows protesters trying to evade projectiles being fired by police near the iconic Arc de Triomphe. Seconds later, a man can be seen lying on the ground as first responders rush to help him.

It is unclear whether the injury was life threatening. Witnesses said the victim was hit by a so-called defensive bullet launcher, a weapon blamed for dozens of injuries to anti-government Yellow Vest protesters in recent weeks, according to RT France.

Comment:

Read More...
Magnify

California DOJ paid $1.1 million to settle claims for harassment and retaliation during Kamala Harris' tenure as top cop

Christine Mai-Duc and Patrick McGreevy
Los Angeles Times
Fri, 01 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
Kamala Harris
© Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images
The California Department of Justice paid more than $1.1 million to settle claims with employees who alleged they were sexually harassed or retaliated against by co-workers during the tenure of then-state Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris from 2011 to 2017, according to documents obtained by The Times.

The cases, which were disclosed this week in response to a California Public Records Act request, come weeks after Harris launched her presidential bid, bringing new scrutiny to her record. The incidents included allegations that DOJ employees sexually harassed and retaliated against co-workers, including claims involving inappropriate touching and cases in which workers felt uncomfortable with the comments and actions of others.

Harris, a Democrat who was elected to the Senate in 2016, did not know about the cases settled by the DOJ until they were brought to her attention by The Times, said her spokesman, Chris Harris.

The senator said she takes responsibility for what happened in her office when she was California's top cop.

Comment: Kamala Harris' 'progressive' record speaks for itself:

Read More...
Bad Guys

Neocon Bolton calls for 'broad' regime-change coalition on Venezuela


RT
Sun, 03 Mar 2019 16:04 UTC
Juan Guaido pictured with Colombian President Ivan Duque and US Vice President Mike Pence at a meeting of the anti-Maduro Lima Group
© ReutersJuan Guaido pictured with Colombian President Ivan Duque and US Vice President Mike Pence at a meeting of the anti-Maduro Lima Group
National Security Adviser John Bolton said that the United States will form "as broad a coalition" as possible to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Bolton went on to call for a "completely democratic hemisphere."

"I'd like to see as broad a coalition as we can put together to replace Maduro, to replace the whole corrupt regime," Bolton told CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday. "That's what we're trying to do."


Comment: Who in their right mind listens to John Bolton?

Comment: Venezuela is certainly not without problems, however that doesn't justify US intervention to overthrow a democratically elected leader, never mind the fact that the track record of US intervention is utterly abysmal. See more:

Read More...