Puppet MastersS


Propaganda

Trump rightly lambastes fake news institutions as 'opposition party'


RT
Thu, 16 Aug 2018 23:49 UTC
trump
© Leah Millis / Reuters
US President Donald Trump has tweeted that the "fake news media" is the "opposition party," while calling it "very bad" for the US. In true Trump style, he followed that up by saying "we are winning" the fight.

Trump has long rallied against so-called "fake news," branding some of America's largest media outlets, including CNN and The New York Times, as such.


His tweet comes amid reports that almost 343 news outlets will be publishing coordinated editorials on Thursday which denounce the US president's "dirty war" on the press. The movement was initially pushed by the Boston Globe.
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Bizarro Earth

The failure of US elites to accept reality is an existential threat to us all

James ONeill
New Eastern Outlook
Tue, 14 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
Chinese military
Russia's Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev recently declared that the latest round of US sanctions to be imposed on Russia constituted "economic warfare" and that Russia would respond "economically, politically, or in any other way, if required." One is tempted to ask: why has it taken so long?

Russia has been the subject of what Andrew Korybko calls "hybrid warfare" for decades. The only post World War 2 period when there was a lessening of the attacks was during the Yeltsin years in the 1990s. That period, when Russia's economy was pillaged, was even more catastrophic for Russia than the sanctions and relentless negative propaganda that has ensued ever since.

The hybrid warfare, of which the sanctions are only a part, are a substitute for actual hot war which the neocon elements in successive American administrations have never taken off their agenda. That also is not a recent phenomenon.

Operation Unthinkable was a British plan conceived by the long time anti-Russian Prime Minister Winston Churchill to continue the war after the defeat of Germany in 1945 by invading Russia. The plan even included incorporating troops from the defeated German forces.
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Yoda

Best of the Web: Ron Paul Interviews His Son, Senator Rand Paul, About His Visit to Moscow


Sott.net
Thu, 16 Aug 2018 21:54 UTC
Rand Paul Moscow
US Senator Rand Paul visiting members of the Russian Duma in Moscow last week
Ron Paul, now 'retired' from politics, but still plugging away trying to counter the tsunami of BS coming from Washington, publishes the Liberty Report. On today's episode, he interviewed his son, Senator Rand Paul, about his recent peace mission to Moscow, where he spent a week meeting Foreign Committee members of the Duma and Federation Council (Russia's Congress).

They discussed the senator's progress with opening channels of communication between US and Russian legislatures, his meeting with Mikail Gorbachev, and the insanity that is 'Russiagate'.

They both stressed the importance of normalizing relations with Russia rather than the status quo of diplomatic isolationism - which, as Ron Paul points out, is richly ironic given their political stance as 'isolationists' regarding US imperial ventures overseas...

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Light Saber

German Linke party launches initiative to return European Left to sanity: end to mass migration, workers' rights, friendly relations with Russia


RT
Thu, 16 Aug 2018 00:06 UTC
Sahra Wagenknecht
© Reinhard Krause / ReutersSahra Wagenknecht, the leader of Germany's Stand Up movement
The leader of Germany's Left Party Sahra Wagenknecht has launched a new political movement called 'Stand Up,' which aims to be a voice for workers and to unite a divided left across Europe.

While left-wing and not against immigration on principle, the new 'Aufstehen' movement presents a case for limiting the number of migrants coming to Germany looking for work, arguing that "unlimited access" to the German labor market is unsustainable and cannot continue.

"There have to be open borders for the persecuted, but we certainly can't say that anyone who wants to may come to Germany, claim social benefits and look for work - it's detached from reality," Wagenknecht said.

Sevim Dagdelen, a German MP and supporter of Stand Up, told RT that the movement had close relationships with other left-wing figures like Bernie Sanders in the US, as well as supporters of Jeremy Corbyn in the UK and Jean-Luc Mélenchon in France.

Comment: Throughout Europe we're seeing a rise in politicians of all stripes who are calling out the West's corrupt policies on the international stage and are drawing attention to dire state of life at home, and Sahra Wagenknecht seems to have a reliable track record in doing just that: Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: 2018, The Year The Left Became Completely Unhinged

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Star of David

The reasons why confronting Israel is important

Philip Giraldi
The Unz Review
Tue, 14 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
NetanyahuCongress
© UnknownNetanyahu and US Congress
The Jewish state is no friend.

I am often asked why I have this "thing" about Israel, with friends suggesting that I would be much more respected as a pundit if I were to instead concentrate on national security and political corruption. The problem with that formulation is that the so-called "special relationship" with Israel is itself the result of terrible national security and foreign policy choices that is sustained by pervasive political and media corruption, so any honest attempt to examine the one inevitably leads to the other. Most talking heads in the media avoid that dilemma by choosing to completely ignore the dark side of Israel.

Israel - not Russia - is the one foreign country that can interfere with impunity with the political processes in the United States yet it is immune from criticism. It is also the single most significant threat to genuine national security as it and its powerful domestic lobby have been major advocates for the continuation of America's interventionist warfare state. The decision to go to war on false pretenses against Iraq, largely promoted by a cabal of prominent American Jews in the Pentagon and in the media, killed 4,424 Americans as well as hundreds of thousands Iraqis and will wind up costing the American taxpayer $7 trillion dollars when all the bills are paid. That same group of mostly Jewish neocons more-or-less is now agitating to go to war with Iran using a game plan for escalation prepared by Israel which will, if anything, prove even more catastrophic.

Comment: With Congress, the president and intel agencies in its pocket, who is going to confront Israel?

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Bandaid

Best of the Web: America's deep-seated Russophobia is pushing US-Russia relations to the brink of ultimate disaster

Robert Bridge
RT
Wed, 15 Aug 2018 13:44 UTC
russian dolls
© Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters
Starting around WWI, the US has experienced at least three waves of anti-Russia sentiment. What is unique about today's Russophobia is that it's not based on ideological differences, but rather raw political brinkmanship.

When viewing particular chapters of American history, it becomes evident that US leaders have a tendency to believe, or feign to believe, that Americans are totally incapable of acting and thinking for themselves. We the ignorant sheeple are simply unqualified to act as independent agents in times of crisis. Instead, the American people are being manipulated like marionettes at the hands of some foreign puppet master, which, as we have been reminded of late on numerous occasions, is Russia.

Russophobia in the US has deep roots. In 1919, coming just after WWI and the Russian Revolution, an imagined Bolshevik bogeyman was seen as the force behind a series of domestic upheavals, like the Seattle General Strike when 65,000 workers walked off their jobs for five days, and the Boston Police Strike, which saw officers protesting for better wages and conditions.

The rationale to explain those past social seizures sounds strikingly familiar today: any American who dares speak out on some domestic issue must be under the subtle influence of a Kremlin indoctrination campaign.
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Bug

Analysis finds Strzok is neither a victim nor a martyr

Guy Benson
Townhall
Tue, 14 Aug 2018 02:05 UTC
Peter Strzok
© Glare/APPeter Strzok
In our polarized age of spite-based politics, some partisans have taken the 'enemy of my enemy is my friend' concept to preposterous lengths. One of the more bizarre manifestations of this phenomenon has been the celebration and cultural martyrdom of a number of law enforcement officials who've been fired from their jobs over professional misconduct.

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who repeatedly and knowingly lied to federal investigators, was showered with cash by The Resistance after his dismissal, because he was a frequent target of President Trump's ire. If Trump hates him, let's send him some cash. So what if he broke the law? It wasn't just grassroots lefties who got in on the action; multiple Democratic members of Congress also offered McCabe federal jobs in order to help him receive his full taxpayer-funded pension. Now that disgraced former FBI agent Peter Strzok has gotten the axe, lefty money is flowing in his direction, too: Roughly $300,000 in less than 24 hours, in fact. Might some cushy job offers also be forthcoming?

Comment: Even with the firing of Strzok, the FBI has a long way to go to restore public confidence in the agency and its decisions. As an agency not open to public perusal and accountability, who knows what else is hidden from scrutiny and justice! Was this a 'one timer'? Not likely.

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Snakes in Suits

US creates 'Iran Action Group' for regime behavior change


RT
Thu, 16 Aug 2018 18:36 UTC
Mike Pompeo
© Aaron Bernstein/Reuters/KJN
The US is creating a so-called Iran Action Group, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced, adding that Brian Hook will lead the group in order to spur "international support for our efforts."

Speaking at the Thursday State Department briefing, Pompeo claimed that the world is demanding change in Iran's behavior, so that it "finally acts like a normal country." He added that Hook will lead an Iran Action Group to "galvanize international support for our efforts."

Hook said the US wants to "promote a brighter future for the Iranian people," adding that the "Iran regime has been a force for instability and violence."

Hook went on to speak about the 12 requirements previously laid out by the US government, which Washington says Tehran must comply with. Those demands include Iranian withdraw from Syria. Pompeo previously has stated that the US would impose the "strongest sanctions in history" if Iran failed to comply with the demands.


Comment: Different 'wind bag', same old tricks, threats ratcheting out of control.

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Umbrella

Rand Paul: If US wants Assange to testify, give him immunity


RT
Thu, 16 Aug 2018 16:17 UTC
Julian Assange
© Getty ImagesJulian Assange
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has spent more than 2,200 days in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, should be granted immunity from prosecution if he agrees to testify in the US, Senator Rand Paul has said.

"I think that he should be given immunity from prosecution in exchange for coming to the United States and testifying," Paul said in an interview to the Gateway Pundit website.

Paul believes that Assange "has information that is probably pertinent to the hacking of the Democratic emails that would be nice to hear." But he doesn't think Assange is likely to come and share it unless given "some type of immunity from prosecution."

Earlier this month the US Senate Intelligence Committee, investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election, requested that the WikiLeaks editor testify. In a letter delivered to Assange, committee chairman Richard Burr (R-North Carolina) requested that Assange make himself available for a closed interview "at a mutually agreeable time and location."

Comment: See also:

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Bomb

Turkey's emerging market timebomb

Jim O'Neil
Project Syndicate
Tue, 14 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
TurkLira
© UnknownTurkish Lira
As the Turkish lira continues to depreciate against the dollar, fears of a classic emerging-market crisis have come to the fore. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's populist economic policies have finally caught up to him, and sooner or later, he will have to make nice with his country's traditional Western allies.

Turkey's falling currency and deteriorating financial conditions lend credence, at least for some people, to the notion that "a crisis is a terrible thing to waste." I suspect that many Western policymakers, in particular, are not entirely unhappy about Turkey's plight.

To veteran economic observers, Turkey's troubles are almost a textbook case of an emerging-market flop. It is August, after all, and back in the 1990s, one could barely go a single year without some kind of financial crisis striking in the dog days of summer.

But more to the point, Turkey has a large, persistent current-account deficit, and a belligerent leader who does not realize - or refuses to acknowledge - that his populist economic policies are unsustainable. Moreover, Turkey has become increasingly dependent on overseas investors (and probably some wealthy domestic investors, too).

Comment: In the meantime, Turkey has followed Russia's lead and sold off significant US treasuries.

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