Puppet MastersS


Stock Down

US finalizes second round of bogus tariffs on China


RT
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 22:41 UTC
china trade
© Brian Snyder / Reuters
Approximately $16 billion worth of Chinese imports will be subject to a 25 percent tariff come August 23, the US Trade Representative has announced, citing China's ongoing "unfair trade practices."

This is the second tranche of tariffs following the July 6 levy on approximately $34 billion worth of Chinese goods, the USTR said. The final list of products contains 279 lines, down from 284 that were originally proposed.

Explaining the decision, the USTR cited an "exhaustive" investigation that found China using joint venture requirements, investment restrictions and licensing procedures to pressure US companies into technology transfers. Beijing also directs and "unfairly facilitates" the investment into and acquisition of US companies in order to achieve large-scale technology transfers, the USTR claimed.
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Oil Well

China threatens 25% import tariff on US liquefied natural gas as trade war escalates

Tsvetana Paraskova
Oilprice.com
Mon, 06 Aug 2018 18:00 UTC
LNG tanker
© Roslan Rahman / AFP
In the latest trade war tit-for-tat, China has included for the first time liquefied natural gas (LNG) in its list of goods up for a potential 25-percent import tariff, should the US impose additional tariffs on Chinese imports.

As the US-China trade spat turns into a full-blown war with tariffs and retaliatory tariffs and threats of further tariffs, US energy exports to China may suffer if Beijing follows through with its threat to slap tariffs on US oil and oil product imports.

Up until Friday, China had excluded LNG from the goods that it would hit with an import tariff in retaliation for a possible new US round of tariffs on Chinese goods.

The Friday statement from the Chinese commerce ministry has already had Chinese LNG end-users and suppliers saying that they would likely deter spot procurement of US LNG cargoes in the near term if the tariff comes into effect.

Comment: See also:

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Biohazard

Something to hide? Ex-UN chemical weapons inspector says UK restricting OPCW access to Amesbury and Salisbury cases


RT
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:52 UTC
novichok poisoning police screen
© Henry Nicholls / ReutersA police officer stands in front of screening erected behind John Baker House, Britain, July 5, 2018
The UK is restricting the work of OPCW specialists involved in the investigation into the Amesbury poisonings, a former UN chemical inspector has told RT, after Britain invited experts to assist with the case.

Detailing that the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) remit will be limited by the UK's 'technical assistance request,' Anton Utkin, a former UN chemical inspector in Iraq, stated:
"The UK's desire is that OPWC confirm the chemical agent, that the UK has already identified. That means that the OPWC specialists will be limited to take only those samples that UK will allow, they will interview only those people that the UK would allow.

"So it's very important for the UK that OPWC specialists only perform their requested tasks, otherwise the information about the investigation could spill out."

Comment: The UK is seeking the OPCW's stamp of approval on a conclusion they've already scripted. Unfortunately the conclusion the "Russia did it" is patently absurd.

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Sherlock

Exhibiting maximum stupidity: The novichok extradition

Tom Secker
Medium
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:36 UTC
police line Salisbury novichok poison
In a low-key announcement the British government have demanded that Russia extradite two suspects in the Salisbury novichok attack. Media reporting on this latest move in the novichok saga is replete with the same contradictions and absurdities that have plagued this story since day one.

Why No BBC?

More than two weeks ago the BBC reported that the police had identified the Salisbury attack suspects via CCTV. Exactly which CCTV they are referring to is not clear, but obviously if it was from Sergei Skripal's house it would not have taken four months, so it is presumably from other cameras in the Salisbury area.

This report was based on anonymous sources and there was no official announcement from the government. Security minister Ben Wallace called it 'ill informed and wild speculation', so clearly he hadn't been told.
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Red Flag

Flashback Best of the Web: Russiagate is really all about China

Caitlin Johnstone
Medium
Sun, 28 Jan 2018 16:37 UTC
Putin Xi Jinping
MSNBC's Chris Hayes recently asked a question of his Twitter following that was so heavily loaded it wouldn't be permitted on most interstate highways: "Aside from genuine cranks, is there anyone left denying it was the Russians that committed criminal sabotage in the American election?"

Hayes asked this fake question because he works for MSNBC and it is therefore his job, and he asked it in response to a report first made viral by deranged espionage LARPer Eric Garland that a Dutch intelligence agency had been observing Russian hackers attacking US political parties in advance of the 2016 election. Like all "bombshell" Russiagate reports, this one roared through social media like wildfire carried on the wings of liberal hysteria about the current administration, only to be exposed as being riddled with gaping plot holes as documented here by independent journalist Suzie Dawson. The report revolves around an allegedly Russian cyber threat now known in the west as "Cozy Bear", which as Real News' Max Blumenthal notes is not a network of hackers but "a Russian-sounding name the for-profit firm Crowdstrike assigned to an APT to market its findings to gullible reporters desperate for Russiagate scoops."

This "bombshell" overlapped with another as it was reported by the New York Times that at one point many months ago Trump had wanted to fire Robert Mueller, but then didn't.

*Cough.*

Comment: It seems that China is also aware of this and the US' continued attempts to isolate Russia serve only to further their relations. See also: China-Russia alliance doesn't need to be a threat to the West

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Attention

Bolton: To block the Strait of Hormuz will be Iran's worst mistake; 'come to the table' instead


RT
Mon, 06 Aug 2018 19:19 UTC
BoltonRouhani StraitHormuz
© Strategic Culture/Politico/nypost.com/KJNUS National Security Advisor John Bolton • Iran President Hassan Rouhani • Strait of Hormuz
Closing the Strait of Hormuz would be the biggest mistake Iran has ever made, the US president's national security advisor John Bolton said. He urged Tehran to sit down for talks on its nuclear and missile programs with the US.

Dismissing Tehran's threats to block the strait if its oil exports are stopped, Bolton on Monday said the Iranians were "bluffing." He then quickly changed his tone saying that Iran should actually engage in a dialog with the US instead of issuing threats.
"They could take up the president's offer to negotiate with them, to give up their ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs fully and really verifiably not under the onerous terms of the Iran nuclear deal, which really are not satisfactory,"
Bolton told Fox News, referring to the US President Donald Trump's demands to "re-negotiate" the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

"If Iran were really serious they'd come to the table. We'll find out whether they are or not," Bolton added. The White House national security advisor's remarks came less than a day before the first round of renewed US sanctions take effect on Tuesday after midnight US Eastern time. The harshest restrictions are expected to be re-imposed by early November.

Comment: Eight refusals to meet with Trump...beginning to sound like Rouhani has more than called his bluff - he has almost, but apparently not quite, terminated it.

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Document

Documents obtained by Judicial Watch ties traitor John McCain to IRS targeting scandal

Amy Moreno
Truthfeed
Sun, 05 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
McCain Lerner Kerner
© Twitter/Freedom's Lighthouse/Tea PartySenator John McCain • Lois Lerner • Henry Kerner
Newly uncovered documents show that traitor John McCain was working with the IRS to target conservatives.

What John McCain has done to destroy any movement that challenges progressive and establishment globalism, proves once and for all, what a Deep State crony he truly is.

Judicial Watch today released newly obtained internal IRS documents, including material revealing that Sen. John McCain's former staff director and chief counsel on the Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee, Henry Kerner, urged top IRS officials, including then-director of exempt organizations Lois Lerner, to "audit so many that it becomes financially ruinous." Kerner was appointed by President Trump as Special Counsel for the United States Office of Special Counsel.

The explosive exchange was contained in notes taken by IRS employees at an April 30, 2013, meeting between Kerner, Lerner, and other high-ranking IRS officials. Just ten days following the meeting, former IRS director of exempt organizations Lois Lerner admitted that the IRS had a policy of improperly and deliberately delaying applications for tax-exempt status from conservative non-profit groups.

Comment: See also:

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Attention

Rouhani blasts Trump's 'psychological warfare' as Iran braces for upcoming US sanctions


RT
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 00:09 UTC
Hassan Rouhani
© Lisi Niesner/ReutersIranian President Hassan Rouhani
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has slammed US President Donald Trump's offer for direct talks as a disingenuous PR stunt for domestic consumption while the "untrustworthy" Washington only increases its sanctions against Tehran.

In his first public statement since Trump signed an executive order reinstating sanctions against Tehran, Rouhani said that he will not negotiate with Washington while being sanctioned at same time, describing such tactics as "psychological warfare [against] the Iranian nation," adding that "Trump's call for direct talks is only for domestic consumption in America ... and to create chaos in Iran."

The Iranian president said that while his government favored dialogue, such talks required "honesty." "The US reimposes sanctions on Iran and pulls out of the nuclear deal, and then wants to hold talks with us," Rouhani said in a Monday speech broadcast live on state television.

He went on to compare Trump's alleged offer to stabbing someone with a knife, while claiming to only seek peaceful dialogue. "They're imposing sanctions upon Iranian children, patients, and the people," Rouhani said. He called on the White House to sign back on to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal if was indeed serious about negotiating with Tehran.

Comment: See also:

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Arrow Down

Ortega: US doesn't seek 'good relations,' it demands a total submission


RT
Mon, 06 Aug 2018 21:37 UTC
Bush Genosida wall
© Museo de la RevolucionMuseo de la Revolucion, Leon, Nicaragua
US foreign policy is based on expansionism and oppression, President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua told RT Spanish, adding that those countries that refuse to submit to Washington's will are then demonized and destabilized.

"We have always wanted to have normal relations with the US but we see only aggression in return," Ortega said in an exclusive interview with RT Spanish. Ortega believes Washington clearly does not need good relations as it constantly "attacks" the Nicaraguan government. He adds that that the US demands "submission, even servility," while trampling on those who refuse to bow to Washington's will.

The US has long sought to absorb Nicaragua into its sphere of influence, even resorting to a direct military occupation in the early 20th century, Ortega explained. What "Washington's expansionist culture" is apparently unable and unwilling to forgive the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) is the fact that it overthrew the last Nicaraguan dictator supported by the US, the president said.
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Star of David

First images of Israel's sea barrier blockading Gaza Strip


Middle East Monitor
Mon, 06 Aug 2018 03:07 UTC
IsraelGazaBarrier#1
© GazaBarrierIsrael's underwater barrier designed to further blockade the beseiged Gaza Strip.
Israel's Ministry of Defence yesterday released the first images of its sea barrier designed to further blockade the besieged Gaza Strip. The barrier is located on Zikim beach, approximately three kilometres from Gaza's northern frontier. The project is slated to be completed by the end of 2018 and is likely to cost an estimated 25 million shekels ($6.7 million).

When completed, the structure will stretch 200 metres out into the Mediterranean Sea, further cutting off the Gaza Strip from Israel. The barrier will consist of three layers: an underwater base level; a 50-metre-wide sea-level platform made of armoured stone, and a six-metre-high barbed wire fence. A further fence will also surround the barrier itself as "an additional security measure."

The barrier has been praised by Defence Minister, Avigdor Liebermann.
"The construction of the barrier around the Gaza Strip, both on land at sea, is progressing at a rapid and impressive pace," said the extreme right-winger. "Every day that passes, our counterterrorism capabilities around the Gaza Strip are growing stronger." According to Ma'an, Liebermann added that, "Hamas is losing its capability to attack Israel every day."
Israel Underwater seabarrier #2#3
© GazaBarrier
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