Puppet MastersS


Bullseye

Britain fights to keep its last African colony, and deservedly loses

Simon Allison
Mail & Guardian
Mon, 03 Sep 2018 16:55 UTC
diego garcia military base
© ReutersFuel tanks at the edge of a Military airstrip on Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos archipelago, it is the site of a major United States military base in the middle of the Indian Ocean leased from Britain in 1966.
On Monday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague began public hearings that may determine the fate of the Chagos Islands - Britain's last remaining African colony.

Twenty-two nations have applied to take part in the proceedings. Supporting Britain in its bid to retain control of the islands are the United States, Australia and Israel. The United States maintains a large and strategically important naval base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos Islands.

Opposing Britain's continued rule over the Indian Ocean archipelago is Mauritius, which argues that the Chagos Islands should fall under its sovereignty.

Comment:

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Star of David

Kushner reveals vague details of upcoming Israel-Palestine peace plan


Sputnik
Mon, 25 Feb 2019 16:53 UTC
jerusalem
© AP Photo / Lefteris Pitarakis
Mr Kushner is in the Middle East this week for a five-nation tour accompanied by US Middle East Envoy, Jason Greenblatt. The pair are reportedly in the region to gauge the level of support among Arab statesmen for President Trump's 'deal of the century' between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Jared Kushner, son-in-law and senior aide to President Donald Trump, has told Sky News' Arabia service that the administration's much-touted peace plan will address all of the main points of conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians.

"We have tried to formulate practical and just solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian issue," Sky quotes Mr Kushner as saying.

Despite the announcement, Mr Kushner was tight-lipped on details, saying that he did not yet wish to reveal too many.

"The American peace plan is very detailed and will focus on delineating the border and providing solutions to the main issues that are controversial and will be appropriate for the current situation on the ground," Mr Kushner reportedly said.

Comment: See also: Israeli Education Minister says US planning on releasing 'deal of century' for Israel-Palestine in days after Israeli election

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Black Cat

Best of the Web: Meet Juan Guaido's first 'ambassador': Fake Twitter diplomat Maria Faría slammed by Costa Rica for 'unacceptable entry'

Anya Parampil
The Grayzone
Thu, 21 Feb 2019 16:24 UTC
Maria Faría venezuela costa rica ambassador
© CB24Maria Faría, fake ambassador appointed by fake president Guaido
Maria Faría, the daughter of a would-be Hugo Chávez assassin, illegally barged into Venezuela's embassy in Costa Rica and declared herself ambassador. The embarrassing stunt highlighted everything wrong with Juan Guaidó's reality-show government.

While tweeting that she had taken charge of Venezuela's Embassy in Costa Rica on February 20, Maria Faría demonstrated that she was more familiar with the conventions of social media than those dictating international diplomacy.

"In fulfillment of the diplomatic functions, assigned by President Juan Guaido", tweeted Faría, referring to the US-appointed leader of Venezuela's parallel coup government, "we assume control of the administrative headquarters of the Embassy of Venezuela in San Jose".

The surprise announcement came early Wednesday morning from inside the Embassy, leading many to wonder how Faría, or "@Mandyfaria26" - who describes herself in her Twitter bio as the "Diplomatic Representative for the Venezuelan Republic" in Costa Rica - was able to secure access to the Embassy.
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Che Guevara

Venezuela refuses to become the 68th sovereign government overthrown by America

Tommy Sheridan
Sputnik
Tue, 26 Feb 2019 11:37 UTC
Haiti Demonstrators
© AP Photo / Dieu Nalio CheryDemonstrators run away during a protest to demand the resignation of President Jovenel Moise and demanding to know how Petro Caribe funds have been used by the current and past administrations, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday, Feb. 9, 2019. Much of the financial support to help Haiti rebuild after the 2010 earthquake comes from Venezuela's Petro Caribe fund, a 2005 pact that gives suppliers below-market financing for oil and is under the control of the central government.
Over my eleven years as an elected local government Councillor and eight years as a Member of the Scottish Parliament I championed many causes and found myself often in police cells, on picket lines, marching in demonstrations and the subject of scathing attacks in mainstream newspaper headlines and editorials.

I wore such attacks as a badge of honour remembering the opinion of Labour's first working class leader and MP, Keir Hardie, that when the press attack you it means you are doing something right.

Perhaps it was that notoriety that made me very popular with journalism students anxious to conduct an interview for their course portfolios. Lecturers regularly invited me to address student journalism classes. I offered the same advice then as I do now to anyone interested in journalism or news gathering. Read John Pilger.

Pilger is the foremost investigative journalist in the Western hemisphere and familiarising yourself with his articles, books and documentaries amounts to the cheapest but best education you could ever experience. Without fear or favour he speaks truth to power and holds the powerful to account in a way which shames the lackeys and useful idiots employed by the mainstream press and media.

John's latest article was published a few days ago and exposes expertly the real story of Venezuela today and why the duty of every individual with a shred of democratic principle and progressive values in their pores is to stand 100% behind the democratically elected President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, and the ordinary masses of Venezuela. Please open your mind and improve your understanding of real news and international affairs by reading it today.

Comment: See also:

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Cow Skull

Charging into Venezuela will be a disastrous overstretch for the US

Martin Sieff
Strategic Culture Foundation
Sun, 24 Feb 2019 11:09 UTC
Mike Pompeo
Are Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Adviser John Bolton and (farcically titled) Special Envoy for Restoring Democracy to Venezuela Elliott Abrams agents of influence for Russia and China? The idea has a lot more going for it than most of the ridiculous paranoia sweeping Washington over the past years.

If Russia and China really wanted to subvert the national security of the United States, they would seek to plunge Washington into a completely new, open-ended war with no practical resolution in sight on another continent far away from either of them where the United States itself had absolutely no major strategic interests at all, apart from fantasies of domination and greed.

Such a war would also serve the purpose of burning up an increasing share of the defense budget that otherwise could be spent on modernizing the US armed forces.

Repeated congressional testimony over the past two years by Service chiefs confirms that these forces remain woefully aging and out of date despite record size defense budgets. This is testimony to the incompetence, corruption and sheer wastefulness of the military-industrial-congressional-complex (MICC).

Comment: Though there remains the likelihood that the US will invade Venezuela, it seems more 'up their alley' to intervene clandestinely, or indirectly by arming and/or funding an insurgency, similar to what they did in Syria.

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Cross

Vatican treasurer Cardinal George Pell found guilty of child sex charges

Hilary Whiteman and Ben Westcott
CNN
Tue, 26 Feb 2019 10:00 UTC
Australian Cardinal George Pell
Pell arrives at court in Melbourne on Tuesday.
One of the most powerful men in the Roman Catholic Church was found guilty of multiple historical child sex offenses at a secret trial in Melbourne in December, the existence of which can only now be revealed.

Australian Cardinal George Pell, 77, is almost certain to face prison after a jury found him guilty of one charge of sexual penetration of a child and four charges of an indecent act with or in the presence of a child in the late 1990s.

The conviction of Pell, the Vatican treasurer and a close adviser to Pope Francis, will send shockwaves through the church, which is already reeling from accusations of sexual abuse committed by priests worldwide.

Comment: See also:

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Arrow Up

Facebook unblocks RT-linked pages but makes them comply with rules 'no one else' has to follow


RT
Tue, 26 Feb 2019 10:54 UTC
in the now
A screenshot taken from the In The Now Facebook page.
Social media giant Facebook has restored several RT-linked pages more than a week after it blocked them without prior notice. The pages were only freed-up after their administrators posted data about their management and funding.

The Facebook pages of InTheNow, Soapbox, Back Then and Waste-Ed - all operated by the Germany-based company Maffick Media, which is 51 percent owned by RT's video agency Ruptly - were made accessible again as of Monday evening.


All the accounts were previously suspended by Facebook, which issued no warning before taking action against the pages, even though their administration had not violated any of the social media giant's existing regulations.

Comment: See also:

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Chess

Putin's self-defense warning to the US becomes twisted by the media as an 'unacceptable threat'

Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture Foundation
Fri, 22 Feb 2019 00:00 UTC
Putin state address
With stupendous double-think, Western news media claimed this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin was "threatening" the United States and its NATO allies with nuclear missiles.

The New York Times accused the Russian leader of "nuclear saber-rattling" while Radio Free Europe headlined: 'Putin threatens to target the US with missiles'. Many other news outlets conveyed the same depiction of Russia somehow escalating bellicose tensions, based on Putin's annual state-of-the-nation address this week.

Buried beneath the sensational headlines was a little more context that hints at the gross distortion being propagated by the Western media.

The New York Times disdained Putin was speaking with an "aggressive tone" and "doubling down on threats against the United States".

Comment: See also:

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Arrow Down

US puppet Guaido says opposition trying to freeze Venezuelan Govt's assets in Switzerland


sputnik News
Mon, 25 Feb 2019 12:16 UTC
Credit Suisse
© REUTERS / Arnd Wiegmann
The Venezuelan opposition is discussing the possibility of freezing accounts of the Venezuelan government in banks in Switzerland with the country's leadership, Juan Guaido, the leader of the opposition-run National Assembly, said on Wednesday, adding that he had discussed the issue with Swiss President Ueli Maurer.

"[Maurer] informed us that there had been improper handling of the republic's accounts, with attempts to make illegal payments, and we are trying to freeze all those accounts belonging to the republic," Guaido said as broadcast by Mexico's Televisa TV channel.

Guaido has not provided any details regarding the assets' freeze.

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Star of David

Best of the Web: Has the UK elite's slavish pro-Israel agenda finally gone too far?

Craig Murray
craigmurray.org
Mon, 25 Feb 2019 23:51 UTC
hezbollah party lebanon
© Aziz Taher/ReutersSupporters of Lebanon's Hezbollah party parade to mark the last day of Ashura ceremony in Beirut, Lebanon October 1, 2017.
Hezbollah's defeat of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the July war of 2006 was heroic and an essential redress to the Middle East power balance. I supported Hezbollah's entirely defensive action then and I continue to applaud it now. That, beyond any shadow of a doubt, makes me guilty of the criminal offence of "glorifying terrorism", now that Sajid Javid has proscribed Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation. I am unrepentant and look forward to the prosecution.

A large majority of the public, and certainly almost everyone who remembers that 2006 invasion, would revolt from my being prosecuted on those grounds. The very absurdity of it is a sure measure that Sajid Javid has simply gone too far in naming Hezbollah - the legitimate political party representing in parliament the majority rural population in Southern Lebanon - as a terrorist organisation.

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