Puppet MastersS


Bullseye

Journalist explains why Macron's planned referendum could make things worse


Sputnik
Sat, 09 Feb 2019 08:33 UTC
Yellow vests Gilet jaunes
© Sputnik
French President Emmanuel Macron's alleged plan to hold a referendum is unlikely to dispel tensions, since the French are increasingly sceptical about Paris' incentives, Ramin Mazaheri, chief correspondent in Paris for Iran's PressTV, told Sputnik, explaining why the initiative may deteriorate the crisis.

Citing unnamed high-ranking sources, French weekly Journal du Dimanche (JDD) reported on 3 February that Macron is considering calling a referendum on 26 May, which would coincide with the European parliamentary elections. According to the media outlet, the questionnaire is likely to address some economic and social issues including, in particular, whether the number of French lawmakers should be reduced or their terms shortened.

"I think that unless [Emmanuel] Macron puts some real issues on the ballot - issues which the French people actually care about, issues which will immediately improve the socio-economic condition of the average French household - then the referendum idea will totally backfire, as many are predicting", Ramin Mazaheri, chief correspondent in Paris for Iran's PressTV, told Sputnik.

Commenting on topics allegedly included in the list, the journalist noted that it seems that "this will not touch austerity, this will not affect anyone's purchasing power, and this is, in fact, quite a neoliberal idea, because it is a way to reduce the size of France's government.

Comment: Not just Canada, the sentiment has gone global. The class war that the elites are waging on the rest of the world is more evident than ever and more people are waking up to it. See also:

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Arrow Up

Why I hope Maduro stays and North Korea keeps its nukes

Caitlin Johnstone
Medium
Fri, 08 Feb 2019 07:55 UTC
maduro kim jong un
A second summit meeting for the US and North Korea is reportedly scheduled to take place in Vietnam at the end of the month. Expert opinions on where these negotiations are headed range from the insightful to the incredibly naive, with mainstream media consumers consistently finding themselves in the latter category. Trump supporters believe their president is going to pull off some Art of the Deal wizardry and convince Pyongyang to completely denuclearize, and mainstream Democrats believe Trump is being foolish, facilitating the nefarious agendas of an evil dictator. As happens with pretty much all US foreign policy issues these days, the picture is completely obscured by the mass media's obsessive fixation on Trump.

People who are well-informed tend to say that North Korea will never denuclearize, mainly because its government has no meaningful incentive to do so in a world where Muammar Gaddafi was murdered in the streets as a direct result of US regime change interventionism shortly after relinquishing Libya's nuclear program. As bad as western sanctions are, they're nothing compared to what happened to Libya.

I agree that Pyongyang as we have known it will never denuclearize, no matter how charming or threatening Moon and Trump get. There can certainly be peace between the Koreas, but the notion that Pyongyang as we know it will just give up the DPRK's nuclear weapons is a fairy tale for children and mental midgets. Those words "Pyongyang as we know it" are key, though. There are circumstances under which North Korea could voluntarily give up its nukes, be relieved of sanctions, and be treated like a normal nation by the unipolar world order in the near term. They're just not circumstances any of us should want.
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Binoculars

Venezuela releases video confession of revolting Colonel admitting ties to CIA coup attempt


South Front
Fri, 08 Feb 2019 00:00 UTC
Venezuela Colonel
On February 7th, a fugitive Venezuelan Colonel was shown on video confessing to ties with the CIA and Colombian officials. He was captured in January after slipping back into the country.
"Colonel Oswaldo Garcia Palomo, 54, who'd publicly professed plans for rebellion and whose welfare was the focus of international attention, is shown looking reasonably fit in a dress shirt standing against a neutral background. He described logistical support and freedom to enter and exit Colombia as he worked last year to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government," Bloomberg reported.
"We managed to get a very important group together," Garcia said. He added that he spoke with a CIA agent in Tampa, Florida, who told him the U.S. was considering military action in the first quarter of 2019. Garcia said he told the agent he and his group wanted to carry out a coup without U.S. help. "Let's resolve this ourselves, we Venezuelans," he said.

Comment: That the CIA has been working to overthrow the legitimate if dysfunctional Venezuelan government is no longer in question - the question now is how far and at what cost will the US government pursue its now openly stated challenge to the Maduro government. See also:

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Brain

Duterte laments to soldiers why military coups don't work: "Drop all politicians"

Dharel Placido
ABS-CBN News
Thu, 07 Feb 2019 10:29 UTC
duterte pray
President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday introduced yet another radical idea to soldiers if they want to oust him through mutiny.

Duterte, citing past military-backed revolts against former Filipino leaders, said the military would always resort to giving the power to a deposed leader's opponents instead of grabbing the power itself.

The President said it would be more ideal if the military would just choose a new set of leaders and "drop all politicians, including me."

"The problem with you guys... is [when] you go on a mutiny, rebellion, you do it, you time it [when] there's a disturbance... in society, a political turmoil... If you win, you give the power to the opponents of the leader you had just deposed," Duterte said in a speech in Malacañang.

Comment: Another pearl from Duterte: 'If my plane explodes - ask the CIA', after arms request of Russia and China

See also: The truth about Duterte: Why he is respected and admired by the people yet maligned by opponents

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Arrow Down

US lackey Poland excludes Iran from Middle East summit in Warsaw - Russia and EU decline invitation


Sputnik
Fri, 08 Feb 2019 14:27 UTC
iran us liberty
© AFP 2018 / BEHROUZ MEHRI
Iran has not been invited to a Middle East conference in Warsaw due to its strained ties with the United States, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Bartosz Cichocki said Friday.

"It became clear that it [inviting Iran] was a closed topic because of a bad US-Iranian relationship", Cichocki told Polish RMF FM radio station.

He argued that Iran's or a similar point of view on the crises and the way forward in the Middle East would be presented at the meeting on 13-14 February.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Israeli-French Deception Downs Russian Spy Plane Off Syria, US Escalates 'Regime Change' Against Iran

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Bizarro Earth

Good bye to 'freedom and democracy' and hello to 'rules-based international order'

Paul Carline
Off Guardian
Sat, 02 Feb 2019 00:00 UTC
Map free/part/not
© Unknown
The banner and the clarion call of western countries, and their own asserted legitimation - especially when they are engaging in illegal wars and coups - used to be "freedom and democracy": the precious gift they were generously and selflessly offering to a backward world - or one allegedly in the 'chains' of Socialism/Communism. There was "Radio Free Europe", for example, pushing out western liberal propaganda, primarily against the countries of the former Soviet Union.

The Washington-based "Freedom House" organisation, which claims to be independent, has around 150 staff members in Washington and in 'field offices' around the world. Its President is Michael J. Abramowitz, who before joining Freedom House in 2017, was director of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum's Levine Institute for Holocaust Education. Before that, he was National Editor and then White House correspondent for the Washington Post. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former fellow at the German Marshall Fund and the Hoover Institution. He is also a board member of the National Security Archive. The Board of Trustees is chaired by Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security under George W. Bush and co-author of the USA Patriot Act.

Since 1972, Freedom House, whose website sports a warm endorsement by none other than Francis Fukuyama, has produced an annual "Freedom in the World" global map (above), which divides the world into countries which are either "free", "partly free", or "not free". The allegedly "free" countries are coloured green, the "partly free" ones a kind of muddy yellow, and the "not free" ones purple.

Its analysis of "freedom" covers "the electoral process, political pluralism and participation, the functioning of government, freedom of expression and belief, rights of association and organization, the rule of law, and personal autonomy and individual rights". The word 'democracy' is not used in the ratings system, nor is it defined anywhere, but the 2018 analysis is headlined "Democracy in Crisis".
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Snakes in Suits

Time for talks is 'long passed': US weaponizes aid while pushing for regime change in Venezuela


RT
Fri, 08 Feb 2019 00:45 UTC
fueltanker
© Reuters/Luisa GonzalezA fuel tank blocks the passage on Tienditas cross-border bridge between Colombia and Venezuela.
As trucks with US "humanitarian aid" arrived at the Colombia-Venezuela border, the State Department insisted that time for talks with the government in Caracas is long past, and the only acceptable outcome is regime change.

US President Donald Trump recognized opposition politician Juan Guaido as "legitimate president" of Venezuela last month. The State Department appointed neoconservative interventionist Elliott Abrams - who has a long and checkered past of meddling in Latin America - as its special envoy for freedom and democracy in Venezuela. On Thursday, Abrams told reporters at the State Department that Washington was not interested in any talks with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

"The time for dialogue with Maduro has long passed," he said, asserting that Maduro would "manipulate" any negotiations to his advantage.
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Calendar

New report: US military aims to be out of Syria by April

Diana Stancy Correll
Washington Examiner
Thu, 07 Feb 2019 05:18 UTC
US Army
© Lolita Baldor/APU.S. Gen. Joseph Votel (center), the top U.S. commander for the Middle East, visited a military outpost at al-Tanf.
The U.S. military wants to exit Syria by the end of April, according to a new report.

Current military plans call for a large withdrawal by the middle of March, followed by a complete withdrawal by the end of April, current and former U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal. However, a key concern for the U.S.'s Kurdish partners has yet to be addressed: Striking a deal to safeguard Kurdish allies from Turkish forces after the U.S. vacates Syria.

Although the U.S. is attempting to negotiate with Turkey a proposal that would prevent conflict between Kurdish forces and Turkey, little progress has been made so far. Turkey considers some of the Kurdish forces in Syria terrorists.

"The bottom line is: Decisions have to be made," a U.S. official told the Wall Street Journal. "At some point, we make political progress, or they're going to have to tell the military to slow down, or we're going to proceed without a political process."

A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment to the Washington Examiner. "We are not discussing the timeline of the U.S. withdrawal from Syria," a Pentagon spokesman said.

The report comes days after Gen. Joseph Votel, the outgoing head of U.S. Central Command, said he is "not under pressure to be out by a specific date, and I have not had any specific conditions put upon me" regarding a Syria withdrawal.

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Pumpkin

Chutzpah! Six times Macron gave other leaders advice, while garnering approval rating...under 30%


RT
Thu, 07 Feb 2019 21:18 UTC
EMacron
© Reuters/Philippe WojazerFrench President Emmanuel Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron is not shy about dishing out advice to his international counterparts but, with an approval rating at home hovering in the late 20s, is he really the person to be doling out instructions to others?

No matter the international crisis, Macron has been there to impart his wisdom, giving guidance and schooling to other world leaders on their domestic problems. When it comes to criticisms directed at him, however, it appears Macron is less receptive.

This week, after French anti-government Yellow Vest protesters met with top Italian officials who criticized his leadership (admittedly in undiplomatic terms), Macron instantly recalled France's ambassador from Rome, the critiques having gotten under his skin.

Here's a look at six times Macron was the one dispensing unsolicited advice.

Comment: All show and little substance.

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Yoda

SOTT Focus: Why Tulsi Gabbard Drives the MSM Hacks Bat-sh*t Crazy

Caitlin Johnstone
caitlinjohnstone.com
Fri, 08 Feb 2019 01:49 UTC
tulsi gabbard
© MSNBCTulsi Gabbard
When Tulsi Gabbard announced her plans to run in the 2020 presidential election, I predicted that it would disrupt war propaganda narratives and force a much-needed conversation about US interventionism, but I didn't realize that it would happen so quickly, so ubiquitously, and so explosively. Gabbard officially began her campaign for president a mere three days ago, and already she's become the front line upon which the debate about US warmongering is happening. Even if you oppose Gabbard's run for the presidency, this should be self-evident to you by now.

This dynamic became more apparent than ever today in Gabbard's appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe, hosted by spouses Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. It should here be noted since we're talking about war propaganda that in 2009 Scarborough turned down an easy run for the US Senate because he decided that he could have more influence on public policy as the host of Morning Joe than he could as one of 100 US senators, which tells you everything you need to know about why I focus more on US mass media propaganda than I do on US politics. It should also be noted that Brzezinski is the daughter of the late Carter administration cold warrior Zbigniew Brzezinski, whose influential ideas about US world domination, arming extremist factions to advance US interests, and hawkish agendas against Russia continue to infect US foreign policy to this day. Mika is part of a political dynasty, with both brothers being US political insiders as well.
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