Puppet MastersS


Popcorn

May's Brexit plan B is to call Remainers' bluff

Tom Luongo
Source
Wed, 23 Jan 2019 12:00 UTC
remain brexit
Earlier this week I did something I never thought I'd ever do. I watched over two hours of British Parliament. This was the session wherein Prime Minister Theresa May outlined her so-called Plan B deal for Brexit.

Needless to say, it wasn't warmly received.

But a funny thing has happened on the way to Brexit. And I am as shocked to type this as anyone who follows me will be shocked to read it.

Theresa May has risen to become Brexit's main champion.

As I said in my last article here:
Theresa "The Gypsum Lady" May went through an extraordinary twenty-four hours. First, seeing her truly horrific Brexit deal go down in historic defeat and then, somehow, surviving a 'No-Confidence' vote which left her in a stronger position than before it.

It looks like May rightly calculated that the twenty or so Tory Remainers would put party before the European Union as their personal political positions would be terminally weakened if they voted her out of office.

Comment: One hopes that the British public will begin to see that all this political maneuvering comes at the expense of their democracy.

See also: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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Attention

An appeal to Russia, China and all unaligned countries for support of sovereign Venezuela

Peter Koenig
Global Research
Fri, 25 Jan 2019 10:33 UTC
venezuela
On 23 January 2018, the United States has initiated a coup against President Nicolás Maduro and his Government, by encouraging and fully supporting the "self-proclaimed" opposition leader, Juan Guaido, as interim President. Already days ago he had received the full support of President Trump, and today, in a special televised speech, US Vice-president Mike Pence declared that Venezuela's Freedom begins with the new interim president, Juan Guaído.

RT reports that
"the Venezuelan military will not accept a president imposed by 'dark interests', Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said after Washington and a number of its allies recognized a lawmaker [Juan Guaído] as the new leader in Caracas."

"The army will continue to defend the constitution and national sovereignty, Padrino said on Wednesday afternoon, hours after opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido was proclaimed interim president by the National Assembly, in a direct challenge to President Nicolas Maduro."

Comment: See also:

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Chess

Will Trump's Syrian withdrawal erode Russia-Turkey axis?

M. K. Bhadrakumar
Indian Punchline
Sat, 19 Jan 2019 00:00 UTC
Turkish tank convoy to Syrian border
Turkish tank convoy moving to Syrian border, Jan 14.
Through the past month since US President Donald Trump tweeted his fateful decision to withdraw troops from Syria, a familiar pattern began appearing - no sooner than Trump makes a foreign-policy decision, those around him scramble to try to delay that decision.

However, in the Syrian case, signs are that the delay suits Trump. The visit by US Senator Lindsey Graham to Ankara on Friday and his meeting with President Recep Erdogan most certainly had Trump's blessing. Graham had a lengthy discussion with Trump recently to persuade the latter to take a hard look at the Syrian withdrawal decision.

Graham used to be the best buddy of late Sen. John McCain (an inveterate Russophobe) and a maverick who broke party stereotypes and was among the loudest Republican critics of the president, but today he's perceived as a leading Trump ally.
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Handcuffs

US releases detained Iranian journalist Marzieh Hashemi after federal grand jury appearance


npr
Thu, 24 Jan 2019 04:17 UTC
Marzieh Hashemi
An Iranian broadcast journalist who was detained by U.S. authorities as a material witness for 10 days, is with her U.S. family, according to an attorney for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

Marzieh Hashemi, a news anchor for Iran's English-language Press TV, had been held in jail to make sure she would appear to testify before a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. And on Wednesday, the 59-year-old fulfilled her obligation as a material witness and was released from any further obligation, Abed Ayoud, a lawyer for the ADC told NPR.

"She is relieved that this is over but the family is pretty angry and upset at the way that this happened," Ayoud said.

Hashemi holds dual citizenship in the U.S. and Iran. She was born Melanie Franklin in Louisiana, and moved to the Mideast and changed her name after marrying an Iranian man and converting to Islam. Since then she has become a prominent reporter in that country.

Comment: Her crime is that she worked for an information service the US doesn't like. Even though PressTV's audience reach in the US is tiny, they feel compelled to harass its staff because, after all, this is an information war (and they take the war part a tad literally).

Hashemi spoke with RT UK today. Full interview available is available tomorrow, Saturday Jan 26th, on Going Underground.

See also:

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Bizarro Earth

Russia ties with US in list ranking countries 'contributing to humanity'


RT
Thu, 24 Jan 2019 19:54 UTC
putin trump
On the annual list ranking the "goodest" countries in the world by their contribution to humanity, the US has slid to the 40th place, barely ahead Russia and behind much of Europe.

"Because we live in a massively interconnected, interdependent age, an age of advanced globalization, it made a lot of sense to look at how countries affect each other and affect the whole system," said Simon Anholt, the project's co-founder.

Finland led the list, with Ireland, Sweden, Germany and Denmark rounding out the top five. The US slid down to 40 - down from 25th place two years ago - while Russia ranked just one spot below, rising by 54 ranks from a previous survey.


Comment: That's odd, because the US has been a fairly tyrannical regime in terms of its global impact for much longer.


Comment: See also:

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Eagle

SOTT Focus: The Integrity Initiative And The British Roots of The Deep State: How The Round Table Infiltrated America

Matthew J.L. Ehret
Sott.net
Thu, 24 Jan 2019 22:53 UTC
integrity initiative capitol
With the near weekly revelations that the British Foreign Office, MI6, and GCHQ have been behind the long standing agenda to undermine the Presidency of Donald Trump and undo the peaceful alliance between nationalist leaders in America, Russia, China and elsewhere, a new focus on the British hand in undermining the United States has become a serious thought for many citizens. In the first week of the new year, fuel was added to this fire when internal memos were leaked from the British-run Integrity Initiative featuring a startling account of the techniques deployed by the anti-Russian British operation to infiltrate American intelligence institutions, think tanks and media.

For those who may not know, the Integrity Initiative is an anti-Russian propaganda outfit funded to the tune of $140 million by the British Foreign office. The January 2019 leak, featuring documents dated to the early period of Trump's election, demonstrate that this organization, already active across Europe promoting anti-Russian PR and smearing nationalist leaders such as Jeremy Corbyn, was intent on spreading deeply into the State Department and setting up "clusters" of anti-Trump operatives. The documents reveal high level meetings that Integrity Initiative Director Chris Donnelly had with former Trump Advisor Sebastien Gorka, McCain Foundation director Kurt Volker, Pentagon PR guru John Rendon among many others.
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Vader

SOTT Focus: Trump's Coronation of Guaido as President an Attack on Venezuelan Sovereignty

John Wight
RT
Thu, 24 Jan 2019 21:33 UTC
trump guaido
Scour the history books and you will struggle to find an act of imperialism more brazen than US President Donald Trump's de-recognition of Nicolas Maduro as Venezuela's president.

In a scathing denouncement of the Mexican-American War of 1846-48, famed US Civil War General (and later president) Ulysses S Grant told a reporter,
"We had no claim on Mexico. Texas had no claim beyond the Nueces River, and yet we pushed on to the Rio Grande and crossed it. I am always ashamed of my country when I think of that invasion."
The Mexican-American War was a war of plunder and conquest on the part of a US ruling class for whom every country south of the Rio Grande was then, as if by divine right, deemed subservient to Washington. From then to now the US has regarded Latin America as a wholly owned subsidiary, its primary function to serve Washington's economic interests.
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Attention

Venezuelan coup must be resisted

Craig Murray
craigmurray.org.uk
Thu, 24 Jan 2019 00:00 UTC
Chavez mural
© reutersmediaWaiting to vote...
Venezuela has elections. Juan Guaido has never even been a Presidential candidate. Despite massive CIA opposition funding and interference over years as Big Oil tries to regain control of the World's largest oil reserves, Nicolas Maduro was democratically re-elected in 2018 as President of Venezuela.

The coup now under way is illegitimate. I opposed Maduro's move to replace the elected National Assembly. Sometimes I read back things I wrote in the past and decide I was wrong. Sometimes I think the article was right, but a bit of a potboiler. Occasionally I am proud, and I am proud of my analysis on Venezuela written on 3 August 2017. I believe it is still valid.
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Arrow Up

Kim Jong-un meets delegation to 2nd DPRK-US high-level talks


KCNA
Thu, 24 Jan 2019 00:00 UTC
Kim Jong-un
© UnknownNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un
Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, met the delegation to the second DPRK-U.S. high-level talks that had visited Washington D.C. of the United States.

On January 23, Supreme Leader of the Party, state and army Kim Jong Un met the members of the delegation led by Kim Yong Chol, vice-chairman of the WPK Central Committee, and listened to the results of the visit.

He was reported about the details of the visit during which the delegation visited the White House, met the U.S. president and discussed the issue for the second DPRK-U.S. summit and also had negotiations with the U.S. working group on a series of issues to be settled between the two countries. He was presented by Kim Yong Chol a personal letter sent to him by President of the United States of America Donald Trump. Upon receiving the good personal letter sent by President Trump, the Supreme Leader expressed great satisfaction.

He spoke highly of President Trump for expressing his unusual determination and will for the settlement of the issue with a great interest in the second DPRK-U.S. summit. Kim Jong Un said that we will believe in the positive way of thinking of President Trump, wait with patience and in good faith and, together with the U.S., advance step by step toward the goal to be reached by the two countries of the DPRK and the U.S.
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Snakes in Suits

Afghan peace talks with US now in fourth day


RFE/RL
Thu, 24 Jan 2019 12:02 UTC
Afghanistan terrorism
© Radio Mashaal (RFE/RL)
U.S. officials have held talks with Taliban envoys in Qatar for a fourth day, the militants said, as the two sides pursue a potential deal to bring an end to Afghanistan's 17-year conflict.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the media on January 24 that "discussions are still ongoing," although they had initially been scheduled to last for two days. "We will talk in detail later when we reach agreement," Zabihullah said.

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry also confirmed that talks were under way, although there was no immediate comment from the U.S. Embassy or NATO in Kabul.

The United States said on January 22 that it had resumed talks with the militants in Qatar, where special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad was meeting Taliban representatives.

Washington wants the insurgents to enter talks with the Afghan government, but they have long refused, saying it is a U.S. puppet.

Comment: There is a long history of no stateside public support for this war. Perhaps the military and the government are finally arriving at the same conclusion.

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