Puppet MastersS


MIB

Venezuelan minister says arrest of opposition leader a 'staged' media show


RT
Sun, 13 Jan 2019 21:22 UTC
Juan Guaidó
The Pretender
The dramatic arrest of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó - who is calling for a coup to depose President Nicolas Maduro - was not government-ordered and may have been staged for media, minister Jorge Rodriguez told RT.

The brief detention of leader of the National Assembly made headlines on Sunday, and came two days after the man had vowed to assume the presidency and called for an uprising, an armed coup and an international "mandate" for him to replace the incumbent Maduro.

A statement reading: "We inform the world and the country that today, Jan. 13, a SEBIN commando detained the president of the Venezuelan National Assembly and we do not know where he is," earlier appeared on Guaidó's Twitter account.
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Snakes in Suits

"Consider the danger": US ambassador threatens to sanction German Nord Stream 2 companies


RT
Sun, 13 Jan 2019 08:37 UTC
nordstream
© REUTERS / Tobias SchwarzFILE PHOTO
A US ambassador has reportedly threatened to punish German contributors involved in the multinational Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, and has tried to fan the 'Russia scare' to make his point.

US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell warned companies based in the country that they may face sanctions from Washington over their participation in the Nord Stream 2 project.

"As you are aware, the United States strongly opposes Nord Stream 2... The pipeline poses serious geopolitical consequences to our European allies and partners," he wrote in a letter obtained by Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

"We continue to stress that firms operating in the Russian energy export pipeline sector are engaging in activities that carry significant sanctions risk," Grenell asserted.

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

John Bolton reportedly asked Pentagon for military plans to bomb Iran

Natasha Turak
CNBC
Sun, 13 Jan 2019 21:17 UTC
john bolton
© AP Photo / Alex Brandon
The White House requested options for a military strike against Iran last September, a report by the Wall Street Journal revealed on Sunday, citing current and former U.S. officials.

The request, reportedly made the National Security Council led by national security advisor John Bolton, alarmed Pentagon and State Department officials, The Journal wrote on Sunday. The Council made the move after an Iranian-aligned group fired missiles into Baghdad's diplomatic quarter, which hosts the U.S. embassy in Iraq. No one was harmed.

According to the publication, it remains unclear whether President Donald Trump himself knew about the request, whether the Pentagon ultimately delivered military options to the White House, and if concrete attack plans against the Islamic Republic were actually formulated. But officials who spoke to the publication confirmed that the Defense Department did indeed comply with the National Security Council's request to develop those options.
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Chess

Much ado about nothing: Media continues harping on Trump about closed meetings with Putin


RFE/RL
Sun, 13 Jan 2019 21:08 UTC
Putin Trump
U.S. President Donald Trump (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands during a joint press conference following their summit talks at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki on July 16.
U.S. President Donald Trump has denied hiding details of conversations with Russian leader Vladimir Putin from administration officials, saying he is "not keeping anything under wraps."

Trump made the comments in a telephone interview late on January 12 with Fox News, after The Washington Post reported that the U.S. president "has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal details" of his conversations with Putin.

Citing current and former U.S. officials, the paper said that on at least one occasion, in Hamburg in 2017, Trump took away his interpreter's notes following talks and instructed that person not to discuss what had transpired with other officials.
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Handcuffs

Former communist militant Cesare Battisti arrested in Bolivia - UPDATE


BBC
Sun, 13 Jan 2019 21:00 UTC
Cesare Battisti
© AFP/Getty ImagesItaly has made repeated extradition requests for Cesare Battisti
A former communist militant who Brazil's new president had vowed to extradite has been detained in Bolivia, a Brazilian official said.

Italian Cesare Battisti is wanted for four murders in Italy during the 1970s, which he denies committing.

Battisti spent years in Brazil as a refugee, backed by former left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

But far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who took office on 1 January, had pledged to send him back to Italy.

Comment: UPDATE 14 January 2019

Bolivia handed him over to Brazil, and he has now been handed over to Italy.

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Bad Guys

Smearing dissent: UK minister warns about rising tide of far-right extremism if Brexit deal fails

Simon Walters
The Daily Mail
Sat, 12 Jan 2019 20:43 UTC
police brexit protest
© PAPolice outside Parliament this week were this week "briefed to intervene appropriately" if the law is broken after Tory MP Anna Soubry accused them of ignoring abuse hurled at politicians and journalists
Britain will witness a surge in neo-Nazi extremist groups if MPs block or weaken Brexit, a Cabinet minister warns today.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said the 17million who voted to leave the EU would feel 'cheated' by any moves to water down Theresa May's deal or thwart our exit entirely.

This would have grave implications for our democracy, he said, ending centuries of moderate politics.

His warning came as a poll found the majority of Tory voters now want MPs to back the Prime Minister's Brexit deal - with 55 per cent in favour, up eight points on last month, and 31 per cent against, down seven.

Comment: Work against Brexit may very well antagonize far-right extremists, however that's really not the issue here. The issue is government officials aren't fulfilling their their duties that the people have already voted over. Those who voted for Brexit aren't right-wing extremists, and associating neo-Nazis with the majority is a pathetic smear.

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Attention

'Time for a new government': US endorses Venezuelan opposition seeking to depose Maduro


RT
Sat, 12 Jan 2019 18:42 UTC
Maduro
© WikipediaVenezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
Washington has explicitly expressed its support for a potential coup against the elected Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, by offering its backing to the opposition and stating outright it was time for a "new government."

"The Maduro regime is illegitimate and the United States will continue ... to work diligently to restore a real democracy" to Venezuela, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters on his trip to the Middle East on Saturday, adding that Washington would attempt to make the Latin American nations "come together to deliver that."

The US' top diplomat's words came in the wake of Maduro's inauguration for another term in power, which drew widespread condemnation from the US and its allies in the region. The head of the opposition-controlled Venezuelan National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, said on Friday that he was ready to take over the president's office and asked for help from the military and the "international community."


Comment: See also:

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Boat

China: US Admiral John Richardson to meet with top military leaders

Laura Zhou
South China Morning Post
Sat, 12 Jan 2019 05:53 UTC
Adm. John Richardson/Vice Adm Shen Jinlong
© PLANUS Navy Adm. John Richardson • Chinese Navy Vice Adm Shen Jinlong
A top US navy official will begin a four-day visit to China on Sunday as the two nations look to reduce tensions amid increasing geopolitical and military rivalry.

Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson will meet his counterpart, Vice-Admiral Shen Jinlong, and other members of China's Central Military Commission during a visit to Beijing and the eastern city of Nanjing, which runs through Wednesday, the US navy said in a statement on Friday.

The purpose of the trip - Richardson's second to China as head of operations - is to "continue a results-oriented, risk reduction focused dialogue between the two militaries", the statement said.

It comes at a time as Beijing and Washington are engaged in a multipronged dispute over trade, technology and the South China Sea. The latter is one of the world's most valuable waterways and Beijing's increasingly aggressive stance within it has stoked fears of a major power clash between China and the US.

Comment: See also:

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USA

Trump: 'No chaos at the WH, but me almost alone with a plan'


RT
Sat, 12 Jan 2019 18:58 UTC
White House
© Secret Service officer maintains a watch on the 22nd day of a partial government shutdown at the White House in Washington. Reuters/Joshua RobertsSecret Service officer maintains a watch on the 22nd day of a partial government shutdown at the White House in Washington.
Donald Trump went on a morning Twitter rant against media bias and Democrats who refuse to solve the border wall problem as the government shutdown breaks the record as the longest in history.

The president's anger was provoked by what he described as "a fake reporter from the Amazon Washington Post," who claimed that the White House was "chaotic" and lacked any plan for the shutdown.


He denied this allegation and insisted that the White House couldn't be in chaos due to the fact that "there's almost nobody in the W.H. but me, and I do have a plan on the Shutdown."
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Tornado2

Moscow accuses Tokyo of 'distorting' information and 'whipping up tension' in Kuril Islands dispute


RT
Sat, 12 Jan 2019 21:25 UTC
Protester Kuril Islands
© Reuters/Issei KatoA protester holds a placard depicting the Kuril Islands disputed by Russia and Japan.
While Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vows to end a territorial dispute with Russia over a group of islands in the Pacific as soon as possible, Moscow says Tokyo is 'distorting' information on the talks to push its agenda.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono is in Moscow to discuss, with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, a peace agreement between the two countries and the fate of the Kuril Islands - an archipelago located in the Pacific between Japan's Hokkaido island and Russia's Kamchatka peninsula.

The isles have been a subject of a simmering territorial dispute between the two neighbors for decades, but their fate was back in headlines after Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in November to intensify talks about a peace treaty.

Moscow and Tokyo ended their World War II engagement without a formal peace treaty and that situation has not changed since, because of Tokyo's long-standing claims to four Russian Kuril Islands, referred to in Japan as the 'Northern Territories.'


Comment: For more on this long-standing conflict, see:

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