Puppet MastersS


Propaganda

Wikileaks warns MSM not to publish 140 'false and defamatory' claims about Julian Assange

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Wed, 09 Jan 2019 11:36 UTC
Assange
WikiLeaks is sick and tired of mainstream media outlets publishing inaccurate and at times defamatory claims about its founder, Julian Assange. So in a recent email to journalists who regularly cover the organization, Wikileaks described 140 "false and defamatory" claims about its founder, who has been living inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London since June 2012.

According to Reuters, WikiLeaks accused the Guardian of publishing a false report about Assange, though it was not immediately clear what specific report prompted the warning. The Guardian has refused to comment on the allegations.

The 5,000 word email claimed it was defamatory to suggest that Assange had ever been an "agent or officer of any intelligence service," or that he had ever been employed by the Russian government, or that he is - or has been - closely connected with the Russian state.
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Stop

'Demonstrably untrue': Trey Gowdy blasts Elizabeth Warren's claim he left Congress to become a lobbyist

Valerie Richardson
Washington Times
Wed, 09 Jan 2019 11:36 UTC
House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Trey Gowdy
© AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
Former Rep. Trey Gowdy denied Monday Sen. Elizabeth Warren's claim that he left Congress for a "fat lobbyist paycheck," calling the allegation "demonstrably and factually untrue."

"There are a million things that you can legitimately criticize me for, and if she's struggling to come up with a list, my wife is happy to help, but I'm not a lobbyist," Mr. Gowdy said on Fox's "The Story with Martha MacCallum."

"I'm not going to be a fat lobbyist, I'm not going to be a skinny lobbyist, a plus-sized one - I'm not lobbying at all," he said. "That's a factual matter."
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Star of David

Retired Israeli Supreme Court Justice slams Netanyahu, compares him to 'crime boss'


Haaretz
Wed, 09 Jan 2019 11:36 UTC
Eliyahu Matza
© Olivier FitoussiRetired Supreme Court Justice Eliyahu Matza who served on the high court from 1991 to 2005.
A former vice president of the Supreme Court attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday for calling not to decide on whether to charge him in the three criminal cases him before the April 9 Knesset election.

"I cannot recall any time in my entire career such statements against law enforcement by anyone other than heads of crime organizations," the former justice, Eliyahu Matza, told Israel Radio.

Matza, who served on the Supreme Court from 1992 to 2005, was referring to a video Netanyahu had posted on his Facebook page over the weekend in which the prime minister compared indicting him before the election to chopping off a thief's arm before finalizing the case against him.
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Attention

Suspicious packages sent to US, Pakistani and other consulates in Melbourne

Calla Wahlquist
Guardian
Wed, 09 Jan 2019 08:25 UTC
firefighter melbourne
© James Ross/EPAA firefighter carrries a hazardous material bag into the South Korean consulate in Melbourne.
Suspicious packages sent to US, Pakistani and other consulates in Melbourne

Diplomatic headquarters in Canberra also targeted as firefighters remove bags labelled 'Danger asbestos'

Emergency services at Korean consulate in Melbourne after reports of suspicious packages - video

The United States, Pakistani, Swiss, Indian, South Korean and New Zealand consulates in Melbourne are among a number of foreign diplomatic headquarters across the city and in Canberra targeted with suspicious packages.

The deliveries on Wednesday sparked an emergency "hazardous material" response and, in some cases, evacuation.

Comment: See also:

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Satellite

Why China tiptoed onto the far side of the moon

Patrick Lawrence
Consortium News
Wed, 09 Jan 2019 08:26 UTC
far side moon
© NASA/GoddardNASA's lunar far side topo map from 2010, highest elevations above 20,000 feet in red and the lowest areas down below -20,000 feet in blue.
When China landed a space probe on the far side of the moon last week, it was a first for humanity. The Chang'e 4 spacecraft touched down on Thursday and then sent a rover to explore and photograph lunar terrain we Earthlings had never before seen. This feat is up there with the U.S. moon landing in 1969. But while the scientists who designed the Chang'e 4 probe were properly proud, China's state-controlled media buried the story beneath the day's more mundane news. As one space analyst put it, the silence was deafening.

Why would this be? Why would Xi Jinping's hyper-ambitious China go quiet after demonstrating that its swiftly developing technological capabilities are making the nation the global leader its president thinks it is destined to be?

Mike Pompeo suggested an answer the same day the Chang'e 4 touched down on lunar soil. President Donald Trump's secretary of state chose last Thursday to warn the Iranians to drop their plans to launch three satellites into space over the next several months. Pompeo dismissed these projects as nothing more than a cover to test intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of bearing warheads.

These events are not unrelated.

Yes, the Trump administration has started a trade war with China. But Washington's quarrels with Beijing are about far more than trade. The U.S. proposes to sanction Iran to kingdom come so as to limit its leverage as an emerging power in the Middle East. But the U.S. administration's dangerously aggressive policies toward Tehran are about more than the Islamic Republic's regional influence.

Comment: See also: Finian Cunningham: Why China's over the moon

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Windsock

Possible US withdrawal from Syria is postponing the inevitable

Peter Ford
Tim Hayward Wordpress
Mon, 07 Jan 2019 07:32 UTC
Syrian Army
At the start of the year the horizon seems to be dominated by the issue of the possible withdrawal of US troops. In reality however the more important action is elsewhere.

US withdrawal: on or not?

Every day that passes seems to bring fresh evidence that Trump's decision is being walked back. But appearances can be misleading.

Trump's ultra-hawkish National Security Adviser, John Bolton, is touring the Middle East apparently setting new conditions for the withdrawal with every stop he makes. We are currently told that the troops will not leave until the remnants of ISIS are mopped up, until there is certainty they cannot remerge, until Erdogan promises not to slaughter the Kurds, and until Israel's security is absolutely assured.

It is certainly true that crushing those ISIS remnants could take some time, and as for ensuring that ISIS can never re-form that is a recipe for a never-ending US presence. The US allies, the Kurdish-dominated SDF, are currently retreating from parts of Eastern Deir Ez Zor because they are meeting hostility from Arab villagers, who resent the abduction of their young men and even children into the ranks of the SDF. While the departure of the sprinkling of 2000 US troops will hardly leave a vacuum as far as the fight against ISIS is concerned the departure of the SDF from certain areas certainly will. Only the government's Syrian Arab Army (SAA) could enter these Arab areas, and that is precisely what some clan leaders are calling for (calls ignored of course by our media).

Comment: A comment from the original article worth repeating in light of the timing:
People who watch(ed) the DECEMBER 20, 2018 United Nations meeting which presented evidence of horrific crimes committed inside Syria by the so-called "rescue" organization - the Academy Award-winning "White Helmets" - will come to a full understanding of the sole true reason U.S. President Donald Trump went on Twitter (dated: DECEMBER 19, 2018) within 24 hours and before the U.N. meeting exposing the White Helmets international scandal - and said "We (all U.S. military forces) are leaving Syria ... immediately!".

Trump's 12/19/2018 action (psyop) was intended to soak up all global media attention (it certainly did), or in other words, - to bury any chance of people worldwide learning of the White Helmets criminal scandal revealed on 12/20/2018. This explains why Donald Trump and his administration decline to say anything about the White Helmets, most especially nothing whatsoever since the damning December 20 U.N. meeting.
See also:

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Rocket

Russia reportedly developing new long-range cruise missile


TASS
Wed, 09 Jan 2019 03:40 UTC
Russian Navy
© TASSA snapshot of the video/Management of the press service and information of the Ministry of Defense of Russian Federation
New Kalibr-M cruise missile with a range of over 4,500 km is currently under development in Russia for the Russian Navy, a source in the military-industrial complex told TASS on Tuesday.

"The newest high-precision ship-based Kalibr-M cruise missile with a maximum firing range of more than 4,500 km is being developed for the Russian Navy. The creation of the rocket is at the stage of scientific research and financed by the Ministry of Defense," the source told TASS. The source clarified that the development of the missile was included in the state armament program until 2027, and "the rocket must be transferred to the fleet before the end of the program."
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Arrow Up

Independence leader Alex Salmond wins sexual harassment inquiry case against Scottish government


BBC
Tue, 08 Jan 2019 17:49 UTC
alex salmond
© REUTERS
The Scottish government has admitted acting unlawfully while investigating sexual harassment claims against Alex Salmond.

Allegations against the former first minister, which he denies, were made to the Scottish government a year ago.

The government has now admitted it breached its own guidelines by appointing an investigating officer who had "prior involvement" in the case.

As a result, it conceded defeat in its legal fight with Mr Salmond.

Mr Salmond's case focused entirely on the fairness of the government's procedures and will have no bearing on a separate police inquiry into the allegations, which is still ongoing.

Comment: See also: More fake rape accusations: Scottish independence leader Alex Salmond forced out of SNP

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Snakes in Suits

Gavin Newsom's first act as California Governor: More healthcare for illegal aliens

Joel B. Pollak
Breitbart
Tue, 08 Jan 2019 12:17 UTC
Gavin newsom
© Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press
California Governor Gavin Newsom's first act in office was to propose extending state healthcare benefits to more illegal aliens.

On Tuesday, shortly after being sworn in, Newsom - who ran on the proposal of providing healthcare to everyone in California, though he struggled to explain how he would pay for it - signed an executive order taking steps in that direction.

In his first executive order, Newsom directed the state to create a single government purchaser for prescription drugs to increase negotiating leverage with pharmaceutical companies. Alongside the order, Newsom proposed extending Medi-Cal - the state's version of Medicaid - to illegal aliens up to the age of 26, rather than 19.
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Chess

US hopes for hostile Brazil-China relations may not be realized

Darius Shahtahmasebi
RT
Tue, 08 Jan 2019 17:48 UTC
Bolsonaro
© Joedson Alves / EPABrazilian President Jair Bolsonaro before his inauguration ceremony at the Congress in Brasilia, on Jan. 1 2019
The rise of Brazil's far-right president has given Washington an opportunity to cement ties with a formidable Latin American ally, which it hopes to unite with in order to counter China's expanding influence in the region.

On Tuesday, January 1, 2019, Jair Bolsonaro was sworn in as the president of Brazil, having won 55 percent of the country's vote, defeating the Worker's Party's Fernando Haddad.

Shortly after being sworn in, Bolsonaro announced Brazil's "liberation from socialism, inverted values, the bloated state and political correctness."

The United States and the corporate media have had a strong disdain for some of Latin America's leadership in recent years (including Brazil's former leftist leadership), so one would expect Brazil's new administration to be no different. However, this time around, Bolsonaro appears to have emerged out of the rubble of Brazilian politics as some sort of hero for the western elite.
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