Puppet MastersS


Dollars

Organizer of Macron's 'grand debate' with Yellow Vests defends her 'shocking' €176,000 salary


RT
Tue, 08 Jan 2019 18:44 UTC
yellow vest protests
© Reuters/GONZALO FUENTESClashes between police and protesters in Paris on January 5.
Emmanuel Macron's plan for a nationwide public debate, intended to defuse months of Gilets Jaunes protests, is off to a rocky start. The spotlight has shifted to the extravagant salary of the official in charge of organizing it.

Chantal Jouanno is a former sports minister in the conservative government of Nicolas Sarkozy, and the current chairwoman of the CNDP, an official body for public debates, a role for which she receives an annual salary of €176,000 ($201,000).

The prominent position for yet another well-paid bureaucrat has caused outrage against the backdrop of street protests that were fueled by the disconnect between decisions taken by financially secure public officials, and the impact they have on ordinary citizens, such as the now-cancelled petrol tax.
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X

US senators call for recognition of Israeli control over occupied Golan Heights


Sputnik
Tue, 08 Jan 2019 17:38 UTC
golan
© AFP 2018 / JALAA MAREY
Israel has been strengthening its hold of the Golan Heights, occupied during the Six-Day War in 1967, despite the lack of UN recognition of its sovereignty over the territory. Tel Aviv stresses that the territory is a crucial buffer for ensuring the security of Israeli citizens.

US Senator from Texas, Ted Cruz, and Senator from Arkansas, Tom Cotton, have made a joint statement urging Washington to recognise Israeli's claims to sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights. The two senators stress that the territory serves an important role in defending Israel from Iran and its allies.

"Responding to the threat posed by Iran and its proxies requires ensuring that Israel can defend its territory and its citizens from attacks [...] To support Israel's right to self-defence, Washington should take the long overdue step of affirming Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights", the statement said.

The senators suggested a similar measure in the past in the form of a nonbinding resolution that called for recognition of Israeli claims to the Golan Heights.

Their latest call comes the day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited US National Security Adviser John Bolton to visit the Golan Heights and see why it's important for Tel Aviv that all countries recognise its sovereignty over the occupied territory. Bolton arrived in Israel to discuss the US withdrawal from Syria and reassure support for Israel.

Comment: And yet Crimea will never be Russian - in the minds of the American ruling class. Figure that one out. Israel's military invades and occupies an area and gets U.S. support. Crimea votes to return to Russia and everyone in the West loses their minds. Israel simply takes what it wants, entrenches itself, thus making a political solution near impossible, and expects the world to just accept the new status quo, all the while revelling in its victim status.

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Hardhat

Mexico deploys military to safeguard state-owned oil facilities amid nationwide gas thefts by criminal gangs


RT
Tue, 08 Jan 2019 12:55 UTC
Mexican military guards Pemex facilites gas theft
© AFP / ULISES RUIZA total of 4,000 military and police personnel will be deployed at refineries to deal with fuel shortages plaguing the country.
Nearly 1,000 Mexican soldiers were deployed by the president across facilities owned by state oil company Pemex on Monday to counter nationwide gasoline theft that has resulted in fuel shortages in the country.

Some 900 soldiers entered Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) facilities as part of the government's plan to battle illegal petrol siphoning, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced on Monday.

Overall, a total of 4,000 military and police personnel will be deployed at refineries to deal with fuel shortages plaguing the country.

We'll reinforce the surveillance by the military in Pemex installations, and we will continue it. We will normalize supply and guarantee fuel theft will stop," Lopez Obrador said at a press conference.

Comment: Cartels have been engaging oil workers to aid them in a lucrative side business by tapping fuel supplies, depriving the government of over $1 billion in state revenues every year:

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Better Earth

Xi sends message to US as summit with Kim begins: Deal with North Korea will need to involve China

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Tue, 08 Jan 2019 17:21 UTC
xi kim
Just as the second day of mid-level trade talks between US and Chinese delegations in Beijing was beginning, a surprising report crossed the wire: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had been invited to travel to China for the first time since June to meet with President Xi Jinping. News of the visit immediately provoked speculation that Beijing was trying to send a message: If the US wants peace on the Korean peninsula, China will need to be involved.

Underscoring that point, President Trump affirmed last week that Washington and Pyongyang are planning a second diplomatic summit (though Trump claimed that North Korea was showing some reluctance) to continue negotiations about denuclearizing the peninsula.

And while talks between the US and the North have hit an impasse over the US's unwillingness to lift sanctions until the North finishes surrendering his nukes - the North, on the other hand, has been pushing for their gradual removal - South Korean news agency Yonhap reported Tuesday, citing intelligence agency reports, that the North and China might discuss the prospects for "a peace treaty" with South Korea that would formally end the Korean War - one of the loftiest goals from the thaw in inter-Korean relations this year.

Comment: Despite the surface success of Kim and Trump's past meeting, the U.S. has refused to do any of the things it promised to do, whereas North Korea has made several moves toward denuclearization (which is only the last and final goal of the existing agreement). It is not the North that is stalling; it's the U.S. See also: The problem remains the same: if peace truly breaks out on the Korean peninsula, the U.S. will have no justification for keeping its military there and will just have to come clean, admitting that the North isn't their problem. They are targeting China.

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Russian Flag

Russian military police begin patrols in Syria's Manbij area


RT
Tue, 08 Jan 2019 16:58 UTC
russian mps manbij
© Russian Defense Ministry
Russian military police have started to patrol the area around the city of Manbij in Syria's Aleppo governorate. The move follows Syrian government troops entering the area and is aimed at preventing hostilities.

The first patrol was performed by a Russian MP detachment on Tuesday. Footage from the scene shows the military policemen, in full combat gear, being briefed before the mission and then boarding their vehicles.


The video shows the column of several Tigr mobility vehicles and armored trucks driving through the area with their lights flashing. Locals flock to the road to greet the Russian servicemen. Several detachments of government troops can be seen as well as Syria's national flags.

"Today, we've begun to patrol the security zone in the area of the settlement of Manbij and its vicinity. The task is to ensure security in the area of responsibility, to control the situation and movements of armed units," MP spokesman Yusup Mamatov told reporters.

Comment: See also: While the Russians originally stated that the Syrian Army was in control of Manbij, they are not. Kurds still hold the city, and Syrian troops have not entered. But with Russian military police patrolling the area, the chances of a Turkish attack are practically nil. The Kurds can't complain. And negotiations with the government can proceed.

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Dollar Gold

Stacking the cards: British Big Business threatens capital flight 'worth at least $1 TRILLION' in event of no-deal Brexit

David Campbell
citywire.co.uk
Mon, 07 Jan 2019 14:47 UTC
city london
"We're outta here!"
Financial services firms plan to shift £800 billion in assets to the EU as Brexit looms, with more than a third of all companies pursuing plans to relocate operations outside the UK.

The report by EY found that 36% of all firms had publically confirmed or stated their intentions to move operations and staff inside the EU.

For universal and investment banks, wealth and asset managers and insurance business monitored in the consultancy's Financial Services Brexit Tracker, the proportion rose to 48% - or 68 out of 143 firms.

In addition, over half, or 56%, of the 48 universal banks, investment banks and brokerages surveyed said they are considering or confirmed they are moving operations or staff.

Comment: The City doing its bit to prevent Brexit.

A sound politician would say 'good riddance!' Financiers don't make things anyway.

Unfortunately, things being the way they are, these types have control of much of a country's capital, so politicians listen to them rather than what the overall population wants.

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House

UK military will carry out deconstruction work on part of Skripal's house - reports


Sputnik
Tue, 08 Jan 2019 12:08 UTC
Skripal house
© AP Photo / Frank Augstein
UK authorities have been conducting a decontamination operation in the Skripals' house ever since the former Russian spy and his daughter were allegedly poisoned with a nerve agent in March 2018. Russia suspects that the UK has been actively destroying evidence in the case the entire time.

Wiltshire Council has warned neighbours of poisoned Sergei Skripal that deconstruction work will be carried out at the former Russian spy's house and that this will last for up to four months, The Guardian reported, citing a letter from the council director of public of health, Tracy Daszkiewicz.

According to the letter, contractors will first construct a "sealed frame" around Skripal's house and the adjoined garage. After that, a team of military specialists will arrive at the site to remove the roofs of both the garage and the house.

"This phase includes the removal of the house roof and garage roof at No 47 [Christie Miller Road]. All materials will be wrapped and sealed on site before being removed safely from the premises", the letter reportedly said.

Comment: Just the roofs? It begs the question, what could possibly be in there that they are so concerned about if the story is the poison was on the door handle? See also:

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Attention

ANOTHER attack against AfD: German MP brutally beaten in "politically-motivated attempted assassination"


RT
Tue, 08 Jan 2019 02:50 UTC
Frank Magnitz
© (l) Global Look Press / Peter Hartenfelser; (r) Facebook / afd.hbAfD Bremen chairman and member of the German Bundestag, Frank Magnitz
The Bremen chairman of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Frank Magnitz, is battling for his life after sustaining a gaping wound to his head following an attack by three unknown assailants.

Magnitz was rushed to the hospital on Monday night after suffering a serious head injury following a "politically-motivated attempted assassination," Bremen AfD said in a statement, posting a graphic image of the injured chairman.

Armed with wooden sticks, the three men beat the politician repeatedly on the head and kicked him while he was already on the ground until a construction worker saw the assault and tried to intervene. According to the statement, the attack took place immediately after Magnitz left the New Year's reception near Bremen's Goetheplatz.

WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTO

Comment: Someone appears to be deliberately ratcheting up physical attacks against AfD: this comes just 3 days after a bomb exploded outside an AfD office in the eastern state of Saxony.

See also:

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Propaganda

Best of the Web: US fake news blames Russia in US diplomat attack in Cuba. Culprits were most likely crickets

Glenn Greenwald
The Intercept
Mon, 07 Jan 2019 11:32 UTC
NBC Fake news
NBC News and MSNBC specialize in repeating and disseminating what U.S intelligence officials tell them to say and then calling that servitude "reporting." Those two networks really are the all-but-official outlets for CIA messaging. And this status has led their brightest on-air stars to broadcast a series of extremely consequential stories that turned out to be humiliatingly wrong.

This stenographic and highly jingoistic practice of mindlessly reciting the whispered claims of anonymous "intelligence officials" is what notoriously led the New York Times and other leading U.S. media outlets to deceive the country into believing Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz's fairy tales about Iraqi WMDs and Jeffrey Goldberg's tales about Saddam's alliance with Al Qaeda.

But while many of those outlets apologized for that behavior and vowed to avoid it in the future, NBC and MSNBC have committed themselves to it with greater vigor than ever, as evidenced by the increasing prominence of their national security reporter Ken Dilanian, whose entire career has been defined by repeating what the CIA tells him to say - and has thus been plagued by one embarrassing false story after the next.

Comment: Western mainstream media outlets never let an opportunity to blame Russia for something go to waste, no matter how foolish it makes them look. See also:

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Arrow Down

California Governor Newsom vows "sanctuary to all who seek it" at inauguration


CBS local
Mon, 07 Jan 2019 15:40 UTC
gavin newsom
© CALmatters by Randy PenchGavin Newsom takes the reins of state government
California's new governor is promising the most populous state will be a "sanctuary to all who seek it" in a direct affront to President Donald Trump's immigration policies.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom challenged the Trump administration repeatedly as he was sworn in to office Monday, particularly on immigration.

The former San Francisco mayor became the state's 40th governor, succeeding the term-limited Jerry Brown.

"People's lives, freedom, security, the water we drink, the air we breathe - they all hang in the balance," Newsom, 51, told a crowd of hundreds packed into a tent outside the state Capitol.

Comment: The governor doesn't actually address how he plans to deal with the dire and long-standing homelessness issue while at the same time welcoming an apparently unlimited number of migrants in: Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: California Wildfires, Climate Change, And The Impossible Brexit

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