Puppet MastersS


Chess

As the domestic political noose tightens Trump walks back Syria pullout

Tom Luongo
Gold, Goats 'N Guns
Thu, 03 Jan 2019 00:00 UTC
Putin Trump
"Really, Donald?"
If anyone still thinks that Donald Trump has some master plan to kill off his Deep State adversaries they should check themselves into therapy. I know withdrawal is hard, but admitting you have a problem is the first step to curing it.

He doesn't have a plan. He may fight them but it won't be with any kind of master plan to trap them in some beautiful bit of political judo.

Frankly, Vladimir Putin he is not.

No, Trump is winging things at this point. While he still has the office he's trying to do some of the things he promised. Doing that may keep him in power for a few more months.

But with his walking back the timetable for pulling troops out of Syria after a visit from Lindsay Graham (R-MIC/AIPAC) should tell you all you need to know about Trump's willingness to stand up to the pressure he's under.

Comment: Well, we got to enjoy the Syria pull out story for a few days and now reality sets in: No matter who Trump fires, or what he announces to the world - or what his good intentions are - he will simply not be allowed to mess with the war party's plans for world subjugation and chaos.

See: Pompeo and Bolton go to Middle East to 'reassure' US allies

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Star of David

In the midst of gov't shutdown US Senate's first bill is a bipartisan defense of Israel from boycotts

Ryan Grim & Glenn Greenwald
The Intercept
Sun, 06 Jan 2019 16:09 UTC
Chuck Schumer
© Sipa USA via APChuck Schumer speaking at the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, DC on March 5, 2018
When each new Congress is gaveled into session, the chambers attach symbolic importance to the first piece of legislation to be considered. For that reason, it bears the lofty designation of H.R.1 in the House, and S.1 in the Senate.

In the newly controlled Democratic House, H.R.1 - meant to signal the new majority's priorities - is an anti-corruption bill that combines election and campaign finance reform, strengthening of voting rights, and matching public funds for small-dollar candidates. In the new 2017 Senate, the GOP-controlled S.1 was a bill, called the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act," that, among other provisions, cut various forms of corporate taxes.

But in the 2019 GOP-controlled Senate, the first bill to be considered - S.1 - is not designed to protect American workers, bolster U.S. companies, or address the various debates over border security and immigration. It's not a bill to open the government. Instead, according to multiple sources involved in the legislative process, S.1 will be a compendium containing a handful of foreign-policy related measures, a main one of which is a provision, with Florida's GOP Sen. Marco Rubio as a lead sponsor, to defend the Israeli government. The bill is a top legislative priority for AIPAC.

Comment: There may be no clearer example than the above of how 'Israel first' has somehow usurped 'America first' in the minds and actions of US politicians. That such policies are unconstitutional as legal experts have observed, has made not a whit of difference to the ideologically-hostaged shills, cronies, bribed and blackmailed puppets of the small Middle Eastern country.

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Briefcase

Arab League begins preparations to to readmit Syria


Sputnik
Sun, 06 Jan 2019 15:08 UTC
Arab league meetingin
© East News / Ahmed GomaaAn emergency meeting is held by foreign ministers of the Arab League in Cairo, Egypt, Jan. 15, 2015
The Arab League is preparing a resolution that will readmit Syria to the regional bloc and could begin discussions as early as this month, a diplomatic source from an Arab member state told Sputnik.

"The Arab League is working on a draft resolution to restore Syria's membership. It might be put up for debate at the Economic and Social Summit in Beirut," the source said.

Beirut will host the summit January 19-20. Lebanon's foreign minister has reportedly been lobbying member states to re-invite Syria after its membership was suspended, but a final decision has been put off until the next meeting in Tunisia.

Comment: Quite the turnaround from eight years ago.

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Black Magic

Mass psychosis and the Church of 'Humanitarian Interventionism' it spawned

David Penner
thesaker.is
Thu, 03 Jan 2019 01:59 UTC
skeleton salute us flag
© Jared Rodriguez/TruthoutZombie Politics
Ask any American liberal aged sixty-five and older what they think about Franco, Mussolini, or Hitler and they will vehemently denounce these men as tyrants, murderers, and despots. Ask them what they think about the Vietnam War and they will say it was a tragedy, not only for the Vietnamese, but for the poor American soldiers who were drafted and used as cannon fodder. Liberals also once defended the civil rights movement and the New Deal while vigorously opposing McCarthyism. That these same people would go on to support deunionization, resegregation, and Russophobia while enthusiastically backing barbarous wars and interventions in Yugoslavia, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine constitutes not only a betrayal of leftist principles, but is indicative of a rejection of reason and the reality-based world.

Like the proverbial general always fighting the last war, liberals remain trapped in the past, unable to adapt to rapidly unfolding kinetic developments. The problem is that not only is this general fighting the last war, this is a general that can no longer distinguish between right and left and has lost any semblance of a moral compass.
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Lemon

Pelosi to Security Secretary Neilsen at border briefing: 'I reject your facts'

Lukas Mikelionis
Fox News
Sun, 06 Jan 2019 01:18 UTC
neilsen pelosi
© Mark Wilson/Zach Gibson/Getty ImagesHomeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen (L)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (R)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen clashed during a border-security meeting.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen got into a tense confrontation this week, with the California Democrat interrupting Nielsen's presentation on border security and illegal immigration, telling her "I reject your facts."

The clash between the top House Democrat and a key member of President Trump's Cabinet occurred during a Wednesday meeting in the White House amid the impasse over the government shutdown, with Trump standing firm and demanding $5 billion for the border wall.

Comment:

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Attention

Pepe Escobar - Beijing's strategic mindset by a Chinese scholar

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Sat, 05 Jan 2019 03:58 UTC
Chinese President Xi Jinping reviews troops
© AFP/Anthony WallaceChinese President Xi Jinping reviews troops from a car during a military parade in Hong Kong on June 30, 2017. China's status in the world has changed under Xi and he's only just getting started.
The top story of 2019 - and the years ahead - will continue to revolve around the myriad, dangerous permutations of the economic ascent of China, the resurgence of nuclear superpower Russia and the decline of the US's global hegemony.

Two years ago, before the onset of the Trump administration, I sketched how the shadow play might proceed in the New Great Game in Eurasia.

Now the new game hits high gear; it's the US against the Russia-China strategic partnership.

Diplomatic capers, tactical retreats, psychological, economic, cyber and even outer space duels, all enveloped in media hysteria, will continue to rule the news cycle. Be prepared for all shades of carping about authoritarian China, and its "malign" association with an "illiberal" Russian bogeyman bent on blasting the borders of Europe and "disrupting" the Middle East.

Relatively sound minds like the political scientist Joseph Nye will continue to lament the sun setting on the Western liberal "order," without realizing that what was able to "secure and stabilize the world over the past seven decades" does not translate into a "strong consensus ... defending, deepening and extending this system." The Global South overwhelmingly begs to differ, arguing that the current "order" was manufactured and largely benefits only US interests.

Expect exceptionalists to operate in condescending overdrive, exhorting somewhat reluctant "allies" to help "constrain" if not contain China and "channel" - as in control - Beijing's increasing global clout.

It's a full-time job to "channel" China into finding its "right" place in a new world order. What does the Chinese intellectual elite really think about all this?
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Megaphone

'They hate Italians and must resign': Salvini attacks mayors resisting immigration rules


RT
Thu, 03 Jan 2019 22:45 UTC
Matteo Salvini
© Reuters / Remo CasilliItalian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini poses with SWAT police officers.
The times when mayors of Palermo, Florence and Naples could cash in on illegal immigrants are over, Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said, vowing that those resisting the new policies will answer before law and history.

"Those who help the illegal immigrants, hate Italians," Salvini said, blasting his opponents on Facebook and Twitter.

The minister from the conservative Lega Nord Party promised that the rebelling city heads will "answer before law and history." And it's no idle threat, as the former mayor of the Calabrian town of Riace is currently under house arrest on charges of aiding and abetting illegal immigration.

"Certain mayors look back fondly on the good old times of immigration, but for them the party is over!" Salvini said.

By "certain mayors" he meant the heads of Palermo, Florence and Naples, who he gave the choice of resigning from their posts.

Comment: Considering Salvini's policies were voted for by the majority of Italians, those mayors refusing to comply may soon find themselves rather unpopular.

See also: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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Moon

Finian Cunningham: Why China's over the moon

Finian Cunningham
Sputnik
Sat, 05 Jan 2019 15:37 UTC
china moon landing
China has not just made an historic landing on the moon. It has also given notice that the country is set to become a global leader in technology and science. And it is proving American trade disputes for the envious vandalism that they really are.

Earlier this week, China's national space agency celebrated the new year with a successful touchdown of an unmanned lunar probe. But unlike previous lunar landings by the United States and Russia, the Chang'e-4 module was able to navigate to the far side of the moon.

The so-called dark side of the moon - which never faces planet Earth - presents unique technical challenges because of communication problems. But the Chinese have done it. And the achievement is being hailed as "a new chapter in space exploration".

Comment: China and Russia are forging the way for a multi-polar world and they're earning their place in it: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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X

Pentagon looking to extend military presence at border

Richard Sisk
Military.com
Thu, 03 Jan 2019 21:56 UTC
Border US military
© US Air Force/Airman First Class Daniel A. HernandezSoldiers from various Engineering Units install concertina wire Nov. 5, 2018, on the Anzalduas International Bridge, Texas.
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told President Donald Trump on Wednesday that the military is planning border security enhancements, suggesting that the deployment of active- duty troops to backstop Customs and Border Protection (CBP) could be extended past the Jan. 31 deadline.

"We're doing additional planning to strengthen the support that we're providing to Kirstjen and her team," Shanahan said in a reference to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

"We've been very, very closely coupled with Kirstjen," he said in brief remarks at a White House Cabinet meeting presided over by the president. "The collaboration has been seamless."
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USA

US court upholds Trump restrictions on people with gender dysphoria in military


Reuters
Fri, 04 Jan 2019 22:30 UTC
US soldiers
© CC BY 2.0 / Expert Infantry / US soldiers
A U.S. court on Friday ruled in favor of a Trump administration policy barring certain transgender people from serving in the U.S. armed forces, handing the president his first legal victory on the issue after several defeats.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned a decision by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that blocked the policy, saying it likely violates the constitutional rights of transgender recruits and service members.

President Donald Trump announced in March that he would endorse a plan by former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to restrict the military service of transgender people who experience a condition called gender dysphoria.
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