Puppet MastersS


Bullseye

Foreign Office orders investigation into reports a state-funded body targeted Corbyn

Peter Walker
The Guardian
Mon, 10 Dec 2018 03:22 UTC
JCorbyn
© ReutersLabour Leader Jeremy Corbyn
The Foreign Office minister, Alan Duncan, has ordered an investigation into reports the government provided funding to a Scottish-based company meant to counter online Russian propaganda, which also spread unfavourable views about Jeremy Corbyn.

The Institute for Statecraft, based in Fife, received hundreds of thousands of pounds in Foreign Office money.

According to the Sunday Mail, leaked documents show it tried to promote tweets calling the Labour leader a "useful idiot" who helped the Kremlin cause, and attacked members of his staff.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Duncan said he had learned about the allegations at the weekend and ordered an immediate investigation.
"I don't know the facts but if there is any kind of organisation for which we are paying which is involved in domestic politics in that way, I would totally condemn it, and I have already over the weekend asked for a report to be on my desk by 10 o'clock this morning to say if there is any such activity," he said.
Asked if this meant anti-Labour attacks by Statecraft must stop, Duncan said: "Not only must it stop, I want to know why on earth it happened in the first place."

Duncan has previously responded to a parliamentary written question on the subject. His answer showed that in the 2017-18 financial year the Foreign Office funded the Institute for Statecraft's Integrity Initiative with £296,500. This financial year, the sum was due rise to £1,961,000, the answer said.

Comment: See also: Secret Scottish-based office led infowars attack on Labour and Jeremy Corbyn

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Bullseye

US sanctions three N. Korean officials alleging human rights abuses


Reuters
Mon, 10 Dec 2018 01:03 UTC
Kim and Choe
© APChoe Ryong-hae • Kim Jong-un
The United States said on Monday it had sanctioned three North Korean officials, including a top aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, for serious human rights abuses and censorship.

The U.S. Treasury named the men as Ryong Hae Choe, an aide close to Kim who leads the Workers' Party of Korea Organization and Guidance Department; State Security Minister Kyong Thaek Jong; and Propaganda and Agitation Department head Kwang Ho Pak.

It was not clear whether the decision to sanction the three men was related to U.S.-North Korean nuclear diplomacy, which has made little obvious progress since Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump met in Singapore in June.

The sanctions, which freeze any assets the officials may have under U.S. jurisdiction and generally bar them from transactions with anyone in the United States, were announced as the U.S. State Department released a six-monthly report on North Korean abuses.

"Human rights abuses in North Korea remain among the worst in the world and include extrajudicial killings, forced labor, torture, prolonged arbitrary detention, rape, forced abortions, and other sexual violence," State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement accompanying the report.

North Korea has repeatedly rejected accusations of human rights abuses and blames sanctions for a dire humanitarian situation. Pyongyang has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006 over its ballistic missiles and nuclear programs.

Comment: The US' one-trick leverage.

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Cookie

Understatement of the year: Ukraine a 'problem for European security' sez Greek diplomat


RT
Mon, 10 Dec 2018 21:24 UTC
Porchenkoguysplane
© REUTERS/Gleb GaranichUkraine's President Petro Poroshenko addresses servicemen at an airforce base near Zhytomyr, Ukraine, on December 6, 2018.
Kiev's belligerent policies pose a "constant" security threat to Europe, Greece's alternate foreign minister said, adding that the last thing Europe needs is another "hotspot of tension."

"It is true that Ukraine is a constant problem for the European Security System," George Katrougalos told the Greek Kokkino radio broadcaster when asked to comment on the recent maritime incident in the Black Sea when a group of Ukrainian ships illegally crossed into the Russian territorial waters. He added that "the last thing that we need is another hotspot of tension ... at the heart [of Europe]" and vowed to raise this issue at a meeting of the EU foreign ministers.

The minister also referred to Ukraine as a "troubled and complicated" area, adding that the crisis there could be resolved only through "respect for the international law" and "belief that [all the] differences can be resolved only through dialog." He then called for the implementation of the Minsk Agreements by saying that the accords provide all the necessary "political steps to bring the situation back to normal."

Comment: The caliber and actions of the Ukrainian government is traceable to the dictates of its 'mentors'.

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Mail

Moscow ready to release correspondence with US on alleged Russian election meddling


RT
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 19:58 UTC
computer, typing, hacking
© Sputnik / Kirill Kalinnikov
Russia is prepared to declassify all correspondences with the US related to alleged meddling in the American presidential election in 2016, according to a senior official of the Cyber Threats Response Center.

"We are ready to make public all correspondence if the US side gives its consent to it," Nikolai Murashov, deputy director of the FSB-run CTRC, told reporters on Tuesday. These files are now classified, he said.
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Magnify

WADA officers launch planned inspection of Russian anti-doping agency


RT
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 19:50 UTC
Russian anti-doping agency
© Sputnik / Evgeni OdinokovRussian anti-doping agency
World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) officers have arrived in Moscow to conduct a planned audit of the Russian anti-doping body, which was reinstated in September following a three-year suspension.

The anti-doping officials are expected to spend several days in Russia before making a detailed report on RUSADA's progress, including imperfections which should be corrected by the Russian authorities.
"WADA auditors visit is being held in full compliance with RUSADA road map," RUSADA Deputy Chief Margarita Pakhnotskaya was quoted as saying by TASS.

"They have already started working (in Moscow). During four months after RUSADA's reinstatement WADA should conduct detailed inspection of all departments. The auditors will not give any assessments right after the check, they will just compile a report on the work they will do."
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Quenelle - Golden

Obsession with penetrating everything: US Air Force conducts drill simulating 'forcible backdoor entry'


RT
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 19:30 UTC
paratroopers
© Reuters / Tami ChappellFILE PHOTO
A "conga line" of over 10 transport aircraft startled aviation fans during the US military's annual "Joint Forcible Entry Exercise" in the skies of Nevada.


Comment: Sounds 'sexy' (if that's your kind of thing).


Noticing the large line of C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster III aircraft carriers prepared for take off at the Dyess Air Force base in Texas early Sunday morning, some aviation fans on Twitter became understandably worried.

Comment: Of course. Why would the US military even bother conducting drills to defend the US from invasion - it hasn't been invaded since 1812.

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Bad Guys

Thierry Meyssan: Who owns Macron?

Thierry Meyssan
Voltaire.org
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 17:04 UTC
macron
© InconnuLe président Macron
President Macron is often presented as a Rothschild Boy. This is true, but secondary. Thierry Meyssan demonstrates that he owes his electoral campaign mostly to Henry Kravis, the boss of one of the world's largest financial companies, and to NATO - a considerable debt which weighs heavily today on the solution to the Yellow Vests crisis.

Emmanuel Macron did not feel destined for a career in politics. As a young man, he hoped to become a philosopher, then a senior civil servant, then a business banker. To help him on his way, he frequented Uncle Sam's fairy godmothers - the French-American Foundation and the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

It was in this milieu that he met Henry and Marie-Josée Kravis, in their residence on Park Avenue in New York [1]. The Kravis couple, unfailing supporters of the US Republican Party, are among the great world fortunes who play politics out of sight of the Press. Their company, KKR, like Blackstone and the Carlyle Group, is one of the world's major investment funds.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Révolution Jaune? France Revolts Against Macron

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Jet5

Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers arrive in Venezuela after 10,000km transatlantic flight, Pompeo throws a hissy fit


RT
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 02:15 UTC
Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers land in Venezuela
Venezuela has welcomed the arrival of Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers as an opportunity to demonstrate its resolve to defend the nation against possible foreign military intervention, with the help of "friends" if need be.

Two Tu-160 strategic bombers made a gracious landing at Simón Bolívar International Airport on Monday where they were greeted by the honor guard of the Venezuelan air force. Wearing orange pilot suits and combat helmets, Russian servicemen descended onto the runway where they were eager to present their colleagues with a scaled model of the 'White Swan' bomber, which they had just flown over 10,000 kilometers to reach the Caribbean shores in order to take part in "combined operational flights" with the Venezuelan Air Force.
We are getting prepared to defend Venezuela when it is needed.
And Venezuela "will do it with our friends who advocate respect-based relations between states," Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said after the two bombers, together with An-124 transport and an Il-62 plane, landed in Venezuela.


Comment: No doubt this strengthening of Venezuelan defenses has thrown much of Washington's regime-changers into the throes of anger; Maduro's government will now be that much more difficult to topple - and all because of a Russian-Venezuelan alliance no less!

Of course the hegemonic clique can't say this, so they have to lash out by pretending to take the moral high ground in laughably hypocritical fashion. From RT:
A tweet posted by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemning the landing of two Russian bombers in Venezuela as a "squandering" of public money, has quickly backfired, with many eager to point out some glaring hypocrisies.

Russia sent the two Tu-160 strategic bombers on the 10,000km trip to land at Simón Bolívar International Airport on Monday in a show of support for the government of President Nicolas Maduro, which has repeatedly expressed concerns that the US is trying to topple it.


Maduro on Sunday warned of an effort "directly coordinated from the White House to disturb democratic life in Venezuela" and a possible "coup" against the government.

Pompeo eagerly denounced Russia for sending the bombers "halfway around the world," writing that it amounted to "two corrupt governments squandering public funds, and squelching liberty and freedom while their people suffer."

But the responses to the tweet were probably not quite what Pompeo anticipated, with many noting that the US has been known to send its own bombers around the world without much consideration for national boundaries and international law.





Others pointed out that the US not only sends its own bombers wherever it wants but actually has hundreds of bases for them all over the world.


Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov had a few choice words for Pompeo as well:
Mike Pompeo is in no position to claim that sending two strategic bombers to Venezuela was a "squandering" of public funds, Moscow countered, saying half of the US military budget is enough "to support all of Africa."

The US Secretary of State produced a lengthy tirade on Twitter on Tuesday, claiming the arrival of two Russian Tu-160 bombers was an example of "two corrupt governments squandering public funds, and squelching liberty and freedom while their people suffer." Later in the day, the remark was met with a sharp rebuke from the Kremlin.

"This is indeed very undiplomatic," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, adding, "we think it was an utterly inappropriate comment." US President Donald Trump might "give his own assessment" of Pompeo's statement as he did in the past, he said.

Saying that, Peskov made a veiled reference to President Trump's inflammatory tweet in which he accused Rex Tillerson, Pompeo's predecessor, of lacking the "mental capacity" to do his job. "He was dumb as a rock and I couldn't get rid of him fast enough. He was lazy as hell," Trump tweeted.

"As far as the 'squandering' is concerned, we don't agree with that," Peskov stated, noting that half of the bulky US military budget "would be enough to support all of Africa."

[...]

That aside, it has recently emerged that Donald Trump has committed to a $750bn military budget, despite earlier labeling the $716bn previously allocated for defense 'crazy'.

Above all, the mammoth US military budget has long been the largest in the world. According to the reputed Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), it dwarfs the defense expenditure of Russia, China, India, the UK, France, and Germany combined.
Watch a good summation of the whole story:


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Gold Coins

Gold on the rise: Russia boosts year-on-year output by 3%


RT
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 17:32 UTC
gold
© Sputnik / Pavel Lisitsyn
Russia's gold production increased by three percent from January through September against the same period a year ago, according to the Gold Industrialists' Union.

Gold output reached 243,000 kilograms, the data from the Moscow-based group showed. The significant boost was reportedly due to increased volumes of ore processing in several of the country's gold mines, including Olimpiada, the Blagodatnoe gold-sulfide deposit, the Verninskoe and Kuranakh mines, as well as others.

Production of high karat gold saw a two-percent increase, while by-product gold output was reduced by 13 percent. Scrap gold production declined by four percent. Output of the precious metal from derived products saw an enormous increase of 57 percent.
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Vader

Latest satellite images shows hundreds of Russian tanks amassing on Ukraine border in answer to Ukraine (NATO) saber-rattling

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 17:05 UTC
Russian tanks Ukraine border
© Tyler DurdenSatellite imagery from Google Earth taken on November shows hundreds of Russian main battle tanks at a new military base on the outskirts of the Kamensk-Shakhtinsky.
Ukraine's president has recently warned Russian tanks are amassing along the border between the two countries amid increasing tensions. The comments came late last month after three Ukrainian naval boats were seized in the Kerch Strait by Russia.

President Petro Poroshenko has allegedly shown images of what he claims to be hundreds of tanks preparing for an invasion.

Comment: Poroshenko has aligned himself with Russia's foes, and now complains about the consequences. Any build-up of Russian military within its own border has come as an answer to previous NATO moves. It's an attempt to provoke Russia into the war NATO so badly wants.

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