Puppet MastersS


Question

To Be Determined: Is the US to become a rogue state?

Michael Krieger
checkpointinasia.net
Thu, 10 May 2018 00:00 UTC
torn US flag
© BAJC.com
If all other countries stay in the Iran nuclear agreement the US will be even more isolated than in 2003's invasion of Iraq

Let me cut to the chase. Every single world leader knows Trump's full of s**t. Even more importantly, the citizens of their nations also know it. Everyone with a functioning brain understands that pulling out of the Iran deal has nothing to do with terrorism, nuclear bombs or any other fairytale propagated by U.S. neocons. This is simply about the existence of a non-U.S. client state in a key strategic region sitting on massive oil reserves. It's about empire - global games of power and money fueled by a desperate attempt to hold on to a unipolar world where the U.S. bosses everyone around.

A global empire will keep pushing and pushing until something snaps. The leaders of empire become convinced of their invincibility right before the end, and the U.S. is no different. Given the rise of China economically and militarily, as well as Russia exerting its influence in Syria, the writing's already on the wall as far as where the world's headed. Towards a multi-polar planet in which the U.S. will still have influence, but far less than it's enjoyed since WW2. While shifts are already well underway beneath the radar, American leadership refuses to admit it. A serious decline of U.S. global power as a result of major mistakes related to Iran will begin to play out publicly from here.

Comment: And, who has infiltrated the US government, buys its loyalty, controls its media, dictates its policy, and changes its laws? The same state that would be delighted that the USA has only one blood-sucking, 'til death do us part' ally.

Read More...
Snakes in Suits

It's a miracle! Macron and Merkel discover concept of sovereignty - Are Europe's leaders joining the reality-based community?

Frank Sellers
The Duran
Fri, 11 May 2018 10:34 UTC
MerkelMacron
© South China Morning PostGerman Chancellor Merkel • French President Macron
After traveling to Washington to convince US President Donald Trump to preserve the JCPOA Iran nuclear deal, and then watching Trump so casually disregarding not just America's own international credibility but the interests of his European allies, who have invested so much actual and political capital into the Iran deal, French President Emmanuel Macron, following his reception of the Charlemagne prize, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have both condemned Trump's maneuver while emphasizing the manner in which this demonstrates the need for Europe to confidently stand up for its own interests:
"If we accept that other major powers, including allies... put themselves in a situation to decide our diplomacy, security for us, and sometimes even make us run the worst risks, then we are not more sovereign and we cannot be more credible to public opinion," Macron said, in a clear attack against Trump's decision to quit the hard-fought Iran accord.

But Macron urged Europeans to stand up against diktats from abroad. "Don't be weak," said the 40-year-old president.

"We need to choose, build, speak with all so as to construct our own sovereignty that will be the guarantor of stability in (the Middle East)."

Comment: In one sense, the US' exit from the Iran deal has emboldened European powers to distance themselves from US influence and seek a more self-sufficient platform. For the US, the plus side could be a 'lifted weight'. Has Israel calculated/plotted this trend?

Read More...
Attention

UN nuclear watchdog chief inspector suddenly quits, speculations arise


RT
Sat, 12 May 2018 02:31 UTC
Reza Najafi, Tero Varjoranta
© Leonhard Foeger/ReutersIran ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Reza Najafi (L) and Tero Varjoranta, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Safeguards
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief of inspections Tero Varjoranta has announced his resignation three days after the US pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal. The official did not provide any reason for his departure.

Varjoranta was serving as the head of the agency's Department of Safeguards, tasked with determining whether countries that are party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) abide by the agreement.

The Finnish-born official took the job in October 2013 and was also a deputy director general of IAEA, which, during his tenure, repeatedly asserted Iran's compliance with the landmark nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The accord, which was struck between five UN Security Council members plus Germany and Iran, received a huge blow on Tuesday when US President Donald Trump, a long-time critic of the deal, announced the US' withdrawal and the reinstatement of economic sanctions on Iran.

Varjoranta has been temporarily replaced by the acting director of the Agency's Office for Verification in Iran, Massimo Aparo, with the IAEA spokesperson stating that "the agency's safeguards activities will continue to be carried out in a highly professional manner."

Asked about the cause of Varjoranta's abrupt resignation, the official said that "the agency cannot comment on personal matters, which are confidential."

Comment: As stated, the pullout of the Iran deal by the US could rebound into a positive effect for Iran. But, having now given up all negotiating power, what are the chances the US and Israel remain on the sidelines, given Israel's only option to further its agenda is war?

Read More...
Snakes in Suits

Remember that time Bolton promised regime change in Iran before 2019?

Caitlin Johnstone
caitlinjohnstone.com
Thu, 10 May 2018 00:00 UTC
John Bolton
© thedrive.comNational Security Advisor John Bolton
In July of last year neoconservative death cultist John Bolton, now the National Security Advisor of the United States, gave a speech at the Grand Gathering of Iranians for Free Iran in which he openly called for regime change in Tehran.

Bolton, who is so stupid, crazy and evil that he remains one of the only high-profile individuals on this planet who still insists that the Iraq invasion was a great idea, spoke about the need to prevent the Iranian government from achieving "an arc of control" through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. He decried the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), claiming that Iran was still a nuclear threat under the existing agreement, and spoke glowingly of aggressive sanctions against Tehran. He concluded his speech with the following statement:
"There is a viable opposition to the rule of the ayatollahs, and that opposition is centered in this room today. I had said for over 10 years since coming to these events, that the declared policy of the United States of America should be the overthrow of the mullahs' regime in Tehran. The behavior and the objectives of the regime are not going to change, and therefore the only solution is to change the regime itself. And that's why, before 2019, we here will celebrate in Tehran!"
Whoa there, Grandpa Clusterbomb. Back up a bit.


Comment: The US/Israel grand scheme is being unfolded without diligent scrutiny or consent by politicians or the public. The cadre of hawks now flocking to the administration has more than tipped the scales towards a conflagration with Iran and its allies. A possible point of no return?

Read More...
Arrow Up

Flashback That makes two against the EU: Hungary PM Orban visits Poland

Paul Flückiger
Deutsche Welle
Thu, 21 Sep 2017 00:00 UTC
Sdyzlo and Orban
© Pacific Press Agency/RatzPolish Deputy Prime Minister Beata Szydlo • Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban
Poland and Hungary are fighting against refugee redistribution, despite a clear ruling from the EU's highest court. Poland's right-wing government has copied many of its recent anti-democratic measures from Hungary.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is slated to visit Warsaw on Friday. Officially, he is returning Polish counterpart Beata Szydlo's state visit to Budapest in February 2015, but the two government leaders have already met several times since then. The Polish and Hungarian governments are now coordinating their European policies.

The meeting on Friday is about the "pressure of the European Commission on our two countries," according to a brief statement issued by Szydlo's office. Orban and Szydlo will meet again before the upcoming elections in Germany, as both countries expect that Angela Merkel will remain chancellor. The two leaders have tirelessly criticized the alleged German hegemony in the EU and Berlin's role in the refugee crisis.

Comment: For right or wrong, two against the tide.

Read More...
Airplane

Canadian govt launches official complaint to US after TSA insists Sikh minister remove his turban

Steve Dellar
The Goldwater
Fri, 11 May 2018 19:48 UTC
Navdeep Bains
A minister of the Canadian Cabinet claims he was discriminated against during a TSA check at Detroit's airport. The treatment of Mr Navdeep Bains, who is a Sikh and thus wears a turban, caused Canada to launch an official complaint to the US government.

The minister for innovation, science and economic development told officials he was asked to remove his turban at Detroit Metro Airport when travelling back to Canada. He said that "the experience made me uncomfortable," claiming the security agents were "very insistent and very difficult."

For him, the fact that they asked to remove his turban was akin to "being asked to take off my clothes."

Read More...
Propaganda

Turkish state media enters the swamp of incitement over Syria

John Wight
Sputnik
Tue, 08 May 2018 13:19 UTC
eye mural
© trtworld.com/Getty Images/KJN
When journalism crosses the line from an analysis, even polemic, into incitement - and worse, incitement against other journalists - it marks a serious and sinister degeneration. It also says much about the morals and ethics of a media organization that would countenance publishing such material.

Step forward Turkish state media outfit TRT World.

In an article by TRT contributor Sam Hamad - 'The alternate reality that enables genocide in Syria' - journalists who dare challenge the regime change propaganda of Western governments and their loyal media are vilified as latter-day Nazi war criminals. Not only that, Mr. Hamad makes clear the implication that on those grounds, the execution of said journalists is justified.

Mr. Hamad writes:
"From the very beginning of the Syrian war, there has been a tendency among a certain milieu of writers, academics, journalists and politicians to use the non-existent threat of a western war of "regime change" against Assad to support and justify the genocidal cause of Assad and his allies."
Even a cursory reading of this passage confirms that it is the author rather than the subjects of his vilification who has embraced the alternate reality he avers in the title of his piece. The 'non-existent threat of regime change' in Syria Mr. Hamad asserts is contradicted by the facts. Western efforts to effect regime change in Syria, working through and in conjunction with regional allies such as the Saudis, is a matter of record. The CIA's Operation Timber Sycamore, signed off by the Obama administration around 2012-13, and ended by Trump in 2017, leaves no doubt of it.

Comment: Points in refute have validity. Sam Hamad is a delusioned Scottish-Egyptian writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Read More...
Caesar

Haaretz: Putin Giving Israel a Free Hand Against Iran in Syria, But Will He Soon Have to Pick a Side?

Anshel Pfeffer
Haaretz
Sat, 12 May 2018 19:12 UTC
Moscow is content to maintain a balance between the two sides - leaving Iran's forces in Syria while allowing Israel to bomb them - as long as its achievement of saving the Assad regime is not endangered
putin netanyahu
Keep your friends close... Putin and Netanyahu at the 73rd anniversary Victory Day parade in Moscow, 9 May 2018
It wasn't just another of Benjamin Netanyahu's periodic visits to confer with Vladimir Putin in one of the Russian president's palatial residences. This time, in addition to the closed meetings, translated by Russian-speaking Environmental Protection Minister Zeev Elkin and attended by intelligence and military chiefs from both sides, the two leaders stood side-by-side under a Moscow spring sun. On one of the most important dates in the Russian calendar, May 9 - Victory Day, Netanyahu was Putin's personal guest at the annual military parade celebrating the end of World War II.

It was a powerful reminder of how Israel and Russia have built their strategic ties in recent years, achieving if not quite an alliance, then an exceptional and unprecedented level of coordination. It also testified to the geopolitical understandings that Netanyahu and Putin share.

Comment: Pfeffer is pretty much right, until the last sentence. The rules of engagement in Syria have been fairly clear, as have the parameters of the Russian mission there. Russia is not in Syria to protect Hezbollah or Iranian advisers. It is there to assist in fighting the Western-backed terrorists that threatened to overthrow the legal government, and that threatened Russia by virtue of the fact that the thousands of Russian and Central Asian jihadis could turn towards Russia after destroying Syria.

Russia does not respond when Israel targets Hezbollah "convoys". And it hasn't responded to Israeli targeting of Syrian military infrastructure (and alleged Iranian infrastructure). In such cases, Russian servicemen were not in danger.

But there is only so much Israel can do. No doubt there are targets that are strictly off limits, by virtue of Russian presence there.

The idea that Russia will have to pick a side is wishful thinking. Most likely, it is Israel that will have to choose a side, like the Europeans are having to do vis-a-vis the U.S. and the Iran deal.

Read More...
Gift 3

Still no evidence of Iranian military in Syria, but defeated 'rebels' just handed over enormous trove of Israeli-made weapons to Damascus


RT
Sat, 12 May 2018 00:22 UTC
Rebel weapons
© Saba/YouTubeWeapons handed over by rebels in southern Damascus area.
Israeli-made landmines were found in a large trove of medium and heavy weapons handed over by rebels in southern Damascus, Syria's state media reported. Damascus has repeatedly accused Tel Aviv of aiding militants.

As the Syrian army is driving out the last remaining terrorists from the southern outskirts of Damascus, those who refuse to completely lay down their arms and surrender are being evacuated to rebel-controlled parts of northern Syria, mainly Idlib. As part of the deal with the Syrian authorities, militants are leaving behind medium and heavy weapons.

Ahead of the evacuation in the towns of Yelda, Babila and Beit Sahem, militants relinquished hundreds of weapons and munitions, including mortar launchers, machine guns, rocket and mortar shells, gunpowder, precursors for home-made explosives, as well as Israeli-made landmines, SANA, which posted a video of the armaments, reported.

Comment: Who then creates and supports terrorists? Not Iran.

Read More...
Wine

Crooked Hillary: Clinton attends another event with massive scarf to cover up what seems to be a back brace

Emily Crane
Daily Mail, UK
Sat, 12 May 2018 19:14 UTC
clinton back
Hillary Clinton has donned yet another massive scarf during an appearance in Australia after earlier photos indicated she might be trying to hide a back brace.

The 70-year-old draped the $1,100 patterned Hermes cashmere blend shawl around her shoulders when she met with Australian former Prime Minister Julia Gillard in Melbourne on Thursday.

Her scarf was tied high around her neck and covered the top of her navy blue jacket.

It comes after social media users pointed out earlier in the week that Clinton was mostly likely opting for the style choice to hide a possible back brace.

She was photographed coming out of her daughter Chelsea's apartment in New York last week with a strange protrusion coming from underneath her jacket.

Comment: Has Trump's metaphorical nickname for the Kill-bot become literal?

Read More...