Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

The Atlantic Council's take on Saudi war games

Atlantic Council
Frederick Kempe
Sun, 25 Nov 2018 00:00 UTC
Trump Salman Kushner
© Reuters/Jonathan ErnstUS President Donald J. Trump, accompanied by White House senior advisor Jared Kushner, met with Saudi Arabia’s then Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 20, 2017.
Even in a region that specializes in nightmare scenarios, the "war game" below got my attention because it falls within the realm of the possible and the horrible.

What makes it even more explosive is the context. The toxic aftermath of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder has got allies feuding, adversaries scheming and competitors jockeying for influence among Muslims globally.

One possible outcome in the below scenario is the worst regional war the Middle East has seen. Another could be a historic rupture in US relations with Saudi Arabia.

A Middle Eastern government analyst, when asked what risk keeps him awake at night, frames the scenario this way:

Comment: The Atlantic Council has been NATO's 'diplomatic' catalyst for war for a long time. Many are now recognizing the Atlantic Council's rank hypocrisy and for what it is:











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No Entry

Ukraine says only its citizens will be allowed entry to Crimea


RFE/RL
Thu, 29 Nov 2018 16:41 UTC
poroshenko
© ReutersUkrainian President Petro Poroshenko
Ukraine's border service has said that it will only allow Ukrainian citizens to travel to Crimea following the imposition of martial law.

Kyiv imposed martial law in 10 of its 27 regions for 30 days on November 28 after Russian forces fired on Ukrainian ships and seized 23 sailors in the Black Sea off the coast of the Russian-controlled Crimean Peninsula.

"In connection with the introduction of martial law, the administrative border with temporarily occupied Crimea can be crossed exclusively with Ukrainian documents," a spokesman said on November 29.

Citizens from all nations were previously allowed to enter Crimea through the administrative border via mainland Ukraine. But the process for doing so for non-Ukrainians was fraught with bureaucracy.
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Bomb

6 dead, including Briton, in attack on British security firm G4S compound in Kabul

Ben Farmer and Gianluca Avagnina
UK Telegraph
Thu, 29 Nov 2018 17:23 UTC
kabul crater
© Reuters
A Briton was killed and several wounded in a Taliban assault on the compound of a UK security company that left six dead.

A car bomb outside the G4S compound in east Kabul was followed up by attackers on foot who managed to get inside the building.

Five of the company's staff were among the dead, including a Briton and four Afghans, in an attack claimed by Taliban insurgents.

Several hundred people are understood to have taken refuge in bunkers as Afghan army commandos spent hours trying to clear the compound of attackers.

Local television footage showed a huge crater and widespread damage to buildings after the attack which struck on Wednesday evening.

G4S said another 32 staff were injured in what it called an "unprovoked, criminal attack".

Comment: See also:

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Star of David

Netanyahu's answer to anti-Semitism: Israel and the IDF


Times of Israel
Wed, 28 Nov 2018 17:15 UTC
Netanyahu loco
© Desconocido
At a major training exercise of the Israeli military's brigade-level elite Commando Formation on Tuesday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's military prowess was the Jews' "best answer" to anti-Semitism.

Netanyahu's comments followed the publication Monday of a poll by CNN that showed over 20 percent of Europeans believe Jews have "too much influence" across the world.

"The best answer to anti-Semitism is the State of Israel and the Israel Defense Forces," Netanyahu, who has also been serving as defense minister since the resignation earlier this month of Avigdor Liberman, told the soldiers. "Once we were a leaf driven by the wind; they could slaughter us. Today, we have the power to respond."


Comment: How victims of monsters become monsters themselves... Israel doesn't just 'respond', it actively slaughters: men, women, children, journalists, photographers, medics... It also supports monsters like ISIS and al-Qaeda to serve its own interests. Not exactly a model for combatting racism.


Netanyahu's visit coincided with a 10-day training exercise the brigade is conducting throughout the country, practicing its responses to various complex attack scenarios against Israel and Israeli civilians by different enemies.
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Jet3

The carnage continues in Deir ez-Zor: US-led coalition air strike kills 6 civilians


Sputnik
Thu, 29 Nov 2018 16:16 UTC
US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet
© Reuters / U.S. Air Force/Senior Airman Matthew BruchUS Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles are designed to conduct airstrikes in Syria and Iraq
The US-led coalition has yet to comment on the Syrian media reports, while earlier it admitted targeting the area in its operations in the country.

Syrian media has reported that the US-led coalition airstrike on the town of Hajin in the Deir ez-Zor province has left at least 6 casualties.

According to the the Ikhbariya television channel, there are also injured people as a result of the strike, while their number remains unknown.

Comment: For having the reputation of the most technically-advanced military in the world, the US has a dismal record of limiting civilian deaths in its operations. Or maybe there's a larger plan?

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Eye 2

Fmr Ukrainian general: Kiev hoped its sailors would be killed in the Kerch Strait

Translated by Ollie Richardson & Angelina Siard
Stalker Zone
Thu, 29 Nov 2018 15:52 UTC
Nikolay Malomuzh
© Politeka/ScreenshotFormer head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine General Nikolay Malomuzh
A Ukrainian General said that Kiev "set up" its sailors in a situation that involved violating the border in the Kerch Strait. The political scientist Rostislav Ishchenko is sure that this is true. He shared his opinion with Radio Sputnik.

The sailors who violated the border of Russia in the Kerch Strait and were detained by the border service of the FSB were "set up" by the authorities in Kiev, stated the former head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine General Nikolay Malomuzh in an interview to the "Politeka" website. According to him, the ships of the Naval Forces of Ukraine came on territory that is controlled by Russia, and events could unfold in only one way - the detention of the violators with the use of weapons.

Comment: It should surprise no one that the West was able to push Poroshenko into such a reckless action. The Western neocons have been spoiling for a war with Russia for decades. From overt provocations in Syria, fomenting a coup in Ukraine, undermining Russian pipeline deals in Europe, the list is endless. Only the cool, level-headed responses from Putin and his team have prevented events from boiling over.

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Attention

Delusional 'Sun King' Macron gives feeble speech amid angry fuel tax protests

Tracy McNicoll
France24
Tue, 27 Nov 2018 14:44 UTC
yellow vest protest france
© Agence France-Presse/Georges Gobet"Yellow vest" protesters have been demonstrating around France against fuel taxes.
Emmanuel Macron's highly anticipated speech on transitioning his country's energy mix was always going to be a delicate balancing act. But in striking a conciliatory tone, the French president hardly appears to have enchanted anyone.

The French leader is walking a tightrope between keeping his showy pledge to "Make Our Planet Great Again", making good on his country's Paris Climate Agreement leadership, and calming the self-styled "yellow vests", an amorphous movement that argues that Macron's eco-minded fuel-tax hikes punish working-class consumers outside urban centres first and foremost.

Comment: Globalist Macron's rule-by-fiat style is wearing thin with French citizens. His belated attempt to appear reasonable seem to be falling flat too.
Massive 'Yellow Vest' protests over fuel price hikes, which have swarmed the streets of French cities for almost two weeks, have the support of about two thirds of the French, a new poll shows.

Protests turned violent with rioters setting barricades ablaze and police unleashing tear gas and water cannon at the demonstrators. Some scenes, especially in the heart of Paris, looked like a warzone. The rallies were triggered not only by rising fuel prices, but also President Emmanuel Macron and his unpopular efforts to overhaul France.

It turns out that people across France strongly support the upheaval, a new OpinionWay poll showed. The survey asked over 1000 people and 66 percent answered that they stand for the protesters.

The poll was conducted on Tuesday when Macron addressed the demonstrators, offering them minor concessions. They included a three-month consultation with associations that lead the protests and a proposal of a mechanism to adjust tax hikes. He, however, refused to scrap the rise in fuel taxes on diesel and petrol which are due to come into force in January 2019.

The speech angered at least 76 percent of the respondents who called his measures "wholly" or "mostly insufficient," the survey showed. Nearly 80 percent still oppose the planned fuel tax hike.
A dangerous situation in the longer run. The French people have dealt with autocratic rulers once before and it wasn't pretty.

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Arrow Up

GOP takes Mississippi runoff, wins 2019 control of the Senate by 53-47 margin


270 to Win
Wed, 28 Nov 2018 14:27 UTC
Trump Cindy Hide-smith
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) and President Trump at a campaign rally
Mississippi Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith won the state's special election runoff Tuesday. Appointed when former Sen. Thad Cochran resigned last spring, Hyde-Smith will now serve out the remainder of his term. The seat will be up again in 2020.

With this result, the 2018 Senate elections have come to a close. The GOP maintains control, with a net gain of two seats in the midterm elections. They will go into 2019 with a 53-47 edgea. Overall, six seats changed hands. Republicans won seats in Florida, Indiana, Missouri and North Dakota, while Democrats were able to take the seats in Arizona and Nevada.
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Attention

Max Blumenthal: Assange-Manafort fabricated story is a plot to extradite WikiLeaks founder


RT
Thu, 29 Nov 2018 13:44 UTC
free assange
© Global Look Press / Pete Maclaine
The apparently fabricated report by The Guardian linking Russiagate and Manafort to WikiLeaks is laying the case to arrest and extradite Julian Assange to the US, investigative journalist Max Blumenthal told RT.

WikiLeaks is ready to sue Britain's Guardian newspaper for a "fabricated Manafort story" that accused Julian Assange of secretly meeting Donald Trump's former election campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Manafort agreed to take part in the Mueller probe over Russia's alleged meddling into the 2016 US election but he denies co-operating with Russia or ever meeting Assange.


The author of the report, Luke Harding, based his claim on "sources" and a document "written by Ecuador's Senain intelligence agency and seen by the Guardian," which the newspaper didn't publish.

Comment: See also: Just like big pharma, there is no penalty for malpractice when the MSM lies

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Eye 2

Just like big pharma, there is no penalty for malpractice when the MSM lies

Caitlin Johnstone
caitlinjohnstone.com
Wed, 28 Nov 2018 13:06 UTC
manafort
"As part of the plea bargain, Purdue agreed to pay the federal government $600 million and 27 states $20 million. The three executives agreed to $34.5 million in fines but avoided jail-time. By contrast, Purdue has earned an estimated $31 billion in total revenues from extended-release oxycodone since its launch. Rather than deterring fraudulent marketing, the penalties simply became a cost of doing business."
A cost of doing business. The preceding is an excerpt from a Harvard study published last year titled "The Opioid Epidemic: Fixing a Broken Pharmaceutical Market". It describes the illicit marketing practices advanced by Purdue's executives for its wildly profitable opioid Oxycontin, and how the criminal and civil cases brought against the company for those practices weren't consequential enough to prevent those practices from remaining highly profitable.

Big pharma has the highest profit margins of any industry in the United States and is also the number one lobbying industry in the United States, a correlation which won't surprise anyone who knows anything worth knowing about politics in capitalist societies. One of the many, many ways that the US government has collaborated with these massive pharmaceutical corporations to increase their profit margins has been to put into place laws which make them obscenely difficult to sue, therefore rendering the cost of the few lawsuit settlements which get through a mere drop in the bucket of profits made by unethical marketing practices. Even fines for downright illegal practices can be chalked up to mere overhead, with the largest fine ever levied against a drug company being $3 billion against GlaxoSmithKline, which sounds like a lot if you don't know that Glaxo raked in $27.5 billion just that year.

Comment: See also:

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