Puppet MastersS


Arrow Down

UN refuses caravan migrants' request for buses to get to US


RT
Sat, 10 Nov 2018 02:18 UTC
Migrants busses denial
© Reuters / Hannah McKay
United Nations representatives in Mexico have said that the UN will not facilitate the transportation of some 5,000 caravan migrants to the US border since the issue has not been agreed upon by either Mexico or the US itself.

A delegation of some 200 migrants marched to the UN's offices in Mexico City on Thursday, demanding the organization provide them with buses to the US border, which is still some 600 miles (965 km) away from the caravan's current location.

The migrants in a meeting with representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said they were too exhausted and that it was getting too cold to continue the perilous journey on foot.

In a statement on Friday, the UN acknowledged the meeting but said that it does not have the authority to grant the request without the approval of the countries who would be affected by the scheme.

"Any help for the transport of migrants to a third country requires the prior agreement or request of the States involved," the UN's Mexico office said in a press release, without elaborating.


Comment: See also:

Read More...
Handcuffs

US border parks see 4000% surge in arrests of illegal immigrants

Paul Bedard
Washington Examiner
Fri, 09 Nov 2018 11:54 UTC
border park arrests
© npr.org
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced Friday that a program he instituted to close the border under his department's control resulted in a 4,000 percent increase in arrests of undocumented migrants.

What's more, the agency is dispatching Interior officers to help President Trump's plan to intercept the caravan of illegals heading to the southern border.
"The fact that we were able to increase arrests by almost 4,000 percent is undeniable proof that there's a big problem. Under the previous administration, Interior's borderlands were basically an open door for illegal activity; and, what few law enforcement officers were down there were left unprotected and without the resources and backup needed to keep communities and themselves safe," said Zinke in a statement.

Comment: Begs the question as to what border protocol was in place, if any, or to what degree it was implemented in the Obama administration.

Read More...
Arrow Up

Post radiation test, Seoul deems Kim's prized mushrooms gift safe to eat


RT
Fri, 09 Nov 2018 22:26 UTC
Kim/Shrooms
© AFP/KCNA via KNS'The Shroom Room"
North Korean leader's touchy gift has no radiation contamination, the South Korean presidential palace declared more than a month after the Kim Jong-un generously sent two tons of expensive pine mushrooms to the south.

Kim's delicacy had gone through essential "radiation tests" required for food ingredients and undergone plant quarantine, the Blue House assured South Koreans on Wednesday, as cited by Yonhap.

The procedure revealed that the mushrooms, which are considered akin to truffles and valued up to $1.83 million, contain levels of radiation standard for foods (0.034 μsv) and "far lower" than the permissible level set by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Kim sent the "peace token" to his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in, following their third meeting in Pyongyang in September. Back then, the North Korean leader announced he would let international monitors witness the final dismantling of the nation's missile and rocket engine test site.

Moon's office had to reveal the test results to fend off claims by an opposition lawmaker that the government failed to ensure the safety of the lavish gift. The mushrooms are to be distributed among the 4,000 or so South Koreans separated from their families in the North since the Korean War was frozen by the 1953 armistice.

Comment: Edible versus nuclear 'mushrooms'. A very good choice!

Read More...
Road Cone

Nuclear energy to stage a come back in Japan

Haley Zaremba
OilPrice.com
Wed, 07 Nov 2018 15:00 UTC
Pylons stand in front of the cooling towers of the Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power station in northern Bavaria
© Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters
Nuclear energy in Japan may be making a significant comeback, it is just not going to be able to meet the government's lofty production goals for 2030, according to a recent Reuters report. The Japanese government had set a target for nuclear to make up at least a 20 percent share of Japan's total electricity production over the next decade. The goal is part of a wide scale effort to push nuclear forward after the industry was all but obliterated in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

On March 11, 2011 the largest earthquake ever recorded in Japan (9.0-9.1 Mw) caused a devastating tsunami to crash into the Japanese coastline, causing no fewer than three meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear plant, in addition to hydrogen-air explosions, the release of radioactive material, and a lasting, distrust of the safety of nuclear energy throughout Japan and across the globe.

At the time of the disaster, Japan depended on 54 functioning nuclear reactors for a huge portion of its power. Immediately after, the number of functioning nuclear plants dropped to zero, and in the intervening years only 8 began producing again, all of which had to secure new operating permits. Fearing the end of the Japanese nuclear sector entirely, thanks to the well-founded public fear and unceasing oceans of bad press, Japan even went so far as to turn to coal in their desperation to make up for the energy production loss.

Comment: As it is, renewables aren't reliable, and the threat of potentially catastrophic seismic and volcanic activity is only increasing, so Japan is very much in a bind. However, Russia and China are at the forefront of new energy technologies and in the development of its infrastructure, so it's likely a dependable and safe energy supply lies in partnership with them:

Read More...
Radar

Touche: US calls for end to South China Sea militarization, China says to stop sending warships


RT
Sat, 10 Nov 2018 15:22 UTC
Mike Pompeo and James Mattis listen to China's Foreign Affairs Director Yang Jiechi, November 9, 2018
© Reuters / Leah MillisMike Pompeo and James Mattis listen to China's Foreign Affairs Director Yang Jiechi, November 9, 2018.
The US pressed China to halt militarization of the South China Sea during a joint news conference on talks aimed at smoothing already tense relations ahead of this month's G20 summit in Argentina.

"We have continued concerns about China's activities and militarization in the South China Sea," US Secretary for State Mike Pompeo told media following talks on Friday with US Defense Secretary James Mattis and their Chinese counterparts.

"We pressed China to live up to its past commitments in this area," he added.
Read More...
Cowboy Hat

Twenty four hours after replacing Sessions, Acting AG Matthew Whitaker ends asylum for illegals at southern border

Cillian Zeal
Conservative Tribune
Fri, 09 Nov 2018 14:48 UTC
Matthew G. Whitaker
© CreditCharlie Neibergall/Associated PressMatthew G. Whitaker, the chief of staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, has developed an amicable rapport with President Trump
Matthew Whitaker's tenure as acting attorney general may only be able to be measured in hours, but he's already made a huge impact in how asylum-seekers are processed at the southern border.

According to a new interim final rule from the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, those who enter the country illegally and are captured will no longer be able to claim asylum and will instead be returned to their country of origin on an expedited basis.

"Consistent with our immigration laws, the President has the broad authority to suspend or restrict the entry of aliens into the United States if he determines it to be in the national interest to do so," Whitaker said in a joint statement with DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

"Today's rule applies this important principle to aliens who violate such a suspension or restriction regarding the southern border imposed by the President by invoking an express authority provided by Congress to restrict eligibility for asylum.

"Our asylum system is overwhelmed with too many meritless asylum claims from aliens who place a tremendous burden on our resources, preventing us from being able to expeditiously grant asylum to those who truly deserve it. Today, we are using the authority granted to us by Congress to bar aliens who violate a Presidential suspension of entry or other restriction from asylum eligibility."
Read More...
Blackbox

BRICS: A future in limbo?

Peter Koenig
New Eastern Outlook
Sat, 10 Nov 2018 14:41 UTC
BRICS 2017 China
Today it's clear that fascist-turned Brazil is out - so we are at RICS. There is not much to argue about. The world's fifth largest economy, Brazil, has failed and betrayed the concept of the BRICS and the world at large. Whether you consider South Africa as a valid member of the BRICS is also questionable. Much of SA's social injustice has actually become worse since the end of apartheid. Ending apartheid was a mere political and legal exercise.

Distribution of power and money in SA have not really changed. To the contrary - it worsened. 80% of all land is still in the hands of white farmers. This is what President Cyril Ramaphosa wants to change drastically, by confiscating white farmers land without compensation and re-distribute it to black farmers, who have no formation of how to run these farms. This is not only utterly unjust and will create internal conflicts, the last thing SA needs, but it is also very inefficient, as farming and agricultural production will decline most likely drastically and SA, a potential exporter of farm goods, will become a net importer, a serious hit on South African's economy.

The principle of redistributing land to the black African society is a solid one. But not by force and not by confiscation without compensation, nor without an elaborate training program for African farmers - to lead to a peaceful transfer - all of which does takes time and cannot happen over-night.
Read More...
Eye 2

US-led war of terror 'officially' killed at least half a million in Afghanistan, Pakistan & Iraq - not counting Libya and Syria


RT
Fri, 09 Nov 2018 22:09 UTC
Mosul
© Global Look Press / Murtaja LateefFILE PHOTO. an aerial view of the Iraqi city of Mosul.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the so-called US 'war on terror' launched following 9/11 in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan alone, a new study says. The real death toll might be even higher, the author warns.

Between 480,000 and 507,000, including civilians, local military and law enforcement forces, militants as well as the US and allied troops have been killed since the US launched what it calls the "war on terror" in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attack, a study published by the US Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs says.


Comment: There are serious doubts concerning the perpetrators of 9-11, which was the US' excuse to invade the Middle East: Fmr US ambassador to Saudi Arabia says King Salman once told him that 9/11 was an Israeli plot


Iraq has seen the highest civilian death toll in the war, as between 182,272 and 204,575 civilians died there as a direct result of the US military actions since the 2003 invasion. In Afghanistan and Pakistan the death toll amounts to 38,480 and 23,372, respectively. The US itself lost almost 7,000 soldiers in this war. The report gives the figure of over 100,000 militants killed, but its author Neta Crawford notes that people described like that by local law enforcement or the US military might actually also be civilians.

Comment: The death count is likely much, much higher - considering that back in 2013 the count was thought to be 1,455,590 deaths in Iraq alone. And because the war of terror waged by the West, and its allies in Saudi Arabia and Israel, isn't over. The West's illegal wars and the chaos that follows continues to this day in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Syria and Yemen: U.S. no longer releasing data on Afghanistan amid uptick in violence and civilian casualties

Read More...
Megaphone

Lavrov: ISIS is attempting to turn Afghanistan into its base of operations in Central Asia

Paul Antonopoulos
Fort Russ
Fri, 09 Nov 2018 14:38 UTC
ISIS Daesh
© Flickr/ Day Donaldson
The terrorist group ISIS is trying to turn Afghanistan into its outpost in Central Asia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at the opening of the conference dedicated to Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan, there is a clash between government forces and the radical Taliban movement. Terrorist groups connected with Daesh also have some influence in the country. Large-scale operations are carried out throughout Afghanistan to combat extremists.

"The advanced terrorist groups constituted by the Daesh [ISIS], not without support from outside sponsors, are trying to turn Afghanistan into a bridgehead of expansion in Central Asia and, in general, in our vast region," said Sergei Lavrov during the speech at the consultations in the so-called Moscow format.

According to the minister, the task of all countries and international structures operating in the region is to help Afghans neutralize the terrorist's plans. And no one should think in terms of geopolitical games, which can turn Afghanistan into yet another arena of rivalry among other players, with dire consequences for Afghans and their neighbors.
Read More...
Info

Erdogan says audio of Khashoggi murder was sent to Saudi Arabia, US, UK, France & Germany


RT
Sat, 10 Nov 2018 14:39 UTC
erdogan khashoggi mbs
© AFP / Adem Altan; Middle East Monitor / Handout via Reuters; Saudi Royal Palace / Bandar al-Jaloud
The recordings that could reveal the killing of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi embassy in Turkey in shocking detail have been shared with France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the UK, and the US, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

"They all know since they all listened to the conversations and everything," Erdogan said in a televised speech on Saturday.

Erdogan also accused Saudi Arabia of knowing that the killer of the former Washington Post columnist is among a group of 15 Saudis who touched down in Turkey the day prior to the killing, leaving again for Riyadh in the hours following Khashoggi's death.

"Saudi Arabia could resolve this by making this 15 talk," Erdogan said. "The murderers are surely among this 15 or 18, there's no need to look elsewhere."

Ankara has claimed to have had audio of the blood-curdling murder ever since the journalist went missing on October 2, after going inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, never to be seen again.
Read More...