Puppet MastersS


Arrow Down

Israelis are finally revolting against Netanyahu — for agreeing to the U.S. ceasefire with Iran

Jonathan Ofir
Mondoweiss
Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00 UTC
Israeli protesters
© Ilia Yefimovich/DPA via Zuma Press/APA imagesIsraeli protesters during an judicial overall protest outside the Knesset • Jerusalem • February 20, 2023
The entire Israeli political spectrum is united in blasting Netanyahu for not continuing to attack Iran, and Israeli society agrees. The reason, to put it simply, is that Israelis are war junkies.

"Donald, you wimped out like a duck," wrote Israeli coalition member and chair of the National Security Committee, Zvika Fogel, on X earlier this week, lambasting U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of a two-week halt to the war on Iran. Although Fogel is aligned with the far-right Jewish Power Party, headed by hardline National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, his position reflects a near-consensus across the Israeli political spectrum. That consensus is: give war a chance.

It was probably inconvenient for a politician aligned with Israel's ruling coalition to insult the American President so stridently (the post has since been deleted), but opposition leader Yair Lapid didn't hold back when heaping the blame on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu, Lapid said on Wednesday, "will try to sell to you that the battle in Iran was a success" — but that would be "a total lie." The Israeli public had backed the war with a rare "wall-to-wall" consensus, the opposition leader said. Yet after six weeks, "it turned out that Netanyahu can't win any battle."

Comment: The majority of Americans blast Trump's catering to Netanyahu for the war in Iran. Though both may be ousted, it will be for opposite reasons.

Read More...
Mr. Potato

Who's afraid of Emmanuel Macron? Europe's weak leaders make Europe weak

J.B. Shurk
American Thinker
Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:00 UTC
Macron
© PicrylFrench President Emmanuel Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron is doing that peculiar French thing again...acting tough while looking weak. He gave a speech last Friday at Yonsei University in Seoul during which he demanded that nations not become "vassals" of China or the United States. Macron wants South Korea to join Canada, Australia, and the European Union in forming what he calls a "coalition of independence" (because "coalition of the willing" was taken) united by shared love for "international order," "democracy," and wasting money on "climate change."

What a tool. I understand that "the powers that be" have so successfully co-opted the West's political systems that they regularly install absolute nincompoops as nominal leaders (Biden, Starmer, Carney, Merz, and European Queen Ursula, just to name a few) and call it "democracy," but Macron is such a doofus that his "leadership" is laughable.

Remember when the little Rothschild banker came to power a few months after President Trump had taken office and he couldn't stop talking about standing up to "bullies"? After putting on some high-heeled loafers and taking some lessons on masculinity from his former-schoolteacher-turned-much-older-wife, Macron insisted on turning a handshake with Trump into a death grip meant to showcase French power. In that effete style of speech that Gaulish-Roman aristocrats enjoy — in which words sound as if they're dropping from lips suckling grapes and licking honey — le petit fromage told the world that his fierce handshake and determined stare were the perfect weapons for countering President Trump. Trump just laughed and patted the little French boy on the shoulder as one does to help the weak feel strong.

Fast-forward a decade, and Macron hasn't learned a thing about being tough. He still prances around the world like a eunuch looking for long-lost cojones. He says he wants countries to resist the "hegemonic powers" of China and the United States by clinging to the rules-based "international order." Okay. Good luck, tiny dancer.

Comment: Until 'the people' demand an upgrade, the status quo awkwardly remains.

Read More...
Handcuffs

Trump threatens to jail journalist over Iran rescue raid 'leak'


RT
Mon, 06 Apr 2026 22:42 UTC
Chopper wreckage
© Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance/Handout/Getty ImagesWreckage of US military helicopter that crashed during a mission to rescue the missing American pilot of an F-15E on April 5, 2026
The US president did not name the outlet or the reporter he called "a sick person"

President Donald Trump threatened to jail a journalist as part of an administration hunt for the source who leaked details and "complicated" the rescue mission for the crew members of the US F-15E Strike Eagle shot down over Iran last week.

Speaking at a White House press conference alongside top defense officials, Trump said that the pilot was recovered within hours on Friday, while the weapons systems officer - badly injured and hiding in a mountain crevice - was rescued early Sunday after a complex mission involving more than 150 aircraft.
Read More...
Attention

Hungary PM Orban warning: "We could now lose everything"

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Sat, 11 Apr 2026 18:06 UTC
hungary parliament building flag
The Hungarian Parliament Building in Budapest
Sunday's Hungarian elections have profound implications for Europe

As Hungarians head to the polls on Sunday, April 12, 2026, the country stands at a historic inflection point. For the first time since Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party swept back into power in 2010, a credible challenger - Péter Magyar and his Tisza party - has a genuine shot at ending 16 years of what Orbán proudly calls his "illiberal laboratory." In a final campaign rally, Orbán warned supporters they are choosing "not just a government, but the fate of the country" and could "now lose everything we have built together."

Bluntly put the election is a referendum on the durability of nationalist populism in Europe, the future of EU integration, energy security amid the Ukraine war, transatlantic conservative alliances under Trump 2.0, and even the fate of billions in Chinese investment that have reshaped Hungarian industry.

Right now, it looks like Magyar has it in the bag, so read on for the implications:

Comment: Aaaand they pulled it off. One wonders if there was some Romanian-style arm-twisting in backrooms.


Here is the golden boy the EU has foisted on Hungary He fits right in with that basket of degenerates:




Read More...
Chess

China's quiet flex: Xi hosts Taiwan opposition leader in rare meeting

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Sat, 11 Apr 2026 20:31 UTC
beijing taiwan Xi Jinping Cheng Li-wun opposition party leader
© Xie Huanchi, AP via Xinhua News AgencyChinese President Xi Jinping meets Taiwan's opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party leader Cheng Li-wun in Beijing on April 10, 2026.
Nationalist Party Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun says 'We will not become a chessboard for external intervention'

All eyes remain fixated on the impending US-Iran talks in Islamabad, but big things are also happening Friday in Beijing, and they have direct impact on another potential global flashpoint: Taiwan.

While Washington potentially gets bogged down in another Middle East quagmire (if talks don't go well and there's no offramp), Chinese leader Xi Jinping has welcomed the leader of Taiwan's main opposition party for a rare direct meeting in the Chinese capital.

The symbolism of the timing can't be missed, as Xi invited Nationalist Party Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun to China ahead of the planned big mid-May summit with President Trump in which the Chinese leader could continue a push to dilute Washington's support for Taiwan.

Comment:

Read More...
Warning

Battle for Hungary: How the Russiagate blueprint has been unleashed against Orban


RT
Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:00 UTC
Szijjarto and...
© RT/Getty IMages/vuk8691/Olena Bartienleva/Russian Foreign MinistryHungarian FM Peter Szijjarto
Western vested interests are running a familiar ploy, but this time the power players have been exposed.

The shadow campaign to swing the Hungarian election against Viktor Orban escalated with the scandal over the wiretapping of Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. The case offers a rare look into how bureaucrats, journalists, and spies run a regime-change operation in real time.

Three weeks out from the April 12 elections, the political opposition to Orban scored what seemed to be a win, when Politico and the Washington Post ran articles alleging that Szijjarto had phoned Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with "live reports on what had been discussed" at multiple EU meetings. The reports cited anonymous "European security officials."

Neither Orban nor Szijjarto make any secret of their desire to maintain cordial relations with Moscow, particularly on matters of energy security and the peace process in Ukraine. However, when bundled with more outlandish claims - that Russian "election fixers" are already embedded in Budapest, for example - the reports paint a picture of a government compromised by the Kremlin.

Orban's leading opponent, Peter Magyar, has repeated these claims in his speeches. After the Szijjarto story broke, he accused the foreign minister of "betraying Hungarian and European interests," and threatened him with "life imprisonment" for treason, should his Tisza party win the election.

All it took was one leaked audio file for the scheme to unravel.
Read More...
Gavel

Contempt of Court: Justice Sotomayor suggests Justice Kavanaugh is an uninformed elitist

Jonathan Turley
jonathanturley.org
Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00 UTC
Kavanaugh Sotomayor
© Tom Williams/Pool/Reuters/Gage Skidmore/Flickr/KJNSupreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Sonia Sotomayor
Justice Brett Kavanaugh is accustomed to unrelenting personal attacks from the left that began with his nomination to the Court. This week, however, the ad hominem insults came not from cable programs but a colleague. Justice Sonia Sotomayor used an appearance at the University of Kansas School of Law to level a personal dig at Kavanaugh as an out-of-touch elitist.

I have long criticized the growing number of public statements by justices on controversial subjects and cases, including Justice Sotomayor. However, this appearance represented a new low in lashing out at a colleague as effectively blinded by his own privilege.
Read More...
Warning

"We're really in uncharted territory..."

James Howard Kunstler
ZeroHedge
Fri, 10 Apr 2026 04:20 UTC
Rubble in Iran/flag
© UnknownIran Declares Victory
Games Nations Play
"I am sick of serving in Congress with immoral freaks who abuse their office and bring dishonor to the institution."
- Rep Anna Paulina Luna
You have entered the season of chaos. Better get used to it. The center quit holding a long time ago, and now even the margins are quivering. Buckle up and batten down. It will probably get rougher and weirder. Struggle is everywhere.

Will Iran reopen Hormuz or not? They really only have days to stop playing games with the rest of the world. It will soon be clear whether they can negotiate in good faith. It doesn't look good. Their theology of jihad contains a permission structure for lying to their enemies to accomplish their aim: which is, to annihilate the hated infidels (that's us).


Comment: US lies to anyone it pleases...without theology or jihad.


Comment: There is much below the surface to consider in both conflicts.

Read More...
Attention

Root causes of war: Russia & Iran, two scenarios, same choice for the U.S.


Strategic Culture Foundation
Fri, 10 Apr 2026 17:21 UTC
US and Iran
© Public Domain
If diplomacy is to succeed, whether in ending the conflict in Ukraine or in the Persian Gulf, then Washington needs to face up to the root cause of war.

Ultimately, that means the United States recognizing that its imperialist conduct is the cause of conflict. It also means the U.S. rulers coming to terms with the fact that they no longer have any authority or military dominance to assert their illegitimate will over other nations.

Talks are scheduled to begin this weekend in Islamabad between American and Iranian delegates to bring about an end to the 40-day war in the Middle East. A partial ceasefire that took effect this week is already jeopardized because of ongoing violations by Israel, which is carrying out massacres in Lebanon. Iran accuses the U.S. of sharing responsibility for the violations and, as a consequence, Tehran has again closed the Strait of Hormuz to global oil shipping.

The negotiations in Pakistan are supposed to build on a two-week ceasefire towards finding a peace deal. But with grave violations by the U.S.-Israeli side, it is doubtful if the tenuous diplomacy will go much further. Iran has warned that it is ready to resume military strikes against U.S. and Israeli assets, including oil and gas installations across the Persian Gulf. American President Donald Trump is also threatening to continue the war if Iran does not open the strategically vital shipping route.

Trump is in no position to demand anything. He is haunted by a political crisis at home from crashing poll ratings, uproar among his own voter base, and fallout from the Epstein pedophile scandal. Added to this is the mounting economic backlash from his reckless warmongering. Militarily, the U.S. has burned through a huge arsenal of weapons at a $30 billion cost that has left it out of ammo to wage more war on Iran. And all this for no strategic gain whatsoever. The global image of the United States has never been so tarnished, not since its defeat in the Vietnam War half a century ago.

The incontrovertible fact is that Iran retains control over the Hormuz Strait - the route for 20-30 per cent of globally shipped oil and other petrochemical commodities. This is Iran's ace card, and the fact that Iran holds it assuredly shows which party actually won the military confrontation. Trump's bragging about winning the war is empty rhetoric that makes him look even more absurd.
Read More...
Hearts

Xi - Zheng Meeting Sends Clear Signal: Peaceful Reunification Framed as Strategic Imperative for China's Future

Xu Jijun
DD Geopolitics
Sat, 11 Apr 2026 10:21 UTC
Zheng Liwen met Xi Jinping in Beijing for the first time this week.
Zheng Liwen met Xi Jinping in Beijing for the first time this week.
On the morning of 10 April 2026, inside the East Hall of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, met Zheng Liwen, Chair of the Kuomintang. The encounter marked the first meeting between leaders of the two parties in a decade. It unfolded at a moment of mounting global instability and heightened tensions across the Taiwan Strait, giving it both historical weight and immediate political relevance.

The meeting was not merely ceremonial. It articulated a shared position that people on both sides of the Strait seek peace and oppose division. It also set out a political direction aimed at returning cross-Strait relations to a path of peaceful development, with the stated goal of eventual peaceful reunification.

Comment: If it hadn't been for US interference, Taiwan and China would have reunited long ago.

Read More...