Puppet MastersS


Gold Bar

Russia & China trust in physical gold while West prefers 'mindless optimism'

gold bricks compass
© Getty Images / gmutlu
The latest data from the World Gold Council (WGC) shows that central banks in Eastern Europe and Asia significantly boosted their gold holdings. The regulators purchased 148 metric tons of gold in the third quarter of 2018.

The figure indicates an increase of 22 percent against the same period last year, while some $6 billion dollars were spent on the precious metal. Russia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, India, as well as Poland and Hungary were the leader among gold net buyers.

The reasons pushing Russia, Turkey and other countries facing US sanctions to buy more gold seem clear. But why are other countries bolstering their gold reserves and why do they find it necessary to diversify their holdings? RT talked to Claudio Grass, an independent precious metal advisory based out in Switzerland to find out why emerging economies are so active in stockpiling gold bullion.

Propaganda

Wishful thinking: CNN & Rasmussen midterm polls vary 'wildly' in midterm predictions

US voting boxes elections
© Reuters / Brendan McDermid
One day before Americans head to cast their ballots in the crucial midterm congressional elections, two final polls conducted by CNN and Rasmussen have predicted wildly different results.

The final generic poll conducted by left-leaning CNN has put Democrats 13 points ahead of Republicans. Meanwhile, a separate poll carried out by the more right-leaning Rasmussen agency has suggested that Republicans are leading, but by a much smaller margin of one point.

Chess

Tory vice-chair claims 'Islamophobia allegations are politically motivated'

Stand Up to Racism protest match Islamophobia anti-Semitism
© Global Look Press / Brais G. RoucoLondon march organized by the group Stand Up to Racism as an expression of unity against racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.
Tory vice-chair Kemi Badenoch MP, has been heavily criticized for claiming that allegations of Islamophobia against Conservative Party members are "politically motivated."

Badenoch, Tory MP for Saffron Walden, made the remarks during a Sky News interview on Sunday, after calls, including from Conservative peer Baroness Warsi and the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), for a full-blown inquiry into allegations of Islamophobia within the party.

The Tory vice-chair told Sky News' Sophy Ridge: "I don't think that the Muslim Council of Britain is an organisation that would look very favourably on the Conservative Party anyway so I think there is probably a political motive there."

Black Magic

Israeli Minister's diabolical plan to set up Syria and blame Russia

s-300s
© Russian Defence Ministry
An Israeli minister said Monday that Russia's shipment of S-300 anti-aircraft systems were "a big mistake" and said Israel would target them if Israeli planes are hit in Israeli airspace.

Ze'ev Elkin, Israel's minister of Jerusalem affairs and minister of environmental protection, who is also the co-chair of the Russia-Israel Intergovernmental Commission, said that Israel is ready to attack Syria's new S-300 air defense systems in the event that they are used to fire on Israeli jets.

"We consider the very fact of shipping S-300 to Syria a big mistake," Elkin said during a press conference for Russian media Monday. "The Syrian military are not always capable of correctly using the hardware transferred to them. In case of improper operation, civilian aircrafts may be harmed," he said.

Comment: Israel destruction of Syria was thwarted, in part, by Russia's delivery of the S-300s, and in its fury Israel fantasizes about downing one of its own passenger planes to provide a pretext for it to attack Syria and blame Russia: Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Israeli-French Deception Downs Russian Spy Plane Off Syria, US Escalates 'Regime Change' Against Iran


Robot

Study: Clinton bots more talkative & influential than Trump bots around 2016 debates

tweet sign
© Global Look / Sachelle Babbar
While the popular narrative blames Clinton's 2016 electoral loss on (Russian) bots, they actually helped her chances, according to a new study finding pro-Clinton bots were more effective at influencing voters than pro-Trump ones.

While there were almost twice as many pro-Trump bots in operation before the 2016 election, the pro-Clinton bots were much more likely to change people's political opinions because they were much more active, MIT researcher Tauhid Zaman discovered.

Zaman analyzed 2.3 million tweets referencing the second presidential debate and found less than one percent of the accounts involved were bots. He measured the real users' opinions using two models - one based on their tweets and one on their network of connections - and then remeasured without the inclusion of the bots in the networks. To his surprise (he's a registered Democrat, according to a disclosure statement that accompanied the study) the average level of support for Clinton dropped from 58 to 42.

Comment: See also:


Stock Down

Lavrov: EU 'punishing' itself with its own anti-Russia sanctions; loses over €100 billion

euro
© Global Look Press / A. Laule
The EU is punishing itself for doing Washington's bidding and sanctioning Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. However, while the restrictions policy does not harm the US, the EU suffers billions in losses.

In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País, Lavrov lamented the dismal state of EU-Russia relations, describing them as far from normal. The divisions are being fueled from across the pond, he said.

"The mythical 'Russian threat' is forced upon the Europeans, primarily, from the outside," Lavrov said. The main bone of contention between the EU and Russia -sanctions- were imposed by the European nations "on direct orders" from Washington.

With that said, the US has hardly felt any adverse effect from the policy it championed, unlike the EU.

"Estimates of losses incurred by the EU states from the sanctions vary. According to some estimates, they might amount to over €100 billion. It's important that European politicians understand this," the minister said.

Comment: Unfortunately 'common sense' has been severely lacking in the political sphere. Despite all the loses and clear disadvantages, the EU continues to follow along with Washington's dictates. See also:


Radar

'Grim irony': Saudi attacks use British intelligence to destroy UK aid facilities in Yemen

Yemeni child
© ReutersA child at camp for displaced people in the Yemeni province of Amran.
British-backed Saudi bombing destroyed Oxfam facilities in Yemen, said the United Kingdom charity. The information about the destruction of facilities of the humanitarian organization emerged during last week's parliamentary debates in the House of Commons where U.K. ministres were evaluating the impact of the country's arms sale to Riyadh.

A vital cholera treatment center in Abs, in the Hajjah province, was hit in June in airstrikes which are supported by British intelligence, according to British news outlet Independent.

The location of the treatment facility was notified 12 times. In April, coalition air raids damaged an Oxfam supported water supply system that provided water for 6,000 people.

"On the one hand, British aid is a vital lifeline, on the other, British bombs are helping to fuel an ongoing war that is leading to countless lives being lost each week to fighting, disease, and hunger," said Oxfam's head of advocacy, Toni Pearce.

Comment: Not so different than the US's presence in Syria: Dropping white phosphorous on the civilian population on the one hand, and decrying Russia and the Syrian government for supposedly killing innocents on the other - all the while arming and assisting the head-choppers to regroup after they've gotten routed.


V

After the midterm election, a major part of the political class will further embrace insanity as a coping mechanism

v for vendetta
Tuesday's mid-term elections will not be a turning point for the United States. That happened when we elected Donald Trump in 2016.

The roots of Trump's win were seeded back in 2008 with Ron Paul.

And today the words I wrote then I think hold the key to understanding what is happening around the world today.
Paul has offered himself as the figure-head for a revolution that was mature enough, finally, to find him. His campaign is a spontaneous and self-organizing uprising of human frustration; acknowledging that it's truly time for a change in direction for this society and the responsibility that comes with that knowledge.
Substitute Trump, Orban, Putin, Farage, Le Pen, Salvini or Kurz for Paul and that sentence is just as valid.

Ron Paul was our Guy Fawkes. But unlike Fawkes Paul eschewed all forms of violence to achieve his goals. And if you look at the film version of Alan Moore's V for Vendetta which inspired my 2008 article that is exactly what the people of England do.

Again, from that article.
By converging on Parliament to sanction the destruction of the old social order and complete the work that Fawkes could not, the people of England in the film state that they are rejecting violence as the means of change; that this event is their catharsis even if they aren't quite sure what it all will mean tomorrow.
V's vendetta transcended what happened to him personally, the wrongs done to him. V was the Destroyer.

Evey was to be his replacement, the Rebuilder.

Snakes in Suits

Flashback SOTT Focus: Soros Looking to Make Obscene Profits From Funding European 'Forced Migration'

Business magnate George Soros
© Luke MacGregor, Johan Nilsson / Reuters
The philanthropist George Soros recently published a letter in the Wall Street Journal entitled, 'Why I'm Investing 500 million USD in Migrants'. In this article, I will be looking at that letter and separating what it means from what it appears to say.

Soros' letter begins:
"The world has been unsettled by a surge in forced migration. Tens of millions of people are on the move, fleeing their home countries in search of a better life abroad. Some are escaping civil war or an oppressive regime; others are forced out by extreme poverty, lured by the possibility of economic advancement for themselves and their families."
This is quite true. And Soros should know since his think tank is fully on board with that "forced migration". He has either initiated it or facilitated it and, according to Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary (which is presently holding a referendum on whether to accept migrant quotas as demanded by the EU), as quoted by Bloomberg:
"His name is perhaps the strongest example of those who support anything that weakens nation states, they support everything that changes the traditional European lifestyle [...] These activists who support immigrants inadvertently become part of this international human-smuggling network."
Soros-backed activists are at the center of that network.

Oil Well

Saudi Arabia to invest in Russian petrochemicals plant, potential deals with France and China

russia chemical plant
© Sibur
Oil major Saudi Aramco and the kingdom's petrochemicals giant Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) are ready to invest into building a processing plant in Russia, according to Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih.

The minister said that the Saudi partners are hoping to cooperate with Sibur, Russia's largest petrochemicals firm.

"I hope our cooperation with Sibur will allow Saudi Aramco and SABIC to invest into building of a petrochemical plant in Russia," al-Falih told Rossiya 24, Russia's 24-hour news channel.

The minister also said that Saudi Arabia is currently discussing the opportunity of building a synthetic rubber plant in the Saudi city of Jubail with French energy major Total, China's Sinopec, and Russia's Sibur.

Comment: See also: Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: West Discovers Saudi Arabia Has Human Rights Issues & The Real Reason People Hate Trump