Puppet MastersS


Snow Globe

Is a US-China war in the future? Russia preparing for conflict? We've just had a week of warmongering predictions by top officials


RT
Tue, 30 Oct 2018 22:31 UTC
US M1A1 Abrams tanks in Poland
© Reuters / US Marine CorpsFILE PHOTO: US M1A1 Abrams tanks in Poland
Several top officials have issued thinly veiled - and outright blunt - 'warnings' about war over the past week. While the beating of war drums worldwide remains just hot air for now, many messengers seem a bit too eager about it. War between US and China just 10-15 years away

A grim prognosis was made by former US commander in Europe Lieutenant-General Ben Hodges (retired), who spoke last week at the Warsaw Security Forum. He urged European countries to do more for their own "security," explaining that Washington has "to deal with the Chinese threat" in the Pacific.
The United States needs a very strong European pillar. I think in 15 years - it's not inevitable - but it is a very strong likelihood that we will be at war with China.
While European security remains top priority for the US, the former official added, the country will also have to prepare for "the eventuality that in 10 or 15 years we're going to be having to fight in the Pacific."
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Hourglass

Inoffensively disastrous: Merkel's bland approach to rule should not permit her to get away with historic failure

Igor Ogorodnev
RT
Wed, 31 Oct 2018 13:14 UTC
Merkel out of time
© Reuters / Hannibal HanschkeOut of time
The departing German chancellor leaves her country with a fractured domestic political scene and myriad intractable social challenges, the EU as weak as it has ever been, and grave international crises no closer to resolution.

Angel Merkel's latest political obituaries have been as mealy-mouthed as her persona, designed to wearily sap drama in keeping with her (optimistic) three-year warning about leaving her post, which she announced on Monday. Her entire legacy has been written in these cushioned terms, from her 'Mutti' (mother) persona, to 'Merkeln' (a neologism meaning 'to dither'), and now to the extended 'Merkeldammerung' (Merkel twilight) that awaits.

This needs to stop now. Merkel's is no one's Mutti. Governing in accordance with unexamined centrist truisms even as the world confronts unprecedented existential challenges of globalization and technology, she is Canute, she is enfeebled and rheumy-eyed King Theoden from Lord of the Rings, she is Neville Chamberlain who isn't buying time for anything but her own downfall.

For years, Merkel's electoral success was prima facie evidence of her competence - how can someone be wrong if they are elected by tens of millions through four terms?

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

Why did media and Democrats abandon their investigation into Brett Kavanaugh?

Mollie Hemingway
The Federalist
Wed, 31 Oct 2018 20:45 UTC
Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump
© Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian
What happened to the multiple allegations of sexual misconduct levied against Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation battle? The claims ranged from Christine Blasey Ford's remotely plausible if unsubstantiated allegation of a violent attempted rape to Michael Avenatti's completely outlandish and also unsubstantiated allegation of hosting serial gang rape parties.

From September 12 to October 6, the claims absolutely dominated all major media. They ran on the front pages of all major newspapers and filled the hours on cable and network news. Magazine journalists at The New Yorker ran with the claims, despite massive corroboration problems.

The claims were taken so seriously by the media and some U.S. senators it led to serious delays of the confirmation voting process. A hearing was held during and after which all the talking heads on cable asserted Blasey Ford was completely "credible." Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, even maneuvered to reopen an FBI investigation to dig into the claims. Then they disappeared. Overnight.

Comment: This story has all the hallmarks of having been political hit job, and the fact that this story and any further investigations have been dropped like hot potatoes shows just how much the media and the Democrats "cared" about Ford and the other alleged victims.

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Eye 2

Ominous casting call: Russian MOD says White Helmets hiring locals for staged chemical attacks, paying in food


Sputnik
Wed, 31 Oct 2018 21:16 UTC
white helmets
© Associated Press / Syrian Civil Defense White HelmetsFake aid group White Helmets
According to intelligence information available to the Russian defense ministry, Daesh (ISIS)* has committed some 57 terrorist attacks and members of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces since September 1.

Terrorists Planning Provocation Using Chemical Weapons in Aleppo, Elsewhere

Militants in several Syrian regions including Aleppo are engaged in planning provocations involving the use of chemical weapons including chlorine, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said, citing information provided by the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria.

"We have repeatedly informed the public about attempts by radical militants and the White Helmets, notorious for their fakes, to organize provocations using chemical agents and accusing government forces of using chemical weapons against the local population," Konashenkov noted, speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday.

Comment:

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X

Trumps may send up to 15,000 troops to block migrant caravan from entering US


RT
Wed, 31 Oct 2018 21:17 UTC
caravan migrants
© Jose Cabezas / Reuters 1008184A caravan of migrants departs from San Salvador, October 31, 2018.
President Donald Trump says he may send up to 15,000 troops to border with Mexico where thousands of people are heading in a caravan seeking entry to US. This is more than double the number voiced previously by the Pentagon.

"We may go up to anywhere between 10,000 and 15,000 military personnel," in addition to the existing border patrol staff, Trump told reporters outside the White House on Wednesday. By comparison, the US currently has approximately 14,000 troops in Afghanistan.

"Nobody's coming in," Trump said, adding that his administration will not allow in any immigrants who "don't have the well-being of our country in mind." He pointed to the violent incidents where members of both migrant caravans clashed with Mexican border guards and police, breaking through border fences.
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Propaganda

Iran International TV station in UK reportedly outed as propaganda outlet funded by the Saudi royal court

Saeed Kamali Dehghan
RT
Wed, 31 Oct 2018 20:34 UTC
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
A UK-based Iranian TV station is being funded through a secretive offshore entity and a company whose director is a Saudi Arabian businessman with close links to the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Guardian can reveal.

The disclosures are likely to raise concerns about the editorial independence of Iran International, and comes at a time of growing fears about a number of Saudi-linked stations operating across London.

A source has told the Guardian that Prince Mohammed, who many believe is responsible for the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, is the force behind Iran International. The station, which is operating out of Chiswick, has not denied claims that it receives its funding from the Saudi royal court.
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Snakes in Suits

Merkel is 'autocratic' leader who turned own party into political graveyard - ex-OSCE Assembly VP


RT
Wed, 31 Oct 2018 20:18 UTC
Angela Merkel
© Reuters / Axel SchmidtAngela Merkel's famous "triangle of power" gesture
Angela Merkel's coalition, plagued by election failures and shrinking support, has come to this because of her autocratic inclinations and allergy towards fellow party leaders, the former VP of the OSCE Assembly told RT.

Willy Wimmer, who also served as State Secretary to Germany's defense minister, has provided his take on Chancellor Angela Merkel on the heels of her decision not to run for a fifth term. The problems now gripping her government began to snowball years ago, according to the retired conservative politician from the Christian Democratic Union.
"It all started at the end of the last decade when it came to the financial crisis in the year 2008. Since then, she [has] made decisions [on] her own... in rather an autocratic way."
Merkel, who rose through the ranks of the Christian Democrats during the 1990s, is widely seen around the world as a leader who is able to come to terms with almost anyone. This is not the case at home, Wimmer argued, citing the chancellor's decision to get rid of nuclear power and shutting down the proposal to revive the military draft.
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Bad Guys

'Dixie Claire': Fellow Dem compares Senator McCaskill to slave owner


RT
Wed, 31 Oct 2018 20:17 UTC
Claire McCaskill
© Joshua Roberts / ReutersSenator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri)
Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) has found herself in a public (and very vitriolic) spat with a fellow Democrat who took to Twitter and compared her to a slave owner less than a week before midterm elections.

It all started when McCaskill decided to run a radio campaign ad describing herself as "not one of those crazy Democrats" in an obvious effort to secure moderate and middle-of-the-road voters as her poll numbers struggle.

Pushed by Fox News' Bret Baier to give examples of who those "crazy Democrats" actually were, McCaskill later referenced controversial Missouri Democratic state senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal, who once called for US President Donald Trump to be assassinated.

Comment: Claire's been having a rough couple of weeks

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Nuke

Stephen Cohen: Abolition of nuclear abolitionism?

Stephen Cohen
RT
Sun, 28 Oct 2018 15:43 UTC
Trump/Commanders
© Global Look Press/Shealah CraigheadUS President Donald Trump with senior military commanders, October 23, 2018.
President Trump's withdrawal from the INF Treaty nullifies a historic precedent.

Stephen Cohen elaborates on the following points regarding Trump's decision to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, signed by the US and (Soviet) Russia in 1987.

- For whatever reasons, both leaders at the time, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, had developed a deep personal fear of nuclear weapons. After agreeing in principle, though informally, in February 1986 that all nuclear weapons should be eliminated, the following year they abolished an entire category of those instruments of mass destruction: nuclear-warhead-bearing missiles with a range of some 500-5,500 kilometers.

- The INF Treaty was focused on Europe, which was targeted by Soviet missiles and which was where US counter-missiles were based. It was a major step in a diplomatic process of grand détente that both Reagan and Gorbachev thought would end the Cold War and nuclear arms races forever. The treaty's larger significance is that it was the first, and still only, act of nuclear abolitionism - until now, a historic 31-year tangible symbol of what more could, and should, be possible.

Comment: Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu gives a warning:
From RFE/RL:
Shoigu told his visiting Greek counterpart on October 29 that the European Union and NATO should weigh the consequences of a U.S. exit from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty...

"It seems to us that not everybody in Europe understands that this decision will have serious consequences for Europe either, and to put it more accurately, for Europe in the first place," Shoigu said.

Shoigu's statement follows a warning from Russian President Vladimir Putin last week that Russia would target any NATO member countries if the United States withdraws from the treaty and puts currently banned intermediate-range missiles in those countries -- something NATO has said is not currently being contemplated.

In the days since Trump announced his intent to abandon the pact, Russia has called for a return to dialogue over the treaty to address complaints on both sides.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on October 28 that Moscow is drafting answers to a list of questions the United States has drawn up about Russian compliance with the treaty.


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Briefcase

The originalist: A case against birthright citizenship

Daniel Horowitz
Conservative Review
Sat, 25 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
Gavel/WeThePeeps
© Moussa81/Getty Images
The American people are being told by the political class that there is nothing they can do to prevent future waves of illegal immigrants from coming here, unilaterally declaring political and legal jurisdiction, and securing citizenship for their children. We are told that there is no recourse through our elected representatives to prevent illegal immigrants from gaining a legal foothold in this country, all because of a footnote from the most radical anti-originalist justice of this century, William Brennan Jr.

If you are scratching your head wondering how our own Constitution can be used as a suicide pact against us by foreign countries, you are not missing anything. This irrational sentiment expressed by a number of conservative and liberal pundits alike, in fact, undermines the very fabric of the social contract, popular sovereignty, and the republican form of government established by the preamble of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Comment: Is the US true to its founding principles or modifying those standards to appease some of the people some of the time? Can't have it both ways. Protection was guaranteed. Now, not so much.

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