Puppet MastersS


Chess

China congratulates Putin on his victory, hails their 'grand strategic partnership'


The Duran
Mon, 26 Mar 2018 12:29 UTC
Xi Jinping Vladimir Putin Russia China
China's President Xi Jinping (L) is welcomed by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin (R) during the opening ceremony of "The Year of Chinese Tourism in Russia" in Moscow, on March 22, 2013.
President Putin's massive election victory and the fallout from the Skripal case have provided Global Times - an English language newspaper published under the auspices of the People's Daily, the official organ of China's Communist Party, and therefore reflecting the views of China's leadership - with the opportunity to give Russia strong backing as it comes under renewed Western pressure.

The first editorial, published on 16th March 2018 under the title "West hopes to hurt, intimidate Russia", makes clear that China sides with Russia over the handling of the Skripal case
This new round of "bullying" of Russia by the US and its European allies is quite abrupt and acute. London ignored usual diplomatic procedures to issue an ultimatum to Moscow and began sanctions. It feels like racing against time.
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Hourglass

A prelude to revolution: Trump's core base abandoning him

Eric Zuesse
The Duran
Mon, 26 Mar 2018 09:35 UTC
Donald Trump
Giving voters a choice only between unacceptable candidates in both Parties could turn out to have been a prelude to revolution

The most reliable online real-time measure of Donald Trump's base voters' ongoing support for him is at Breitbart News, the reader-comments to their top Trump headlines, as listed under the "Comments" section as "Sort by Best."

At the very top of their news on March 23rd was the following headline, followed by the top "Sort by Best" comment and the responses to it, each of which also indicates the net number of up-votes by the site's readership:
Donald Trump Signs Bloated $1.3 Trillion Omnibus Bill, Cites Military Funding By Charlie Spiering, Friday 23 March 2018, 14,005 comments
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Attention

Devotee Bolton's MEK connection and why it matters

Daniel Larison
The American Conservative
Sun, 25 Mar 2018 12:00 UTC
Bolton
© MediumNeocon John Bolton
Jason Rezaian comments on Bolton's enthusiasm for the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) and what it means for U.S. Iran policy:
The MEK is the type of fringe group that sets up camp across the street from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and hands out fliers filled with unsubstantiated claims. This is America - we let crazy people talk. That's their right, and I would never suggest that they be prohibited from doing that. But giving the MEK a voice in the White House is a terrible idea. In John Bolton they have someone who will do it for them.
Now that Bolton is in such an influential position in the Trump administration, his connection with and support for the MEK pose some real dangers for the U.S. He could use his position to funnel misinformation from the MEK to the president to distort U.S. policy in their favor. He might use his position to advocate publicly on behalf of the MEK, and that would give them a de facto endorsement from the administration. Worse still, he could persuade the president that this totalitarian cult is the "real" Iranian opposition, which would simultaneously harm Iranian dissidents and saddle the U.S. with a discredited, deranged cult as its preferred alternative to the Iranian government.

Comment: See also: Journalist Seymour Hersh discusses MEK:



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Attention

A travesty: Charges dropped against Turkish security guards who attacked Americans on the streets of DC

Katie Pavlich
Townhall
Fri, 23 Mar 2018 10:00 UTC
Turk guards
© Al MonitorWhat they did!
Last summer during a diplomatic trip to Washington D.C. and after at meeting with President Trump at the White House, bodyguards working for Turkish President Recep Erdogan beat a number of peaceful American protestors in the street and sent many of them to the hospital. One body guard was caught on video kicking a woman on the ground.

But the guards didn't make the decision to attack American citizens on their own. At one point during the violence, Erdogan got out of his motorcade and ordered the guards to continue the beatings.

Officers from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department attempted to stop the guards from engaging further, but were unsuccessful. They condemned the attack and ultimately brought charges. The State Department issued a delayed condemnation and the White House never issued a statement about the matter. Now, those charges have been dropped.

Comment: Erdogan's body guards have been confronted on their bully tactics by other countries as well.

See also:

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Quenelle

US demands China reconsider "catastrophic" ban on importing foreign garbage


RT
Sun, 25 Mar 2018 02:12 UTC
China dumps trash
© Fred Prouser / Reuters
Amid fears of a potentially devastating trade war between the US and China, Washington has urged Beijing not to implement the ban on US garbage and recyclable materials that Asia's giant threatened to impose last July.

In an effort to battle the "illegal foreign garbage" influx into China, last July China's Ministry of Environmental Protection notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) that it plans to ban imports of 24 types of solid waste materials, such as soda bottles, mixed paper, recycled steel and newsprint. Despite the threat to implement the ban by the end of the year, the document stated that the "proposed date of adoption" is "to be determined."

Concerned over the massive impact the ban could have on the US economy, on Friday the US trade representative urged China to re-examine its decision.

Comment: Looks like China has had enough of America's crap - and not just in the area of recycling - and what better payback than to leave them to drown in it:

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Black Cat

Did Trump appoint Bolton because Republicans desperately need Sheldon Adelson's money?

Philip Weiss
Mondoweiss
Sun, 25 Mar 2018 18:19 UTC
Trump adelson
© Andy AboudTrump with Sheldon and Miriam Adelson in Las Vegas, undated
The simple truth about John Bolton's appointment to national security adviser is that the Republicans need Sheldon Adelson's money in order to be competitive in the coming midterms, and John Bolton is a tool of Sheldon Adelson.

The appointment of course is a complete reversal of Donald Trump's declaration during the campaign that the Iraq war - which Bolton pushed and still thinks is a great idea - was the biggest mistake ever, and he was against it from the jump.

But Adelson was Trump's biggest donor during the 2016 campaign, and Trump needs Sheldon Adelson's money to keep Congress from flipping and cutting his throat.

It's little wonder that any Republican with political ambition was quick to extol John Bolton. Politico reported in February that many of those "desperate" Republicans were trekking to Las Vegas and "gushing" over Adelson because they need him "more than ever" to try and hold on to the House this year.
Confronting the potential loss of one or both chambers of Congress in the midterms, and struggling to raise money against an energized Democratic base, the party is desperate for Adelson's millions....
That Politico article mentioned Israel only once, to say Adelson couldn't attend the shindig because he was in Israel. It never mentioned Iran, either.

Comment: Some background on Sheldon Adelson

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Dollar

Matt Drudge predicted budget disaster - warned Paul Ryan blocked Trump's 'revolution' indefinitely

Joshua Caplan
Gateway Pundit
Fri, 23 Mar 2018 18:32 UTC
trump drudge
To the dismay of conservatives, President Trump signed the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill Friday.

"As a matter of national security I've signed this omnibus budget bill. There are a lot of things that I'm unhappy about in this bill. There are a lot of things that we shouldn't have had in this bill," Trump told the media


Media icon Matt Drudge warned that Speaker Paul Ryan had blocked the 'Trump revolution indefinitely,' after the Democrat leadership "secured nearly $5 billion in new domestic spending," in May of last year.

Comment: What the military wants the military gets, because "national security". Now, you can add the Democrats to the camp of enemies with leverage over Trump. Well, it was fun while it lasted. Back to business as usual, it seems.

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War Whore

Photos allegedly show US military vehicles arriving in Jordan


Sputnik
Sun, 25 Mar 2018 20:56 UTC
us military tanks jordan
© AFP 2018/ ILMARS ZNOTINS
The news comes hot on the heels of the accusations of the US planning strikes on governmental forces in neighboring Syria by Russia earlier this week. Washington has previous experience of launching strikes without the authorization of the UN Security Council, when it attacked Syria's Shairat airbase in April 2017.

The Telegram channel Directorate 4, which monitors the situation in Syria and Iraq, has published pictures of US heavy military equipment arriving in Jordan via the military transport ship "Liberty pride" for future participation in the annual military drills "Eager Lion." During the process of unloading, vehicles looking like M1A2 "Abrams" tanks, the M113's variation for medical evacuation and the M2A3 "Bradley" armored personnel carriers were spotted.
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Propaganda

Skripal hysteria: Crazy "BoJo" likens Crimea's accession to Russia to Nazis' occupation of Czechoslovakia


RT
Sun, 25 Mar 2018 00:00 UTC
Boris Johnshon
© ReutersBritish Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson
UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson seems to have become fixated on comparing Russia with Nazi Germany. Most recently, he has likened Crimea's reunification with Russia to Hitler's annexation of the Sudetenland.

The trouble with raising the specter of an enemy is that one can very easily take it too far. Johnson has apparently been so gripped by hysterical Russophobia that he has started seeing parallels between Russia and its sworn enemy, the Third Reich.

In his latest outburst to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, he went as far as to claim that Crimea joining Russia, following an overwhelmingly supportive referendum in March 2014, was similar to the partial occupation of what was then Czechoslovakia by Hitler's forces back in 1938. Johnson then claimed that it was "wholly apposite" to draw such comparisons between the Nazis then and Russia now.

Comment: See also:

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Brick Wall

Trump: US military may pay for border wall since it's now 'rich'


RT
Sun, 25 Mar 2018 17:52 UTC
donald trump border wall prototype
© Kevin Lamarque / ReutersUS President Donald Trump speaks while viewing US-Mexico border wall prototypes in San Diego, California, on March 13, 2018.
Donald Trump has long pushed for a wall to be built along the US-Mexico border, but he seems to be no longer insistent that Mexico pay for it. The US military should construct it because it's now "rich," he suggested on Twitter.

"Because of the $700 & $716 Billion Dollars gotten to rebuild our Military, many jobs are created and our Military is again rich. Building a great Border Wall, with drugs (poison) and enemy combatants pouring into our Country, is all about National Defense," Trump tweeted on Sunday. He ended his tweet by saying "Build WALL through M," apparently creating his own abbreviation for "military" due to Twitter's 280-character limit.
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