Puppet MastersS


Attention

Skripal and Khashoggi: A tale of two disappearances and US hypocrisy

Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture Foundation
Wed, 17 Oct 2018 07:08 UTC
khashoggi
Two disappearances, and two very different responses from Western governments, which illustrates their rank hypocrisy.

When former Russian spy Sergei Skripal went missing in England earlier this year, there was almost immediate punitive action by the British government and its NATO allies against Moscow. By contrast, Western governments are straining with restraint towards Saudi Arabia over the more shocking and provable case of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The outcry by Western governments and media over the Skripal affair was deafening and resulted in Britain, the US and some 28 other countries expelling dozens of Russian diplomats on the back of unsubstantiated British allegations that the Kremlin tried to assassinate an exiled spy with a deadly nerve agent. The Trump administration has further tightened sanctions citing the Skripal incident.

London's case against Moscow has been marked by wild speculation and ropey innuendo. No verifiable evidence of what actually happened to Sergei Skripal (67) and his daughter Yulia has been presented by the British authorities. Their claim that President Vladimir Putin sanctioned a hit squad armed with nerve poison relies on sheer conjecture.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Light Saber

Supreme Court hearing case that could end Internet censorship, expand scope of the First Amendment

Carmine Sabia
Citizen Truth
Wed, 17 Oct 2018 06:21 UTC
Internet companies
After the recent purge of over 800 independent media outlets on Facebook, the Supreme Court is now hearing a case that could have ramifications for any future attempts at similar purges.

The United States Supreme Court has agreed to take a case that could change free speech on the Internet forever.

Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck, No. 17-702, the case that it has agreed to take, will decide if the private operator of a public access network is considered a state actor, CNBC reported.

The case could affect how companies like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google and YouTube are governed. If the Court were to issue a far-reaching ruling it could subject such companies to First Amendment lawsuits and force them to allow a much broader scope of free speech from its users.

The Court decided to take the case on Friday and it is the first case that was taken after Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the Court.

DeeDee Halleck and Jesus Melendez claimed that they were fired from Manhattan Neighborhood Network for speaking critically of the network. And, though the case does not involve the Internet giants, it could create a ruling that expands the First Amendment beyond the government.

Comment: We're not holding our breath, but it would be good to see a class action lawsuit by all those who've been purged from social media giants. Perhaps this case will be the first of many.

Read More...
Radar

Silicon Valley and the US Pentagon team up to declare that 'Russia is the enemy'

Phil Butler
New Eastern Outlook
Wed, 17 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
bezos airforce
American foreign policy is more and more resembling the NFL's and broadcast networks' pre-game football hype before the Super Bowl. For those of you who grimaced while watching former President Barack Obama touchdown dancing and pretending to be a sports hero, the current POTUS is even worse. To make matters worse for humanity, many of my countrymen fall for the whole act. Case in point, hyping America's military might and bravado.

When I read the INSIDER headline,"F-22 stealth jets got 587 enemy aircraft to back off in their first 'combat surge' over Syria," I immediately checked the newswires to see if Syria had exploded into World War III. Thank God, I voiced aloud on discovering the Military & Defense section (and the rest of the magazine) are owned by Insider Inc. and our old friend Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world. No, thank your lucky stars, we are not at war with Russia, Iran, and Syria. Yes, Bezos and company consider these nations our "enemies."
Read More...
Gear

The individuals tasked with "stopping election interference" are the ones who are actually rigging it

Daisy Luther
The Organic Prepper
Mon, 15 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
election interference
Last week, Mark Zuckerberg made the media rounds to give a rather shady explanation of why Facebook suddenly closed hundreds of incredibly popular pages in what's being called The Alternative Media Purge. Zuckerberg accused the closed pages, many of which had millions of fans, of spreading "political spam."

Ironically, many of the pages that were shut down had absolutely nothing to do with politics or elections, unless you include the fact that they recommended skipping the entire circus. None of these pages were accused of being "the Russians," who were the scapegoat of the last surprise presidential election results. A couple of the things that many of the pages did have in common, incidentally, were an anti-war outlook and a police watchdog mentality.

But as far as making the election more resistant to interference, the result of the Alternative Media Purge is the diametric opposite. People will now only get one side of the story.

The alternative media changed everything during the last presidential election.

When Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president, much of the world snickered. Who was this reality television star to take on part of the Clinton Empire? There was no way, people scoffed, that Trump could possibly win.
Read More...
MIB

Senior Treasury official arrested after leaking sensitive data to the press related to Mueller investigation

Tom Winter, Adiel Kaplan and Rich Schapiro
NBC News
Wed, 17 Oct 2018 15:21 UTC
leaked mueller
© Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast
The Justice Department has arrested a senior Treasury department official accused of leaking to a reporter confidential financial reports related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian election hacking and President Trump associates.

Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards, a senior adviser at the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), was charged with disclosing suspicious activity reports, known as SARs, to an unidentified reporter beginning in October 2017, authorities said.

The substance of those reports - which focused on former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, his former business partner Rick Gates, the Russian Embassy, alleged Russian spy Maria Butina and the Prevezon Alexander real estate company - was later detailed in roughly 12 articles published by BuzzFeed, according to an 18-page federal complaint.

Comment: Edwards is a just a pawn in a much bigger game being played. The thing is these 'intelligence assessments' had to make their way to the press in one way or another, as that was the primary purpose of creating them in the first place.

Read More...
Pirates

Thievery: Facebook blacklists news pages of disabled vet - after taking $300K from him for advertising

Lucas Nolan
Breitbart
Tue, 16 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
Kolfage blacklist Facebook
Kolfage stated that he has invested a large amount of money into Facebook’s advertising system and his pages are one of the key ways that he earns money to support his family.
Facebook blacklisted the conservative news page run by disabled Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage with no warning or explanation - after he reportedly spent more than $300,000 on Facebook advertising.

On his new website which aims to put an end to social media censorship, Air Force veteran and triple-amputee Brian Kolfage explains who he is and the challenges he's facing stating: "I'm a veteran of The United States Air Force. I was severely wounded in Combat, on 9/11/2004 while serving in Iraq I lost both my legs entirely and my right hand. I'm the most severely wounded US Airman to survive."

Kolfage continued: "I'm not a 'conservative.' I'm not a 'liberal.' I'm an American, with deep beliefs in what our country stands for. I proved this by vowing to protect and fighting for America greatest tenant: Free Speech. Many Americans have fought for these political freedoms ... freedom of speech ... and every American has enjoyed those freedoms... UNTIL TODAY. October 11th Facebook shut down thousands of Facebook accounts for their political opinions stating that they don't have a 'legitimate political argument'. STOP SOCIAL MEDIA CENSORSHIP NOW!"

Comment:

Read More...
Megaphone

Ongoing US meddling in Macedonia's affairs sees MPs promised bail for swapping vote


RT
Tue, 16 Oct 2018 23:54 UTC
Macedonia name change referendum
© Reuters / Marko DjuricaOpponents of the Macedonia name change referendum, September 30, 2018
The US State Department has urged the opposition in Macedonia to vote in favor of the name change deal despite the failed referendum, while the government in Skopje is threatening those that don't with terrorism prosecutions.

In a letter dated Tuesday, assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian affairs Wess Mitchell says that Washington is "disappointed" in the position of the leading opposition party, VMRO-DPMNE.

"We urge you to set aside partisan interests to advance our shared strategic interests and secure a brighter future for your citizens among the European family of nations," Mitchell says in the letter, whose authenticity was confirmed by the US embassy in Skopje.

Comment: Where in the world is the US not meddling? Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: What's The Problem With Nationalism?

Read More...
Bullseye

Purge of independent media: A coordinated attack by the MIC?

Derrick Broze
Activist Post
Mon, 15 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
social media purge guy
© theorganicprepper.comSocial Media Purge
Victims of Facebook's most recent purge should not forget the connections between the social media giant and the Western Military-Industrial Complex.

On Thursday, Facebook announced they were unpublishing, or purging, over 500 pages and 200 accounts who are accused of spreading political spam. Several of these pages and writers were also removed from Twitter on the same day.

"Today, we're removing 559 Pages and 251 accounts that have consistently broken our rules against spam and coordinated inauthentic behavior," Facebook stated in a blog post. Facebook states that the people behind this alleged spam "create networks of Pages using fake accounts or multiple accounts with the same names" and "post the same clickbait posts in dozens of Facebook Groups."

Essentially, Facebook is accusing these pages of writing articles related to politics and then using the social media platform to.... post the articles in as many places as possible to reach as many people as possible. Hardly dangerous or scary stuff. However, these actions are in violation of Facebook's Terms of Service. Facebook also accused the pages and accounts of using their fake accounts to generate fake likes and shares which may artificially inflate their reach and mislead people about their popularity. According to Facebook, "This activity goes against what people expect on Facebook, and it violates our policies against spam."

Comment: The Western media climate, and in particular the USA, is rapidly losing its independence and the freedom of the press in a war currently being waged by social media, MIC, NGOs and obscure change-agents. Without alternative news and the ability to freely report, the fight for these rights is all but lost. Sadly most Americans will hardly notice. See also:

Read More...
Hammer

US may impose sanctions on firms engaged in Syrian reconstruction


Sputnik
Wed, 17 Oct 2018 10:19 UTC
Syrian blast
© AnadoluThe mess of war.
The US administration is designing a new strategy of actions in Syria that would envisage the possibility of imposing sanctions on Russian and Iranian companies engaged in the reconstruction of Syria after the civil war, the NBC News broadcaster reported, citing sources with knowledge of the situation.

The strategy would not provide for direct clashes with the forces controlled by the Iranian government, as the US military has a right to attack the Iranian troops only in case of self-defense, the NBC News broadcaster reported on Tuesday.

Instead, the strategy reportedly focuses on political and diplomatic efforts toward forcing Iranian armed forces out of Syria, namely, via putting financial pressure on them.

Three people with knowledge of the plan told NBC News that the United States was set to hinder Syria's reconstruction by withdrawing its aid from the areas where the Russian and the Iranian forces are present, and also introducing sanctions against the Russian and the Iranian companies engaged in the reconstruction.

Comment: Just plain crazy! Perhaps the US would like to carry the whole burden of Syrian reconstruction itself - not that it would do it justice, given US track record in reconstituting Iraq for example. The faux business of war: create a bogey, sell lots of expensive military equipment, ruin someone's country and then profit through the guise of contribution and restoration, along with dictates and mandates for the state and forever occupation by the military. What a horrid waste of energy, resources and devastation perpetrated on whole populations to appease this unending feeding machine.

Read More...
Attention

G7 foreign ministers: Punish everyone responsible for Khashoggi disappearance!


Sputnik
Wed, 17 Oct 2018 04:17 UTC
Khashoggi pic
© AP/Jacquelyn Martin
G7 member states' foreign ministers are calling for punishing everyone responsible for the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, the joint statement said.
"We remain very troubled by the disappearance of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Those bearing responsibility for his disappearance must be held to account. We encourage Turkish-Saudi collaboration and look forward to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia conducting a thorough, credible, transparent, and prompt investigation, as announced," the statement said on Tuesday.
The G7 foreign ministers as well as EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini have also affirmed their commitment to protecting the freedom of expression and free press.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, went missing on October 2. He was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where he went to receive papers he needed to remarry.

Turkey has expressed concerns that Khashoggi could have been murdered inside the building, while the Saudi government has denied involvement in the case, claiming that the journalist disappeared after he left the consulate.

Comment: Punishment for 'a disappearance' is dubious without proof of foul play. As such, alleged evidence has not been made public nor confirmed.
See also:

Read More...