Puppet MastersS


Info

Suspects identified in probe of Khashoggi's disappearance have 'ties to Saudi government'


Sputnik
Wed, 17 Oct 2018 10:32 UTC
Turkey police
© AFP 2018 / Bulent Kilic
Turkish authorities have identified five suspects in its investigation into the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, four of whom have ties to the Saudi Arabian government, US media reported.

One of the suspects identified by Turkey is a companion of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and another is a forensic doctor with senior positions in the Saudi Interior Ministry and medical establishment, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. The other three suspects are connected by witness accounts and other records linked to the Saudi crown prince's security team, the report added. Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, a diplomat assigned to the Saudi Embassy in London in 2007, is among the suspects, the report said citing a British diplomatic roster. Mutreb traveled constantly with the Saudi crown prince and accompanied him this year on trips to Spain, France and the United States, the report added.

Comment: Also see: The Murder of Jamal Khashoggi: Oil, Sanctions And The Anti-Trump Establishment

Read More...
Bad Guys

Russian Embassy: Bellingcat's connections to special services are 'apparent'


TASS
Wed, 17 Oct 2018 10:32 UTC
Russian embassy in London
© REUTERS/Henry NichollsRussian embassy in London
The Bellingcat group may be linked to special services, judging from the nature of information they publish and their non-transparent structure, the press secretary of the Russian Embassy in London said.

"Bellingcat's connections with special services are apparent if one takes into account the circumstances surrounding this group," the press secretary said. He named several factors that serve as evidence to this: the group was established "several days before the MH17 crash," it publishes information that combines "features of intelligence data and high-quality fakes," its activities are directed against Russia.

Comment: Higgins is not a serious journalist nor is he a serious person. His 'research' is a joke, not unlike his responses to criticism. It's hard to understand why anyone would take his work seriously, but informational soundness isn't exactly the forte of the establishment and their NPC robots.

Also see: Bellingcat authenticity and Skripal poisoning case under question by independent journalists

Read More...
Quenelle

Trump slams Fed for being 'too independent,' says it's his biggest threat


RT
Wed, 17 Oct 2018 10:32 UTC
Donald Trump
© Reuters / Carlos Barria
Trump is making it clear he's "not happy" with the behavior of the Federal Reserve, which he blamed for last week's market crash. The Fed hiked short-term interest rates three times this year and plans to do so again before 2019.

In an interview with Fox Business anchor Trish Regan, the president complained the Fed was behaving too independently and "raising rates too fast." Contrary to its name, the Fed is privately held and largely free of US government oversight.

Last week, Trump blamed the Fed for the massive stock sell-off that caused the Dow to plummet 832 points in a single day - its largest single-day point drop since February and its fourth-worst point loss in history. He is on record urging the central bank to focus on "what's good for the country" instead of raising rates, which can hurt consumers because it increases the costs of borrowing.
Read More...
No Entry

Here's why we should boycott Facebook, Twitter, and Google

Eric Zuesse
Strategic Culture Foundation
Wed, 17 Oct 2018 11:08 UTC
facebook
NATO - the neoconservatives, the marketeers for firms such as Lockheed Martin and BAE - has taken over the social-media giants and much of online international 'news'-reporting, including that of virtually all independent news-sites and blogs.

Facebook, Twitter, and Google, in recent days, delivered what might be the death-blows.

NATO's main PR agency, think-tank, and lobbying organization, is 'non-profit' - a legal tax-dodge that's financed by donations from those weapons-making firms and their supporting firms and their 'non-profits', so that the taxes that it doesn't pay will need to be paid instead by the general public. Billionaires know how to avoid taxes, and they hire politicians who write the laws with all the 'right' loopholes for them - and only for the very richest - to use. This PR agency is called "The Atlantic Council," and it was set up in 1961, the exact same year that U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower left office warning that "the military-industrial complex" might take control of the U.S. Well, it did so, with The Atlantic Council's help; and, now, it is finally lowering the boom against democracy itself - at least among the U.S. and its allied nations (the governments whose weapons-manufacturing firms are in, and sell to, NATO governments). The aim is to drive up the percentage of government-expenditures there that go to pay those firms, and so to reduce the percentages that go to pay everything else. The aim, in short, is the permanent-warfare-economy. After all, firms such as Lockheed Martin and BAE sell only to allied governments. They have virtually no consumers except those governments. So: their (and their 'charities') basic message is 'austerity' - except on 'defense' or realistically called "aggression." This is national 'defense' such as against Iraq in 2003, and against Libya in 2011 - it is instead sheer aggression. George Orwell predicted "Newspeak" - well, here it is. It's today's norm, so normal that the public think it's just natural, and conservatives and even many liberals think it's the way that 'a free market' ought to be.

Comment: See also: Banned Facebook pages were featured on 2016 PropOrNot 'blacklist'

Read More...
Gold Bar

Hungary's central bank shock announcement of 10-fold jump in gold reserves

Ronan Manly
Bullionstar.com
Tue, 16 Oct 2018 12:00 UTC
hungary gold bar
Some of the newly purchased gold bars of the Hungarian central bank. This gold has also been repatriated to Hungary.
In one of the most profound developments in the central bank gold market for a long time, the Hungarian National Bank, Hungary's central bank, has just announced a 10 fold jump in its monetary gold holdings. The central bank, known as Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB) in Hungarian, made the announcement in Budapest, Hungary's capital.

The details of Hungary's dramatic new gold purchase are as follows:
  • Before this month, Hungary's central bank held 3.10 tonnes of gold.
  • During the first two weeks of October, the Hungarian National Bank purchased 28.4 tonnes of gold.
  • This gold purchase raised the central bank's gold holdings from 3.1 tonnes to 31.5 tonnes, i.e. a 1000% or 10-fold increase.
  • The Hungarian central bank had not altered its gold reserves since 1986, i.e. 32 years ago.
  • The 28.4 tonnes of gold was purchased in 'physical form', and 'its repatriation has already taken place' to Hungary.
  • Interestingly, Hungary now holds the same amount of gold as it held 70 years ago.

Comment: With the impending collapse of the dollar and the relentless threats of sanctions from the US, is it any wonder countries all over the world are flocking to gold? Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Trump Ditches Europe, Europe Bluffs, Russia and China Carry on With Eurasian Integration

Read More...
Recycle

Stephen M. Walt: A brief history of regime change for dummies

Stepehn M. Walt
Medium
Wed, 16 May 2018 09:37 UTC
Gaddafi Qaddafi
© Mario Tama/Getty Images


A brief global history of a tactic that's back in style: toppling other countries' governments

In my last column, I argued that U.S. President Donald Trump's rash decision to violate the Iran nuclear deal was the first step in a new round of regime change in the Middle East. If his goal was stopping an Iranian bomb and preventing a regional arms race, the existing agreement was working just fine, and he should have been trying to make it permanent instead of gutting it. If his goal was stopping Iran's "regional activities," the smart strategy would have been to keep the country from going nuclear while working with others to bring Iran to heel through pressure and additional diplomacy. Instead, Trump, National Security Advisor John Bolton, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are hoping that violating the Iran deal will let them re-impose sanctions on Iran. They hope this pressure will topple the Islamic Republic, or lead Iran's own hard-liners to restart its nuclear enrichment program and provide a pretext for the preventive war that Bolton has long advocated.

More sensible strategists might have first considered whether this goal even makes sense. What does history teach us? Did previous efforts at regime change (by the United States and by others) produce the expected benefits, or did they end up making things worse? Does regime change produce real benefits at relatively low cost, or is the price tag usually much higher than expected, while the benefits tend to be disappointing?

The answers, in fact, are pretty obvious, as can be seen from the following brief history of regime change. (Spoiler alert: It's almost always a very bad idea.)

Comment: Together with Professor John Mearsheimer, Professor Stephen M. Walt wrote the book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, which describes the Lobby's influence on America's political stance and imperial adventures abroad.

The hand of the Lobby has played a huge role in most if not all of the US regime change operations in the Middle East against Israel's competitors, and that includes the war on Syria and the sanctions against Iran. This is another reason for the US to not learn from its mistakes - it has been placing 'Israel First', and Israel does not care about the costs for the target country nor for the US.

Read More...
Arrow Down

US sanctions Iranian banks, factories & mines


RT
Tue, 16 Oct 2018 01:06 UTC
Tehran stock exchange
© Reuters/ Reuters PhotographerTehran stock exchange
Washington has blacklisted some 20 Iranian companies, including banks, steel mills, zinc mines, and manufacturers of cars, buses and tractors - accused by the US of supporting recruitment of "child soldiers" for Iran.

The sanctions target a "multibillion-dollar financial network" that supports the Basij Resistance Force, a volunteer militia that works with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to recruit and train "child soldiers," the Treasury said.

"This vast network provides financial infrastructure to the Basij's efforts to recruit, train, and indoctrinate child soldiers who are coerced into combat under the IRGC's direction," said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

One of the 20 entities added to the US Treasury's blacklist on Tuesday is the Bonyad Taavon Basij, the Basij cooperative foundation. The list, however, also includes companies like the Tehran-based Bahman Group, which produces vehicles under license by Mazda, Isuzu and Mitsubishi, and the Iran Tractor Manufacturing Company.

Comment: Perspective: the US gave money and weapons to al-Qaeda in Syria, who recruit children and coerce them into battle. So we're waiting for the US to start sanctioning themselves... Any day now...

Read More...
Star

You can be sure Hillary is getting extremely nervous as US midterm election polls tighten

Tom Luongo
Goats, Guns 'N Butter
Mon, 15 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
Hillary for Prison
In case you haven't been paying attention, the Republicans are going to remain in control of both the House and the Senate in a couple of weeks. Since their flawless victory over the Democrats in the fight to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, the Republican base is more energized now than at any point since November 2016.

They say pictures are worth a thousand words... so, here's one.

house race
The Redcoats are Coming, The Redcoats are Coming!
And if you don't think the person that is most worried about this picture is Hillary Clinton, then you haven't been paying attention.

But, to get to Hillary, I'll have to connect a few dots.

Comment: If history and the the acts of psychopaths in positions of political power have taught us anything, it's that individuals who try and change the system fundamentally - especially in constructive ways - are never allowed to go beyond a certain point. At least in the US.

Read More...
Bizarro Earth

SOTT Focus: The Dark Story Behind 'Man-Made Global Warming', Those Who Created it - And Why

F. William Engdahl
New Eastern Outlook
Tue, 16 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
global warming
The recent UN global warming conference under auspices of the deceptively-named International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded its meeting in South Korea discussing how to drastically limit global temperature rise. Mainstream media is predictably retailing various panic scenarios "predicting" catastrophic climate change because of man-made emissions of Greenhouse Gases, especially CO2, if drastic changes in our lifestyle are not urgently undertaken. There is only one thing wrong with all that. It's based on fake science and corrupted climate modelers who have reaped by now billions in government research grants to buttress the arguments for radical change in our standard of living. We might casually ask "What's the point?" The answer is not positive.

The South Korea meeting of the UN IPCC discussed measures needed, according to their computer models, to limit global temperature rise to below 1.5 Centigrade above levels of the pre-industrial era. One of the panel members and authors of the latest IPCC Special Report on Global Warming, Drew Shindell, at Duke University told the press that to meet the arbitrary 1.5 degree target will require world CO2 emissions to drop by a staggering 40% in the next 12 years. The IPCC calls for a draconian "zero net emissions" of CO2 by 2050. That would mean complete ban on gas or diesel engines for cars and trucks, no coal power plants, transformation of the world agriculture to burning food as biofuels. Shindell modestly put it, "These are huge, huge shifts."
Read More...
Arrow Up

Venezuela drops US dollar in response to 'insane imperialism', will use euro for international transactions


RT
Tue, 16 Oct 2018 18:45 UTC
dollar euro scales
© Global Look Press/ imago stock&people
Venezuela is abandoning the US dollar, with all future transactions on the Venezuelan exchange market to be made in euro, Tareck El Aissami, the country's Vice President for Economy, announced.

The sanctions, recently introduced by Washington against Caracas, "block the possibility of continuing to trade using the US dollar on the Venezuelan exchange market," El Aissami said, adding that the American restrictions were "illegal and against international law."

The American "financial blockade" of Venezuela affects both the country's public and private sectors, including pharmacy and agriculture, and shows "just how far the imperialism can go in its madness," the vice president said.

Comment: See also:

Read More...