Puppet MastersS


Folder

The Khashoggi Files: As a case builds against Riyadh, Wikileaks tells us about history and kingdom

Seth Frantzman
Tsarizm
Thu, 11 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
wikileaks/saudi
© Wiki media/KJN
On October 11, nine days into the Khashoggi Affair, US Senator Bob Corker said "there is no question the Saudis did this," according to a tweet by CNN's Kaitlin Collins. The important US Republican joins a chorus of voices, particularly in the US, speaking out about Riyadh's alleged role in the disappearance of the Saudi journalist in Istanbul. Congressmen have voiced concern and major administration officials, including Pompeo, Kushner and Bolton have called the crown prince.

Details continue to emerge in media. Of particular, but largely overlooked, interest are the files at Wikileaks that paint a picture of the role of Khashoggi during the years before he became critical of crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman. I previously published a transcript of Khashoggi in his own words from an interview he gave earlier this year at the Oslo Freedom Forum. It explains his changing views on Riyadh's policies during the Arab Spring.

These files, some of which are just copies of publications that were public but were then shared in various forums, now present a picture of him and his role and connections leading up to the Arab Spring.
Read More...
Question

10 key questions regarding the Khashoggi affair need answering before buying the press narrative

Lee Smith
The Federalist
Mon, 15 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
MbS Khashoggi
© Saudi Gazette/Associated PressCrown Prince Mohhmad bin Salman • Journalist Jamal Khashoggi
The discipline shown in the messaging campaign against Saudia Arabia suggests Turkis President Recep Erdogan is managing the Khashoggi file directly.

On October 2, Saudi national and U.S. green-card holder Jamal Khashoggi reportedly walked into the Saudi consulate to resolve issues related to his marital status. Through anonymous leaks to the press, Turkish sources claim he did not leave the diplomatic facility alive. More anonymous sources claim he was tortured and murdered, allegations repeated in the U.S. press without evidence.

It is possible that the circumstances around Khashoggi's disappearance will soon come to light. However, it's equally likely that the passage of time will only further obscure events. To cast some light on the issue, I thought it was worthwhile asking what seem to me the central questions.

1. Is There Evidence Khashoggi Was Murdered?

Turkish sources say there is. The U.S. press has reported that unnamed Turkish officials have told them - or unnamed second-hand Turkish sources had told them - they have evidence, audio and video, that a team of Saudi officials detained, tortured, and killed Khashoggi.

However, no reporters, neither Western nor Turkish, have seen that evidence. If it exists, the Turks have not made it public. In one of the few leaks from the U.S. government, an intelligence official told CNN there is no hard evidence as to whether Khashoggi is dead or alive.

Comment: Finally someone is asking pertinent questions within an investigative context.

Read More...
Pirates

Russian MoD: ISIS take 700 refugees hostage as US 'imitates' fighting terrorists in Syria


RT
Mon, 15 Oct 2018 23:56 UTC
ISIS Syria
© AFPIslamic State terrorists
Islamic State terrorists have attacked a refugee camp in Syria's Deir ez-Zor province and took hundreds of people hostage, while the US and its allied armed groups looked away, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

The brazen assault on the El Bahra refugee camp took place on Saturday and saw "130 families of about 700 people" abducted and taken away to Hajin, the head of the Russian Reconciliation Center, Major General Vladimir Savchenko, said in a statement.

"The kidnapped civilians... can be used by terrorists as a 'human shield'" to protect them from the possible advance of the US-backed Syrian democratic forces, he said.

The town of Hajin, where the people were taken, is located in the 20-kilometer area along the eastern bank of the Euphrates River currently controlled by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorists. IS has managed to maintain control of such large territory in Deir ez-Zor as a result of "inaction of the US-backed armed units," Savchenko emphasized.

"The US-led coalition and the Pentagon-controlled Kurdish forces continue to imitate the fight against Islamic State in the south of Deir ez-Zor province," without making actual steps to eradicate the terrorists, he said.
Read More...
Ice Cube

US breaks international law by freezing Iran's assets, says lawyer


Sputnik
Mon, 15 Oct 2018 13:26 UTC
Frozen Assets
© snowland cgtrader.com/KJN
Commenting on Washington's attempts to alienate Iranian companies' ownership by freezing Iranian funds in US bank accounts, lawyer Maryam Jelalvand from Tehran University told Sputnik that the main problem pertains to the US continuing to act with impunity on the global stage.

Earlier this month, the US urged the International Court of Justice to reject Iran's demand that it return funds worth $ 1.75 billion, stored in US banks and frozen at the request of US courts. The representative of Iran in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Mohsen Mohebi, said in turn that the court should reject "all preliminary objections" made by the White House.

Describing Washington's allegation as unfair, lawyer Maryam Jelalvand from Tehran University said in an interview with Sputnik that
"for many years now, the US has been making false accusations against Iran. On the basis of these accusations, Washington has been making illegal decisions to freeze Iranian assets and property, which is a direct violation of international law," Jelalvand pointed out.

Comment: Sanctions have additional leverage if blocking the return of frozen assets is included. Iran should have looked to its history with the US on asset placements in US bank accounts, and the difficulties it experienced with previous administrations to access its cash.

Read More...
X

Hillary says 'Lewinsky was an adult, so Bill did nothing wrong'


RT
Mon, 15 Oct 2018 04:46 UTC
BClintonMLewinsky
© Reuters/Mike Segar/Robert PatersonFormer President Bill Clinton • Monica Lewinsky
Monica Lewinsky was an adult when having an affair with the US President Bill Clinton, and that absolves him of any responsibility, Clinton's ever-protective wife and failed presidential candidate Hillary has said.

Hillary Clinton was speaking to CBS' Sunday Morning when anchor Tony Dokoupil asked her about Bill Clinton's 1990s affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Back then, he lied under oath that he had no sexual relationship with Lewinsky, and the scandal eventually led to impeachment procedures, but Clinton was acquitted in the end. Throughout it all, Hillary remained protective, even calling the entire case a "right-wing conspiracy."

Even though it all turned out to be true, Bill had done nothing wrong, Hillary believes. And when asked whether she believes he should have stepped down, she said: "Absolutely not." Dokoupil pressed the point, arguing that such an affair can be seen as an abuse of power for the sheer imbalance of said power between the US president and an intern.

"...who was an adult," Clinton answered, and immediately cut the line of questioning short, wading into a counter-attack about the sexual assault allegations leveled against Trump - who, most Democrats universally believe, should be impeached.

Comment: It is about power and nothing else comes close. Certainly not morality.

Read More...
Yoda

'US needs to be defended': Bezos comments on Amazon bid for DoD project - no surprise


RT
Tue, 16 Oct 2018 15:19 UTC
Amazon & flag
© Getty Images/Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images
While employees of US tech giants have voiced their unease over deeper cooperation with the Pentagon, Jeff Bezos says Amazon is bidding because the country "needs to be defended." RT was told it is no surprise.

"If big tech companies are going to turn their back on the Department of Defense [DoD], this country is in trouble," Bezos said at a conference in San Francisco on Monday. He later added: "This is a great country - it needs to be defended."

Amazon Web has embarked on bidding for a major contract with the Pentagon worth as much as $10bn. Dubbed JEDI (Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure), the project concerns offering cloud computing services to the US military.

According to publicly available information, JEDI aims to keep the military's computing systems up-to-date by moving them onto one big cloud.

However, not much is really known about how JEDI will be employed in future. When unveiling talking about the cloud services in March, the Pentagon did not mince words. "This program is truly about increasing the lethality of our department and providing the best resources to our men and women in uniform," John H. Gibson II, the DoD chief management officer, said at the time.


Comment: See also:

Read More...
Arrow Up

Rising tensions between US and Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi case impact oil prices


RT
Mon, 15 Oct 2018 13:05 UTC
Oil rig
© Global Look Press via ZUMA Press/Joel Angel Juarez
Crude prices were surging on Monday as the rift between Saudi Arabia and the United States heats up. As Washington considers sanctions against Riyadh over a missing journalist, the future of the oil market is in question.

Brent oil was trading 80 cents higher on Monday at $81.25 per barrel, while US benchmark WTI jumped 53 cents to $71.87. Investors are alarmed over possible US sanctions against Saudi Arabia after the disappearance of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Turkish authorities have claimed they have proof the journalist was tortured, killed and dismembered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

"Growing tensions over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul has proved supportive for oil prices," said ING commodities strategist Warren Patterson, as quoted by Reuters.

Saudi Arabia has said it would retaliate if any sanctions are imposed. "This has raised concerns that the Saudis may use oil as a tool for retaliation if any sanctions or other action is taken against it," Patterson said.

Comment: Time will tell and oil will sell. Depend on it.

Read More...
Dollars

Russia defining secret plan to rid its economy of the US dollar


RT
Mon, 15 Oct 2018 19:37 UTC
dollarflag
© Reuters/Thomas White/Illustration
The Russian government is working on the details of a de-dollarization plan announced earlier in October. The program's key point is to make it more profitable for key Russian exporters to use rubles instead of dollars.

Exporters will likely get perks like taxation benefits including quicker VAT returns and other stimulus to ditch the greenback.

The Russian government is specifying the details of the plan that will soon be submitted to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. "The plan hasn't been submitted to the PM yet. We still have disagreements between technical departments, now we will polish them quickly and, I hope, the government will soon consider it," Russia's deputy finance minister Alexey Moiseev told Reuters.

When asked whether the plan would be published after this, Moiseev said: "No, the plan is for official use only." The minister added that Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economic Development and the Central Bank of Russia are working on the details.

The Russian authorities earlier said that the plan does not prohibit the circulation of the US dollar in the country, but includes a number of measures to stimulate the use of national currencies in trade instead of the dollar. The plan also does not ban loans in dollars for Russians, Moiseev said, but the central bank intends to make dollar loans unprofitable compared to borrowings in ruble.
Read More...
Map

Hypocrisie monumentale: Salvini says France deliberately dropped off migrants in Italian woods


RT
Tue, 16 Oct 2018 16:26 UTC
macron salvini
© Global Look Press Panoramic/ Mauro Ujetto
Italian anti-immigration leader Matteo Salvini has labeled French President Emmanuel Macron an "international embarrassment" after policemen were spotted dropping off migrants in an Italian forest on the countries' shared border.

The right-wing Northern League party leader and the country's Interior minister said the French authorities' drop off of the migrants in Italian territory "is an unprecedented offence against Italy" and said in an Instagram post on Tuesday that "we don't accept apologies".

A French gendarmerie police van last Friday was seen dropping off the two men, believed to be of African origin, in Italy's Claviere woods. A French official said the incident was a "mistake" at the hands of the officers who were new to patrolling the area.

Comment: France TALKS about sympathy for migrants, while ACTUALLY treating them like dirt. Italy TALKS about the dire need for a return to reasonable migration policy, while ACTUALLY assisting migrants who really need it and turning away those being helped into the EU by Soros NGOs.

It's all about sussing out the extent to which words match actions.

Read More...
Pirates

Jihadists refuse to leave Idlib buffer zone under Russia-Turkey deal - Syria threatens to resume anti-terror op


RFE/RL
Tue, 16 Oct 2018 16:20 UTC
National Liberation Front in Idlib Province
© Omar Haj Kadoue / AFPSyrian rebel-fighters from the National Liberation Front in Idlib Province
Militants in Syria's Idlib Province failed to meet an October 15 deadline for vacating a buffer zone created under a Russian-Turkish cease-fire deal, prompting a threat from the Syrian government to resume its military campaign.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said Syrian forces are ready to resume their fight to "eradicate" militants who remain in Idlib, but he said Syria would give Russia time to determine whether they complied with the deal.

The deal between Turkey and Russia, which averted what was widely expected to be a bloody battle in the last remaining Syrian rebel-held stronghold last month, set up a buffer zone about 20 kilometers long which was to be evacuated of all heavy weapons and Islamist extremists by midnight on October 14.

Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, said on October 15 that the militants largely failed to comply with the agreement.

"We did not document the withdrawal of any jihadist fighters from the entire demilitarized zone," he said.
Read More...