Puppet MastersS


Red Flag

Best of the Web: Internet Censorship Just Took An Unprecedented Leap Forward, And Hardly Anyone Noticed

Zuckerberg Dorsey
While most indie media was focused on debating the way people talk about Kanye West and the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an unprecedented escalation in internet censorship took place which threatens everything we all care about. It received frighteningly little attention.

After a massive purge of hundreds of politically oriented pages and personal accounts for "inauthentic behavior", Facebook rightly received a fair amount of criticism for the nebulous and hotly disputed basis for that action. What received relatively little attention was the far more ominous step which was taken next: within hours of being purged from Facebook, multiple anti-establishment alternative media sites had their accounts completely removed from Twitter as well.

As of this writing I am aware of three large alternative media outlets which were expelled from both platforms at almost the same time: Anti-Media, the Free Thought Project, and Police the Police, all of whom had millions of followers on Facebook. Both the Editor-in-Chief of Anti-Media and its Chief Creative Officer were also banned by Twitter, and are being kept from having any new accounts on that site as well.

Comment: It's clear that the reality creators have had enough with the dissenting voices getting the same exposure as their carefully crafted propaganda, and they're starting to make big moves in blatant censorship. Johnstone is right - people should be making a lot of noise about this. Our access to perspectives that lie outside of 'consensus reality' is under serious threat.

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Document

Flashback Read the confidential David Brock memo outlining plans to attack Trump

David Brock
© AP
Memo was handed out to big money liberal donors at posh Florida retreat

David Brock, the seasoned liberal operative and Clinton loyalist who founded Media Matters, huddled with more than 100 donors last weekend at the swanky Turnberry Isle Resort in Aventura, Fla. to map out how Democrats will "kick Donald Trump's ass."

The Washington Free Beacon attended the retreat and obtained David Brock's private and confidential memorandum from the meeting. The memo, "Democracy Matters: Strategic Plan for Action," outlines Brock's four-year agenda to attack Trump and Republicans using Media Matters, American Bridge, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), and Shareblue.

The memo contains plans for defeating Trump through impeachment, expanding Media Matters' mission to combat "government misinformation," ensuring Democratic control of the Senate in the 2018 midterm elections, filing lawsuits against the Trump administration, monetizing political advocacy, using a "digital attacker" to delegitimize Trump's presidency and damage Republicans, and partnering with Facebook to combat "fake news."

Brock sought to raise $40 million in 2017 for his organizations, and hoped the retreat would lead to the creation of a liberal donor network to rival the network of the conservative Koch brothers.

Eye 1

Bush and Blair's Iraq war was key that opened door to Syria's current hell

Raqqa
© Reuters/Erik De CastroThe ruins of buildings near the Clock Square in Raqqa, Syria, October 18, 2017
If the pain of birth is the price of life, Syria's birth as a truly independent nation has come at the price of eight years of brutal and merciless struggle.

As with the Vietnamese people, so with the Syrians. Their struggle against imperialism and hegemony has earned them a place at history's table that can never be relinquished. Because, if you penetrate beyond the obfuscations peddled by Western ideologues, the conflict in Syria at its core has been anti-imperialist in character.

The hell visited on Syrian society has been in many respects a continuation of the hell visited on Iraq in 2003, after 13 years of sanctions had already killed two million of its people, including half a million children.

During this sanctions period, former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright, in a rare moment of candor for a functionary of the empire, provided us with an invaluable insight into the pristine barbarism which lurks behind the mask of democracy and human rights that such people usually wear for the purposes of confusing the public mind as to who and what they truly are.

Comment: See also:


Black Magic

Salisbury saga continues: To trust the Met, or not to trust the Met, that is the question

metro police
I was listening to a podcast a while ago about what constitutes a successful business, and the guy being interviewed said that every business problem is essentially a trust problem. If people don't believe that a product or service is reliable and that they can trust it, they won't buy it, or if they do, they won't come back. And so one of the major goals of every company should be to create conditions where customers and potential customers really can trust that the product or service does what it says it does.

Amongst other things, he identified clarity and competence as being key. If a business can't be clear on what it does and what it can offer, it will not be successful. If a company cannot demonstrate ongoing competence, again it will not achieve success.

What goes for a company actually goes for any organisation, and I am reminded of this when I think of the Metropolitan Police's investigation into what happened in Salisbury on 4th March 2018. As a taxpayer, and indeed a concerned citizen of Salisbury and Britain, I want to be able to trust The Met in what it is doing. I want to have a high regard for this organisation, but to do so requires clarity and competence on their part. But unfortunately, over the last few months we have been presented with the exact opposite - ambiguity and incompetence.

Arrow Down

The 'Sun King's' arrogance? Poll: Two-thirds of French disapprove of Macron's statements - usurping job of government communications team

Macron UN
© Associated Press / Richard DrewFrance's President Emmanuel Macron addresses the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly, at U.N. headquarters, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018.
Sixty-four percent of the French disapprove of President Emmanuel Macron's controversial statements and believe he is doing too much of what the communications team should be doing, a poll showed Thursday.

At the same time, 35 percent of the French think that the president is "right to make these controversial statements as by making them he can advance ideas and projects he is promoting," Odoxa poll said.

In June last year, 37 percent of the French believed that Macron was veering too far into the domain of the communications team, which "is not his role as the president," while 62 percent thought he was right to make controversial statements.

Bad Guys

Russia expanding to Lebanon as Israel trains with F-35s to counter S-300

f-35 jet
The Israeli Air Force is conducting intensive manoeuvres with its F-35 Adirs along with F-16s over Lebanese airspace to counter the threat posed by the three battalion sets of S-300PM missiles systems delivered by Moscow to Damascus so that Tel Aviv can resume its bombing of targets in Syria. Despite the lack of available data on S-300 efficiency, the presence of these missiles represents a danger to the Israeli Air Force and its violation of Lebanese and Syrian airspace. It is clear that Israel will not cease testing Syrian patience, violating the country's airspace using the excuse of "protecting its own national security".

Informed sources said: "Tel Aviv and Moscow have never ceased their regular coordination to monitor and avoid air incidents over the Levant. The downing of the Russian IL-20 and the death of all its 15 crewmen forced Israel to communicate its belligerent intentions much ahead of time to Russia, to put its jets and personnel in safety. Indeed, it was the downing of the IL-20 that speeded up Russia's delivery of the long-awaited S-300 to Syria.

Although Russia possesses high-frequency VHF, tracking systems and radar capable of detecting the F-35 and making it visible, it is another matter to shoot it down with the S-300. Russia's answer to this theory? "Let the Israelis test our system and we shall see the results".

Comment: Too bad the F-35 is a complete waste of money: In wake of South Carolina crash, US, UK and Israeli military ground entire fleet of F-35 fighter jets. Israel is in a tough spot. Do they send their F-35s to test the S-300? Would they risk exposing just how worthless the jets are? They can't do nothing... So here's hoping for another great display of blustering Israeli incompetence. It's just what the world needs right about now.


Brick Wall

Saudi political and business isolation grows over Khashoggi disappearance

Saudi consulate Instanbul
© Yasin Akgül/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesThe shadow of a security guard is seen on the entrance door of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Business elites withdraw from summit as Turkish officials claim to have consulate tapes

Saudi Arabia has found itself further isolated over the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi after the business world turned its back on a high-profile investment conference in the kingdom and US officials claimed audio and video recordings had captured the moment the journalist was murdered in Istanbul.

The Future Investment Initiative conference, to be held in Riyadh later this month, was rapidly turning into a fiasco on Friday after most media partners and several top business allies pulled out. More were expected to follow. All said they had been disturbed by the circumstances of Khashoggi's disappearance from the Saudi consulate in Turkey and the lack of credible responses.

Comment:


Fire

US coalition strikes Syrian town using banned white phosphorus (again)

jet fly
© AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
The reported strikes are not the first time that the US-led coalition has been accused of using the banned munitions in recent weeks. Last month, the Russian military reported that US strikes using white phosphorus had resulted in major fires and civilian casualties in the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ez-Zor.

The strikes, taking place Saturday across multiple districts in the town of Hajin, Deir Ez-Zor province, included the use of white phosphorus, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) has reported, citing local sources.

The agency did not provide any immediate information about possible civilian casualties.

Comment: International law has never stopped the West before: Yuri Shvytkin, deputy chair of the Russian parliament's lower house's defense committee, told Sputnik that if confirmed, this attack must be investigated by the UNSC and OPCW:
"First of all, the authenticity of the information has to be reverified. If it is confirmed, then without a doubt, a relevant request has to be immediately submitted to the the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) when the information is obtained so that a relevant internal investigation is conducted; the issue must be brought to the attention of the UN Security Council," Yuri Shvytkin, deputy chair of the Russian parliament's lower house's defense committee told Sputnik on Saturday.

In turn, Alexei Kondratyev, deputy chair of the Russian upper house's defense committee, told Sputnik that if the United States used banned weapons, it must be held accountable.

"White phosphorus is prohibited by international law, especially in settlements where civilians may be affected. If these data is confirmed, the United States must be held accountable for this," Kondratyev said.

He also stressed that the incident requires international investigation.

In addition, a member of the Russian parliament's upper house's defense committee, Frants Klintsevich, said that the OPCW should look into reports on the incident as soon as possible.

"Of course, I do not call on the OPCW to accuse the international coalition led by the United States of the use of white phosphorus in Syria only citing SANA's reports. This fact needs to be verified, which is what this organization should do immediately," he wrote on Facebook.

Klintsevich also noted that the fact that the OPCW had not yet commented on the reports yet might mean that the organization was politicized.



Handcuffs

Trump insists Turkey released pastor Brunson without any US 'deal'

Andrew Brunson
© Umit Bektas / ReutersPastor Andrew Brunson and his wife Norrine arrive at the Izmir airport, October 12, 2018.
No deal was struck between Washington and Ankara for releasing pastor Andrew Brunson from Turkish prison, US President Donald Trump said. The freed cleric is en route to the US and will visit the Oval Office upon arrival.

"We got him out," Trump told reporters upon his arrival to Cincinnati, Ohio on Friday, where he is scheduled to speak at a rally. "I hear he's in very good shape," he added.

"There was no deal at all. No deal," Trump replied when asked if his administration offered to remove some sanctions from Turkey in exchange for Ankara letting the pastor go.



Comment: Despite Trump's claim, there's probably a lot that went on behind the scenes. Brunson (and his wife) have both been tied to the CIA, and there have been Turkish reports of much intrigue regarding his detention.


Video

Turks say they have audio and video recordings supporting the conclusion Khashoggi was murdered

Khashoggi group
© Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty ImagesNobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkol Karman and Egyptian opposition politician Ayman Nour (left) hold pictures of missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi during a demonstration in front of the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on Monday.
The Turkish government has told U.S. officials that it has audio and video recordings that prove Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul this month, according to U.S. and Turkish officials.

The recordings show that a Saudi security team detained Khashoggi in the consulate after he walked in Oct. 2 to obtain an official document before his upcoming wedding, then killed him and dismembered his body, the officials said.

The audio recording in particular provides some of the most persuasive and gruesome evidence that the Saudi team is responsible for Khashoggi's death, the officials said.

"The voice recording from inside the embassy lays out what happened to Jamal after he entered," said one person with knowledge of the recording who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss highly sensitive intelligence.

"You can hear his voice and the voices of men speaking Arabic," this person said. "You can hear how he was interrogated, tortured and then murdered."

A second person briefed on the recording said men could be heard beating Khashoggi.

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