Puppet MastersS


Pirates

Ron Paul: US is siding with al-Qaeda in order to counter Iran

Ron Paul
Ron Paul Institute
Mon, 10 Sep 2018 06:25 UTC
Fighters from Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra Front
© AFP 2018 / Fadi al-Halabi / AMCFighters from Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra Front
Last week, I urged the Secretary of State and National Security Advisor to stop protecting al-Qaeda in Syria by demanding that the Syrian government leave Idlib under al-Qaeda control. While it may seem hard to believe that the US government is helping al-Qaeda in Syria, it's not as strange as it may seem: our interventionist foreign policy increasingly requires Washington to partner up with "bad guys" in pursuit of its dangerous and aggressive foreign policy goals.

Does the Trump Administration actually support al-Qaeda and ISIS? Of course not. But the "experts" who run Trump's foreign policy have determined that a de facto alliance with these two extremist groups is for the time being necessary to facilitate the more long-term goals in the Middle East. And what are those goals? Regime change for Iran.

Let's have a look at the areas where the US is turning a blind eye to al-Qaeda and ISIS.

First, Idlib. As I mentioned last week, President Trump's own Special Envoy to fight ISIS said just last year that "Idlib Province is the largest Al Qaeda safe haven since 9/11." So why do so many US officials - including President Trump himself - keep warning the Syrian government not to re-take its own territory from al-Qaeda control? Wouldn't they be doing us a favor by ridding the area of al-Qaeda? Well, if Idlib is re-taken by Assad, it all but ends the neocon (and Saudi and Israeli) dream of "regime change" for Syria and a black eye to Syria's ally, Iran.

Comment: The US has always partnered with al-Qaeda: in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Libya, Iraq, Syria... See also:

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Binoculars

Political theater: Putin, Erdogan, Rouhani meeting was about de-dollarization, not so much Idlib

Adam Garrie
Eurasia Future
Sun, 09 Sep 2018 06:15 UTC
Presidents Hassan Rouhani, Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin
© Umit Bektas / ReutersPresidents Hassan Rouhani, Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin
On the 7th of September, the leaders of Russia and Turkey met with their Iranian host in Tehran to discuss a common strategy for Syria prior to the beginning of what is being called "The Battle of Idlib". The meeting itself was notable for being a highly choreographed exhibition of political theatre which ultimately lead to a Tehran Declaration whose content signified the compromises between the Russia, Iranian and Turkish perspectives that were readily predictable long before the conference was even arranged. I previous described the "fake" conference in the following way:
The day's events started out with a public round table meeting between the three presidents who each read prepared statements before entering into a seemingly spontaneous debate during which each side tended to emphasise their disagreements regarding the status of Idlib in what has been described as incredibly frank exchanges that are normally reserved for closed door meetings.

After several hours, the three Presidents emerged and spoke at a press conference after having reached a final agreement which has been enshrined in the Tehran Declaration of 2018.

While the Russian, Turkey and Iran are all close partners in 2018, their disagreements over the penultimate solution to the Syrian conflict have been highlighted by the media outlets of all three nations while perhaps oddly, their areas of agreement tend to be downplayed. The reason for this is simple: the areas where the three leaders disagree play well before each respective domestic electorate as well as to each state's traditional allies within Syria and the wider Middle East.
Below is the full video of the round-table "debate"


Comment: Regarding the Idlib offensive, this analysis would seem to match with Robert Fisk's on-the-ground reporting: Robert Fisk: Warned of mass murder and catastrophe in Idlib, I prowled front lines for two days. I didn't find what I expected

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Crusader

Pope Francis fights back against anti-church hysteria: Bishops' accusers are like Satan, 'the great accuser'

Thomas D. Williams
Breitbart
Wed, 12 Sep 2018 03:09 UTC
Pope Francis
© AP/Alessandra Tarantino
Satan, the "Great Accuser," has been unleashed against the bishops of the Church, Pope Francis said Tuesday, in a thinly veiled reference to the former Vatican nuncio to the United States.

The former nuncio, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, recently accused a number of prelates of dereliction of duty in dealing with clerical sex abuse and claimed that the pope had rehabilitated serial abuser Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, elevating him to a position of influence despite knowledge of his misdeeds.

In an 11-page testimony published on August 25, Viganò alleged that he had personally informed Pope Francis in 2013 of the serial homosexual abuse perpetrated by Cardinal McCarrick, along with sanctions imposed on his ministry by Pope Benedict XVI, and yet the pope lifted those sanctions and involved McCarrick in the naming of future bishops.
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USA

Trump is a 'far graver threat' to the idea of America than 9/11 attackers, says MSNBC host


RT
Tue, 11 Sep 2018 19:52 UTC
9/11Trump
© NYC Police Aviation Unit/Medium/KJN
On the seventeenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough has called US President Donald Trump a "far graver threat to the idea of America" than the 9/11 attackers.

Speaking during his program Morning Joe on Tuesday, Scarborough boldly argued that Trump has the potential to do far more damage to the United States than those behind the attacks on September 11, 2001.
"If you strip America of its ideas, forget about knocking down buildings in the financial district - forget about running planes into the Pentagon. Those are tragedies, but those tragedies bring us closer together," he said. "America is an idea. You gut America of that idea, that's when you do the most harm to America."



Comment: Tell that to the thousands who lost their lives how beneficial 9/11 was. Tell them how the US was complicit along with three other countries to manipulate the American people into forfeiting their freedoms for another country's agenda...and how well that has turned out.


Comment: Scarborough can't walk back his words and sentiment any more than we can revive the firemen and innocent people who paid the ultimate price on 9/11. There are lessons in tragedy, should the Scarboroughs of the nation care to look and Americans uncover its truth.

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Eagle

Trump seems to be going full Neocon in Syria

Patrick J. Buchanan
buchanan.org
Mon, 10 Sep 2018 22:15 UTC
Trump Syria
Is President Donald Trump about to intervene militarily in the Syrian civil war? For that is what he and his advisers seem to be signaling.

Last week, Trump said of Syrian President Bashar Assad's campaign to recapture the last stronghold of the rebellion, Idlib province: "If it's a slaughter, the world is going to get very, very angry. And the United States is going to get very angry, too."

In a front-page story Monday, "Assad is Planning Chlorine Attack, U.S. Says," The Wall Street Journal reports that, during a recent meeting, "President Trump threatened to conduct a massive attack against Mr. Assad if he carries out a massacre in Idlib."

Idlib contains three million civilians and refugees and 70,000 rebels, 10,000 of whom are al-Qaida.

Friday, The Washington Post reported that Trump is changing U.S. policy. America will not be leaving Syria any time soon.
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Eye 2

Half a million people slaughtered, $4 Trillion wasted since 9/11 - and Al Qaeda is stronger than ever

Rachel Blevins
The Free Thought Project
Tue, 11 Sep 2018 22:08 UTC
911 twin towers
After 17 years, there is no sign that the War on Terror is ending anytime soon-but there is evidence that Al Qaeda is stronger than ever, thanks to the U.S.

Every year on September 11, Americans remember the horrific attacks that were carried out in 2001, which have been used to shape United States foreign policy, and to act as a symbol for the "War on Terror." The attacks were attributed to 19 hijackers affiliated with the terrorist group Al Qaeda-a group that is arguably stronger than ever on the 17th anniversary of 9/11.

On September 21, 2001, just 10 days after the attacks, former President George W. Bush made a speech addressing the nation, and he placed the blame on Al-Qaeda, claiming that "Al Qaeda is to terror what the mafia is to crime."

Comment: See also: Al-Qaeda rebranded by US government & media as besieged rebels 17 years after 9/11

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Propaganda

Political witch hunt: Leaking lovers and an FBI smear job of Carter Page

John Solomon
The Hill
Mon, 10 Sep 2018 00:00 UTC
Carter Page
© Getty Page
Just last week I opined on how troubling it was that the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) apparently targeted and used media to further, in the court of public opinion, an as-yet-unproven Russia-collusion case against Donald Trump.

Now, belatedly released information from the files of those favorite FBI lovebirds - Peter Strzok and Lisa Page - has created even more concern that the top echelons of America's premier law enforcement were involved in name-smearing media leaks.

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, disclosed in a letter Monday to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that, in April 2017, Strzok and Page discussed a specific media-leak strategy about Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
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Propaganda

Deep State vs Trump Soap Opera: Pence denies authoring NYT op-ed, offers to take lie detector test to prove it


RT
Mon, 10 Sep 2018 00:00 UTC
Trump, Pence, Mike Pompeo
© Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
US Vice President Mike Pence says he would take a lie detector test "in a heartbeat" to prove that he did not pen the notorious New York Times op-ed that sent Washington, DC into a frenzy.

Pence remained adamant in an interview on Fox News Sunday that he was not the senior government official behind the editorial which claimed there was a "resistance" movement within the Trump administration.

"I would agree to take it in a heartbeat and would submit to any review the administration wanted to do," Pence said of the possibility of being asked to take a lie detector test.

Comment: See also:

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Snakes in Suits

Anonymous US officials continue spreading propaganda, now say Russia behind 'attacks' on US diplomats in Cuba & China


RT
Tue, 11 Sep 2018 22:16 UTC
us embassy
© Adalberto Roque / AFP
NBC has achieved the seemingly impossible, somehow managing to incorporate mysterious brain-zapping weapons, evidence-free accusations from anonymous US officials, and Russia, into a juicy smorgasbord of journalistic excellence.

The bombshell report opens with a phrase that every American schoolchild already knows by heart - "Russia is likely behind" - but this is no ordinary, Pulitzer-prize winning morsel of security state stenography. This time, the Russians "likely" targeted US diplomats stationed in Cuba and China with a powerful brain-altering weapon (which has yet to be identified/confirmed to actually exist), resulting in various injuries, ranging from hearing loss to "problems with cognition."

This important public service announcement was made possible by none other than America's most reliable, squeaky clean source for sensational claims levelled against Russia, "anonymous US officials."
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Take 2

Best of the Web: Russian MoD: The filming of staged chemical attack in Idlib has begun


RT
Tue, 11 Sep 2018 11:25 UTC
WhiteH staging
© White Helmets/ReutersAftermath of an alleged chemical weapons attack in Eastern Ghouta in April 2018.
Footage, meant to serve as proof that the Syrian government has conducted a chemical weapons attack in Idlib, Syria, is to be handed to global news outlets by the end of Tuesday, the Russian military claims.

Several Middle East TV channels and a US news channel have been sent to Jisr al-Shughur in Syria's Idlib Governorate to produce the footage needed for the provocation, a statement by the Russian Center for Syrian Reconciliation said. It added the intelligence came from local residents of Jisr al-Shughur.

"All the footage of the staged provocation in Jisr al-Shughur is to be delivered to the newsrooms of TV channels, which are to broadcast it after its publication on social media," the statement claimed. It also said that an Islamist group was provided with two canisters of a "chlorine-based chemical" for the purpose of the operation.

The Russian military said the footage would include scenes of White Helmets operatives treating supposed victims of an apparent barrel bomb chemical weapon attack by Damascus.

Moscow has repeatedly warned that a false flag chemical weapon attack was being prepared in Idlib, giving the US and its allies justification to attack Syrian government forces. Senior US officials have threatened Damascus with retaliation if it uses chemical weapons in Idlib and even preemptively assigned the blame for any such attack to the government.

Comment: Neither truth, proof nor reason gets in the way of political posturing or military justification of a useful lie.

Sputnik adds further information:
Later in the day, Syrian human rights activist and public figure Ammar Jamal has confirmed to Sputnik that a group of 30 representatives of the White Helmets had arrived to Idlib to organize a provocation. According to human rights activists, the White Helmets arrived on Tuesday morning with tanks with an unknown gas. At the moment, they are located on a grain storage site.

The information follows Sunday's Wall Street Journal report that the US Defense Department might be mulling the idea of striking Russian or Iranian military forces aiding the Syrian government if they were to launch an assault on Idlib. The report added that the United States would specifically decide whether to strike Russian air defense installations.

[...]

The Russian Ministry of Defense warned about the forthcoming false flag provocation, which will involve a staged chlorine gas attack, on August 26. Later, the ministry said that the results of this provocation could be used by the Western coalition forces as an excuse to launch another missile strike against the Syrian government. The United States, the Russian Defense Ministry noted, has been deploying the relevant forces to Syria. In late August, the American destroyer USS The Sullivans arrived in the Persian Gulf carrying 56 cruise missiles, and a US Air Force B-1B strategic bomber, equipped with 24 air-to-surface JASSM cruise missiles, was redeployed to El-Udeid Airbase in Qatar.


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