Puppet MastersS


Dollars

Barbados' government and IMF reach a $290M economic assistance agreement


teleSUR
Sat, 08 Sep 2018 00:00 UTC
Barbadian PM Minister Mia Mottley
© Barbados Government Information ServiceBarbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley (2nd from right) speaks at a press conference.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the government of Barbados have agreed on a staff-level USD$290 million economic assistance programme as part of the Extended Fund Facility. Bert van Selm, the IMF Chief of Mission, announced the agreement Friday during a press briefing with Prime Minister Mia Mottley.

The IMF's Executive Board is expected to consider the proposed arrangement by October and, once approved, Barbados will have immediate access to US$49 million, according to Barbados Today.

The IMF released an official statement on the agreement, stating that
"The success of Barbados' program will require an extraordinary effort and resolve on the part of the authorities and other segments of society, as well as broad international support. While the initial implementation period will be challenging, Barbados will emerge stronger and more dynamic from the program, and it will be better poised to generate growth and job creation for the people of Barbados." It concluded by declaring that the IMF "team would like to take this opportunity to thank Barbados' authorities and the technical team for their openness and candid discussions."

Comment: The IMF thanks Barbados for being their next cash cow.



Comment: There is no great future, on the near or far horizon, for any country at the mercy of the IMF. Buyer Beware. See also:

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Laptop

Russian domestic security service launches new center dedicated to counter cyberattacks


RT
Tue, 11 Sep 2018 09:46 UTC
FSB building Moscow
© Natalia Seliverstova/SputnikThe Federal Security Service (FSB) on Lubyanka Square, Moscow.
Russia's Federal Security Service, the FSB, now has a separate coordination center created in order to prevent, detect and counter cyberattacks on critical infrastructure facilities as well as repair damage from such attacks.

The new agency is officially titled 'National Coordination Center for Computer Incidents' and it will be headed by Andrey Ivashko who is also the director of FSB's Center for Data Protection and Special Communications, Kommersant reported on Tuesday, quoting the order of FSB Director Aleksandr Bortnikov.

Kommersant wrote that the new center would receive reports about cyberattacks from all Russian state agencies, analyze them and develop various means of detection and prevention of attempts to affect critical objects of national infrastructure through the use of data technologies.

The official objectives of the new agency are "the exchange of information about computer incidents between various parts of the critical data infrastructure and also foreign and international organizations that work in the field of countering computer incidents." For this, the center will get some specially developed hardware.

Comment: The never-ending Russiagate fakery has produced 'a void' and therefore 'a need'. The US Intel agencies are undoubtedly capitalizing on this public perception to increase capabilities. Russian pro-active counter-measures are justified.

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Beer

Russia and China cooking up joint projects worth more than $100bn


RT
Tue, 11 Sep 2018 14:44 UTC
Putin Xi Jin Ping
© Sergei Bobylev / ReutersRussian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping make pancakes during a visit to the Far East Street exhibition on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia
Russian and Chinese businesses have agreed to develop trade and economic cooperation as well as increased mutual investments at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.

According to a statement from the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), the sides are considering 73 investment projects cumulatively worth more than $100 billion.

The group overseeing the potential billions in investment is the Russian-Chinese Business Advisory Committee, which includes more than 150 representatives from "leading Russian and Chinese companies."

RDIF said that seven projects worth a total of $4.6 billion have already been implemented as a result of work of the China-Russia group.

Comment: Meanwhile the US attempts to sanction the world into being its subordinates, and, alongside its 'partners', preps for another illegal bombing campaign on Syria. It's no wonder the West is seeing its economies fail and its cultures come to near ruin: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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Airplane

Niger: CIA builds a new drone base, one that may have launched the lethal Libya mission


RT
Mon, 10 Sep 2018 14:15 UTC
Drone
© US Air Force/Airman Cory D. Payne/ReutersMQ-9 Reaper drone
Since February, the CIA have been developing a drone base in a tiny Niger town in the middle of the Sahara desert - which may have already been used to fly a lethal mission in southern Libya, the New York Times reports.

Located in the oasis town of Dirkou, the new base was built next to a civilian airport, growing into a large, wall-protected compound with five defensive positions surrounding the area, according to the newspaper. The rapid development can be seen on satellite images and has been confirmed by a report on the ground.

The base is operated by the CIA, the report said. It should not to be confused with the $110 million base in Agadez, located some 580km (360 miles) west and run by the Pentagon.


Dirkou's location is close to the border with Libya, the nation that remains fractured after a NATO-backed uprising that toppled strongman Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The southern desert part of Libya is awash with weapons smugglers and extremists, including Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which operates across Algeria, Mali, Niger and Libya.
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Bullseye

Butina prosecutors wrote their own fictional James Bond novel with sex allegations - and the media loved it


RT
Tue, 11 Sep 2018 18:40 UTC
Maria Butina
© FacebookMaria Butina
US prosecutors who wrongly accused Russian 'foreign agent' and gun activist Maria Butina of trading sex for influence peddled their own cheap James Bond fan fiction. No matter how incorrect, the media lapped it up.

Butina's request to be released until the time of her trial was declined by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Monday. Chutkan ruled that the Russian activist is to remain in jail until she's tried on the charges of acting as an unregistered agent for a foreign government. Butina has pleaded not guilty.

The judge has also slapped both the prosecution and the defense with a media gag order, after berating the defense attorney for giving interviews on his client's innocence and slamming the prosecution for opening the case with a "salacious" and "notorious" claim that proved to be completely false. Days after Butina was arrested in July, Assistant US Attorney Erik M. Kenerson claimed she was offering an individual "sex in exchange for a position within a special interest organization."

In a filing on Friday, prosecutors in the US attorney's office in Washington, including Kenerson, backtracked on the July allegation, and stressed that it "was based both on a series of text messages between the defendant and another individual." They admitted that the "government's understanding of this particular text conversation was mistaken."

Comment: Meanwhile, the Russian embassay has blasted US claims that frequent visits of its officials to jailed gun activist Maria Butina mean she is a valuable Kremlin asset, saying it treats all Russian citizens like that. These arguments "looks more like the legal grounds for Russophobia," the Russian embassy in Washington said in a statement on Monday, slamming the US prosecutors' logic as inherently flawed.

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Attention

Brexit secretary Raab under fire from Michel Barnier over failure to provide trade data for resolving Irish border issue

Daniel Boffey and Lisa O'Carroll
The Guardian
Sat, 08 Sep 2018 18:40 UTC
Dominic Raab and Michel Barnier
© Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesDominic Raab and Michel Barnier in Brussels on 31 August. Photograph:
Dominic Raab alleged to have failed to meet promise to provide vital facts

Michel Barnier has expressed his frustration with Dominic Raab, the Brexit secretary, for allegedly withholding information from the EU, as the question of the Irish border erupted again in the Brexit negotiations.

The EU negotiator was said to be "disappointed and irritated" by Raab's alleged failure this week to live up to a promise to provide data on the trade flows between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, which had been requested as part of an attempt to take the drama out of the Irish border issue.

The backstop solution for avoiding a border between Northern Ireland and the Republic would result in the province effectively staying in the customs union and single market for goods as the rest of the UK withdraws. The British government has dismissed the backstop as it would "dislocate" the UK by creating a border in the Irish Sea.

Comment:

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Star of David

Israeli navy intercepts 20 vessel Gaza flotilla, injures at least 49 Palestinians using navy gunfire and suffocating gas bombs

Hidaya al-Saedi and Hani al-Shaer
Anadolu Agency
Mon, 10 Sep 2018 18:33 UTC
israel coast
At least 49 Palestinians were injured when the Israeli navy targeted a 20-vessel flotilla that set out Monday from the northern Gaza Strip in hopes of breaking the decade-long blockade of the coastal enclave.

The people were wounded by gunfire and suffocation by gas bombs, the Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement. Some 10 wounded have been transferred to hospitals for treatment, the ministry added.

Eye witnesses told Anadolu Agency the injured included Atiyyeh Hijazi, a journalist who works for Iran's Al-Alam television channel.
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Light Saber

Florida rep DeSantis quits Congress amid ridiculous claims of racism-by-association - will concentrate on election campaign for governer


RT
Tue, 11 Sep 2018 17:35 UTC
desantis vitterand
© Yuri Gripas / ReutersA protester holds a placard behind Senator David Vitterand and Rep. Ron DeSantis during a 2013 news conference in Washington DC
Florida's Republican gubernatorial candidate is being accused of racism again, over past appearances at a conference hosted by a prominent anti-Islam activist. Ron DeSantis has resigned from the House to focus on the campaign.

DeSantis, who represented Florida's 6th congressional district since 2013, spoke at the David Horowitz Freedom Center's annual 'Restoration Weekend' conferences in 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2017. Horowitz is a staunch conservative, an outspoken critic of diversity, and has said that liberalism and Islam are existential threats to whites in America.

The Washington Post first pounced on the story on Sunday. However, the paper reported that DeSantis' speeches at the conferences did not touch on issues of race, but attacked Democratic policies.

Comment: There may be a hidden motive for attempting to smear Rep. DeSantis. He has been one of the more energetic members of the Congressional committee looking into Russiagate.

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Bullseye

Rep. Mark Meadows: Strzok-Page texts reveal 'coordinated' FBI leak strategy to harm Trump

Gregg Re and Catherine Herridge
Fox News
Mon, 10 Sep 2018 18:22 UTC
Lisa Page and Peter Strzok
New documents provided to Congress raise "grave concerns" about an "apparent systemic culture of media leaking" among high-level FBI and Justice Department officials to release information damaging to President Trump, a top Republican congressman charged in a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Monday.

In the letter, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., points in particular to two text message exchanges in April 2017 between now-fired FBI agent Peter Strzok and former FBI attorney Lisa Page, in which the two discuss the bureau's "media leak strategy."

"I had literally just gone to find this phone to tell you I want to talk to you about media leak strategy with DOJ before you go," Strzok texted Page on April 10, 2017, according to Meadows, who cited newly produced documents from the Justice Department.

Two days later, Strzok wrote, "Well done, Page," and told her that two negative articles about Page's "namesake" would soon come out. That was an apparent reference to Carter Page, the former Trump adviser whom the FBI surveilled for months after obtaining a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court.
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Magnify

Six reasons Republicans might keep control of Congress during midterms

H. A. Goodman
The Daily Caller
Mon, 10 Sep 2018 18:09 UTC
trump
Talk of a Blue Wave during the 2018 congressional midterms is reminiscent of the media's coverage of a Clinton landslide during the 2016 presidential elections.

Media and Democrats have overlooked several key factors, from Trump's approval rating within the GOP to over 4-percent GDP growth for the latest quarter.

Misreports are paving the way for yet another stunning defeat, with liberal pundits forced to explain again why they were wrong with allegedly data-driven predictions. Below are six reasons Democrats will not be able to wrestle control of the House and Senate away from Republicans in November:
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