Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

Revenge of Eurasian land powers - the Great Game updated

Pepe Escobar
Consortium News
Wed, 29 Aug 2018 16:10 UTC
Heartland mackinder
Halford John Mackinder 's vision of the 'World Island'
What is left roaming our wilderness of mirrors depends on the mood swings of the Goddess of the Market. No wonder an effect of Eurasia integration will be a death blow to Bretton Woods and "democratic" neoliberalism.

Get ready for a major geopolitical chessboard rumble: from now on, every butterfly fluttering its wings and setting off a tornado directly connects to the battle between Eurasia integration and Western sanctions as foreign policy.

It is the paradigm shift of China's New Silk Roads versus America's Our Way or the Highway. We used to be under the illusion that history had ended. How did it come to this?

Comment: The key to the success of the China-Russia economic initiatives is the countries involved will not become vassal of the leaders. Each will be sovereign and free to develop their own products or skills to market in the great trade routes. How different from the Western approach.

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Map

US doesn't care about Idlib or al-Qaeda - they're just obsessed with undermining Russia, Syria and Iran

Elijah J. Magnier
ejmagnier.com
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 16:14 UTC
idlib car bomb
Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz didn't wait for the ink to dry on the deal signed by the Iranian Defence Minister Amir Hatami and his Syrian counterpart Ali Ay'youb "to rebuild the Syrian Army" and warned that his country will attack Iranian forces inside Syria. Moreover, the US vowed to stay in Syria until Iran leaves. Both the US and Israel are aware that Iran will stay in Syria as long as the Syrian government considers its presence crucial to its national security. But the Levant is not the only theatre observing a bras-de-fer between Iran and the US: negotiations over a government in Iraq are heating up, and Iran will not come out a loser to the benefit of the US. Its domestic allies are too strong and therefore some cooperation is needed to form a government. Nevertheless, Sayyed Ali Khamenei remains adamant: no deal with the current US establishment. So, what can we expect in the days to come?

US provocations of Russia and Syria never cease: John Bolton and the US Secretary of State spokesperson said the US will "act very strongly" if Syria uses chemical arms while retaking Idlib. But why would the Syrian Army leadership use chemical bombs in their last battle in the occupied north-east province?

Decision makers in Syria said, "To date, Turkey has failed to control or merge Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (aka Nusra) with its other proxies operating in Idlib and surrounding. Russia gave Ankara enough time and a further extension in response to a Turkish request to postpone the attack on Idlib. The only thing Turkey has accomplished is a collaboration with Russia to create a positive environment for reconciliation and for those willing to return to the Syrian controlled areas to leave the city. Nevertheless, jihadists are arresting hundreds of men and threatening that their families should not leave the city. These civilians are used as human shields for Western media to scream louder for international intervention to prevent the liberation of Idlib; it is the jihadists who benefit from this Islamic Emirate safe haven".
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Eye 2

IMF backs South Africa's plan to confiscate land from white farmers pushing land reform through


RT
Fri, 31 Aug 2018 14:34 UTC
Farmers
© Siphiwe Sibeko / Reuters
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approves of South Africa's controversial land reform as long as the highly contentious process is "rules-based" and transparent, according to the fund's representative in the country.

Montfort Mlachila, the IMF's senior resident representative in South Africa, said that the regulation must not damage agricultural output and put at risk food supplies for the country's citizens.

"We are in full support of the need to undertake land reforms in order to address the issues of inequality," Mlachila said in an interview with Reuters.

"There is need to have a transparent, rules-based, and constitutional process that leads to desirable outcomes. It is particularly important not to undermine agricultural production and food security."

Comment: See also: South African land confiscation risks racial violence: "We will take land by force - it's ours and we want it now"

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Mail

Email logs show communication between Clinton associate, Fusion GPS, and Russians prior to Trump Tower meeting

Aaron Klein
Breitbart News
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 15:33 UTC
Trump jr Glen Simpson
© John Moore/Getty, Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated PressDonald Trump, Jr and Glen Simpson, Fusion GPS
Attorney Edward Lieberman, whose late wife Evelyn served as Hillary Clinton's chief of staff, exchanged numerous emails with the co-founder of the controversial Fusion GPS firm and Russian participants in the infamous June 9, 2016, Trump Tower meeting, documentation provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee shows.

The correspondence, part of a series of exhibits provided to Senate investigators and reviewed by Breitbart News, took place in the weeks leading up to the Trump Tower meeting.

Earlier this week, Breitbart News cited witness testimony saying Lieberman was present at one and possibly two dinner meetings between the controversial Fusion GPS firm and key participants in the infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting. Also, Lieberman met with one Russian participant the same day of the Trump Tower meeting, according to separate testimony.

Comment:

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Ambulance

Swedish conservative politician attacked by immigrant at campaign meeting


RT
Fri, 31 Aug 2018 15:29 UTC
afs swedish police
A member of the Swedish right-wing Alternative for Sweden (AfS) party, who is currently running for parliament, says he was "punched in the face" by a young immigrant during an election campaign stop in Western Sweden.

It should have been an ordinary campaign meeting, which every party in Sweden holds ahead of the elections. But things went wrong for AfS in the city of Uddavalla, where the party, known for its hard-line anti-immigrant rhetoric, decided to make a stop.

A group of AfS members, including parliamentary candidate Markus Jonsson, was met by an angry crowd of young people, who were shouting, chanting slogans and holding placards that read: "Crush racism!"


Comment: Dear Swedish youth, please learn to think. Anti-immigration does not equal racism. In fact, open borders probably tend to produce more racism, because migrant crime then influences other stupid people to conclude that all 'migrants' and thus all people of their ethnicity, must be the same. Sane immigration policies produce assimilation, which tends to demonstrate to people that other races have more in common with them than not.


As the AfS members started presenting their program, things quickly boiled out of control. The crowd of people, many apparently of immigrant background, started throwing eggs at the party members. At some point someone from the mob assaulted Jonsson and struck him to the ground.

An RT crew present at the scene filmed the incident. The AfS members had to immediately leave the place while police detained the attacker, apparently provoking further outrage. The video shows another young man engaging in a heated debate with a police officer in an apparent attempt to make the police release the suspect. Police told the Swedish media later that two persons were detained in connection with the incident.

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Biohazard

Top ten holes in the UK govt's official Salisbury narrative: #6 - The meal and the drink

Rob Slane
The Blogmire
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 15:13 UTC
sink hole

My thanks to Liane for her help in giving me the links to articles in this piece.

In the last two pieces, I have focused on the official timeline of events on March 4th, as stated by The Metropolitan Police on 17th March. In Part #4, I concentrated on the fact that the timeline has not been updated since 17th March to let us know what the Skripals were doing on the morning of 4th March, even though this information is both important and readily available. Then in Part #5, I focused on another very important event that occurred on the afternoon of 4th March, which has been omitted altogether from the timeline: the duck feed. Given that the duck feed occurred after the official narrative says the Skripals were poisoned, but before they went to Zizzis and The Mill, that piece of information alone is enough to completely discredit the official narrative. Which is perhaps why it has been left out.

I want to now focus on one last part of the timeline, which is not something that has been left out, as in the case of the missing 4 hours and the duck feed, but something that appears to have been inverted into the wrong order. Once again, let's begin with the official timeline:
Saturday 3rd March
  • 14.40hrs on Saturday 3 March: Yulia arrives at Heathrow Airport on a flight from Russia.
Sunday 4th March
  • 09.15hrs on Sunday, 4 March: Sergei's car is seen in the area of London Road, Churchill Way North and Wilton Road.
  • 13.30hrs: Sergei's car is seen being driven down Devizes Road, towards the town centre.
  • 13:40hrs: Sergei and Yulia arrive in Sainsbury's upper level car park at the Maltings. At some time after this, they go to the Bishops Mill Pub in the town centre.
  • 14.20hrs: They dine at Zizzi Restaurant.
  • 15:35hrs: They leave Zizzi Restaurant.
  • 16.15hrs: Emergency services receive a report from a member of the public and police arrive at the scene within minutes, where they find Sergei and Yulia extremely ill on a park bench near the restaurant.
I noted in the previous piece that the timeline is astonishingly vague in places. No more is this so than regarding the visit to The Mill Pub. As a general rule, when there is such vagueness in an official timeline, it must either be because the information that might clarify things is not available, or because those producing the timeline are attempting to conceal something or detract attention.

Comment: See also:

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Rocket

Erdogan tells off US: Purchase of S-400 is a done deal, Turkey doesn't need F-35s anyway


RT
Fri, 31 Aug 2018 15:02 UTC
Russian-made S-400 missiles
© Sergei Malgavko (TASS)Washington has voiced concern over NATO-member Turkey's purchase of Russian-made S-400 missiles
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reaffirmed Turkey's commitment to purchasing the Russian-made S-400 air-defense system, asserting that Ankara has alternatives if the Washington cancels its F-35 deal.


Comment: Of course they do. Countries don't purchase F-35s because they need fighter jets. It's more akin to money laundering. If they want effective jets, they don't buy American.


Speaking to a crowd of military officers at a graduation ceremony on Friday, the Turkish president said that Turkey "needs" the S-400 system for its defense, and that deliveries would happen very soon on account that the deal was already "done."

He added that it was "not acceptable" for Turkey to accept US impositions regarding the S-400 sale and, if the US wanted to cancel its deal to deliver F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, then "we have alternatives."

A member of NATO, Turkey's decision to buy the S-400 has been a major concern for the US and other members of the alliance, who fear that its deployment alongside US-made weapons and systems operated by Turkey, such as the F-35, will be put at risk.


Comment: The real reason is that the S-400 actually works, and countries who have them can actually defend themselves. The same doesn't go when they buy the American 'equivalents'.


As a means of coercion, Washington has stalled on deliveries of the F-35 to Turkey, hinting at possible sanctions and an outright cancellation of the F-35 sale if Turkey doesn't bail on the S-400 deal. Erdogan, however, said that they will continue to pay into the program.

Comment: To find out the story behind the U.S.'s desperate moves to coerce countries not to buy Russian S-300/S-400s, Andrei Martyanov's Losing Military Supremacy is a must-read.

See also:

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Bad Guys

Centcom claims US hit Al-Qaeda with 'serial airstrikes' in Yemen


Sputnik
Fri, 31 Aug 2018 12:34 UTC
Yemen rubble
© Modern Diplomacy
US forces have carried out six airstrikes against the al-Qaeda terrorist group in Yemen since May 16, US Central Command said in a press release on Thursday.

"US Central Command has conducted six counterterrorism airstrikes targeting the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula terrorist network in Yemen in three separate governorates since May 16, bringing the total number of airstrikes to 34, Centcom officials announced today," the release said.

The strikes targeted AQAP in the Shabwah, Hadramawt and Bayda governorates of Yemen, the release said.

Comment: Centcom's announcement comes on the heels of an AP report revealing that the US-led coalition has been colluding with and hiring Al-Qaeda in Yemen.
Again and again over the past two years, a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and backed by the United States has claimed it won decisive victories that drove al-Qaida militants from their strongholds across Yemen and shattered their ability to attack the West.

Here's what the victors did not disclose: many of their conquests came without firing a shot.

That's because the coalition cut secret deals with al-Qaida fighters, paying some to leave key cities and towns and letting others retreat with weapons, equipment and wads of looted cash, an investigation by The Associated Press has found. Hundreds more were recruited to join the coalition itself. [...]

Overall, deals that took place during both the Obama and Trump administrations have secured al-Qaida militants' withdrawal from multiple major towns and cities that the group seized in 2015, the AP found. The earliest pact, in the spring of 2016, allowed thousands of al-Qaida fighters to pull out of Mukalla, Yemen's fifth-largest city and a major port on the Arabian Sea.

The militants were guaranteed a safe route out and allowed to keep weapons and cash looted from the city - up to $100 million by some estimates - according to five sources, including military, security and government officials.
Also see:

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Chess

Trump's legal team to challenge legitimacy of 'Russiagate' in counter-report


RT
Fri, 31 Aug 2018 12:33 UTC
Robert Mueller
© SAUL LOEB / AFPFBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller
US President Donald Trump's legal team, led by his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, is working on a comprehensive report intended as a response to the conclusions of the "Russia collusion" probe, which are yet to be released.

In an interview with the Daily Beast on Thursday, Giuliani revealed that Trump's legal advisers have been busy covering all the possible allegations against the US president that might be included in Mueller's final investigation report, in a counter-report of their own.

Giuliani said that the document will be divided into two sections, with the first one looking into "possible conflicts" of interest by members of the prosecutor's team involved in the investigation.
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Better Earth

France's Macron considers common EU-Russian 'defense architecture'


Sputnik
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 11:33 UTC
Emmanuel Macron has held talks with his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto
© REUTERS / Lehtikuva/Antti Aimo-KoivistoFrance's Emmanuel Macron and Finland's Sauli Niinisto
French President Emmanuel Macron has held talks with his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto, discussing a number of issues including strategic relationships.

"In terms of cybersecurity, in terms of defense, of strategic partnership, it is possible, in fact, to envisage terms of a new common architecture between the European Union and Russia," Macron said at a joint press conference with his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto.

The French president has stated that the continent's security shouldn't depend on the US.

"It is in our interest for the EU to have a strategic relationship with Turkey as well as with Russia that brings stability, that will in the long term bring more strength and coherency," Macron said in a press conference in Helsinki.

Comment: Amidst Trump's demand that EU members pay more for NATO, trade and energy wars, and the overall diminishing influence of America on the world stage, many European leaders are considering alternatives to US unilateralism - but their behaviour in the coming battle for Syria be telling as to how committed they really are: Idlib: Syria's Final Battle With Terrorists (if West Stays Out of it) Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Atlantic Trade War? How Trump Breaking Iran Deal Could Dismantle US Empire

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