Puppet MastersS


Pistol

Blackwater founder Erik Prince offers privatization of Afghan war, despite Yemen fiasco

F. Michael Maloof
RT
Wed, 29 Aug 2018 16:27 UTC
Blackwater mercenaries
© UnknownBlackwater mercenaries
Upon departing as commander of US Forces Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson recently said that America's military strategy, revised a year ago under the Trump administration, is working.

At the same time, Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater [currently known as Academi], apparently doesn't share that view and intends to renew his offer to his friend, President Donald Trump, to replace US military forces with Private Military Contractors, or PMCs.

Despite the differences, and any similarities, the military solutions for peace in Afghanistan offered by Nicholson and Prince are both delusional.

In saying that the latest US military strategy is working, Nicholson believes the current military solution is having the effect of "advancing us towards reconciliation" with the Afghan Taliban.
"I believe the South Asia Strategy is the right approach," Nicholson said during a brief teleconference with reporters at the Pentagon before the link was disrupted. "And now we see that approach delivering progress on reconciliation that we had not seen previously. And I think that was because we clearly communicated to the enemy they could not wait us out."
While Nicholson believes that the military strategy of using troops to train and assist the Afghan military is going to work, he failed to point out that the US at one point had some 100,000 combat troops there and still couldn't defeat the Taliban. Today, there are no more than 10,000 soldiers who are not in a combat role but are there to train the Afghan military.

Comment: It's a lame idea to hire mercenaries. The longer the conflict is unresolved, the longer they get paid.
See also:

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Document

UN's report on Yemen 'strongly suggests' coalition is guilty of war crimes


Sputnik
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 03:57 UTC
Yemen rubble
© Reuters/Khaled AbdullahAftermath of attack
The United Nations Human Rights Council said on Tuesday that parties to the conflict in Yemen, namely participants in the Saudi-led coalition, may be guilty of war crimes.

A 41-page report by the Group of Regional and International Eminent Experts on Yemen, which was commissioned by the UN, "strongly suggests" that the Saudi-backed Yemeni government-in-exile, and the Saudi-led coalition, including the United Arab Emirates, "have committed acts that may, subject to determination by an independent and competent court, amount to international crimes."

Coalition airstrikes have killed civilians in "residential areas, markets, funerals, weddings, detention facilities, civilian boats and even medical facilities," the UN statement asserts. It notes that the Group of Experts believe such attacks are "in violation of the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution that may amount to war crimes."

The United Nations Human Rights Office says that between March 2015 and August 23, 2018, 6,660 civilians were killed and more than 10,500 injured. However, the Human Rights Council cautions that "the real figures are likely to be significantly higher."

Comment: See also:

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Light Saber

China places US addiction to unilateral sanctions on agenda for next UN General Assembly

Paul Antonopoulos
FRN
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
un general assembly
China calls on the international community to resist unilateral sanctions, which some countries, such as the United States, tend to introduce. China is still calling for political solutions to be maintained in international conflicts, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. The statement was made through a document highlighting the country's position for the next UN General Assembly.

The 73rd session of the UN General Assembly begins on September 18, and the General Debate at the high level will begin on September 25 and will last nine working days.

"The international community must be committed to the political settlement of important issues, intensify preventive diplomacy, support UN mediation efforts and oppose the threat of unilateral force or sanctions, international collective security, assumes primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

Beijing stressed that member states should refrain from "circumventing" the authority of the UN Security Council.
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Footprints

Brazil deploys troops to Venezuelan border amid massive refugee influx


RT
Wed, 29 Aug 2018 01:51 UTC
Brazilian soldier
© Nacho Doce/ReutersBrazilian soldier patrols Pacaraima border in Roraima state, Brazil.
The Brazilian President has ordered the army to be deployed to the borderline state of Roraima shortly after clashes broke out between the locals and Venezuelans fleeing their country's economic and political problems.

In a statement on Tuesday, Brazil's President Michel Temer said that the military deployment he authorized on Tuesday is aimed at ensuring the security of both Brazilians and Venezuelan refugees, who have been pouring into one of the Brazil's poorest and least populated states en masse.

The government of Roraima, Brazil's northernmost state, has long urged federal authorities to stem the migrant flow overwhelming the small town of Pacaraima with a population of some 12,000.

Comment: Venezuela: another point of mass destabilization, political havoc, destroyed economy and civilian strife. Not much left for the West to gain except control.

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Dollars

Qatar spent millions to influence Trump's foreign policy


Sputnik
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 03:29 UTC
aljazeeraTrump
© Aljazeera/YouTube
Qatar's government spent more than $16 million during 2017 alone in an unconventional lobbying program to influence President Donald Trump into adopting policies desired by its leaders, media reported.

Because Trump often shuns typical policy-making processes special interest groups have changed tactics including advertising during the president's favorite television shows, the Wall Street Journal said on Wednesday.

Qatari officials compiled a target list of 250 so-called Trump influencers, the report added, including former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, conservative radio host John Batchelor, and lawyer Alan Dershowitz.

Earlier in August, the Intercept reported that US officials persuaded Saudi Arabia to call off a planned invasion of Qatar amid their diplomatic row. In particular, then-US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reportedly intervened to stop a secret Saudi-led, United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed plan to invade and conquer Qatar.

Comment: Creative targeting and spent millions...was it worth it?

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Russian Flag

SOTT Focus: Hyping the anti-Russia hysteria: 'Vital' US moles in the Kremlin go missing!

Stephen F. Cohen
The Nation
Wed, 29 Aug 2018 14:59 UTC
kremlin
© Ria NovostiThe Kremlin
According to New York Times, intel leakers, "informants close to" Putin have "gone silent." What can it all mean?

For nearly two years, mostly vacuous (though malignant) Russiagate allegations have drowned out truly significant news directly affecting America's place in the world. In recent days, for example. French President Emmanuel Macron declared "Europe can no longer rely on the United States to provide its security," calling for instead a broader kind of security "and particularly doing it in cooperation with Russia." About the same time, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin met to expand and solidify an essential energy partnership by agreeing to complete the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia, despite US attempts to abort it. Earlier, on August 22, the Afghan Taliban announced it would attend its first ever major peace conference - in Moscow, without US participation.

Comment: WaPo's invisible Kremlin troll army of one

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Bullseye

Jeremy Corbyn suggests NATO was founded to promote a Cold War with the Soviet Union in 2014 video


RT
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 17:49 UTC
corbyn stoltenberg
© Elliott Franks/Global Look Press / Yves Herman/Reuters(L) Jeremy Corbyn MP (R) NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg
Labour's Jeremy Corbyn suggests "NATO was founded in order to promote a Cold War with the Soviet Union," in a 2014 video that has surfaced on social media, prompting fierce debate about the validity of such claims - is he right?

The Labour leader was speaking at an anti-war demonstration in Newport, Wales, when he told protestors: "1948, NATO was founded in order to promote a Cold War with the Soviet Union. That resulted in the formation of the Warsaw Pact."

Corbyn's claims have unsurprisingly divided opinion on social media with some suggesting he completely misunderstands or is deliberately lying about the formation of NATO. Others have defended the Labour leader's position, claiming "He's right though. NATO should have been disbanded after the Cold War."

Max Blumenthal, RT contributor and senior editor at the Grayzone Project, backed up Corbyn, tweeting: "Corbyn's neocon opponents are spreading footage of him making indisputably factual statements to impugn him."
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Attention

Trump claims Google bias: Never promoted his State of the Union address like it did Obama's


RT
Wed, 29 Aug 2018 16:58 UTC
google reflection
US President Donald Trump tweeted a 24-second video showing how Google promoted Barack Obama's speeches but not his, after multiple news outlets said his claims of Google bias were "without evidence."

UPDATE: Google says it has in fact promoted Trump's 2018 State of the Union address on its front page.

The short clip posted on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon shows Google's front page promoting President Barack Obama's state of the union (SOTU) address every year during Obama's second term. The last two slides show a blank space on the same page in 2017 and 2018, on the dates of Trump's SOTU speeches.
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Dominoes

More fake rape accusations: Scottish independence leader Alex Salmond forced out of SNP


RT
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 17:36 UTC
Alex Salmond
© Ben Stevens / Global Look PressAlex Salmond
Former Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Alex Salmond has resigned from the party, saying he will clear his name against accusations of sexual harassment that have been made against him.

"I refute these two complaints of harassment and absolutely reject any suggestion of criminality,"Salmond said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that he was resigning so as not to "facilitate opposition attacks on the SNP."

Salmond was a member of the SNP for 45 years, 20 of them as the party leader and seven as the First Minister of Scotland.

The SNP had never received any complaints about his conduct, and the Scottish government only received a complaint this January, years after he left office, Salmond said. Putting his successor at the helm of the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon, to suspend him would have caused a rift within the party and opened it up to political attacks, he added.

Comment: Yes, there's no way to know for certain that the claims are fake, but given the consistent pattern of Western deep states targeting dissidents with them, we're going to assume they're fake.

This is blatant political warfare. And anyone who says otherwise, declared the British MSM this week, is a Russian bot:

Inspired by the Atlantic Council and Ben Nimmo, Facebook deletes Craig Murray's posts since July 2017 - apparently cause he's a 'Russian bot'

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Vader

Hypocritical US government accuses Russia of propganda but operates fake FB accounts in Cuba


RT
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 17:21 UTC
facebook
© Igor Golovniov / Global Look Press
While the US accuses Russia of using internet trolls to sow discord, Washington is funding its own propaganda body's program of 'non-branded Facebook accounts' operating in Cuba.

Here is a fun fact: The US Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), an arm of America's official foreign propaganda agency the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), is setting up "non-branded local Facebook accounts to disseminate information" in Cuba. The OCB believes that such pages are more likely to be appearing on newsfeeds of actual Cubans with access to the social network - apparently because Facebook changed its algorithms to give priority to living people over organizations in its crusade on the phantom menace of 'Russian fake news'.

The quote does not come from some leaked report on American information warfare against the Cuban government. It comes from page 31 of the BBG's request for fiscal year 2019 funding. Spending taxpayer money on fake online personas used to disseminate propaganda and meddle in another nation's affairs is perfectly fine - so long as it's America doing it.
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