Puppet MastersS


Sherlock

What collusion? The fall of Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen have nothing to do with Trump and Russia

Francis Moriarty
South China Morning Post
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 17:08 UTC
Michael Cohen
Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen
The moving train wrecks involving the trials of US President Donald Trump's one-time campaign chief Paul Manafort, and his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, remind us to think carefully about our choice of words.

I'm pondering "collusion". Is it the right word for whatever has been going on?

Eerie echoes of the Richard Nixon-Watergate era resound in this saga. As in Watergate, these are two of the president's men. Nixon proclaimed, "I'm not a crook." Trump proclaims, "No collusion." People again speak of impeachment.

For all its usage, collusion has not yet appeared in any charge. There was no mention of Russia's alleged "collusion" during the Manafort trial, as the charges predated Trump's campaign.

Comment: The jury isn't even out on 'collusion' since as stated in the article there hasn't even been any evidence presented in these trials about it!

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Snakes in Suits

Fitting: NATO proposes naming new Brussels HQ after warmonger John McCain


RT
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 17:07 UTC
mccain
© Lucas Jackson / Reuters
Nothing would embody NATO's values and ideals more than naming its new billion-dollar headquarters in Brussels after the late US senator - and outspoken warmonger - John McCain, said the official who made the proposal.

In a letter to NATO suggesting that the building be named after McCain, one of the senator's British fans, Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, noted that "very few people embodied the values that NATO is built on" in the way McCain did and said there would be "no more fitting tribute" to his career and life than to have the military alliance's building named in his honor, CNN reported.


Comment: McCain certainly did embody the values that NATO was built on. He was a warmongering psychopath who supported Nazis and American imperial destruction around the world and NATO is one of the US Empire's tools for controlling their vassal states and bombing countries who don't follow suit. They are a match made in heaven.


Indeed, given McCain's impressive record of support for the military organization, its continued expansion across Europe and all its various military interventions around the world, the potential naming of the new building after him does seem rather appropriate.
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Rocket

Lavrov warns US not to 'play with fire' in Syria


RT
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 17:06 UTC
tomahawk
© ReutersFILE PHOTO: The US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Laboon fires a Tomahawk, April 14, 2018.
Russia's foreign minister is the latest official to warn the US against using a possible chemical weapons provocation to justify a new strike against Syrian forces. He said Moscow warned the West not to play with fire in Syria.

Sergey Lavrov reiterated the warning that a staged chemical weapons attack in Syria's Idlib province may trigger a US-led attack on the forces loyal to Damascus.

"A new provocation is being prepared by the West to hamper the anti-terrorist operation in Idlib," Lavrov said during a joint media conference with his Syrian counterpart, Walid Muallem. "We have facts on the table and have issued a strong warning to our Western partners through our Defense Ministry and our Foreign Ministry not to play with fire."

Earlier, the Russian military reported that a group of militants in Syria was preparing a provocation, in which chlorine gas would be used to frame the Syrian government forces. The incident would be used by the US and its allies to justify a new attack against the country, similar to what happened in April, according to the claim.

Comment: This shows where the US's priorities are. Russia and Syria are fighting al-Qaeda in Idlib, and the US has sent the message that if al-Qaeda's PR arm, the White Helmets, simply blame Syria for a chemical weapons attack, the US will 'retaliate' (on the side of al-Qaeda) against the people actually fighting terrorists.

M aria Zakharova told the press:
The coalition strike group has around 70 delivery vehicles deployed to the Middle East, the ministry's spokesperson Maria Zakharova told reporters at her news briefing on Thursday. The arsenal includes nearly 380 cruise missiles, and US Navy missile destroyers 'Karni' and 'Ross' deployed to the region, each carrying 28 Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Earlier, the Pentagon denied Moscow's claim that Washington was building up military forces in the region. One of the US warships, USS 'The Sullivans,' left the Persian Gulf after media reports about an increased American military presence in the area, according to Zakharova.

While rejecting news of its growing presence in the region, the "US military forgot to mention that they can build up missile capabilities to strike Syria in just 24 hours. The strike group of the United States, France and the UK currently consists of planes, strategic and tactical aircraft at bases in Jordan, Kuwait, Crete," Zakharova said.
See also:

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Info

Russian Foreign Ministry: US & allies can have missiles ready to strike Syria within 24 hours - More Russian ships head to Syria amid fears of US attack


RT
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 19:00 UTC
The US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Laboon fires a Tomahawk
© / ReutersThe US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Laboon fires a Tomahawk, April 14, 2018
It will take the US and its allies just 24 hours to ready its missile-strike group for an attack against Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. The statement comes amid warnings of a possible false-flag chemical attack.

The coalition strike group has around 70 delivery vehicles deployed to the Middle East, the ministry's spokesperson Maria Zakharova told reporters at her news briefing on Thursday. The arsenal includes nearly 380 cruise missiles, and US Navy missile destroyers 'Karni' and 'Ross' deployed to the region, each carrying 28 Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Earlier, the Pentagon denied Moscow's claim that Washington was building up military forces in the region. One of the US warships, USS 'The Sullivans,' left the Persian Gulf after media reports about an increased American military presence in the area, according to Zakharova.

Comment: The Russian military has upped the ante in Syria after sending another batch of warships to the Port of Tartous.
According to Yoruk Isik of the Bosphorus Observer, the Russian chartered Ro-Ro Sparta III was seen transiting the Bosphorus Strait en route for the Syrian port city of Tartous.



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People

Facebook employees create closed group opposing company's 'intolerance of different political views'


Sputnik
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 17:00 UTC
facebook
© Reuters / Dado Ruvic
Employees of IT giant Facebook have created a closed group on the platform against the company's support for left-wing viewpoints and its reluctance to accept political diversity, the US media reported on Wednesday.

"We Have a Problem With Political Diversity on Facebook. We are a political monoculture that's intolerant of different views. We claim to welcome all perspectives, but are quick to attack - often in mobs - anyone who presents a view that appears to be in opposition to left-leaning ideology. How do we fix this?" the group's memo reads.
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Light Saber

Rep. Issa says Ohr's closed-door testimony creates link between people 'desperate to stop' Trump

Jeff Carlson
The Epoch Times
Tue, 28 Aug 2018 16:24 UTC
SteeleOhrSimpson
© UnknownChristopher Steele • Bruce Ohr • Glenn Simpson
The testimony of Department of Justice (DOJ) official Bruce Ohr has provided congressional investigators with a unique insight into the activity at the FBI and DOJ that led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller.

"Bruce Ohr is creating a link for us between people who had animus, who were, in fact, desperate to stop candidate Trump from being President Trump, both before and after he became the president-elect," Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who serves on the House judiciary committee, told Fox News during a break in the closed-door testimony.

Ohr had been in ongoing communication with Christopher Steele, author of the infamous dossier on then-candidate Donald Trump, throughout 2016 and into the first half of 2017.
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Binoculars

BBC stonewalls ex-ambassador Craig Murray over Newsnight editor Mark Urban's relationship with Sergei Skripal


RT
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 16:51 UTC
mark urban BBC Skripal book
Mark Urban
UK diplomat turned journalist, Craig Murray, has taken on the BBC over their Salisbury poisonings reporting, seeking answers over links between Newsnight's diplomatic editor Mark Urban, Sergei Skripal and his alleged MI6 handler.

Murray's queries followed a Freedom Of Information (FOI) request to the BBC from an individual named Kirsty Eccles. The request asked the corporation for answers over links between BBC2's Newsnight correspondent Mark Urban and Sergei Skripal - who was poisoned along with his daughter, Yulia, in April 2018.

In early July, Urban admitted that he had met with the ex-Russian double agent "a few times in 2017 while working on a book project." His revelation prompted Eccles' request, in which she asked: "Why did BBC Newsnight correspondent Mark Urban keep secret from the license payers that he had been having meetings with Sergei Skripal only last summer."


Comment: Whatever is going on, it's clear the British establishment wants to keep Skripal's possible ties to Christopher Steele under wraps. Along with Murray, Rob Slane has been one of the only writers asking this question:

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Attention

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


RT
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 16:44 UTC
south africa land
© Wikus de Wet / AFP / Getty
The controversial land-confiscation policy proposed by the Ramaphosa-led ANC government could ignite clashes among South African citizens, who are split into two rival camps on the issue along racial lines.

The new legislation allowing land seizure without compensation, which was proposed by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) as early as 2015 and supported by President Cyril Ramaphosa, is currently on hold pending further review.

The law, if passed, will allow South African authorities to seize lands from white farmers and redistribute them to the country's black population without any compensation for the owners

The proposed land reform has pitted radical groups among black South Africans ready to take land by force against white farmers who are ready to protect their property.

"We will take the land by force," Peter Seolela, a member of the Economic Freedom Fighters party, told London-based television channel ITV. "We will not be embarrassed by this. It is our land and we want it now."
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Light Sabers

Trump gets in Twitter feud with CNN, goes after 'degenerate' Carl Bernstein


RT
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 16:21 UTC
trump
© Leah Davis / Reuters, Christian Petersen / AFP
CNN has fired back at Donald Trump after the president skewered journalist Carl Bernstein, who co-authored a Russiagate blockbuster for the network that has since come under scrutiny after a source for the story recanted.

"Sloppy @carlbernstein, a man who lives in the past and thinks like a degenerate fool, making up story after story, is being laughed at all over the country!" Trump wrote. He said that the network was being "torn apart from within" after being "caught in a major lie and refusing to admit the mistake."

Unshaken, the network fired back on Twitter. "There may be many fools in this story but @carlbernstein is not one of them," CNN's communications team wrote.

"CNN does not lie. We report the news. And we report when people in power tell lies. CNN stands by our reporting and our reporters."

Comment: See: CNN Lies to Audience About a Key Claim in its Blockbuster Cohen Story, Now Refuses to Comment

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Rocket

Russia successfully test launches new interceptor missile


RT
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 15:59 UTC
missile
© Ruptly
A new Russian missile interceptor successfully and accurately destroyed a simulated target during its latest test, the Russian Defense Ministry said as it published epic footage of the launch.

"An air and missile defense unit of the Russian Aerospace Forces has carried out another successful test of a new interceptor missile at the Sary Shagan (Republic of Kazakhstan) anti-ballistic missile testing range," the military said in a statement on Thursday.

The ministry has not revealed the technical specifications of the interceptor missile, or the exact timing of the launch.

"After a series of trials, the interceptor missile confirmed its specifications and successfully performed its task, hitting the simulated target with the specified precision," Deputy Commander of the Air and Missile Defense of the Aerospace Forces Andrey Prikhodko announced.

It was the fourth trial of the new interceptor missile this year, with launches previously held in February, April and July, according to TASS.

In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled a number of brand-new advanced weapons during his State of the Nation address. The weaponry included the newest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), nuclear-propelled submarines, drone submarines, and even combat lasers.

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