Puppet MastersS


Question

Russiagate in reverse


New Eastern Outlook
Tue, 28 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
Russiagatereverse
© Il Progresso
What is driving America's anti-Russian policy, the sanctions, backing terrorists in Syria, mischief in Ukraine, plotting against Crimea, Marines in Norway and nukes and missiles everywhere? It makes no sense if the public narrative or narratives are to be believed.

Moreover, what may be most telling of all, is the absolute level of censorship in the US media over issues in Syria, issues that may well push the world to nuclear war. Not only is only one side of the story being told, but social media and the internet itself, has been cleansed of any mention of American complicity in White Helmet abuses, backing al Qaeda and ISIS, redeploying terrorists to Afghanistan or testing and deploying biological weapons against Russia, Africa and the Middle East.

These "cleansed" stories are backed by substantial investigative material, top journalists, whistleblowers and eyewitnesses.

August of 2018 draws to a close with reports out of Russian media that the United States is deploying guided missile destroyers to the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean in order to retaliate against Syria for poison gas attacks that have not yet happened.

Comment: Indeed, Cui Bono?

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Bullseye

MBS vows to continue targeting children, wants Yemenis to 'shiver' in fear for generations

Whitney Webb
Mint Press News
Mon, 27 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
Mohammed bin Salman
© Hamad I Mohammed/ReutersSaudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman denies that Saudi Arabia abducted Jamal Khashoggi
On Monday, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, Lise Grande, called for an "independent and impartial investigation" into the Saudi Arabia-led coalition's attacks on Yemeni civilians. Grande stated that "what is happening in Yemen is unimaginable" and added that "the time has come to wake up to the terrible reality of the war and its human cost and the need to work together to end hostilities."

Grande cited last week's attacks on a family home and later on a civilian vehicle fleeing fighting near the city of Dreihimi. Those two airstrikes, separated by a matter of hours, killed over 30 civilians, at least 24 of whom were children, some as young as three years old.

Despite the international outcry from UN officials and other public figures, the concern over the coalition's extensive targeting of civilians is unlikely to influence Saudi Arabia's actions. Indeed, just as Grande called for an independent investigation, Middle East Monitor {MEMO) reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) had recently vowed to continue targeting women and children throughout Yemen in order to "leave a big impact on the consciousness of Yemenis [for] generations."

Comment: See also:

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Attention

Trump still fuming over AG Sessions' recusal from Russiagate

Seraphim Hanisch
The Duran
Mon, 27 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
Trump Sessions
© Getty Images/Politico/KJNPresident Trump • Attorney General Sessions
The end of a politically bad week had the President lamenting the strange recusal of his own hand-picked Attorney General, Jeff Sessions.

President Trump had a rough week last week by any stretch of the imagination. This is not an assessment that is very "spinnable", certainly not one that can be spun out of existence.

Two of his campaign staff and colleagues bit the dust legally, with one "flipping" on Trump and pleading guilty to crimes that don't even exist, but also promising to cooperate with the Mueller investigation to pursue Trump (Michael Cohen), and the other, Paul Manafort, being found guilty by a jury on eight counts of various financial impropriety and tax fraud.

Vox reported the following:
It's been a rough week for Trump: His former lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to eight federal charges on Tuesday, the same day Paul Manafort, his former campaign chairman, was found guilty of eight federal crimes of his own; Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), one of his first endorsers, was indicted for misusing federal campaign funds; and his top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, was caught palling around with a white nationalist. Cohen implicated the president in his crimes, saying he made hush money payments in violation of campaign finance laws at Trump's direction.

Trump in a Fox & Friends interview seemed to confess to a campaign finance violation in his attempts to deny it. In the same interview, he said "flipping" witnesses should be illegal and seemed to leave the door open to pardoning Manafort.

By the end of the day on Friday, Trump Organization finance chief Allen Weisselberg and National Enquirer publisher David Pecker had cut immunity deals with federal prosecutors, adding their names to the list of Trump allies who no longer seem so friendly. And the president canceled Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's trip to North Korea.

Comment: It doesn't appear that Sessions really had another choice.

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No Entry

Iran in control: No need for alien presence or foreign ships in Persian Gulf


RT
Mon, 27 Aug 2018 22:18 UTC
IRGC Navy Commander Real Admiral Alireza Tangsiri
© PressTVIRGC Navy Commander Real Admiral Alireza Tangsiri
The Iranian navy are "vigilantly controlling" the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz and there is no need for the naval presence of "alien" countries, Tehran's new naval chief has declared.

"We can ensure the security of the Persian Gulf and there is no need for the presence of aliens like the US and the countries whose home is not in here," Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, head of the naval branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), said on Monday, according to the Tasnim news agency.

Having "outsiders" operate nuclear-powered ships in the Gulf creates potential environmental problems not just for Iran but its Arab neighbors as well, Tangsiri said. He also accused Iran's enemies of misrepresenting reality "in order to deploy forces to the region and sell their weapons."


Comment: This has been misunderstood as the Iranian admiral claiming that Iran "has full control of the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz." As in, 'the Iranian navy physically deciding who moves in and out'.

We're not quite there yet, though it could come sooner rather than later.

See also:

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Boat

Pentagon, rebuilding its Cold War-era fleet, didn't expect Russia this strong in Arctic


RT
Mon, 27 Aug 2018 22:32 UTC
Navy Ceremony
© US NavyThe official ceremony re-establishing the US Second Fleet in Norfolk, Virginia on August 24.
US moves to reform its 2nd American fleet will create a potential theater of conflict with Russia, but experts say Moscow won't be too worried about the Pentagon's lagging military capacity in the Atlantic and the Arctic.

While US officials declared that they weren't "looking for a fight" in relaunching a fleet that had numbered over 100 vessels when the USSR collapsed, but were merely building a deterrent to ward off "resurgent" foreign powers, Russian analysts interviewed by RT have predicted a further escalation of tensions.

"This a return to the Cold War, and its marine rivalry. There is nothing good that can come from this, and we can expect the US to start acting more aggressively, particularly around the North Atlantic," said Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of National Defense magazine.

"The overall temperature of the relations between the two states will rise, and the area will become a flashpoint," said the analyst, noting that Russia's own northern fleet is its most powerful.

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USA

Colombia announces withdrawal from South American UNASUR bloc


RT
Tue, 28 Aug 2018 03:03 UTC
Pres Colombia
© ArchivoPresident of Colombia Ivan Duque
The Colombian president has said a letter has been sent to the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) announcing his country's withdrawal, meaning Bogota will officially cut loose from the bloc in six months.

Newly sworn-in Colombian President Ivan Duque announced on Monday that his country has started a formal withdrawal process stipulated by the organization's constituent treaty, that begins with a member-state sending a written notice to the bloc's headquarters.

"Today with precise instructions, the foreign minister sent UNASUR the letter where we denounce the constituent treaty of that entity and in six months our withdrawal will be effective," Duque announced in a brief televised statement, as he followed through on his pre-election pledge to get Colombia out of the bloc, which was originally intended to foster regional integration and counter US influence when it was founded in 2008. Right-wing Duque, who took office on August 7, had previously indicated that Colombia's departure from the 12-member organization was imminent.

Announcing Colombia's withdrawal on Monday, Duque claimed that the bloc of nations had failed to address a political crisis in Venezuela, which has been rocked by a wave of anti-government protests and the attempted assassination of President Nicholas Maduro earlier this year. Echoing the rhetoric of the US White House, Duque has labeled the Maduro government a "dictatorship"; he has also called the UNASUR Maduro's "greatest accomplice."

Comment: First Colombia joins NATO, now this.

In the S. American geopolitical theater, Colombia serves three purposes for the US: 1) a disrupter of bloc unity which may entice other defections, 2) it will have dependencies that may play to US advantage, and 3) serves as a counter-puppet to China's partnering with El Salvador that establishes the oriental foothold on the continent. See also: China's strategic interests in Central America

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Arrow Down

Pentagon considers withdrawing support to Saudis due to civilian death toll in Yemen


Sputnik
Tue, 28 Aug 2018 11:02 UTC
Yemen airstrike
© Toronto StarA US-supported Saudi airstrike in Yemen
The Pentagon has warned Saudi Arabia that it could withdraw its military and intelligence support for its operation against Houthi rebels in Yemen after dozens of civilians were killed in a strike on a school bus earlier this month, media reported on Tuesday, citing officials.

An airstrike carried out by the Saudi-led coalition in Saada, Yemen's northern province, hit a bus carrying children from a summer camp on August 9, killing 51 people, including 40 minors.

The CNN broadcaster has learned that US Defense Secretary James Mattis and Gen. Joseph Votel, head of US military operations in the Middle East, were concerned that Washington was supporting a Saudi-led campaign of airstrikes that killed multiple civilians.

According to the broadcaster, US military and intelligence support to Riyadh can be reduced unless it tries to limit civilian deaths in its campaign in Yemen.

Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich told Sputnik on August 16 that the US Department of Defense was working with Congress on the issue of US military involvement in attacks in Yemen.

Comment: Interesting how one tragic event - in several years of tragic events from the same perpetrators, suppliers and co-conspirators - suddenly turns media, congress and military to a new and self-righteous posture. The change agents are public perception and upcoming elections. It has nothing to do with the systematic slaughter of the Yemeni or the fact that the latest tragedy involved children.

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Blue Planet

Ramaphosa's South African land reform

Ilana Mercer
The Unz Review
Thu, 23 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
Ramaphosa/farm
© Unz Review/The Shovel/KJNSouth African President Cyril Ramaphosa
He who believes he has a right to another man's property ought to produce proof that he is its rightful owner.
"As the old legal adage goes, 'Possession is nine-tenths of the law,' as it is the best evidence in our uncertain world of legitimate title. The burden of proof rests squarely with the person attempting to alter and abolish present property titles." -Into the Cannibal's Pot: Lessons For America From Post-Apartheid South-Africa
It is to this potent principle that democratic rule in South Africa has taken an axe-or, rather, an assegai.

Land or Death
© Alet Pretorius/Getty Images
Here is how taking land legally currently works in South Africa, a place the US State Department has only just lauded as "a strong democracy with resilient institutions...," a country merely "grappling with the difficult issue of land reform." "Land reform," of course, is a euphemism for land distribution in the Robert Mugabe mold.

The process currently in place typically begins with a "tribe" or group of individuals who band together to claim vast tracts of private property. If these loosely and conveniently conjoined groups know anything, it's this: South Africa's adapted, indigenized law allows coveted land, owned and occupied by another, to be obtained with relative ease.

See, the country no longer enjoys the impressive Western system of Roman-Dutch law it once enjoyed. Lax law and poorly protected property rights signal a free-for-all on the lives of white owners and their livestock

Comment: See also:

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Arrow Down

Mattis tells Turkey: 'US does not recommend' buying Russian missile defense system


RT
Tue, 28 Aug 2018 17:47 UTC
Def Sec JamesMattis
© Getty ImagesDefense Secretary James Mattis
Defense Secretary James Mattis has warned Turkey against buying a Russian air defense system. He cautioned Turkey, a sovereign state and NATO member, that the US does "not recommend" the purchase.
"Turkey had a choice to make, a sovereign decision to make. But clearly Turkey bringing a Russian anti-aircraft, anti-missile system into a NATO country, we cannot integrate that into NATO," Mattis said. "Yes, it does concern us and we do not recommend that."
The US blocked the sale of American-made F-35 jet fighters to Turkey earlier this month in response to Ankara's decision to purchase the Russian-made S-400 air defense system. However, Turkey intends to press ahead with the purchase, and already made the first payment for the system last year. Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport said that the first batch of S-400 systems will be delivered to Turkey next year.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended his decision to buy from Russia, arguing that the US has turned down his requests for more hardware for years.

Comment: See also:

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Boat

Russia dispatches largest naval fleet yet to Syrian waters

Leith Aboufadel
Al Masdar News
Tue, 28 Aug 2018 20:30 UTC
Russia sends largest naval fleet to Mediterranean Sea
The Russian Navy has sent its largest fleet ever to the Mediterranean Sea in response to the alleged U.S. naval build-up around the Middle East.

According to the Twitter account @Capt_Navy, the Russian Navy has sent 15 warships to the Mediterranean Sea, which corroborates the report from Yoruk Isik of the Bosphorus Observer.

Below are the 15 ships the Russian Navy has sent to the Mediterranean Sea in the last few weeks:

Comment: See also: Russia sends 3 large ships to Syria as Idlib offensive approaches

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