Puppet MastersS


Attention

New US anti-Russia sanctions restrict loans, arms exports and dual-use goods

US DEPT OF STATE
© Joshua Roberts/Reuters
A new batch of US sanctions against Russia will prohibit issuing loans to Moscow, as well as exports of weapons and dual-use products. The sanctions package is expected to come into force on August 27. The unpublished document by the State Department was uploaded to the Federal Register website on Friday for "public inspection."

The new restrictions have been imposed on the pretext of alleged Russian involvement in poisoning of the Skripals in the UK back in March, which London promptly pinned on Moscow but is yet to produce any evidence to back up its claims.

The notice from the US Federal Register squarely accuses Moscow of using "chemical weapons in violation of international law or lethal chemical weapons against its own nationals," and imposes new restrictions on Russia.

The sanctions package includes:
...the prohibition of foreign assistance to Russia under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, except for "urgent humanitarian assistance." It also prohibits exports of weapons and dual-use products to Moscow. The sanctions also deny Russia "any credit, credit guarantees, or other financial assistance by any department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States Government, including the Export-Import Bank of the United States."

Comment: The US is waging an all-out economic war to save itself.


Snakes in Suits

Republicans block a Senate bid to end support for Saudi killing of Yemen kids

Homeless kids Yemen
© APHomeless children in Yemen
According to the United Nations, at least 22 children and four women were killed on Thursday attempting to escape fighting between Saudi-led militants and Yemen's Houthi opposition faction in the Hudaydah governorate's al-Durayhimi district.

The Thursday massacre is the second airstrike in two weeks in which dozens of civilians - including many children - have been killed. Saudi strikes used US-built weapons to destroy a school bus traveling through northern Yemen, killing 51 people, including 40 children on August 9.

"This is the second time in two weeks that an airstrike by the Saudi-led Coalition has resulted in dozens of civilian casualties," United Nations humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said Friday, according to Npr.org.

"I had hoped that the outrage that followed the Saada attack in Yemen two weeks ago would be a turning point in the conflict. Yesterday's reported attacks in Al-Durayhimi, killing 26 children, indicate that it was not," Henrietta Fore of UNICEF stated Friday.

Comment: Outrage at these horrific incidents is certainly justified. What isn't justified is the US Congress turning a blind eye and deaf ear to US culpability in massive numbers of civilian deaths: by Saudi forces supported with arms and military assistance from the US, the barricades impacting food supplies and assistance, and barring medical treatment for the massive cholera epidemic. That, after war for three years running, someone in Congress is finally wringing a handkerchief...well that's a start. Restrictions on US funding Saudi support...not good enough.


Question

Ex-ambassador McFaul: Weird that RT reports on 'threats' to South African farmers

South African protest farmers
© Daily Mail
Former US envoy to Russia Michael McFaul said it was "weird" that RT was covering what he described as "threats" - in quotation marks - to white farmers in South Africa, retweeting a conspiracy linking RT's coverage to Fox News.

South Africa summoned the US chargé d'affaires in Pretoria on Thursday, after US President Donald Trump tweeted his concern over reports that South African authorities were planning to seize land from white farmers without compensation. Trump credited Fox News' Tucker Carlson for bringing up the issue.

On Thursday evening, Andrew S. Weiss, a vice president at the Carnegie Endowment's Russia and Eurasia Program, channeled Captain Renault from Casablanca to declare his shock about RT "pushing a storyline that's similar" to Carlson, pointing to a story about an Afrikaner family looking to relocate to Russia.


Comment: Many sources are reporting on the long campaign of violence against South Africa's white farmers that has inflamed both political and racial tensions.
See also:


Laptop

Latest UK cyber-scare: 'Iran-linked hackers' steal research secrets from dozens of universities

Hacker
© Kacper Pempel/Reuters
A UK-based firm says hackers with ties to the Iranian government are targeting the world's top universities to steal unpublished research - at least from those academics who are fooled by bogus login pages.

The Counter Threat Unit (CTU) from UK-based cyber security firm Secureworks published a report stating that 76 universities around the world have been targeted. The attackers, they say, are "linked to the Cobalt Dickens threat group associated with the Iranian government."

Academic institutions in Australia, Canada, China, Israel, Japan, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States are said to have been attacked. While their investigation is still underway, the CTU has not named the exact universities under attack - but they have confirmed that those targeted include universities listed in the ranks of the Times Higher Education Top 50 list.

According to Secureworks, research into the IP addresses hosting the spoof pages revealed just how far-reaching the mass-scale campaign actually was: 16 web domains contained over 300 spoof websites and login pages for 76 universities in 14 countries.

Display

'Patriot or warmonger?' Twitter puts McCain under the microscope

mccain death announcement
© USA Today Sports via / Reuters
The death of John McCain caused mixed feelings and triggered a heated debate over the American values represented by the Republican. While some commended McCain's patriotism, others questioned his moral integrity.

Following the announcement of 81-year-old John McCain's death, the public took to social media to express their condolences and share mixed feelings about the Republican's life and deeds. Amid an endless outpouring of sympathies for the McCain family, some chose to challenge the massive praise McCain received posthumously.

Comment: An objective view will come down decidedly on the side of warmonger. Wherever McCain travelled, death and destruction soon followed.


Health

"Pharmaceutical sovereignty": Venezuela to regulate medicine prices in recovery plan

Venezuelans took to the streets of Caracas
© ReutersVenezuelans took to the streets of Caracas earlier this week in a show of support for the new economic reforms that took effect as part of the government's Economic Recovery Plan.
"We are going to achieve pharmaceutical sovereignty," Maduro said.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has asked for the price of medicines to be regulated as a part of the government's recovery and economic prosperity plan.

"Set the maximum retail prices of all medicines in the country in accordance with the updated economic recovery plan," he said during a meeting with health workers that was broadcast on television and radio.

Maduro then asked government ministers to coordinate a meeting "this week" with "all public and private businesspeople in the pharmaceutical sector for a plan... to make decisions on production, import, and prices."

Comment: Venezuela has an uphill battle ahead on alll fronts, but with multi-polar powers, like Russia and China, branching out into all areas of industry, including pharmaceutical production, they are no longer beholden to the belligerent US and EU:


Attention

Trump slams Tibbetts coverage: MSM lost interest when they found out illegal alien charged with murder

mollie tibbetts  Trump on Tibbetts Coverage: MSM Lost Interest When They Found Out Illegal Alien Charged with Murder
© Facebook/ Associated PressMollie Tibbetts (L) Cristhian Bahena Rivera (R)
President Donald Trump on Friday evening accused the mainstream media of not covering Mollie Tibbetts's murder "the way it should be covered" as soon as the media found out that an illegal alien was charged with her murder.

Speaking at a fundraising dinner for the Ohio Republican Party, Trump said the mainstream media "didn't want to cover it the way it should be covered" when "they found out that it was this horrible illegal immigrant that viciously killed her."

"Just this week we learned that Iowa authorities have charged an illegal alien in the murder of a college student-Mollie Tibbetts," Trump said, adding that "everybody was talking about Mollie," who the president said was a "beautiful, wonderful, incredible person."

Comment: Illegal immigrant confesses to killing missing Iowa jogger Mollie Tibbetts


Binoculars

Comey only looked at 1% of Weiner/Clinton emails - Strzok picked which ones

Peter Strzok
© Glare/APPeter Strzok
RealClear Investigations reporter Paul Sperry basically accused former FBI Director James Comey of lying under oath Thursday, referring to his bombshell investigative report that the Bureau reviewed a mere fraction of the emails contained on disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner's laptop.

WATCH:


"James Comey told Congress that they had reviewed all of the Clinton emails, hundreds of thousands, that were found on the Weiner laptop. But that was not true. They barely looked at any of them. Just 3,000 of 700,000," Sperry began during his appearance on Fox News's "Ingraham Angle."

Jason Chaffetz, who was filling in for Laura Ingraham, interrupted, "Wait, wait, wait. They looked at how many?"

"3,000 out of potentially relevant 700,000 emails were actually individually examined for classified information and incriminating evidence," Sperry continued. "Peter Strzok, the disgraced agent who was in charge of this midyear investigation into the Clinton emails, he actually personally handpicked the 3,000 sample. And with two other investigators, they went through them all supposedly, pulled an all-nighter, ordered pizza, and said nothing new here. Case closed once again."

Comment:






Better Earth

Iran's defense minister arrives in Syria for reconstruction talks

Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami
© defanews.irIranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami (second to the right)
Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami has arrived in Damascus to meet senior Syrian officials, the ministry said.

Hatami is expected to hold meetings with his Syrian counterpart and heads of the Syrian Armed Forces, the defense ministry said in a statement on its website.

Speaking to the media upon his arrival in the Syrian capital, the top military official announced that Tehran hopes to have "active participation in the reconstruction of Syria."

The aim of the trip is also to develop "bilateral cooperation" with the Arab Republic, according to the statement.

Along with Turkey and Russia, Iran is tasked with enforcing the ceasefire in de-escalation zones in Syria established as a result of the Astana talks in May 2017. Under the memorandum that was agreed upon, government forces and armed opposition groups were required to cease all fighting within the safe zones.

Comment: Typical US and Israeli arrogance thinking they can tell Syria whom it may or may not welcome onto its territory. But it makes sense because the US and Israel are furious that their proxy-army in Syria, ISIS, has been thwarted thanks to the collective efforts of Syria, Russia, Iran, Turkey and, more recently, China. Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: The Art of The Iran no-Deal: Trump, Israel, And The End of The Atlantic Alliance


Clock

Top ten holes in the UK govt's official Salisbury narrative: #4 - The missing 4 hours

Sergei Yulia Skripal
© Global Look PressSergei and Yulia Skripal
According to the Metropolitan Police investigation into the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, the official timeline of their movements on the weekend of the incident is as follows:
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.
Whilst fully realising that such a timeline does not necessarily need to include every detail, such as the time that Yulia arrived in Salisbury on the Saturday afternoon, nevertheless, there are some serious problems with this account, which are broadly as follows:
  1. Firstly, it omits crucial information from the morning of 4th March.
  2. Secondly, it ignores a very important incident on the afternoon of 4th March.
  3. Thirdly, it is, I believe, incorrect in the sequence of events it presents.
In this piece, I want to concentrate on the first one of these - the morning - and then cover the second and third in subsequent pieces.

Comment: See also: