Puppet MastersS


Hardhat

Russia choosing projects for $40bn infrastructure upgrade mega-plan


RT
Thu, 23 Aug 2018 17:03 UTC
Russian bridge
© Anton Denisov / Sputnik
Russia has pledged to invest three trillion rubles (around $40 billion) in infrastructure. Now, the authorities are choosing projects on which to spend the money.

The projects span all across Russia, Kommersant daily reports. They include reconstruction of the 1,879km-long M5 motorway, which starts in Moscow and ends in Chelyabinsk in the Ural region. The 1,351km-long M7 motorway that connects the Russian capital with several cities on the Volga river has also been included.
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Binoculars

Zakharova: Russia records unidentified helicopters delivering weapons to Taliban, IS in Afghanistan


TASS
Thu, 23 Aug 2018 19:00 UTC
Maria Zakharova
© Valeriy Sharifulin/TASSMaria Zakharova
Russia has recorded flights of unidentified helicopters delivering weapons to the Taliban (a movement outlawed in Russia) and the Islamic State (a terror group outlawed in Russia) units active in Afghanistan, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday.

"We would like to once again point to the flights of unidentified helicopters in northern Afghanistan, which deliver weapons and ammunition to local ISIL [the former name of the Islamic State group - TASS] units and Taliban members cooperating with the group. In particular, the Afghan media and local residents say that such helicopters were seen in the Sar-e Pol Province," the Russian diplomat said.

"This is happening in close proximity to the borders of Central Asian states, while many of the IS militants active in Afghanistan come from those countries," Zakharova pointed out.

Comment: See also: Afghan military commanders: 'Our fight against Taliban is nonsense - Every time we surround terrorists, support helicopters rescue and relocate them'

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Black Cat

Sleazy lawyer Lanny Davis crowdfunds 'truth about Trump', whips up $120k+ for equally sleazy client Michael Cohen's legal bills


RT
Thu, 23 Aug 2018 16:51 UTC
michael cohen trump
© Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
Lanny Davis, a Clinton confidant now representing President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, has asked the internet to crowdfund his efforts, opening a GoFundMe page for a Michael Cohen "truth fund."

Cohen reportedly bought a $6.7 million apartment in New York back in April, even as his office was being raided by the FBI and federal authorities were going after him over hush money payments allegedly made to two women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump. Today, however, he is "out of resources" and needs America's help to pay his lawyer.

Davis made that case on the TV circuit on Wednesday, hitting up every network from MSNBC and CNN to Fox News for his proverbial fifteen minutes of fame. Cohen pleaded guilty on Tuesday to eight federal charges, including tax evasion and making illegal campaign contributions. It is unclear what he received in return.

Comment: Latest internet scam: The rise of the #Resistance GoFundMe grifter

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Bizarro Earth

The unrest in Uganda: Hybrid war or heartfelt opposition?

Andrew Korybko
Eurasia Future
Thu, 23 Aug 2018 16:24 UTC
The unrest in Uganda has all the hallmarks of an incipient Hybrid War, but it would be inaccurate at this point to jump the gun and allege that it's the result of a US-encouraged regime change against a geostrategically significant Silk Road country.
Robert Kyagulanyi
Robert Kyagulanyi
From Pop Star To Politician And Now Prisoner
The arrest and reported beating of popular opposition politician Robert Kyagulanyi, a former pop star mostly known by his stage name as Bobi Wine, has rocked Uganda and caused many observers to wonder exactly what's going on in the fast-developing landlocked state. Wine was apprehended by the authorities after an angry mob attacked the presidential convoy last week and triggered a violent reaction from the police that resulted in the death of his driver, who the politician alleged on Twitter at the time was killed because the state mistakenly thought he was him. Wine was initially charged with the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, and his arrest prompted protests throughout the capital that saw onlookers document the police beating a Reuters journalist, an act which the government later apologized for.

Comment:

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Dollars

Tariff backfire: China finds domestic suppliers to replace American coal


RT
Wed, 22 Aug 2018 16:16 UTC
coal
© China Stringer Network / Reuters
Washington trade tariffs against Beijing appear to be backfiring on the US coal industry, as Chinese importers are finding new domestic alternatives to soften the blow.

"We have completely stopped US metallurgical coal (imports), which is popular among steel mills, in late July. There is too much uncertainty in trade," a senior manager at a major Chinese coal trading house told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Starting Thursday, the US is enforcing a new round of tariffs on $16 billion of Chinese imports. Beijing is responding with a similar amount, including levies on US metals and coal. Coal is an especially important industry for US President Donald Trump, who wants to revive the industry in the country.

The trading house, Shanghai Runhei, will boost purchase of domestic coal to meet demand from clients, the manager said.

"Traders have anticipated yuan depreciation and shored up imports in advance, including cargoes from the United States," Wang Fei, coal analyst at Huaan Futures told Reuters.

Comment: See also:

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2 + 2 = 4

SOTT Focus: Stephen F. Cohen: The Brennan Affair Reveals The Deep State

Stephen F. Cohen
The Nation
Thu, 23 Aug 2018 16:06 UTC
Valorizing an ex-CIA director and bashing Trump obscures what is truly ominous.
Former CIA director John Brennan
© Kevin Lamarque / ReutersFormer CIA director John Brennan
Ever since Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s, every American president has held one or more summit meetings with the Kremlin leader, first and foremost in order to prevent miscalculations that could result in war between the two nuclear superpowers. Generally, they received bipartisan support for doing so. In July, President Trump continued that tradition by meeting with Russian President Putin in Helsinki, for which, unlike previous presidents, he was scathingly criticized by much of the US political media establishment.

John Brennan, CIA director under President Obama, however, went much further, characterizing Trump's press conference with Putin as "nothing short of treasonous." Presumably in reaction, Trump revoked Brennan's security clearance, the continuing access to classified information usually accorded to former security officials. In the political media furor that followed, Brennan was mostly heroized as an avatar of civil liberties and free speech, and Trump traduced as their enemy.

Leaving aside the missed occasion to discuss the "revolving door" involving former US security officials using their permanent clearances to enhance their lucrative positions outside government, Cohen thinks the subsequent political media furor obscures what is truly important and perhaps ominous.

Comment:

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Arrow Down

Afghanistan joins US in rejecting Russia-sponsored peace talks


RFE/RL
Wed, 22 Aug 2018 16:11 UTC
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani
The United States and Afghanistan both say they will not attend Russia-hosted peace talks scheduled for next month, with Kabul asserting it prefers instead to hold direct talks with the Taliban.

Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Sibghatullah Ahmadi told RFE/RL on August 22 that the decision not to participate in the planned Moscow conference was made after consultations between President Ashraf Ghani and other officials -- a move that could lead Moscow to call off its planned gathering of a dozen countries.

Without being specific, an unidentified official working with the Afghan Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying that the government in Kabul would "hold direct talks" with the Taliban without the direct involvement of foreign powers.

Meanwhile, a State Department spokesman confirmed earlier reports that the United States would not take part in the meeting scheduled for September 4, saying the talks were "unlikely to yield any progress toward" a peace settlement.

Comment: See also: Russian Foreign Ministry criticizes US for refusing to attend Afghanistan peace talks with Taliban in Moscow

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Map

Alleged audio of ISIS leader Baghdadi emerges, telling followers to not worry about losing territory


RT
Thu, 23 Aug 2018 16:03 UTC
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
© Reuters
Islamic State has released an audio recording of what it said is an address by its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The terrorist chief had remained silent since September 2017 and was presumed to be in a vegetative state or killed.

The speaker in the recording, who couldn't be verified as Baghdadi, tried to explain to the Islamic State (IS/formerly ISIS/ISIL) supporters that victory or defeat for them shouldn't be about controlling territories and cities or achieving military superiority, the SITE intelligence group reported.


The formerly powerful IS, which controlled vast areas in Iraq and Syria a few years ago, has now been crushed in both countries and holds only small pieces of land in the desert.

In the 55-minute-long audio, published by the group's al-Furqan media outlet, the person claiming to be Baghdadi also called on his followers to persevere and lashed out at foreign media for waging an information campaign against Islamic State.

Comment: Baghdadi is either the cat with nine lives, secretly hiding out in some safe country, or a media creation at this point. It's hard to say which. But it's always strange to see the Israeli-intel-linked outfit SITE breaking exclusive news on jihadist statements. It's almost as if they're provided the inside scoop...

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Bad Guys

Turkey's ongoing economic crisis could lead to the fracture of NATO

Marshall Auerback
Asia Times
Sun, 19 Aug 2018 15:35 UTC
Turkey and NATO flags
© BELGA / AFP
Literally bridging Europe and Asia, Turkey has long appeared to refute Rudyard Kipling's idea that "East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet." An EU Customs Union member with strong banking ties to the European Union, and a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Turkey has also been quite happy to involve Russia and China in its economic development. But the often delicate balancing act between these competing blocs may be thrown out of whack in the wake of the country's current economic travails.

Why? Per a tweet by Charlie Robertson, chief economist of Renaissance Capital, "Turkey is less than 0.1% of world equity markets. But #Turkey represents over 10% of NATO personnel - more than the UK and France combined - so US establishment (ie excluding Trump) will not want to lose Turkey." So even if Ankara's banking crisis does not trigger a global financial meltdown in the same manner in which, say, the Thai baht devaluation kicked off the 1997 Asian financial crisis, it may well fracture NATO's foundations.
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Stock Up

Man of the people: Matteo Salvini's support doubles in wave of popularity after Genoa disaster

Angela Guiffrida
The Guardian
Thu, 23 Aug 2018 15:26 UTC
salvini
© Simone Arveda/EPASalvini leaves after the state funeral for victims of the Genoa bridge disaster.
The popularity of Italy's hardline interior minister, Matteo Salvini, is growing as he taps into the emotions of a nation in despair and seizes on them as if he was still on the campaign trail.

Nowhere was this more evident than at the state funeral on Saturday for 19 of the 43 people killed in Genoa's Morandi bridge collapse last Tuesday. Cheers and hugs greeted Salvini, also deputy prime minister and leader of the far-right League, and his coalition partner, Luigi Di Maio, the leader of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), as they arrived at the ceremony.

In contrast, deep disdain for Italy's previous government was reflected in the insults hurled at members of the centre-left Democratic party.

In what some describe as a watershed moment, many Italians are not only counting on a robust and swift response to the tragedy from their new leaders but are also depending on them to resolve chronic problems, from high unemployment to corruption, that have weighed the country down for decades.

More pertinently, some are looking to Salvini, a man admired among supporters for his consistency as much as he is despised by critics for his anti-immigration rhetoric, as their saviour.
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