Puppet MastersS

Radar

US warships provocatively sail through Taiwan Strait for first time in a year as China tariffs kick in

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin
© David Flewellyn/U.S. Navy / Reuters
Two US destroyers, the USS Mustin and the USS Benfold, have passed through the narrow waterway separating mainland China from Taiwan. The maneuvers come as an unraveling trade spat ramps up tension between Washington and Beijing.

The US warships entered the Taiwan Strait on Saturday and were still in the waterway as of Saturday night, Taiwan's defense ministry reported.

Taiwan, which has grown closer to the US under the Trump administration, said that its military "is monitoring the situation in neighboring areas, and has the confidence and abilities to maintain regional stability and defend national security."

Bizarro Earth

You ain't seen the last of her - here's why Hillary might run again in 2020

Hillary Cliton
© Getty Images
That's right: Hillary Clinton is running for president again in 2020. She has actually ramped up her campaign since her defeat in 2016! From her Twitter feed to university speeches to appearances abroad - from Ireland to Australia to India - the "I'm with her" campaign continues. The message remains the same: Donald Trump is racist and sexist, and his supporters are deplorable. Hillary also continues to preach that she won the 2016 popular vote by 3,000,000 votes, but because of the electoral college (that damn Constitution thing) and RussiaRussiaRussia, she was robbed of her rightful prize and place in history.

Her Path to the Nomination

Hillary has a highly plausible path to the Democratic Party nomination, something no other potential Democrat candidate for president can say. In the primaries, Hillary Clinton's name recognition and loyal voters would earn her an easy 25% of the vote, while the anti-Hillary vote would split among as many as ten other candidates at about 5-10% each. This is not dissimilar to what Trump accomplished on the Republican side in 2016. With a solid base of supporters, Trump was able to win primary after primary while the others split the vote. Each time someone dropped out, Trump picked up about half of his supporters, with the other half disbursed among the other candidates. This is a realistic path for Hillary to gain the Democrat nomination, and it is no doubt irresistible to her.

Hillary is the only potential Democrat with big money-raising potential and an existing fundraising mechanism. That mechanism has been in place for 30 years! Hillary also has as much as $1 billion in Clinton Foundation donations stashed away for just such a rainy day. You didn't really think all that Russian oligarch money was sent to hungry children in Haiti, did you?

Hillary knows that the MSM will not only not criticize her for running in 2020, but celebrate her campaign because "she has unfinished business." Hillary also knows that the MSM will repeat her talking points ad nauseam, as in "the 2016 election was stolen by the Russians" and "she's doing this for women to break the glass ceiling" as they serve up $10 billion in free earned media. In addition, MSM journalists want jobs in the Hillary Clinton administration and won't risk her famous wrath if she wins.

Comment: Clinton running again? Just the idea of it is enough to send some into a corner cringing in disgust.However, with her track record of lying, cheating, scandals, immunity from rule of law, deep pockets and her psychotic warmongering nature, who better but her to represent the completely unhinged radical left? If she somehow does manage to pull it off and take the presidency, we can kiss what's left of America goodbye. But rest assured that if anyone is going to usher in a new era of totalitarianism, it's going to be someone like Clinton, disguising it as 'human rights'. See also:


Radar

Russian commander boasts Moscow's air-defense system is unique, able to intercept any targets

S-400 anti-aircraft system
© Tatyana Makeyeva / Reuters
Moscow is protected by a state-of-the-art air defense system, which adopts the most modern weaponry available and can intercept any incoming targets, a top commander said amid celebrations of the 100-year anniversary of the unit.

"System of air and missile defense of Moscow and the central industrial district is unique, there's only one such system in the world. It's able to automatically warn of a missile attack, detect all the means an adversary uses in time, and, moreover, effectively intercept all the specter of targets - from cruise to ballistic missiles," deputy chief of Air and missile defense troops Lieutenant General Viktor Gumenniy told reporters on Saturday.

The top military official attended an event in Patriot Park outside Moscow, which marked the 100-year anniversary of Moscow's anti-air defense forces, as well as the 65-year jubilee of the 4th and 5th anti-aircraft divisions. Modern weaponry, used by Moscow's 1st Air and Missile Defense Army, were paraded in front of the spectators and put on display in the park.

Info

Pompeo: N. Korea sticks to promise to scrap missile engine test site, but US sanctions remain

A new engine for an ICBM is tested at a test site at Sohae Space Center in North Korea
© Photo released by KCNA April 9, 2016 / ReutersA new engine for an ICBM is tested at a test site at Sohae Space Center in North Korea.
Pyongyang has reaffirmed its commitment to dismantle its missile engine test site, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, but American sanctions against the North will remain until there is "fully verified" denuclearization.

"North Korea reaffirmed its commitment to complete denuclearization," Pompeo said at the trilateral news conference in Tokyo, where he was joined by Japanese and South Korean officials. The US secretary of state was on a two-day visit to Pyongyang for high-level talks with Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party Central Committee.

The North also backed its earlier promises "to destroy its missile engine test site," according to Pompeo. Both US and North Korean officials discussed what full denuclearization would mean at the high-level talks, he said. "There will be a verification connected to the complete denuclearization."

Chess

SOTT Focus: Deconstructing the US Empire: Trump's Wrecking Ball to Hit WTO Next?

sputnik radio joe quinn
Trump's been sending signals all week that he plans to either ignore the main principles of the World Trade Organization (WTO) or pull out of the body entirely, with this possible scenario representing an existential threat to the same liberal globalization model that the US created.

The crescendo of chatter about Trump's intentions towards the WTO has all the hallmarks of a brewing conflict, one which would exacerbate the Crisis of Liberalism that's engulfed the world ever since Brexit and the American President's election.

Joe Quinn, senior editor and political analyst at Sott.net, spoke with Radio Sputnik's Andrew Korybko about the stand-off.


Full discussion between Andrew Korybko, Joe Quinn and David Hungerford available here: WTO: World Trade Minus America?

Brick Wall

California Judge blocks important part of 'Sanctuary State' law, the rest remains intact

brown vs trump
This was a bit of an odd ruling handed down by Judge John Mendez in a California Federal court on Thursday that ultimately will lead to both sides claiming victory. A crucial part of the controversial Senate Bill 54, the so-called "Sanctuary State Law" was struck down earlier today, but other parts remain intact.

"Today the federal court issued a strong ruling against federal government overreach," -California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

Haha, since when did Liberals care about Federal overreach? Oh right, as soon as they lost power of the Executive Branch of our government! Becerra wanted this case completely dismissed without any ruling! These Democrats are the ones using the Executive Power of the State to try to control every single aspect of our lives!

Comment: See also:


Cards

Long awaited Trump-Putin summit flushes out the Russophobes

Trump Putin
© AFP/Getty Images
Any reasonable person would have to welcome the summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to be held on July 16 in Helsinki.

However, what is most telling is the crescendo of scurrilous attempts purveyed by Western news media to spoil the forthcoming meeting. Trump's political enemies in the US are almost apoplectic that he is willing to engage in a cordial, constructive fashion with the Russian leader.

The anti-Russia tropes are being dredged up to denigrate Putin and by extension Trump for holding the conference. Trump is being lambasted for daring to engage with an alleged "autocrat" who allegedly "annexed Crimea", who has allegedly aided and abetted a "dictator" in Syria, and who allegedly ordered Kremlin agents to "interfere in US elections".

On the latter accusation of electoral interference, a recent analysis piece by Jack Matlock, the former US ambassador to the Soviet Union, is both welcome and highly instructive. Matlock, who is a veteran of assessing top-secret files, makes a withering assessment that the so-called US intelligence claims of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections was "politically motivated". The respected diplomat debunks the "intelligence" and subsequent media mantra as cooked up like the earlier shameful scam over Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. In short, fabricated.

The list of alleged Russian malfeasance has expanded like elastic in recent years. But as Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov cogently pointed out in a recent British media interview not one of these attenuated claims has ever produced substantiating evidence.

Comment: See also:


No Entry

Conservative NeverTrumpism has passed its sell-by date

NeverTrump
NeverTrump conservatism has passed its sell-by date. It is a negative asset of the Republican Party. It needs to pack up and move - but not until the movement has been so decisively rebuked that those who are a part of it learn their lesson.

NeverTrumpism reveals an elitist stink that should be eliminated from the GOP in a much needed fumigation. The NeverTrumps wear an embarrassing tattoo that will forever taint them as the left's collaborators and useful idiots. NeverTrumpism harms the causes of the Republican Party and rots the party from within.

If these words sound unserious, overly harsh, over the top, and even a bit hysterical, it's because they are. The NeverTrumps, however, were serious when they used these exact words (and even nastier) numerous times in open disdain for the millions who voted for and support President Trump.

Comment: See also:


Arrow Up

Trump-Putin talks: Peace, trade, friendship - and the world is horrified!

TrumpPutin
© Getty ImagesPresidents Putin and Trump
News that a meeting has been arranged between Presidents Trump and Putin on 16 July was greeted with displeasure in many sectors of the western world, and especially by the military-industrial complex, the cabal of war-profiteering US and European oligarchs whose interests lie solely in maintaining their lucrative arms manufacturing empires. Trade is most important to them - but peace and friendship come way down their page of priorities, because it is enmity and distrust that lead to lucrative sales of weapons.

UK newspapers reacted predictably to the news, with the right wing Daily Mail stating
"Fears are mounting that Donald Trump wants a 'peace deal' with Vladimir Putin that could fatally undermine NATO. Ministers are becoming increasingly alarmed that the US president could offer the Russian president deep concessions such as withdrawing forces from Europe."
The Times of London recorded that
"One [UK government] minister told the Times: 'What we're nervous of is some kind of Putin-Trump 'peace deal' suddenly being announced. We could see Trump and Putin saying, Why do we have all this military hardware in Europe? and agreeing to jointly remove that. 'It's hard to be against peace, but would it be real peace?'"

Comment: Nothing like a genuine, bonafide peace summit between two willing leaders, to bring so many delusional, angry and vengeful people to hope for failure.


Magnify

UNHRC 38th Session exclusive: Peter Ford "Syria in Perspective"

Peter Ford
© Lgrant Photo CinemaPeter Ford
Syria in Perspective: 38th Human Rights Council: side event organised by the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, Geneva 27 June 2018

Statement by Peter Ford, British Ambassador to Syria, 2003-6, Representative of the Commissioner General of UNRWA, 2006-14

The objective of this meeting is to show Syria in perspective. That is, Syria as she really is after eight years of war, not as she is almost universally portrayed in the West.

A brave stand by the Commission of Inquiry on Syria over alleged use of chemical weapons in Douma

I shall look at the broad picture, but I want to zero in by dealing with the report presented yesterday by the Commission on Syria. I am not going to endorse that report but I want to begin by congratulating the Commission for standing firm and refusing to make premature pronouncements about the alleged use of prohibited weapons in Douma.

In doing so the Commission obviously angered those in the US administration and elsewhere who are impatient to see the West bombing its way to regime change in Syria. Hence the petulant leaks to the New York Times of a rejected earlier draft of the Commission report, and hysterical accusations against the Commission.