Puppet MastersS


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US and S. Korea suspend 'provocative and expensive' military drills

South Korean soldiers take part in a military drill held as a part of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise in Yongin, South Korea
© Hong Ki-Won / Yonhap / Reuters
US President Donald Trump seems to be delivering on his promise to scale down military exercises with South Korea, which he made after meeting North Korea's Kim Jong-un. A drill scheduled for August has been suspended.

Washington and Seoul have agreed to suspend their preparations for the exercise code-named Ulchi Freedom Guardian, the South Korean defense ministry said on Tuesday. "The South and the U.S. plan to continue consultations over additional measures," the ministry's text message to the media said, as cited by Yonhap news agency.

The South Korean ministry stressed that no decision was taken regarding other joint training exercises with the Americans. Two other major regular joint military exercises hosted by South Korea are Key Resolve and Foal Eagle usually held in springtime and in autumn respectively.

Blackbox

What is Trump's position? Exactly what he campaigned on

trump helicopter
Elected for his promises to change the paradigm, President Trump continues to astonish all those who take him for an idiot. Yet all he is doing is implementing the ideas that he developed during his electoral campaign, thus taking his place in a political tradition which, although long neglected, is solidly anchored in US history. Leaving aside the President's public relations communications, Thierry Meyssan analyses his acts as compared with his engagements.
During the US Presidential electoral campaign, we demonstrated that the rivalry between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump did not concern their style so much as their culture [1]. The outsider challenged the Puritan domination over the USA, and demanded a return to the original compromise of 1789 - the Bill of Rights - between the revolutionaries who were fighting King George, and the major land-owners of the 13 colonies.

Not as amateur in politics as people thought, he had already displayed his opposition to the system on the very day of the attacks of 9/11 [2], then, later, with the controversy he maintained concerning President Obama's birthplace.

We did not interpret Donald Trump's fortune as a clear signal that he would be taking action in service of the rich, but as proof that he would defend productive capitalism against speculative capitalism.

We pointed out that on foreign policy, Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama had chosen the option of war in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria, implementing the strategy of Admiral Cebrowski to destroy the state structures of all the States in the « Greater Middle East » [3] ; while on the interior, they suspended the Bill of Rights - all of which led to the depreciation and pauperisation of the « poor white » elements of US society.

On the contrary, Donald Trump continually denounced the American Empire, and announced the return to Republican principles. He espoused the ideas of Andrew Jackson (1829-37) [4], and was adopted by the ex-collaborators of Richard Nixon (1969-74) [5].

Dollar Gold

Thai king inherits Crown's $30bn fortune after assuming power

King Maha Vajiralongkorn
© ReutersKing Maha Vajiralongkorn inherited one of the world's great fortunes when he ascended the Thai throne following the October 2016 death of his father
Thailand's royal family has formally turned over its multi-billion dollar fortune to King Maha Vajiralongkorn, who assumed the throne after the death of his father in 2016.

An undated announcement seen on Saturday on the website of the Crown Property Bureau (CPB), the financial arm of the monarchy, said that full ownership of the palace's multi-billion dollar assets were handed over to King Vajiralongkorn under a law passed last year.

"All 'Crown Property Assets' are to be transferred and revert to the ownership of His Majesty, so that they may be administered and managed at His Majesty's discretion," said the note which featured prominently on the front page of the CPB's website.

Comment: Thai society has become much more vocal about the the profligate spending of its royalty. Frontera reports:
In Thailand, although discussing royal affairs risks lèse-majesté charges, since the coup of 2006, society has been more vocal about this aspect of the Thai monarchy: its profligate spending. Year-after-year, public funding for the Thai monarchy has risen, sometimes stratospherically.

During the reign of King Bhumibol, successive governments funnelled enormous funds into the "Budget for the promotion of the dignity of the monarchy". In 2013, for example, the budget amounted to US$395 million. After the coup in 2014, the Thai junta increased the budget for the monarchy by approximately 20 percent, reaching around US$ 435 that year and US$ 536 million in 2015.

After the enthronement of King Vajiralongkorn, however, the budget for the monarchy was cut. US $123 million was allocated to the Thai monarchy in 2018. Still, extra funding streams from various ministries to promote the monarchy have not been curtailed. Overall, the Thai king still enjoys a far larger budget than the British queen. Britain's Royal Household says that its annual sovereign grant is around US$52 million, although that does not cover costs such as security.



Radar

Syriana report: US official says airstrike in Deir Ezzor carried out by Israel. Syria prepares Daraa offensive

Syriamaptarget
© Unknown
Syriana Analysis latest geopolitical report in regards to Syria, particularly the latest military and political developments in Deir Ezzor (Al Bukamal), Daraa and Manbij.


Comment: What are Israeli bombers doing all the way to Al Bukamal when they normally operate close to the Golan Heights and Lebanon? Why did a US official reveal it was Israeli bombers? And most importantly: What right does Israel have to attack Syria and aid terrorists? See also:

Syria state media says US-led coalition strikes Syrian army positions in Deir ez-Zor, Pentagon denies report


Bizarro Earth

UK complicit in killing Palestinians by selling arms to Israel - Sales up £100 million

israel protest uk
© Alex Cavendish/ Global Look Press / RT
The UK is "complicit in the violence" committed by Israel against Palestinians by not halting its arms sales to Tel Aviv, War on Want has claimed. It comes after London voted against a UN resolution condemning the Gaza killings.

More than 120 Palestinians, taking part in the Great Return March which kicked off two months ago on the Gaza Strip, were killed by Israel Defence Forces (IDF), with thousands more injured.

Israel's use of live ammunition against the largely unarmed protestors earned widespread condemnation by international human rights organizations and accusations it violated international law as it targeted people posing no imminent threat.

Comment: The UK was eager to bomb Syria over baseless and widely disputed accusations that Assad had gassed his own people but when the evidence that Israel is slaughtering Palestinians en masse is agreed upon by the majority of the international community, the UK just sells them more weapons: Also check out SOTT radio's:


Galaxy

Catherine Austin Fitts: Elite stole $50 Trillion and will invest in space

space earth
Financial advisor Catherine Austin Fitts says, "The global economy is going to be controlled from space." Even the U.S. dollar's viability will depend on "how good the U.S. space program is . . . . President Trump gets it." Fitts contends, "Trump has done a remarkable job educating the American people about the real deal. He's currently educating people that you have to make the cash flows work on trade work. That's number one. There is such a thing as financial accountability. . . . Number two, so he's saying look, if we are going to stay dominant, we need to be successful in space. We need to have a 'space force,' and p.s. we have all these magical and mysterious weapons and wink, wink, they have something to do about space. So much of the current plan of 'Make America Great Again,' pull back behind the oceans, really depends on projecting power through space. I always say the satellite lanes are the sea lanes of the 21st century. That's why this competition in space is so very important."

Fitts says President Trump has a mammoth job turning America around and contends, "Trump is trying to turn the aircraft carrier around before we hit the iceberg. It's a very, very messy process. If you and I were going to turn it around, we would want to get in a room and have an honest conversation. There is so much criminal liability involved nobody can have an honest conversation. It's making it very difficult. . . .Trump has done more than any other leadership around the world to try and inspire transparency, and he has taken enormous risks to do it. I give him credit for it."


Comment: See: Trump wants to create military 'Space Force' to gain 'American dominance' in space


Satellite

Trump wants to create military 'Space Force' to gain 'American dominance' in space

Trump in space
"It is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space," Donald Trump

President Donald Trump has just ordered the Department of Defense to create the 'Space Force', as the sixth branch of the US Military. The biggest question everyone is asking, is will this force be established with peaceful intentions, and what is the purpose and mission of this 'space force'?

American Dominance

All you need to know can be summed up by this quote via the BBC:

"It is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space," Mr Trump said at the White House.


Comment: Who's gonna pay for this? China?!

Until this gets real, we're laughing it off...




Attention

IG Report: FBI Lawyer #1 Tashina Gauhar and burying the Huma/Weiner laptop issue

clinton abedin weiner
One of the information issues with the IG report is that it's written entirely from an insider's perspective. Therefore without an understanding of how divisions within Main Justice related to the discussed activity within FBI main DC offices it can be very confusing to understand.

The 'insider narration' makes it difficult to see what happened with the Huma Abedin and Anthony Weiner laptop; and how the Clinton emails were discovered. However, because the issue is so important the IG report spends three chapters on this time-frame between September 28th and October 29th, 2016; and ultimately the next day, Oct. 30th, when a search warrant was executed for the laptop content.

IG Horowitz takes this aspect of the investigation into granularity and nuance (Chapters 8, 9 and 10).

X

China threatens to smack US with new crude oil tariff amid trade war

China oil rig
© Youtube/New China TV
Just as China topped the list of nations buying US oil, Beijing - retaliating to unilateral Trump economic threats - sent jitters through energy markets on Friday by threatening new tariffs on natural gas, crude oil and many other energy products.

On Friday, Beijing threatened to impose tariffs on US energy products in response to $50 billion in tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump. Such tariffs would inhibit Chinese refiners from buying US crude imports, potentially crashing US energy markets and hitting the fossil fuel industry where it hurts the most: in shareholder approval.

"This is a big deal. China is essentially the largest customer for US crude now, and so for crude it's an issue, let alone when you involve [refined] products, too. This is obviously a big development," Matt Smith, director of commodity research at ClipperData, told Reuters.

Red Flag

The US scapegoats Iran to cover up its own failure in the Middle East

T-Rex USA
Seventeen years of war in the Middle East and what do we have to show for it? Iraq after our 2003 invasion and occupation is no longer a unified country. Its once modern infrastructure is largely destroyed, and the nation has fractured into warring enclaves. We have lost the war in Afghanistan. The Taliban is resurgent and has a presence in over 70 percent of the country. Libya is a failed state. Yemen after three years of relentless airstrikes and a blockade is enduring one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters. The 500 "moderate" rebels we funded and armed in Syria at a cost of $500 million are in retreat after instigating a lawless reign of terror. The military adventurism has cost a staggering $5.6 trillion as our infrastructure crumbles, austerity guts basic services and half the population of the United States lives at or near poverty levels. The endless wars in the Middle East are the biggest strategic blunder in American history and herald the death of the empire.