Puppet MastersS


USA

Venezuela's elections not free nor fair - undermined by the US

USsnake Imperialismo
© Venezuela SolidarityThe writing's on the wall.
The Western press did its utmost to portray the recent elections in Venezuela as fraudulent. There were legitimate allegations raised, such as how Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro offered recipients of state benefits a "prize" if they came out to vote. Therefore, an increasingly reluctant public would be compelled to vote for him to receive much-needed food and supplies.

But in reality this is only a minor example of a common practice employed throughout the region and surely prevalent in US-backed states. It also confuses the loyal support Maduro has amongst the poor as mere clientelism, disregarding the much more substantial impact of how the government looks after their interests & wellbeing. Despite being most harmed by the economic downturn, the poorer sectors are those most supportive of the government; not exactly what you'd call clientelism.

However, what is often not discussed is the much more substantial ways in which the elections were undermined - by the United States.

Comment: Contrary to what it says, the US involvement and its sanctions will not go away if/when Maduro leaves. How has that worked out for other victimized, now vassal countries?


Arrow Up

'Creating new history': World reactions to landmark US-NK summit

Guy Newspaper
© South China Morning Post
World governments reacted positively to the summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. But Iran had a word of warning for Pyongyang following the collapse of Tehran's nuclear deal with the West earlier this year.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the meeting was "creating a new history".
"The United States and North Korea have been in a state of antagonism for more than half a century," Wang said. "Today, that the two countries' highest leaders can sit together and have equal talks, has important and positive meaning, and is creating a new history."
At the ministry's daily briefing, spokesman Geng Shuang said China "welcomes and supports" the talks and that the United Nations Security Council's sanctions against the North could be suspended or lifted in accordance with the North's actions. "Sanctions are not an end," Geng said. "We believe the Security Council should make efforts to support the diplomat efforts at the present time."

Comment: So far, relief and supportive comments...except for US Senator Chuck Schumer representing Senate Democrats. Will they muck this up for their own purposes, forgo a peace construction and take the progress achieved back to minus square one?


Bomb

Did the US help bomb a Doctors Without Borders cholera clinic in Yemen?

MSF facility bombed
© Democracy Now!Saudi forces bomb MSF doctor cholera clinic.
"Whether intentional or a result of negligence, it is totally unacceptable," said Doctors Without Borders a statement.

After the international humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières announced that a newly constructed cholera treatment center in Yemen was bombed on Monday, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) - who has led the fight in the U.S. Senate to end the U.S. military's key role in assisting Saudi Arabia's assault on its war-torn and poverty-stricken neighbor - lashed out in disgust and anger on social media.

According to MSF, the clinic in the city of Abs was empty at the time and no patients or medical personnel were injured or killed in the attack, but the building - which the group says was clearly marked on its roof as a healthcare facility - is now completely non-functional and operations have now been suspended in the area.

Comment: A clearly marked hospital bombing is just another nail in the Yemeni genocide coffin. Meaningful and effective global/UN outrage and intervening action should have brought this conflict to a grinding halt years ago. Instead, US/UK et al profiteers have prevailed and thrived at the expendability of thousands of innocent people.


Stop

EU Foreign Policy Chief Mogherini cancels Israel visit

Mogherini
© AzerNewsEU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini
European Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini has cancelled an official visit to Israel, which was scheduled for Sunday, Israeli media reported Friday.

According to Israel's Channel Two, Mogherini was scheduled to participate in an international conference organised by the Jewish-American Committee (a pro-Israeli non-governmental organisation) next Monday in Jerusalem.

"Mogherini cancelled her trip to Israel after the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to meet her," the channel said. Mogherini had requested Netanyahu's office to arrange an appointment with him, but the latter did not respond.

Channel Two quoted an Israeli political source as saying that Netanyahu had refused to meet Mogherini because of his "full agenda". The source said "Netanyahu in fact cancelled his meeting with the foreign minister of the European Union because of her very hostile position on Israel". Mogherini had rejected the US move to transfer its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and warned of consequences the embassy shifted.

Comment: Netanyahu's mind - where light is not invited to shine, and not a glimmer from an independent and objective perspective.


Jet3

Saudi-led coalition's attack on Hodeidah, Yemen's 'humanitarian lifeline'

Port of Hodeidah,Yemen
© Abdo Hyder / AFPA crane unloads food aid provided by UNICEF at the port of Hodeidah.
The Saudi-led coalition and forces loyal to former president Hadi have launched an assault on Yemen's main port city of Hodeidah, one of the remaining humanitarian lifelines in the war-torn country, local news outlets report.

The operation to retake the vital port city from the Houthis was launched on Wednesday morning, after the rebels rejected an ultimatum and refused to surrender the city by the end of Tuesday, a deadline set by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Al Arabiya reports.

Large-scale ground operations, supported by the air and naval forces of the Saudi-led coalition, began to move in on the city from numerous directions, a military source told the publication.

Comment: Former president Hadi is just the cover-face for the multi-year deadly assault on Yemen. If the issue was only to restore his control, Hadi should have stopped this massacre long ago and advocated for the welfare of his people. This is about Iran.


Pineapple

Wilders' provocative Mohammed cartoon contest gets OK from Dutch counter-terror agency

Dutch anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders has confirmed that a Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest will be held in his party's secure offices in Dutch parliament, after receiving approval for the event from security officials.

Comment: For more on Wilders' views, as well as the Garland, Texas contest debacle, see:


War Whore

NATO stooge and vulgar twat Eliot Higgins has go-to message for critics - "Suck my balls"

eliot higgins
© Piroschka van de Wouw / AFPEliot "Suck My Balls" Higgins
Eliot Higgins, praised by Western media as a bulwark against sinister Russian disinformation, has a persuasive, Atlantic Council-fellow retort for those who take issue with his Google Earth investigations: "Suck my balls."

Higgins gave up his lucrative career as a payments officer at a women's underwear company to create Bellingcat, a celebrated internet blog that specializes in using open-source information to blame Russia for every crime against humanity - real or imagined - committed so far this century.

Now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, and a self-declared specialist in "social media & digital forensic research," Higgins recently teamed up with NATO-funded compatriots to create DisinfoPortal, "an interactive online guide to track the Kremlin's disinformation campaigns abroad."

Bad Guys

Tory Remainers take off the gloves with Theresa May over Brexit: 'If she f**ks us, she's f**ked'

Theresa May Brexit
© Getty
A Tory Remain rebel has warned Theresa May that 'if she f**ks us, she's f**ked,' after Conservative MPs were given assurances by the prime minister that a compromise Brexit amendment to the 'meaningful vote' will be upheld.

However, leading Brexiteer Tory MPs and ministers have suggested May had only agreed to further discussions on supporting Tory rebel Dominic Grieve's amendment. Grieve, a Remainer, endeavored to give parliament a meaningful say should a "no deal" Brexit become a prospect, reports The Guardian. That supposedly, according to BBC's Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg, drew a colorful response from a pro-EU Tory rebel: "If she f**ks us, she's f**ked."

Fire

Macron admits country is losing control over no-go zones and passes the buck to mayors and public to fix problem created by EU elites

burning cars
© Bumble Dee / Shutterstock.com
France's President Emmanuel Macron admitted that France has lost the battle against drug trafficking within the growing number of no-go zones in the country.

In a speech for 600 business and political guests in May, Macron called on the local mayors themselves - together with the population - to find suitable solutions, for the problems in France's 1,500 no-go areas or 'sensitive areas' as France calls them.

Many mayors were struck by Macron's speech. They had expected concrete political guidelines. Macron's proposals are a long way from the ambitious strategy for the sensitive zones that former minister Jean-Louis Borloo had previously developed and published on behalf of Macron.

Instead, Macron passed the buck: not he, but his predecessors have caused today's problems. All solutions designed from above have failed, so they must come from below. He called for a "general mobilisation" of the population, organising itself to save the nation.

Comment: It's rather pathetic how little Macron and the other politicians who are responsible for this situation to actually do anything about the conditions they have created. It's almost like they wanted to create chaos in European society.


Caesar

SOTT Focus: Singapore Slings and Arrows: How Donald Trump Confounded His Enemies

trump kim singapore
© The Straits Times / Global Look PressKim Jong-un and Donald Trump, Singapore, June 12, 2018
Little more needs to be said about events in Singapore. Slings and arrows finally parked after a 65-year war in which millions died on a divided Korean peninsula where a nuclear slingshot was assembled and decommissioned.

The world was taken to the brink of war and then back again.

That Donald J Trump will now become a Nobel Laureate is axiomatic, however surprising such a sentence might be, but a second term as president, which is looking more likely by the day, may almost be as surprising.

With the US economy on the up, his G7 "partners" roasted in insults, and the Korean imbroglio basted in Trumpian batter - seasoned by the oft-reviled China and Russia - it is more entertaining to take a look at the smoking wreckage of Trump's domestic opposition.