Puppet MastersS


Eye 1

Obama's spying scandal is starting to resemble Nixon's Watergate

Michael Barone
The New York Post
Sun, 27 May 2018 20:54 UTC
obama halo
© Getty Images
"F.B.I. Used Informant to Investigate Russia Ties to Campaign, Not to Spy, as Trump Claims," read the headline on a lengthy New York Times story May 18. "The Justice Department used a suspected informant to probe whether Trump campaign aides were making improper contacts with Russia in 2016," read a story in the May 21 edition of the Wall Street Journal.

So much for those who dismissed charges of Obama administration infiltration of Donald Trump's campaign as paranoid fantasy. Defenders of the Obama intelligence and law enforcement apparat have had to fall back on the argument that this infiltration was for Trump's - and the nation's - own good.

It's an argument that evidently didn't occur to Richard Nixon's defenders when it became clear that Nixon operatives had burglarized and wiretapped the Democratic National Committee's headquarters in June 1972.

Comment:

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Binoculars

A non-hysterical take on Putin's future from an American analyst

Gordon M. Hahn
gordonhahn.com
Fri, 01 Jun 2018 19:59 UTC
putin palace
Perhaps now, with the fourth presidential term for Vladimir Putin having begun, we can put aside all the empty talk of 'imminent coups', color revolutions, 'fatal illnesses,' and perhaps the American rusological community that foisted them upon our post-fact world and get down to some realistic forecasting about the tack Putin is likely to take in both Russian domestic and foreign policy in this new likely six-year run. One way we can do this is by looking at the tea leaves left at the bottom of the Kremlinological cup after the appointment of a government to begin the new term along with the reappointment of Dmitrii Medvedev.

In doing so, we should keep in mind that Putin is not the Hitler or Stalin of today, but rather a balancer trying to keep the Russian state and his own security intact after he decided to join the dark world of post-communist and Russian politics in December 1999. He is not trying to restore totalitarianism of any kind, nor is he trying to restore the Russian Empire or Soviet Union. He is trying to maximize his own power within a dangerous milieu of Russian politics and Russia's power in a world in which an expanding West, an unstable and often revolutionary Islamic world, and a rising China of unclear intentions surround Russia.

There is nothing to suggest that he will move to change any of these basic parameters, with the exception of relations with the West, where accommodation can occur if NATO expansion ends. Domestically, some modest modernizations in the economy might be expected.
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Star of David

As the West-Russia/China axis lock horns, what will be Israel's choice?

Alastair Crooke
Strategic Culture Foundation
Tue, 10 Apr 2018 00:00 UTC
IsraelFlag Bombing
© American Journal Review
A recent cluster of unrelated events is bringing Israel to a point of inflection; or at least, to a moment of deep almost existential reflection - on this, the seventieth anniversary of its founding. The depth of this quite anxious introspection became explicit in a discussion (Hebrew original) hosted by Yediot Ahronoth, Israel's widest circulation Hebrew newspaper, with six former heads of Mossad, the Israeli Intelligence Service.

The most iconic irruption into this sombre mood was the statement in the Knesset (parliament) that the population between the Jordan and the sea, was exactly balanced at 6.5 million each, between Israelis and Palestinians. Of course, that demographic equality would occur at some point, everybody knew. It was not as such, then, a surprise; but it constituted a slap of reality, nonetheless. These figures were published by the IDF and are therefore difficult to contest. This moment of reality thus curtails the ability of some Israelis to persist with the wishful thinking that the number of Palestinians is far less. This hugely symbolic tipping point is here - the point has arrived.

Comment: What had been a predictable conquest plan seems to be no longer the case. We see Israel taking military action against bogey Iranian and Palestinian aggression, widening the disconnect between truth and lies, honor and deceit. Global condemnation for its actions is mounting.

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Sherlock

Affirmative: The FBI was investigating Trump campaign when it spied

Andrew C. McCarthy
National Review
Wed, 30 May 2018 09:55 UTC
Comey
© Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesJames Comey
Trey Gowdy and Marco Rubio evidently paid little attention to testimony before their own committees on how Obama officials made the Trump campaign the subject of a counterintelligence investigation.

Well, well, well. The bipartisan Beltway establishment has apparently had its fill of this "Trump colluded with Russia" narrative - the same narrative the same establishment has lustily peddled for nearly two years. The Obama administration recklessly chose to deploy the government's awesome counterintelligence powers to investigate - and, more to the point, to smear - its political opposition as a Kremlin confederate. Now that this ploy has blown up on the Justice Department and the FBI, these agencies - the ones that went out of their way, and outside their guidelines, to announce to the world that the Trump campaign was under investigation - want you to know the president and his campaign were not investigated at all, no siree.

What could possibly have made you imagine such a thing?

And so, to douse the controversy with cold water, dutifully stepping forward in fine bipartisan fettle are the Obama administration's top intelligence official and two influential Capitol Hill Republicans who evidently pay little attention to major testimony before their own committees.

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Clipboard

Prep for Putin-Trump summit underway

Seraphim Hanisch
The Duran
Sat, 02 Jun 2018 11:31 UTC
TrumPutin
© Happy News Bot
Meeting could become a massive breakthrough - and breakout - of the massive deadlock falsely brought about by Deep State operatives

The Wall Street Journal reported on June 1st, that the White House is making plans for a potential summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Such a meeting would bring one of the world's most enigmatic relationships to front and center.

According to the Journal:
A senior administration official said Friday that Jon Huntsman, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, has been in Washington to help arrange a meeting between Messrs. Trump and Putin.

The planning is still at an early stage, the official said, with the two nations needing to agree on a date and location.

'This has been an ongoing project of Ambassador Huntsman, stretching back months, of getting a formal meeting between Putin and Trump,' the official said.
It would seem that the American President has decided that that RussiaGate controversy has become (rightfully) irrelevant enough to move forward with this plan. Still, the news was released late Friday evening, New York time, and will probably not be a huge piece in the American national media for some time.

Comment: Would it be so. The stale and putrid air surrounding Washington DC has not cleared, nor, in attempts to manipulate both US and Russia, will Israel likely give its blessing.

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Padlock

Moreno: Assange can remain at embassy as long as he doesn't practice journalism

Caitlin Johnstone
Steemit
Fri, 01 Jun 2018 00:00 UTC
Assange
© Peter Nichols/ReutersJulian Assange
In 1999 I took a backpack and my life savings to South America, intending to spend six months traversing as much of the continent as I could possibly fit in. I landed in Ecuador and my plans changed almost immediately. I fell in love with the country and its people and ended up spending over half my time there.

I arrived a few days after the banks had collapsed in a grim neoliberal foreshadowing as to what was going to happen in the States a decade later. Bank accounts were frozen as the government put salvaging the banks above feeding the people. There was anger and rioting, tear gas and rubber bullets, and a brass band. Always, there was a brass band. Sometimes shirtless, often shoeless, with a few dinged-up instruments creating a wild cacophony of joy to riot to. A tiny country with the equator running through three distinct topographies -- the coast, the alps and the jungle -- its claim to being "el mitad del mundo" rings true. It feels like you are living in the heart of the world. It is life, concentrated. And its people seem more real and more alive than any I have encountered in my many travels.

Which is why I was not surprised when this plucky nation knowingly took on the wrath of the western empire in granting Julian Assange political asylum in 2012. While my own sycophantic country Australia pathetically ignored the plight of its own citizen, Ecuador defiantly strode forward, locked eyes with the US-centralized power establishment, and did what no one else was willing to.

Comment: To openly support Assange, or even acknowledge his contribution in a neutral way, opens the door for others to follow in his footsteps. If Western partners were honorable, law-abiding countries with nothing to hide, the Assanges of the world would be considered valuable. In some respects, this is not about what Assange/Wikileaks has revealed so far, it is fear for what might come next.

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Star of David

Israel gets impunity while US vetoes UNSC proposal to ensure protection for Palestinians


RT
Fri, 01 Jun 2018 21:27 UTC
Nikki Haley
© Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
The United States has vetoed a Kuwaiti proposal to the United Nation Security Council (UNSC), which sought to offer "international protection" to Palestinian civilians in the wake of more than 120 of deaths in the Gaza strip.

In a speech to the council, US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley criticized the proposal, describing it as a "grossly one-sided view". Haley accused Hamas of inciting violent acts at the border between Gaza and Israel, purposefully infiltrating the 'Great March of Return' mass protests with its "terrorist fighters" and deliberately using civilians as human shields.


Comment: Even if that were a speck true in, let's say another galaxy, the IDF didn't have to fire.


"The terrorist group Hamas bears primary responsibility for the awful living conditions in Gaza,"she said, before the UNSC vote.

The US was the only council member to vote against the proposal. There were 10 votes in favor and four abstentions (Poland, the UK, Netherlands and Ethiopia). A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the US, Russia, China, France or the UK in order to be adopted.
"The message given by the council today, as it votes against this, is that the occupying power enjoys an exception," the Kuwaiti representative said, after the proposal was vetoed. "Why do Palestinians continue to suffer? Why does the international community fail to act? Why does Israel enjoy impunity? Why are all these lives lost and all this blood is shed?" he asked.

Comment: What is wrong with this woman? UN protection would secure the Palestinians from ALL such violence (including Hamas if they were even involved) precisely because it is 'international protection'. Can't Haley separate 'protection' from 'blame'?

Unequivocally, the IDF murdered 120 innocent people and injured hundreds. Given the standards in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, there are many infringements continually perpetrated by Israel that would come into question. Haley is determined for these to remain off radar in order to keep up the pretenses against Hamas and substantiate Israeli aggression.

See also:
Appendix 4: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights description of 30 human rights guaranteed by the UN
Appendix 5:The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (abbreviated)

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Question

One question that should be asked about establishment Russia hysteria

Caitlin Johnstone
caitlinjohnstone.com
Sat, 02 Jun 2018 00:30 UTC
Image Babchenko, carnations
© Screen shot
Babchenko was dead, to begin with. There was no doubt whatever about that. News reports had been aired, mournful obituaries published, outraged tweets cursing Moscow flew hither and thither. Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman condemned "the Russian totalitarian machine" for assassinating a journalist simply because of his "honesty and principled stance". UK Foreign Minister Boris Johnson proclaimed that he was "Appalled to see another vocal Russian journalist, Arkady Babchenko, murdered."

Not a soul questioned it: old Babchenko was as dead as a door-nail.

And then, like the ghost of an old business partner announcing three Christmas visitations, there he was. Everyone knew that Babchenko was dead. They didn't suspect it, they weren't relatively confident about it. They knew it.

And it was all fake.

Comment: See also:

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Pistol

France promotes Israeli Tavor rifles used in Gaza massacres

David Cronin
The Electronic Intifada
Thu, 31 May 2018 00:00 UTC
2soldiersIsraeli guns
© FacebookIsrael Weapon Industries supplied guns used to kill unarmed demonstrators in Gaza.
The maker of rifles used during Israel's recent massacres in Gaza will soon exhibit its products at an arms fair sponsored by the French government.

Amnesty International's investigations have identified the Tavor as likely to have been one of the main guns fired by Israeli snipers attacking Palestinian demonstrators over the past two months. As the manufacturer of that rifle, Israel Weapon Industries ought to be blacklisted by every country which professes concern for human rights.

France is one such country. Emmanuel Macron, its president, officially condemned the killing of more than 100 Palestinian demonstrators since 30 March. His condemnation was hollow. It came as preparations were underway for the Eurosatory weapons fair in Paris.

Israel Weapon Industries is among the firms scheduled to have a display at this fair, which will open in less than two weeks' time.

It is just one of dozens of firms from Israel's war industry - including the top drone supplier Elbit Systems - that will be present at Eurosatory. Israel's defense ministry is listed as an exhibitor, too.

Comment: The great human disconnect: commerce and killing.

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Attention

Losing the plot: Clapper justifies election interference as 'in the best interests of the people'


RT
Sat, 02 Jun 2018 15:34 UTC
James Clapper
© Aaron Bernstein/ReutersFormer head US Intelligence James Clapper
Fret not, people of the over 80 countries where the US has interfered in elections - it was done in your "best interests," according to former head of US Intelligence James Clapper.

Clapper, who famously lied about the NSA mass surveillance program before it was revealed by Edward Snowden, is back in the media spotlight, promoting his new book Facts and Fears.

In an interview with Bloomberg's Tobin Harshaw, Clapper is asked about the US' own history of election interference.
'I guess the way I think about that is that through our history, when we tried to manipulate or influence elections or even overturned governments, it was done with the best interests of the people in that country in mind.'
It appears Clapper justifies these actions by claiming US motives are based purely on a "traditional reverence for human rights."

US actions of overthrowing foreign powers has long been the subject of academic discussions and debate, with over 80 instances of it between 1946 and 2000 documented in Dov Levin's report 'When the Great Power Gets a Vote' alone.

Comment: Gone daft? Clapper believes US propaganda is the real thing.

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