Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

CIA director concedes US power is waning


RT
Thu, 13 Apr 2023 20:57 UTC
William Burns
© Getty Images / Kevin DietschCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director William Burns
The dominant global role of the US can no longer be guaranteed as the country is witnessing a time of change "that comes along a couple of times a century," CIA Director Bill Burns has claimed.

Speaking at the Baker Institute earlier this week, Burns said that although Washington "still has a better hand to play than any of our rivals," it is "no longer the only big kid on the geopolitical block and our position at the head of the table isn't guaranteed."

The CIA chief pointed to growing ties between China and Russia, which he argued will present a "formidable challenge" for his agency for years to come. According to Burns, Beijing is "not content to only have a seat at the table; it wants to run the table," while Russia is seeking to "upend the table altogether."

Burns, who served as the US ambassador to Moscow under George W. Bush, condemned Russia's military operation in Ukraine, calling it an act of "brutish aggression."

He claimed the CIA has provided "good intelligence" that has "helped the Ukrainians defend themselves" and cemented "a strong coalition in support of Ukraine."

Burns added that Kiev's long-anticipated spring offensive would feature "strong material and intelligence support from the US and our allies."

The spy chief claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "not serious about negotiations" on a peaceful resolution to the conflict, and suggested that only Ukrainian progress on the battlefield was "likely to shape prospects for diplomacy."
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Handcuffs

Trump's arrest exposes America's Soros-style (in)justice system

Tony Cox
RT
Wed, 12 Apr 2023 13:03 UTC
Trump et all
© Ed Jones/AFPFormer US President Donald Trump makes his way inside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse in New York on April 4, 2023.
Manhattan's district attorney has focused his prosecutorial energies on Bad Orange Man and victims instead of criminals...

Alvin Bragg, the New York City district attorney who made a name for himself by arresting Donald Trump, waxed triumphantly about his effort to take down the former president. You see, the Manhattan prosecutor said, no one is above the law in the "business capital of the world."

Bragg told reporters last week, following Trump's arraignment on 34 criminal charge:
"We today uphold our solemn responsibility to ensure that everyone stands equal before the law. No amount of money and no amount of power changes that enduring American principle."
So as Bragg tells it, the patriotic decision to prosecute Trump was all about equal justice under the law. Never mind that Bragg campaigned for office by pledging to prosecute the locally hated ex-president in a county where Joe Biden won 86.8% of votes in the 2020 presidential election. And never mind that Bragg's 2021 campaign for the Manhattan DA job was bankrolled largely by billionaire activist George Soros, the biggest donor to Democratic Party candidates and causes.

That's right, Bragg says his case is legally and ethically righteous. However, a closer look at the indictment reveals that the charges he filed are so legally dubious that only a Manhattan jury of Trump haters might buy his story. He's prosecuting Trump for allegedly falsifying business records six years ago, and he's bypassing the two-year statute of limitations on such misdemeanors by elevating the charges to felonies. To make that possible under New York's criminal code, he's claiming the offenses were committed to cover up violations of election laws when Trump was running for president in 2016.
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Target

Ukrainian prime minister arrives in DC at make-or-break moment

Laura Kelly
The Hill
Tue, 11 Apr 2023 06:00 UTC
Shmyhal
© AP/Manuel Balce CenetaUkraine PM Denys Shmyhal
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal's arrival in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday comes ahead of a make-or-break moment in Ukraine's defensive fight against Russia, as Kyiv prepares to launch a counteroffensive that will determine the future course of the war.

Shmyhal, in an exclusive interview with The Hill, said that the counteroffensive could be launched as late as the summer, noting that the most intense pressure to start the counteroffensive comes from inside Ukraine.
"We do not feel the pressure from our friends and partners vis-a-vis the start of the offensive. All of our friends and partners do comprehend clearly that in order to go into counteroffensive, one must be 100 percent, and even more percent prepared to do so."
His visit also comes amid the backdrop of a major intelligence leak that included dire U.S. assessments of Ukraine's dwindling air defense ammunition.

When asked how the document leaks are impacting planning for Ukraine's counteroffensive, Shmyhal's text message was resolute:
"Ukraine will liberate its lands. We have proven multiple times that we can do it. From our international partners we ask for more military capabilities, like tanks, ammunition, planes, armored vehicles."

Comment: When will 'gimme gimme' Ukraine acknowledge it is being played - 'the pawn' between the rock and the hard place.

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Bullseye

Mexico's AMLO calls out US 'oligarchy' at Biden's 'democracy' summit

Ben Norton
G/E
Thu, 30 Mar 2023 00:00 UTC
AMLO
© The HillMexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador
Mexico's leftist President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) used the US government's so-called "Summit for Democracy" to indirectly call out Washington's hypocrisy. (A full transcript of his speech follows below.)

AMLO strongly implied that the United States is an oligarchy, not a real democracy. He argued that the government needs to challenge the power of the economic elites if it truly wants to be democratic.

López Obrador opened his speech warning, "Many of the great crimes against humanity have been committed in the name of God or in the name of democracy".

Comment: Full video of Obrador's speech in Spanish:



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Question

Donbass leader questions Pentagon leaks on Ukraine


RT
Tue, 11 Apr 2023 15:16 UTC
Pushilin
© Gavriil Grigorov/RIA NovostiActing Head of the Donetsk People's Republic, Denis Pushilin
Denis Pushilin believes the revelations could have been intentional as part of an attempt to mislead Russia...

The acting head of Russia's Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, has questioned the authenticity of recently leaked Pentagon documents that in part, allegedly detail Washington's war plans in Ukraine.

Writing on Telegram on Tuesday, Pushilin noted that the "the whole world is abuzz" discussing the leaks, which contain purported information about plans to shell Russian territory, force Israel to supply weapons to Ukraine and shed light on US surveillance of Ukrainian President Zelensky and other allies.

Several Western media outlets have reported that the leaks sent shockwaves through Washington, with Joe Biden's administration apparently being sent into "crisis mode." The Pentagon, meanwhile, has said that the papers pose "a very serious risk" to Washington.

However, a number of countries have since started to doubt the authenticity of the leaked documents, including Ukraine, which has portrayed them as a Russian ploy to derail Kiev's planned counteroffensive. Others have pointed to inconsistencies and inaccuracies presented in the files.

Nevertheless, the Western media seems to be actively trying to create an "information tsunami" about the topic, according to Pushilin, who suggested it could mean the leaks may have been deliberate.

Comment: Russia is the expert on US propaganda. Likely the US reveal was staged to reinforce false perceptions (as truths become increasingly transparent) and a bonus if another source can be blamed.

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Jet5

Xi warns armed forces to prepare for 'actual combat' - Chinese media


RT
Wed, 12 Apr 2023 10:12 UTC
Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) transferring a missile
© Liu Mingsong/XinhuaThis photo taken on April 7, 2023 shows the rocket force of the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) transferring a missile before the combat readiness patrol and military exercises around the Taiwan Island.
The president told troops at a navy base that their mission is to defend the country's "territorial sovereignty".

President Xi Jinping has urged the Chinese military to prepare for real combat, national media reported on Wednesday. The remarks came days after Beijing held massive military drills around Taiwan which reportedly involved the simulation of precision strikes on the self-governing island.

Addressing military personnel at a navy base in Southern China on Tuesday, Xi called for the strengthening of "military training oriented toward actual combat," as quoted by the state-run CCTV channel.

The Chinese leader is reported to have named the defense of Beijing's "territorial sovereignty and maritime interests" as well as the protection of "overall peripheral stability" as the navy's core mission.

Comment: See also:

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Better Earth

Germany can't fulfill NATO obligations - Bild


RT
Wed, 12 Apr 2023 12:34 UTC
german army tanks
© Sean Gallup/Getty ImagesMembers of the Bundeswehr's 9th Panzer Training Brigade stand next to new Leopard 2 A7V heavy battle tanks they received during a visit by Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht to the Bundeswehr Army training grounds on February 07, 2022 in Munster, Germany.
Chronic underfunding and the country's support for Ukraine are among the reasons, the media outlet reports.

Germany is failing to live up to its NATO commitments both in terms of personnel and equipment it can provide for the military bloc's defense, Bild has reported. The media outlet, citing an internal appraisal by the nation's Armed Forces, the Bundeswehr, claimed that a lack of funding, as well as Berlin's military aid to Kiev, are among the reasons for the current state of affairs.

The report published on Tuesday claims to be based on a 14-page analysis sent by Inspector of the Army Alfons Mais to Inspector General of the Bundeswehr Carsten Breuer in early March.

Comment: See also:

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Syringe

Rep. Massie, Judiciary Committee launch probe into reports Biden Admin pressured FDA over COVID booster approval

Henry Rodgers
Daily Caller
Tue, 11 Apr 2023 11:40 UTC
Thomas Massie
© Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie sent letters Monday to senior Food and Drug Administration (FDA) vaccine officials, letting them know the House Judiciary Committee will be investigating allegations the Biden administration interfered in the FDA's authorization and licensure of the COVID-19 vaccines.

The Daily Caller first obtained the letters to Dr. Marion Gruber and Dr. Philip Krause, both of whom resigned following President Joe Biden's announcement in August 2021 calling for adults to receive a COVID-19 booster shot, which Massie says "put undue pressure on FDA health officials to quickly authorize the vaccinations."

Gruber serves as the Vice President of Public Health and Regulatory Science at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. Philip Krause sits on the Board of Directors of Mesoblast, Inc. Gruber had been with the FDA for 32 years and Krause had worked at the agency for over a decade.

Comment: See also:

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Stop

Rex Murphy: The attack on Riley Gaines shows just how far things have sunk

Rex Murphy
Theepochtimes.com
Wed, 12 Apr 2023 02:13 UTC
Riley Gaines
Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines speaks at a rally outside of the NCAA Convention in San Antonio on Jan. 12, 2023. (Darren Abate/AP Photo)
Commentary

Women are women.

How's that for a sentence? A declaration.

To say a woman is a woman requires no prefix. It requires no qualifier. No extra start-up syllable. It requires no semantic trickery to take its plain and always-understood sense — its sense since the beginning of time and the discovery of language itself — to try to turn it into something else.

The world, and all the men and women in it, have known and understood what it is to be a man and a woman since there has been a world with men and women in it. It is, if I may use the phrase, one of the atoms, one of the very basic concepts, of human beings. Man and woman are two of the most primary, first-learned, lexical understandings of every language the globe has or has had.

Neither word can, at the flash of whimsical self-declaration, be turned into its opposite. Merely for a man to "say" he is a woman does not and cannot in law, biology, sports, or common sense, make him a her.
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Biohazard

US making 'bioweapons components' in Ukraine - Moscow


RT
Tue, 11 Apr 2023 00:24 UTC
Igor Kirillov
© Sputnik / Russian Defence MinistryFile photo: Commander of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov gives a briefing in Moscow.
The US is using Ukraine to manufacture components for biological weapons, the commander of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense Forces told the State Duma on Tuesday. Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov says the Russian military found ample evidence of this in Donetsk, Lugansk and Kherson.

"We have no doubt that the US, under the guise of ensuring global biosecurity, conducted dual-use research, including the creation of biological weapons components, in close proximity to Russian borders," Kirillov told lawmakers.

He said the military has come to this conclusion after interviewing multiple eyewitnesses and going over some 2,000 pages of documentation found in Kherson Region and the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. The investigation also involved a parliamentary task force and federal law enforcement.

Moscow raised concerns over a network of secretive US-funded laboratories in Ukraine in the early weeks of the conflict, and has frequently made public evidence about the program ever since. The US government confirmed the existence of the labs last March, but insisted they were neither illegal nor intended for a military purpose, despite the fact that much of their funding went through the Pentagon.
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