Puppet MastersS


Dollar

The Slimy Business of Russia-gate

Robert Parry
Consortiumnews.com
Thu, 28 Sep 2017 08:42 UTC
Clintons Hillary
© unknown
Special Report: As the U.S. government doles out tens of millions of dollars to "combat Russian propaganda," one result is a slew of new "studies" by "scholars" and "researchers" auditioning for the loot, reports Robert Parry.

Putin
© UN PhotoRussian President Vladimir Putin, following his address to the UN General Assembly on Sept. 28, 2015.
The "Field of Dreams" slogan for America's NGOs should be: "If you pay for it, we will come." And right now, tens of millions of dollars are flowing to non-governmental organizations if they will buttress the thesis of Russian "meddling" in the U.S. democratic process no matter how sloppy the "research" or how absurd the "findings."

And, if you think the pillars of the U.S. mainstream media - The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN and others - will apply some quality controls, you haven't been paying attention for the past year or so. The MSM is just as unethical as the NGOs are.

So, we are now in a phase of Russia-gate in which NGO "scholars" produce deeply biased reports and their nonsense is treated as front-page news and items for serious discussion across the MSM.

Yet, there's even an implicit confession about how pathetic some of this "scholarship" is in the hazy phrasing that gets applied to the "findings," although the weasel words will slip past most unsuspecting Americans and will be dropped for more definitive language when the narrative is summarized in the next day's newspaper or in a cable-news "crawl."

For example, a Times front-page story on Thursday reported that "a network of Twitter accounts suspected of links to Russia seized on both sides of the [NFL players kneeling during the National Anthem] issue with hashtags, such as #boycottnfl, #standforouranthem and #takeaknee."

The story, which fits neatly into the current U.S. propaganda meme that the Russian government somehow is undermining American democracy by stirring up dissent inside the U.S., quickly spread to other news outlets and became the latest "proof" of a Russian "war" against America.
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Bullseye

It must have been love - Trump is bending Killary over as she says he is 'obsessed' with her


Sputnik
Sun, 19 Nov 2017 09:40 UTC
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton
© REUTERS/ Mike Segar/File Photo
The war of words between the US President and the former Democratic nominee is showing no signs of abatement.

Hillary Clinton has accused Donald Trump of constantly talking about her, adding that she's got no intention of being silenced.

Her remarks came during a forum dedicated to the 25th anniversary of her husband Bill Clinton's election as US President in Little Rock in Arkansas.
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Biohazard

James Comey needs to be asked these questions abut the Uranium One investigation

Dan Perkins
Lifezette
Sat, 18 Nov 2017 03:46 UTC
Comey
© Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
We deserve to know the truth about the Clinton Foundation and the Uranium One deal and should expect the guilty to be punished

Many House and Senate Republicans are calling for a new special prosecutor to investigate the 2010 Uranium One deal, the Clinton Foundation, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and James Comey. Former Attorney General Eric Holder should be added to the list, as he was a sitting member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) before the vote to approve the sale of Uranium One to the Russians, at the time the FBI was investigating the Russian bribery plot.

Did AG Holder know that his FBI was investigating the scheme, and did he inform the voting members of CFIUS about the plot? If he didn't disclose the information on Russian involvement, then why not? Would the other eight members have changed their votes?

Whether the donations to the Clintons played any role in the approval of the Uranium One deal is unknown. The episode, however, underscores the particular ethical challenges presented by the Clinton Foundation, headed by a former president who relied heavily on foreign cash to accumulate $250 million in assets. This was even as his wife helped steer American foreign policy as secretary of state, presiding over decisions with the potential to benefit the foundation's donors.

The pivotal person in all of this is James Comey. These four questions with follow-ups should be asked of him:

Comment: If even only one or two of those questions get answered, it could be very messy for Obama, the Clintons, and all their cronies. Don't hold your breath though. Killary and Slick Willie have a way of side-stepping scandals.

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Black Cat

Pseudo-leftists try to explain the failure of the 'Syrian Revolution'

Prof. Tim Anderson
Global Research
Thu, 16 Nov 2017 15:37 UTC
syria army SAA
Some western "Liberals" and "Leftists" pay homage to Yassin al-Haj Saleh, an intellectual leftist of the 'Syrian Revolution'. In fact Saleh represented only a tiny part of Syria's left. He was 'persecuted' because he aligned himself with the 1980 and 2011 bloody uprisings by the sectarian Muslim Brotherhood, and their international Salafist (al Qaeda) supporters. In the end he had to flee for his life from those same sectarian terrorists.

With popular forces in Syria and Iraq destroying the globalised sectarian jihadist mercenaries - sponsored principally by Washington and the Saudis - some ideologues in colonial cultures still keep alive the romantic idea of a 'Syrian Revolution', that somehow tragically failed. This is also a myth propagated by the Muslim Brotherhood and their western sponsors, to cover an otherwise naked aggression against Syria.

It is a myth that matters much less now, as such propaganda no longer has the capacity to fuel deeper NATO intervention in Syria. Yet it seems important for the self-image of small groups of western pseudo-leftists, who committed themselves to the cause of 'red-washing' Washington's latest war of aggression, backed by the most reactionary forces in the region.
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Blackbox

Why are Britons being arrested in Iran?


RT
Fri, 17 Nov 2017 12:08 UTC
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
© AFP/ Free Nazanin campaignNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been jailed in Iran, along with three other Britons with dual nationality
Iran detained a number of UK citizens because it holds a grudge against the prime minister, it has been claimed. The news comes as Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson tries to engineer the release of British mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe from an Iranian jail.

Johnson's recent blunder over the Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe case has highlighted the plight of UK citizens who have been jailed under dubious charges. The foreign secretary may have added five more years to Zaghari-Ratcliffe's prison sentence after wrongly telling a select committee hearing she had been teaching journalism in Iran.


Comment: See:

Zaghari-Ratcliffe has always maintained she was merely on holiday introducing her daughter to her Iranian relatives. The mother-of-one was detained on arrival at Tehran Airport on April 3, 2016, accused of producing "propaganda against the state."
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Handcuffs

Hungary will veto EU sanctions against Poland calling it "shameful and scandalous"


Westmonster
Fri, 17 Nov 2017 12:00 UTC
hungary poland orban
Hungary has announced it will veto any plans to take away Poland's voting rights in the European Parliament, saying the resolution is "out of the question".

Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén has called the proposed invocation of Article 7 against Poland "shameful and scandalous".

"The Hungarian government stands by Poland and the adoption of such a resolution is out of the question," he said.

The motion to begin removing Poland's voting rights passed earlier this week by 438 votes to 152.

Polish MEP Ryszard Legutko stormed out of the chamber, branding it an "Orwellian show" and "a show of strength against the Poles..."

Comment: Something is afoot in Poland; Poles don't seem to be interested in appeasing their eurocrat masters while those in Brussels are going on the offensive with sanctions and smears:

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Dollars

'Just a friend': How Bob Menendez's 'friends' helped him avoid a jail sentence

Phil Kerpen
New York Post
Fri, 17 Nov 2017 04:09 UTC
Bob Menendez
New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez
"Gifts to cultivate friendship are not bribes," Abbe Lowell said in his closing in defense of Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez - and enough jurors agreed to result in a hung jury and a mistrial.

The Biz Markie defense - he's just a friend - worked. Lowell was worth every penny of the $4.5 million raised and spent by Menendez's legal defense trust.

But the hung jury doesn't change the facts:

Menendez's co-defendant Salomon Melgen left the courtroom and went back to jail, where he is awaiting sentencing on 67 counts of Medicare fraud.

Menendez enjoyed ready access to Melgen's private jets and luxury resorts financed by that Medicare fraud - and the New Jersey senator went all the way up the chain to the secretary of health and human services to keep the money flowing.

Comment: Jury deadlocks, mistrial declared in Menendez bribery case

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Propaganda

Are Facebook and Twitter complying with US govt strategy against Russian media to ensure prime access to new 'Ministry of Truth'?

Edward Rhymes
telesur
Thu, 16 Nov 2017 00:00 UTC
Government propaganda, alternative media censorship
© ReutersPropaganda is what the government and its acolytes say it is, creating dangerous times for independent and alternative media.
The vehemence with which Twitter and Facebook are going after RT, is not based upon any democratic altruism or "noble" patriotism.

There's a new Red Scare sweeping the land folks; a neo-McCarthyism that's taken hold of those in government - or rather a desire to scapegoat another country in light of a tremendous Dem loss last November.

This RMG broadcast from December of 2016 explains the Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act that was part of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, NDAA, that President Obama signed into law on Christmas Eve of last year. It allows a kind of Ministry of Truth to be established by the State Department, in conjunction with the Department of Defense.

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Umbrella

Moscow, Beijing save Venezuela from the attack of US financial vultures

Ivan Danillov
Ria Novosti
Fri, 17 Nov 2017 08:30 UTC
oil rig guy russian flag
© AP/Fernando Llano
Restructuring of the public debt of Venezuela, which was agreed by the Russian Ministry of Finance, caused a predictably negative reaction from the public. The memory of the bad loans and other "fraternal aid" handed out by the leadership of the USSR is too alive. However, in this case, even if you look at the situation with the Venezuelan debt through the eyes of a cynical financier, Moscow's actions are nothing like charity. If the Russian-Chinese strategy is concisely formulated in the Venezuelan direction, a simple mathematical calculation will be obtained: in order for the country with the world's largest oil reserves not to fall into the clutches of Washington or the IMF (which in this case is the same), it is worth postponing the payment of its debts for several years. The rates in the Venezuelan party far exceed the amount of deferred interest payments.

If you call things by their own names, then Venezuela is now subject to a raider attack, which involves bringing the country to a state of artificial bankruptcy. It is worth emphasizing the artificiality and the political nature of the problems that Caracas faced, since this explains the desire of Moscow and Beijing to take the shoulder of the Maduro government, instead of bringing the country to default to the joy of the US State Department.

Comment: Smart business benefits both sides of the bargain long after the deal is struck. Unfortunately, the US is run by greedy conglomerates assisted by over-arching political agendas and short-sighted politicians who will kill the prize to own it.

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Snakes in Suits

Beijing and Manila to solve South China Sea dispute diplomatically with words not wars


Sputnik
Thu, 16 Nov 2017 23:45 UTC
Duterte/Xi
© REUTERS/ Etienne OliveauPresident Duterte • General Secretary Xi Jinping
To mark their improving relations China and The Philippines have inked a series of agreements strengthening diplomatic and economic ties - including one to avoid any military conflict in the disputed South China Sea, once a flashpoint between the two nations.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, the right hand man of General Secretary Xi Jinping, met with the ever-controversial President of The Philippines Rodrigo Duterte at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Pasay, Philippines.

The two men shook hands and issued a joint statement that both nations should focus on resolving their territorial conflicts in the South China Sea by dialogue, not force. "Both sides believe that the maritime dispute is not the full sum of the China-Philippines relationship," the statement said. "Both sides also reaffirm the importance of maintaining and promoting regional peace and stability, freedom of navigation in and over-flight above the South China Sea as well as freedom of commerce and other peaceful uses."

Both sides agreed to work harder "to manage and prevent incidents at sea, enhance maritime dialogue and cooperation, and pursue a stable growth of bilateral relations. Both sides agree to strengthen maritime cooperation in areas such as marine environmental protection, disaster risk reduction, including possible cooperation in marine scientific research, subject to further consultations."

Duterte issued a statement of his own, discussing the "improving relations between ASEAN and China" when it came to issues in the South China Sea. "In view of this positive momentum, we looked forward to the announcement of the start of substantive negotiations on the Code of Conduct (COC) with China," Duterte said, hopefully sometime in 2018.

Comment: China is becoming the more sought-after 'ally with benefits'.

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