Puppet MastersS


Heart - Black

Haley shills for Israel at UN: Blames Hamas for Gaza violence, walks out during speech by Palestine's UN envoy

nikki haley
© Reuters / Joshua RobertsU.S. Ambassador to the United Nations NIkki Haley speaks to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference in Washington, U.S., March 27, 2017
The US ambassador left the Security Council chamber Tuesday at the start of a speech by Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour, who sharply criticized Washington's decision to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in defiance of the international body's resolutions.

Haley defended Israeli troops' actions and blamed Hamas and its Iranian backers for the violence on Gaza's border with Israel. "Let's remember that the Hamas terrorist organization* has been inciting violence for years, long before the United States decided to move our embassy," she said.

"Make no mistake, Hamas is pleased with the results from yesterday," the ambassador added.

Comment: Lies, hypocrisy and outright propaganda. Here's Haley's UN speech, if you can stomach it:


And here's the antidote: Killing Gaza - a documentary


Star of David

SOTT Focus: Fifteen Thoughts About Israel

Gaza protests deaths
1. I hate writing about Israel. The accusations of anti-semitism which necessarily go along with literally any criticism of that nation are gross enough, but even worse are the assholes who take my criticisms of the Israeli government as an invitation to actually be anti-semitic. They really do hate Jews, they really do think that every problem in the world is because of Jews and they post Jewish caricature memes and calls for genocide in the comments section on social media and it's incredibly gross and I hate it. But the Israeli government keeps committing war provocations and massacring Palestinians, so it's something I've got to talk about.

Dollars

Flashback Trump's fight with Pakistan is a pattern that began decades ago

trump
© usaHotAirPresident Donald Trump
Trump's Twitter attack has escalated into severing aid - and it could backfire.

President Donald Trump's first tweet of 2018 wasn't about his crowd sizes, Hillary Clinton, or the Russia investigation. It was, instead, about an issue that he's paid scant attention to in public for his first year in office: the US relationship with Pakistan.
"The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit," Trump tweeted on January 1. "They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!"
It quickly became clear that Trump's tweet was more than an idle threat. On Thursday the State Department announced that the US was freezing most military aid to Pakistan. The administration has declined to specify the exact amount of funds it will cut off, but the suspension could freeze up to $1.3 billion in aid.

Comment: Double dealing, double gaming - these habits appear to be entrenched in Pakistan's methodology for solving its problems. These traits do not make it an ideal partner, but maybe a necessary one.


Star of David

Israel baits the hook. So far, Syria is not biting...

Bombing redstar
© Times of Israel/Fanart.TV/KJN
Israel has repeatedly struck Syria with missiles and rockets - the most recent exchange taking place after Israel claims "Iranian rockets" struck positions the Israeli military is illegally occupying in Syria's Golan Heights.

Headlines like the UK's Independent's, "Israel and Iran on brink of war after unprecedented Syria bombardment in response to alleged Golan Heights attack," attempt to portray the Israeli aggression as self-defense. The Independent, however, failed to produce any evidence confirming Israeli claims.

At face value, for Iran to inexplicably launch missiles at Israel, unprovoked and achieving no conceivable tactical, strategic, or political gain strains the credibility of Israel's narrative even further.

But it is perhaps published US policy designating Israel as a hostile provocateur tasked with expanding Washington's proxy war against Damascus that fully reveals the deadly and deceptive game Israel and the Western media are now playing.

For years, US policymakers admitted in their papers that the US desired regime change in Iran and sought to provoke a war to achieve it.

Comment: Choosing the most economic of all strategies, Syria and Iran may force Israel into blatant and undeniable aggression for all to see. Will the US also fall into the trap?


Snakes in Suits

Trump's deregulatory record doesn't reveal much actual deregulation

Trump and fulcrum
© VoxGotta mind the regulations in deregulation!
One year ago, the Trump administration's deregulatory push was in full swing. The administration was preparing a proposed rule to repeal the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) regulation, and to delay and repeal the restriction of methane emissions from oil and gas extraction on public lands. Surely these well-publicized deregulatory initiatives which the Trump administration has made a big show of taking credit for have taken effect by now.

Well, not exactly. The WOTUS proposal has not been finalized, and the methane extraction rule is tied up in a thicket of court cases.

President Trump's record on deregulation has gotten a great deal of attention. He brags about it regularly. It is often placed alongside the tax cuts passed by Congress when his chief accomplishments are recounted. To listen to the president (or the media), one would think that thousands of regulations were repealed.

But as the WOTUS and Bureau of Land Management extraction rules indicate, the actual extent of deregulation is much more limited. At the same time, other moves to dismantle the "administrative state" have quietly been more effective.

Comment: Did anyone do homework on the dysfunction awaiting a potentially massive talent drain or rushing imperfect regulatory repeals? Apparently not. Nor does there seem to be a learning curve...


Pirates

Iran letter to UN condemns Israeli terrorist aid, refutes claims regarding the Iranian drone

Iranian diplomat
© Unknown
In a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Iran has condemned the Israeli regime for assisting terrorists in Syria.
"Israeli reckless action in this instance only helped [ISIL] and other terrorist groups in Syria. There is, indeed, enough evidence of the Israeli support to these terrorist groups... and this incident clearly demonstrates their destructive policy in assisting those groups for the purpose destabilizing the region,"
wrote Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Gholamali Khoshroo, in a letter addressed to Antonio Guterres, and revealed in parts by Sputnik.

Khoshroo was referring to the February 10 incident, in which Syria downed an F-16 fighter jet belonging to Israel, in response to the regime's airstrikes on the Syrian Army positions.

The Israeli regime insists that the Feb. 10 airstrikes on Syria was due to an Iranian drone crossing into the Israeli-held Golan Heights; a claim that was refuted by Iranian officials.

Comment: Israel is the boy who cries 'wolf' to antagonize its enemies and divert attention from its own infractions.


Attention

The US cannot afford to lose Pakistan to China

Hussain,Xi,Modi,Trump
© YouTube/Daily Pakistan/Washington Examiner/AsiaNews/KJNPakistan's Mamnoon Hussain, China's Xi Jinping, India's Narendra Modi, USA's Donald Trump
China has aggressively courted Pakistan as a potential ally.

Nearly two decades into America's War on Terror, policymakers remain perplexed about how to navigate the United States' relationship with Pakistan, an ostensible ally that has long been accused of offering tepid support or creating outright impediments to American counterterrorism operations. While America's relations with Pakistan were weakened by the Trump administration's January decision to withhold over one billion dollars in security assistance from the Islamic Republic, Pakistan's relations with neighboring China have been greatly strengthened by China's promise of $57 billion in economic investment through its One Belt One Road Initiative. U.S. policymakers should be concerned by America's rocky relationship with Pakistan, as well as Pakistan's deepening economic and security ties with China. A Pakistan that is squarely in China's orbit could contribute to a dramatic rise in security competition and an increased risk of great power conflict in South Asia. It is in America's best interest to repair its relationship with Pakistan to prevent such a scenario from coming to pass.

Comment: Pakistan's strategic alignments greatly rest on the premise of which ally will offer the most cash/value. And, in Pakistan's case, it may never quite be enough as monetary issues mount from defaulted projects, repositioned funds, changed parameters or non-delivery on terms of agreement. While useful, there is a backlog of reasons to be wary of partnering with Pakistan. An alliance is only as good as its weakest component.

See also:


Footprints

Ecuador makes ready to hand Julian Assange over to the UK

Assangebywindow
© AP Photo/Kirsty WigglesworthJulian Assange
More than six years after Julian Assange moved himself into the confines of the Ecuadorian embassy building in London, the WikiLeaks founder finds himself in danger again.

Remarks made earlier this week by Ecuador's Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa suggest that her government may be depriving Assange of the political asylum it granted him in in 2012 and hand him over to British and then US authorities, the World Socialist Website wrote on Saturday.

In an interview on Wednesday, Espinosa said that the Ecuadorian government and Britain "have the intention and the interest that this be resolved." She added that the two sides were working to reach a "definite agreement" on Assange.

In March, the Ecuadorian government cut Assange's phone and Internet contact with the outside world and barred his friends and supporters from visiting him.

The Ecuadorian authorities explained their action by stating that "Assange's behavior, through his messages on social media, put at risk good relations this country has with the UK, the rest of the EU and other nations."

Comment: A sad day for an uncommon hero.


Snakes in Suits

Pakistan assesses the cost of Trump nixing Iran deal

Pakistan official
© APP/FileForeign Office spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah
Pakistan joined other countries on Wednesday to question US President Donald Trump's controversial move to pull out from the Iranian nuclear deal. "Pakistan believes that International treaties and agreements concluded through painstaking negotiations are sacrosanct," said a statement issued here by the foreign office.

The statement suggests that Pakistan was upset with the Trump administration's unilateral move.
"Arbitrarily rescinding such agreements will undermine confidence in the value of dialogue and diplomacy in the conduct of international relations and the peaceful resolution of disputes," it added.
The statement further read Pakistan believes that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) represents a very good example of a negotiated settlement of complex issues, through dialogue and diplomacy.
"We had welcomed the JCPOA when it was concluded and hope that all parties will find a way for its continuation, especially when the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly verified Iran's compliance."

Comment: Choice words coming from Pakistan, a country that has a record of not living up to agreements. That said, in nixing The Deal, did Trump take into account the multiple secondary benefits attributable to the JCPOA such as enterprises that came to fruition within the framework of stability furthering the economies of amicable and strategic partners? Should there be a responsibility on the quitter to evaluate all ramifications?

See also: Pakistan asks Iran to restart gas pipeline negotiations after defaulting on the deal


Rocket

'Improving anti-precision warfare means': Putin calls to prepare S-500 missile system for mass production

Launching a missile
© The Russian Ministry of Defense
The Russian leader also called for rearming 14 regiments with Yars ballistic missile systems

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday further efforts are needed to improve anti-precision warfare tools and called to prepare S-500 missile systems for mass production.

"One of the key tasks is to improve anti-precision warfare means. It is necessary to develop and build up technological groundwork in the area of air defense, to continue modernization of Pantsir systems, to finish the development and preparations for mass production of the S-500 newest systems capable of hitting targets at super-high altitudes, including near-the-earth space," he said at a meeting with Russia's top brass and executives of defense-sector enterprises.