Puppet MastersS


Megaphone

Fmr diplomat: NATO's new command structure is as dangerous as it is deluded and is incapable of operations against any but the defenseless


Sputnik
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 21:25 UTC
soldier nato flag
© REUTERS/ Ints Kalnins
The new military command structure recently unveiled by NATO will needlessly generate war tensions across Europe, retired Canadian diplomat Patrick Armstrong told Sputnik.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced last week that alliance leaders had agreed on a new command structure that would allow them to move military forces around Europe more quickly and easily.

"NATO is dangerous in the way that the stupid and deluded can be," former Canadian diplomat Patrick Armstrong told Sputnik. "NATO is incompetent, incapable of operations against any but the defenseless and slow and ultimately unsuccessful even at that."

The new command structure alarmed Russia and was provoking the very military buildup it was supposed to prevent, reflecting the irrelevance and absurdity of the alliance policy-making, Armstrong said.
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Gold Seal

The foundations of Western liberal democracy cracking with demonization of RT and Sputnik

John Wight
Sputnik
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 21:13 UTC
sputnik offices
© Sputnik/ Igor Russak
"We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not fearful men, not descended from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes which were for the moment unpopular."
The great American broadcast journalist, Edward Murrow, spoke these words in the 1950s, protesting against the witch-hunt of communists, alleged communists, or of anyone thought to evince anything resembling sympathy or support for ideas associated with communism, by Senator Joseph McCarthy and his House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).

McCarthy and his team of witch hunters were able to sow fear, paranoia, and a rigid adherence not to democracy or free speech, but to intolerance of dissent and the questioning of the received truths that sustained America's engagement with the rest of the world.

In 2017 we are witnessing the rebirth of McCarthyism across the West in response to Russia's recovery from the demise of the Soviet Union and the attempt to turn the country into a wholly owned subsidiary of Washington via the imposition of free market economic shock treatment thereafter. In the process critical thinking and reason has been sacrificed on the altar of Pavlovian conditioning and unreason, resulting in the embrace of hysterical Russophobic nostrums by a liberal political and media class for whom Russia can only ever exist as a vanquished foe or one that needs to be vanquished.
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Megaphone

Suppressing RT a "slap in the face of the First Amendment" - NSA whistleblower William Binney


RT
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 20:49 UTC
RT logo
© Sputnik/ Evgeny Biyatov
Suppressing RT and comments the US government doesn't like is a direct violation of the First Amendment and freedom of speech, says NSA whistleblower William Binney. Other RT commentators say what they think of the US government move.

RT America has been forced to register as a 'foreign agent' in the US. The pressure from Washington began after US intelligence claimed the channel was an instrument for meddling and manipulation in America.

In September, the Justice Department demanded RT register as a foreign agent. Social media companies then began blocking its adverts on such networks as Google, YouTube, and Twitter. They did that ahead of testimony in Congress, despite having no problem with RT before that.

But why is RT facing such unprecedented pressure from the US government and what are the possible consequences of this latest move?
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Laptop

Twitter colludes with Dems, leaks Trump Jr./Wikileaks DMs - Trump Jr. responds by releasing the whole exchange, proving there's nothing to it

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 20:15 UTC
Donald Trump Jr.
Twitter continues to show its liberal left teeth, undermining its own terms and privacy in an effort to derail Trump's presidency.

The Atlantic published private messages between Wikileaks and Trump Jr. under the headline and excerpt...
"The Secret Correspondence Between Donald Trump Jr. and WikiLeaks"

The transparency organization asked the president's son for his cooperation - in sharing its work, in contesting the results of the election, and in arranging for Julian Assange to be Australia's ambassador to the United States.
The Atlantic notes that, "The messages, obtained by The Atlantic, were also turned over by Trump Jr.'s lawyers to congressional investigators."

Comment: Trump Jr.'s response:




This is really getting boring: WaPo calls Drudge "Russian operative", downplays the fact that he delivers 37% of their own referral traffic. The Duran's Alexander Mercouris shares our sentiment:
With tedious regularity over the course of the Russiagate scandal a new 'revelation' appears which on close examination turns out to be no sort of revelation at all.

The purpose behind its appearance is not to report 'news', since the 'revelation' more often than not is not truly 'news' . Rather the purpose is to keep the Russiagate story alive by any means possible, thereby creating the appearance that the Russiagate story has evidence behind it when in reality it has none.

The latest publication of emails that passed between Wikileaks and Donald Trump Junior is a case in point.

I am not going to waste time analysing this foolishness, but I will say the following:

(1) none of the emails touch on the Russiagate collusion allegations in the slightest way or give the slightest grounds for believing them to be true or suggest any degree of collusion between the Trump campaign and Wikileaks let alone between the Trump campaign and the Russians;

(2) the vast majority of the emails were from Wikileaks to Donald Trump Junior. He appears to have replied on just three occasions, doing so moreover rather briefly;

(3) Wikileaks' purpose - understandable enough in a news/campaigning organisation - appears to have been to ensure that its publication of the DNC and Podesta emails got maximum publicity, whilst also keeping the story going by getting Trump to release his tax returns and to contest the election result when (as everyone expected) Hillary Clinton won;

(4) Wikileaks failed on all counts, with Donald Trump Junior and his father - who may or may not have known about the emails - refusing or failing to take the bait on any one of them; and

(5) none of the activity set out in the emails is of a remotely criminal nature and all the emails had already been previously disclosed by Donald Trump Junior to Congressional investigators and presumably to Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

One further point I will make about this singularly silly episode.

This is that at least in the previous instances of 'no-news' we have had throughout Russiagate - eg. Michael Flynn's conversation with Russian ambassador Kislyak, Jeff Sessions's meeting with Russian ambassador Kislyak, Jared Kushner's meeting with Russian ambassador Kislyak, Donald Trump Junior's meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, and the indictments against Paul Manafort, Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos - it has been necessary to spend time and energy explaining why they are in fact 'no-news'.

The Wikileaks/Donald Trump Junior email correspondence is different. This time the 'no-news' event is so thin that it is actually non-existent. There is therefore no need to waste time on it.


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Attention

Sen. Al Franken proposes crackdown on internet to control political speech

Michael Snyder
The American Dream
Thu, 09 Nov 2017 20:12 UTC
internet woman
Are the days of the free and open Internet numbered? The Internet is certainly used for all sorts of horrible things, but it has also allowed ordinary people to communicate on a mass scale that would have been unimaginable decades ago. In the old days, if you wanted to reach large audiences of people with your information you always had to go through corporate gatekeepers. But today, anyone with an Internet connection can literally broadcast whatever they want to say to the whole world.

Personally, my wife and I have always been amazed at how many people we are able to touch all over the planet from our little home in the mountains. Over the past seven years our websites have been viewed more than 100 million times, and we receive emails about our work from people all over the globe.

Unfortunately, major changes may soon be coming to the Internet. The election of Donald Trump really angered the elite, and they are blaming the power of the Internet for his victory. They insist that something must be done "for the good of democracy".

Comment: Unfortunately, funny man Al Frankin is not joking. This clown thinks the US government has the capacity and the duty to control information and thus reality. It's a common urge for people in his position, but we're no longer living in an age where people only have access to a few television stations. The genie is already out of the bottle, and trying to contain it can only bring disastrous results.

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Attention

Putin warns about US interference in Russia's presidential election

Stephen Lendman
stephenlendman.org
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 20:02 UTC
putin
It's a legitimate concern. America interferes in numerous elections abroad and its own, assuring dirty business as usual always wins.

Names and faces change. Policies on key issues remain the same, especially on imperial wars, corporate empowerment, and privileged interests exclusively served.

On March 18, 2018, Russia's presidential election will be held. If no candidate wins a majority, a runoff will follow on April 8.
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X

US media and politicians prefer to mock Trump rather than accept that there is no evidence against 'Russian antics'

Ray McGovern
Consortium News
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 19:33 UTC
trump putin handshake
© Whitehouse.govRussian President Vladimir Putin meets with U.S. President Donald Trump at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7, 2017.
If the bloody debacle in Iraq should have taught Americans anything, it is that endorsements by lots of important people who think something is true don't amount to evidence that it actually is true. If endorsements were the same as evidence, U.S. troops would have found tons of WMD in Iraq, rather than come up empty.

So, when it comes to whether or not Russia "hacked" Democratic emails last year and slipped them to WikiLeaks, just because a bunch of people with fancy titles think the Russians are guilty doesn't compensate for the lack of evidence so far evinced to support this core charge.

But the reaction of Official Washington and the U.S. mainstream media to President Trump saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin seemed sincere in denying Russian "meddling" was sputtering outrage: How could Trump doubt what so many important people think is true?

Comment: It's worth noting that it is precisely because of Trump's position toward Russia that the Deep State has come down on him. Their whole 'end game' is to exacerbate a New Cold War and Trump (and the 'insignificant' matter of evidence) just got in their way.

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Fire

RT America torched in witch hunt

Chris Hedges
Truth Dig
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 19:46 UTC
Chris Hedges
© RT AmericaChris Hedges in a screen shot from his RT America program, "On Contact."
In one of the most horrendous blows to press freedom since the anti-communist witch hunts of the 1950s, the U.S. Department of Justice has forced the news broadcaster RT America to file under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

The assault on RT America, on which I host the show "On Contact," has nothing to do with the dissemination of Russian propaganda. It is driven by RT America's decision to provide a platform to critics of American capitalism and imperialism, critics who lambast a system of government that can no longer be called democratic. And it is accompanied by the installation of algorithms by Google, Facebook and Twitter that divert readers away from left-wing, progressive and anti-war websites, including Truthdig. The World Socialist Web Site has seen its search traffic from Google fall by 74 percent since April. Google, in a further blow, this month removed RT from its list of "preferred" channels on YouTube. Twitter has blocked all advertising by the channel.
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Handcuffs

AG Sessions directs prosecutors to 'evaluate certain issues' involving Uranium One and Clinton, leaves door open on special counsel

Brooke Singman
Fox News
Mon, 13 Nov 2017 19:35 UTC
Hillary Clinton Clinton Foundation
Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed senior federal prosecutors to evaluate "certain issues" requested by congressional Republicans, involving the sale of Uranium One and alleged unlawful dealings related to the Clinton Foundation, leaving the door open for an appointment of another special counsel.

In a letter first obtained by Fox News, the Justice Department responded to July 27 and September 26 requests from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and other committee members, who called for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the matters in question.

The letter comes on the eve of Sessions' testimony before the same committee, scheduled for Tuesday.

"The Attorney General has directed senior federal prosecutors to evaluate certain issues raised in your letters," Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd wrote.

"These senior prosecutors will report directly to the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General [Rod Rosenstein], as appropriate, and will make recommendations as to whether any matters not currently under investigation should be opened, whether any matters currently under investigation require further resources, or whether any matters merit the appointment of a Special Counsel," Boyd wrote.

Comment: Connected? President Trump just hinted at something YUGE upon his return to the White House

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Document

AG Sessions: "Why we've made restoring rule of law our top priority"

Jeff Sessions
Fox News
Mon, 13 Nov 2017 19:14 UTC
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions
© Yuri Gripas / ReutersU.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
The rule of law is the foundation of our system of government. In the vision of our Founders, we have "a government of laws - and not of men."

Under President Trump's strong leadership, the Department of Justice has made restoring the rule of law our top priority. Everything we do is guided by this principle.

Under the previous administration, parties who had been sued by the government and then settled the lawsuit were sometimes required to pay community organizations that were not even involved in the case or harmed by the defendant. That was not only wrong, but contrary to longstanding legal principles, and we have put a stop to it. Lawsuit settlements with the government should not be used to bankroll third-party special interest groups or the friends of whomever is in power. They should help compensate victims or go to the taxpayer. Now that is what they will do.

We are also trusting our prosecutors again and letting them do their jobs. The previous administration forced them to leave out important facts in drug cases to achieve sentences lighter than were required by the law. Federal drug prosecutions - and sentences - went down dramatically. Meanwhile drug deaths rose to unprecedented levels.

Comment: Hard to argue with that. A country founded on laws ceases to be legitimate when it disregards those laws. But if you're going to go in this direction, you really have to go all the way. For example: Israel is a rogue nuclear state. Funding it is illegal, according to U.S. law, but the U.S. gives it billions of dollars every year. Aid to Israel must end; until it does, the U.S. will be engaging in ongoing criminality. The U.S. military has no legal justification for its involvement in Yemen or Syria. Every day they spend there, they are breaking the law. There are countless examples of U.S. violation of domestic and international law. Maybe it's time to actually do something about them.

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