Puppet MastersS


Boat

Russia was the first to escape the US dollar sinking ship, the rest will be less lucky

Titanic sinking
Today I would like to discuss what more global tasks Russia is solving for itself than the fight against the new germs of Nazism. And why, by starting to solve these tasks earlier than others, it will be easier for us later, and many other countries will have a much harder time than we do now.

You've probably heard about what a pyramid scheme is. The first participants of the pyramid usually get a good profit, but the last ones who did not manage to pull out the money, as a rule, lose everything. For many people, this becomes literally a disaster, especially for those who foolishly invested an apartment and all their savings there. Some remain literally on the street, and someone else with a lot of loans and debts.

Most people don't even realise that they participated in a pyramid scheme until they lose money. But there are also those who know that they are taking risks, but carefully monitoring the situation, they expect to jump out in time.

Whistle

Disinformation Inc: James Comer demands records on State Department funding group blacklisting conservatives

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.)
© ReutersHouse Oversight and Accountability Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.).
This is part of a Washington Examiner series on self-styled 'disinformation' tracking groups that are blacklisting and trying to defund conservative media. Here is where you can read other stories in the series.

Rep. James Comer (R-KY), chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, is demanding records and a State Department briefing related to the agency bankrolling a "disinformation" tracking group that is blacklisting conservative news outlets.

Between 2020 and 2021, the State Department-backed Global Engagement Center and National Endowment for Democracy granted $665,000 combined to the Global Disinformation Index, which is taking steps to shut down disfavored speech. Now, the State Department is being pressed for answers by Comer on this funding, which he has called an "attack on the First Amendment," according to a Thursday letter first obtained by the Washington Examiner.

"American taxpayer dollars should never be used to suppress our First Amendment rights protected in the U.S. Constitution," Comer told the Washington Examiner. "The fact that the State Department allowed federal funds to flow to foreign organizations who seek to blacklist American news organizations goes against our core values. Secretary [Antony] Blinken must provide the American people with answers about this abuse of taxpayer dollars."

Comment: The Sovietization of American politics is continuing apace! Unfortunately, this process is not new, and Comer's attempts are unlikely to have much of an effect. That's not to say it's impossible, just highly unlikely. The problem has become systemic, and the U.S. is a one-party state pretending to be a two-party system.


Colosseum

'Work longer hours, get a better job': UK Environment Secretary provides top tips to people struggling to afford food

Thérèse Coffey
© Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesThe Environment Secretary was replying to concerns about food banks in York running out of stock
People struggling to afford their grocery bills due to record levels of inflation should consider working longer hours, the Environment Secretary, Thérèse Coffey, has said.

Ms Coffey drew outcries from opposition MPs when she also suggested people should "get upskilled" so they can increase their salaries to cover the increased cost of food.

The Labour MP Rachael Maskell could be heard saying "that's appalling" as Ms Coffey replied to her concerns about food banks in York running out of stock.

Ms Coffey did note that inflation was "really tough at the moment" and drew attention to support schemes available to those most in need.

Comment: This is the kind of commentary that one reads in a dusty, old book made by the stooges of a ruling class just as their civilization is collapsing under the weight of overwhelming incompetence and corruption:


But there's more, because, in large part thanks to the government's self-induced energy crisis, the UK is now suffering a shortage of a variety of food items; which, naturally, will mean that, where these items are available, they will be so at a premium:


More top tips from the Environment Secretary on how to help the environment:




MIB

From the Gulf of Tonkin to the Baltic Sea

lyndon johnson gulf of tonkin false flag
Lyndon B. Johnson delivering his televised report on the Gulf of Tonkin incident, August 4, 1964.
The secret and incomplete history of US-Norway collaboration in covert operations

Why Norway? In my account of the Biden Administration's decision to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines, why did much of the secret planning and training for the operation take place in Norway? And why were highly skilled seamen and technicians from the Norwegian Navy involved?

The simple answer is that the Norwegian Navy has a long and murky history of cooperation with American intelligence. Five months ago that teamwork — about which we still know very little — resulted in the destruction of two pipelines, on orders of President Biden, with international implications yet to be determined. And six decades ago, so the histories of those years have it, a small group of Norwegian seamen were entangled in a presidential deceit that led to an early — and bloody — turning point in the Vietnam war.

Biohazard

Scott Ritter: Anyone who doesn't get how serious new START suspension is 'doesn't appreciate life'

missiles
© Yevgeniy Odinov/Sputnik/mediabankRussian Missiles on parade
Leaving aside the "theater of the absurd" and "bluster" of Joe Biden's rhetoric during his trips to Ukraine and Poland this week, the consequences of the US effort to strategically weaken and destroy Russia are far more serious than anyone in Washington seems to realize, ex-UN weapons inspector and retired US Marine major Scott Ritter fears.

"There's nothing covert about this. It was theater. Theater of the absurd," Ritter said of Biden's visit to Kiev on Monday to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking to Sputnik's Wilmer Leon and Garland Nixon on The Critical Hour radio show.
"So absurd that while Biden was there, Zelensky arranged to have air raid sirens sound to make it look as if Biden was under attack....Then Biden goes to Poland, where he issues a speech. I was in the middle of a webinar earlier, so I don't know the totality of the speech. I saw the beginning of it, but it just seems to be a regurgitation of more of the same - 'unity against Russia, support for Ukraine', etc., etc. Bluster, bluster, bluster."

Comment: The Doomsday Clock is but 'one tick' away from midnight. Should the clock strike 12, there may be no one to hear it.


Bad Guys

Transforming WHO into a public-health technocracy

WHO building
© Yann Forget/Wikimedia CommonsWorld Health Organization
In the name of preventing and fighting pandemics, the Biden Administration and international entities are negotiating an agreement that would establish a public-health technocracy. The proposed treaty, known as the "WHO Convention, Agreement or Other International Instrument on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response" — or WHO CA+, for short — would transform WHO from a purely advisory organization into one with regulatory power to enact international public policies.

What the Treaty Entails

The WHO CA+ specifically centralizes public-health power into the WHO. From the current draft of the proposed treaty:
"Central role of WHO — As the directing and coordinating authority on global health, and the leader of multilateral cooperation in global health governance, WHO is fundamental to strengthening pandemic prevention, preparedness, response and recovery of health systems."
The WHO director-general would be granted the power to "declare pandemics," at which point emergency provisions of the treaty to impose public-health policies would go into effect:
"Recognizing the central role of WHO as the directing and coordinating authority on international health work, and mindful of the need for coordination with regional organizations, entities in the United Nations system and other intergovernmental organizations, the WHO Director-General shall, in accordance with terms set out herein, declare pandemics."
The WHO would be able to dictate policies if international consensus were not obtained by a vote of the two presidents and four vice presidents of the WHO CA+ (my emphasis here and subsequently):
"The Officers of the Parties, as the administrative organ of the Governing Body, shall: (a) be composed of two Presidents, four Vice-Presidents and two rapporteurs, serving in their individual capacity and elected by the COP for XX years; and (b) endeavour to make decisions by consensus; however, if efforts to reach consensus are deemed by the Presidents to be unavailing, decisions may be taken by voting by the President and Vice-Presidents."

Comment: See also:


Magnify

Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner subpoenaed to testify in criminal investigation into Trump

IvankaJared
© MEGA/GC imagesIvanka Trump and Jared Kushner
Former President Donald Trump's daughter and son-in-law have reportedly been subpoenaed in one of the federal criminal investigations into the former president.

The New York Times reported that special counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner to testify before a federal grand jury about Trump's efforts to stay in office after losing the 2020 presidential election.

The report said that it was unclear whether Trump would try to block them from testifying by claiming executive privilege. Trump did not stop either of them from testifying in front of the special House Select Committee on the January 6 riot.

The report noted that one clip from the January 6 hearing showed that Ivanka Trump said she "accepted" then-U.S. Attorney General William Barr's conclusion that there was not widespread fraud during the election.

Smith has also subpoenaed former Vice President Mike Pence and former national security adviser Robert O'Brien in his criminal investigations into the former president. The FBI and DOJ also recorded a four-hour interview under oath with former acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf as part of the investigations.

Other top former Trump administration officials who have reportedly testified in the criminal investigations into Trump include Wolf's former deputy, Ken Cuccinelli, former White House counsel Pat Cipollone and his deputy Patrick Philbin, former adviser Stephen Miller, and former White House aide John McEntee.

Comment: An onslaught of trials and investigations could guarantee Trump's presidential campaign is spent in court.


Pistol

Prigozhin calls on Russians to pressure army over ammunition supplies

Prigozhin
© Financial TimesYevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner cofounder
Kremlin-linked businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, a co-founder and owner of the Wagner mercenary group, has called on Russians to pressure the army to give his fighters more ammunition amid Defense Ministry denials that it is holding back supplies for artillery and missile-launchers in Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

"If every Russian at his own level -- in order not to call anyone to rallies -- would simply say 'give ammunition to Wagner,' as is already happening on social media, then this would already be important," he said in an audio post on Telegram on February 22.

The call comes a day after Prigozhin accused top armed forces officials of committing "treason" by failing to supply his private troops, who have been a major force in the battle to take the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, with enough ammunition. He says his troops regularly lack about 80 percent of the ammunition they need while fighting against Ukrainian armed forces in the Donetsk region.

In response, the Russian Defense Ministry rejected Prigozhin's claims, saying that all volunteer brigades in Ukraine's east are being supplied with all types of ammunition in a "timely" fashion. Without naming Prigozhin, the ministry said:
"The attempts to impose a split in the tight mechanism of cooperation and support between Russian units are counterproductive and benefit the enemy."

Comment: Update: Resumption of Wagner Group ammo supplies
Yevgeny Prigozhin says his units have started to receive ammunition after he accused the Defense Ministry of treason by holding back supplies for artillery and missile-launchers in Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Prigozhin's press service issued a statement on February 23, in which Wagner's said he had been informed "at 6 a.m. today that the ammunition was being sent."

In an audio statement a day earlier, Prigozhin had called on Russians to pressure the army to give his fighters more ammunition, reiterating that the Defense Ministry had deliberately disrupted ammunition deliveries to his fighters. He also posted a picture depicting dead Russian mercenaries who allegedly died on 21 February because they had no ammunition to fight back.

"It looks like the process started. At least on paper, but we were told that the major documents had been signed," Prigozhin said of the resumption of ammunition supplies.



Control Panel

Republican senators push back against accord giving WHO power over US pandemic response

World Health Organization
© FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty ImagesA sign outside World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva on Aug. 17, 2020.
As member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) prepare to gather in Switzerland next week to negotiate final terms of an accord that will give the WHO centralized authority over U.S. policy in the case of a pandemic, Republican senators are pushing back with an effort to reinforce congressional power to authorize treaties.

The draft accord, which would be "legally binding" on all 194 member nations, gives the WHO the authority to declare pandemics and submits member countries to "the central role of the WHO as the directing and coordinating authority on international health work," in areas like lockdowns, treatments, medical supply chains, surveillance, and "disinformation and false news," once a pandemic is declared.

Seventeen U.S. senators, led by Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), introduced the "No WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval Act" on Feb 15, which states that the pandemic accord must be deemed a treaty, thus requiring the consent of a supermajority of the Senate, which is two-thirds, or 67 senators. The legislation comes as the WHO gears up to present what it calls the "zero draft" of the accord, negotiated with the help of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, to all member nations on Feb. 27 to agree final terms.

Bad Guys

Neocons need war because monetary system collapsing

war in Ukraine
Legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong said at the end of last year the U.S. is being set up for a "nightmare fall." Train derailments and political problems are spinning out of control, but the biggest threat is war. Armstrong explains,
"They want a war, but they also need it because the monetary system is collapsing. . . . You have had interest rates at negative since 2014. So, suddenly interest rates are rising. Any bond owned by any institution in Europe is a loser. They have lost so much money, it's incredible. What happens? Nobody is interested in long term debt - period. . . . If you have interest rates rising, and rates are going to be going up because the Fed cannot stop this kind of inflation. Then, you got war. You have untold billions of dollars being shipped into Ukraine which is absurd. This is what you have. . . . You also have to look at what Janet Yellen said, and she was concerned with the tons of new debt coming out. You are exceeding the balance sheets of the Primary Dealers.

To be a Primary dealer you have to be able to guarantee you will be able to buy X amount of debt. If you can't sell it, what happens? The bank is stuck with the debt, and then, they go bust. So, we have a real problem here. They cannot continue to issue this kind of debt in perpetuity. They have been borrowing money since WWII with no intention of paying anything off. . . . The Fed is independent, and they don't want the long term debt. They have been moving towards the short end of the curve. How do you continue to fund a government if there are no buyers for the debt? This is on a global scale."