Puppet MastersS


X

Best of the Web: How does the deep state tie down Trump?

Alastair Crooke
Consortium News
Sat, 26 Aug 2017 00:00 UTC
Trump capitol
© InfoWars
America's Deep State players have tied down President Trump on Russian sanctions and other foreign and economic policies but that doesn't mean the struggle is over, writes ex-British diplomat Alastair Crooke.

President Trump has had his foreign policy hands and feet tied by the Russia (and Iran) Sanctions Act. He now has been rendered "helpless": in respect to détente with Russia - gulliverized, spitefully, by his own party, working with the Democrats, to empty Trump's constitutional prerogatives in foreign policy - and to seize them for Congress.

And in a further humiliation, Trump has been "rolled" by his military minders (Generals James Mattis, H.R. McMaster and John Kelly) on his Afghan policy: he has relinquished civilian oversight of this military expedition in Afghanistan to McMaster and Mattis - the former being the presumed author of the "new" Afghan policy. The President was "rolled" on his foreign military prerogatives too - as Commander in Chief - by his triumvirate of military minders in the White House. The "civilian" leadership has given place to the "military."

The question is whether these humiliating concessions will appease his opponents sufficiently to allow the President to "live on," albeit as an incapacitated President, or is this just the hors d'oeuvre? It seems that the entrée may be being planned as the complete discrediting of Trump's base - ordinary Republicans being lashed to the Trump "Titanic" - to be sunk along with its captain - as "white-supremacists, white bigots and Nazis."

Comment: In some respects, Trump has had to give away whole chunks of his power in order to keep the wolves at bay. His team has dissipated and those left to advise him seem to be those in place with varying and different agendas. Will his personality, quick-to-judgement tendencies, and brashness give way to his forte of keeping them guessing while working behind the scenes, or is he deluding himself that what he can do matters?

His best and only choice may be the support of the people, if he manages to wake them up. Even then, he will not be able to control the deep state, the heavy-handed influence of Israel, nor likely prevent a civil war. We can speculate the last thing the deep state wants is a rejuvenated American public that pays attention to its circumstances and will go all out to keep that from happening.

Pay attention to the upcoming 'debt ceiling deal'; this may very well be the moment the phony leveraging of 'the markets' is suspended and economic hell breaks loose.

Read More...
Whistle

Trump is not one of Hillary's big creeps

Daniel John Sobieski
American Thinker
Fri, 25 Aug 2017 00:00 UTC
HillBilly
© CTN Politics
The latest evidence of Hillary Clinton's total detachment from reality is found in the excerpt from the audio version of her book What Happened in which she complains of candidate Donald Trump invading her space in the second presidential debate. Not since Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny have we seen such paranoia and one sincerely hopes she finds her missing strawberries. Maybe the Russians ate them. As NBC News reported:
In the first excerpts from Hillary Clinton's highly anticipated upcoming memoir, the former Democratic presidential candidate said her "skin crawled" during a debate with Donald Trump.

In audio clips of Clinton reading from the book, What Happened, which were first obtained by MSNBC's Morning Joe on Wednesday, Clinton recounted her thoughts as she toyed with the idea of telling her Republican rival to "back up, you creep" as he stood behind her during the second presidential debate.

"My skin crawled," Clinton said. "It was one of those moments where you wish you could hit pause and ask everyone watching 'well, what would you do?'"

Just two days prior, Clinton said, "the world heard [Trump] brag about groping women."

Clinton said during the debate she decided against telling Trump, "back up, you creep, get away from me," and in order to keep her composure, she gripped the microphone "extra hard."
Her grasp on the truth is less firm. Consider this comes from the serial liar who dodged sniper fire in Bosnia, was named for Sir Edmund Hillary, the man who climbed Mt. Everest years after she was born, and who claimed the Benghazi terrorist attack was caused by a video.

Comment: Despicability and creepiness? Killary doesn't have to go any farther than the mirror. When is this pathological woman-thing going to be held accountable and brought to justice?

Read More...
Info

Getting acquainted: Russia's new ambassador to US meets counterpart in Moscow


RT
Mon, 28 Aug 2017 17:09 UTC
Russian ambassador Anatoly Antonov (L), US ambassador John Tefft (R)
© SputnikRussian ambassador Anatoly Antonov (L), US ambassador John Tefft (R).
Russia's new Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov has met his American counterpart in Moscow, John Tefft, to discuss "the current state of bilateral relations and certain international issues," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Antonov, who has a reputation as a hardliner, was appointed as Russia's top diplomat in Washington a week ago, replacing Sergey Kislyak after his decade-long tenure.

The rotation comes as the tension between the two countries remains at a level highest since the Cold War, with Russian and American diplomatic services involved in the stand-off.
Read More...
Handcuffs

Chaffetz: Awan not lone operator, feds were watching him for months prior to arrest

Jim Hoft
Gateway Pundit
Sun, 27 Aug 2017 17:01 UTC
wasserman shultz awan
© Facebook / ReutersImran Awan (L), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (R)
"IT specialist" Imran Awan worked for Debbie Wasserman Schultz for thirteen years since she was first elected to national office in 2004 as a Florida representative. She only fired him after he was arrested and would have kept paying her "IT expert" even after he fled to Pakistan. The Awan brothers IT ring had access to emails and computer data from an estimated 800 lawmakers and staffers.

Three Pakistani brothers who managed the IT affairs for several Democratic government officials were relieved of their duties in February on suspicion that they accessed specific computer networks without permission, also known as hacking. Imran Awan, who started working for Wasserman Schultz in 2005, received $164,600 in 2016, with close to $20,000 of that coming from Wasserman Schultz. His brother Jamal, who started working as a staffer in 2014, was paid $157,350.12 in 2016. Abid, who started working in 2005, was paid $160,943 in 2016. Imran's wife, Hina Alvi, who was employed as a staffer since February 2007, was paid 168,300 in 2016. Rao Abbas was paid $85,049 in 2016. Abid, Imran, and Jamal Awan were barred from computer networks at the House of Representatives in February.

Most of the House Members fired the Awans subsequently. Only Debbie Wasserman Schultz kept Imran Awan on the pay roll up to the day he got arrest for Bank Fraud after trying to flee the country. The rest of the family fled since months to Pakistan along with hundreds of thousands of tax-payer money they mysteriously were able to wire.
Read More...
Binoculars

From the rumor mill: Trump fed up with Tillerson

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Mon, 28 Aug 2017 16:52 UTC
Donald Trump (R) and Rex Tillerson
© Carlos Barria / Reuters
After North Korea launched three more short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea early on Saturday morning, local time, political observers were eagerly looking forward to Trump's response, especially since the president had managed to get boxed in by Kim Jong Un: on one hand, do nothing and be mocked and ridiculed not only by the North Korean press, but by the rest of the developed world, whose view of Trump's diplomatic skills could hardly be any worse; or on the other hand, launch a military campaign, either surgical or broad, and risk a retaliation against South Korea and millions of US allies dying.

In the end the US appears to have chosen the former and on Sunday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the firing of three ballistic missiles by North Korea this week was a provocative act but that the United States will continue to seek a peaceful resolution. The de-escalating tone took place just days after Tillerson credited the North with showing some restraint by not launching a missile since the ICBM test in July, and he had expressed hope that the easing of tension could lead to dialogue. That was not meant to be, although in it appears that what happened next is North Korea called the US bluff, and the US folded.

"We do view it as a provocative act against the United States and our allies," Tillerson said in an interview on Fox News Sunday. "We're going to continue our peaceful pressure campaign as I have described it, working with allies, working with China as well to see if we can bring the regime in Pyongyang to the negotiating table."
Read More...
Attention

Threats of political violence rise as MSM polarizes Trump era

Melanie Zanona
The Hill
Sun, 27 Aug 2017 14:54 UTC
antifa
© Getty
Escalating tensions this summer have stepped up fears about political violence.

Law enforcement officials, college campuses and cities around the country are bracing for a new wave of alt-right rallies in the weeks and months to come, with parties on both sides of the debate over Confederate statues and monuments prepared for standoffs.

At the center of it all is President Trump, whose heated rhetoric has angered opponents while firing up his supporters, magnifying the sense that the political divide in the country is growing wider.


Comment: Heated rhetoric? How is this statement 'heated rhetoric' when anyone who watched the events in Charlottesville would know it was an accurate assessment of the situation
"You had a group on one side that was bad, and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent. And nobody wants to say that, but I'll say it right now."
[...]
There were people in that rally, and I looked the night before. If you look, they were people protesting very quietly, the taking down the statue of Robert E. Lee. I'm sure in that group there were some bad ones. The following day, it looked like they had some rough, bad people, neo-Nazis, white nationalists, whatever you want to call 'em. But you had a lot of people in that group that were there to innocently protest and very legally protest, because you know, I don't know if you know, but they had a permit. The other group [Antifa] didn't have a permit. So I only tell you this: there are two sides to a story. I thought what took place was a horrible moment for our country, a horrible moment. But there are two sides to the country.
Full transcript of press conference here


"When there seems to be no room for compromise and no appetite for listening to the other side, the potential for violence is higher," said Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center. "And the Confederate monuments are the obvious flashpoint."

Even before the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., this month, which left one woman dead and 19 others injured after a car mowed down a group of counterprotesters, there was already heightened concern over the threat of violence amid a hyper-charged political environment in the country.
Read More...
Map

First time in 6 years: Armies of Syria and Lebanon are in control of the entire border area

Breakingnews.sy - translated by Samer Hussein
Fort Russ News
Mon, 28 Aug 2017 16:41 UTC
Hezbollah tanks
For the first time in 6 years, armies of Syria and Lebanon are in control of the entire border area between the countries, following an agreement with ISIS terrorists.

In the wake of the agreement, the convoys full of ISIS terrorists began departing the Western Qalamoun area at the Syrian-Lebanese border on Monday afternoon.

The convoys are reportedly heading towards the town of Abu Kamal, located in the eastern of Deir Ez Zour, and which is controlled by ISIS.

According to the sources close to the Syrian Army, 17 buses and 10 vehicles of the Syrian Red Crescent arrived in Jaroud Qara in Western Qalamoun after going through Sheikh Ali crossing, in order to evacuate ISIS terrorists and their family members. At least 25 ISIS terrorists were received by the Syrian Red Crescent.

Before they left, the terrorists burned their headquarters and destroyed their installations.
Read More...
Laptop

Putin approves major international agreement with CIS members targeting cyber-crime


RT
Mon, 28 Aug 2017 16:26 UTC
Computer user
© Bloomberg / Getty Images
Vladimir Putin has approved the signing of a new cooperation agreement on fighting cyber-crime between members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), while allowing the Russian side to make minor corrections to the document.

The presidential order on accepting the Russian government's proposal to join the cooperation agreement on fighting crime in the sphere of digital technology was posted on the official Russian web portal for legal information on Monday.

"In the course of treaty negotiations, the Russian Interior Ministry should be allowed to introduce changes to the document that are not of fundamental character," reads a part of the order.
Read More...
Info

US and UK join Lebanon's strange military bedfellows

Nour Samaha
Al-Monitor
Sun, 27 Aug 2017 15:49 UTC
Hezbollah fighters walk behind a tank in western Qalamoun, Syria
© REUTERS/Omar SanadikiHezbollah fighters walk behind a tank in western Qalamoun, Syria, Aug. 23, 2017.
The Lebanese Armed Forces on Aug. 19 announced the launch of Fajr al-Joroud, an offensive against the Islamic State (IS) along the Lebanese-Syrian border. The campaign follows on the heels of a late July Hezbollah and Syrian army-led offensive, backed by the Lebanese army, against Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra) outside Arsal. The two operations indicate that a mutual decision must have been made by the three forces to remove the IS and al-Qaeda threats along their shared border. A week into the Arsal offensive, Hezbollah proclaimed victory and reached a cease-fire agreement with the fighters in the area.

The Lebanese Armed Forces have been trained and equipped by numerous Western countries, but mainly the United States and the United Kingdom. On the first day of the Fajr al-Joroud offensive, Lebanese Armed Forces spokesman Ali Qanso pronounced, "The Lebanese army is not coordinating with Hezbollah and the Syrian army, either directly or indirectly." That said, images and sources on the ground suggest a different reality, indicating close coordination between the Lebanese Armed Forces, Hezbollah and the Syrian army. This led to mockery on social media and the posting of pictures of Hezbollah fighters and Lebanese army soldiers side by side in the offensive accompanied by a hashtag in Arabic that loosely translates, "Oh what a coincidence!" Meanwhile, British and US officials have both confirmed their forces' active presence among the Lebanese Armed Forces in the previous and ongoing border operations, resulting in an incredibly awkward reality on the ground.
Read More...
Sheriff

Philippines drug crackdown continues: Duterte orders police to kill 'idiots' who violently resist arrest


RT
Mon, 28 Aug 2017 15:35 UTC
Rodrigo Duterte
© Erik De Castro / ReutersPhilippine President Rodrigo Duterte.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has granted officers permission to kill "idiots" who violently resist arrest, and has tasked a controversial police chief with continuing his pursuit of suspects in the deadly war on drugs.

Duterte paused his speech at the Heroes' Cemetery near Manila on Monday to address comments to Jovie Espenido, a police chief inspector who has come under fire from human rights groups for his work against drugs.

"Your duty requires you to overcome the resistance of the person you are arresting... [If] he resists, and it is a violent one...you are free to kill the idiots, that is my order to you," Duterte told Espenido, as quoted by Reuters.

He said, however, that "murder and homicide and unlawful killings" are not allowed and that officers must uphold the rule of law.

Espenido was condemned by human rights groups after several local chief executives were killed in police raids in areas where he was assigned. However, Duterte has praised his work in the controversial anti-drug campaign.
Read More...