Puppet MastersS

Star of David

Implications of Trump's Jerusalem ploy

Trump/flagstar
© Getty Images/KJN
Trump's ill-conceived Jerusalem initiative may yet have a positive consequence, however unintended. Nothing has been as harmful to the Palestinian struggle to end Israel's occupation and unrelenting theft of territory intended for its state as Abbas' insistence on the preservation of the Palestinian Authority and the myth that it serves as "a state in formation," when it so clearly allowed Israel to solidify its occupation.

Trump's move on Jerusalem achieved what years of Israel's settlements failed to do - shatter the illusion of a two-state outcome, and allow the Palestinian national movement to turn into a struggle for rights, which is to say a struggle to end Israel's de facto apartheid regime, a course I have advocated for over a decade, and now increasingly embraced by younger Palestinians. What is particularly significant is that this younger generation is opting for a struggle for equal rights in a single state not because they despair of achieving a state of their own, but because it is their preferred solution. It is the right choice, for their struggle for a state of their own is one Palestinians cannot win, while a struggle to maintain an apartheid regime is one Israel cannot win.


Comment: So far...Israel 1, Palestine 0.


Comment: News Flash...Israel is not hiding that it privileges its Jewish citizens and it doesn't care if it uses religious principles, the IDF, or bombing raids to solidify its takeovers of Palestinian and Syrian territories. Apartheid methodology on the part of the Israelis is on the rise and is systematically reinforced each time Israel shuts down another Palestinian necessity or freedom. What President Trump has done is ignite a polarization, on a global scale, opening up harbored issues otherwise stuck in a never-ending and unhealthy dynamic, a detriment for both Israel and Palestine. He has ripped off the scab. How will this heal?


Snakes in Suits

Moscow: Putin-Netanyahu talks 'very productive' but no details

PutNet
© Maxim Shemetov / ReutersPutin and Netanyahu in Moscow
Not many details have emerged from the lengthy Moscow talks between Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu, in which the two leaders were expected to discuss military cooperation on Syria and Iran's influence in the region.

Russia's president and the Israeli prime minister met in the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow, where they also attended an event marking Holocaust Remembrance Day and the anniversary of the lifting of the Leningrad siege during the Second World War. The pair watched a presentation of the upcoming film Sobibor about the only successful uprising in a Nazi death camp and visited the Museum's exhibition. Following the public event, the leaders held talks behind closed doors.

Putin and Netanyahu discussed a number of bilateral and regional issues, as well as the process of reconciliation in Syria, the Russian president's aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters. The Syrian National Dialogue Congress, currently taking place in Sochi, was also among the topics discussed, the official said, without providing any details.

The Israeli prime minister highlighted some of the topics he discussed with Putin in a recorded statement posted on Twitter. Netanyahu said he told the Russian president about his concerns of "Iranian attempts to create military bases in Syria," and of Tehran's alleged attempts to place "high-precision weapons" in Lebanon to target Israel. Tel Aviv firmly opposes such actions and will act on its own if the international community won't handle the issue, he warned Putin. The reaction of the Russian president to these statements, however, remained a mystery.

Binoculars

FISA memo may show that Deputy AG Rosenstein approved spy warrant on Carter Page AFTER Trump became president

RodRosenstein
© UnknownDeputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein
In what is the second major "leak," to come from the FISA abuse memo, a new report reveals Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein signed off on an application to extend surveillance of Trump campaign official Carter Page.

Rosenstein assumed office on April 26th, 2017, approving the spy warrant merely three months after Trump was inaugurated on January 20th, 2017.

Reuters reports:
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein approved to extend surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page shortly after assuming office last spring, the New York Times reported, citing people familiar with a secret Republican memo.

The extension shows the Department of Justice, under President Donald Trump, saw reason to believe that Page was acting as a Russian agent, the paper reported on Sunday.

The memo paints the investigation into Russia's alleged meddling in the U.S. presidential election as tainted from the start, the paper said.
In June, The Gateway Pundit reported, Page sent a request to Rosenstein seeking the release of information used to allegedly obtain a FISA warrant to monitor his communications.

Page, a former investment banker, was a foreign policy advisor to the Trump campaign.

Comment: See also: Could it be any clearer that people in the 'US govt' work for a higher power than the president?


Bomb

Assassination attempt on Hamas official by two Israeli officers

bombed car
© Ali Hankir/Anadolu AgencyThe bombing of Mohamed Hamdan's car.
Lebanese security forces revealed on Monday that two Israeli officers participated in the assassination attempt on Hamas official Mohamed Hamdan in Sidon two weeks ago. According to Al-Akhbar, Israeli intelligence not only commissioned local agents to kill Hamdan, but also had its own team in Lebanon; an Israeli woman planted the bomb and her male colleague detonated it. They left the country using Georgian, Swedish and Iraqi passports.

After the assassination attempt, Israeli Minister of Intelligence Yisrael Katz told the Zionist state's Army Radio, "If Israel was involved in the bombing, then the target would not survive with minor injuries." Nobody is fooled by this attempt at a disclaimer.

The information obtained by Al-Akhbar indicates that investigators uncovered the Israeli officers' false identities and photographs, the date that they entered and left Lebanon, their respective roles in the operation and the nationality they made use of in order to move inside Lebanon freely. Lebanon's Intelligence Gathering Division also identified two Lebanese suspects: Mohammed H travelled to Turkey overnight on 15 January, where he was arrested by local officers after Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri contacted Turkish intelligence chief Hakan Fidan. The suspect claimed that he was an Israeli citizen to avoid being extradited back to Lebanon; he is now known to have been working for the Israelis for at least five years. Sources told Al-Akhbar that he revealed that surveillance of Hamdan's movements began more than seven months ago, before he moved to his home where the assassination attempt took place.

Comment: See also:
Poisoned toothpaste and exploding phones: Israel linked to 2,700 assassination operations during its 70 year existence, far more than any other western country


Stock Down

Brexit minister Baker backpedals as leaked impact study signals disastrous EU departure

Steve Baker
© Peter Nicholls / ReutersBrexit Minister Steve Baker
Despite a leaked economic analysis that spells doom for post-EU Britain, Brexit minister Steve Baker insists that all is well; the sky is not going to fall, the ship is not sinking, and economic forecasts are "always wrong."

The leak of Tuesday's explosive economic analysis, entitled 'EU Exit Analysis - Cross Whitehall Briefing,' has MPs up in arms. All three scenarios, which analysts deemed to be the most likely outcomes if the UK leaves the EU, forecast a slump in growth in all areas of the UK's economy.

So is Baker's head very firmly buried in the sand? Nearly 50 other ministers, including some Tories, seem to think so.

47 MPs from various parties have signed an open letter to Brexit secretary David Davis calling for the Brexit impact report to be made public. Signatories to the open letter include Tory MPs Ken Clarke, Anna Soubry, and Antoinette Sandbach.

Although many MPs seems to be panicking about what a post-EU Britain will actually look like, Brexit minister Steve Baker has poo-pooed the leaked report's findings during Tuesday's Commons debate.

Comment: One toe in and one toe out...the Brits seem to want both independence and EU privilege.


Brain

Home Depot founder eviscerates Dems for belittling tax reform savings: 'Use your stupid brains!'

Bernie Marcus
© Georgia EncyclopediaBernie Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot
The co-founder of hardware giant Home Depot mocked Democrats and their posture toward the Republican tax reform bill in a near-seven minute rant on Fox News over the weekend.

What did he say?

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democrats in Congress have dismissed the effects of the GOP tax reform bill as nothing but "crumbs." Those "crumbs" are billions of dollars in bonuses and raises, which businesses say come directly from the tax bill. That's because the bill slashed the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent.

Bernie Marcus, whose company also announced bonuses and raises, was beside himself over Democrats' characterization of the reform bill. He said:

You wanna talk about somebody who is off the charts and doesn't understand reality...it's [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer and Pelosi. One thousand dollars is so meaningful...its more than meaningful - it could be paying the mortgage, it could be paying for a car repair, it could be paying for a past due bill.


Comment: Trump is 'taking care of business' and from small operations to the giants, a financial shot in the arm to the public-at-large has multiplying benefits all the way up the line. The question to be asked is why the Democrats are objecting.


Gear

House Judiciary Committee directs FBI to hand over McCabe emails pertaining to 2016 election

Andrew McCabe
© Aaron P. Bernstein / ReutersAndrew McCabe
The noose around the now former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe appears to be getting tighter.

Just hours after news that McCabe was departing the FBI, allegedly forced out from his position, the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Republican Bob Goodlatte released a a letter urging FBI Director Christopher Wray to preserve Mr. McCabe's emails, and all other communications, before his official departure from the agency.

From Goodlatte's statement:
"Today's news that FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is stepping down from the Bureau is overdue. Recent revelations call into question Mr. McCabe's leadership in the top operational post in the FBI. However, Mr. McCabe's departure certainly does not mean that we are done rooting out the problems at the FBI. I continue to be extremely troubled by the decisions made by the FBI during the 2016 presidential election and the role senior FBI officials played in these questionable decisions and irregularities.

"The only way to ensure the FBI remains the premier law enforcement agency in the world is to ensure that the leadership at the Bureau holds the trust of the American people. This change in leadership at the FBI is a good first step in repairing the damage to their reputation."

Archaeology

Democrats throw desperate Hail Mary with yet another Clinton-connected dossier on Trump

Trump smiling
© Carlos Barria / Reuters
After Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee voted to publish a memo reportedly revealing FBI abuses of spying powers based on the controversial "Steele dossier," a report has emerged of a second dossier's existence.

On Monday, the committee voted along party lines to make public the four-page, classified memo commissioned by Chair Devin Nunes (R-California), which is currently available only to members of the House of Representatives. A counter-memo prepared by the Democrats, which was not shown to anyone, was approved for reading by Congress but not for the general public just yet.

Within minutes, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California), the ranking member, was in front of the cameras, denouncing the Republicans as unfair and not interested in transparency. Schiff's claims confused even some news agencies, which initially reported the committee had voted not to release the Nunes memo, rather than to keep Schiff's classified until it can be read by members.

Eye 2

SOTT Focus: Normalization of Pedophilia: Psychopaths Try to Recreate Society in Their Own Image

Children Models for Vogue
© VogueChildren models for Vogue
The mainstream media spreads the idea that psychologists classify pedophilia as a sexual orientation and not a mental disorder, thereby creating room for debate about the possible acceptance of this 'orientation'.

SOTT.net routinely exposes this great evil that is sweeping through and taking over much of the Western world and beyond: To get a proper understanding of the direction our society is taking, we need look no further than the Netherlands, a country considered as a testing ground for exporting liberal and 'progressive' values. A country where, during the 60s, the normalisation of pedophilia almost became a reality.

As Bart Bohemen from news site Curiales writes:
"The sexual revolution of the 1960s would change our society forever. Free sex, emancipation of women and the acceptance of homosexuality took off. In the wake of the cultural change, a completely different group fought for the acceptance of their pernicious sexual preference: pedophiles."
The following clip (in Dutch, with English subtitles, see transcript below the video) is a good example of the types of people who fight for the acceptance of pedophilia in society. In the video we see the very creepy Edward Brongersma, a Dutch politician and doctor of law at the time, telling the presenter that children crave sexual attention from adults, and how it is our duty, as grown-ups, to give them this 'affection'. In the clip we also get to hear pastor Alje Klamer, who says, "pedophiles opened my eyes."

Dollars

Some of the apolitical billionaires on US Treasury's "Naughty Kremlin list"

Oleg Tinkov
© SputnikEntrepreneur, founder of the Tinkoff brand, head of the bank "Tinkoff. Credit Systems" and owner of the Tinkoff-Saxo pro cycling team Oleg Tinkov
The US Treasury published the 'Kremlin list' on Tuesday. It includes officials and tycoons with political and business ties to the Russian government. But some were blacklisted just for being billionaires.

Arkady Volozh

Worth $1.1 billion, Volozh is the founder and CEO of the Russia's largest IT company, Yandex. The company is Google's main rival on the Russian market, offering various services like a search engine, smartphone apps, its own in-house maps and navigation systems, music streaming service, and taxi service. Yandex is a private and publicly-traded company, and has no state participation.

Comment: See also: Pathetic: US Treasury releases "Naughty Kremlin List" - includes entire Russian government