Puppet MastersS


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.
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Info

Catalonian lawmakers set up transitional constitution on independence bid from Spain


AP
Mon, 28 Aug 2017 15:33 UTC
Barcelona supporters wave Estelada or pro-independece flags
© AP / Emilio Morenatti
The pro-independence ruling coalition in Catalonia is submitting a bill to the regional parliament that aims to serve as a transitional constitution should a controversial vote to secede from Spain succeed.

Spain's government says the referendum called for Oct. 1 by the regional Catalan government is unconstitutional and has pledged to prosecute officials who take formal steps to hold it.

Lawmakers representing the ruling regional parties said if the independence bid wins in the referendum, the so-called "juridical transition bill" provides the immediate legal framework for a constituent assembly that would be in charge of founding a new Catalan Republic until elections are held.

The law needs to go through parliamentary vote and is likely to be challenged by central authorities through the Constitutional Court.
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Георгиевская ленточка

Senior Russian senator: US is unable to isolate Russia and 'never will'


RT
Mon, 28 Aug 2017 15:19 UTC
Kerch Strait Bridge Crimea
© Alexandr Polegenko / SputnikThe railway arch of the Kerch Strait Bridge (Crimean Bridge) as seen from Mitridat Mountain in Crimea.
The international isolation of Russia is impossible no matter how hard the United States tries, a senior Russian senator said in response to a US special envoy's threats to freeze diplomatic and economic ties over the Ukraine crisis.

"The US special envoy is playing on Kiev's side, which is not surprising. The strange thing here is that he has not yet understood that the isolation of Russia is not happening and it never will," the head of the upper house Committee for Information Policy, Senator Aleksey Pushkov, tweeted.

"Volker's attempts to frighten us are in vain. Russia will never be ousted from the system of diplomatic and economic relations. Obama's experience has shown that the US lacks the power needed for this," Pushkov noted in a separate tweet.

Comment:

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Attention

Trump reportedly to undo Obama's ban on arming police with 'surplus' military gear


RT
Mon, 28 Aug 2017 15:03 UTC
Police officers
© Carlo Allegri / Reuters
US President Donald Trump is reportedly preparing to undo Barack Obama's order and lift a ban on arming local US police with war-fighting equipment, including grenade launchers and heavy armored vehicles.

The ban was imposed in 2015 following violent unrest in Ferguson, Missouri.

Documents seen by USA Today and the Associated Press (AP) say Trump is planning to reverse Barack Obama's executive order banning local police agencies from receiving militarized gear and equipment.

It included grenade launchers, bayonets, tracked armored vehicles, weaponized aircraft and vehicles, as well as heavy firearms and ammunition of .50-caliber or greater.
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Radar

Pakistan: Another 'major strategic partner' now fighting for its life

Seth Ferris
New Eastern Outlook
Mon, 28 Aug 2017 14:14 UTC
Pakistan soldier
Can Pakistan survive a military intervention if it is to be announced yet another link of the so-called “axis of evil”?
So the Trump White House is really on the ball now. After suddenly discovering what North Korea has always been, it has done the same with Pakistan, and is trying to cover its essential ignorance by saying how unhappy it is about it.

Rex Tillerson is threatening to cut aid to Pakistan on the grounds that it is "providing safe haven for terrorist groups". He is careful to say however that this is an ongoing problem, and that as "relations have been deteriorating for several years" the damage was done before his appointment, and is therefore beyond the ability of the present State Department to reverse. This hardly indicates a genuine resolve to counter terrorism, but given the number of terrorists the US sponsors to suit itself this is not surprising.

Pakistan doesn't seem worried, largely because it has been hearing all this for many years. It has never been a secret that since the Soviets took over Afghanistan in 1979 various groups have found shelter in Pakistan and then managed to arm themselves against the invaders. When the Soviet withdrawal was followed by civil war many combatants again based themselves in Pakistan, as they were never sure whether their friends in Afghanistan wouldn't become enemies the following day when the pattern of alliances changed, as it frequently did.
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Bullseye

'Not suitable for all advertisers': Ron Paul joins the list of political commentators economically censored by YouTube

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Sun, 27 Aug 2017 13:48 UTC
Ron Paul
© Mark Makela / Reuters Ron Paul
Former US Congressman Ron Paul has joined a growing list of independent political journalists and commentators who're being economically punished by YouTube despite producing videos that routinely receive hundreds of thousands of views.

In a tweet published Saturday, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange tweeted a screenshot of Paul's "Liberty Report" page showing that his videos had been labeled "not suitable" for all advertisers by YouTube's content arbiters.

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Attention

US sanctions against Venezuela won't work, warns China


RT
Mon, 28 Aug 2017 13:04 UTC
Venezuela oil rigs
© Isaac Urrutia / ReutersOil pumps are seen in Lake Maracaibo, in Lagunillas, Ciudad Ojeda, in the state of Zulia, Venezuela.
Washington's latest sanctions on Venezuela will not give the White House what it wants, according to the South American country's close ally China.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order prohibiting Americans from dealing with new debt and equity issued by the Venezuelan government and by its state oil company PDVSA. The White House says the money supports President Nicolas Maduro's "dictatorship."

Beijing says the sanctions won't work.

"The present problem in Venezuela should be resolved by the Venezuelan government and people themselves," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Monday at a daily news briefing.

Comment: See also:
Countdown to war on Venezuela, coup attempt as step one of U.S. takeover has failed
'Worst aggression in 200 years': Venezuela blasts new US sanctions
Russian oil company Rosneft to stick with Venezuela despite crisis

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Snakes in Suits

Beware the DC establishment that attacks Trump's capacity to govern, even if he deserves it

John Lee
RT
Sat, 26 Aug 2017 13:14 UTC
Donald Trump
© Carlos Barria / Reuters
As a political correspondent, I've had the opportunity to meet many world leaders over the last two decades. The question I am most asked is: "what is he or she like in person?"

Of the leaders who have been in power for about six years or more I most commonly answer that they are a little bit crazy.

The detachment from everyday concerns, the unceasing VIP treatment, and the unfettered power, I find, can often make leaders eccentric - or in some cases downright mad.

Donald Trump is less than nine months into his term as president and his opponents are already condemning him as unfit for office because of his mental state.

The allegation first came from his political enemies - the Democrats.
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Snakes in Suits

US Senate is trying to brand WikiLeaks a 'hostile intelligence service' but what does that even mean?

Danielle Ryan
RT
Sun, 27 Aug 2017 12:59 UTC
WikiLeaks
© AFP
The US Senate Intelligence Committee published its annual intelligence spending bill this week - and nested in the bill is a provision which would declare WikiLeaks to be a "non-state hostile intelligence service".

In an interview with the Daily Beast, Mieke Eoyang, a former House intelligence committee staffer, said the move would open WikiLeaks up to more extensive surveillance by the US government, allowing the intelligence community to "collect against [WikiLeaks] in the same way they collect against al-Qaeda".

Lone dissenter

The bill which includes the WikiLeaks provision was voted on last month by the Senate intelligence committee. It passed 14-1, with Oregon senator Ron Wyden being the only dissenter. Wyden, a Democrat, explained that he voted against the bill due to the "legal, constitutional and policy implications" of the WikiLeaks provision.

In particular, Wyden said, he worried that the phrasing "non-state hostile intelligence service" could be applied to journalists inquiring about government secrets or using information released by WikiLeaks.

But that really is the whole point of the exercise. The Senate is doing its best to discredit WikiLeaks as a transparency organization and credible source of information. Those who associate with WikiLeaks in any way - by publishing information released by WikiLeaks for example - would be tarred with the same brush. Wyden, no fan of WikiLeaks himself, cautioned against the introduction of "vague, undefined new categories of enemies" of the US.
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Stormtrooper

Trump's transgender ban and the Pentagon's politically correct absurdity

Finian Cunningham
RT
Sun, 27 Aug 2017 12:40 UTC
US soldiers
© Stoyan Nenov / Reuters
US President Donald Trump seems to be heading for another clash with the Pentagon over his renewed order banning transgender individuals from serving in the military.

When Trump first announced the ban last month, the reversal of policy initiated under President Obama in 2016 caught military chiefs by surprise. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford led the pushback. He appeared to rebuke the president for making decrees by Twitter, and said there would be no change on Pentagon policy admitting transgenders into the armed forces until a formal order was received.

This week, the White House doubled down by issuing a memo to the Pentagon reiterating Trump's ruling that no transgender individuals are to be allowed to serve in the military. He appeared to soften his order somewhat by giving the Defense Secretary, James Mattis, the discretion on what to do about transgenders who are already in the forces.
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