Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

Soft coup succeeds? Wall Street and military-industrial complex run US Presidency

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Wed, 23 Aug 2017 18:21 UTC
Trump Generals and advisers
Now that Steve Bannon is out, and Trump's non-interventionist, America first advisors have been picked off one by one, a Goldman Sachs/Military Generals US run White House is gearing up for more war, starting with Afghanistan.

Neocons like Lindsey Graham and John McCain are ecstatic...


The mainstream liberal media is so happy with the Afghanistan ramp up they refused to lay down any criticism of a "Trump decision"...which is rare indeed, considering the liberal media finds fault in just about anything Trump says or does.
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Eye 2

The untrustworthy U.S. - Case XXXIV: Trump cheats on China sanction deal


Moon of Alabama
Tue, 22 Aug 2017 18:23 UTC
US china eagle flag
© The Regiser
During the ramp-up to new UN sanctions on North Korea the Trump administration threaten to sanction China if it would not commit to further pressure. Trade measures against China were held back while the discussions about the resolution were ongoing:
An opportunity to hit North Korea with new United Nations sanctions has sidelined President Donald Trump's bid to punish China for its alleged unfair trade practice.
...
[O]n Thursday afternoon, senior administration aides postponed the announcement [of trade measures against China] at the urging of United Nations and State Department officials, who are in the sensitive final stages of convincing China to sign on to a U.N. resolution that would impose new sanctions on North Korea. U.N. and State Department officials warned that the trade announcement could kill their chances of winning Beijing's buy-in, according to the officials.
Trump himself implied that he was willing to go for a quid pro quo:
While past presidents have tried at least ostensibly to keep security and economic issues on separate tracks in their dealings with China, Mr. Trump has explicitly linked the two, suggesting he would back off from a trade war against Beijing if it does more to pressure North Korea. "If China helps us, I feel a lot differently toward trade, a lot differently toward trade," he told reporters...

Comment:

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Star of David

Activating Plan B: Likud party member sez 'Israeli flag will be raised in independent Kurdistan'

Asma Al-Otaibi
Middle East Monitor
Wed, 23 Aug 2017 18:13 UTC
israel kurdistan
A prominent figure within Israel's far-right Likud Party, Ariel Polstein, has said that the Kurds will never forget how the Zionist state has supported them, with the result that when an independent Kurdistan raises the Israeli flag, the two countries will become allies in the true sense of the word.

The lawyer is also a regular writer for the newspaper Israel Hayom, and is close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He called for the documenting of what he called the historical friendship between the Kurds and Israel as well as the need to promote it, Al-Jazeera has reported.

Polstein pointed out that the relationship between Israel and a Kurdish state is of great importance. He stressed that Israel has helped the Kurds for decades and will continue to promote the need for an independent Kurdish state.

As the founder of the "Face of Israel" movement, Polstein claimed that the Kurdish nationalist movement is a partner in the core values of Jewish culture. Mutual love and respect is, therefore, normal, he said.

Comment: Plan A was Assad's removal. That failed, so Plan B is the creation of a Kurdistan out of Syria and Iraq (then eventually Turkey and Iran).

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Info

Poroshenko proposes new cease-fire at start of school year, everyone is happy


RFE/RL
Wed, 23 Aug 2017 18:11 UTC
Students arrive for the first day of school in Pervomayske, near the Donetsk airport
Students arrive for the first day of school in Pervomayske, near the Donetsk airport, on September 1, 2015.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has proposed a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine starting on August 23 at the beginning of the school year and got unanimous support from Russia, Germany, France, and the United States.

The proposal was made late on August 22 in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancelor Angela Merkel, and French President Emmanuel Macron, who all voiced their strong support for a lasting cease-fire to allow children in eastern Ukraine to attend school, the Kremlin and Poroshenko's press service said after the call.

The cease-fire will be announced on August 23, according to the Kremlin and Poroshenko's press service. Macron's office and the German cabinet office also issued statements announcing and supporting the cease-fire.

Poroshenko's office said the leaders hope the truce "will lead to sustainable improvement of the security situation to benefit schoolchildren and the entire civilian population of Donbas."
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Dollar

World's most expensive summer holiday: Saudi King Salman's $100 million Moroccan vacation

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Wed, 23 Aug 2017 18:08 UTC
Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia
Back on 20th May 2017 I wrote how Saudi Arabia's manic overspending on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's runaway industrialisation programme, its over-the-top arms purchases, and the huge sums it is spending on its wildly over-ambitious foreign policy, are setting the scene for Saudi Arabia's eventual bankruptcy.

I also said that the degree to which all sense of reality has been lost is shown by the extraordinary $68 million Saudi Arabia spent on welcoming US President Trump.

That sum has now been capped by the extraordinary $100 million that Saudi King Salman - the doting father of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - is reported to be spending on his summer holiday in Tangier Morocco.
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Bullseye

Pepe Escobar: Afghanistan, Korea and the never ending war trap

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Wed, 23 Aug 2017 18:00 UTC
us military exercise south korea
© Reuters/Kim Hong-JiUS Army self-propelled howitzers take part in a military exercise near the DMZ in Paju, South Korea, on August 10, 2017
There are more parallels between an unfinished 1950s war in Northeast Asia and an ongoing 16-year-old war in the crossroads between Central and South Asia than meet the eye. Let's start with North Korea.

Once again the US/South Korea Hunger Games plow on. It didn't have to be this way.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explained how: "Russia together with China developed a plan which proposes 'double freezing': Kim Jong-un should freeze nuclear tests and stop launching any types of ballistic missiles, while US and South Korea should freeze large-scale drills which are used as a pretext for the North's tests."

Call it sound diplomacy. There's no conclusive evidence the Russia-China strategic partnership floated this plan directly to the administration of US President Donald Trump. Even if they did, the proposal was shot down. The proverbial "military experts" lobbied hard against it, insisting on a lopsided advantage to Pyongyang. Worse, National Security Adviser H R McMaster consistently lobbies for preventative war - as if this is any sort of serious conflict "resolution".
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Info

Kim Jong-un wants to produce more rocket engines and warhead tips after US lauds Pyongyang's restraint


RT
Wed, 23 Aug 2017 17:56 UTC
Kim Jong-un
© KCNA / ReutersNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un smiles during a visit to the Chemical Material Institute of the Academy of Defense Science August 23, 2017.
North Korea is set to increase production of solid-fuel rocket engines and warhead tips, state media report. The US has just praised the North for refraining from provocations amid drills in the region with ally South Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered production to be boosted while inspecting a chemical institute on Wednesday, KCNA state media and Rodong Sinmun report. He wants the facility "to produce more solid-fuel rocket engines and rocket warhead tips by further expanding engine production process and the production capacity of rocket warhead tips and engine jets," according to North Korean media, citing Kim Jong-un.

The media released photos of Kim visiting the plant and examining the manufacturing process. Some pictures reportedly feature "one or possibly two new missiles," according to AP. After analyzing the diagrams hanging on a wall behind the leader, the agency reported that they were related to the Pukguksong-3 missile, "which appears to be the latest in its Pukguksong, or Polaris, series." The other rocket "was harder to discern, though it carried a 'Hwasong,' or Mars, designation," AP reports.
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Bulb

Russia's concern over American eavesdropping leads to plans to minimize foreign internet exchange points


RT
Wed, 23 Aug 2017 17:55 UTC
ethernet cords
© Daniel Schoenen / Global Look Press
The Russian government plans to take steps to minimize the flow of internet traffic through foreign-based exchange points in order to prevent sensitive data from falling into the hands of US intelligence agencies, Vedomosti newspaper reports.

Vedomosti quoted unnamed sources in the Russian government and presidential administration as saying there are plans to prevent internet service providers and communications companies from channeling web traffic from Russia through foreign-based internet exchange points (IXPs).

The main reason according to the sources is the danger that sensitive data could be decoded and studied by US intelligence agencies such as the National Security Administration (NSA), which has several centers for electronic surveillance throughout Europe.

Though US intelligence agencies may state that the objectives of surveillance involve fighting terrorism and other forms of extremism, it is still possible that in the process they also obtain information concerning bank transfers, official correspondences, and other sensitive data from Russian officials, the sources say.
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Stock Down

Trump's government shutdown threat rattles the markets

Chuck Mikolajczak, Doina Chiacu
Reuters
Wed, 23 Aug 2017 10:38 UTC
Capitol ceiling open
© Creators.com/Bokbluster.com
President Donald Trump's threat to shut down the U.S. government to secure funding for a wall along the Mexican border rattled markets on Wednesday and cast a shadow over coming efforts in Congress to agree to raise the country's debt ceiling and pass spending bills.

Wall Street analysts estimate Congress has just 12 working days when it returns from its summer recess on Sept. 5 to raise the debt ceiling before the U.S. Treasury exhausts the last of its options to remain current on all of the federal government's obligations.

With that deadline looming in early October and Trump raising the prospect of a government shutdown in a speech on Tuesday evening if Congress does not agree to fund the wall, U.S. stocks and the dollar weakened, and investors pivoted to the safety of U.S. Treasury securities on Wednesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 0.3 percent, the S&P 500 dropped 0.25 percent and the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.32 percent. The benchmark S&P also fell below its 50-day moving average again on Wednesday, a key level it has struggled to maintain since falling below on Aug. 10.

Credit ratings agency Fitch said on Wednesday that if the debt ceiling is not raised in a timely manner, it would review the U.S. sovereign debt rating, which is its measure of confidence in the soundness of the U.S. economy.

Comment: That pesky debt ceiling crunch is always high in drama, diluted in effect.

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Beaker

Is the Pentagon manufacturing biological bombs against Europe?


Oriental Review
Mon, 21 Aug 2017 00:00 UTC
setting up biolab ukraine
© ehs.wustl.eduStockpiling bacteriological weapons, Ukraine.
The media in Europe rarely mention the increasing outbreaks of dangerous diseases in Ukraine. No one has mentioned it except for UNICEF's representative in Ukraine, Giovanna Barberis, and a few Ukrainian TV stations. But meanwhile, the problem in that country has reached catastrophic proportions.

In the town of Izmail (the Odessa region) in the summer of 2016 an outbreak of a mysterious intestinal infection hit the children of that city especially hard. Over 400 kids were hospitalized, literally within a single 24-hour period. The cause of the outbreak has not been identified. That same year Ukraine was "struck" by a bizarre epidemic of swine flu, leading to SARS. In late 2016 the European Union instituted a six-month ban on chicken imports from anywhere in Ukraine, after avian-flu infections were documented in the Kherson region. And an inexplicable epidemic of botulism (from eating contaminated fish, leading to muscle spasms, suffocation, and death) has been ongoing this year. Medical institutions had no antitoxin available, and so several dozen Ukrainian citizens died in agonizing pain.

It doesn't look like anyone in either Ukraine or Europe is investigating the sources of these infections. Today we will try to figure out why this is happening.

Comment: A diabolical plan with deadly effects should it be launched towards a particular population with complementary DNA markers. This is pure insanity. And, with the melting pot of cultures and genetics, the USA will likely have its ability to purge whole segments of its own population as well.

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