Puppet MastersS


Snakes in Suits

Elites gather in Davos again to plan the world's affairs one cocktail at a time

Robert Bridge
RT
Tue, 23 Jan 2018 16:23 UTC
davos
© Arnd Wiegmann / Reuters
It's that time of year again when the elite gather at Davos by day to tackle the many problems plaguing the planet. And then by night it's back to hitting the slopes, sipping champagne and networking again.

Since its first gathering in 1971, the scenic Alpine town of Davos, Switzerland - home to over 200 miles of breathtaking ski slopes - has played perfect host to the world's financial and political elite, who spend three days attending panel discussions on a variety of topics.

Thanks to the natural edifices of the Swiss Alps, Mother Nature's most effective security apparatus, not to mention 4,500 police and many miles of security fencing, the Masters of the Universe will be at liberty to discuss momentous global issues without being rudely interrupted by the dissenting voices of the global village far below.

"The skies over Switzerland are choked with private planes and helicopters as Davos gets underway," CNN reported. "Security is tight, and rooftop sharpshooters watch over attendees as they parade through metal detectors and then swap snow boots for dress shoes."
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Popcorn

Best of the Web: Finally, Russiagate is about to implode

Justin Raimondo
Antiwar.com
Mon, 22 Jan 2018 15:49 UTC
Christopher Steele and Comey
© UnknownChristopher Steele and James Comey


The real "collusion" is the alliance of foreign actors and the Democrats

The finale is upon us: the Russia-gate fraud is about to be exploded, at long last. Although the vaunted memo - and the underlying intelligence - compiled by the leadership of the House Intelligence Committee under chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) has yet to be released, there has been enough chatter by those House members who have read it to give us the basic elements of what it contains. Although prepare to be shocked by what I consider to be the most outrageous aspect of this affair.

To begin with, it's clear that the "dossier" paid for by the neocons over at the Free Beacon and then taken up later by Hillary Clinton was submitted to the FISA court by the FBI as the factual basis for allowing secret surveillance of the Trump campaign, possibly including Donald Trump himself. The FISA judge was reportedly not told who paid for the dossier.

In an interview with the Daily Caller, veteran law enforcement professional Joseph DiGenova cites as evidence of a pattern of deception the details of a FISA court opinion (April 27, 2017) that charged the Obama administration with lying to the court and illegal use of material obtained through their spying campaign. The court said the government's actions were "abusive" because the purloined material was handed out to "contractors." We aren't told who these contractors are. My guess - and DiGenova's: Fusion GPS, the firm hired to smear Trump, and CrowdStrike, the cyber-security firm in charge of the DNC's email system - which the FBI never was allowed to look at.

Comment: These are interesting remarks about the possible involvement of foreign intelligence agencies in Russiagate. However, Raimondo may be attributing them more than they actually did. After all, how much collaboration from foreign spooks do you need to make up a story out of thin air?

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Russian Flag

Russia delivers state-of-the-art S-400 missile systems to protect Syrian airspace


RT
Tue, 23 Jan 2018 15:45 UTC
s 400
© Russian Defense Ministry
The Russian military has delivered new units of its state-of-the-art S-400 anti-aircraft systems to Syria. The weapons have assumed combat duty in Russian army compounds in the country.

Videos provided by the country's Defense Ministry show the arrival of four of the systems. Two were delivered by air to the Khmeimim Airbase in the Syrian province of Latakia, and two more were shipped to a Russian maritime facility located in Tartus.

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Star of David

Israeli Defense chief Avigdor Liberman urges IDF radio to ban poet praising Palestinian 'Joan of Arc'


RT
Tue, 23 Jan 2018 15:29 UTC
Ahed Tamimi
© Ammar Awad / Reuters
Top Israeli officials are embroiled in a war of words after the defense chief urged IDF radio to ban famed poet Yonatan Geffen on its stations. The artist earlier praised a jailed Palestinian activist for slapping a soldier.

"I told Army Radio this morning to stop playing or interviewing Yonatan Geffen on all its stations," Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman tweeted Tuesday.

Yonatan Geffen, a 70-year-old Israeli poet and songwriter, published a short poem celebrating teenage activist Ahed Tamimi, who has become an iconic figure after videos of her confronting IDF soldiers from two years ago and last December went viral.

Comment: Why are the Israeli's so afraid of a Palestinian teenage girl?

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Light Sabers

The Guardian's Russia fear-mongering collapses from within as journalist points out MoD greed behind 'Russia threat'


RT
Tue, 23 Jan 2018 15:24 UTC
guardian newspaper
© Reuters/ Suzanne Plunkett
The Guardian's readers could be forgiven for being absolutely baffled over the "threat posed by Russia" to Britain this week.

It's a toss up between hunkering down in a bunker after reading scaremongering front page reports and taking the word of a veteran reporter, telling us all to dodge the hysteria being flung around by the media.

In fact, the liberal publication entirely destroyed its own article, which was of course given the online top spot, with a - much less prominent - op-ed.

Instead of a balanced article, the Guardian opted first of all to publish a paranoid stream of accusations from Sir Nick Carter, Britain's defense chief of general staff.
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Vader

United States needs to kick Cold War habit and end its addiction to militarism

Finian Cunningham
RT
Mon, 22 Jan 2018 14:45 UTC
US tank
© Global Look Press
The National Defense Strategy unveiled by Pentagon chief James Mattis illustrates once again the revanchist Cold War mindset dominating Washington which is the inevitable expression of the US' destructive addiction to militarism.

More than a quarter century after the official end of the Cold War between the US and the former Soviet Union, Washington has the cheek to label both Russia and China as "revisionist powers."

Policy and discourse dominating Washington shows it is the US that is the biggest "revisionist power," trying to revive ideological tensions and antagonism with Russia and China.

Defense Secretary Mattis declared last week that fighting non-state terrorism was no longer the primary focus of US national security. He said the "great power competition" with Russia and China was the new priority.

Mattis' National Defense Strategy echoed themes contained in the National Security Strategy document published in December, which was signed off by President Trump. The NSS also cast Russia and China as "rivals" and existential threats to America's influence in the world.

Comment: A very dangerous habit indeed. On this and related issues, we recommend the following recent articles written by Sott analysts:

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Stock Down

Bitcoin dips 12% as South Korea announces taxation of cryptocurrencies


RT
Tue, 23 Jan 2018 15:16 UTC
man walks past an electric board showing exchange rates of various cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters
© Kim Hong-Ji / ReutersA man walks past an electric board showing exchange rates of various cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin
The cryptocurrency market has extended losses on Tuesday following the news that South Korea is planning to introduce taxation on digital money trading.

A total of 96 out of the top 100 cryptocurrencies are down 10 to 20 percent, with market leader bitcoin over 12 percent in the red, according to data on Coinmarketcap.

The South Korean government announced on Monday it will collect up to 24.2 percent of corporate and local income taxes from the country's cryptocurrency exchanges this year, local news agency Yonhap reported. The country has one of the world's biggest private bitcoin exchanges, with more than 2 million people holding bitcoin.
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Quenelle

Norway loses $1 billion in Russian retaliation to West's sanctions


RT
Sat, 20 Jan 2018 10:07 UTC
Norway fails to find new buyers for its fish after losing Russian market
© Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters
Oslo has lost around a billion dollars after Russia closed its market for Norwegian fish in response to Western sanctions. Norway has yet to find alternative buyers.

"After the cooling of relations between Russia and Norway in 2014, we and the Norwegians had to adjust to a new situation," said Russian Ambassador to Norway Teimuraz Ramishvili.

"From an economic point of view, Norway lost a billion dollars from the fish trade with Russia. There were attempts from Oslo to find new markets, great hopes were associated with China, but the Russian market was not replaced."

Comment: It's clear for all to see that anti-Russian sanctions have only served to hurt the West; the question is, how long will they have to suffer before they quit being the lackeys of the US and their imperialist games:

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Bullseye

Gladio B in progress - US supporting terrorist group MEK to bring regime change to Iranian government

Chris Melidis
Newsbud
Sun, 21 Jan 2018 14:58 UTC
Maryam Rajavi
© Twitter/@Maryam_RajaviMaryam Rajav, the so-called "elected president" of the MEK
Amid the latest turmoil in Iran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called French President Emmanuel Macron on January 2th to urge him to take immediate action against an exiled Iranian terrorist organization with a branch in Paris, which as he said, incites violent demonstrations in the country.

This news didn't' see the light of mainstream media, but it is a top priority for understanding the latest events in Iran, as a huge network of bribery and terrorism that is protected by American, European and Saudi officials aiming to topple the Iranian regime, is being revealed.

The Marxist-Islamic terrorist organization Mujahadin-e Khalq (MEK or MKO), also known as the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, is responsible for a series of assassinations and bombing attacks in Iran with thousands of victims since the 70's, including the bombing of Khomeini's party offices in 1981 that killed a total of 72 people. The list of victims prior to the Islamic Revolution in 1979 includes American citizens and officials, and after 1979 the organization committed to the downfall of the Iranian regime.
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Robot

India & Japan combine defense forces in AI, robotics to curb Chinese ambitions


RT
Tue, 23 Jan 2018 14:58 UTC
AI robot
© Donald Iain Smith / Getty Images
India and Japan have vowed to strengthen their strategic ties by increasing cooperation in the defense, robotics and AI sectors in coming years in response to Chinese regional ambitions and North Korea's nuclear plans.

"You should expect to see increased bilateral cooperation between us to develop unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) and robotics,"Japanese State Minister for Foreign Affairs Kentaro Sonoura told the Times of India. The move follows the successful ratification of the Indo-Japanese civil nuclear agreement by Japan's parliament in late 2017.

The two countries are launching a working group on cooperation between nuclear companies. "Japan's intention is to start this quickly, possibly by the end of this month," Sonoura said.
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