Puppet MastersS


Briefcase

How Steele's raw, unverified 'intelligence' was politicized by Obama officials

Andrew C. McCarthy
The National Review
Tue, 09 Jan 2018 07:22 UTC
Obama Clinton
At the height of the campaign, Obama officials shared dossier claims with Congress and the FISA Court.

When you look at it hard, two conclusions are impossible to escape: First, at the height of the 2016 campaign, Obama intelligence officials anxiously adopted Christopher Steele's allegations of traitorous conduct by then-candidate Donald Trump rather than first subject his "dossier" to rigorous investigation - even though Steele himself admits that his "raw," "unverified" reports might not be true.

Second, at the same time the FBI was receiving Steele's reports - which were based on multiple-hearsay from anonymous Russian sources, and paid for by the Clinton campaign - Obama intelligence officials were briefing congressional leaders about them, thereby ensuring that they'd be publicized just six weeks before Election Day.

This is the second of two columns addressing the relationship between Steele and American government officials. To recap, Steele is a former British intelligence agent who compiled a "dossier" of uncorroborated reports alleging a Trump-Kremlin conspiracy. Steele was retained for this project by his contractor, the research firm Fusion GPS. The work was paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, through their lawyers.
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2 + 2 = 4

Killary funded the bogus Steele dossier so that it could be used obtain a FISA warrant in order to spy on Trump

Cristina Laila
Gateway Pundit
Wed, 10 Jan 2018 00:00 UTC
Killary dossier
Hillary Clinton's dirtiest political trick to date is the multi-million dollar Russia dossier her campaign paid for to not only smear a political opponent, but to illegally spy on the campaign as well.

The 35 page salacious document compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele is central to what prompted Mueller's Russia witch hunt.

Sara Carter reported:
A large portion of the evidence presented in the salacious 35-page dossier put together by former British spy Christopher Steele, has either been proven wrong or remains unsubstantiated. However, the FBI gained approval nevertheless to surveil members of Trump's campaign and "it's outrageous and clearly should be thoroughly investigated," said a senior law enforcement source, with knowledge of the process.

Multiple sources told this reporter that the dossier was used along with other evidence to obtain the warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, known as FISC. The sources also stressed that there will be more information in the coming week regarding systemic "FISA abuse."

"(The dossier) certainly played a role in obtaining the warrant," added another senior U.S. official, with knowledge of the dossier. "Congress needs to look at the FBI officials who were handling this case and see what, if anything, was verified in the dossier. I think an important question is whether the FBI payed anything to the source for the dossier."

Comment: Wow. Just when you thought this whole business with the made-up dossier, the DNC, the FBI and the Clintons has reached its maximum level of moral and political turpitude, we get even more!

See also:

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Chess

Erdogan switches sides in Syria again - delivers new supplies for terrorist attacks


Moon of Alabama
Thu, 11 Jan 2018 14:44 UTC
Assad Erdogan
Turkey, in line with U.S. services, decided to block the current Syrian advance in south-east Idleb. Yesterday an ad-hoc alliance of jihadi "rebels" launched a counteroffensive to stop the Syrian army from cutting off a big chunk of "rebel" held territory in east-Idleb.

The Turkish and U.S. supplied "rebels" (see below) made a few local advances capturing some 12 villages of the 150 villages the Syrian army had recently liberated. They were soon beaten back. Some 50 Ahrar al-Sham fighters were killed or wounded after they ran into a trap. Some 10 Syrian soldiers have been captured by the enemy. Syrian and Russian air support is very active in the area and the Syrian army is again moving forward.

There is no mention or picture (yet) of al-Qaeda in Syria, currently labeled HTS, taking part in the "rebel" counterattack. Four days ago HTS published photos of its leader Joulini meeting with his military commanders to assess the situation. It looked bad for them. The squabble with other "rebels" increased. Two days ago Jouliani issued a statement that HTS would stop fighting other factions in Idleb to enable all to confront the advancing Syrian government forces. It seems that this was a condition for the renewed Turkish/U.S. support.

Comment: Erdogan was recently heard to have said the following:
Ankara has backtracked on its previous statements and continues to support the withdrawal of Syrian President Bashar Assad from the political scene, Turkish leader Tayyip Erdogan said.

"It is impossible to go further with Assad in Syria, in any case. He is guilty of the death of about a million Syrian citizens. Will the people of Syria then want to see him at the head of the country? He fomented state terrorism," Erdogan said at a press conference during his visit to Tunisia.

According to him, Turkey, Russia and the forces of the US-led coalition are trying to ensure peace and tranquility in Syria, recalling the talks on a peaceful settlement in Geneva and Astana.

"There will be no peace with Assad in Syria," the Turkish president added.


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Russian Flag

Lavrov says Russia will support existing Iran nuclear deal


TASS
Wed, 10 Jan 2018 22:54 UTC
Lavrov
© Sputnik/Maxim Blinov
Russia will stand up for viability of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran's nuclear program, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at his meeting with Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday.

"It is important to share views on how Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is being implemented," Lavrov said. "We note IAEA Director General's clearly-defined statement that Iran meets its commitments in full."

"We will advocate for viability of this deal and its most significant contribution to regional stability and to solving the issue of nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction," he underlined.

Comment: Israel doesn't care if the U.S. ruins its own reputation, essentially falling on its own sword in the name of satisfying Israeli whims. The main reason Trump et al. hate the Iran deal is because whiny Israel wants Iran neutered or destroyed. Thankfully, Israeli and American childishness have pushed Iran closer to its own natural allies: Russia and China.

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TV

MSNBC ignores catastrophic US-backed war on Yemen deflects to fake news instead

Fair.org
Ben Norton
Mon, 08 Jan 2018 12:00 UTC
MSNBC Ignores Catastrophic US-Backed War in Yemen
MSNBC Ignores Catastrophic US-Backed War in Yemen
For the popular US cable news network MSNBC, the largest humanitarian catastrophe in the world is apparently not worth much attention-even as the US government has played a key role in creating and maintaining that unparalleled crisis.

An analysis by FAIR has found that the leading liberal cable network did not run a single segment devoted specifically to Yemen in the second half of 2017.

And in these latter roughly six months of the year, MSNBC ran nearly 5,000 percent more segments that mentioned Russia than segments that mentioned Yemen.


Comment: And the majority of that was fake news: In the Absence of Evidence of Russian Collusion and 'Hacking', Congress Makes It Up

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Eye 1

House renews Orwellian FISA surveillance legislation


RT
Thu, 11 Jan 2018 21:45 UTC
nsa logo
© Pawel Kopczynski ( / ReutersAn illustration picture shows the logo of the U.S. National Security Agency
The US House of Representatives has voted in favor of renewing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), allowing for electronic surveillance of non-Americans amid conflicting messages from the White House.

FISA Section 702 allows the US government to pull in communications from foreign nationals, but does not permit surveillance of US citizens, even if they are suspected of criminality or terrorism. It has been regarded as a key feature for NSA surveillance programs and widely criticized by privacy advocates.

The House voted 256-164 in favor of renewing the act for six years. It will now go before the US Senate.

Ahead of the vote, US President Donald Trump hit out at the key intelligence provision.
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War Whore

As Syria cleans up Idlib, the US goes for broke against Russia

Tom Luongo
Halsey News
Tue, 09 Jan 2018 21:14 UTC
USA drones
The U.S. foreign policy establishment will not go gently into that good night in Syria. For weeks I've been keeping only half an eye on the situation there waiting for confirmation of U.S. intentions now that the bulk of the country has been returned to government control.

And with the attack on the Khmeimim air base at in Latakia we now have our answer. On January 6th the so-called moderate rebels - who have been getting routed by the Syrian Arab Army - launched a major offensive on the air base using more than a dozen drones dropping mortar shells.

The Russian air defense systems thwarted the attack with damage to a couple of planes. The Russians are convinced (and said publicly) that this attack could only have been pulled off with assistance from a technologically-advanced state.

This is the Russian way of saying that the U.S. was behind the attack. This report from Southfront has one of our Boeing P-8 Spy planes in the area during the attack.

The U.S., of course, denies this saying that the technology is available on the open market. Yes, but so what? It takes a little more than buying these drones to put them in the air and coordinate an attack with them.

In effect, this was not a denial.

Comment: See also:

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Attention

Seven revelations from Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson's senate testimony

Chuck Ross
The Daily Caller
Wed, 10 Jan 2018 09:30 UTC
Glenn Simpson Fusion GPS
© Youtube screen grabFusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson
One of the biggest takeaways from Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson's Senate Judiciary Committee testimony is that he has no independent proof that the allegations made in the infamous Trump dossier are accurate.

An extensive review of Simpson's 312-page Aug. 22 interview transcript shows that his strongest evidence for believing the dossier's accuracy is that he trusts Christopher Steele, the former British spy who compiled the 35-page document.

"Chris, as I say, has a sterling reputation as a person who doesn't exaggerate, doesn't make things up, doesn't sell baloney," Simpson, a former Wall Street Journal, told Senate investigators in the interview.

Comment: See also:

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Eye 2

Longest-serving Palestinian prisoner marks 36 years in Israeli custody for alleged offence


Ma'an News
Sat, 06 Jan 2018 17:14 UTC
An undated photo of Karim Younis (File)
An undated photo of Karim Younis (File)
Karim Younis, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner in Israeli custody, marked his 36th year in Israeli prison on Saturday.

Younis, a Palestinian citizen of Israel from the Palestinian town of Arara in Israel, was arrested by Israeli authorities on January 6, 1983, according to official Palestinian Authority (PA)-owned Wafa news agency.

Comment: Also See:

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Question

Art of the non-deal: Finding the answer to a riddle shrouded in a mystery

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Tue, 09 Jan 2018 01:15 UTC
Kim/China/US
© Latuff
The art of the non-deal might be the only way out of the stand-off between the US and North Korea

High-level inter-Korean talks at the border village of Panmunjeom not only represent a vital step in Winter Olympics' diplomacy but also offer a tantalizing chance of a breakthrough in stalled six-party discussions. In stark contrast with the usual tweet barrage, United States President Donald Trump even told South Korean President Moon Jae-in that the meeting could yield a positive outcome.

Among the possibilities are that Seoul and Pyongyang could resume civilian exchanges. The hotline between South and North Korea could reopen along with the joint Kaesong Industrial Region, which was closed in 2016.

The potential of reinvigorating the sidelined six-party talks, involving China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, the US and North Korea, is another possibility.

Beyond the Winter Olympics, the fierce divide between North and South, of course, will not be breached, even though North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has stressed that his country will not go nuclear unless "hostile forces" attack his regime. He appears confident that there will not be a preemptive US nuclear strike because of the North's deterrent. So, the question now is where will China position itself after the Panmunjeon talks?


Comment: See also:

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