Puppet MastersS


Bizarro Earth

Trump offloads U.S. foreign policy problems - gives EU chance to grow a spine

us eu
© Internet
The U.S. is more and more isolated in international politics and even Europe is growing some spine and implements an independent foreign policy. U.S. imperialists are miffed but can do little about it. This development may well be part of Trump's plan of "Making America Great Again".

After Trump declared that the U.S. sees Jerusalem as Israel's capital, the UN Security Council as well as the UN General Assembly condemned the move. The U.S. had to veto a UNSC resolution that 14 other members supported.

While the minor protests and riots in Iran, are calming down (as predicted here), the U.S. ambassador Haley tried to use them to stage some UNSC verdict against the country. She was rebuffed by several countries including the U.S. allies France and Sweden.

Binoculars

Senators Graham and Grassley request criminal investigation of Trump dossier author Chris Steele

grassley
The Russiagate has taken an extraordinary twist with confirmation that two Republican Senators - Senator Grassley, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senator Lindsey Graham, have written to the US Justice Department requesting that Christopher Steele, the former British spy who compiled the Trump Dossier, be investigated because of "significant inconsistencies" in the statements he has made to the authorities.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has disclosed the request in a tweet


Comment: As Mueller's investigation proceeds, and it becomes clearer and clearer that there was absolutely no Russian collusion, it's inevitable that many of those who previously believed the Steele dossier - simply by force of informational inertia - will start to see that it was a whole lot of nothing from the very beginning. As that realization dawns, the question becomes: Then how did it go so far? And that's where the real scandal is. It seems that many just assumed that the document had been properly vetted, while others cynically used the document for nefarious purposes while fully aware that it was fraudulent. That a document amounting to littler more than bad fan fiction was used as justification for spying on American citizens, trying to take down the elected president, and the waste of millions of dollars on a subsequent investigation tied to the core fictional plot points, is really bad.


Brick Wall

Trump wants $18bn for border wall in exchange for DACA agreement

Trump border wall
© Jorge Duenes / Reuters
President Trump is reportedly asking Congress for a total $33 billion to fund his wall and other border security in exchange for ensuring protections for "dreamers" - illegal immigrants brought to the country as children.

Trump is asking Congress for nearly $18 billion to pay for the construction of more than 700 miles of his border wall expansion project, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal Friday.

If the funding is approved, the border wall would increase from around 654 miles to nearly 1,000 miles, covering roughly half the length of the entire US-Mexico border.

Comment:


Attention

CIA asset Khalifa Haftar releases terrorists from Benghazi stronghold

Khalifa Haftar
Khalifa Haftar, the CIA operative, terrorist and phony military leader has released a number of terrorists and terrorist leaders from his stronghold in Benghazi.

Under the guise of helping Libya clean the rubbish radical Islamists from their country, Khalifa Haftar captured a number of these radicals and placed them in his stronghold in Benghazi. Haftar was never on the side of the Libyan people but on the side of the US CIA and their promise to make him the dictator of Libya. This promise came with conditions, the first one was the he turn against his country during the Chad wars in the 1970's. When the CIA backed operation against Libya began to fail, Haftar was lifted out of N. Africa by the CIA and plopped down in Langley, VA where he lived well, funded by the CIA, until the phony "Arab Spring" in 2011. In early, 2011, Khalifa Haftar was dropped back into Libya to lead the 250,000 mercenaries brought into Libya to destroy the Libyan government, kill Ghadafi and destabilize the entire country.

Comment: More on the situation in Libya: Save the Libyan Slaves! How the Road to Hell is Paved with Liberal Intentions


Chess

Taiwan moving to the spotlight of the American-Chinese rivalry

Taiwan military
Taiwan military
Global military and political confrontation between two leading world powers (the USA and the PRC), which is shifting to the center of a new geopolitical game, is most clearly manifested in a sea strip, bordered, on the one hand, by the coast of China and, on the other hand, by the so-called "First island line".

The latter includes archipelagos of Japan, Taiwan and the Malay Archipelago. Control over the territories of these archipelagos allows the USA to solve the major strategic task of containment of distribution of Chinese military and political presence in the whole Region of the Indian and Pacific Oceans (RIPO).

The direct consequence of the covert and explicit rivalry between the major players is the fact that the most dangerous "hot zones" threatening world stability are located in this very strip. Of these zones the Korean peninsula and the South China Sea (alternating one another) have been in the center of attention over recent years.

Dollar

U.S. suspends $125mn UNRWA payment to Palestinian Authority

UNRWA
© Mohammed Salem/Reuters
A report that Washington has frozen a $125 million payment to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency is being denied by a US official, according to Reuters. UNRWA provides aid to Palestinian refugees.

Citing "three Western diplomats," Israeli Channel Ten diplomatic correspondent Barak Ravid reported the freeze on Friday at Axios. The diplomats reportedly said that the funding is being frozen until the Trump administration finishes a review of US aid to the Palestinian Authority.

However, an unnamed US official reportedly told Reuters that no official decision has been made yet.

The $125 million, a third of what the US contributes annually, was supposed to be paid Monday.

Cell Phone

From 'Russian meddling' to Iran regime change: Social media as US policy tools

An opponent of Iranian President Hassan Rouhan
© Francois Lenoir / ReutersAn opponent of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani chants slogans during a protest outside the European Union Council in Brussels, Belgium January 3, 2018.
As US-based social media companies crack down on dissent at home in the name of fighting phantom 'Russian meddling,' Washington seeks to leverage them for regime change in places like Iran.

If social media platform Twitter can ban German politicians for incitement (of race hate), then why doesn't it apply the same sanction on President Trump over his incendiary comments regarding Iranian protests?

Arguably, Trump's incitement is far graver. He is recklessly encouraging violence in a whole nation. The arrogance is astounding and yet Twitter and other US news media just go along with it. So too do European leaders and media.


Trump and his administration have been full-on in public statements egging on protests which broke out in Iran last week. Trump's denouncing of the Iranian government as "brutal and corrupt" and urging "time for change" is a brazen incitement to sedition.

Comment: Washington's manipulations are becoming more brazen and easy for anyone to see if they are paying attention. This time it appears their meddling will fail: Pepe Escobar - Why there won't be a revolution in Iran


Snakes in Suits

Media reports 11 Saudi princes arrested for protesting utility bills at ruling palace

Saudi Arabia’s royal family members
© Saudi Press Agency / Reuters
Saudi Arabia's Royal Guard reportedly arrested royal family members over a protest at one of the king's palaces in Riyadh. The princes apparently demanded utility payments be canceled, and compensation for a relative's execution.

The royals, whose names were not disclosed, were sent to Saudi Arabia's largest maximum-security facility - Al-Ha'ir - located south of the capital, Riyadh Saudi news site Sabq reported on Saturday.

They are said to be facing a trial for their refusal to leave the historic royal palace of Qasr a-Hokm, where they protested Saudi King Salman's decision to cut some of their privileges. This includes having their electricity and water bills paid for. The princes also reportedly demanded financial compensation for last year's capital punishment of a relative.

Attention

'Fix it or cancel': Tillerson says a change to law on Iran deal could come next week

Rex Tillerson and Donald Trump
© Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
The Trump administration is working on a "legislative fix" it claims it needs to remain in the Iran nuclear deal - despite numerous international agencies and bodies calling on Washington to honor the original agreement.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been meeting with congressional leaders "on a very active basis" to draw up legislation which will "fix" the Iran deal. The proposed changes will likely "strengthen the way the US enforces the agreement," and could come as early as next week, according to the Associated Press.

Lawmakers are also considering changing the legislation so that Trump would no longer be required to certify Iran's compliance with the deal. Another legislative proposal reportedly brought up would allow more time in between US certification deadlines. Any of these changes, however, would have to get significant support among Republicans and Democrats in Congress.

"The president said he is either going to fix it or cancel it," Tillerson told AP. "We are in the process of trying to deliver on the promise he made to fix it."

Comment: The US keeps trying to stoke unrest in Iran by whatever means it deems necessary: MEK Terrorist Death Cult: Meet Washington's 'Iranian Opposition'


Bad Guys

1.4 million Afghan refugees ordered to leave Pakistan after US cuts aid to country

Afghan refugees
On Wednesday, the Pakistani government ordered 1.4 million Afghan refugees to leave the country in 30 days. According to DAWN, the oldest English-language newspaper in Pakistan, this is the sixth extension given to refugees, which the last expired on December 31.

The announcement was made by the National Security Committee and approved by the federal cabinet, which comes after President Trump unleashed a series of tweets accusing Pakistan of harboring terrorists.
"The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools," Trump said on New Year's day.

"They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!"
Further, the US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley accused Pakistan of playing "a double game for years" and said President Trump will withhold $225 million in aid to the country.

Comment: Interesting that Imran Khan mentioned that they helped the CIA create jihadi groups! Now that relations are coming to a breaking point, we wonder what other unsavory secrets will be revealed.

More on the Pakistan-US fallout: