Puppet MastersS


Russian Flag

What sanctions? Russian gas exports to Europe hit record high

Nick Cunningham
Oil Price
Mon, 01 Jan 2018 14:00 UTC
russian oil and gas operations
Despite years of effort from the EU, Russia's grip over natural gas supplies in Europe is tightening, not waning.

Gazprom shipped 190 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe in 2017 - a record high, according to Bloomberg. In 2018, that figure is expected to dip slightly to 180 billion cubic meters, which will still be the second most on record.

The higher reliance on Russian gas may come as a surprise, not least because of the ongoing tension between Russia and some European countries on a variety of issues. Russia's intervention in Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea in 2014 led to a standoff between Russia and the West-but Europe's imports of Russian gas are up more than 25 percent since then, despite a lot of rhetoric in Brussels about diversification.


Comment: The nightmare in Ukraine was a Western initiative: Biden reveals in memoirs US meddling in Ukraine


Comment: Russia is making business deals with duplicitous puppets in the West, and is still winning:

Read More...
Cult

Saudi 'corruption probe': Prince Alwaleed's fate remains uncertain

John Hayward
Breitbart
Tue, 02 Jan 2018 12:26 UTC
Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal
© Mido Ahmed / AFP / Getty
Two months after a sweeping series of arrests and temporary detentions made in connection with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's corruption probe, the fate of perhaps the biggest fish caught in the net remains uncertain: Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the wealthiest, most famous, and well-connected men in the world.

Most of the detainees were released from their often remarkably luxurious quarters after about a month, and a sizable amount of the money allegedly lost to corruption has been recovered in a string of enormous settlements, a few of them approaching nine figures. But Prince Alwaleed, who the L.A. Times observes is "the public face of the Saudi royal family to many foreign executives and investors," is still twisting in the wind.

"People with knowledge of the matter say Alwaleed is balking at demands that could see him relinquish control of Kingdom Holding Co," L.A. Times and Bloomberg News report. "He also is resisting any suggestion of wrongdoing because of the impact it would have on his reputation, they said. The prince owns the vast majority of the $9-billion conglomerate, which has stakes in household names from Citigroup Inc. to Twitter."

Comment: Justice Saudi style: If you are a regular citizen you risk getting your head chopped off. If you are a royal, you will go to the Ritz, where you will be tortured until you surrender most of your billions. Then you can go back to cabinet meetings, preferably with a smile.

Read More...
Stormtrooper

Trump sells weapons to Ukrainian neo-nazi regime - Russia "cannot remain indifferent to that"

Jay Syrmopolous
The Free Thought Project
Fri, 29 Dec 2017 11:43 UTC
Putin Trump Ukraine
© The Free Thought Project
Trump's decision to sell advanced lethal weapons systems to the neo-Nazi Ukrainian regime could easily spiral into a dangerous, self-made, geopolitical crisis.

Washington, D.C. - Last week, the Trump administration, reversed its previous position and announced they had agreed to supply advanced lethal defensive weapons to the Ukrainian government - including the likely delivery of Javelin anti-tank weapons - which could decimate Russian armor. This is a move sure to be seen in Moscow as a drastic escalation that will almost certainly precipitate a Russian retaliation.

Russian officials denounced President Trump's authorization of lethal equipment to the Ukrainians as an aggressive act meant to deliberately sabotage the Minsk peace process.

"The United States has crossed a line by announcing its intention to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Saturday. "U.S. weapons are capable of leading to new casualties in our neighboring country, and we cannot remain indifferent to that."

Comment: In the words of Russian UN representative Pyotr Ilychev:
We have already said that Canada has publicly stated that it is ready to issue licenses to its companies for deliveries. American companies, in particular, the manufacturer of hand grenade launchers "Airtronic USA", as it turned out, is already supplying weapons to Kiev, secretly getting the consent of both the State Department and the Pentagon, although officially the US declares that there are no final decisions on this matter. We would like to recommend those who push for such decisions and take them, think about responsibility. It is quite obvious that the pumping of Ukraine with American and Canadian means of warfare pushes its leadership, which sabotages the Minsk accords, to new military adventures. Everyone should understand that the conflict in the Donbass can not be resolved by force. And the blame for the deaths of people will lie on those who give weapons to the murderers.


Read More...
Eye 1

UK intelligence actively plotted social disruption in Iran top secret docs reveal


Sputnik
Wed, 03 Jan 2018 01:31 UTC
UK Intelligence Agency Actively Plotted Social Disruption in Iran
© AP Photo
Iranian protests in recent days resurfaced questions about just how far Western intelligence agencies have gone in sowing unrest against political opponents.

"The Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group (JTRIG), a unit in one of Britain's intelligence agencies, is tasked with creating sock puppet accounts and fake content on social media in order to use 'dirty tricks' to 'destroy, deny, degrade [and] disrupt' enemies by 'discrediting' them," Mustafa al-Bassam, a security researcher pursuing a Ph.D. in London and former member of the LulzSec hacktivist group, said in a December 27 talk at the 34th Chaos Communication Congress.


Comment: You can watch the talk here: How British Intelligence uses dirty tricks online to 'deny, disrupt, degrade, deceive' (VIDEO)


On December 28, protests erupted in Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan and Rasht, with demonstrators calling for better economic opportunities and lower living costs. At least 22 people have been killed since the demonstrations started.
Read More...
USA

Trump's greatest achievement? Surviving his first year as President

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Wed, 03 Jan 2018 09:35 UTC
Trump
© GettyImages
Trump successfully withstood the most sustained attempt to eject a newly elected President from office in US history

As 2018 begins Donald Trump has reason to be satisfied.

He has survived his first year in much better shape politically than might have been expected, seeing off the single most sustained attack on a newly elected President that the US has witnessed since Abraham Lincoln's first year.
Read More...
Chess

Bannon reportedly mulling 2020 Presidential run 'if Trump doesn't survive that long'

Ken Meyer
Mediaite
Wed, 03 Jan 2018 09:35 UTC
steve bannon
A profile of Steve Bannon indicates that the Breitbart chief is getting increasingly frustrated with President Donald Trump, and might tap into his own presidential ambitions in the coming years.

Vanity Fair's Gabriel Sherman wrote an extensive report stating that the former White House chief strategist has expressed concern to various aides about the longevity of Trump's presidency. Even though Trump and Bannon are believed to be still in close contact with each other, the latter is unhappy with the direction of current administration and starting to think his own direct intervention is needed for national politics.
Read More...
Russian Flag

KGB past helped prepare Putin for Russian presidency


The Moscow Times
Wed, 03 Jan 2018 04:12 UTC
Putin press conference
© Channel ONe
Russian President Vladimir Putin says his past as a KGB agent prepared him for public office during a visit to state media's news program Vremya.

Putin appeared on state-run Channel One's "Vremya" on New Year's Day to congratulate the show on its 50-year anniversary. In a short interview, he fielded questions on the media, his role in history and his private life. He also mingled and sipped champagne with the program's staff.

Asked whether he had adjusted his behavior since becoming president, Putin said: "As strange as it sounds, no."

"Yes, I'm in the limelight, but in my previous life I always tried to act as if I was constantly being watched," he said. "It's strange, but that's how it worked out, perhaps because of my previous work."
Read More...
Chess

Best of the Web: Iran protests die down while riots gain steam, US preps for stage 2 in their information war


Moon of Alabama
Tue, 02 Jan 2018 03:30 UTC
Protest IRan
© ReutersIranian protest Tehran, Iran, December 30, 2017
The riots and protests in Iran continue for a 6th day. While "western" media claim that the protests are growing I see no evidence for that in the various videos that appear online. The legitimate protests over price rises, failing private banks and against the new neoliberal austerity budget of President Rouhani were hijacked early on by rioting gangs. These are obviously coordinated from the outside of the country through various internet applications, especially Telegram and Instagram:
Amad News, a channel on Telegram, appears to have played a pivotal role in the wave of protests. Reportedly administered by exiled journalist Rohollah Zam - a son of a senior Reformist cleric said to have escaped the country after being accused of having links with foreign intelligence agencies ...
Blocking the specific control channels proved to be insufficient:
Special software used to circumvent the government filters could still be downloaded easily. And on Monday, as on other days, there were calls for protests online and on foreign-based Persian-language satellite channels.
The blockage of the internet applications was lifted today.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Network

Russia becomes Beijing's biggest supplier of crude oil with operation of new pipeline that doubles capacity


RT
Tue, 02 Jan 2018 22:02 UTC
Russia oil rigs
© Reuters
Russia has doubled its crude oil export capacity to China as a result of a new pipeline, cementing its position as the number one supplier of crude to its eastern neighbor.

The new section of the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline began operations Monday, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The venture will deepen energy co-operation between Moscow and Beijing and serve the Belt and Road Initiative, a major Chinese-led development project across Asia.
Read More...
Megaphone

No clean slate: Trump lashes out at Iran and Pakistan in first 2018 tweets - UPDATE


RT
Mon, 01 Jan 2018 16:50 UTC
Trump
© Chris Kleponis / Global Look Press
US President Donald Trump apparently decided not to start the New Year with a clean slate, opting to re-ignite old disputes instead. In his first 2018 tweets, the US leader hit out at Iran and Pakistan.

Islamabad was the first to attract the anger of the US leader, as Trump accused it of giving the US "nothing but lies & deceit" in exchange for billions of dollars worth of aid. The president also accused Pakistan of providing safe haven to terrorists that the US is fighting in neighboring Afghanistan.

Comment: UPDATE:

Pakistan has responded to Trump's outbust by organizing an emergency meeting of cabinet meeting to suss out "facts from fiction". Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif fired back on Twitter:

Speaking to local media, (Asif) accused the US of aiding and abetting terrorists that were making incursions into Pakistan."US forces based in Afghanistan also overlooked safe havens of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) which has killed thousands of Pakistanis," he told a private TV channel, referring to a Taliban-affiliated militant group based in Pakistan's volatile region bordering Afghanistan, as cited by the newspaper.


Read More...