Puppet MastersS


Wine n Glass

Putin plans to celebrate New Year with family and friends


TASS
Sun, 31 Dec 2017 00:54 UTC
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev also plan to celebrate the coming year of 2018 at home with close relatives

Putin
© Mikhail Metzel/TASS
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev keep the tradition and plan to celebrate the coming year of 2018 at home with family and friends.

"He [the head of state] traditionally celebrates it [the New Year] at home, together with family, close relatives and friends," presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Sunday.
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Pirates

SOTT Focus: Trump Claims US Defeated ISIS, But Terrorists Still Emerging from US Bases in Syria

Andrés Perezalonso
Sott.net
Sat, 30 Dec 2017 21:15 UTC
US supplied Syrian rebels
© Associated Press/Hammurabi's Justice NewsDodgy alliance: Syrian 'rebels' side-by-side US troops
Last Thursday, US president Donald Trump posted what appeared to be a self-congratulatory tweet on the achievements of the US military in the war against ISIS:

These numbers may or may not be accurate, but the implicit message is that they are the result of the efforts of the US-led coalition rather than the combined Russian, Iranian/Hezbollah and Syrian/Iraqi forces.

Trump's Pentagon numbers conflate the operations against ISIS in both Syria and Iraq, thereby overwriting the more specific numbers produced by the Russian military intervention in Syria alone, which changed the tide of the war in both countries: 60,318 jihadists killed, including 813 commanders; the destruction of 718 clandestine arms factories; and the liberation of 1,024 cities and settlements.

In pursuing its goals of eliminating Western-backed jihadist mercenaries in Syria, Russian forces took extreme care to safeguard civilian lives and minimize damage to infrastructure. This was in stark contrast to US policy in both Syria and Iraq, which involved little if any attacks on ISIS forces in the field, concentrating instead on 'liberating' strategic cities like Mosul and Raqqa by way of massive and indiscriminate bombing (compare the painstaking liberation of Aleppo with the flattening of Mosul). This difference in military strategy was, of course, to be expected given that Russia has a vested interest in maintaining Syria as a viable and independent nation state under Assad, while the US, from the very onset of the conflict, was interested only in the ruin of Syria and the overthrow of Assad.
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Eye 2

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson - Oil tycoon lost in a pond of his own shitfaced insolence

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey
Pravda.ru
Sat, 30 Dec 2017 19:35 UTC
Rex Tillerson

Rex Tillerson, the US Secretary of State, declared in an opinion-editorial article in the New York Times this week that he is, and I quote, "Proud of (US) diplomacy". The analogy that springs to mind is that of a father defending his demented son who has just murdered a family of six but left a grandmother sitting in a wheelchair because he ran out of bullets.

So when Rex Tillerson, United States Secretary of State, the leader of his country's diplomacy, makes his statement about how proud he is of his country's diplomacy, after Washington insulted the international community with the insolence of Colin Powell with his lies, Condoleezza Rice with her insults, Hillary Clinton with her utter incompetence (Libya) and John Kerry with his rudeness, we have the right to stand back and take stock.

And let us take stock on his statement in the same week that the Ambassador of the United States of America to the United Nations Organization, Nimrata Ramdhawa, alias Nikki Haley, fell for a prank by two Russian comedians about Russia interfering in the non-existent elections in the non-existent state of Binomo, admitting that the USA was aware of and following the case.

Proud of a Rottweiler ripping the throat out of a child
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Russian Flag

Number of US Tourists Visiting Russia Grows 25%, trade turnover up 17% in 2017


Sputnik
Fri, 29 Dec 2017 11:00 UTC
Russian and American flag
© Maxim Shemetov / Reuters
The number of American tourists visiting Russia has grown significantly this year, while Russian exports have also performed well, the Russian Trade Representative in the United States, Aleksander Stadnik, told Sputnik.

"Today, American tourists visiting our country rank third after Chinese and German tourists. Since the beginning of the year, the total flow of tourists from the United States to Russia has grown by a quarter," Stadnik said on Thursday.

Stadnik noted that between 270,000 and 280,000 US tourists visited Russia in 2017.

"That is nearly double the number of tourists from the United States in 2013, after their number decreased in 2014 and 2015," Stadnik noted.
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Info

Russia's ambassador to US: Moscow ready to repair ties with US despite 'regrettable' security strategy


RT
Sat, 30 Dec 2017 19:06 UTC
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump
© Carlos Barria / Reuters
Moscow is ready to "build bridges" with Washington despite the new US national security strategy, which designates Russia as a threat to US security, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said.

"We have carefully studied this strategy... we will probably continue scrutinizing all the words and expressions mentioned there, our magnifying lens in hand. I can only say this: the first impression of it is that this strategy is highly regrettable. Regrettable in the context of the Russia-US relations. We see many flawed points in it, but we are ready to work and build ties with the United States, regardless of this, I should say, unfriendly strategy, which the new of national security strategy really is," he said in an interview with RTVi on Friday.

The 68-page document, unveiled by US President Donald Trump earlier this month, lays out the four "pillars" of US national security as protecting the homeland, promoting US prosperity, preserving "peace through strength," and advancing US influence. Among the main challengers to America's global power, the strategy names "revisionist powers, such as China and Russia," that seek to "shape a world antithetical to US values and interest."

Comment: See also: Russia's ambassador to US: 'US and Russia should stop diplomatic war and start real work'

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Mr. Potato

Zakharova: Saakashvili's antics disgrace Ukraine


TASS
Sat, 30 Dec 2017 17:17 UTC
Mikheil Saakashvili
The situation that is unfolding in Ukraine around Mikhail Saakashvili, the former Georgian president and ex-governor of Ukraine's Odessa who now leads the Ukrainian opposition Movement of New Forces, is a disgrace for the Ukrainian people, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday.

"It is a disgrace for the Ukrainian people: a man from outside is at the helm of political processes and destabilizes the situation by playing dirty games. All he is doing is destructive," she said in an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. "It is a problem of the Georgian people too."

"The problem is that his one of the most hyped Georgians in the world and his inadequate behavior casts shadow on the entire nation," Zakharova added.

Comment: Two things Ukraine and Russia have in common: the presence of criminal, clownish "opposition" figures (Saakashvili, Navalny). The difference between Ukraine and Russia: Ukrainians take their clown seriously. Sad. Ukraine is so corrupt that the only option for Ukrainians is a foreign-born criminal. Well, they've got no one to blame but themselves, and their American masters for convincing them to willingly turn the country into massive trash heap.

See also: Saakashvili supporters storm Kiev center, call for Poroshenko impeachment

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Gold Seal

Swiss politician, journalist Guy Mettan gets it right: US still can't get over the fact that its plans for Syria were a dismal failure


Sputnik
Fri, 29 Dec 2017 17:05 UTC
putin assad shoigu
© Sputnik/ Michael Klimentyev
The tough US rhetoric towards Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russia can be explained by Washington's deep dissatisfaction over its failure in Syria, Guy Mettan, a Swiss politician and president of the Swiss Press Club, told Radio Sputnik, suggesting that the US is trying to hijack Moscow's diplomatic success.

The United States has failed in Syria and now they have to reconcile themselves with this fact, which is obviously hard for such a global player, Guy Mettan, a Swiss politician, president of the Swiss Press Club and author of the book "Creating Russophobia: From the Great Religious Schism to Anti-Putin Hysteria," told Radio Sputnik.

"In Syria, the liberation came from Russia, and from the government troops with the support of Iran. And now it's very difficult for such a power as the United States to recognize its failure. That is the reason why, I think, they are trying again and again to give support to jihadists," Mettan said.

The politician noted that Washington is trying to present the recent state of affairs in Syria as "a success of US diplomacy" and that is why, according to Mettan, the White House is exerting pressure on Russia and the Assad government.

Comment: That's pretty much all there is to it. Collectively, the U.S. establishment has the mentality of common criminal. As forensic psychologist Stanton Samenow puts it, the criminal "lies to preserve a view of himself as special and powerful, a self-image that he fortifies every time he succeeds at deceiving others. ... In pursuing an objective, [criminals] are heedless to the collateral effects of their behavior. They view other people as pawns to manipulate. ... When people fail to fulfill his unrealistic expectations, he reacts as though his entire self-image is at stake. Throughout his life, he is infuriated because people do not conform to what he wants, and he is unable to control them."

Which is all to say, the U.S. is "butt-hurt" that Russia and Iran have upstaged them, shown them to be ineffective and destructive half-wits and meddlers, washed-up has-beens, and no better than street thugs shaking down grannies for a thrill. The U.S. has an overinflated self-image to protect. And they'll do it the only way they know how: lying, killing, and destroying.

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Jet5

Russians strike terrorist cave in Syria filled with U.S., Saudi weapons


Pravda.ru
Wed, 27 Dec 2017 17:00 UTC
Russian bomber jet
© Ministry of Defence of the Russian FederationRussian Su-34 fighter-bomber aircraft carries out a strike against Daesh forces in Syria.
Even though Russia has taken a huge effort to destroy terrorists in Syria, the Russian Air Force continues struggling against them, finishing off enemy's forces and giving an opportunity to the army of the Syrian government to attack and clean up the country's territory from radicals.

In a recent combat mission, Russian military pilots struck a destructive blow to the positions of radical Islamists in Hama. Russian fighter aircraft attacked an underground base in the north of the province, in the town of El-Latamna.

The blow was struck on the cave, which led to the underground base. Terrorists use such locations to store their missiles and weapons that they supposedly receive from the United States through Saudi Arabia.


Comment: The bulk of Russian forces may have left Syria, but that doesn't mean they've stopped killing American and Saudi proxy terrorists.

See also:

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Attention

Russia abides UN sanctions on N. Korea amid accusations of illegal oil shipments


RT
Sat, 30 Dec 2017 11:25 UTC
oil rig
© unknown
Russia is fulfilling the UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions against North Korea, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in response to media reports on illegal shipments of oil.

"Russia fully and strictly observes the sanctions regime," the ministry said in a statement on Saturday. It also stressed the UN resolution does not fully ban oil supplies but only caps them, while a special ministry committee observes the commitment to the sanctions regime.

Earlier, Reuters published an exclusive report citing unnamed "senior Western European security sources" that claim that Russian tankers re-supplied North Korean vessels with fuel on three occasions in violation of the UNSC measures.

China has faced similar accusations. On Thursday, US President Donald Trump tweeted that China was "caught red-handed" allegedly allowing oil supplies to the North after South Korean media reported on the matter.

Comment: It is pretty clear who the world's antagonist is and what it does.

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Target

Countries dependent on expanded NATO forces tend to reduce their own level of security


RT
Sat, 30 Dec 2017 13:11 UTC
US soldier NATO
© Kacper Pempel / ReutersUS soldier, member of NATO troops, Orzysz, Poland
NATO's military buildup near Russia's borders dramatically worsens the security situations in countries where troops and equipment of the alliance are being stationed, First Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov warns.

"[I am] sure that the negative consequences of NATO's military preparations should spark serious concern among all [sides], as they worsen the security situation with regard to those states whose territories are being used to deploy NATO forces and assets," Titov said in an interview with Interfax.

On Russia's national security policies, the official said that Moscow's military doctrine ranks the NATO build-up "among the top military threats to the country." This includes military contingents being moved to nations bordering Russia, as well as "creating and deploying strategic missile defense systems," Titov said.

"These very steps have been undertaken by the alliance year after year in the framework of its policy of 'restraining' our country. In Europe, a bridgehead is currently being formed to deploy, should the need arise, an offensive grouping."

Comment: NATO build-up doesn't make anyone safer; it accomplishes the opposite. Call it what it is.

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