Puppet MastersS


Eye 1

NY AG Schneiderman sues Trump admin a whopping 100 times


RT
Tue, 26 Dec 2017 18:42 UTC
Court hearing
© Chromorange / Global Look Press
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has sued the Trump administration or congressional Republicans a whopping 100 times. He has been an opponent of Trump since the election campaign.

Schneiderman's latest move to sue the Federal Communications Commission over net neutrality marked the 100th case litigated by Schneiderman's office. He has also fought all three versions of Trump's travel ban, restrictions to access to birth control, and weakening of environmental regulations. He also sued to defend the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

"We try and protect New Yorkers from those who would do them harm," Schneiderman said, according to the New York Times. "The biggest threat to New Yorkers right now is the federal government, so we're responding to it."

A Republican attorney general similarly opposed President Obama during his time in office. Scott Pruitt, now in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency, sued the EPA 14 times when he served as Oklahoma attorney general.

Comment: See also:

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Clock

Another one bites the dust: Corrupt FBI's McCabe announces early retirement

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Mon, 25 Dec 2017 19:43 UTC
FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe
FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has some explaining to do. The top FBI official's seven-hour testimony contained "numerous conflicts with the testimony of previous witnesses."
The real US election collusion has surfaced, and it involved the DOJ and FBI working in unison, first to prevent Donald Trump from winning the White House, and then putting together an "insurance policy" (in the form of a salacious and disgusting dossier) to handicap the Trump Administration once in power.

One of the main players in the FBI's collusion against American Democracy, Hillary Clinton supporter and FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, is being forced to retire early next year after his corruption was fully exposed by text messages uncovered between his subordinate and mistress.

The Gateway Pundit reports that McCabe's retirement announcement comes on the heels of a major shake up at the FBI; Wray just removed Comey "confidant" and suspected leaker James Baker from his top post as general counsel.

Comment:







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Network

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor seeks inclusion of Afghanistan trade


RT
Tue, 26 Dec 2017 16:52 UTC
camels silk road
© Fan Peishen / Global Look Press
China and Pakistan are looking to include Afghanistan in their $57 billion economic corridor, as part of Beijing's Belt and Road initiative, said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, as quoted by Reuters.

The economic corridor is expected to benefit the whole region and act as an impulse for further development, according to the minister. Under the broader Belt and Road project Beijing is planning to build a new "Silk Road" connecting China to Southeast and Central Asia by land and the Middle East and Europe by sea.

"So China and Pakistan are willing to look at with Afghanistan, on the basis of win-win, mutually beneficial principles, using an appropriate means to extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan," the agency quotes Wang as saying.

Comment: China massive Belt and Road initiative is not just about building trade. Underlying their model is a powerful tool to rebuild relationships and counter the vulnerabilities that open the doors for chaos. The Western world has destroyed and co-opted many of Eurasia's historic centers of trade. Instead of spreading wealth and productivity, these areas have been mutilated and converted to spread conflict. Both China and Russia are attempting to do the real work of rebuilding societies through mutually beneficial networks and exchange. The days of the West's all encompassing corrupting influence are very likely numbered.

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Radar

Russian hysteria on Christmas Day: Royal Navy shadows newest Russian missile frigate in North Sea


RT
Tue, 26 Dec 2017 19:29 UTC
Royal Navy frigate HMS St Albans escorting Russian warship Admiral Gorshkov
© Royal NavyImages from an infrared camera show Royal Navy frigate HMS St Albans escorting Russian warship Admiral Gorshkov
The Royal Navy's HMS 'St Albans' shadowed the cutting-edge Russian missile frigate 'Admiral Gorshkov' as she passed near British waters in the North Sea on Christmas Day.

'Admiral Gorshkov', Russia's newest guided-missile frigate, has been traversing the North Sea off the UK coast, prompting the Royal Navy to dispatch HMS 'St Albans' to "keep watch on the new Russian warship 'Admiral Gorshkov' as it passed close to UK territorial waters."

According to the Royal Navy's photos, apparently shot from the air, the vessels were sailing fairly close to each other. HMS 'St Albans', a Type 23 destroyer, scrambled a helicopter to monitor the Russian frigate.

Admiral Gorshkov', which is undergoing open sea trials, has been routinely sailing between the White Sea off Russia's northern coast and the Baltic. However, this time prompted the British military to respond with a message which may seem a little bit over the top.
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USA

Season's greetings from US Empire means tidings of Phoenix-style torture and assassinations in Afghanistan

Finian Cunningham
RT
Mon, 25 Dec 2017 17:44 UTC
pence
© Reuters
This week saw another deadly bomb attack in the Afghan capital, Kabul, only days after US Vice President Mike Pence promised American troops "victory was in sight."

This war is far from over, and signs are it will get much worse in the year ahead.

Lurking behind the cheery seasonal tidings brought by Pence lies a forthcoming year of much-increased violence in Afghanistan. Away from the upbeat headlines are portents of ever-deeper involvement by US elite forces in the country's unrelenting mayhem.

In particular, the US military is moving toward a new strategy under President Trump of unleashing killer units in an apparent bid to drown the Afghan insurgency in blood. It's a policy America has tried elsewhere, for example, the infamous Phoenix program of assassination during the Vietnam War. The policy usually fails in its stated objectives of "peace and security."

The "surprise" nature of Pence's whirlwind visit just before the weekend shows the Central Asian country's security is on a knife-edge. The unannounced trip by the vice president - his first to Afghanistan - was reportedly "shrouded in secrecy" for security reasons.
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Flashlight

Pentagon reveals US military 'lost' $9.7M worth of assets in Afghanistan due to army's negligence


RT
Tue, 26 Dec 2017 17:26 UTC
US troops in Afghanistan
© Omar Sobhani / ReutersUS troops in Afghanistan July 7, 2017.
The US have, since 2012, 'lost' some $9,7 million in assets in Afghanistan because of the army's negligence, Pentagon's watchdog has revealed, adding that enemy troops might even have used the resources against US troops.

The 'Army Oversight of Logistics. Civil Augmentation Program Government-Furnished Property in Afghanistan' report was released by the Inspector General of the US Department of Defense earlier in December. It analyzed the US army-administered Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) which enlists contractors to provide housing, transportation and facilities maintenance for US forces. The program is tasked with maintaining Government-furnished property (GFP) in Afghanistan, servicing heating and air conditioning units, forklifts and power generators.

The key finding of the study highlighted the US army's negligence in managing US assets and that it didn't conduct "effective oversight" of it's inventory. "LOGCAP contractors themselves reported more than $9.7 million in GFP losses since 2012," the report says. And as US army officials did not maintain accurate records of all the property, they cannot be certain that "all contractor GFP losses have been identified, investigated, and reported."

Comment: The amount of waste and corruption in the US military shows why it spends 8 times more than the Russians do and yet is much less effective:

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Gift

Leaders of Ukraine and Donbass agree to holiday prisoner swap

Paul Antonopoulos
Fort Russ
Mon, 25 Dec 2017 17:18 UTC
Zakharchenko
The Donetsk People's Republics leader Alexander Zakharchenko said on Monday that a prisoner swap has been agreed by Ukraine and the DPR and Lugansk People's Republics (LPR) to occur December 27.

"Today a crucial event has taken place, the last conditions have been agreed and on December 27 the exchange by the 306 to 74 formula will be held," Zakharchenko said.

The LPR leader also said the republic was "ready to exchange prisoners on the conditions and in line with the agreements reached at today's meeting."

"We confirm our readiness to hold peace talks and resolve the conflict in Donbass by peaceful means," Pasechnik said.

"Today at the Svyato-Danilov Monastery the process has been completed on agreeing on all details concerning the exchange of prisoners between the Donetsk and Lugansk People's republics and Ukraine," the Patriarch confirmed.

Comment: RFE/RL adds a couple more details:
"The exchange will happen without any hindrance from the DPR or LPR [separatist-controlled areas in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions]," he said, adding that the prisoner swap was in its "first stage."

If the exchange is carried out, it will the first one in 14 months.
...
At a meeting in Minsk on December 20, representatives of Russia, Ukraine, the separatists, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said that they had agreed on a holiday cease-fire starting at midnight on December 23.

The cease-fire was agreed "in connection with the forthcoming Christmas and New Year festivities" and existing agreements and obligations, said an OSCE statement.

However, on December 25, both sides in the conflict made claims accusing each other of violating the cease-fire agreement.


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Jet2

Syrian military jet shot down by militants, pilot killed


RT
Tue, 26 Dec 2017 17:16 UTC
Fighter jet
A Syrian military jet has been shot down by militants in the northern Hama province, the Syrian state broadcaster has confirmed, adding that a pilot was killed in the attack.

"The military aircraft crashed in the vicinity of Hama after it was shot down by terrorists; the pilot was killed," the Syrian state-run SANA news agency quoted a source as saying.
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Folder

Erasing troublesome history: Massive trove of government files describing dark periods in Britain's past disappear from National Archives


RT
Tue, 26 Dec 2017 15:53 UTC
British National archives
© Olivia Harris / Reuters
A massive trove of government papers detailing some dark episodes of British history, including the Falklands War and the notorious Northern Irish Troubles, have vanished from the National Archives.

Almost 1,000 files, each thought to contain dozens of British government papers, have disappeared from the National Archives in London after civil servants removed them from the institution, a Guardian investigation has revealed.

By odd coincidence, the disappearance affects some of the most controversial parts of 20th-century British history, namely papers concerning the Falklands War, Northern Ireland's Troubles and British colonial rule in Palestine.

Comment: Much easier to re-write history to support a narrative more suitable to the ruling elite's current purposes if there is no contradicting evidence..

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Star of David

Israeli MP berates Palestinian mother on bus visiting son in prison - "Your son is a dog, an insect, a terrorist" (VIDEO)


RT
Tue, 26 Dec 2017 16:54 UTC
Oren Hazan
© Oren Hazan‎ / Facebook
A member of the Israeli parliament mounted a bus from the Gaza Strip and lashed out at a Palestinian woman heading to visit her son jailed in Israel, yelling that the prisoner was a "dog," an "insect" and a "terrorist."

"Your son is a dog. He is a dog. You come to visit the scum who are sitting here in prison, whom you see as your family members," the Israeli lawmaker, Oren Hazan, said in a video published on Facebook.

"I am a member of the Knesset [Israeli parliament]," he said, adding that "I will make sure that you are not allowed to visit here anymore" because "your friends in Gaza are holding our brothers." Hazan then threatened the Palestinian woman by shouting "if you don't pass on the message that we want our children back, you won't see your son or your husband."
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