Puppet MastersS


Bullseye

Lavrov on US foreign policy: '"We have strength and don't need diplomacy"

Trump Tillerson
© Michael Reynolds / ReutersRex Tillerson (L), US President Donald J. Trump (R)
In an exclusive interview with RT, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov explained the US shoots itself in the foot when it fails to stick to its promises. Going back on the nuclear deal with Iran won't make Pyongyang agree to a similar one.

The veteran Russian diplomat had an hour-long exchange with RT, discussing the state of global affairs as seen from his position. On several occasions he lamented the state of American diplomacy, apparently sacrificed to the needs of the shifting political agenda in Washington.

One vivid recent example is the crisis in the Korean Peninsula, where the Trump administration chose a heavy-handed approach instead of a negotiated solution, Lavrov said. "I cannot fail to remark upon a trend that we have seen over the past few months. The situation is serious enough that shedding some light on the American approach to the issue is not only proper but necessary," he said.

"In September the Americans signaled that they were prepared for dialogue and didn't plan any military exercise until spring [2018] and that the North Korean leadership should keep calm too. This natural pause before spring could be used to establish some kind of dialogue. We translated this signal and it was not rejected."

Newspaper

Russian government unanimously approves bill to crack down on pedophiles

Sexual crimes against children by persons who take advantage of their official position will be punishable by up to 15 years in prison

pedophilia rings
Russia's government unanimously approved a bill on Monday toughening up criminal responsibility for child molesters even far as life imprisonment.

Deputy Speaker of Russia's State Duma (lower house) Irina Yarovaya authored the initiative. The bill proposes a life sentence for any sexual assault against children under 14 years of age, which results in grave consequences affecting their health or life.

USA

The mindset of the "Ideological Drone"

Patriot America Shotgun flag waving
My recent analysis of the potential consequences of a US attack on the DPRK has elicited a wide range of reactions. There is one type of reaction which I find particularly interesting and most important and I would like to focus on it today: the ones which entirely dismissed my whole argument. The following is a selection of some of the most telling reactions of this kind:

Example 1:
North Korea's air defenses are so weak that we had to notify them we were flying B1 bombers near their airspace - they didn't even know our aircraft were coming. This reminds me of the "fearsome" Republican Guard that Saddam had in the Persian Gulf. Turns out we had total air superiority and just bombed the crap out of them and they surrendered in droves. We have already seen what happens when an army has huge amounts of outdated Soviet weaponry versus the most technologically advanced force in the world. It's a slaughter. Also, there has to be weaponry up the USA's sleeve that would be used in the event of an attack. Don't forget our cyber warfare abilities that would undoubtedly be implemented as well. This writer seems to always hype Russia's capabilities and denigrate the US's capabilities. Sure, Russia has the capacity to nuke the US into smithereens, and vice versa. But if its a head to head shooting war, the US and NATO would dominate. FACT.



Comment: Behind the Headlines: 'Containing' Russia-China and Global Economic Collapse


Newspaper

Guatemala announces plans to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem

Despite the furore over Washington's controversial decision to recognize the sacred city of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Guatemala has decided to follow suit, announcing plans to relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv.

Tel Aviv
© Ammar Awad / Reuters
Following a phone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday, the President of Guatemala, Jimmy Morales, announced his decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem.

Radar

Targeting Iran: Washington's pre-war demonization formula is in full swing

Nikki Haley
© CLIFF OWEN/APU.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley speak in front recovered segments of an Iranian rocket during a press briefing at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2017, in Washington. Haley says “undeniable” evidence proves Iran is violating international law by funneling missiles to Houthi rebels in Yemen. Haley unveiled recently declassified evidence including segments of missiles launched at Saudi Arabia from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen.
U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley's grandiose performance in front of the UN on December 15 should send shivers down the spines of those who remember Colin Powell's equally disturbing performance in the months leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. This is just the beginning of the a new media campaign against Iran with regime change as the end goal.

The United States has had Iran in its crosshairs for decades and current media coverage indicates that US-Iranian relations are only getting worse. In 1953, the CIA overthrew Iran's democratically elected leader, Mohammed Mossadegh, and replaced him with a brutal U.S.- and U.K.-backed dictator, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. As is typically the case with covert CIA operations, the U.S. had other concerns when it made the decision to lead a coup against Iran's democratically elected government and opted for a dictatorship instead. As explained by The Guardian:
"Britain, and in particular Sir Anthony Eden, the foreign secretary, regarded Mosaddeq as a serious threat to its strategic and economic interests after the Iranian leader nationalised the British Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, latterly known as BP. But the U.K. needed U.S. support. The Eisenhower administration in Washington was easily persuaded."
The Shah's subsequent reign and stranglehold over Iran sowed the seeds of anti-Western discontent. The Iranian people overthrew the Shah in the historic 1979 revolution, and have almost completely rejected Western influence ever since. Shortly afterward, the U.S. backed Saddam Hussein in Iraq to take out Iran in a nonsensically brutal conflict that lasted close to a decade, nearly killing off an entire generation. Further, the U.S. knew Saddam Hussein was using chemical weapons against the Iranian people and enabled him to do so - all the while secretly selling arms to the Iranians in order to maximize the death toll.

Comment: Western media narratives can not only be debunked about Iran:

Alleged Threat of Iranian Nukes is Hysterical Nonsense Because Iran Doesn't Have a Death Wish

but also about North Korea:

What You're Not Hearing From The U.S. Media About North Korea's Missile Tests


Bad Guys

Pentagon acknowledges presence of US troops in Yemen as cases of cholera surpass one million

Yemen war
The Pentagon admitted for the first time this week that it has "conducted multiple ground operations" in Yemen, the impoverished and war-ravaged country on the Arabian Peninsula, while conducting more than 120 air strikes there this year, triple the number in 2016.

This revelation of an escalation on yet another front in the expanding US military intervention in the Middle East came as Yemen marked the 1,000th day of the war being waged by Saudi Arabia and its fellow Gulf oil sheikdoms against the poorest nation in the Middle East.

Multiple aid agencies issued statements warning that the deaths of millions are threatened as the war claims more victims and plunges vast portions of the population into conditions of famine and disease.

The depth of the country's humanitarian crisis was underscored this week with the announcement by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that the number of cholera cases in Yemen had reached one million, making the ongoing epidemic by far the worst in recorded human history.

Arrow Down

Russian opposition activist Navalny supporters endorse him for presidency

Supporters of Russian opposition leader Aleksey Navalny in St Petersburg on December 24, 2017
© Olga Maltseva / AFPSupporters of Russian opposition leader Aleksey Navalny in St Petersburg on December 24, 2017
Supporters of opposition figure Aleksey Navalny have endorsed him for president in the election scheduled for March 2018, and prepare to send his nomination to the election commission.

The opposition activist won the initial support of 742 people at a gathering in Moscow, above the minimum 500 required to launch a presidential bid. At least 20 cities across the country hosted rallies in his support.

Comment: The Russian Central Elections Commission rejected Navalny's bid, saying his endorsement and papers were all legal and proper, but that Russian law forbids individuals who have served long prison sentences from becoming presidential candidates. Denied. Navalny responded by calling for polls to be boycotted:
Navalny addressed the commission with a heated speech asking them "to do the right thing once in their lives" but the head of the body, Ella Pamfilova, harshly replied that she and her colleagues had the same right to hold a political position as everyone else, but the registration procedure was regulated by a clear and unambiguous law.

"You are raising funds illegally and you are turning young people into morons. You can dress me in a uniform or paint a beard on my face in pictures, but I am still ready to meet your voters, despite all insults that you are allowing yourself to make," Pamfilova said at the Central Elections Commission session.

The official was referring to Navalny's practice of fundraising through the internet in which the activist claimed that he had the right to run for presidency. In late November a court in Moscow ruled in favor of a man who demanded that Navalny's elections headquarters return his $860 donation and pay $30 more in court fees. The plaintiff claimed he had donated the money to Navalny's presidential campaign, but after the transfer was completed he learned that Russian law precludes the activist - or indeed any person with an unserved criminal sentence - from becoming a presidential candidate.

At the Sunday convention, Navalny threatened that the rejection of his application for the election would trigger a "voters' strike" and on Monday he called upon other would-be participants of the 2018 race to quit as a sign of protest. In a video message posted on his web-site the activist said that he and his allies would not dissolve the election headquarters but will use it for promotion of ideas seeking to undermine voter turnout as well as general trust in the country's political system. He added a promise to contest the rejection in court. "Definitely, unconditionally we will appeal this decision in a court. In the Constitutional Court and everywhere in the world where it is possible," Navalny told reporters.



Clipboard

The long list of reasons why Mueller's 'special counsel' should be terminated

Mueller investigation
Fishing Expedition (def)- any inquiry carried on without any clearly defined plan or purpose in the hope of discovering useful information....dictionary.com
After more than a year of incriminating media coverage, less than half of Americans (49 percent) believe it's "likely" that Donald Trump committed a crime connected to Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 election. That's according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll that was released in December. And, while a mere 19 percent of the people surveyed think there's "solid evidence" to support the allegations, 30 percent believe it's "just a suspicion". (Another 44 percent think it's unlikely Trump committed a crime.)

If the media was hoping to persuade the American people that Trump is guilty of a crime, they have a long way to go.

Not surprisingly, attitudes about Trump's alleged "collusion" break down along party lines. 82 percent of Republicans believe that Trump did NOT commit a crime, while 74 percent of Democrats think that he did.

The margin of difference seems to reflect the political bias' of the interviewees. Simply put, people who don't like Trump, are more likely to think he's in bed with the Russians, while the people who like him, think it's baloney.

Comment: The problem here is that, even if the Special Counsel is eventually terminated, the same deeply entrenched groups of politicians and Washington insiders will, as a result of their pathological persistence and desire to see no US-Russia rapproachement, look for other ways to stymie and beleaguer Trump at every turn. Political assassination can take many forms and Trump is seemingly outgunned here - unless he were to make a direct and unequivocal appeal to the people; his millions of supporters.


2 + 2 = 4

Afghan Professor of Law explains why Hague can't try Pentagon, CIA for war crimes

Last month, the International Criminal Court requested permission to investigate alleged war crimes committed during the conflict in Afghanistan by US military personnel and the CIA. Speaking to Sputnik, professor of law Mohammad Farhad Azimi outlined what he said was the main reason Afghan authorities and the ICC can't bring US forces to account.

US Army Soldier
© Flickr/ The U.S. ArmyUS Army Soldier
An ICC prosecutor requested approval to launch an investigation into alleged US war crimes in the war-torn Central Asian nation, including possible torture, in early November, repeating a similar request made a year earlier. However, for reasons unknown, the investigation was again suspended.

Legal observers believe the key factor stalling the Hague's investigation stems from the George W. Bush administration's 2002 withdrawal from the ICC's Rome Statute, under which suspected war criminals can be tried.

Comment:


Laptop

Virus found inside DNC server is linked to a company based in Pakistan

HIVE
© Steemit
The DNC hacking story just took another strange turn. According to the BBC, alleged Russian hackers responsible for infecting DNC systems, used servers linked to a company based in Pakistan. "BBC says a server whose IP was hard-coded into the virus found on the DNC's server traces to a company called Crookservers that is based in PAKISTAN, run by a guy named Usman Ashraf," tweeted the Daily Caller's Luke Rosiak.

Comment: There is a cyber trail, in spite of the obvious false one, and according to Wikileaks it starts with the CIA.