Puppet MastersS


Eye 1

US plots to 'finish the job' in Balkans as Serbian president visits Russia

Nebojsa Malic
RT
Sat, 23 Dec 2017 13:57 UTC
Aleksandar Vucic Vladimir Putin
© Yuri Kochetkov / ReutersRussian President Vladimir Putin meets with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia December 19, 2017
As the president of Serbia negotiates energy and trade deals in Moscow, the US foreign policy establishment plots to "finish the job" in the Balkans, and already dominates the country's media space.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic sought to bolster his patriotic bona fides by meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. They reportedly negotiated Serbia's access to Eurasian Union markets and Russian oil and gas. Vucic hinted at buying Russian transport helicopters but dodged questions about the rumored deal for tanks and armored vehicles, or the S-300 air defense systems.

Officially, Serbia maintains military neutrality and refuses to join the US-EU trade sanctions against Russia. On the other hand, Belgrade signed the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) with NATO in 2015 and remains committed to entering the EU at some point. These policies had prompted the US envoy to the region, Hoyt B. Yee, to threaten Belgradein October over "sitting on two chairs."
Read More...
Chess

The foolishness of Trump's decision to arm Ukraine

Daniel Larison
The American Conservative
Sat, 23 Dec 2017 13:58 UTC
Trump grin
Trump is pressing ahead with the foolish option of arming Ukraine:
The Trump administration has approved the first ever U.S. commercial sale of lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine, in a clear break from the de facto U.S. ban on arms sales that dates back to the Obama administration.
As I said last month, Trump would be a fool to arm Ukraine, so it comes as no surprise that this is what he has decided. While the U.S. isn't giving Ukraine everything it was asking for, it is still recklessly throwing weapons at the problem. Russia will view this as a provocative act on our part, and it will respond with its own aggressive measures before long. When these weapons fail to have the desired effect, the drumbeat for sending more and more advanced weapons will start. Trump has already shown how easily he can be led by his advisers to endorse needlessly destructive measures. The U.S. will find itself caught in a fruitless and unnecessary competition with another major power that has far more at stake in the conflict. Because it has more at stake, Russia will always outmatch whatever support the U.S. provides, and so by adding more weapons to the mix the U.S. is simply fueling a conflict that it should be trying to resolve peacefully.
Read More...
War Whore

Hysteria! Libtards & neocons insist Mueller's firing 'imminent' despite Trump's denial


RT
Sat, 23 Dec 2017 13:58 UTC
Robert Mueller
© Jonathan Ernst / ReutersRobert Mueller
Journalists, pundits and politicians are insisting President Donald Trump will fire Robert Mueller, despite the White House denying the claims and the fact that Trump lacks the authority to dismiss the special counsel.

While self-described "resistance" figures have pinned their hopes on Mueller's probe finding the sorely-needed smoking gun that would prove collusion with foreign actors (other than Israel), they have simultaneously speculated that Trump will fire Mueller. That, they say, would trigger a "constitutional crisis" and provide grounds for Trump's impeachment.
Read More...
Black Cat

Young Turks host Cenk Uygur confirms report of his racist, sexist statements - blames it on being Republican at the time

Cassandra Fairbanks
The Gateway Pundit
Sat, 23 Dec 2017 14:20 UTC
Cenk Uygur Young Turks
Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks
Following a report from the Gateway Pundit on Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks' dark history of racism, sexism, and pro-rape commentary - the progressive icon issued an apology of sorts, blaming it on him being a Republican at the time.

Uygur was over 30 at the time of the posts, which included referring to Native Americans as "Redskins" who are always looking to make a buck, stating that Japanese women will sleep with American men for a new purse, and stating that women are "genetically flawed" and "poorly designed creatures who do not want to have sex nearly as often as needed for the human race to get along peaceably and fruitfully."

Speaking to The Wrap, Uygur confirmed that the posts were in fact his, and stated that he regrets writing them.

"The stuff I wrote back then was really insensitive and ignorant," Uygur said. "If you read that today, what I wrote 18 years ago, and you're offended by it, you're 100 percent right. And anyone who is subjected to that material, I apologize to. And I deeply regret having written that stuff when I was a different guy."

Uygur then went the Kevin Spacey route with his apology - stating that he is now living as a liberal man - and blamed his disgusting statements on being a conservative at the time.

Comment: Leopards and spots. Uygur may have changed his label, but apparently not his nature.

Watch Young Turks co-founder Cenk Uygur dismiss Olivia Munn's allegations of sexual harassment against Brett Ratner in 2011

Read More...
Bad Guys

Western media is being consumed by the Myanmar monster it helped create

Tony Cartalucci
New Eastern Outlook
Fri, 22 Dec 2017 13:58 UTC
myanmar protestors
Protestors in Myanmar
Years ago, those confronting and questioning the Western media's "pro-democracy" narrative regarding Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, her National League for Democracy (NLD) political party and her supporters including saffron-clad supposed "Buddhist monks," were ridiculed and dismissed.

Warnings that Suu Kyi's political movement was nothing more than a foreign-funded attempt to co-opt the people and resources of the Southeast Asian state of Myanmar - a former colony of the British Empire still referred to widely in the West by its colonial nomenclature, "Burma" - were dismissed as mere conspiracy theories.

Meanwhile, concerns that violence targeting Myanmar's Rohingya minority was in fact being bolstered by Suu Kyi's rise to power were intentionally and concertedly sidestepped by the Western media who attempted to conceal the true nature of Suu Kyi's political party and the core "values" of her support base and shift blame onto the ruling military-led government.

It was inevitable that upon taking power, Suu Kyi and the NLD - enabled by decades of US-UK-EU financial, political, and material support - the progressive veneer applied to this "democracy icon" would begin to peel, and the true nature of her and her followers would reveal itself.

Comment: Journalists outside the mainstream media have been warning about Suu Kyi for over a decade:

Read More...
Mr. Potato

Suspicious 'Russian diplomat' removed from UK House of Commons debate is actually American


RT
Sat, 23 Dec 2017 11:41 UTC
UK Parliament
© Reuters / Andrew WinningHouses of Parliament
The House of Commons has become the scene of another bizarre incident as Members of Parliament demanded that a suspicious "Russian diplomat" be ejected from the chamber. The man, however, turned out to be American.

Rather fittingly, the spectacle unfolded during a rather poorly attended debate on Russian interference in the Brexit referendum. Labour MPs Ben Bradshaw and Chris Bryant accused the man of being from the Russian embassy and of taking pictures and video from the public gallery, a practice which is not strictly forbidden under the rules of parliament.

Comment: The members of Parliament probably think too highly of themselves and their debates if they think that Russia is sending 'agents' to record what they are saying. Paranoia and crazy conspiracy theories are not that important!

For the latest on UK-Russian relations, don't miss:

But Where's Natasha? Boris Goes to Russia, Cracks Jokes, Gets Told Off by Lavrov, Still Wants Trade with Russia

Read More...
Holly

SOTT Focus: End of Year 2017 Greetings, Thanks and a Request for Your Continued Support


Sott.net
Thu, 07 Dec 2017 16:01 UTC
Winter forest comet
Dear Readers,

2017 has been another year full of surprises. The world keeps changing, and us all with it. This year could be described as a year of madness (both in the weather and on the sociopolitical stage), more division and polarization.

Just like last year, people seem to be making a choice, for better or for worse. Some are aligning themselves with the increasingly blatant lies peddled by the mainstream media and the pathological governments of our world, and some have taken a stand against those lies and are reaching a point where they finally see that there is something terribly wrong with the version of reality with which they are presented.

More than minorities vs. majorities of all kinds, that is perhaps the biggest division: the choice between aligning oneself with lies or truth, and being prepared to do the work necessary to be able to identify the difference. We think that many of our readers have naturally chosen to 'take the high road', and we hope that that knowledge will always protect you.
Read More...
Dollars

Putin to allow wealthy Russians facing sanctions to bring home up to $3 billion


The Moscow Times
Fri, 22 Dec 2017 10:45 UTC
Vladmir Putin
© Vladimir Putin / Kremlin Press Service
President Vladimir Putin will allow wealthy Russians facing the threat of U.S. sanctions next year to anonymously bring home up to $3 billion of their assets via new government-issued bonds.

Putin has been on a so-called "deoffshorization" drive to compel major Russian companies and individuals to move their business activities back home.

With a new round of U.S. sanctions against Kremlin-linked oligarchs expected next February, wealthy Russians have asked their government to issue special bonds that would help them repatriate foreign assets, the Reuters news agency reported this month.

Putin met with top business and government leaders on Thursday, telling them that he had ordered the government and central bank to work out a proposal to issue foreign currency-denominated bonds next year.

Comment: Another example of how the continued sanctions on Russia only end up creating opportunities to become stronger and more independent all the while the EU takes the hit.

Read More...
Snakes in Suits

Adam Schiff nervous as House Republicans launch probe into who is leaking #Russiagate investigation info

Cristina Laila
The Gateway Pundit
Fri, 22 Dec 2017 22:49 UTC
Adam Schiff
Adam Schiff (D-CA)
All eyes are on ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff (D-CA) as House Republicans launch a probe into Russia investigation leakers.

Three House Republicans called for an inquiry into House Intelligence Committee Russia investigation leaks Monday. The Reps demanded members and staff responsible for violating rules be removed from the investigation.

Adam Schiff is panicking. He knows the walls are closing in on him. Schiff attempted to distract from the media firestorm by penning a piece about the non-existent Trump-Russia collusion in The Wall Street Journal hours after House Republicans announced the probe.

Adam Schiff wrote a piece in a piece in The Wall Street Journal just hours after three House Republicans launched their probe into House Committee leakers titled, "What We Know About the Trump Campaign's Collusion With Russia."
Read More...
USA

Washington's flag-waving myths about attacking North Korea need a serious dose of reality

The Saker
The Unz Review
Thu, 14 Dec 2017 00:00 UTC
DPRK Special Forces
DPRK Special Forces on Parade


First, the bragging dummies

Trump and Haley are still at it. They want to force China to take action against the DPRK by threatening to take North Korea "into their hands" if China refuses to comply. Haley said
"But to be clear, China can do more, (...) and we're putting as much pressure on them as we can. The last time they completely cut off the oil, North Korea came to the table. And so we've told China they've got to do more. If they don't do more, we're going to take it into our own hands and then we'll start to deal with secondary sanctions."
First, let's reset this scene in a kindergarten and replay it.

Kid A has a fight with Kid B. Kid A threatens to beat up Kid B. Kid B then tells Kid A to go screw himself. Kid A does nothing, but issues more threats. Kid B keeps laughing. And then Kid A comes up with a brilliant plan: he threatens Kid C (who is much much bigger than Kid B and much, much stronger too!) by telling him "if you don't make Kid B comply with my demands, I will take the issue in my own hands!". The entire schoolyard erupts in hysterical laughter.

Question: how would you rate the intelligence of Kid A?

Anyway,

This would all be really funny if this was a comedy show. But what this all is in reality is a slow but steady progression towards war. What makes this even worse is the media's obsession with the range of North Korean missiles and whether they can reach Guam or even the US. With all due respect for the imperial "only we matter" (and never mind the gooks), there are ways "we", i.e. the American people can suffer terrible consequences from a war in the Korean Peninsula which have nothing to do with missile strikes on Guam or the US.

Comment: Is the recent bellicose bullying out of Washington really indicative of an impending action or attack against North Korea?

Check out some of the latest stories:

Read More...