Puppet MastersS


Russian Flag

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


Sott.net
Fri, 22 Dec 2017 20:01 UTC
boris johnson lavrov
© Stefan Rousseau / ReutersBritain's Bumbling Foreign Secretary Boris 'I have Russian ancestors' Johnson walks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov before a meeting between the two in Moscow, Russia, December 22, 2017
Bungling, bumbling British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson is the first British FM to visit Russia in the last five years. Today he was in Moscow for talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. Johnson described Russian-UK relations as "going through a bad patch", but called for more progress on bilateral ties and coordination on issues "that matter to people of the world", like Iran, North Korea, Syria's future, and the fight against terrorism.
"One of the reasons for coming here is that there is no point in simply sitting on the sidelines and complaining about each other. We have to engage and we have to talk to each other. Be in no doubt that I want to see an improvement of relations between our peoples," he said, adding that the two countries should "work hard" to address difficulties and "find a way forward" to cooperate where it is possible.
Johnson affirmed that despite poor relations, he remains "a committed Russophile" - making sure to point out his partly Russian ancestry.

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Bad Guys

Greece's 15 minutes of fame may be gone, but austerity ordeal is far from over

Raul Ilargi Meijer
The Automatic Earth
Tue, 19 Dec 2017 19:51 UTC
The refugees painting
© Tamara de LempickaThe Refugees, 1937
Greek fraud reads like a crime novel.

Note: I feel kind of sorry this has become such a long essay. But I still left out so much. You know by now I care a lot about Greece, and it's high time for another look, and another update, and another chance for people to understand what is happening to the country, and why. To understand that hardly any of it is because the Greeks had so much debt and all of that narrative.

The truth is, Greece was set up to be a patsy for the failure of Europe's financial system, and is now being groomed simultaneously as a tourist attraction to benefit foreign investors who buy Greek assets for pennies on the dollar, and as an internment camp for refugees and migrants that Europe's 'leaders' view as a threat to their political careers more than anything else.

I would almost say: here we go again, but in reality we never stopped going. It's just that Greece's 15 minutes of fame may be long gone, but its ordeal is far from over. If you read through this, you will understand why that is. The EU is deliberately, and without any economic justification, destroying one of its own member states, destroying its entire economy.

Comment: More background:

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Chess

FBI Director Wray gives James Baker the boot - FBI/DOJ co-conspirators just lost their biggest asset

sundance
The Conservative Treehouse
Thu, 21 Dec 2017 20:00 UTC
Christopher Wray FBI
Christopher Wray
There is a clear plan and strategy in place to deal with the schemes of the "small group" of co-conspirators within the DOJ and FBI. CTH advises prudent patience, and assembly of tar and feathers, as the Machiavellian schemes continue to be untangled.

Tuesday afternoon when FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe travelled to Capitol Hill for his 10-hour closed door testimony and questioning he was accompanied by "small group" defense shield, FBI legal counsel, James Baker. In front of the House Intelligence Committee, Andy McCabe suddenly couldn't remember his relationship with the Steele Dossier. As a result of Attorney Baker's appearance and specific engagement within the hearing investigators announced yesterday to Baker would be summoned for questioning:
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Quenelle

Epic troll: Syrian Army fights jihadists in Idlib using American weapons captured from ISIS

Leith Fadel
Al Masdar News
Wed, 20 Dec 2017 20:27 UTC
syrian army
The Syrian Arab Army's (SAA) Tiger Forces arrived in northern Hama this week with a big surprise from their previous operations in the Deir Ezzor Governorate.

Units from the Tiger Forces were seen armed with US-manufactured weapons that were seized from the Islamic State (ISIS) during the two month long battle in Deir Ezzor.

According to a military source in Hama, the Syrian Army's Tiger Forces are planning to use the US-manufactured weapons against the jihadist rebels in the upcoming battle for the Idlib Governorate.

Among the US-manufactured weapons transferred to the Idlib front were a large number of TOW missiles that were previously supplied by Washington to the rebel forces in Syria before they were later sold to the Islamic State.

Comment: Now that's co(s)mic justice.

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Russian Flag

By the numbers: The results of Russia's military op in Syria


Sputnik
Fri, 22 Dec 2017 20:05 UTC
russian military police
© Sputnik/ Michael Klimentyev
Russian troops have completed their pull-out from Syria after the official end to the anti-terrorist operation announced by Vladimir Putin. As Russia's defense minister presented the final data on Russia's 27 month-long mission at a meeting of an internal military panel on Thursday, Sputnik listened in and summarized the most significant figures.

Pinpoint Precision

Russian Aerospace Forces carried out 34,000 sorties. 100 more strikes were carried out by Russian Navy vessels and subs.

Goodbye Jihadists

60,318 terrorists, including 819 commanders, were killed. 2,840 of the militants killed were Russian-born.

Farewell to Arms

718 clandestine arms factories were destroyed by the Russian military, while the combined efforts with the US and European powers also saw the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile.

Weapons Testing

The operation saw the testing of 215 new weapons systems, allowing for almost 702 bugs to be fixed. It also saw the first military deployment of the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier.

Prelude to Peace

Russian forces helped liberate 1,024 cities and settlements, while demining units cleared 17,138 buildings and other structures of tens of thousands of pieces of unexploded ordinance.

Comment: Not only that; they saved lives:
At an annual expanded Russian Defense Ministry Board meeting, President Vladimir Putin thanked Russian armed forces and spoke about Moscow's campaign in Syria, Russian army and the development of nuclear triad.

The Russian military has made a major contribution to the defeat of terrorists in Syria, according to Putin.

"In the fight with the global threat of international terrorism Russian servicemen acted courageously, professionaly and efficiently. They showed increased modern capabilities of Russian armed forces," the president pointed out.

Putin praised the success of the Russian campaign in Syria, noting that Russian servicemen have saved hundreds of thousands of lives, preserved country's statehood and paved the way for political resolution.


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Attention

Iraq's Abadi contemplates taking control of Kurdistan as riots forebode new crisis

Martin Jay
RT
Wed, 20 Dec 2017 19:53 UTC
Kurdish protesters
© ReutersKurdish protesters run from tear gas, rally against Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq.
MPs in Baghdad must have pinched themselves when a KRG delegation recently asked them for money. It might have been straight forward if Iraq's PM could pay government salaries for taking control of the country. But then the French got involved and elections are being rushed.

Barely weeks before, Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), heralded by Masoud Barzani its (then) President, soldiered ahead with the independence referendum plan, despite being told quite clearly not to do so by Baghdad and other regional players who had geopolitical and economic investments in Iraq. That led to a spectacular blunder as within days of the euphoria fading, oil fields in the Kirkuk region had been taken back by Iraqi forces making the elite in Erbil look at best stupid, and at worse, like a corrupt posy of amateurs playing monopoly with other people's money.

The loss of Kirkuk cannot be underestimated in its political and economic impact. Until then, the KRG was producing 600,000 barrels of oil a day and barely managing to meet the (then) monthly overheads of a semi-autonomous state of around $700 million a month. The list of foreign investors who were not being paid monies promised in advanced oil sales for cash, was also growing.

Comment: No matter the conflict, rife with the pretense of ideals and liberties, money is still the coveted root, the priority, the decider.

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Russian Flag

Russian Justice Ministry document suggests all foreign-funded media to be labeled 'foreign agents'


RFE/RL
Fri, 22 Dec 2017 15:52 UTC
Eisenhower at RFE
© RFE/RLFormer US President Eisenhower and RFE Director C. Rodney Smith, shows broadcasting area in the 1960s.
A draft order released by the Russian Justice Ministry suggests that the government may decide to label all media outlets receiving foreign funding as "foreign agents."

The document posted on the Internet on December 21 sets out proposed regulations for the implementation of a law signed by President Vladimir Putin in November that empowered the ministry to designate foreign media outlets as foreign agents.

The Justice Ministry declared Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Voice of America (VOA), and seven affiliated news services "foreign agents" on December 5, but has not pinned the designation on any other media outlets.

The draft order says that "a foreign media outlet is considered to be carrying out the function of a foreign agent" if it receives money or property from foreign states, organizations, or citizens, or from foreign-funded Russian entities. The wording suggested that if the document is approved and issued, all foreign media outlets would be considered foreign agents.

Comment: The West wants to have it both ways: keep its media liberties and message control in Russia while penalizing and defaming RT and Sputnik stateside. See also:

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Brick Wall

Under threat from EU sanctions, Poland is not backing down

Jan Cienski
Politico
Wed, 20 Dec 2017 09:31 UTC
Andrzei Duda
© Andrew Gombert/EPA
If the European Commission thought Poland would back down in the wake of its decision to trigger the Article 7 process that could ultimately lead to Warsaw losing EU voting rights, it was dead wrong.

President Andrzej Duda addressed the nation on Wednesday evening, and announced he would sign two controversial laws that critics say tighten political control over the country's judicial system, and which the Commission has referred to the European Court of Justice.

What was striking about Duda's speech was the tone.

Unlike previous fiery responses from Warsaw during the two-year confrontation with Brussels over changes made by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, the president was remarkably non-confrontational.

"We're bringing in very good solutions in Poland that will serve to improve the justice system," Duda said, decrying criticism of the measures but not directly mentioning the Commission's actions from earlier in the day.

It's an approach that was replicated across the Polish capital on Wednesday, as Warsaw digested the blow from Brussels, which launched its Article 7 procedure and put Poland on a path that could ultimately lead to the suspension of its EU voting rights over concerns about the rule of law.

Comment: See also:

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Newspaper

Why Putin confounds fickle US media

Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture Foundation
Wed, 20 Dec 2017 00:00 UTC
putinwrap
© Truthdig.com
In the space of a week, Russian President Vladimir Putin went from descriptions in the US media as "an influential international statesman" to reiteration of hackneyed claims of "KGB spy" who is somehow in cahoots with President Trump.

That's a pretty impressive versatile range of roles, according to the US media - and all just in the space of a few days. The wild mood swing says more about the US media, than it does about Putin's alleged character.

When the Russian leader flew into Syria last week to announce the end of military operations there, after a successful two-year campaign to defeat a Western-backed insurgency, top US media outlets seemed to acknowledge Putin's newfound global authority.

Comment: It is obvious the MSM can no longer discern truth from fiction. It is told what to say, what to emphasize, and what conclusions to make. In compliance, it does a disservice to the audience, to the issues and character of its subjects and to the ideals of journalism.

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Target

Trump is the first to protect the electric grid from EMP, cyberattacks

Paul Bedard
Washington Examiner
Wed, 20 Dec 2017 12:03 UTC
EMP globe
© skilledsurvival.com
President Trump became the first national leader to call for protecting the U.S electric and communications grid against an electromagnetic attack like one practiced in North Korea.

Deep in his new national security strategy released this week, he made good on a campaign promise to move quickly to make the fixes that proponents have long called for.

Two of the chief advocates, William R. Graham and Peter Vincent Pry, executives of the nation's first Congressional EMP Commission, said in a statement, "President Trump understands, even if everyone in his administration does not, that 'strategic stability' and 'longstanding strategic relationships with Russia or China' are best maintained - not by a policy of mutual vulnerability - but by a policy of 'Peace Through Strength.' Protecting the nation from all missile threats and EMP should be the cornerstone of a 'Peace Through Strength' policy."

The duo claim that protecting the grid would not be expensive and could done fast and with commercial products, a solution Trump endorsed in his strategy.

An attack, according to a past EMP Commission report, could lead to the deaths of 90 percent of the population in a year.

Comment: Looks like Trump's got it covered!

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