Puppet MastersS


Star of David

Netanyahu: Israel will not be lectured to by the likes of Erdogan

Herb Keinon
The Jerusalem Post
Sun, 10 Dec 2017 18:25 UTC
NetaErdo
© Diken
"I am not used to receiving lectures about morality from the leader who bombs Kurdish villagers in his native Turkey, who jails journalists, who helps Iran go around international sanctions..."

Israel will not be lectured to by a leader who bombs his own people, jails journalists and helps Iran and Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a sharp rebuttal to the most recent anti-Israel tirade by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan - who is emerging as one of the main voices in the Islamic world trying to stir passions over US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital - on Sunday called Israel a "terrorist state."

According to the Hurriyet Daily News website, Erdogan, speaking at a meeting of his AKP Party in the central Anatolian province of Sivas, charged Israel with using "disproportionate" force against Palestinians protesting Trump's declaration and declared Israel an "oppressive, occupation state."
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Health

Libyan forces suffering casualties, fighting continues in Benghazi


Arab News
Wed, 13 Dec 2017 00:00 UTC
Libyan forces
© Al Arabiya
Libyan forces fighting in Benghazi have lost four men and seen 10 wounded so far in December, five months after declaring victory in a campaign to control the eastern city, a medical source said on Monday. Three of the dead from the Libyan National Army (LNA) were killed by snipers and one by a land mine as it faces resistance from a group of fighters in the Benghazi district of Khreibish. There have been daily clashes in the area and occasional air strikes.

LNA commander Khalifa Haftar declared victory in a three-year military campaign against an array of extremists and other fighters in Benghazi in early July. The fighting is part of a broader conflict that developed following the 2011 fall of strongman Muammar Qaddafi. Haftar has opposed a UN-backed government based in the capital, Tripoli, as he has gradually strengthened his position on the ground.

Also on Monday, the UN urgently appealed for countries to take in 1,300 "extremely vulnerable" refugees stranded in Libya, following revelations of horrific abuse of migrants in the country.

Comment: For the facts on LNA Commander Haftar and the 'Libyan slave trade', see:

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Snakes in Suits

US State Dept.'s Nauert dodges questions on stripping of RT credentials


RT
Wed, 13 Dec 2017 05:01 UTC
Nauert
© Washington ExaminerState Department spokesperson Heather Nauert
State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert has brushed off a question from RT about the withdrawal of its Congress credentials, and whether this contradicts her past vow that registration as a foreign agent would not impede the broadcaster's ability to report.

Nauert fell short of providing a clear answer to RT's Sameera Khan on whether the State Department still stands by its word that forcing RT America to comply with the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) was a formality that would not create hurdles for RT's work in the US.

"I think that press credentials might have been revoked by Congress, and not necessarily the members of Congress but rather the Association of Reporters that handles who gets to come and cover Congress," Nauert said, deflecting the question.

Instead, she played the 'Russia card', dubbing the RT correspondent a "representative of the Russian government" whose mere presence at the briefing should serve as sufficient proof of Washington's utmost respect for the freedom of press. "They can get Russian 'news,' if you will," she generously conceded - complete with air quotes.

Comment: See also:
RT America stripped of Congress credentials, State Department says FARA won't change its status

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Megaphone

Reality to Nikki Haley: Guess what, you already chose a side

Jonathan Ofir
Mondoweiss
Mon, 11 Dec 2017 12:32 UTC
Nikki Haley
US Ambassador Nikki Haley at AIPAC, March 27, 2017
Following President Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital last week, the American UN Ambassador Nikki Haley was interviewed by Wolf Blitzer on CNN. Blitzer tried to get a clear statement from Haley concerning the territorial implications of the recent recognition: "Specifically, does the Trump administration now consider the old city of Jerusalem now part of Israel?"

Haley avoided the question by saying, "We don't want to pick a side on this", citing the need for the "two sides to come together" for the sake of "Israeli children and Palestinian children."

Thus, the "new sheriff in town", as Haley has called herself, is playing agnostic, objective and even-handed - "we don't want to pick a side". Just imagine, if the even-handed sheriff would be so objective that she would also recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine - you know, just to be fair.

But the US does not even recognize Palestine (unlike over 70% of the UN nations), precisely because such a move would preempt negotiations...

The UN Security Council has "censured in the strongest terms" Israel's unilateral annexation of East Jerusalem (Resolution 476, 1980) and deemed it "a violation of international law", calling upon "those States that have established diplomatic missions at Jerusalem to withdraw such missions from the Holy City".

Comment: Remember former psycho Samantha Powers? She was all kinds of crazy but Haley takes it to another level with her idiocy. And that's putting it mildy. For more dumb things nutzoid Nikki says:

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Cardboard Box

Trump's Jerusalem declaration...a honey trap?

Akiva Eldar
Al-Monitor
Tue, 12 Dec 2017 00:00 UTC
P/J combination
© JCC/Ripon Advance/KJN
President Donald Trump, or his people, were clearly trying very hard over this past weekend to douse the flames ignited across the Middle East by US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sought to dampen the enthusiasm of Israeli celebrations following the Dec. 6 announcement and to calm Arab protests against the United States and Israel. He tried to make clear that the status of the contested city would only be determined within the framework of a permanent arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians. Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, was also mobilized to put out the fires. Addressing the UN Security Council on Dec. 8, she noted that Trump had not taken a stand on Jerusalem's boundaries, adding that the issue of sovereignty over the city "is still to be decided on by Israelis and Palestinian in negotiations."

Tillerson promised that the inauguration of the US Embassy in Jerusalem was at least two years away. He cited unspecified "logistical" considerations as the reason for this delay, although those in the know say there is nothing preventing the embassy in Tel Aviv from calling in the movers tomorrow. Martin Indyk, a former US ambassador to Israel, tweeted last week that a recently completed US consular facility in West Jerusalem could fit the bill and house relocated embassy staff.

Comment: Earthshaking announcement; volcanic reactions; changes in political landscapes.

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Telephone

US State Department has ongoing contact with the Palestine government


Sputnik
Wed, 13 Dec 2017 01:37 UTC
HeatherNauert
© Times of IsraelState Department spokesperson Heather Nauert
State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said during a press briefing on Tuesday that the US has been in constant contact with the Palestinian government since Trump announced his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. "As of a couple of days ago, I know that we have had contact with the Palestinian government, I know that we've been in conversations," Nauert said when asked if the two sides were communicating about the decision.
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Better Earth

Gideon Levy: Trump - Visionary of the single-state solution for Israel-Palestine?

Gideon Levy
Haaretz
Mon, 11 Dec 2017 21:01 UTC
Trump wall Israel
Now that he's ripped the mask off the farce of a two-state solution, perhaps the U.S. president can help establish the first genuine democracy in the Middle East

Theodor Trump, the visionary of the single state. Without Herzl's beard or Basel, the site of the First Zionist Congress, Donald Trump may become the founder of democracy in Israel-Palestine. Just as his vulgarity and sexism boosted the #MeToo movement, his blatant bias toward Zionism and the occupation might create a backlash that could effect the only remaining conceivable solution. Sometimes you need a defiant bully to shake things up. Trump's the guy. We should thank this dangerous man: He tore off the disguise and put an end to the masquerade.

Trump told the world the truth: The United States is not an honest broker, it never was and never will be. It is the greatest collaborator with the Israeli occupation, supporting, arming and funding it. It wants the occupation to continue. It never recoiled from it and of course did nothing to end it. Before Trump, it also mocked the world: the an endless "peace process" that never led (and was not intended to lead) to anything but the perpetuation of the occupation; countless purportedly balanced "peace plans" that America never tried to implement; countless purportedly neutral brokers, a majority of them Zionist Jews; and after all that, the appearance of an impartial peacemaker.

Comment: SOTT speculated about just the same thing. Trump - the unintentional peacemaker? We'll just have to wait and see!

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Stock Down

Detained Saudi billionaire facing collapse of his business empire


RT
Wed, 13 Dec 2017 20:42 UTC
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal
© Fayez Nureldine / ReutersPrince Alwaleed bin Talal
The Kingdom Holding Company, founded by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, has lost nearly a fifth of its value since its billionaire owner was detained last month as part of a Saudi nationwide anti-corruption campaign.

According to Forbes, the value of the Riyadh-based conglomerate fell $8.5 billion, shrinking the tycoon's net worth by two billion dollars to $16 billion. Prince Alwaleed reportedly owns 95 percent of Kingdom Holding.

The company has more than $12.5 billion under management globally and "enjoys a solid financial position underpinned by a prudent and conservative funding plan," according to the chief executive Talal Al Maiman.

Comment: See also:

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Whistle

SOTT Focus: Is Trudeau Off His Rocker? Canadian PM Wants to 'Reintegrate' ISIS Terrorists Into Society

Daniel Solomon
Sott.net
Wed, 13 Dec 2017 01:02 UTC
ISIS
Canadian Prime Minister and avowed feminist Justin Trudeau last month introduced plans to reintegrate ISIS fighters back into Canadian society. His rise to the top seat in Parliament was very much like his predecessor south of the border, Barack Obama in 2008. The current Prime Minister is a young, hip and trendy PM who rode a wave of promises about hopey-change and 'positive politics' that was supposedly going to represent a 180 degree turn from the previous Harper government.

However, it's becoming more apparent every day that Trudeau's brand of 'positive politics' is completely divorced from reality. His government has focused on ideologically-driven identity politics and political correctness, while paying almost no attention to the potential long-term ramifications of their actions. The outrageous scheme to 'reintegrate' ISIS fighters is a case in point.
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Jet3

Shiny new toys to fight 'big bad Russians': Trump signs $700B military funding bill


RT
Wed, 13 Dec 2017 09:34 UTC
Trump $700B military funding bill
US President Donald Trump has signed into law $700 billion in funding to the Pentagon, which includes a pay raise for troops and funding for a number of pet projects. It also breaks the ceiling set by the 2011 law on budget caps.

Congress sent the final version of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to Trump at the end of November, and he ceremonially signed the bill Tuesday. The White House noted that the bill envisioned the largest pay raise for US military personnel in eight years and the biggest military expansion since the 1980s.

The final markup allocates $634 billion to Pentagon operations and almost $66 billion for the overseas contingency operations (OCO) fund, intended for bankrolling wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. That's about $32 billion more than what Trump initially requested.
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