Puppet MastersS


Die

Little rocket man's risky game against US

Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un
© The Indian Express

In the morning darkness of Wednesday, Kim Jong Un launched an ICBM that rose almost 2,800 miles into the sky before falling into the Sea of Japan.


North Korea now has the proven ability to hit Washington, D.C.

Unproven still is whether Kim can put a miniaturized nuclear warhead atop that missile, which could be fired with precision, and survive the severe vibrations of re-entry. More tests and more time are needed for that.

Thus, U.S. markets brushed off the news of Kim's Hwasong-15 missile and roared to record heights on Wednesday and Thursday.

Snakes in Suits

Is Jared Kushner a Trump loyalist or Kissinger protege?

Jared Kushner
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Never before in the annals of US politics has a top presidential adviser had more of an inside track for influencing the White House than Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. Will this turn out to be a problem for Trump in the future?

Name any major event over the course of Trump's first year in office and you will undoubtedly find the doleful face of Jared Kushner lurking somewhere in the crowd, gazing on with rapt attention (or is it somber satisfaction?), a bit like an apprentice trapped in the floodlights of ultimate power.

Beyond the question of Jared's omnipresence is his apparent knack for political survival. Although Trump tends to go through officials as rapidly as tweets, Jared has managed thus far to ride out the storm. Yet firing Jared - husband of Trump's daughter, Ivanka - would be more than your average political decision, which is probably why Trump should never have dabbled in nepotism to begin with. Or perhaps Jared Kushner remains in his top-level position not because he is the son-in-law of Donald Trump, or because he is so politically astute (thus far it would seem he is not), but precisely because some high-ranking people in the establishment want him there.

Star of David

An ominous warning? 'Netanyahu needs a war with Iran and he needs it soon'

Netanyahu and Trump
In a dangerous escalation, Israel last night attacked a military base near Syria's capital, Damascus, using both warplanes and surface-to-surface missiles. News sources in Syria said the target was an Iranian installation near Al-Kiswa, 7 miles south of the city.

This attack - Israeli officials declined comment - is just the latest ominous sign from Israel that the unholy alliance of Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu and the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, may be planning to greatly expand war in the Mideast, targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon, and its ally and patron, Iran.

The veteran journalist Larry Derfner reports from Israel that "everybody here feels war is coming." He adds, "There's so much tough talk from Israel, and the Saudis would love Israel to fight a war for their interests, and the tension is very high - all this is in the news all the time." Derfner does not believe Hezbollah or Iran would start the conflict, "because they know they'd get crushed." He explains, "The only one I see starting it is Israel, because Israel is both strong and paranoid."

Comment: And this latest news may also fuel Neetanyahu's rage: UN General Assembly calls on Israel to withdraw from Syrian Golan: Munzer says Syria's sovereignty over Golan is non-negotiable


Control Panel

China slams U.S. policy, threats and rhetoric on North Korea: Calls strategy "an abysmal failure"

Trump Xi talk
During tense call between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping China rejects US demands for oil embargo on North Korea

US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke to each other over the telephone on Wednesday 29th November 2017 following North Korea's ICBM test.

China's official news agency Xinhua has provided an account of the call, which reads as follows:

Comment: For some 'must read' context about these developments, see: What You're Not Hearing From The U.S. Media About North Korea's Missile Tests


Map

The not-so-minor China presence in mineral rich Zimbabwe

Robert Mugabe
Who stands to benefit from the recent military toppling of Mugabe in Zimbabwe? The military and his own party have "convinced" 93-year-old Robert Mugabe to surrender office after 37 years of iron-fisted rule over one of resource-rich Africa's richest lands. Little discussed is the fact that the country holds some of the world's most valuable mineral deposits and that China, USA, and former colonial power Britain all have their eyes on that wealth. The problem is that the US and Britain have soured their chances by years of severe economic sanctions, leaving China in a very positive position.

The basic facts leading up to the military intervention are well documented. Mugabe's ambitious wife, the 52-year-old Grace Mugabe, nicknamed "Gucci Grace" by her political opponents for her lavish lifestyle in one of the world's poorest countries, apparently persuaded her husband to fire her main rival to succeed Mugabe as president. Days before the military intervened,on November 6, Mugabe fired Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, his long-term ally since the war of independence from British rule, who went into exile in neighboring South Africa.

The Mugabe plan was reportedly to make his wife his successor as President. Mugabe's two sons, Robert Jr. and Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe, and Grace Mugabe's son by a previous marriage, Russell Goreraza, were also being positioned to take key posts in the Mugabe regime. All sons were notorious in the country for their playboy lifestyle, sharing the lavish spending habits of their mother, Grace.

Blackbox

Are Chinese troops on the way to Syria? (Update - China says No!)

chinese plane
The situation is heating up in Syria yet again. If reports coming from Almasdar News are accurate, another troop deployment will soon be about to take place - in addition to the 2,000 Russian troops who arrived earlier this week. This time, however, the troops are coming from China.

On September 23, Leith Fadel of Almasdar News (the Arab Source), reported that China has now decided to commit troops and military aircraft to Syria within the next six weeks. Although the reports have not been independently confirmed, the outlet cited a senior Syrian officer in the Syrian military for the claims regarding the Chinese plans. Fadel's information has proven accurate many times in the past.

Comment:
(Update Dec 2): China's envoy at the Syrian Peace Talks in Geneva has stated that there are no plans to send their forces to Syria. Although they are participants in the peace negotiations, China says it does not have any plans to join the ongoing Syrian war.


Gold Bar

Under Putin's strategy Russia continues stocking up on gold

Gold Bars
© Pavel Lisitsyn / Sputnik
The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) is increasing the country's gold reserves to meet a goal set by President Vladimir Putin to make Russia less vulnerable to geopolitical risks.

As of November, Russia had 1,801 tons of gold accounting for 17.3 percent of all reserves. Russia is the sixth largest gold owner after the United States, Germany, Italy, France, and China.

"Under the instruction by President Putin, the Bank of Russia has been implementing the program of increasing the absolute share of gold in the gold and currency reserves of Russia for many years," First Deputy Chairman of the Russian regulator Sergey Shvetsov said last week at a conference on precious metals in Moscow.

Since Putin's election as president, Russian gold reserves have increased more than 500 percent from 343 tons, according to Gold.org data.

Attention

UN General Assembly calls on Israel to withdraw from Syrian Golan: Munzer says Syria's sovereignty over Golan is non-negotiable

Munzer Munzer
UN General Assembly on Thursday called on the Israeli occupation to withdraw from the occupied Syrian Golan to the line of June 4th, 1967 in line with UN Security council relevant resolutions.

The Assembly adopted a resolution entitled "the Syrian Golan," submitted to it under the title "the State in the Middle East."

The Assembly condemned Israel's non-abidance by UNSC resolution No.497 issued in 1981, affirming that Israel's decision, released on December 14th, 1981, to impose its laws and administration on Golan is null and void.

Earlier, Acting Chargé d'affaires of Syria's permanent delegation to the UN Munzer Munzer said that Israel still ignores international resolutions and refuses to give back the occupied Syrian Golan to Syria.

Star of David

Syria intercepts Israeli missile attack from Lebanese air space, al-Mazzeh airport hit

Damascus airport hit
© realrussiatoday.comIsraeli strike on military airport near Damascus.
According to earlier reports, Israel has launched a number of airstrikes targeting Syria's territory from Lebanese airspace.

Several Israeli ground-to-surface missiles have been intercepted by Syrian forces, while a number of others caused material damage in the area south of Damascus, the Syrian Al-Ikhbariya TV channel reported.

The missiles hit an ammunition depot of the Syrian army at 0:30 local time (22:30 GMT on Friday), causing explosions in the area between the towns of Kiswah (Kesweh) and Sahnaya, Arab outlet Al-Masdar News earlier reported citing its sources. However, a spokeswoman for the Israel Defense Forces refused to comment on the situation when asked by Sputnik.

Some videos that emerged on social media are claiming to show the moment when the Israeli missiles were intercepted by Syrian Air Defense. [see below]

As for Israeli and Syrian bilateral relations, both of them have attacked each other on numerous occasions over the disputed Golan Heights, which were partly seized by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967. The latest IDF attack on Syria occurred in September 2017, when the IDF attacked Syrian Arab Army forces in the province of Hama.
israeli hit damascus airport
© ogn.news

Comment: Without Daesh as the interface, Israel has to do its own dirty work. How long will Israel's transgressions go unaddressed before they trigger a wider conflict?

According to The Times of Israel:
Syria's state run news agency and local media outlets attributed the airstrikes on the al-Mazzeh airport to the Israel Defense Forces. The IDF, which doesn't comment on foreign reports of military operations, refused to confirm the reports.

State news agency SANA said Israel had launched the missiles from Israeli-held territory north of the Sea of Galilee.

"At 3:00 a.m., the Israeli enemy fired several surface-to-surface missiles from inside occupied territory," the state news agency SANA said, citing a military source. The report said the Israeli missiles caused a large fire but no injuries or deaths.

The regime source also threatened "repercussions" against Israel over the strikes.

The Syrian military source called the alleged missile attack against the Mazzeh airbase part of "desperate attempts by the Israeli enemy to support terrorist groups and raise their low morale."

There were no immediate reports of injuries from the strikes.

An AFP correspondent heard several explosions and saw a large fire inside military airport, with smoke ​visible across the capital. Videos posted online purporting to show Friday's attack showed several massive fires, with sirens wailing in the background.

The report of Israeli military action was the first in over a month. The last incident also involved an attack on the Mazzeh airbase. In early December Syrian state media reported that the IDF fired missiles from within "occupied" territory at an important Syrian regime airbase outside Damascus.

Officials in Jerusalem have said they take action to stop the transfer of advanced weapons to terror groups; over a dozen strikes inside Syria have been attributed to Israel.

The presence of Russian anti-aircraft batteries in Syria have reportedly complicated Israeli action in the war-torn country over the last year, with reports of missiles launched at targets inside Syria from Israeli or Lebanese territory.




Info

US embassy to stay in Tel Aviv as White House shuts down rumors of imminent Jerusalem move

US Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel
© US government
The State Department has shut down rumors of an imminent transfer of the United States Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, however officials have yet to announce whether the waiver to keep the embassy in Tel Aviv would be signed by U.S. President Donald Trump by the required time, Dec. 4.

Moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would suggest a shift in long-standing U.S. foreign policy. The U.S. does not recognize Jerusalem as either Israeli or Palestinian territory. However, the U.S. choosing to move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, would suggest the United States has shifted that policy, de facto recognizing Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem.

The city's sovereignty is an essential issue between the two powers, as both imagine Jerusalem working as the their state capital in the future.