Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

Lavrov: Washington 'looking for excuse to destroy North Korea', Russia is ready but advocates diplomatic solution


RT
Fri, 01 Dec 2017 04:46 UTC
FILE PHOTO: The U.S.-South Korea joint landing operation drill in Pohang, South Korea
© Kim Hong-Ji / ReutersFILE PHOTO: The U.S.-South Korea joint landing operation drill in Pohang, South Korea
A war breaking out on the Korean Peninsula is one of the scenarios considered by the Russian military, so it would not be blindsided in case it actually happens, the head of Russia's Security Council said, advocating a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

The launch of the Hwasong-15 ballistic missile by North Korea on Wednesday, which Pyongyang claimed is "capable of striking the whole mainland of the US" and Washington's warning that the test brought the world "closer to war" has again raised concerns about potential disastrous consequences of a direct military confrontation.

Nikolay Patrushev, the head of Russia's National Security Council, said Russia has been weighing its options if the war of words turns into a live shooting war.
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Cut

Politicized punishment? EU says it will slash pre-accession aid to Turkey by €105mn over human rights violations


RT
Fri, 01 Dec 2017 10:10 UTC
EU Parliament
© Yves Herman / Reuters
The EU has agreed to cut funds bound for Turkey by €105 million and freeze another €70 million, linked to its bogged-down membership talks, citing the Turkish government's disregard for human rights and rule of law.

The cuts envisioned in the EU budget for 2018, approved by the EU Council and the European Parliament on Thursday, were made "in view of the situation in Turkey as regards democracy, rule of law and press freedom," the Council of the European Union said in a statement.

Turkey still has a chance to receive €70 million, "held in reserve" in case it "sufficiently" improves the situation in all these fields.

"As long as Turkey is not respecting freedom of speech, human rights, and is drifting further away from European democratic standards, we cannot finance such a regime with EU funds," Siegfried Muresan, the European Parliament's chief budget negotiator, said, as cited by Reuters.

Comment: We don't recall the EU complaining so much about Turkey's record of human rights and democracy when Erdogan's government stood clearly on NATO's side and against Russia and Syria. But things have changed somewhat since then. Turkey, Russia and Iran are aiming for the economic integration of Eurasia via their new 'silk roads'. It is in their best interest, therefore, to secure the peace in Syria. The US cannot help but regard such plans and alliances as threats to its interests, so its EU minions, eager to please their master, make a point of punishing Turkey.

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Eiffel Tower

Excusez-moi? Macron vows to make French the world's first language

Lydia Smith
The Independent
Thu, 30 Nov 2017 09:53 UTC
Emmanuel Macron France


'The radiance, the attractiveness of French does not just belong to France'

Emmanuel Macron has pledged to make French the most spoken language in the world.

Speaking to students in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou, the French president said his native tongue would "be the first language of Africa" and "perhaps of the world."

Mr Macron, who is currently on a tour of west African nations added that it should not be viewed as a "relic of a colonial power".

He said: "It is not just a heritage to be protected. It has a future and this future is playing out in. The radiance, the attractiveness of French does not just belong to France."

Comment: Macron is a dreamer. Does he really think Africa and the world will rejoice at his plan of turning us all into francophones? And how exactly does he plan to do this? The two most difficult things to enforce on human beings are religion and language. Bonne chance Macron!

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War Whore

Kurdish militant leader says Trump just lied to Erdogan about the U.S. stopping weapon deliveries

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Tue, 28 Nov 2017 19:52 UTC
Trump Erdogan
The US again risks a total alienation of Turkey if the promise Donald Trump make to Recep Tayyip Erdogan was a lie.

Last week, Turkey confirmed that Donald Trump gave Recep Tayyip Erdogan his assurances that the delivery of US arms to Kurdish militants in Syria would cease. This had been a longstanding demand from Ankara and with Turkey-US relations plummeting to new lows, it was widely thought that the US granted Turkey this concession to avoid a possible rift within the NATO bloc. While the US government confirmed Turkey's version of the phone call, the reports from the US were far more vague in terms of the content.

By contrast, Turkey reported that the US offered a direct commitment to ending arms going to the Kurdish militant/terrorist group YPG and their political wing PYD.

Today however, Sputnik Turkiye spoke to the so-called foreign affairs spokesman of the SDF, a YPG dominated US proxy militia operating in Syria with known links to the terrorist group PKK.
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Hourglass

ECB says banks need to embrace instant payments to beat bitcoin


RT
Thu, 30 Nov 2017 01:43 UTC
European Central Bank
© Arne Dedert / Global Look Press
Banks should speed up the introduction of immediate payments, whereby money is received immediately and around the clock, to counter the allure of digital currencies such as bitcoin, said the European Central Bank (ECB).

"Banks need to implement instant payments as soon as possible and provide an alternative narrative to the ongoing public debate on the alleged innovation brought by virtual currency schemes," said a member of the ECB's executive board Yves Mersch as cited by Reuters.

Central banks are worried private digital currencies are threatening their control of the banking system and money supply. The regulators fear this could undermine the monetary policies they use to manage inflation.
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Snakes in Suits

Hypocrite: 'Feminist icon' Anita Hill defended Bill Clinton when he was accused of sexual assault

Kevin Daley
The Daily Caller
Fri, 01 Dec 2017 00:33 UTC
Anita Hill
Anita Hill
Anita Hill dismissed and rebutted credible allegations of sexual assault against former President Bill Clinton as his administration was subsumed by sex scandals, and urged women to support Clinton despite his alleged predations.

Hill became a feminist icon after she accused Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in 1991, and recently reemerged to wide acclaim as a prototype of the Me Too movement. Her bombshell testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee during Thomas' 1991 confirmation hearings secured her position in the national consciousness and spurred meaningful workplace discrimination reform. Thomas continues to deny the allegations in their every particular.

Now a professor at Brandeis University, Hill did not respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation's requests for comment.
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Wall Street

Jim Rickards: Three critical dates for the Federal Reserve

James Rickards
The Daily Reckoning
Fri, 01 Dec 2017 00:33 UTC
new york federal reserve
New York Federal Reserve, Wall Street
I managed a track and field in team in high school. I was not the team coach, I was a student-manager who helped out with equipment, scheduling, training and other logistics.

Back in the days before internet I was the kid in the locker room phoning in athlete times and results to the local newspapers before the deadline for the next day's edition.

I loved the faster track events like the 440-yard sprint and the half-mile distances. I always thought the most challenging track event was the high-hurdles. This combined speed and endurance, with precision coordination and athleticism on the jumps. One mistake in mid-air could result in a disastrous crash on a cinder track and a bloody injury.
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No Entry

Kaspersky Lab CEO acknowledges that company is 'under attack' by US gov't


Sputnik
Fri, 01 Dec 2017 00:33 UTC
Kaspersky
© Sputnik/ Sergey Guneev
In September, the US Department of Homeland Security ordered state agencies to stop using Kaspersky Lab products over their potential threat to US cybersecurity, amid fears that the firm has ties to state-sponsored spying programs.

The head of Kaspersky Lab refuted the cyber-espionage allegations saying that the company has never been involved in spying for the Russian intelligence, Reuters reported on Thursday. He also added that he would move Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab out of the country if he ever received such a demand.

CEO Eugene Kaspersky stated that his company is under attack by the US media and the US government which are spreading lies about the Russian cyber-security giant, acknowledging that these attacks will do harm to the firm.

Comment: Further reading: Why is the U.S. attacking Kaspersky? Because they exposed U.S. and Israeli spies behind Stuxnet

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Георгиевская ленточка

How The Saker became a Kremlin troll and Putin fanboy

The Saker
Russia Insider
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 18:15 UTC
Putin Russia troll Saker
Dear friends,

Today, with the kind permission of Phil Butler, I am posting the full text of my contribution to his book "Putin's Praetorians: Confessions of the Top Kremlin Trolls". There are a couple of reasons for that. The main one is that I strongly believe that this book deserves a much bigger visibility than it has received (this is also why, exceptionally, I am placing this post in the top "analyses" category and not elsewhere).

Please read my review here to see why I feel so strongly about this book. Frankly, I am rather shocked by the very little amount of reviews this book as generated. I don't even know if somebody besides Russia Insider has bothered writing a review of it or not, but even if somebody has, it is still a crying shame that this most interesting volume has been so far ignored by the alternative media including the one friendly to Russia. So by posting my own contribution here I want to bring back this book to the "front page", so to speak, of our community.
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Rocket

United States pursues greatest armament buildup encircling Russia since Cold War

ALEX GORKA
Strategic Culture
Tue, 28 Nov 2017 18:08 UTC
Javelin Missile
The United States is stepping up its military aid to Georgia, encouraging Tbilisi to continue on its pro-NATO path. The State Department has approved the sale of Javelin anti-tank missiles to Georgia. The proposed $75 million sale includes 410 Javelin missiles and 72 Javelin command launch units (CLUs), including two Javelin Block 1 CLUs to be used as spares. The proposed sale also includes ten basic skills trainers (BST) and up to 70 simulated rounds.

Tbilisi believes that the approval is a big win. The Javelin has long been at the top of the country's wish list since 2008 when Georgia attacked South Ossetia and Russian peacekeepers, triggering a war with Russia, which it lost. Until the State Department's approval, the US had been reluctant to encourage Georgian adventurism and escalate tensions with Russia by selling the system. That attitude appears to have changed. The efforts to boost military cooperation with Tbilisi have intensified under the Trump administration. The visit of Vice President Mike Pence in August was seen in Tbilisi as a meaningful gesture toward Georgia.
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