Puppet MastersS


Dollars

'Lucky' Larry Silverstein set to receive another $95 million in new 9/11 settlement

Johnny Liberty
The Free Thought Project
Sat, 25 Nov 2017 17:17 UTC
Larry Silverstein and 9/11
Larry Silverstein
Notorious New York City businessman, and World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein, scored another post 9/11 windfall this week, after Silverstein properties reached a $95 million dollar settlement in a civil litigation suit against American Airlines and United Continental Holdings.

The settlement, filed Tuesday with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, comes after 13 years of 'hard fought' litigation. In an email to Reuters, Silverstein properties' spokesman Bud Perrone said,
"We are pleased to have finally reached a resolution to this piece of post-9/11 litigation,"
Silverstein, who signed a 99 year lease on the World Trade Center just 2 months prior to the attack, has received over 4.5 billion dollars stemming from post 9/11 lawsuits. In May of 2007, CBS Moneywatch reported:
"The state and seven insurers have reached a settlement that secures more than $4.5 billion in funding to rebuild ground zero.

About $2.55 billion has already been paid out by two dozen insurers since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that destroyed the twin towers. The remaining insurers agreed to pay $2 billion and drop several court battles over how much they owe in insurance to replace the trade center."
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SOTT Logo Radio

SOTT Focus: The Truth Perspective: Bill Browder, the Magnitsky Act, and anti-Russia Sanctions: Interview with Alex Krainer


Sott.net
Sun, 26 Nov 2017 17:00 UTC
Browder book Amazon suppressed
© Alex Krainer
This Sunday, we're interviewing Alex Krainer, hedge fund manager and author of The Killing of William Browder: Deconstructing Bill Browder's Dangerous Deception. Bill Browder is the man responsible for much of the anti-Russian sentiment in the West in recent years through his lobbying for the Magnitsky Act, which sanctions individuals believed to have been involved in the death of Russian "lawyer" Sergei Magnitsky in 2009. Browder told his story in a book called Red Notice, in which he paints himself as a totally innocent victim of a Russian campaign to destroy him. But Krainer dissects Browder's account piece by piece, showing that he was anything but an innocent businessman.

In addition to deconstructing Browder's self-serving lies and rampant Russophobia, Krainer gives a concise history of the crisis Russia went through in the 90s, how a handful of Russian oligarchs and Westerners like Browder siphoned the country's wealth, and how Putin turned all that around in the years after he came to power in 1999.

Due to pressure from Browder's legal team, Amazon censored the book by delisting it. Krainer has made it available for free here and here. Krainer maintains a blog at thenakedhedgie.com

Running Time: 01:32:11

Download: MP3

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Question

The $47 million question of Trump's friendly words to Putin

Finian Cunningham
RT
Sun, 26 Nov 2017 16:15 UTC
Trump and Putin
© Sputnik Photo Agency / Reuters
Each time US President Donald Trump meets Russia's Vladimir Putin, the talk is cordial and committed to establishing friendly relations between the two countries. Moreover, "partnership" is in fact the expressly-stated intention.

This week while Putin was hosting a major conference in Sochi to kick start the peace process in war-torn Syria, the Russian leader also had an hour-long telephone conversation with Trump, calling from the White House.

According to reports, Trump gave his backing to the Russian-led peace efforts going forward for Syria. The US president later described the phone call with Putin as "great."

Notably, the White House said the two leaders discussed ways to "ensure the stability of a unified Syria free of malign intervention." In a wide-ranging conversation, Trump and Putin also talked about how to "implement a lasting peace in Ukraine."

This all sounds well and good, but how much importance or substance can be imputed to Trump's friendly words?
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Info

Assad advisor: Syria will thwart schemes to split the country, deal with illegal invaders


Xinhua
Sat, 25 Nov 2017 16:06 UTC
Bouthaina Shaaban
© REUTERS/ Khaled al-Hariri
If there are any schemes to divide or separate the country in the upcoming political settlement process, Syrians will thwart them, a top presidential advisor said here Thursday.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua during her visit to China, Bouthaina Shaaban, political and media advisor to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said with war on terrorism ending in Syria, the government is ready to take part in the political settlement process.

"We do not like wars and we hope to find another way to solve the problem other than war, but we will not accept federalization or anything that threatens the unity of our country," she said.

The Syrian government will attend the upcoming round of UN-backed peace talks in Geneva on Nov. 28 and the Syrian National Dialogue Congress to be held in the Russian city of Sochi.
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Sherlock

A #Russiagate primer

Caitlin Johnstone
Medium
Sat, 25 Nov 2017 15:53 UTC
Michael Flynn
Michael Flynn
Michael Flynn is in the news again. Russiagaters are gushing with excitement at the revelation that Flynn's lawyers are no longer sharing information with the president's legal team now that Robert Mueller's investigation is looking more closely at the former National Security Advisor's involvement in the production of a film about an exiled cleric from Turkey. The story goes that this separation means that Flynn has struck a deal with Mueller, which Mueller wouldn't permit him to do if he didn't have damning information on Trump.

Of course this excitement is dependent on the false belief that Mueller's job is to get the president impeached, and that he would only cut deals toward that ultimate end. It is also dependent on the false belief that there is any evidence to be found that Trump illegally colluded with the Russian government to steal the 2016 election. And, like the rest of the Russiagate enthusiasm around Flynn, it is also somewhat dependent on compartmentalizing away from the fact the Turkey and Russia are two completely different countries.

This is all par for course in the interminable dance of soaring excitement followed by thinly veiled disappointment that Russiagaters have been engaged in for over a year. I've been receiving some complaints that I don't recap enough on the specific details of why I reject the establishment Russia narrative so aggressively, so if you're just tuning in, what follows is a quick synopsis of how this weird thing has been going so far.
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No Entry

UK minister says 'reputable' MPs shouldn't speak to RT - but dozens of his fellow Party members do


RT
Fri, 24 Nov 2017 12:04 UTC
David Gauke
© Rob Pinney / www.globallookpress.comMarch 8, 2017, London, UK. Then Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke arrives on Downing Street for Cabinet
Tory minister David Gauke has been branded a hypocrite after attempting to smear Labour's Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell for talking to RT. Is he aware dozens of his colleagues have appeared on the channel?

The secretary of state for work and pensions told his 9,000-plus followers he had rejected an interview with the broadcaster, saying "I don't do interviews with RT."

When questioned why this was, the South West Hertfordshire MP said: "You're a propaganda station. Reputable politicians don't do interviews with RT." According to Gauke, the interviewer responded: "We've just had John McDonnell on."
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Star of David

Former Dutch PM: 'Israel most dangerous country in the Middle East'


Middle East Monitor
Fri, 24 Nov 2017 15:45 UTC
Dries van Agt
© Sander Bakkes/WikipediaThe former Prime Minister of the Netherlands Dries van Agt
The former Prime Minister of the Netherlands Dries van Agt has said that "Israel - for those who do not know - has a range of nuclear bombs and is the most dangerous country in the Middle East".

Speaking at a session organised by the Socialist Youth Association in the city of Utrecht on the Palestinian-Israeli issue van Agt said, "Israel seems to the world public opinion as if [it is] living under constant threat as a small place among a number of Arab countries".

"The entire world turns a blind eye to the blockade imposed on the Palestinian Gaza Strip, including the Netherlands" he said.

Van Agt has also noted that interest in the Palestinian cause has declined significantly over the past few years.

"There are several factors, but the most important is that people began to look at it as something natural, in addition to the disintegration of the Middle East" he said.

Van Agt, who is a diplomat of the Christian Democratic Union Party, was prime minister of the Netherlands between 1977-1982.

Comment: A pity that those whose voices have influence must wait until they retire to speak the plain truth.

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Eye 1

Monster turns against creator: ICC launches probe into US military

Andrei Akulov
Strategic Culture Foundation
Sun, 26 Nov 2017 14:11 UTC
John Bolton
Everybody knows the story about Frankenstein monster turning against its creator. Such things happen in real life. The respectable Wall Street Journal was used by John Bolton, an American lawyer and diplomat who has served in several Republican administrations, as a trumpet to sound the alarm. The threat to the United States is posed by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC, established in 2002, is the world's first permanent court set up to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. The body is known for its Western bias. It was the reason African states left the ICC last year. The court has been usually used as an instrument to deal with those who refused to bow to the pressure of the US and other Western powers. But things change. Today, the ICC is viewed by the US as a source of danger and a body undermining America's image globally.

An extraordinary event triggered Mr. Bolton's reaction. It has been reported that the ICC chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, is seeking approval to investigate allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan, including possible torture by US forces and the CIA. In a statement on the ICC website, Ms. Bensouda said the prosecutor's office believed an investigation was required owing to "the gravity of the acts committed . . . and the absence of relevant national proceedings against those who appear to be most responsible for the most serious crimes within this situation". The move is likely to provoke anger in Washington and Bolton's article is just the first salvo.
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Quenelle - Golden

Joe Quinn on Radio Sputnik: "Americans' brains have turned to mush - it's up to English-speakers elsewhere to push back in US total information war"


Sputnik
Sun, 26 Nov 2017 12:56 UTC
facebook employee
Tech Giant Facebook is poised to construct a web page to let users see which Russian propaganda accounts they have liked or followed. The corresponding statement was made by Facebook on Wednesday.

According to the statement the propaganda came from a Russian organization called 'Internet Research Agency' which promoted pro-Moscow content under fake social media accounts.

The tool will be available by the end of the year as part of the company's attempt to protect the platform and its users from those who try to undermine US democracy.

Meanwhile, the move has been welcomed by US lawmakers as a positive step. Facebook's announcement comes as US law enforcers have suggested that Facebook might have an obligation to notify people who accessed deceptive foreign government material.

We discussed the issue with Mr. Joe Quinn, internet essayist, researcher, author.

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Network

Jonathan Cook: From an open internet, back to the Dark Ages

Jonathan Cook
Counterpunch
Fri, 24 Nov 2017 13:03 UTC
net neutrality
Can anyone still doubt that access to a relatively free and open internet is rapidly coming to an end in the west? In China and other autocratic regimes, leaders have simply bent the internet to their will, censoring content that threatens their rule. But in the "democratic" west, it is being done differently. The state does not have to interfere directly - it outsources its dirty work to corporations.

As soon as next month, the net could become the exclusive plaything of the biggest such corporations, determined to squeeze as much profit as possible out of bandwith. Meanwhile, the tools to help us engage in critical thinking, dissent and social mobilisation will be taken away as "net neutrality" becomes a historical footnote, a teething phase, in the "maturing" of the internet.

In December the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) plans to repeal already compromised regulations that are in place to maintain a semblance of "net neutrality". Its chairman, Ajit Pai, and the corporations that are internet service providers want to sweep away these rules, just like the banking sector got rid of financial regulations so it could inflate our economies into giant ponzi schemes.

That could serve as the final blow to the left and its ability to make its voice heard in the public square.
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