Puppet MastersS


Attention

Putin warns about US interference in Russia's presidential election

Stephen Lendman
stephenlendman.org
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 20:02 UTC
putin
It's a legitimate concern. America interferes in numerous elections abroad and its own, assuring dirty business as usual always wins.

Names and faces change. Policies on key issues remain the same, especially on imperial wars, corporate empowerment, and privileged interests exclusively served.

On March 18, 2018, Russia's presidential election will be held. If no candidate wins a majority, a runoff will follow on April 8.
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X

US media and politicians prefer to mock Trump rather than accept that there is no evidence against 'Russian antics'

Ray McGovern
Consortium News
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 19:33 UTC
trump putin handshake
© Whitehouse.govRussian President Vladimir Putin meets with U.S. President Donald Trump at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7, 2017.
If the bloody debacle in Iraq should have taught Americans anything, it is that endorsements by lots of important people who think something is true don't amount to evidence that it actually is true. If endorsements were the same as evidence, U.S. troops would have found tons of WMD in Iraq, rather than come up empty.

So, when it comes to whether or not Russia "hacked" Democratic emails last year and slipped them to WikiLeaks, just because a bunch of people with fancy titles think the Russians are guilty doesn't compensate for the lack of evidence so far evinced to support this core charge.

But the reaction of Official Washington and the U.S. mainstream media to President Trump saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin seemed sincere in denying Russian "meddling" was sputtering outrage: How could Trump doubt what so many important people think is true?

Comment: It's worth noting that it is precisely because of Trump's position toward Russia that the Deep State has come down on him. Their whole 'end game' is to exacerbate a New Cold War and Trump (and the 'insignificant' matter of evidence) just got in their way.

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Fire

RT America torched in witch hunt

Chris Hedges
Truth Dig
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 19:46 UTC
Chris Hedges
© RT AmericaChris Hedges in a screen shot from his RT America program, "On Contact."
In one of the most horrendous blows to press freedom since the anti-communist witch hunts of the 1950s, the U.S. Department of Justice has forced the news broadcaster RT America to file under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

The assault on RT America, on which I host the show "On Contact," has nothing to do with the dissemination of Russian propaganda. It is driven by RT America's decision to provide a platform to critics of American capitalism and imperialism, critics who lambast a system of government that can no longer be called democratic. And it is accompanied by the installation of algorithms by Google, Facebook and Twitter that divert readers away from left-wing, progressive and anti-war websites, including Truthdig. The World Socialist Web Site has seen its search traffic from Google fall by 74 percent since April. Google, in a further blow, this month removed RT from its list of "preferred" channels on YouTube. Twitter has blocked all advertising by the channel.
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Handcuffs

AG Sessions directs prosecutors to 'evaluate certain issues' involving Uranium One and Clinton, leaves door open on special counsel

Brooke Singman
Fox News
Mon, 13 Nov 2017 19:35 UTC
Hillary Clinton Clinton Foundation
Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed senior federal prosecutors to evaluate "certain issues" requested by congressional Republicans, involving the sale of Uranium One and alleged unlawful dealings related to the Clinton Foundation, leaving the door open for an appointment of another special counsel.

In a letter first obtained by Fox News, the Justice Department responded to July 27 and September 26 requests from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and other committee members, who called for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the matters in question.

The letter comes on the eve of Sessions' testimony before the same committee, scheduled for Tuesday.

"The Attorney General has directed senior federal prosecutors to evaluate certain issues raised in your letters," Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd wrote.

"These senior prosecutors will report directly to the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General [Rod Rosenstein], as appropriate, and will make recommendations as to whether any matters not currently under investigation should be opened, whether any matters currently under investigation require further resources, or whether any matters merit the appointment of a Special Counsel," Boyd wrote.

Comment: Connected? President Trump just hinted at something YUGE upon his return to the White House

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Document

AG Sessions: "Why we've made restoring rule of law our top priority"

Jeff Sessions
Fox News
Mon, 13 Nov 2017 19:14 UTC
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions
© Yuri Gripas / ReutersU.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
The rule of law is the foundation of our system of government. In the vision of our Founders, we have "a government of laws - and not of men."

Under President Trump's strong leadership, the Department of Justice has made restoring the rule of law our top priority. Everything we do is guided by this principle.

Under the previous administration, parties who had been sued by the government and then settled the lawsuit were sometimes required to pay community organizations that were not even involved in the case or harmed by the defendant. That was not only wrong, but contrary to longstanding legal principles, and we have put a stop to it. Lawsuit settlements with the government should not be used to bankroll third-party special interest groups or the friends of whomever is in power. They should help compensate victims or go to the taxpayer. Now that is what they will do.

We are also trusting our prosecutors again and letting them do their jobs. The previous administration forced them to leave out important facts in drug cases to achieve sentences lighter than were required by the law. Federal drug prosecutions - and sentences - went down dramatically. Meanwhile drug deaths rose to unprecedented levels.

Comment: Hard to argue with that. A country founded on laws ceases to be legitimate when it disregards those laws. But if you're going to go in this direction, you really have to go all the way. For example: Israel is a rogue nuclear state. Funding it is illegal, according to U.S. law, but the U.S. gives it billions of dollars every year. Aid to Israel must end; until it does, the U.S. will be engaging in ongoing criminality. The U.S. military has no legal justification for its involvement in Yemen or Syria. Every day they spend there, they are breaking the law. There are countless examples of U.S. violation of domestic and international law. Maybe it's time to actually do something about them.

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Attention

'Unassailably popular': Hungarian PM Orban accepts Fidesz party's unanimous endorsement to run in next year's election

Marton Dunai
Reuters
Sun, 12 Nov 2017 11:30 UTC
Viktor Orban
© REUTERS/Laszlo BaloghHungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban attends the ruling Fidesz party congress in Budapest, Hungary, November 12, 2017
Hungary's right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban accepted his ruling Fidesz party's endorsement on Sunday to lead it into an election next year, saying he needed another four year term in power to make his transformation of the country "irreversible".

Orban, who has steered Hungary into confrontation with the European Union by campaigning against immigration, asserting control over the media and courts, and criticizing efforts to deepen European integration, received a unanimous 1,358 votes at a party congress to remain Fidesz leader for two more years.

With an election five months away, he leads all contenders and looks likely to secure a third consecutive landslide.
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Arrow Up

The Kurdish nationalist project for Iraq officially bites the dust as Kurds renounce secession claims

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 17:40 UTC
Iraq soldiers flag
On the 25th of September, Iraqi Kurds held a secessionist vote based on the principles of extreme ethno-nationalist, where Kurds voted to separate from Iraq. The referendum was boycotted by Arabs ,Assyrians, Armenians and local Turkomen and was doubly controversial as it included areas of Iraq that had been unilaterally occupied by Kurdish militants, which are outside the legally defined Kurdish Autonomous Region in northern Iraq.

Iraqi troops quickly liberated cities including oil rich Kirkuk, which had been under Kurdish occupation since 2014 and restored legal Iraqi rule.

Iraq gave the Kurdish secessionists an ultimatum to peacefully return to the pre-referendum status quo, or else face vital assets restored fully to the control of Baghdad.

Comment: Yet another victory for the forces of sanity in the Middle East!

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Gear

Middle East Eye report: Saudi royals crackdown bigger in scale than reported, and violent

David Hearst
Middle East Eye
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 18:16 UTC
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
© AFPCrown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has overseen arrest of hundreds of people, including senior royals, ministers and tycoons
Some senior figures detained in last Saturday's purge in Saudi Arabia were beaten and tortured so badly during their arrest or subsequent interrogations that they required hospital treatment, Middle East Eye can reveal.

People inside the royal court also told MEE that the scale of the crackdown, which has brought new arrests each day, is much bigger than Saudi authorities have admitted, with more than 500 people detained and double that number questioned.

Members of the royal family, government ministers and business tycoons were caught up in the sudden wave of arrests orchestrated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, under the banner of an anti-corruption drive.

Comment: Take this report with a large handful of salt. From Middle East Eye's Wikipedia page:
The MEE is edited by David Hearst, the former chief foreign leader writer for the British daily The Guardian. MEE is wholly owned by Middle East Eye Ltd, a UK company that was incorporated in October 2015 which claims to employ about 20 full-time staff in its London offices. It also claims to have a network of freelance journalists. The sole director of M.E.E. Ltd is Jamal Bessasso (frequently published as Bassasso), a former director of planning and human resources at Al Jazeera.


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Rocket

Head of Russia's Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation Dmitry Shugayev: Russia, Saudi Arabia sign air defense contracts


TASS
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 19:47 UTC
S-400 missile systems
© Valeriy Sharifulin/TASSS-400 missile systems
Russia and Saudi Arabia have reached agreements on the supplies of S-400 missile systems

Russia and Saudi Arabia have signed contracts on air defense, Head of Russia's Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation Dmitry Shugayev told Rossiya 24 on Monday.

Comment: See also:

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Stop

EU sides with Lebanon, calls for unity and Hariri's return - warns against foreign interventions


Middle East Eye
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 18:41 UTC
Beirut Marathon
© ReutersParticipants at the annual Beirut Marathon, 12 November
The European Union on Monday urged Saad al-Hariri to return to Lebanon, calling on all political forces inside the country to focus on the domestic agenda and warning Saudi Arabia against meddling.

Hariri's resignation, announced from Riyadh, and its aftermath have put Lebanon at the forefront of regional rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia in recent days.

"We appeal first of all to the political forces to focus on Lebanon and what they can deliver to their citizens, Prime Minister Hariri to return to his country and the unity government ... to focus on domestic achievements," the bloc's top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, told reporters after hosting a meeting of all 28 EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

Hariri, who resigned saying he feared assassination in Lebanon, has criticised the Iran-backed Hezbollah and said he would rescind his resignation if the group agreed to stay out of regional conflicts.

But top Lebanese government officials and senior sources close to Hariri say Saudi Arabia coerced him into resigning and has put him under effective house arrest since he flew there more than a week ago

Comment: Hariri says he'll be back in Lebanon later this week. We'll see!

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