Puppet MastersS


Red Flag

Russian FM: UN's OPCW investigation of Khan Shaykhun chemical incident borders on "dilettantism"


RT
Sun, 12 Nov 2017 08:55 UTC
OPCW report Moscow briefing
© Vladimir Astapkovich / SputnikA joint Moscow briefing of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry and Ministry of Industry and Trade, titled Russia's Opinion on the 7th Report of the JIM of the OPCW and the UN of October 26, 2017 Blaming Damascus for Using Sarin in Syria’s Khan Sheikhoun
The OPCW-UN probe into the Khan Shaykhun chemical incident showed disregard to the Chemical Convention's guidelines and borders on "dilettantism," Russia's Foreign Ministry has said, rejecting the chief investigator's accusations that Moscow somehow pressured him.

The head of the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM), Edmond Mulet, in an interview with the New York Times Thursday, claimed the criticism voiced by Moscow, regarding his investigation into the April chemical incident in northern Syria, was allegedly driven solely by the desire to protect the Syrian government. Mulet went even further, and speculated that Russia's calls for a proper and fair investigation, which would meet the Chemical Weapons Convention standards, were allegedly motivated by some sort of knowledge on the true nature of the incident.

Russia's Foreign Ministry firmly rejected Mulet's allegations, stating, the official was only trying to whitewash his own reputation, shaken by the improper investigation of the Khan Shaykhun chemical incident.

Comment: UN report made to fit the official narrative: Khan Sheikhoun victims hospitalized BEFORE claimed incident happened

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USA

No one is commenting on this 'big idea' Trump put forward at APEC

David Dodwell
South China Morning Post
Sun, 12 Nov 2017 14:48 UTC
trump apec speech
Trump speaking at the APEC Summit in Da Nang, Vietnam, on November 10, 2017
For now, Trump's embrace of the 'Indo-Pacific' can be dismissed as a piece of petulant theatre

If the sealing of a TPP11 trade deal that now excludes the US was a deliberate stick in the eye to President Donald Trump when leaders gathered at the weekend in Da Nang in Vietnam, so Trump had a stick of his own very much aimed at China - the newly minted concept of the "Indo-Pacific".

Despite being hosted by Vietnam at the annual leaders meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum, where all talk was of the Asia-Pacific, Trump stuck with firm resolve to using the term "Indo-Pacific". Though the term has been lurking around for a decade, never before has it been so firmly and defiantly embraced in place of the "Asia-Pacific" phrase we have become comfortable with.
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USA

Canada follows orders causing Russia to react

Christopher Black
New Easteren Outlook
Tue, 07 Nov 2017 14:11 UTC
Canadian soldier
"Canada's decision to extend its anti-Russia sanctions under the false pretext of hypocritically championing human rights is absolutely pointless and reprehensible," read a November 3 statement from the Russian embassy in Ottawa.

Pointless and reprehensible. Reprehensible this action is but there is a point, the point being to create as much anti-Russian feeling among Canadians as possible and to support the American governments tightening economic blockade of Russia in retaliation for insisting on its own sovereignty, the right to run its own affairs and for insisting on protecting its own international interests as in Syria and along its borders.

On Friday November 3, Canada invoked the so-called Magnitsky Law to slap sanctions on 52 people, 30 linked to Russia, and aside from a couple from South Sudanese, the rest linked Venezuela, including President Maduro.

The new Canadian law, the official name of which is the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act, won final approval in the Canadian Parliament two weeks ago. It allows the Canadian government to freeze Canadian assets of corrupt foreign officials and prevent them from entering Canada and mirrors a similar one put into effect in the USA.
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Sheriff

UK Met Police Chief Cressida Dick: 'young people don't fear the law, time to think about harsher sentences'


Westmonster
Fri, 10 Nov 2017 12:00 UTC
Cressida Dick Met police chief commisioner
The head of the Met Police, Cressida Dick, has said young people don't see the law as a deterrent and floated the idea that maybe it's time to think about harsher sentences.


Comment: Cressida Dick, new chief of British police, oversaw 'botched' post-7/7 de Menezes operation


She said: "I and a number of my officers are seeing an increasing number of young people in London who are simply not fearful of how the state will respond to their actions.

"They don't see imprisonment as particularly likely or a serious threat and it does not in any sense deter them from criminal activity.


Comment: This is probably a gross misinterpretation of how young people feel towards the increasingly corrupt police force.

As UK society continues to crumble under the weight of corruption, responsible role models are in short supply and the opportunities for meaningful lives becomes more ever more limited, any chance of them breaking away from the influences surrounding them is increasingly less likely.

And when young people see the establishment getting off scot-free with every kind of criminal act - from tax fraud to pedophilia - is it any wonder they don't have respect for the law? On a daily basis they see how the law is never really applied to those wealthy enough to afford a team of lawyers and with sufficient status to pull the right strings.

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MIB

Dancing with words: Trump believed Putin 'means it when he says no' to meddling claims but still sides with US intel agencies


RT
Sun, 12 Nov 2017 14:38 UTC
US voter
© Chris Keane / Reuters
This weekend, Vladimir Putin assured Donald Trump that Russia did not meddle in the 2016 US election, after which Trump said he believes Putin "means it." Hours later, however, Trump said he stands by the US Intelligence Community's position on the matter.

Just one day after the APEC international summit in Da Nang, Vietnam, where US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin managed to have a quick chat on the way to a group photo, the US president was asked to answer "definitively... yes or no" if he really believes that Russia, or Putin in particular, interfered in the 2016 US presidential election.

"What I said. I'm surprised that there any conflict in this. What I said is that I believe he believes that, and it's very important for somebody to believe it," Trump replied, apparently failing to meet the reporter's expectations, at a joint news conference with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang on Sunday. Trump added that what the Russian leader believes "is what he [Putin] believes. What I believe is that we have to get to work."

"As to whether I believe it or not, I am with our agencies, especially as currently constituted with their leadership. I believe in our intel agencies, our intelligence agencies, I've worked with them very strongly," he added.
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Better Earth

Trump wants to improve relations with Russia and North Korea despite heavy sanctions


Sputnik
Sun, 12 Nov 2017 12:30 UTC
trump vietnam
© REUTERS/ Carlos Barria
US President Donald Trump has said that heavy sanctions imposed on Russia should not become a barrier to future friendly cooperation between the two nations, adding that cordial international relations would be likely to help resolve the North Korean threat and many other global issues.

Trump's comments on the possible improvement of relations with Moscow came hours after he told reporters that Russian President Vladimir Putin sincerely denied, on the sidelines of the APEC summit, any Kremlin interference in the US presidential election.
"Russia has been very very heavily sanctioned, they were sanctioned at a very high level and that took place very recently. It's now time to get back to healing a world that is shattered and broken... I feel that having Russia in a friendly posture as opposed to always fighting with them is an asset to the world and an asset to our country, not a liability," during a joint press conference with Vietnamese President Tran Dại Quang. "We have to get to work [with Russia] to solve Syria, to solve North Korea, to solve Ukraine, to solve terrorism," the US leader stated.

Trump has clarified his remarks on Russia's alleged meddling in 2016 US presidential elections, stressing that "I believe that he [Putin] feels that he and Russia did not meddle in the election. As to whether I believe it or not I am with our agencies... I believe in our intelligence agencies, I have worked with them very strongly.


Comment: At this point, he sure is. There's not much he can really do without their approval as they've finally gotten their grip on him.


Comment: See also:

Trump to North Korea: US wants 'peace through strength'
Trump's Asia tour to focus on isolating North Korea

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Megaphone

Interview with former NSA official Bill Binney: CIA admits it has no evidence of Russian hacking (AUDIO)

Brian Becker
Sputnik
Fri, 10 Nov 2017 12:00 UTC
William Binney
© SputnikWilliam Binney
For the past several days, the corporate-owned media has been engaged in a smear campaign against Binney, the former NSA technical director and legendary whistleblower, labelling him a conspiracy theorist. This was prompted by reports that he met with CIA director Mike Pompeo to discuss his finding that the alleged hack of the DNC server during the 2016 election campaign was in fact a leak.


Comment: In the Absence of Evidence of Russian Collusion and 'Hacking', Congress Makes It Up


The high-stakes intrigue in Saudi Arabia continues as Saudi citizens are instructed to leave Lebanon immediately, and the Lebanese Prime Minister continues to be held in what appears to be house arrest. Is another war around the corner? Radwan Chehab, political analyst, joins the show.


Comment: U.S., British and Saudis thwart Freedom and Democracy in Yemen - again


A new study from Brown University has found that the total cost of the so-called War on Terror amounts to an eye-popping $5.6 trillion. That's $23,386 per US taxpayer! Ted Rall, editorial cartoonist and columnist, joins Brian and Walter.


Comment: ISIS defeated in Syria and Iraq - mainstream media ignores it


Comment: Also see:

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Newspaper

Trump points to falsehoods in 'Russian hacking' claims but media ignores what he says


Moon Of Alabama
Sat, 11 Nov 2017 13:58 UTC
Putin and Trump
Each day we get more "Russian influence" and "Russian hacking" claptrap. Like this from the once honorable Wired which headlines:

Here's the first evidence Russia used Twitter to influence Brexit:
Russian interference in Brexit through targeted social media propaganda can be revealed for the first time. A cache of posts from 2016, seen by WIRED, shows how a coordinated network of Russian-based Twitter accounts spread racial hatred in an attempt to disrupt politics in the UK and Europe.
Interesting, enthralling, complicate and sensational ...
... until you get down to paragraph 14(!):
Surprisingly, all the posts around Brexit in this small snapshot were posted after the June vote.
"Russian-based Twitter accounts" influenced the Brexit vote in the UK by tweeting affirmative AFTER the vote happened.

"Russian agents" influenced the U.S. election by buying irrelevant Facebook ads - 25% of which were never seen by anyone and 56% of which were posted AFTER the election.

During a flight of his recent Asia tour U.S. President Donald Trump held a press gaggle on board of the plane. Part of it were questions and answers about the alleged "Russian hacking" of the U.S. election.
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Info

'On-the-fly'? Joint US-Russian statement on Syria took months of preparation


Sputnik
Sun, 12 Nov 2017 13:44 UTC
Putin and Trump
© REUTERS/ Jorge Silva
A US State Department official has commented on the recent 'on-the-fly' greeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump amid the APEC summit, suggesting that a joint US-Russian statement on Syria was preceded by months of painstakingly reciprocal diplomatic work.

Following a brief meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump on the sidelines of the APEC Summit, the US President called for good relations with Russia, saying that a number of international issues could be solved with the assistance of Moscow.

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Cowboy Hat

Philippines is mastering the art of "win-win" at APEC summit, a geo-economic triumph for Duterte

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Sun, 12 Nov 2017 13:33 UTC
Duterte Xi Putin
Just as the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit closes in Da Nang, Vietnam, the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit kicks off in the Philippine capital, Manila.

Going into the ASEAN forum, Philippine businessmen and women can feel confident that President Rodrigo Duterte's new geo-political and geo-economic game plan for his country has been a success and importantly, a success which lays a wide foundation for future expansion.

Philippines under Duterte, has led the way for all of South East Asia in transforming the long running South China Sea dispute from a tense situation wherein South Asian nations are often political footballs in a dispute which ultimately pits the Chinese superpower against the US superpower, into a pragmatic understanding of prevailing realities.

Under Duterte, Philippines has made a solid commitment to peace and cooperation over issues regarding South China Sea maritime and territorial rights. This positive attitude has been applauded by China and now it is being rewarded in the form of new investment in Philippines by China, a country better placed than almost any other to inject money into Philippines which is one of the top ten growing economies in the world.

Chinese media has praised the results of the discussions between Presidents Duterte and Xi at the APEC summit which is a clear indication of China's high regard for Rodrigo Duterte.
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