Puppet MastersS


Gold Coins

Panama Papers redux: New offshore leaks dubbed 'Paradise Papers' mention Queen Elizabeth, Trump cabinet, and Putin relative


RT
Mon, 06 Nov 2017 02:22 UTC
Paradise papers
© The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists / FacebookThe International Consortium of Investigative Journalists Facebook page
The organisation behind the Panama Papers investigation, has published its latest series of offshore leaks. Among those mentioned are Queen Elizabeth, members of Donald Trump's government and Vladimir Putin's "son-in-law".

The files dubbed the Paradise Papers reveal "offshore interests and activities of more than 120 politicians and world leaders, including Queen Elizabeth II, whose private estate indirectly invested in a rent-to-own loan company accused of predatory tactics".

Thirteen allies, major donors and Cabinet members of US President Donald J. Trump appear in the documents, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

Among these are "Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross's interests in a shipping company that makes millions from an energy firm whose owners include Russian President Vladimir Putin's son-in-law and a sanctioned Russian tycoon," the ICIJ said, promising more related stories in the coming days.

Comment: ICIJ is not the noble organization it claims to be. This latest leak is another move on the global financial chessboard, just as the Panama Papers were.

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USA

What's wrong? Watch as Nancy Pelosi flubs and stutters her way through a press conference

Kyle Olson
American Mirror
Sat, 04 Nov 2017 23:22 UTC
Nancy Pelosi
Prior to the start of a Friday press conference intended to attack President Trump's tax cut proposal, Nancy Pelosi was handed a folder of what she was supposed to tell reporters.

It might have been good for her to actually browse it before stepping to the microphone.

As the House Minority Leader was waiting for several invited guests to file in behind her, she could hear muttering to herself, "Is it still morning?"

"Yeah," she answered - herself - with a laugh.

After tripping over the word "incentives," moments later she did a verbal face plant when she tried to say "giveaways."
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Dollar

U.S. foundations gave millions to Islamic groups accused of ties to terrorism

Peter Hasson
The Daily Caller
Fri, 03 Nov 2017 21:56 UTC
Muslim Brotherhood
© Khalil Hamra/APMuslim Brotherhood
Major American foundations have given millions of dollars in funding to Islamic organizations accused of having ties to radical Islamist movements or designated terrorist organizations and a group of activists are trying to convince them to stop.

Groups like Islamic Relief Worldwide, which some countries have banned for allegedly funding Hamas and other terrorist organizations, have received millions of dollars from corporate charities like the GE Foundation, community foundations like the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and independent foundations like George Soros' Open Society Foundation.

Researchers with the Middle East Forum, an activist group devoted to promoting American interests abroad, identified the financial stream from American foundations to seven Islamic groups with radical ties: Islamic Relief Worldwide and its sister organization in the United States - Islamic Relief USA, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Muslim American Society (MAS), the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and, despite rebounding from highly damaging terrorist allegations in 2008, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Comment: Here's the problem: many "moderate" Islamic groups are just "moderate" covers for revolutionary Islamism. Groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir for example claim to be non-violent, moderate voices for Islam, but advocate an "Islamic State" and gave support to the "moderate revolutionaries" on a murder rampage in Syria. Then there are "terror groups" like Hamas and Hezbollah who despite their terrorist designation are actual, legitimate political parties. That's not to say Hamas deserves any support - they were basically controlled opposition from the start and haven't done Palestine any favors. But out of all the groups mentioned, Hezbollah is probably the most maligned and misunderstood: So the situation is not so cut and dried. What is cut and dried, however, is that the American establishment has been a keen supporter of radical Islamists for decades.

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Bad Guys

Addressing the Big Lie: The pathological language and indifference of Washington's privileged & depraved

Teodrose Fikre
The Ghion Journal
Tue, 31 Oct 2017 00:00 UTC
blood on the ground
Joseph Goebbels is condemned in the history books as a war criminal. Had he not escaped justice by ingesting cyanide, he surely would have been hanged for committing a genocide against humanity. Why though? Why would a man who was not responsible for pulling the triggers that led to the death of tens of millions of people be held responsible for war crimes? Because those who give allowance to injustice and justify bloodshed by pushing messages of violence are actually more guilty than those who pull triggers. This is why almost all of the top tier Nazis were sentenced to their graves while countless prison guards at Auschwitz, Buchenwald and beyond largely avoided verdicts.

In the top ten of Nazi henchmen, Joseph Goebbels ranks high on the list of reprehensible Third Reich monsters. Goebbels is credited for being the father of modern day propaganda. It was his artful messaging and crafty slogans that allowed Adolph Hitler to rise from an also-ran National Socialist to become the 20th century Caligula. Goebbels cunningly played on the emotions of tens of millions of aggrieved Germans and fed their nationalism by perverting patriotism into a sick form of xenophobia and hatred. Though Goebbels's methods and means were despicable, there is no denying his brilliance. His acumen for using words and euphemisms to manipulate public opinion was so effective that the United States government imported a bunch of his underlings after the war ended in order to practice, and ultimately unleash, the modern age of social engineering we are treated to by way of marketing campaigns, talking points and sloganeering.

Comment: Reminds one of "elder statesman" Henry Kissinger's take on "boots on the ground":

Kissinger quote


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Eye 1

Montenegro faces a 'loss of sovereignty' as gov't codifies agreements with NATO


Sputnik
Sun, 05 Nov 2017 21:39 UTC
Montenegro NATO flags
© AP Photo/ Risto Bozovic
The Montenegrin government is considering legislation which will codify its agreements with NATO, and stipulates many privileges for the alliance's forces in the country. Speaking to Sputnik Serbia, local journalist Marko Vesovic said that such game rules should be rejected by all those states which cherish their sovereignty.

Commenting on a bilateral agreement regarding Montenegro-based NATO forces facing criminal and disciplinary responsibility within the country which sent them toMontenegro, journalist Marko Vesovic of the local newspaper Dan warned of the "practical consequences" of the deal.

"We may face a situation when a NATO soldier may commit murder or other crime, but all this will be explained by his performing official duties or goals, as defined by the North Atlantic Treaty, so no one will be held responsible for this," Vesovic said.
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Blackbox

Saudi Arabian prince & several officials killed in helicopter crash near Yemen border


RT
Sun, 05 Nov 2017 21:39 UTC
Helicopter
© Faisal Al Nasser / Reuters
A Saudi Arabian prince, Mansour bin Muqrin, has been killed along with several other officials in a helicopter crash the near the country's border with Yemen, local media reported.

A helicopter, with a group of Saudi officials on an inspection trip, crashed in the Asir Region in the country's southwest, reports said.

The prince was serving as deputy governor of the southern province of Asir. He was a son of Muqrin bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who briefly was Saudi Arabia's crown prince from January to April 2015.

Comment: With the crown prince initiating a massive corruption purge, as well as an attempt to reign in religious extremism, it's clear that Saudi Arabia is in for a major shake-up. With all the turmoil, one is inclined to wonder if this crash is in some way connected. As George Galloway puts it:

For more on the struggle within the kingdom, check out:

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Handcuffs

Lock him up: 15 African orgs demand Sarkozy be tried for murder of Gaddafi, crimes against Libya


Libyan Revolutionary Committees Movement
Sun, 05 Nov 2017 21:51 UTC
sarkozy gaddafi
Fifteen African civil society organizations in Senegal, Guinea and Burkina Faso have filed a lawsuit against former French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his role in the assassination of leader Muammar Qaddafi.

At a press conference held in the capital of Bamako, the organizations blamed the escalating phenomenon of terrorism in Mali and the Sahel to Sarkozy, demanding that the International Criminal Court prosecute Sarkozy, charging him with responsibility for "the war in Libya that left Qaddafi and over 50,000 civilians dead.

A Complaint Against Nicolas Sarkozy Filed By Pan-African Civil Society Front

A pan-African movement has just been created, the Pan-African Civil Society Front (Fispa), which was launched in Bamako last weekend. This grouping of several African citizens has decided not to leave unpunished the assassination of Muammar Gaddafi, late leader of the Libyan Jamahiriya.

Fispa plans to bring former French President Nicolas Sarkozy before the International Criminal Court for war crimes, crimes against humanity and his alleged role in the assassination of Muammar Gaddafi.

Comment: Sarkozy treacherously stabbed Gaddafi in the back. He played his part in the total destruction of Libya, mass murder, the migrant crisis, the funnelling of terrorists and weapons to Syria, etc. If there were any justice, he would be behind bars for life, along with countless other Western promoters of "freedom" and "democracy". But justice is a rare thing.

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Biohazard

The Democratic Party is dead, time to clean house

Douglas E. Schoen
The Hill
Sat, 04 Nov 2017 21:44 UTC
Brazile and Clinton
The recent revelations by Donna Brazile that Hillary Clinton rigged the 2016 Democratic primaries through corrupt financing come as no surprise to me, especially as someone who before the election said he could not, despite longstanding ties to the Clintons, support Hillary Clinton's candidacy.

In October 2016, I said that there would be a constitutional crisis if she were to be elected. Given the news from Brazile about rigging the primaries, the report from John Solomon of The Hill that U.S. uranium tied to an Obama era deal may actually have reached Europe, and ongoing questions about who paid for the infamous Steele dossier, there may well be a constitutional crisis even without Clinton in the Oval Office.

Let's start with the primaries. Brazile was much closer to the corruption than I was and, as her recent revelations reveal, upon taking control of the Democratic National Committee from Debbie Wasserman Schultz, she discovered that the DNC was $24 million in debt. Brazile was told that Clinton's campaign, in conjunction with the Hillary Victory Fund, the campaign's joint fundraising vehicle with the DNC, "had taken care of 80 percent of the remaining debt in 2016" and had "placed the party on an allowance."

Comment: Schoen may be right about the Democrats, but just look at the title of his book: Putin's Master Plan: To Destroy Europe, Divide NATO, and Restore Russian Power and Global Influence. Just one more rat jumping ship?

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Brick Wall

Fusion GPS and House Intel Committee renew battle over release of dossier-related bank records

Chuck Ross
The Daily Caller
Fri, 03 Nov 2017 21:36 UTC
Devin Nunes
© Australian American Leadership DialogueRepresentative and Chairman of House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes
Fusion GPS and the House Intelligence Committee renewed their legal battle on Friday over subpoenas for the Trump dossier firm's bank records.

Lawyers for Fusion submitted a new request for a temporary restraining order preventing its bank, TD Bank, from producing records requested by the House panel regarding records of its transactions "with any law firm, 'media company' or journalist with which it has worked."

The filing raises the possibility that Fusion has paid journalists.

The committee, chaired by California Rep. Devin Nunes, subpoenaed TD Bank for Fusion's records early last month. The bank was poised to hand over the documents, but the two sides reached a last-minute settlement on Oct. 27.

"None of those demands are pertinent to the Committee's 'Russia investigation,' and disclosure of the documents would cause irreparable harm to Plaintiff by destroying the confidentiality of its business with its clients and contractors and by violating Plaintiff's First Amendment rights to free speech and free association," Fusion's lawyers argue.

They called the subpoena "overbroad" and intended "to harm Plaintiff."

Comment: Since the law firm and Free Beacon have already been publicly revealed, what else is there to hide? Who is Fusion GPS trying to protect from exposure?

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Chess

A Saudi 'Night of the Long Knives'? Prince Salman's crackdown signals significant shifts in the kingdom


Moon of Alabama
Sun, 05 Nov 2017 15:36 UTC
mohamed bin salman
© REUTERS/ Bandar Algaloud/Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court
Yesterday the ruling Salman clan in Saudi Arabia executed a Night of the Long Knives cleansing the state of all potential competition. The Saudi King Salman and his son Clown Prince Mohammad bin Salman initiated a large arrest wave and purge of high ranking princes and officials. Part of this internal coup was the confiscation of huge financial estates to the advantage of the Salman clan.

The earlier forced resignation of the Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri is probably related to the last night's events. The Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahoo endorsed the resignation. This guarantees that Hariri will never again be accepted in a leading role in Lebanon.

In Saudi Arabia eleven princes, including sons of the deceased King Abdullah, more than thirty former and acting ministers as well as the heads of three major TV stations were taken into custody or put under house arrest. The National Guard Commander Prince Mitieb Bin Abdullah was relieved from his post and replaced with Prince Khalid Bin Abdulaziz al Muqrin. The National Guard was the last intelligence and security power center held by the Abdullah branch of the al-Saud family.

Comment: The Prince Salman's reforms have not exactly been met with applause from the United States. The financial position in Saudi Arabia is in such dire straits in no small part due to US pressure on keeping oil prices down. MBS's grand Vision 2030 plan moves in the direction of economic diversification while working to rein-in influential and backward Wahhabi clerics. In moving toward this goal, Saudi Arabia is turning to Russia as a partner in major economic deals. It also likely recognizes that Russia is developing an important role in the handling of global energy contracts. The US has long held this position through sheer dominance, while Russia is gaining influence by using superior strategies involving mutually beneficial business relationships. A Saudi shift toward Russia and China would be a major blow to US hegemony. There still remains a lot to be seen, but at least there are some possibilities that look to be emerging.

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