Puppet MastersS


Stormtrooper

Syrian opposition refuses reasonable dialog in Russian initiative for political settlement

Ali Younes
Aljazzera
Wed, 01 Nov 2017 15:45 UTC
Syrian opposition
© Mukhtar Kholdorbekov/ReutersA Syrian opposition leader said the proposed conference would be akin to a dialogue between the regime and itself
The Syrian opposition attending the latest round of peace talks in Astana has rejected the Russian call for a Congress in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi.

The "Syrian Congress on National Dialogue" proposed by Moscow during the two-day talks in the Kazakh capital is expected to discuss the reconciliation between all of the warring parties, political reform and discuss the proposed new Syrian constitution.

"This is a Russian deception," said Fateh Hassoun who headed the Syrian opposition military delegation to the 7th round of Astana talks to end six-year-old Syria war.

Comment: The Syrian opposition has little public support (other than the Western-backed terror mercenaries). They want the 'protection' of Western institutions where US influence still has some semblance of power. Unfortunately for them, they're not in a position to be calling the shots, and neither is the United States. The opposition is being given an opportunity for dialog, and frankly, it is more than they deserve. Nevertheless, they're out of bargaining chips, and if they want anything at all this is their chance.

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Brick Wall

Facing threat of weekend work, Senate Democrats cave on Trump's judicial nominees

Susan Ferrechio
Washington Examiner
Thu, 02 Nov 2017 00:01 UTC
Gavel
Senate Republicans this week successfully accelerated the pace of confirming President Trump's judicial nominees, and in doing so won at least a temporary concession from Democrats who have suddenly agreed to stop stalling these confirmation votes.

The breakthrough came in a week in which Republicans were pushing to confirm four judicial nominees, and threatened to keep the Senate in over the weekend to get that done, if necessary. Under the current rules, nominees get 30 hours of debate, and to slow down the works, Democrats have been insisting on the use of all 30 hours.

Republicans also threatened to change the rule unilaterally to reduce the number of hours available for debate, unless Democrats agreed to speed things up. But one key Democrat indicated it was the threat of weekend work that made them agree to shorten the debate time and allow faster votes on President Trump's judges.
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X

Russia points out 'geographically absurd' US propaganda on Syrians fleeing Deir ez-Zor


RT
Thu, 02 Nov 2017 15:40 UTC
Deir al-Zor, Syria
© Rodi Said / ReutersSyrian women and children arrive in the northern area of Deir al-Zor, Syria September 24,2017.
Russia called out the commander of the US-led task force targeting ISIS in Syria and Iraq after he made a "geographically absurd" remark about civilians fleeing Deir ez-Zor for the north, rather than the south. Moscow says civilians aren't fleeing at all.

The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) responded to Army Maj. Gen. James Jarrard's Monday statements, in which he said that "hundreds and thousands of Arabs that are fleeing from around the Euphrates River Valley, from Deir ez-Zor, to Mayadin, to down around Al-Qa'im."

He claimed that they are "fleeing the regime liberation" and "not going south into Arab-controlled territories," instead flocking to"SDF-controlled territories" to the north of Deir ez-Zor.

Comment: The American war-machine has become so pathologically inept that they can't even do propaganda right.

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Gear

Catalan govt officials ordered to be jailed, arrest warrant issued for Puigdemont


RT
Thu, 02 Nov 2017 15:42 UTC
Catalan regional government members
© Gonzalo Fuentes / ReutersCatalan President Carles Puigdemont (C) and other Catalan regional government members.
Spain's state prosecutor has asked the national court to jail Catalonian secessionist leaders pending an investigation, Reuters reports.

The prosecutor's office requested the jailing of Catalonian Vice-President Oriol Junqueras and seven other officials charged with rebellion, sedition and embezzlement of public funds, while the probe is ongoing, La Vanguardia reports.

The prosecutor also asked the judge to issue a European arrest warrant for former leader Carles Puigdemont while also requesting that counselor Santi Vila, who resigned from government before Catalonia declared independence, be released on bail of €50,000.

Comment: Article 155 does not explicitly allow for the Madrid government to take control of an autonomous region and rule it directly, but instead specifies that 'the [Madrid] government can take the necessary steps to oblige the autonomous region to comply with orders from the government'. By dissolving the Catalan government and, effectively, ruling directly until new elections in December, the Madrid government is breaking its own laws.

What kind of elections does Madrid think it can organize in December whereby there will be a majority of anti-independence members of the Catalan parliament, unlike the current parliament configuration? We've already asked if mass arrests of pro-independence MPs in Cataluña are coming, and we'll see if the actions of Spain's state prosecutor's office is just the start. Will pro-independence parties be banned? How else can Madrid prevent the MPs it has just 'fired' from running again for election?

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Vader

America's nuclear weapons program will cost $1.2 trillion over the next 30 years

Aaron Mehta
Defense News
Wed, 01 Nov 2017 00:00 UTC
US smart nuke, US nuclear weapons
The U.S. will need to spend $1.2 trillion over the next 30 years to modernize and maintain its nuclear weapons, according to a new government estimate.

The report, released Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office, said the $1.2 trillion in 2017 dollars includes $800 billion to operate and sustain existing forces, and $400 billion to modernize them, through 2046.

Among systems that will be updated in the next three decades are the Navy's replacement for the Ohio-class nuclear submarine; the Air Force's B-21, a new bomber design capable of both conventional and nuclear strike; the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, a replacement for the existing Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles; and the Long Range Stand-Off weapon, a new nuclear cruise missile.

Meanwhile, the National Nuclear Security Agency, a semiautonomous group within the Department of Energy, is spending significantly to modernize the various warheads used on the Pentagon's delivery systems. And the Pentagon will also invest in the command-and-control structure required to support the so-called nuclear triad.

Comment: See also:

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Info

Trump's lawyer says Manafort will not be pardoned

Chris Enloe
The Blaze
Thu, 02 Nov 2017 16:36 UTC
manafort
© Win McNamee/Getty Images
Now that President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort has been indicted on 12 serious counts, will the president pardon his former campaign chief? Trump's White House lawyer, Ty Cobb, answered that question on Monday.

What did Cobb say?

Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution grants the president unlimited pardon power except in cases of impeachment. He could pardon Manafort of all 12 charges, but Cobb told reporters that Trump has not and will not consider a pardon in this case.

"No, no, no. That's never come up and won't come up," Cobb said, according to the Washington Post.

Cobb was also asked about another former Trump campaign staffer, Rick Gates, who was indicted with Manafort. Cobb said Trump won't consider a pardon for Gates, either.

Why not?

Presumably, Trump doesn't want to pardon Manafort or Gates because a pardon might imply some wrongdoing on his part in the Russia controversy. Trump has maintained his innocence since day one, and probably doesn't want to waiver from that in any way.
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Oscar

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

Joe Quinn
Sott.net
Thu, 02 Nov 2017 17:21 UTC
Facebook ads shown in Congress
An aide displays examples of "Russian-linked" Facebook pages as tech executives testify about Russian election interference on Capitol Hill on November 1, 2017
After more than a year of nothing but spurious allegations that the Russia government or Russian trolls or just "Russia" (like the entire country) 'hacked' the US presidential election and secured victory for Trump, we now have the hard evidence to back up those claims.

Over the last 2 days, technology executives from Facebook, Twitter and Google testified before Congress and laid out the damning evidence for all to see. Russia had indeed used social media platforms to turn the minds of the American people (or at least the 27% of the electorate that voted for Trump) against Clinton. It was a travesty, a dastardly attack on truth, justice and the American way.

The primary way in which the evil Russians achieved their nefarious goal was by making posts and paying for some ads on Facebook and Twitter. Facebook General Counsel Colin Stretch said that up to 130 million Americans may have seen at least one of the posts/advertisements made on the platform. While that's a large number of alleged 'impressions', the offending posts represent 0.004% of all impressions on Facebook during the time period, but let's not quibble over numbers. Then again, maybe we should.
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Light Saber

RT anchor Ed Schultz challenges Congress to summon him over propaganda accusations


RT
Thu, 02 Nov 2017 16:21 UTC
Ed Schultz
© Agence France-PresseEd Schultz
RT America's Ed Schultz tore into lawmakers who have alleged that RT America meddled in the 2016 presidential election. Schultz didn't pull any punches, calling the Congressional investigation "disgraceful" and "unprofessional."

On Wednesday, Schultz ended his daily news show The News With Ed Schultz, with a response to the Senate Intelligence Committee, and its ranking member Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California), who is leading the charge into an investigation focusing on Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

"I want to comment on the last two days of the Senate and House hearings on Capitol Hill focused on social media and the accusations cast about this network, RT America," Schultz said.

The anchor elaborated, and called accusations leveled by the Senate Intelligence Committee "disgraceful."
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Binoculars

Neocons push dubious "bin Laden doc" to tie Iran to al-Qaeda in transparent propaganda bid


Moon of Alabama
Thu, 02 Nov 2017 16:02 UTC
USIRANISRAELflags
© Vestnik Kavkaza/KJN
The anti-Iran powers in the U.S. again try to smear Iran as allied with al-Qaeda. The accusations will be used to justify further hostilities against the country.

Suddenly an anonymous, and likely fake, document appears and is prominently launched into the public circulation. To provide plausibility for the publishing the new CIA director Mike Pompeo ordered his staff to release additional data allegedly found in Osama Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad in Pakistan.

These "new" papers were first released to the neoconservative anti-Iran lobby Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Among the "hundred thousands" of pages a mysterious 19 page document is claimed to prove Iranian collaboration with al-Qaeda. The way the release was handled and the prominence put on this one specific paper indicates that the now released stash was "spiked" with this document to initiate hostilities against Iran.

We have been here before. Fake documents produced by the CIA and neo-conservative think-tanks were used to allege that Saddam Hussein was buying Uranium in Niger (copy below). False claims were made that Saddam had contacts with the perpetrators of the 9/11 attack in New York.


Comment: Claims that originated with the Israeli Mossad.


Comment: See also: Take a look at the document. It could have been produced by anyone at any time.

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Bad Guys

The DPRK riddle has the US establishment quietly freaking out

Pepe Escobar
The Saker Blog
Thu, 02 Nov 2017 15:46 UTC
China 19th congress
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held its 19th Party Congress in Beijing from October 18–25, 2017, a twice-per-decade event to set the party’s national policy goals and elect its top leadership.
The 19th Party Congress has made it very clear that "socialism with Chinese characteristics" - as codified by President Xi Jinping - is China's road map ahead. Not only the strategy graphically eschews those much-lauded "Western values"; it will, in Xi's own words, offer "a new option for other countries and nations who want to speed up their development while preserving their independence."

Xinhua even dared to venture, "the 21st century is likely to see capitalism lose its appeal while the socialist movement, led by China, rapidly catches up".

To say this won't go down very well in the West, especially in the US, may be the understatement of the century - even considering that the Chinese system is more like "neoliberalism with Chinese characteristics."
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