Puppet MastersS


Green Light

Tillerson, Mattis want unlimited war authority if 2001 AUMF is replaced


RT
Mon, 30 Oct 2017 21:38 UTC
MattisTillerson
© Aaron P. Bernstein / ReutersUS Secretary of Defense James Mattis
If Congress decides to pass a new authorization for use of military force, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis ask that the war authority be unlimited in its time and geographic reach.

During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing Friday, Tillerson said any new AUMF passed by Congress should "should not be time constrained" and "must not be geographically restricted." He added, legislation that sets a termination date may "unintentionally embolden our enemies."

Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis both said that no new war authorization was needed, testifying on the Trump administration's view of the authorizations passed in 2001 and 2002, under which US troops have been engaged in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Mattis and Tillerson agreed in testimony that President Donald Trump already has constitutional authority to strike North Korea without new authorization from Congress.

"In addition to authorities granted to the President by statute, the President has the power under Article II of the Constitution to use military force in certain circumstances to advance important US national interests, including to defend the United States against terrorist attacks," Tillerson said in a prepared statement.

Mattis told the Senate panel that "we must recognize that we are in an era of frequent skirmishing, and we are more likely to end this fight sooner if we don't tell our adversary the day we intend to stop fighting," according to the Washington Examiner.

Comment: The AUMF is already in place. The concern is a clueless Congress short-sheeting options in an unconventional war scenario. And abuse of power? Always that possibility no matter who is in the WH.

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Handcuffs

Detained by US special forces: Bengazi attack suspect Mustafa al-Imam


RT
Mon, 30 Oct 2017 20:10 UTC
Benghazi fire
© Reuters
The White House has confirmed that a militant thought to be involved in the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya has been captured in the country. Four Americans, including a US ambassador, died in the attack.

The man, named by the White House as Mustafa al-Imam, was detained by US special forces in Libya Sunday night. US President Donald Trump said he expects al-Imam to "face justice" on US soil.

"Yesterday, on my orders, United States forces captured Mustafa al-Imam in Libya," Trump said in a statement. "Because of this successful operation, al-Imam will face justice in the United States for his alleged role in the September 11, 2012 attacks."

"Our memory is deep and our reach is long, and we will not rest in our efforts to find and bring the perpetrators of the heinous attacks in Benghazi to justice," he added.

Comment: Is Killary's Benghazi scandal about to unravel? What does this guy know?

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Attention

Evidence suggests Papadopoulos was the victim of a sting operation

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Tue, 31 Oct 2017 04:16 UTC
Papadopoulos
© The National HeraldGeorge Papadopoulos
Russians whom Papadopoulos met were not what they seemed and 'Putin's niece' was no such thing

Following George Papadopoulos's indictment for lying to the FBI, the British newspaper The Guardian - one of the most fervid believers in the Russiagate conspiracy theory - has produced a very interesting timeline of George Papadopoulos's alleged dealings with the Russians.

It turns out that - as I suspected - the Russian woman who is said to have been introduced to Papadopoulos by the academic as Putin's niece was in reality no such thing and has no family connection to Putin at all. It also turns out that a meeting Papadopoulos claimed to have had with Alexander Yakovenko - Russia's formidable ambassador to Britain - never took place.

That begs the question of whether any of the people Papadopoulos dealt with who he claims to have thought were Russian officials really were Russian officials, and if they were what authority they had to negotiate with him? This further begs the question of the reality of the entire scenario set out in the Papadopoulos indictment?

There has to be at least a possibility that Papadopoulos was set up by someone who was out to prove that there were illicit connections between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Comment: A rigged sting operation? It's plausible, considering the long list of nefarious set-ups and collusions already in queue to black mark the Trump administration and completely within the parameters of the DNC/Clinton playbook.

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Arrow Up

MEK/NCRI rising in Washington: Payoffs mean you are no longer a terrorist

Philip Giraldi
Ron Paul Institute
Mon, 30 Oct 2017 00:00 UTC
MCCain/Rajavi
© iranazadiadmin – Iran – Azadi – AlbaniaSenator John McCain • Maryam Rajavi, MEK/NCRI terrorist cult
If you want to change a group of terrorists who have killed American overseas into something that appears to be much more benign, all you have to do is pay off the right people in Washington. With enough money, you can even open a nice plush lobbying office on Pennsylvania Avenue in the District of Columbia, not too far from the White House and Capitol Hill.

One-time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been rightly blamed for the ill-conceived and badly bungled "regime change" in Libya in 2011 that eventually led to her mishandling of the resulting blowback in Benghazi, but one of her greatest failings just might have involved the piece of paper she signed when she removed the Mujaheddin e Khalq (MEK) group from the State Department list of "designated terrorist organizations" in September 2012.

How is it possible that the bad judgment demonstrated in the Libyan fiasco that created a failed state, a humanitarian disaster, a migrant crisis, armed terrorists, and ultimately produced the murder of the US ambassador and three other Americans compare with a signature on a piece of paper? It is because that signature put in place one of the elements that will most likely in the near future lead to a far more disastrous war for the United States than was Libya. MEK, now labeled the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), has become a principal voice of the war party that is now seeking to attack Iran, a role similar to that played by Ahmad Chalabi and his Iraqi National Congress in his disseminating of lies in the lead up to the catastrophic invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The tale of the rehabilitation and rise of MEK/NCRI is a subset of the ongoing corruption of America's political culture, best illustrated by the fact that even national security is now up for sale, enabling a terrorist group to transform itself into a "resistance movement" and eventually be labeled "freedom fighters."

Comment: MEK/NCRI: Israeli repackaging with a shiny new label, cleverly sold to the American public as a viable and convenient conveyor of 'truth'.

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Rocket

Mediterranean Sea: Russian sub strikes ISIS command in Syria, Kalibr cruise missiles


RT
Tue, 31 Oct 2017 14:48 UTC
russian sub rocket
© Vadim Savitskii / Sputnik
A Russian submarine has fired a barrage of Kalibr cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea at targets in Syria's Deir ez-Zor governorate, destroying Islamic State command posts, fortifications and arms depots, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

On Tuesday, the Veliky Novgorod attack submarine of the Varshavyanka class targeted positions of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorist group, said the ministry's statement cited by Russian media.

The targets included several command points and a large weapons depot near the village of Abu Kemal, both of which were destroyed by the strike, the ministry said. A large group of militants was also successfully targeted.

The same vessel had previously attacked terrorist targets in Syria on October 5, when it fired Kalibr missiles simultaneously with the submarine Kolpino of the same class.

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Briefcase

Madrid prosecutor: Sedition charges to be filed against Catalan separatist leaders


DW
Mon, 30 Oct 2017 00:00 UTC
outside not dictators
© Reuters/Y. Herman
Spain's state prosecutor has called for charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds to be brought against Catalonia's separatist leaders. Madrid has taken direct control over the region.

Attorney-General Jose Manuel Maza has called on the leaders of the Catalan independence movement to be called to testify in court. Under Spain's legal system, the request goes to a judge for consideration.

Rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds can carry punishments, respectively, of up to 30, 15 and six years in prison under Spanish laws. Maza said on Monday he would ask the judges for preventive measures against the officials, but didn't specify if those included their immediate arrest and being sent to jail while awaiting trial.

One lawsuit seeks charges against ousted Catalan officials in the country's National Court, including regional leader Carles Puigdemont and his No. 2 official, Oriol Junqueras, although Maza didn't name them.

A second lawsuit that concerns members of the governing body of Catalonia's parliament, including Speaker Carme Forcadell, was filed in the country's Supreme Court.
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Laptop

Blueprints of S. Korea's state-of-art warships stolen by N. Korean hackers


RT
Tue, 31 Oct 2017 13:24 UTC
3boats
© Kim Jae-hwan / Reuters
North Korean hackers reportedly accessed computer systems of the Daewoo shipbuilding company, stealing blueprints of South Korea's newest warships, including Aegis-class destroyers and submarines.

Seoul is "almost 100 percent certain that North Korean hackers were behind the hacking and stole the company's sensitive documents," Kyung Dae-soo, an MP from the Liberty Korea opposition party, told Reuters on Tuesday.

He said the intrusion was detected by a Defense Ministry unit in charge of investigating incidents of cybercrime. It is yet unknown how sensitive and classified the stolen files were as investigators chose not to reveal such details, Kyung added.

The investigation concluded that it was likely North Korean hackers as their methods have been very similar to other attacks that North Korea was thought to be behind, the MP added.

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Maritime Engineering (DSME), founded in 2000, has built several warships for the South Korean Navy, including the Aegis-capable Sejong the Great-class destroyers, Yi Sun Shin-class missile frigates and Son Won Yil-class diesel-electric submarines.
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Nuke

Nuclear test site tunnel collapse kills 200 North Koreans


RT
Tue, 31 Oct 2017 11:59 UTC
NK test site
© KCNA/ReutersTest site at Sohae Space Center in Cholsan County, North Pyongan province in North Korea.
As many as 200 workers were killed in North Korea when a tunnel under construction at the country's nuclear test facility collapsed, according to a Japanese TV report.

Citing Japan's TV Asahi, Reuters reports that 100 workers were affected by the initial collapse, which is thought to have occurred around September 10, a week after North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful test at the Punggye-ri test site, in the north-east of the country. Citing unnamed sources, TV Asahi reports that a second collapsed then occurred during a rescue operation, bringing the potential death toll to more than 200. RT has so far been unable to verify these numbers.

The reports come as experts warned that if North Korea conducts another nuclear test at its mountainous test site, it could collapse the area and lead to a leak of radioactive materials.

South Korea's weather agency chief, Nam Jae-cheol, made the remarks during a parliamentary audit regarding a possible implosion at the Punggye-ri test site, where its neighbor to the north has conducted six nuclear tests since 2006. "Based on our analysis of satellite imagery, we judge that there is a hollow space, which measures about 60 to 100 meters (in length), at the bottom of Mount Mantap in the Punggye-ri site," South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports. "So, should another nuke test occur, there is the possibility (of a collapse)," he said, adding that should the test site be struck by an earthquake it could trigger the release of nuclear material.


Nam's warnings echo those of Chinese geologists who in September reportedly warned their North Korean counterparts of a potentially catastrophic collapse of the site, should they conduct another test there.

Comment: Keep in mind that there is no verification that this event actually occurred.

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Star of David

UN: After Israeli occupation for 50 years, UN chief says 'now is the time' to create a Palestinian state


UN News Centre
Mon, 05 Jun 2017 00:00 UTC
Antonio Guterres
© facebookUN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
Marking 50 years since the start of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, which resulted in Israel's occupation of the Palestinian Territory, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today reiterated a call for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

"Now is the time to end the conflict by establishing an independent Palestinian state, living side by side in peace and security with the State of Israel," Mr. Guterres said in his statement on the 50 year occupation.

"The occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza and the Syrian Golan, which displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and Syrians, has imposed a heavy humanitarian and development burden on the Palestinian people," he said. "Among them are generation after generation of Palestinians who have been compelled to grow-up and live in ever more crowded refugee camps, many in abject poverty, and with little or no prospect of a better life for their children," he added.

"Ending the occupation that began in 1967 and achieving a negotiated two-state outcome is the only way to lay the foundations for enduring peace that meets Israeli security needs and Palestinian aspirations for statehood and sovereignty," he stressed. "Now is not the time to give up on this goal but is the time to return to direct negotiations to resolve all final status issues on the basis of relevant UN resolutions, agreements and international law," Mr. Guterres said.

Comment: Nice words, said many, many times... Five months after this speech, what progress has there been?

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Cheeseburger

Professor connected to Papadopoulos nothing-burger says he has 'no knowledge of Clinton emails, charges are laughable'


RT
Tue, 31 Oct 2017 17:04 UTC
george papadopoulos
George Papadopoulos
A Maltese professor confirmed he was the individual referred to in the US government's case against former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos, but said he had no knowledge of Hillary Clinton's emails and called the charges laughable.

"I have a clear conscience," Professor Joseph Mifsud told the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday. He is the honorary director of the London Academy of Diplomacy, which is affiliated with the University of Stirling in Scotland.

According to the indictment against Papadopoulos, unsealed on Monday, the former volunteer campaign adviser said that "they [the Russians] have thousands of emails" and would provide "dirt" on Clinton.
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