Puppet MastersS


Star of David

UN official slammed for suggesting that Israel be sanctioned for breaking international law


Middle East Monitor
Fri, 27 Oct 2017 12:04 UTC
Michael Lynk
© Alhadath24/FacebookMichael Lynk, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories
Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian territories Michael Lynk has been slammed by Israeli ambassador to the UN after he urged for economic and travel sanctions to be enforced on the occupying state to force it to withdraw from the West Bank, according to the Times of Israel.

During a press briefing at the UN Human Rights Council yesterday, Lynk cited a report he released on the situation of the Palestinians earlier this week, calling for the international community to increase pressure on Israel

"Israel is very dependent upon trade with the outside world," he said in response to a question on whether sanctions could affect Israel.
If there was an understanding that all of a sudden Israelis wanting to travel abroad needed to have visas, if all of a sudden there was an understanding that Israel wasn't going to get preferential trading agreements with the EU. If all of a sudden, the many and multitude forms of military or economic cooperation or academic cooperation with Israel were now going to come to an end ... I think you'd begin to see a sea-change in the attitude of ordinary Israelis and in the attitude of the Israeli government.
His statements were subsequently denounced by Israeli envoy Danny Danon who claimed that Lynk was advocating for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.
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Better Earth

Communist Party of China's 19th National Congress: President Xi Jinping speech heralds new global era

Eric Li
Washington Post
Tue, 24 Oct 2017 20:21 UTC
As the 19th National Congress of the Com
Xi Jinping 19th Party Congress
© Ng Han Guan/APChinese President Xi Jinping, center, presides over the opening ceremony of the 19th Party Congress. Beijing, Oct. 18.
munist Party of China draws to a close, analysts are parsing through President Xi Jinping's 30,000-plus-word report - delivered in a three-and-a-half-hour address without breaks - to decipher the direction of the most populous nation in the world. It is a laborious effort, especially considering the report's extensive official jargon and policy details.

But there is a much easier way. Read The Economist's coverage of the congress, which is considerably shorter in length, and bet on the opposite being true. Let me explain.

In October 1992, while the party was holding its 14th Party Congress, The Economist editorialized that the party had "stepped backwards" and called the socialist market economy (which the congress espoused) an "oxymoron." Five years later in 1997, during the 15th Party Congress, it characterized the gathering as where "hollow promise[s]" were made and broken, from privatization to unemployment goals. Dashing raised expectations was a "recipe for civil strife," opined the magazine.

Comment: Here is the speech by Xi:



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Jet5

B***s***!: British Airforce drops 3,400 bombs on Iraq and Syria - but says it has 'no evidence' of civilian casualties


RT
Fri, 27 Oct 2017 16:05 UTC
Royal Air Force Typhoon jets
© Paul Hackett / ReutersRoyal Air Force Typhoon jets
Over 3,400 British bombs have been dropped on Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) targets in Syria and Iraq, new analysis reveals. The government has been forced to defend claims there is "no evidence" of UK airstrikes killing or maiming civilians.

The UK launched an air campaign against IS in Iraq in 2014 and Syria in December 2015. Analysis by the 'i' newspaper shows that up to September this year UK forces have dropped at least 3,482 bombs and missiles on the two countries. That includes 2,089 Paveway IV smart bombs and 486 of the more accurate Brimstone missiles dropped by Typhoon and Tornado jets.

The government describes the Brimstone as the most accurate weapon available that can be fired by aircraft. A conservative estimate prices them at £100,000 each. The heavier Paveway IV bombs are estimated to cost £30,000 each and Hellfire, the Reaper drone fleet weapon, costs £71,300 each.



Comment: If the Airwars Report is correct, then the number of civilian deaths caused by coalition airstrikes is comparable to the number of Americans who died on 911.


Comment: This is the same Sir Michael Fallon who claimed that the UK was single-handedly responsible for defeating ISIS in Syria. He's a regular "reality creator"!

Some other choice psychopathic statements from the UK's Defense Secretary:

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Bizarro Earth

"Collusion" claims are backfiring on Clinton, but Russia is still more evil than ever

George James Jatras
Russia Insider
Fri, 27 Oct 2017 20:00 UTC
clinton banshee
Rare species of banshee spotted in DC.
For months America and the rest of the world have been bombarded with hysterical claims from sore-loser Democrats, GOP Never-Trumpers, and their media shills that Donald Trump only won the 2016 election thanks to the hidden hand of that Mephistopheles of contemporary geopolitics, Vladimir Putin. Never mind that no evidence of any collusion between the Russians and anyone on the Trump team has been found, despite millions of dollars spent by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and several Congressional committees.

With the growing sense that there's no collusion to be found, the narrative lately had shifted towards a new story: maybe what the Russians were really doing was planting discord among Americans to exacerbate our social problems and destroy our faith in our democratic institutions. So, for a measly few hundred thousand dollars' worth of social media ads (many of them appearing after the election) on Facebook, Twitter, etc., Russian interests (we are never told who, exactly) aimed to "sow chaos and create divisions among Americans" - evidently in general, without any link to Trump or even particularly to help him. Among the favorite topics for socially divisive ads were left-leaning memes about Black Lives Matter and the environmental hazards of fracking, as well "a range of right-wing causes associated with Donald Trump's campaign," such as gun rights and illegal immigration. (Regarding the latter, let's not forget that, while remaining an unreconstructed KGB commie, Putin is also a tiki-torch wielding Grand Dragon of the global Alt-Right white nationalist movement. He's another Stalin and "literally Hitler" at the same time.) If not for dastardly Russian meddling, we would have no social problems at all, and everybody would be holding hands singing Kumabaya.

Comment: The only value to these recent "Clinton Russiagate" reports (aside from pure schadenfreude) is that they reveal standard operating procedure in DC. No one should be shocked. The only shocking thing is how relatively clean Trump and his campaign were. But that's not important; the only thing that matters is making sure everyone knows that Russia is the root of all problems, everywhere, at any time, past, present and future. Capiche?

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Yoda

Putin orders Duma to submit bill allowing for visa-free travel during 2018 World Cup


RT
Fri, 27 Oct 2017 20:09 UTC
putin
© Sputnik / AFP
President Vladimir Putin has ordered the government of the Russian Federation to submit a bill regarding visa-free entry for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia to the State Duma by December 18.

Putin's instructions were published on the Kremlin website on Wednesday, along with a host of other demands aimed to ensure the country's preparation for the upcoming World Cup, which will be held in Russia for the first time.

As well as the visa-free bill, Putin ruled to introduce measures regulating the sale of alcohol to foreign visitors and work out steps to prevent illegal ticket sales at next summer's football showpiece.

A bill to grant foreign football fans visa-free entry to Russia for the duration of the tournament will be reviewed in December.
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Megaphone

Lebanese professor: It would be illogical for Syrian gov't to use chemical weapons on Khan Shaykhun


RT
Fri, 27 Oct 2017 19:58 UTC
syria child hospital
The Syrian government didn't have a motive to direct a chemical attack on Khan Shaykhun at the time. It was already making major advances in various parts of the country, says Jamal Wakeem, a professor at the Lebanese University in Beirut.

A leaked report by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed the use of sarin gas in a deadly incident on 4 April in the Idlib province of Syria where 80 people were killed. The report places the blame for the attack on Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces.

The report was conducted by the Joint Investigation Mission (JIM) which says it "is confident that the Syrian Arab Republic is responsible for the release of sarin at Khan Shaykhun," AP and AFP reported.

After the incident, the US launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea at the Syrian government's Shayrat airbase. The strike was ordered by US President Donald Trump as a retaliatory response to the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack.

The UN chemical weapons' watchdog pointedly accuses the Syrian government of the deadly chemical incident in Khan Sheikhoun on April 4, 2017. A leaked quote from the report says the "panel is confident that the Syrian Arab Republic is responsible for" the gas attack.
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Handcuffs

Mueller has legal obligation to recuse himself as special counsel

Joe Hoft
The Gateway Pundit
Thu, 26 Oct 2017 23:35 UTC
mueller dirty cop
Mueller is a partisan hatchet man with a dirty past
Mueller should be disbarred, prosecuted and punished

Dirty and corrupt Democrats never recuse themselves from obvious conflicts of interest when required by law. Robert Mueller is another example. He should recuse himself from the fraudulent special investigation he is overseeing and then he should be disbarred, prosecuted and punished.

According to Gregg Jarrett with FOX News, "Robert Mueller has a serious conflict of interest that should disqualify him from serving as special counsel. He has had a long and close relationship with someone who will surely become a pivotal witness -James Comey."

Jarrett defines that statute regarding conflicts of interest with special counsels -
The law governing the special counsel (28 CFR 600.7) specifically prohibits him from serving if he has a conflict of interest in the case. The rule has been interpreted to mean that even the appearance of a conflict is sufficient for disqualification.

A conflict of interest is a situation in which an individual has competing interests or loyalties. The conflict itself creates a clash between that individual's self-interest or bias and his professional or public interest. It calls into question whether he can discharge his responsibilities in a fair, objective and impartial manner.

Comment: Breitbart weighs in:
Regarding the dossier, DeSantis pointed to the media hypocrisy as to how the issue was reported prior to the discovery that Democrats were behind it versus now.

Also, DeSantis said, "I think now the question with the dossier is we know the funding, we know the Democrats are knee deep in it, but what was the FBI's role in this?"

"Yesterday, we announced two major investigations, " he continued, "one into the Uranium One/Clinton Cash and that got most of the media but we also announced on the Judiciary and Oversight committee's investigations into Comey's handling of some of these cases, particularly the Clinton case."

"I think this dossier and his role in it," meaning Comey, "is going to be a major issue that Congress is going to have to investigate," said DeSantis.


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Cell Phone

Liberte, fraternite, terrorisme! Investigation finds that European welfare benefits went to ISIS terrorists


RT
Fri, 27 Oct 2017 19:39 UTC
welfare benefits ISIS
French jihadists who went to fight alongside Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in Syria and Iraq received welfare benefits after joining the terrorists, local media are reporting citing police.

France's Criminal Brigade, specializing in tracking down IS funding, has uncovered fraudulent welfare payments to jihadists totaling over €2 million ($2.3 million) from Europe between 2012 and 2017. Some €500,000 came from France, Le Figaro reported.

About 420 fraudulent welfare payments to French fighters were discovered last year, the newspaper said citing police. The money was passed through an international network of fundraisers. Police have identified at least 210 Turkish and Lebanese intermediaries, as well as 190 from France.

"Relatives used identity papers with photos to claim money from social security centers or family allowances on their behalf and later transferred the funds to them in the combat zones, in particular via Turkey," an investigator told Le Figaro as cited by The Local.

Comment: France is now in a permanent state of emergency 'because of terrorists'... decreed by a state that funds terrorists.

Welcome to the dystopian future.

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Hiliter

European Federation of Journalists' campaign against free speech

Judith Bergman
Gatestone Institute
Tue, 24 Oct 2017 05:00 UTC
'free'hand
© www.behance.net
The European Federation of Journalists (EJF), "the largest organization of journalists in Europe, represents over 320,000 journalists in 71 journalists' organizations across 43 countries," according to its website. The EJF, a powerful player, also leads a Europe-wide campaign called "Media against Hate."

The "Media against Hate" campaign aims to:
"counter hate speech[1] and discrimination in the media, both on and offline... media and journalists play a crucial role in informing...policy ... regarding migration and refugees. As hate speech and stereotypes targeting migrants proliferate across Europe... #MediaAgainstHate campaign aims to: improve media coverage related to migration, refugees, religion and marginalised groups... counter hate speech, intolerance, racism and discrimination... improve implementation of legal frameworks regulating hate speech and freedom of speech..."
Gone is all pretense that journalism is about reporting the facts. These are the aims of a political actor.

Comment: For EU journalists: 'The writing's on the wall.'

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Question

US coalition retracts its announced ceasefire between Iraq and Kurds still in talks


RT
Fri, 27 Oct 2017 13:01 UTC
kurdistanmap
© unknown
US-led coalition has retracted its previous statement on a ceasefire agreement between Bagdad and the Kurd, clarifying that there was no "official ceasefire" yet and that the two parties only "talk with each other". The news of the ceasefire came on Friday from coalition spokesman in Baghdad Col. Ryan Dillon, who eventually retracted his comments on Twitter.

Brokering of the agreement was however confirmed by the Kurdistan region's spokesperson, who, according to Reuters, said that the ceasefire "is holding."

While no proper ceasefire agreement was apparently brokered, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered a 24-hour suspension to military operations against Kurdish forces in northern Iraq. The move was made in order to "prevent clashes and bloodshed between the sons of one nation," according to the minister, as quoted by AP.

Dillon earlier told the Kurdish Rudaw news channel that the coalition knew "that there is a ceasefire" and wanted it "to extend, to not be just a ceasefire for a short period of time, but that it extends and there is no more fighting."

Comment: A ceasefire and end to hostilities by opposing factions should be good news to all. Not quite, see below:

From Fort Russ News October 27, 2017:
A group of Kurdish Islamic clerics have declared jihad against the Iraqi Federal Forces, calling them "Shias", to defend Kurdistan.

Earlier today, the Iraqi Federal Forces and Kurdish Peshmerga, the military force of the ruling regime of the autonomous Iraqi province of Kurdistan agreed to a ceasefire and withdrawal of Peshmerga units from the Assyrian town of Faysh Khabour.

According to the agreement, all of the Nineveh Plains will now be in control of Iraqi Forces and the Assyrian groups.

In the past, some of Kurdistan's clerics have already been expressing hostilities towards religious minorities living in the province.


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