Puppet MastersS


Red Flag

Britain proposes suspending surgeries for smokers and obese patients in single-payer nightmare scenario

UK NHS building
Yesterday brought the news that two influential Senators had hammered out a bipartisan agreement that would temporarily resolve Obamacare's newly-expanded 'cost-sharing' subsidies dispute.

After President Trump ended his predecessor's illegal payments to insurers (ruled unconstitutional by the federal courts because the funds were never appropriated by Congress, as required), industry experts warned that the move would force premiums and costs even higher, as carriers seek to mitigate even bigger financial losses than the ones that have already driven providers out of marketplaces from coast to coast.

The Alexander-Murray compromise would legally allocate those bailout-style funds for two years, in exchange for very minor concessions from Democrats regarding state flexibility and catastrophic plans. Trump appeared initially supportive of the deal but has walked that back a bit -- as Paul Ryan signals that the proposed trade-offs are woefully insufficient to attract House Republican support. The fate of the whole "fix" push, therefore, remains murky.

Alarm Clock

Unacceptable! Former German Chancellor Schroeder lambastes Washington's economic war against Russian gas supplies to Europe

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
© Wolfgang Rattay / ReutersFormer German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
The United States would like to weaken Russia's energy cooperation with the European Union, said former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, adding it's unacceptable to create barriers to Russian gas deliveries to the German market.

"It's wrong if the Americans and the European Union somehow resist each other on this issue. And still there are attempts to create some difficulties for this project [Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline - Ed.]," he told Rossiya 24 news channel.

According to Schroeder, "the fact the Americans will try entering the German market with the help of sanctions and to dominate with its liquefied shale gas is nothing but the signs of an economic war, and such war is unacceptable."

Comment: Any self-respecting European leader who hasn't bowed down to the diktats of Imperial Amerika would do the same.


Yoda

Vladimir Putin blasts the US for its past and present actions and likely future deeds

Putin Valdai 2017
© Sputnik/ Grigoriy SisoevRussian President Vladimir Putin takes part in final plenary session of Valdai International Discussion Club meeting
The Russian President's remarks during a public Q and A session in Sochi were among his most strident ever offered on the subject of US international lawlessness.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered one of his most wide reaching criticisms of the United States to-date, during his Q and A session at the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi.

Putin described a worsening Moscow-Washington relationship that dates back to the 1990s when an 'untrustworthy' west took advantage of Russia's weak leadership in the age of Yeltsin, Gaidar and Chubais. Addressing his multi-national audience, the Russian President said,
"Our biggest mistake was that we trusted you too much. You interpreted our trust as weakness and you exploited that...

What we got in return is well-known: a complete disregard for our national interests, support for separatism in the Caucasus, a circumvention of the United Nations Security Council, the bombing of Yugoslavia, the invasion of Iraq, and so on. The US must have seen the state of our nuclear weapons and economy and decided to do away with international law".

Comment: Russia, along with China, and to a lesser degree, Iran, are the only adults currently operating on the world stage. It can only be hoped that the patient diplomatic efforts put forth by these nations will shepherd the most serious conflicts into solutions that benefit all sides. Russia has shown itself to be an honorable negotiator. The U.S. looks comparatively more villainous by the day.


Chess

Sites that post political content, from Facebook to Twitter to Drudge, could face libel suits for spreading "fake news"

internet hoax
Political content on the internet, paid or not, should face substantial federal regulation to eliminate undefined "disinformation," and users of platforms and news feeds, from Facebook, to Twitter, to the Drudge Report and even New York Times, could be punished for sharing "fake news" from those sites, the former Democratic chair of the FEC is urging.

In a broad proposal that adds threatening libel suits to regulatory plans already pushed by Democrats on the Federal Election Commission, ex-chair Ann Ravel believes that there is support for expanded regulation in the wake of reports foreign governments spent $100,000 on 2016 political ads on Facebook.

She would include "fake news," not just paid ads, to be regulated, though it's never defined other than the Democrat's description of "disinformation." And anybody who shares or retweets it could face a libel suit.

She would also use regulation to "improve voter competence," according to the new proposal titled Fool Me Once: The Case for Government Regulation of 'Fake News.' Ravel, who now lectures at Berkeley Law, still has allies on the FEC who support internet regulation. The paper was co-written by Abby K. Wood, an associate professor at the University of Southern California, and Irina Dykhne, a student at USC Gould School of Law.

Chess

Pepe Escobar: Clashes between Kurds and Iraqis in Kirkuk all about oil

iraqi tank
© Reuters / Alaa Al-MarjaniArtillery belonging to the Iraqi Security Forces reaches Kirkuk, Iraq, on October 17, 2017
The Battle of Kirkuk lasted less than 24 hours. In a lightning - and mostly bloodless - offensive, the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) retook control of the North Oil Co. and North Gas Co. headquarters, the K1 military base, the Bai Hassan oil field, and two domes of the Kirkuk oil field on Monday.

Baghdad did what it had previously said it would do: reestablish federal authority over the key strategic assets of Kirkuk province, which had been controlled by the Kurdish Peshmerga since the 2014 Islamic State offensive.

But why did it take only 24 hours? There are two main reasons. One, the eternal, internal split between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), led by wily tribal schemer Masoud Barzani, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party of the late Jalal Talabani; and two, a brokered deal for Baghdad's advance. The Kurdish Peshmerga described the takeover as "a flagrant declaration of war" and vowed that Baghdad will pay a "heavy price." That's largely rhetorical.

The Pentagon - which has 10,000 US troops still in Iraq and is allied with Baghdad in the fight against ISIS but kept close links with the Kurds during the 2003-2008 occupation years - has been essentially helpless. The "coalition" the Pentagon essentially leads against ISIS insisted clashes between Peshmerga and Iraqi government forces were a mere "misunderstanding," and stressed it is not supporting any of the belligerents.

Blackbox

Say what? Saudi king vows to fight 'extremist' interpretations of Islam

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
© ReutersSaudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
Saudi Arabia will monitor interpretations of the Prophet Mohammad's words to counter extremism, King Salman said in a decree issued Tuesday.

The King will establish the "King Salman Complex" in Medina where elite scholars will monitor and examine religious teachings to "eliminate fake and extremist texts and any texts that contradict the teachings of Islam and justify the committing of crimes, murders and terrorist acts." the Saudi Press Agency reports.

An assembly will be created in Medina with a council of the world's Hadith scholars, appointed by royal decree.

Comment: Further reading: Saudi Arabia turns to Russia: Diversifies foreign relations, considers buying S-400 defense system - Update


Eye 1

UK's GCHQ spies on millions, shares data with corporations & foreign governments

spy intelligence hacking defence computer cyber warfare
© REUTERS/ Ben Birchall
UK spy agency GCHQ is monitoring social media accounts, gathering thousands of megabytes of citizens' information, according to a privacy rights group.

Rights group Privacy International has unearthed documents that show UK intelligence services collect data on millions of UK citizens via popular social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, and share harvested information with foreign governments and private businesses, without ministerial permission or official oversight.

The exposure represents the first concrete confirmation of the type of information collected and held by UK intelligence agencies, although it remains unclear what aspects of communications they hold and other types of information government agencies are collecting, beyond broad unspecific categories such as biographical details, commercial and financial activities, communications, travel data, and legally privileged communications.

Document

Russian Embassy: Canada's Magnitsky Law 'irrational act sponsored by fugitive fraudster'

Canadian flag
© AP Photo/ Jae C. Hong
Canada's version of the Magnitsky Act approved by the Senate upper chamber was an irrational measure driven by a dubious character accused of fraud, the Russian Embassy in Ottawa said in a statement.

"In defiance of common sense S-226 is hastily signed into law," the embassy said in a tweet Wednesday. "Irrational act sponsored by fugitive fraudster & tax evader and Russia-haters."

On Tuesday, Canada's Senate in a final reading passed the bill, titled "Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act (Sergei Magnitsky Law)," which aims to impose restrictive measures on foreign nationals allegedly responsible for human rights violations.

Should Bill S-226 receive royal assent, it will enable Canada to "sanction, impose travel bans on and hold accountable those responsible for gross human rights violations and significant corruption."

Comment: Here's what Putin had to say about America's Magnitsky Act back in 2012:
"A person died; it has been clear for some time that Mr. Magnitsky died in prison. That is a tragedy that we regret. What, are you telling me that nobody dies in their prisons? Maybe more people die in their prisons than in ours. In European prisons? In the U.S.?Listen, it's been eight years and Guantanamo is still not closed; people are held without a trial or an investigation, like in the Middle Ages; prisoners walk around in chains and shackles! People who open secret prisons, legalize torture without investigations! And now these people are now accusing us of somehow not being good enough!



Info

Putin: Bad relations with U.S. regrettable, but it's not Russia's fault

putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he regrets that relations between Russia and the US are not cordial but emphasized that it was not Moscow's fault.

"Unfortunately, our relations have gone into a freeze," he told the Eastern Economic Forum on Saturday.

"I believe, this is not our fault," he continued.

"It is quite possible to unilaterally pull out of the anti-missile defense treaty and build up this system while using the pretext of an Iranian nuclear threat. However, once it disappears, once the Iranian nuclear threat is gone, they act as if everything has been forgotten and continue developing that system in spite of everything. On the other hand, if our counterparts see it from a different point of view, the logic of respecting mutual interests - one another's interests - then our relations could change fundamentally," Putin explained.

Comment: This was in the context of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Putin stressed at Valdai today that Russia will continue to adhere to its terms, just so long as the U.S. does.


Footprints

End of the petrodollar: China to compel Saudi Arabia to trade oil in yuan

saudi dollar china
This week, a leading economist predicted a major paradigm shift, as Carl Weinberg, chief economist and managing director at High Frequency Economics told CNBC that China will "compel" Saudi Arabia to abandon the petrodollar, and instead, begin trading oil in yuan-a move he says is likely to precipitate the rest of the oil market following suit and abandoning the U.S. dollar as the global reserve currency.

Weinberg noted that China is poised to clearly dominate the global landscape in terms of oil demand since surpassing the U.S. as the "biggest oil importer on the planet," adding that Saudi Arabia will "pay attention to this because even as much as one or two years from now, Chinese demand will dwarf U.S. demand."

"I believe that yuan pricing of oil is coming and as soon as the Saudis move to accept it-as the Chinese will compel them to do-then the rest of the oil market will move along with them," Weinberg said.

Commensurate with the rise of the U.S. use of the petrodollar as a weaponized financial instrument, numerous states that oppose the dollar holding the status of world reserve currency, have worked to minimize their dependence on dollars in bilateral transactions.