Puppet MastersS


Sherlock

Terrorism expert explains why feds won't admit ISIS was involved in Las Vegas attack

Chris Enloe
The Blaze
Wed, 11 Oct 2017 18:26 UTC
isis flag
© Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images
The Islamic State took credit for the Las Vegas massacre, but investigators say the shooting has no connection to Islamic terrorism. But one terrorism expert explained in an interview with Newsweek magazine the "terrifying" reason why he believes federal investigators may not admit the Islamic State was behind the attack if they were.

What did he say?

Michael S. Smith II, a well-respected terrorism and intelligence analyst who advises government officials, told Newsweek:
If Islamic State did indeed cultivate [shooter Stephen] Paddock, as it has claimed was the case, the group surely has some evidence of its engagements with him. If it does, it may be the case the group is waiting on FBI and other agencies to dismiss its claim of responsibility for the Las Vegas attack before posting contradictory evidence online for the world to see.

[The] Islamic State has been very focused on undermining confidence among civilians in the West that their technologically-superior governments are competent managers of our collective security.
Waiting to release evidence that Paddock was an Islamic State "soldier" serves two purposes, Smith explained:
  • To undermine the U.S. intelligence community and their ability to monitor terrorist activity and prevent potential attacks
  • And to bolster the Islamic State's image as it continues to face massive territorial losses in Iraq and Syria
But the U.S. intelligence community understands this. So instead of being undermined by ISIS, completely dismissing the group's claim undermines them and forces the group to release evidence. But without concrete evidence, combined with recent PR failures, ISIS loses all-around.
Read More...
Rocket

Russian senior diplomat Georgiy Borisenko: US THAAD missile defense systems in S Korea target Russia, China


Sputnik
Wed, 11 Oct 2017 20:41 UTC
U.S. missile defense system THAAD
© AP Photo/ Choo Sang-chul/NewsisU.S. missile defense system called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, is seen at a golf course in Seongju, South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017
The US THAAD missile defense systems in South Korea target Russia and China, Georgiy Borisenko, Director of the North America Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry said in an exclusive interview with Sputnik.

According to Borisenko, Washington is merely using the alleged N Korean missile threatas a pretext for deploying THAAD systems close to the borders of Russia and China.

"But the fact is that these systems are absolutely incapable of preventing North Korea from retaliating in the event of aggression against it. The border on the Korean Peninsula passes so that Seoul is in the range of the long-range artillery of the neighboring state. THAAD systems are not capable of intercepting artillery shells. Therefore, they are simply not needed against N. Korea," the Russian diplomat said.
Read More...
Attention

Moscow: Approach of US Navy to Korean Peninsula opens room for provocations


Sputnik
Wed, 11 Oct 2017 20:27 UTC
USS Ronald Reagan
© CC0USS Ronald Reagan
Moscow has called on Washington to immediately reduce the intensity of rhetoric on Korean crisis, Georgiy Borisenko, Director of the North America Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry told Sputnik on Wednesday.

The comments come as the American warships, led by the Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, head toward the North Korean coast.

"The situation is very dangerous, it worries us very much, especially because we have borders with North Korea," Georgiy Borisenko told Sputnik.

"We have repeatedly said this to the Americans, urging them to solve this problem [the Korean crisis] exclusively by political and diplomatic means. We believe that it is always possible to agree on a mutually beneficial basis to avoid catastrophic developments," the diplomat stressed.

Comment: See also: 'Freedom of navigation' operation: US destroyer challenges Beijing's 'excessive maritime claims' in South China Sea - UPDATE: Beijing sends frigate & jets to warn off US destroyer

Read More...
Attention

GOP congressman describes 'massive' data transfers from Wasserman Schultz aide Imran Awan as 'substantial security threat'

James Rosen and Alex Pappas
Fox News
Wed, 11 Oct 2017 00:00 UTC
Rep. Scott Perry Imran Awan case
© APRep. Scott Perry's comments raised new questions in the baffling case.
A Republican lawmaker on Tuesday described the "massive" data transfers on government servers by a former IT aide to Democratic Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz as "a substantial security threat."

"These facts, standing alone, indicate a substantial security threat," Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Scott Perry said of the Imran Awan case during an informal hearing of Republican House members on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

Awan pleaded not guilty in September to multiple federal charges including bank fraud and conspiracy. A grand jury had returned an indictment in August in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia charging Imran Awan and his wife, Hina Alvi, with a total of four charges.

Read More...
Chess

Fake News: German intelligence claims Iran tried to obtain missile and nuclear tech 32 times in 2016


Sputnik
Wed, 11 Oct 2017 17:21 UTC
iran nuclear deal
© AP Photo/ Ebrahim Noroozi

Comment: The Germans are taking a page out of the US playbook - make accusations without providing any evidence to back them up. It's also worth keeping in mind that it's entirely hypocritical of Western nations to demonize countries for producing weapons and technology that they themselves are in possession of and use against their enemies. The below claims smell purely of disinfo meant strictly for the Western public to create anti-Iranian sentiment.


German intelligence agencies have claimed that Iran made dozens of attempts to illicitly obtain missiles and nuclear technology in violation of the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal.

Three separate offices of the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) have made the accusation. The BFV's North Rhine-Westphalia branch accused Tehran of making "32 procurement attempts... that definitely or with high likelihood were undertaken for the benefit of [nuclear] proliferation programs" over the year 2016. The report did not say if any of these procurement attempts were actually successful.

The report added that Iran used shell companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to circumvent restrictions placed on their weapons development by the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a landmark agreement meant to freeze the Iranian nuclear weapons program in exchange for sanctions relief.

The BND report goes on to say that Tehran has spread "atomic, biological or chemical weapons of mass destruction," and that they invited "guest academics" from North Korea, Pakistan and Sudan to participate in weapons and nuclear programs. "An example for this type of activity occurred in the sector of electronic technology in connection with the implementation of the enrichment of uranium," the report from the Hessen branch said.
Read More...
Bad Guys

Syrian FM Walid Muallem to RT: US-led coalition 'annihilates Syrian people, protects ISIS'


RT
Wed, 11 Oct 2017 20:06 UTC
A view of Raqqa's Old City, Syria
© Erik De Castro / ReutersA view of Raqqa's Old City, Syria
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has reiterated Damascus' calls to "dissolve" the international coalition led by Washington in Syria, accusing the alliance of not fighting terrorists, but rather destroying the country and its people.

"This coalition was created to annihilate ISIS [Islamic State/IS], but it annihilates the Syrian people and not ISIS," Muallem told RT in Sochi, where the minister held talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.

The Syrian diplomat said that, contrary to its stated mission, the US-led alliance "protects ISIS," and that he saw no sense in so many countries being members of the coalition. Muallem also branded the 62-state alliance "froth," insisting that "it should cease to exist."

"This international coalition has been committing crimes against the Syrian people. In the last two months, thousands of Syrian civilians, women and children mainly, have become the victims of these crimes," he said.

Comment: Sergey Lavrov fears US may be using the coalition's actions as a pretext for destroying Syria and prolonging the hostilities in the country
It is obvious that the US uses the coalition's actions as a pretext for destroying Syria and prolonging the hostilities in the country for as long as possible, the minister noted.

During the talks, Muallem also referred to the Kurdish issue.

"Today, the Kurds are actually competing with the Syrian army for control over the oil-bearing areas. They are well aware of the fact that Syria will not let anyone violate its state sovereignty under any circumstances. At the moment they are apparently intoxicated with US aid and support. However, it is must be understood that this aid will not last forever," Muallem said. He also noted that throughout the entire history of the Kurdish problem that has existed for more than one hundred years, the Kurds have never had a major power as their reliable ally.


Read More...
Attention

Power corrupts - Despots and predators are attracted by it

John W. Whitehead
The Rutherford Institute
Tue, 10 Oct 2017 18:02 UTC
"All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible."― Frank Herbert
Lord Acton
© Bastiat Institute
Power corrupts.

Worse, as 19th-century historian Lord Acton concluded, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

It doesn't matter whether you're talking about a politician, an entertainment mogul, a corporate CEO or a police officer: give any one person (or government agency) too much power and allow him or her or it to believe that they are entitled, untouchable and will not be held accountable for their actions, and those powers will eventually be abused.

We're seeing this dynamic play out every day in communities across America.

A cop shoots an unarmed citizen for no credible reason and gets away with it. A president employs executive orders to sidestep the Constitution and gets away with it. A government agency spies on its citizens' communications and gets away with it. An entertainment mogul sexually harasses aspiring actresses and gets away with it. The U.S. military bombs a civilian hospital and a school and gets away with it.

Abuse of power-and the ambition-fueled hypocrisy and deliberate disregard for misconduct that make those abuses possible-works the same whether you're talking about sexual harassment, government corruption, or the rule of law.

For instance, 20 years ago, I took up a sexual harassment lawsuit on behalf of a young woman-a state employee-who claimed that her boss, a politically powerful man, had arranged for her to meet him in a hotel room, where he then allegedly dropped his pants, propositioned her and invited her to perform oral sex on him.

Despite the fact that this man had a well-known reputation for womanizing and this woman was merely one in a long line of women who had accused the man of groping, propositioning, and pressuring them for sexual favors in the workplace, she was denounced as white trash and subjected to a massive smear campaign by the man's wife, friends and colleagues (including the leading women's rights organizations of the day), while he was given lucrative book deals and paid lavish sums for speaking engagements.

William Jefferson Clinton eventually agreed to settle the case and pay Paula Jones $850,000.

Here we are 20 years later and not much has changed.
Read More...
Arrow Down

Spain's crackdown on Catalonia highlights remnants of fascist past

Wayne Madsen
Startegic Culture
Mon, 09 Oct 2017 17:08 UTC
Catalonia police
© Albert Gea / ReutersA protestor holds up an Estelada (Catalan independence flag) in front of a line of Spanish national police who surrounded the leftist Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) party headquarters in Barcelona, Spain,
King Farouk I, the last crowned king of Egypt, is famously known for saying, "In a few years there will be only five kings in the world - the King of England and the four kings in a pack of cards." Farouk, who lost his throne after the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, was slightly off in his prediction. Having died in 1965, Farouk would not live to see the abolishment of the monarchies of Iran, Libya, Greece, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Burundi, Laos, Sikkim, and Nepal. Nor would Farouk see the re-establishment of the Spanish monarchy after the death of Spain's fascist dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.

King Farouk did have a valid prognostication. Although it is difficult to believe that in the 21st century there are still kings, queens, and other potentates in the world, it is even harder to fathom such hereditary leeches on the taxpayers' balance sheets calling any political shots. However, that is exactly what Spain experienced recently when King Felipe VI weighed in on the results of a popular referendum in Catalonia that overwhelmingly backed independence for the region.
Read More...
Info

Lavrov: Russia to counter allegations that Damascus used chemical weapons


TASS
Wed, 11 Oct 2017 19:52 UTC
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
© APRussian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
Russia will strongly oppose any attempts to politicize the chemical dossier, the top diplomat said

Russia will quash the attempts to blame the Syrian government for the incidents with the use of chemical weapons in the country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at talks with his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem on Wednesday.

"We will also strongly counter any attempts to politicize the chemical dossier and the attempts to accuse the Syrian government without any proof or professional investigation of a whole number of incidents, which occurred with the use of chemical warfare agents on your country's territory," Lavrov said.
Read More...
Bad Guys

Russian senator Frantz Klintsevich says US going to work hard to prevent downfall of IS in Syria


TASS
Wed, 11 Oct 2017 19:35 UTC
Russian fighter jet
© AP Photo/Christophe Ena

A senior Russian legislator warns Washington will be doing everything possible to thwart the defeat of the Islamic State

Washington will be doing everything possible to thwart the defeat of the Islamic State (a terrorist group outlawed in Russia) in Syria, senior Russian legislator Frantz Klintsevich told reporters on Wednesday, adding that the US is no longer concealing these intentions.

"Yes, Syria is by no means Iraq or Libya. Maybe it is for the first time in the Middle East that things for the US are going far from the way they had planned, and they are on the verge of a nervous breakdown," said Frantz Klintsevich, first deputy chairman of the Federation Council's Committee for Defense and Security, commenting on a corridor to the southern de-escalation zone given to 600 gunmen from the territory under the US control.

Comment: The Russian Defense Ministry has urged "the US side to explain its selective blindness regarding militants" operating near US forces in Syria.
The ministry's spokesman said the 300 Daesh militants had tried to block a strategically important road linking Damascus and Deir ez-Zor, which is used for delivering humanitarian aid to civilians and supplies for the Syrian Army.

Aid for Militants: US to Be Responsible for Sabotage of Peace Process in Syria

Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said that the truce in the southern de-escalation zone in Syria could be undermined after the relocation of 600 militants and two convoys with medical aid into the area.

"Considering such significant reinforcements in terms of manpower, medicine and food, with tacit US approval, one does not have to be an expert to forecast an attempt to derail the truce in the southern de-escalation zone," he said.

According to the spokesman, on October 2-3 a group of 600 militants, previously based in the Rukban refugee camp, located in the American-controlled al-Tanf zone, headed westward in SUVs, and after covering some 300 kilometers entered the southern zone of de-escalation through a former border control point on the Syria-Jordan border in Daraa.

"By another 'strange' coincidence, almost simultaneously, two convoys [30 and 60 metric tons, respectively] carrying medicines and products for the local population entered this de-escalation zone... All humanitarian aid that arrived and, above all, medicines, was unloaded and is under control of the militants who came from al-Tanf. At the same time, according to the available information, these settlements are under the control of al-Nusra Front 'sleeper cells'," he said.

Konashenkov said that meant that the 600 militants who arrived from the US-controlled zone in al-Tanf were either sent to fight these 'cells' for medicines and food, or act jointly with them.

The spokesman underscored the US would solely bear all the responsibility for sabotaging the peace process in Syria.


Read More...