Puppet MastersS


TV

Zhakharova warns against labeling RT a foreign agent amid 'witch hunt' in US which may pose real threat to its staff


RT
Thu, 28 Sep 2017 19:31 UTC
RT studios
The company that supplies all services for the RT America channel being registered as a foreign agent under US law may pose a real threat to its employees, considering "a witch hunt atmosphere" in the country, Moscow said.

The ongoing campaign in the US seeks to have RT registered as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), a 1938 piece of legislation adopted to counter Nazi Germany, the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova stated on Thursday.

"Applying the FARA to RT will have serious legal consequences, and will also compromise the safety of its employees. It demands disclosure of the channel's confidential data, including the list of employees and their personal data. In the witch hunt atmosphere which has been established in the US, this provision may pose a real danger," Maria Zakharova said during a weekly media briefing.
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Question

Duterte praises US as important ally and says he will 'avoid cursing'


RT
Thu, 28 Sep 2017 18:59 UTC
Duterte
© Erik de Castro / Reuters
Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte has praised the United States, calling it an important security ally, in what can only be described as an epic turnaround by the previously anti-American president.

Duterte dismissed his previous tirades against Washington as "water under the bridge" during his speech at the 116th anniversary of one of the bloodiest battles in the American-Philippines war, where 39 Filipinos were killed in retaliation for the deaths of 48 US soldiers, reports Reuters.

Comment: Has Duterte had a change of heart regarding how he sees the US, or is he trying to be more diplomatic?

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Pirates

Syrian troops on east Euphrates bank discover unexpected and banned items of ISIS fighters

Andrew Illingworth
Al-Masdar News
Thu, 28 Sep 2017 18:19 UTC
Syrian army Ukrainian flag ISIS
As Syrian Arab Army troops operating on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River in Deir Ezzor province continue to expand their zone of control throughout towns situated along the shoreline, unexpected items of the ISIS legacy in the region have begun to appear.

Footage (below) captured by Syrian troops has emerged on social media showing them clearing a building within a settlement located on the eastern bank of the Euphrates.

The video shows Syrian troops discovering a range of objects which are, technically, outlawed under ISIS rule including a Ukrainian flag (non-ISIS flags are forbidden under Islamic State rule), cigarettes (supposedly forbidden to all who live under Islamic State rule) and flamboyant (riyaa) luxury home-wares.
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Info

ISIS creating chaos in Syria's east, captures and kills dozens of Russian and Syrian soldiers - Moscow denies

Paul Antonopoulos
Fort Russ News
Thu, 28 Sep 2017 19:11 UTC
Russian servicemen
© Sputnik/ Maksim BlinovRussian servicemen at the Hmeymim airbase in Syria
ISIS have released a bulletin through its affiliated Amaq News Agency and claimed that it has captured two Russian soldiers in Syria's east.

The report says it captured the soldiers in an attack against al-Shola and Kabajab settlements to the west of Deir Ezzor city.

Comment: The Russian Defense Ministry has on Thursday denied media reports claiming two soldiers were kidnapped by terrorists.
"All Russian servicemen in Syria are safe, healthy and continue fulfilling their assigned tasks. There have been no incidents of Russian servicemen being captured, or any losses in the Deir ez-Zor province or other areas in Syria," a representative of the Hmeymim airbase in the Latakia province said.


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War Whore

Hysteria: House Committee claims the Kremlin is behind anti-fracking ads


RT
Thu, 28 Sep 2017 16:20 UTC
fracking protest
© AFP
The House Committee investigating whether Russia tried to influence US public opinion on fossil fuels has asked Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet to hand over information about Russian entities that may have bought anti-fracking advertisements.

The House Science and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) has asked the CEO's of the three internet companies to hand over the documents by October 10. Alphabet is the parent company of Google and YouTube.

The three companies were also asked to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee to testify at a public hearing in relation to alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election, at a date that has yet to be determined.
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Bad Guys

Senate investigators to probe Reddit over role in alleged 'Russian election meddling'


RT
Thu, 28 Sep 2017 16:20 UTC
reddit
© Robert Galbraith / Reuters
The US Senate Intelligence Committee has reportedly honed in on message board site Reddit as its next target in the relentless probe of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 elections. The investigators have already summoned Google, Facebook and Twitter over the matter.

Senator Mark Warner (D-Virginia), ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee - one of the bodies probing Russia's alleged meddling in the US elections - is "interested" in the message board's possible role as a tool used to spread "Russian influence" on social media and to disseminate fake news, an official from his office told The Hill.

The message board drew the attention of US lawmakers as many fake news stories were reportedly traced back to the platform, including the notorious 'Pizzagate' fiasco that alleged that Hillary Clinton and Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair John Podesta were running a child sex ring using a Washington, DC pizzeria as a front.
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Bullseye

Iranian FM: Trump calls Iran a 'dictatorship' but Washington's Mid East allies have 'never seen a ballot box'


RT
Thu, 28 Sep 2017 16:20 UTC
Iran Tehran Parliament
© Nazanin Tabatabaee Yazdi / TIMA / Reuters
Donald Trump believes Iran is a dictatorship, even though Washington's allies in the region "haven't seen a ballot box in their countries," Iran's foreign minister said, adding that Tehran derives its legitimacy and mandate from the people.

"Maybe President Trump likes to think of Iran as a dictatorship, but it is interesting that all of his allies [in the region] haven't even seen a ballot box in their countries... Be it as it may," Mohammad Javad Zarif said in an interview with the Asia Society, a nonprofit based in New York, answering a question about political processes in Iran and where the country was headed.

"What is important is that we derive our legitimacy and our power from our people, unlike our friends in the region," Zarif told television host Charlie Rose. "We do not derive our legitimacy from the 'beautiful military equipment' we get from the United States."
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Health

Trump's latest executive order will let Americans buy healthcare across state lines


RT
Thu, 28 Sep 2017 16:22 UTC
Donald Trump
© Carlos Barria / Reuters
President Donald Trump says he will sign an executive order enabling Americans to purchase health insurance across state lines, after Republicans failed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

Trump told reporters at the White House Wednesday that he is considering signing "a very major" executive order that will "take care of a tremendous number of people with regard to healthcare."

He said he will "probably" sign the order by next week, allowing people to buy insurance across state lines.
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Sherlock

FBI Director: FBI investigating equal number of domestic vs. foreign terrorists


RT
Thu, 28 Sep 2017 16:22 UTC
FBI Federal Bureau Investigation
© Reuters
There are currently the same number of open investigations into foreign terrorists as there are into domestic violent extremists affiliated with white supremacists, anti-government and other groups, the newly-appointed FBI director has told lawmakers

Director Christopher Wray said the bureau currently has "about 1,000 open domestic-terrorism investigations," and "about 1,000 open related to ISIS investigations," during his first testimony at the Senate Homeland Security Committee Wednesday.

Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) questioned if the FBI has been prioritizing investigations into terror groups affiliated with the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) over investigations into domestic terrorists.

Comment: Further reading: Manufactured Terrorism: FBI foils terrorist plots, but they are plots hatched by undercover FBI agents

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Bad Guys

US already '5 years behind schedule' in destroying its chemical weapons


RT
Thu, 28 Sep 2017 16:22 UTC
US Army chemical weapons mustard gas
© ReutersMustard gas-filled 155mm projectiles are seen inside a chemical storage igloo, at the Pueblo Chemical Depot in an undated photo provided by the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity (CMA) in Pueblo, Colorado
The US is already more than five years past its initial deadline for eliminating its chemical weapons arsenal, but doesn't plan to complete the job before 2023. Russia, which had a similar amount of toxic agents, has just destroyed them all.

The US and Russia both declared some 40,000 tons of chemical weapons when they joined the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in the late 1990s

The Americans pledged to destroy their stockpile by the end of April 2012, but still have two sites storing toxic agents, the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado and the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky. As of 2015, the Colorado site had about 780,000 World War II-era artillery shells containing 2,611 tons of mustard agent. Their disposal is expected to be completed by 2019. The site in Kentucky stores over 500 tons of sarin, VX and mustard agents. A disposal facility there is scheduled to go online next year.
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