Puppet Masters

Raising the tension: India moves nearly one hundred tanks and troops to Chinese border

Sputnik
Thu, 21 Jul 2016 00:57 UTC

With tensions rising between China and India, New Delhi has deployed nearly 100 tanks to its eastern border.

The mountainous region of Ladakh, in northern India, lies in a tense location between disputed Kashmir and Tibet. In an effort to boost its military presence in the area, the Indian military has sent Russian-made T-72 tanks to Ladakh's Chinese border

"The vast flat valleys along the mountain ranges allow for armored movement; besides, there has been an increase in the force levels across the border," an unnamed military official told NDTV.

The tanks have undergone significant upgrades to be better outfitted for the region's climate.

"We have procured special additives and lubricants for high-altitude terrain such as winter-grade diesel and additives for the lubrication system, which prevents it from freezing in the tank," Colonel Vijay Dalal told The Hindu.

This marks the third regiment placed in Ladakh by India since 2014.

SOTT Exclusive: Is Washington serious about partnership with Moscow in Syria?

Paul Mansfield
Sott.net
Thu, 21 Jul 2016 15:33 UTC

Meetings between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov over a US proposal for military cooperation in Syria appear destined to fail. As they say, the path to ruin is paved with good intentions. In this instance, Russia has maintained good intentions throughout the war in Syria, while the US threatens to lead all participants on a path to ruin.

The details of the proposal were apparently hammered out over two days, which would see joint US-Russian airstrikes against Al-Nusra and ISIS; the grounding of Syrian air force planes in designated areas occupied by 'other rebel groups'; and agreement that Russia continue conducting airstrikes against Al-Nusra and ISIS in defence of Syrian forces. While it is curious indeed to see the US engaged in dialogue rather than unilaterally conducting its own airstrikes, this proposal reads suspiciously like a plea: "please, Mr Putin, don't bomb our 'moderate' terrorists."

Aside from the dubious idea of grounding Syria's air force from striking terrorist groups, the proposal would give the US a degree of control in subjecting Russian strikes against Nusra targets to American approval, according to the Washington Post, which broke the story last Thursday. Moscow, from the outset of its Syria campaign, has called for a truly international coalition in fighting all terrorists. Clearly this proposal would not achieve that. Moreover, with respect to policy in Syria, disunity among US diplomatic, military and intelligence circles (Hawkish generals, Ash Carter, Victoria Nuland, and the 51 State Department officials angling for a job under Hillary Clinton spring to mind) continues to grow, and this proposal is unlikely to reverse the trend.

Bank of England ponders issuing its own digital money

RT
Wed, 20 Jul 2016 21:12 UTC

England (BoE) have suggested central banks introduce their own cryptocurrency, claiming it could create a sizeable and long-term jolt for national economies.

According to a BoE report, a new digital currency could boost economic output by around three percent "due to reductions in real interest rates, discretionary taxes, and monetary transaction costs." It could also help maintain financial stability and provide policy makers with more effective tools to smooth financial booms and busts.

Central banks across the developed world, including the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada, are studying the potential of introducing a digital currency. If they decide to issue digital cash and make it available to the general public, money would exist electronically outside of bank accounts in digital wallets, like physical banknotes. That could radically reshape the present financial system.

A central bank issued 'bitcoin' would help policy makers control the amount of money in the economy which is not possible at the moment as commercial banks create money by using deposits as loans thus increasing the money supply.

Comment: When a central bank is touting a digital currency, the trap is closing. Wealth can be created with a few keystrokes and taken away in the same fashion.

Grotesque and absurd: Republicans plumb the depths

Joseph Kishore and David North
World Socialist Web Site
Wed, 20 Jul 2016 21:42 UTC

As one follows the Republican National Convention, one cannot avoid the conclusion that some fundamental political boundary is being crossed.

There is little reason to idealize the political history of the United States. The conventions of the two capitalist parties—attended by several thousand delegates representing a cross section of corrupt politicos and operatives in the pay of Big Business—have usually been sordid affairs. Over the past half-century they have resulted in the nominations of people such as Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and the two Bushes. And yet this Republican Party convention in Cleveland, which has just officially chosen Donald Trump as its candidate for president, represents something new, ugly and sick.

Even as socialists, who have carefully followed, analyzed and explained the protracted crisis of American democracy, it is difficult to suppress a feeling of disgust, akin to nausea, as one watches the proceedings. One cannot help but ask oneself, "Has it really come to this?" The convention is a display of the grotesque and the absurd, in which all that is seedy, stupid, backward, cruel and reactionary in American politics and culture is on display.

An air of demoralized paranoia dominates the convention. Under the slogan "Make America Great Again," the speakers describe a country in irreversible breakdown, beset by enemies inside and out. In the speeches, filled with appeals to the military and the police, one senses, beneath all the braggadocio, a ruling class extremely nervous about its future.

Comment: See also: Does fear lead to fascism? A culture of fear and the epigenetics of terror

Fifth column hamstrung by post-coup purge: Turkey realigning with axis of resistance?

Harrison Koehli
Sott.net
Thu, 21 Jul 2016 19:41 UTC

Continuing our coverage of the coup in Turkey (see here for the previous updates, and here for my previous Focus), news from the past two days has not slowed down. It's coming fast and hard. Erdogan has just announced a 3-month state of emergency.

In FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds's recent commentary, she made the comment that detaining or firing a few thousand individuals would do little to counter the scope of the Gulenist fifth column in Turkey. Well, since those initial numbers, Turkish authorities have fired thousands more public officials and employees.

Breaking it down in numbers so far, the following have been suspended from their previous positions (close to 60,000 people in total): 21,000 private teachers (including 1,577 university deans, public and private - 626 institutions have been closed), 15,000 Education Ministry personnel (latest report adds an additional 6,500 staff members), 399 Ministry of Family and Social Policies employees, 257 employees in the office of the prime minister, 8,000 police officers, 3,500 soldiers, 3,000 judges and prosecutors (all of whom are under investigation) including 2 constitutional judges and 262 military judges/prosecutors, 492 clerics, 130 MIT spies, 120 generals and admirals (that's just under 30% of all generals), and the commander of the Turkish Gendarmerie Gen. Galip Mendi.

More than 9,300 people are currently under investigation for involvement in the coup. In addition to all government officials, all university professors have been banned from traveling abroad. Turkey's main religious body has banned all religious funeral services for military troops killed during the attempted coup; it only applies to those who actively took part, not those who participated "unwittingly or under duress".

Britain to double deployment of troops to Iraq

PressTV
Wed, 20 Jul 2016 21:13 UTC

© AFP
British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon attends a meeting of defense ministers of the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, July 20, 2016.

Britain is doubling its deployment of troops to Iraq, says Secretary of State for Defense Michael Fallon, citing fight on Daesh terrorists. The additional 250 troops will put the total number of the British military at more than 500, Fallon told reporters on Wednesday in his first visit to the US since the forming of the new British government, AFP reported.

"We will be sending an additional 250 troops into the theater over the next few weeks," Fallon said. "Other countries are being asked to look for their contribution to see what more they can do."

Fallon was in the United States to take part at a meeting of the so-called Global Coalition to Counter ISIL. According to the British government's official website, British forces "have helped train 19,000 Iraqi troops to tackle Daesh."

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by gruesome violence ever since Daesh terrorists began a campaign of terror in the country in June 2014. The US-led aerial campaign against alleged Daesh positions in Iraq started in August last year. Many have criticized the ineffectiveness of the raids.

Comment: Looks like Britain literally got its marching orders from Washington. It is interesting timing that they are sending more troops to Iraq just as Turkey is pulling theirs out following the failed coup. It would appear Western powers don't want to see stability in the region...they are after all the root cause of all the chaos.

Dear Donald: No, it's not a 'world war'

David Stockman
Newsmax
Sat, 16 Jul 2016 18:03 UTC

Actually, the Nice horror was the demented suicide of a wretch who recently got fired, divorced and arrested for road rage, not a planned jihadi terrorist attack.

Beyond that, the real jihadi threat is rooted in blowback, and combatting it is a domestic police function. Enough militatistic bellicosity already!

The inconvenient truth is, Washington and its NATO vassals have brought bombs, drones, occupations and slaughter to towns and villages throughout the greater middle east for upwards of three decades. It is that senseless intervention and aggression that has fueled the rise of vengeful barbarians who operate under the ideological cover of a twisted Sunni jihaddism.

Erdogan announces three month state of emergency in Turkey after coup attempt

RT
Wed, 20 Jul 2016 20:58 UTC

A state of emergency will be introduced in Turkey for three months following a coup attempt last week, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Wednesday.

Speaking in a live broadcast address following a meeting with the National Security Council in the capital of Ankara, the Turkish leader said the decision was not against the rule of law, and did not violate any democratic freedoms.

"The purpose of the state of emergency is to most effectively and swiftly take steps necessary to eliminate the threat to democracy in our country," he said, as cited by Anadolu Agency.

Comment: Soon the whole world may be in a state of emergency.

Deserter from Ukraine's military tells of NATO-guided preparations for attack on Lugansk

Alexei Gromov
Fort Russ
Mon, 18 Jul 2016 20:38 UTC

A draftee fled the APU [Ukraine Military] positions swam across the North Donetsk River, that separates the militia units of the LNR and the APU, and spoke about massive preparations for a Kiev attack in the direction of Lugansk.

The soldier, whose name the source did not disclose, reported that around the perimeter of the front along the North Donets River, there are hundreds of mercenaries in the uniform of the APU. Most of the mercenaries are Poles, almost a thousand of them, they are armed to NATO standards and communicating in English.

Arab mercenaries are housed near the village of Stanica Lugansk. These men are in non-standard issue uniforms with Arabic insignia.

According to the Ukrainian draftee, there are in fact not many Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines.

"Our lads, max one-third. The rest are collected from around the world, there are Chechens, Arabs, Turks, Poles. All are prepared to act, they talk of nothing else but "when we go and give it to the Russians and separatists."

Syrian National Coalition demands US to suspend airstrikes after deadly Manbij attack

Sputnik
Wed, 20 Jul 2016 20:36 UTC

The Syrian National Coalition demands that the US suspend its airstrikes after French warplanes killed more than 120 civilians during airstrikes on Tuesday just a day after US air assaults killed an additional 20 people in Manbij.

The Syrian National Coalition has called on the US to immediately suspend all anti-Daesh airstrikes following a spate of failed airstrikes by the NATO coalition that have left over 140 civilians dead. The first airstrike, conducted by the United States in Manbij occurred on Monday and led to the deaths of at least 20 civilians. On Tuesday, French warplanes killed more than 120 civilians near the Turkish-Syrian border in the village of Toukhan Al-Kubra.

On Wednesday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry sent letters to the UN secretary general and to the president of the UN Security Council, which at present is Japan, demanding immediate action be taken against the NATO mission in Syria.

The " I love my job, but not as much as my freedom " is much too tame. It should read " I love my job, but not as much as my life "

codis

.. .. W ho's the mayor of Bots-Biden, NJ? [Link]

Jibrish

Estimated impact energy 1200 megatons give or take a lot. The apparent impact point -20.758, -69.008 (not really a crater) is roughly 6km across....

StonedMentat

When is Space Weather Scary? & Top Science Updates | S0 News Nov.5.2021 [Link]

parzival

'Pfizer Shares Surge After Release Of 'Miracle' COVID Pill That Is 89% Effective At Preventing Hospitalization' [Link] * 'Take four red capsules....

parzival

Puppet Masters

Raising the tension: India moves nearly one hundred tanks and troops to Chinese border

SOTT Exclusive: Is Washington serious about partnership with Moscow in Syria?

Bank of England ponders issuing its own digital money

Grotesque and absurd: Republicans plumb the depths

Fifth column hamstrung by post-coup purge: Turkey realigning with axis of resistance?

Britain to double deployment of troops to Iraq

Dear Donald: No, it's not a 'world war'

Erdogan announces three month state of emergency in Turkey after coup attempt

Deserter from Ukraine's military tells of NATO-guided preparations for attack on Lugansk

Syrian National Coalition demands US to suspend airstrikes after deadly Manbij attack

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