Puppet MastersS


Attention

The unraveling of the Russian "hacking" story continues with new report

Mike Whitney
CounterPunch
Sun, 17 Sep 2017 16:23 UTC
putin anonymous
© sime simon
A new report by a retired IT executive at IBM, debunks the claim that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign by hacking Democratic computers and circulating damaging information about Hillary Clinton. The report, which is titled "The Non-Existent Foundation for Russian Hacking Charge", provides a rigorous examination of the wobbly allegations upon which the hacking theory is based, as well as a point by point rejection of the primary claims which, in the final analysis, fail to pass the smell test. While the report is worth reading in full, our intention is to zero-in on the parts of the text that disprove the claims that Russia meddled in US elections or hacked the servers at the DNC.

Let's start with the fact that there are at least two credible witnesses who claim to know who took the DNC emails and transferred them to WikiLeaks. We're talking about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and WikiLeaks ally, Craig Murray. No one is in a better position to know who actually took the emails than Assange, and yet, Assange has repeatedly said that Russia was not the source. Check out this clip from the report:
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Radar

No excuses: Russia informed Pentagon about area of military op in Deir ez-Zor in advance


RT
Sun, 17 Sep 2017 17:04 UTC
Smoke rises above Deir ez-Zor after SAA advance breaks IS siege, 8 September, 2017
© RuptlySmoke rises above Deir ez-Zor after SAA advance breaks IS siege, 8 September, 2017.
The Russian Defense Ministry has denied Pentagon allegations that it bombed US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces near Deir ez-Zor. The Russian military said that its US partners were informed about the area of the operation beforehand.

"To avoid unnecessary escalation, the command of the Russian troops in Syria revealed the boundaries of the military operation in Deir ez-Zor to the American partners through the existing communication channel," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

"Within the framework of this operation, the fighters, armored vehicles, and objects of terrorists are being destroyed on both western and eastern banks of the Euphrates.

At the same time, the Russian Air Force makes pinpoint strikes only on reconnaissance targets confirmed by several channels in IS-controlled areas," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said.

"Over the past few days, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, Russian control and reconnaissance facilities have not identified a single combat of Islamic State terrorists with armed representatives of any 'third force.' Therefore, only representatives of the international coalition can answer the question as to how 'opposition members' or 'military advisers of the international coalition' managed to get to the IS-held areas in the eastern part of Deir ez-Zor without striking a blow."
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Treasure Chest

US sanctions backfire: China opens $10 billion credit line for Iran


Sputnik
Sun, 17 Sep 2017 16:48 UTC
Tehran
© en.tehran.ir handout
Assisting Tehran with sidestepping an ongoing Washington sanctions regime against the country, China has opened a $10 billion line of credit intended to finance energy, transportation, water and other key Iranian infrastructure projects.

Following the ground-breaking 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and Russia, US, China, France, UK, as well as Germany and the EU, to end its nascent nuclear weapons program, Tehran - in honoring the terms of the unprecedented treaty - has nonetheless seen Washington implement a host of new sanctions against the Middle Eastern country, including asset freezes and limits on global financial transfers.

According to Iranian Central Bank President Valiollah Seif, Chinese state-owned CITIC investment company has opened a $10 billion credit line to several banks in Iran to be used to fund wide-ranging infrastructure projects in the country, according to a report by the Times of Israel.

The significant credit line will primarily use euros and yuan to bypass the US sanctions.
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Red Flag

PM May orders internet giants to clampdown on extremist content, neglects to mention UK government provides weapons to terrorists

Rebecca Camber and Larisa Brown and Emine Sinmaz
Daily Mail
Sat, 16 Sep 2017 22:06 UTC
Theresa May extremism
Theresa May will order internet giants to clamp down on extremism following the Tube terror attack
Theresa May will order internet giants to clamp down on extremism following yesterday's Tube terror attack.

She will take on Google, Facebook and Microsoft after hundreds of commuters and schoolchildren narrowly avoided death when a bomb failed fully to detonate on a rush-hour train.

The attacker, who is on the run, used a 'fairy light' bomb that can be made from instructions still available online last night.

The Prime Minister will host a summit with French president Emmanuel Macron next week and is expected to warn technology giants they need to do more to tackle extremists.

Last night she raised the terror alert status to its highest level 'critical', which means an attack is expected imminently. Troops will be deployed at key sites to free up more armed police to patrol thoroughfares and transport hubs.

The suspect for the attack at Parsons Green station in west London has not been named. But he is said to be known to the security services, who fear he will strike again and may be part of a jihadi cell.

Comment:

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Map

Iraqi forces capture area near Syria border from Islamic State

Maher Chmaytelli and Ellen Francis
Reuters
Sat, 16 Sep 2017 16:34 UTC
Syria battle map 9-16-2017
Iraqi armed forces on Saturday dislodged Islamic State from a natural gas-rich border area with Syria, according to the military.

Iranian-backed forces fighting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's army simultaneously announced the start of an offensive to reach the same border area from the opposite side.

An Iraqi military statement said Akashat, a desert region located south of the Euphrates river, was captured in an offensive which had been announced earlier in the day.

The attack on Akashat is meant to pave the way for the recapture of urban centers in the Euphrates valley, including the border post of al-Qaim, it said.

Iranian-backed Shi'ite paramilitary forces known as Popular Mobilization and Sunni tribal fighters known as Tribal Mobilization took part in the offensive, it added.
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Treasure Chest

Quick, ditch the dollar: An economic lesson for China and Russia

Paul Craig Roberts
Institute for Political Economy
Wed, 13 Sep 2017 16:24 UTC
various currency
© epSos.de/CC BY 2.0
Is there anyone in Trump's government who is not an imbecile?

After years of endless military threats against Russia - remember CIA deputy director Mike Morell saying on TV (Charlie Rose show) that the US should start killing Russians to give them a message, and Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley threatening "We'll beat you harder than you have ever been beaten before" - now the US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin threatens China. If China doesn't abide by Washington's new sanctions on North Korea, Mnuchin said the US "will put additional sanctions on them [China] and prevent them from accessing the US and international dollar system."

Here is the broke US government $20 trillion in public debt, having to print money with which to buy its own bonds, threatening the second largest economy in the world, an economy on purchasing power parity terms that is larger than the US economy.
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Attention

WSJ asserts Assange offered proof to U.S. government Russia wasn't source of Democratic Party leaks; General Kelly refuses information

Eric Zeusse
Sott.net
Sat, 16 Sep 2017 15:10 UTC
Julian Assange
© Neil Hall / ReutersWikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
According to the Wall Street Journal, Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher of California spoke by phone on September 13th with U.S. President Donald Trump's Chief of Staff, General John Kelly, aiming to transmit to President Trump, from Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, a trade of 'proof' of Russian non-involvement in the transmission to the public of internal Democratic Party information during the 2016 Presidential contest with Hillary Clinton, in return for the U.S. Government's stopping its efforts to prosecute Mr. Assange. Assange wanted finally to become freed from his years-long virtual house-arrest inside Ecuador's London Embassy, by the United States Government efforts to force him to be tried in U.S. courts. So, he wants to offer this trade in which Assange would provide to the White House physical 'proof' that Russia had nothing to do with the Democratic Party leaks from (or what Russia's enemies call 'hacks' into) Democratic Party computers, which produced the revelations which Hillary Clinton says cost her the 2016 election.

According to the WSJ report, General Kelly refused to inform President Trump of the offer.

The news-report was published on Friday night, September 15th, in the Wall Street Journal, and headlined "GOP Congressman Sought Trump Deal on WikiLeaks, Russia: California's Dana Rohrabacher asks for pardon of Julian Assange in return for evidence Russia wasn't source of hacked emails". It said:
"Mr. Kelly didn't make the president aware of Mr. Rohrabacher's message, and Mr. Trump doesn't know the details of the proposed deal."
However, the news-report didn't make clear whether Mr. Trump is even aware that Congressman Rohrabacher had attempted to communicate to the President the offer that Mr. Assange was wanting to communicate. Perhaps if Mr. Trump reads the Wall Street Journal, he'll learn that Mr. Assange had wanted to offer this deal.

Comment:

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SOTT Logo Radio

SOTT Focus: Behind the Headlines: Trump Trumped, and the Myanmar Conflict in Context


Sott.net
Sun, 17 Sep 2017 16:00 UTC
trump speech afghanistan
Promises, promises. Trump is finally receiving decent coverage in the mainstream media, which is bad news because it likely means he has truly caved to the US 'deep state'. As 'bipartisanship' returns to Washington, it's all-systems-go for US foreign policy (which never really skipped a beat). Should we have expected any different outcome?

The 'Islamic State' between Syria and Iraq has all but ceased to exist, but the Endless War on of Terror continues to spread, recently taking new form in Myanmar. Uniformly presented as the 'plight of the poor Rohingya people' versus their 'evil Burmese oppressors', this week on Behind the Headlines we'll show how this latest conflict zone fits into the Endless War on Terror and the Bottomless Pit of US Hegemony.

Join us from 6-8pm CET (4-6pm UTC / 12-2pm EST) for critical context the MSM leaves out of its story-telling.

Running Time: 01:50:10

Download: MP3

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Brick Wall

Assad exposed a flaw in US foreign policy the media refuses to mention

Darius Shahtahmasebi
AntiMedia
Thu, 14 Sep 2017 14:49 UTC
Assad
In an interview with RT in 2015, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad uttered perhaps one of his most intriguing statements since the Syrian conflict erupted in 2011. Assad stated:
"Western propaganda has, from the very beginning, been about the cause of the problem being the president. Why? Because they want to portray the whole problem in Syria lies in one individual; and consequently the natural reaction for many people is that, if the problem lies in one individual, that individual should not be more important than the entire homeland. So let that individual go and things will be alright. That's how they oversimplify things in the West." [emphasis added]
He continued:
"Notice what happened in the Western media since the coup in Ukraine. What happened? President Putin was transformed from a friend of the West to a foe and, yet again, he was characterized as a tsar...This is Western propaganda. They say that if the president went things will get better." [emphasis added]
Putting aside Assad's vast and extensive list of war crimes and crimes against humanity, Assad highlighted one of the major flaws in Western thinking regarding America's hostile policies toward a number of independent states.


Comment: Assad and his government are not guilty of "extensive" war crimes. The author has bought into the lies propagated by the same mainstream media he decries.
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Snakes in Suits

House goes to court in bipartisan effort to thwart FOIA request for records of health care negotiations

Josh Gerstein
Politico
Fri, 15 Sep 2017 14:36 UTC
Rep. Jeb Hensarling FOIA
© Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesThe move comes after the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Republican Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling sent letters in April to about a dozen federal agencies warning them not to release congressional correspondence or submissions. |
An effort to fight a FOIA lawsuit for proposals on health care reform wins bipartisan backing.

The House of Representatives is taking legal action to make sure that federal agencies don't release congressional records to the public through the Freedom of Information Act.

The move, which came Friday evening in a lawsuit demanding access to discussions about health care reform between the Trump administration and Congress, threatens to cut off a mechanism liberal watchdog groups were using to gain insight into closed-door negotiations on a variety of policy issues.

In legal papers filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, House General Counsel Thomas Hungar said the move to protect congressional correspondence was authorized by a House body known as the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group. While the panel of top House leaders has divided in the past on sensitive issues, Hungar wrote that they "voted unanimously to authorize this intervention ... to protect the institutional interests of the House."

Comment: A tough one. While Water's comment about the American people being entitled to oversight of their government's activities are on point, the motive behind all the uproar is unlikely to be noble concern for democracy. Political players such as Waters and others want access to the documents to find any sort of dubious ammunition with which to attack Trump's negotiations with the Democrats regarding the final form of the healthcare bill.

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