Puppet MastersS


Attention

Gazprom's investors look to bypass US sanctions to finance Nord Stream 2


RT
Thu, 14 Sep 2017 16:14 UTC
gas pipeline worker
© Jens Büttne J / dpa-Zentralbild / Global Look Press
To avoid the pressure of US sanctions, European investors might be forced to look for some new schemes of funding the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project with Asian banks attracted to the enterprise, says the CEO of Austrian energy company OMV Rainer Seele.

"We will definitely have to revise the financing system of Nord Stream 2, but the contractual obligations to implement the project are preserved," Seele said at the news conference devoted to the impacts of US sanctions on German businesses in Russia.

He stressed the company would estimate the impact of US sanctions on the project, as well as check possible ways to meet the requirements through agencies for export financing.
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Attention

A disastrous idea: Why US sanctions against nuclear armed North Korea are dangerous

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Thu, 14 Sep 2017 02:22 UTC
North korea sanctions
The recent Global Times editorial, discussed by me in my article on UN Security Council Resolution 2753, has spoken of US attempts to use sanctions to 'collapse' North Korea's economy and to 'suffocate' the North Korean regime as an idea that is both dangerous and counterproductive

Some Americans and South Koreans have attempted to collapse Pyongyang's economy and suffocate the current Pyongyang regime. This is dangerous. North Korea's nuclear crisis requires arduous efforts to find a final solution, and any attempt to immediately end the crisis will only escalate tensions and eventually jeopardize self-interests.

This is exactly correct. Indeed one of the most concerning aspects of the swirl of discussion that takes place in the West and the US especially about sanctions on North Korea is that there is never any real explanation of what sanctions on North Korea are supposed to achieve.

Comment: Putin: Don't drive N. Korea into a corner with sanctions and senseless military threats (VIDEO)
The examples of Iraq and Libya have convinced the North Korean leadership that only nuclear deterrence can protect them, so no sanctions can dissuade them, Putin told journalists on Tuesday.

Pyongyang will not relinquish its military program under pressure of sanctions and military threats, the Russian leader said.

"Ramping up military hysteria in such conditions is senseless; it's a dead end," Putin added. "It could lead to a global, planetary catastrophe and a huge loss of human life. There is no other way to solve the North Korean nuclear issue, save that of peaceful dialogue."


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Attention

Photos and video evidence surface showing Awan's kept clandestine backyard data center


True Pundit
Tue, 12 Sep 2017 00:00 UTC
wasserman shultz awan
© Facebook / ReutersImran Awan (L), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (R)
Video and photo evidence has surfaced that could prove Imran Awan maintained a chain of computer servers in the basement and locked garage area of an Alexandria, VA home he and wife Hina Alvi rented to a tenant.

The embattled Awan couple did not reside at the home, however, did maintain separate internet service and a router which fed into a locked internal storage area connected to the home, according to an interview with former tenant Laurel Everly who rented the home for nine months from the Awans in 2014 and 2015.

Everly has now provided photos and videos of the internet equipment in her locked garage area from that time period that Awan had installed from Cox Cable. The revelations were sparked from the latest interview in a series of Awan-themed stories gleaned from Everly by the journalism upstart CrowdSource the Truth.

CrowdSource Editor Jason Goodman said photo analysis pulled from video supplied by the former Awan tenant isolates snap shots of a network hub and modem that Awan likely used to sync to clandestine computers at the residence.

Awan and wife Hina Alvi were charged in a four-count indictment in August, charging the couple for defrauding the Congressional Federal Credit Union, making false statements and illegal money transfers to Pakistan. The Awans, along with two brothers, worked for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and dozens of other Democratic members of Congress, performing IT work.

Comment: Awan plot thickens as NY Democrat Yvette Clarke "quietly" wrote-off $120,000 of missing tech equipment

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Propaganda

Der Spiegel to German FM on RT interview: 'Why speak to an instrument of Russian propaganda?'


RT
Fri, 15 Sep 2017 15:19 UTC
Sigmar Gabriel
© Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters
Germany's Der Spiegel magazine has questioned why its Foreign Minister granted an interview to RT. Sigmar Gabriel explained that German politicians should be able to give interviews to other media and not "only our established" outlets.

Gabriel who is a member of the left-leaning SPD party, discussed among other issues, Russian-German relations, the crisis in Ukraine and the question of Crimean and Catalonian self-determination during the interview with RT German last week.

In a subsequent interview with Der Spiegel published Thursday, Gabriel was asked why he would want to speak to an "instrument" of "Russian propaganda".

"That's more of an argument to give more interviews. As you may have gathered, that I am here also [giving you an interview] to clarify my position," he replied.

"As German politicians, we must get used to the fact that there are not only our established media. On the one hand there are the social networks, on the other also foreign TV channels, which make programs in the German language. We also talk with others, as with Al Jazeera, and why not with Chinese channels?" Gabriel explained.

"In any case I reach people of Russian origin who live with us in Germany and do not read Spiegel Online," he added, referring to the large population of Russian-speakers who've immigrated to Germany from the former Soviet Union.
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Attention

Parsons Green witnesses describe 'fireball' and 'stampede' after explosion rocks underground station


RT
Fri, 15 Sep 2017 11:09 UTC
Parsons Green
© ASolopovas / Twitter / Reuters
Witnesses at London's Parsons Green underground train station say a 'fireball flew down the carriage' following an explosion on a District Line carriage on Friday morning. They describe victims with facial burns and people injured in a stampede.

Commuters are reporting the explosion stemmed from a fire in a bucket, although the contents of the bucket are not known. Images circulating on social media show what appears to be a burning bucket inside a shopping bag on the floor of the train. RT.com has not been able to verify these reports.


Comment: London police responding to 'terrorist incident' at Parsons Green station in London after explosion leaves at least 18 injured

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Attention

London police responding to 'terrorist incident' at Parsons Green station in London after explosion leaves at least 18 injured


RT
Fri, 15 Sep 2017 14:37 UTC
explosion parsons green london
© Sylvain Pennec / Reuters
Emergency services are responding to "a terrorist incident" at Parsons Green tube station in London, following an explosion on a train Friday morning. Some 18 people are injured.

"The Met's Counter Terrorism Command are investigating after the incident at Parsons Green tube station is declared a terrorist incident," the Metropolitan Police said. "We urge the public to remain calm but alert & if you have any concerns, see or hear anything suspicious then contact police."

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Light Sabers

It's not China's economic might that US fears, but its geopolitical power

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Wed, 13 Sep 2017 13:26 UTC
trump china
The Bannonite wing of the new American right is angry about China. The anger stems primarily from the fact that China's manufacturing has outpaced that of the US and economies similar to that of the US, which in turn has arguably been a cause of US industrial decline.

Steve Bannon recently gave a speech in the Chinese island of Hong Kong where he stated that while the US is at "economic war" with China, but that nevertheless he and Donald Trump admire China and President Xi Jinping in particular.

In this sense, Bannon has admitted the hypothesis I recently offered that many in the US are jealous of Chinese economic strength and wish that the US might be able to replicate a similar success story among its declining industrial base which still has a great deal of latent potential.

In this sense, while Bannon's talk of 'war' is worrying, his honestly is nevertheless, refreshing. Furthermore his genuine affection for the American working class is admirable and honourable, even if attacking China is not necessarily the best way to express such feelings.
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Sherlock

Chicago Tribune investigation reveals Rahm Emanuel gave 70% of donors lucrative city hall contracts in pay-to-play operation

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Fri, 08 Sep 2017 11:53 UTC
rahm emanuel
What do you get when you combine the most corrupt city in the United States with a mayor that got his political debut serving in the Clinton White House? Well, according to data presented by the Chicago Tribune today, it may just all add up to the second most sophisticated 'pay-to-play' operation in history...you know, because no one will ever come close to beating the Clintons at their own game.

After reviewing more than 500 contributions made to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel of at least $5,000 since July 2015, the Tribune reports today that nearly 70% of them came from people who have received, or are seeking, lucrative contracts with City Hall. Frankly, we are 'shocked.'
As Mayor Rahm Emanuel ramps up his campaign fundraising toward a possible third term, he continues to rely on donors who have received City Hall benefits, ranging from contracts and zoning approvals to appointments and personal endorsements from the mayor, the Chicago Tribune has found.

With the February 2019 mayoral election still a year and a half away, Emanuel has collected $3.1 million in high-dollar contributions. And more than $2.1 million of it - nearly 70 percent - has come from 83 donors who have benefited from actions at City Hall.

Among the contributors: law firms seeking approval for their clients' projects or lucrative bond business for themselves, developers needing City Hall permission to build here, an events promoter negotiating the financial details of a major music festival and restaurateurs wanting coveted space at Chicago's airports.
So how does he do it?
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Attention

Yemeni rebel leader threatens to 'target Saudi oil tankers' if coalition attacks port of Hodeidah


RT
Fri, 15 Sep 2017 12:14 UTC
A soldier walks at Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Yemen
© Abduljabbar Zeyad / ReutersA soldier walks at Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Yemen.
Yemeni rebel leader, Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, has warned the Saudi-led coalition to think twice before attacking the port city of Hodeidah, stating that Saudi oil tankers are within target range of his group's missiles.

"We could target Saudi oil tankers and we could do anything, we have not done this before," al-Houthi said Thursday, according to Reuters.

"Today the port of Hodeidah is being threatened and we cannot turn a blind eye to that," he said. "If the Saudi regime and with a green light from the US attack Hodeidah then we have to take steps that we haven't taken before."

The missiles, he said, are not only capable of striking any territory within Saudi Arabia, but can also reach the United Arab Emirates which is part of the Saudi-led coalition. Al-Houthi went on to urge commercial companies and investors to leave the country.

"The companies which have been set up or which have investments in the UAE should no longer consider it a safe country," Middle East Online cited al-Houthi as saying during a televised speech on Al-Masirah network.
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Map

Russia, Iran and Turkey agree on final de-escalation zone in Idlib, Syria


RT
Fri, 15 Sep 2017 11:51 UTC
A Free Syrian Army fighter sits on a pick-up truck mounted with anti-aircraft weapon
© Muzaffar Salman / ReutersA Free Syrian Army fighter sits on a pick-up truck mounted with anti-aircraft weapon.
Russia, Iran and Turkey have agreed on the boundaries of the final de-escalation zone in Idlib, Syria, the parties said in a joint statement. All four de-escalation zones in the war-torn country will remain in force for a period of six months.

The proposal to establish four de-escalation zones was signed by Russia, Iran and Turkey, with the approval of the Syrian government having been received in May 2017 in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana.

The de-escalation zones, proposed by Russia, are aimed at separating extremist groups, including Islamic State terrorists (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and Jabhat al-Nusra (Al-Nusra Front), from the moderate opposition.

The three states "announce the creation of the de-escalation areas ... in eastern Ghouta, in certain parts in the north of Homs province, in Idlib province and certain parts of the neighboring Latakia, Hama and Aleppo provinces and also in certain parts of southern Syria," the statement, read by Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov, said, following the Astana-6 peace talks in the Kazakh capital on Friday.
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