Puppet MastersS

TV

Cuban government to reboot State news programming

Cuban state television
© AP/Desmond BoylanA man sits at a desk beside a poster of Cuba's late Fidel Castro at the Cuban State Television and Radio headquarters in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, March 14, 2017.
The Cuban government is trying to reboot its Soviet-era style news programming with a high-definition current affairs channel staffed by young journalists.

The Caribe channel is starting slowly, with 3ยฝ hours of offerings a night on a new channel available to a few hundred thousand viewers who have bought high-definition decoder boxes.

Producers say they hope to eventually expand to nearly round-the-clock programming. That's a niche currently occupied only by Telesur, a regional news channel financed by leftist Latin American governments.

Caribe channel producers say their programming premiering Tuesday night will be less dogmatic and more openly critical than traditional Cuban state television, whose reporting rarely goes beyond repeating communiques from government ministries. Cuban state media are facing increasing competition from more widely available online sources as internet access expands.

"Now we're going to be able to reflect the needs of the people in the news," said Karina del Valle, a 24-year-old presenter on a Caribe current-affairs show.

Comment: Cuban government says it foiled plot to destabilize country, slams dissidents and OAS


Eye 1

Pat Buchanan calls for purging the U.S. deep state, put end to Trump/Russia lies

Pat Buchanan takes on the 'deep state' agitators.

Conservative statesman and columnist, Pat Buchanan, talks to Fox News' Sean Hannity on the deep state, Flynn, intelligence agency leaks, and the Russian "fake news" story.

Pat Buchanan calls for a complete purge of the deep state so as to put an end to the Russia/Trump lies being propagated by the liberal left and mainstream media.


MIB

The Dark Arts of the Deep State

deep state dark arts
Rejecting populism for hegemony

There's a superb scene in the movie Syriana where CIA bureaucrats distance themselves from one of their agents, Bob, played by George Clooney, who has become a troublesome asset for the agency. Terry, the pack leader, begins to extemporize a narrative to his subordinates. With cool detachment, he tells them: "Put some space between us and Bob. Bob has a long history of entrepreneurial operations. We haven't really had a handle on Bob for years. After 9/11, some people got a lot of leeway, let their emotions get the best of them. These are complex times. There's already an active investigation into Bob's activities in...help me out here."

At this point, the group flesh out the details of how they're going to burn the agency's connection to Bob, painting him as an agent gone rogue, slipping the net of agency supervision, defying protocol, and ultimately selling himself to unsavory elements that want a U.S. asset killed. In this way, the leviathan spits out a loyal servant, rendering him obsolete with a fable and a slander, sanctified by the imprimatur of the officialdom.

We should note the importance of the media in all this storyline, albeit fictional. The dark arts of propaganda aren't overtly mentioned, but they are the pivotal tools that will animate the destruction of Bob's career. All sound strangely familiar? It should. It's pretty much the script the intelligence community uses as its modus operandi when it needs to deal with an inconvenient public servant.

Comment: The pathological Deep State-run system is not only unsustainable but self-destructive - and is the reason why others are saying that we are, in fact, witnessing its death throes: Place the Empire on suicide watch


Bad Guys

Unbelievable: U.S. says Russia's condemnation of Damascus bomb attacks 'unfair to suicide bombers'

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura addresses the Syrian invitees in the presence of members of the UN Security Council and the International Syria Support Group in Geneva
© Pierre Albouy / Reuters
Russia's Western "colleagues" at the U.N. Security Council make it clear that they have a "different [operating] standard" with regard to Syria which "does not imply an unqualified denunciation of terrorism". Any questions?

The West's response to the deadly twin bomb attacks in Damascus on Saturday continues to shock even the most hardened cynics.

In what can only be described as an act of extremely good timing, Washington managed to distance itself from the group that claimed responsibility for the bombings just hours before the attack was carried out. Reuters then proceeded to portray the suicide bombers and the terrorist organization they belonged to as misunderstood "hardline rebels" fighting Assad's "tyrannical rule".

Caesar

"This was rather odious material": Kremlin mocks CNN's Putin documentary

putin looking somewhat frustrated
Fareed Zakaria's documentary, featuring Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, aired on Monday.

The Kremlin has called CNN's documentary on Russia's president Vladimir Putin, aired Monday night, "hysterical" and "odious."

"This was rather odious material," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by news agency RIA Novosti, adding that "there was nothing new in it."

Comment: Fareed is probably still reeling from the public shaming Putin gave him at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum back in 2016.


2 + 2 = 4

Washington and corporate media begin to use the term 'Deep State'

Trump and deep state
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Friday that there's "no question" there are allies of former President Barack Obama who are "burrowed into government" and working to push a liberal "agenda." Spicer's comments came after Yahoo News asked if the White House believes there's a "deep state" that is actively working to undermine President Trump.

"Well, I think that there's no question when you have eight years of one party in office that there are people who stay in government ... and continue to espouse the agenda of the previous administration," Spicer said. "So, I don't think it should come as any surprise that there are people that burrowed into government during eight years of the last administration and, you know, may have believed in that agenda and want to continue to seek it. I don't think that should come as a surprise to anyone."


Comment: Spicer is being diplomatic here. That or he's clueless.


The concept of the "deep state," a shadowy network of staffers at military and intelligence agencies who work to influence the government, has increasingly become part of the conversation since Trump took office in January. Trump has repeatedly alleged that Obama ordered surveillance on his team during the campaign and suggested that the ex-president's allies are to blame for leaks that have dogged his administration. While the White House has not used the term "deep state" publicly, according to the Washington Post, "many" presidential aides employ the phrase and chief strategist Steve Bannon has "spoken with Trump at length about his view that the 'deep state' is a direct threat to his presidency." During a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference late last month, Bannon framed Trump's administration as a fight for the "deconstruction of the administrative state."

Comment: While it is likely that many now using the term have only a very superficial understanding of the term 'deep state,' or are using it mainly for political purposes ie. to support Trump, it is nonetheless a positive development that this idea of a secret or shadow government - is growing. Even if most folks are no longer tuning in to mainstream fake news and have little to no trust of what politicians say these days.


Heart

Team victory: Crimea's people 'really wanted to return home to Russia'

Crimea reunification Russia
© Sputnik / Vladimir Astapkovich"I remember only one thing โ€“ the warm attitude of the Crimeans, their wish, their enthusiasm which led us essentially to victory and to returning home. This is why perhaps the main achievement is the feelings of optimism and euphoria. "
The Crimeans "really wanted to return to Russia," head of the Republic of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov told Sputnik, reflecting on events which led the Black Sea peninsula to hold a referendum on its status within Ukraine.

Crimea's parliament and the local government of Sevastopol held the plebiscite following the foreign-sponsored coup which ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich in February 2014. "At that point in time, Aksyonov recalled, "Crimeans made a decision which was backed by Russia and the Russian president to return home."

The referendum was held on March 16, 2014, with nearly 97 percent voting in favor of joining Russia.

Comment: The U.S. needs to quit lying about Crimea as the Crimean people made a voluntary and very wise choice to reunite with Russia. The Crimean economy is thriving, in stark contrast to that of Ukraine which has been devastated since the Western-backed regime change crusade.


Propaganda

Fake News: Russia & Egypt refute reports of Russian troop deployment on Libyan border

Libya
© Ismail Zetouni / Reuters
Both Russia and Egypt have denied reports alleging that Russian special forces have been deployed at an airbase near the Libyan border to support a military commander loyal to Libya's eastern government.

"There are no Russian special forces in Sidi Barrani," the Russian Defense Ministry's official spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, said on Tuesday.

"Some Western media have been disturbing the public with such reports, citing anonymous sources for several years now... And ever more foolish and indecent with regard to American intelligence are the words of the 'source' quoted by Reuters, who said that 'intelligence activity of the United States into the [actions] of the Russian military are complicated because of the involvement of contractors and agents in civilian clothes,'" Konashenkov added.

Light Saber

Enough is Enough: Central European governments move against Soros NGOs

Despite the fact that a number of European governments have taken steps to thwart American NGOs ostensibly promoting 'democracy and globalization' while targeting countries for regime change, the US is unlikely to stop 'exporting democracy' around the world.
George Soros
© AP Photo/ Kin Cheung
A number of European countries, including Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic, have unleashed a barrage of criticism against US-backed non-government organizations (NGOs).

Groups affiliated with the US billionaire George Soros have attracted the most ire, as prominent political figures like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Czech President Milos Zeman have accused these groups of meddling in their nations' internal matters.

However, Anatoly Petrenko, a professor at the Social Management Academy, told Sputnik Radio that despite the European leaders' reaction, the US is unlikely to give up on using NGOs to advance its agenda in foreign countries.

Comment: See also:


Dollar Gold

US Marines' new chopper more expensive than F-35 disaster

US Marinesโ€™ King Stallion helicopter
© YouTube/Sikorsky/arronlee33
The US Marines' King Stallion will not only be the world's priciest helicopter but also it is poised be acquired at a higher per-unit cost than the US Air Force's insanely expensive F-35A.

Both aerial vehicles share at least one other characteristic, aside from their absurdly high cost and regular poor performance, as they are both manufactured by Lockheed Martin or subsidiary Sikorsky, which Lockheed acquired in 2015. The King Stallion CH-53K carries a current unit sticker-price of $95 million. The Pentagon's 10th bulk order of F-35s brought those jets into service for approximately $94.6 million apiece, Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan said at the Avalon Airshow in Australia. The Pentagon hopes to shave F-35 costs down to a mere $85 million per plane by 2020, Bogdan added.

"There are indications," according to a DoDBuzz report, that the price of the King Stallion "could rise further."