Puppet MastersS


Attention

US ship is rudderless after Trump drops its pilot


Moon Of Alabama
Sat, 19 Aug 2017 15:11 UTC
"The Trump presidency that we fought for, and won, is over," Bannon said Friday, shortly after confirming his departure. "We still have a huge movement, and we will make something of this Trump presidency. But that presidency is over."

Bannon was the "Make America great again" guy in the White House. The strategist who had the populist ideas that brought the votes for Trump. Jobs, jobs, jobs - Infrastructure investments, immigration limits, taxing globalists were his issue.

Trump is no young German Emperor and Bannon is no chancellor Bismark. (Both would probably have liked those roles.) But with Bannon leaving, the Trump presidency is losing its chief strategist, the one person which set priorities and could set an alternative course for the ship of state under Trump's command.

The racist Huffington Post headline implies that Bannon prioritized the wrong country.

Huffington Post headline

Comment: Also see:

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Info

Merkel called 'traitor' but defends refugee stance in rowdy east Germany

Noah Barkin
Reuters
Thu, 17 Aug 2017 15:03 UTC
Alternative for Germany party supporters protest
© Matthias SchumannAlternative for Germany party supporters protest during the election rally of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a top candidate of the Christian Democratic Union Party (CDU), in Annaberg-Buchholz, Germany August 17, 2017, ahead of the upcoming federal election. Sign (R) reads "Courage for Germany", sign (L) reads "Not My Chancellor".
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was greeted with shouts of "traitor" by a rowdy group of right-wing protesters in east Germany on Thursday as she defended her decision to allow hundreds of thousands of refugees into the country.

Roughly five weeks before an election in which she is expected to win a record-tying fourth term, Merkel veered from her stump speech, acknowledging "difficult times" in 2015 when a flood of asylum seekers, many from the Middle East, entered Germany.

It was her first campaign stop in eastern Germany, parts of which have been fertile ground for anti-immigration politics.

"Many people were worried. They said to themselves: 'What about us? Are we still important or are only the refugees important'?" she told a crowd of several thousand in the central market square in Annaberg-Buchholz, a town in the state of Saxony near the Czech border.
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Map

Russian MoD announces last rebel group in Syria's East Ghouta de-escalation zone joins truce


RT
Sat, 19 Aug 2017 14:48 UTC
Syrian rebel fighters
© Abdulmonam Eassa / AFP
The last moderate armed opposition group in East Ghouta has accepted the terms of the de-escalation agreement after successful negotiations with the Russian reconciliation committee, the defense ministry said.

"Representatives of the Defense Ministry of Russia and the Syrian opposition's large grouping Faylaq Al-Rahman have signed an agreement in the city of Geneva, under which the group will join the ceasefire from 21:00 Moscow time in the de-escalation zone of East Ghouta," the ministry said in a statement Friday.

Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra linked terrorist cells in the Damascus region are still excluded from the ceasefire deal which requires all armed opposition to halt hostilities and allow food and humanitarian aid to be brought in.

"Faylaq Al-Rahman confirmed their readiness to conduct the irreconcilable struggle against terrorists of the ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra, and also proposed measures for improving the humanitarian situation in the areas of the de-escalation zone controlled by this group," the Russian defense ministry said.
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Info

US may be hiding key details of mystery attacks on American diplomats in Cuba

Susan Crabtree and Adam Kredo
The Washington Free Beacon
Thu, 17 Aug 2017 14:20 UTC
US Embassy in Havana
© Getty Images
The number of U.S. government personnel targeted by a mysterious illness in Cuba last year is greater than the Trump administration has publicly acknowledged, according to multiple U.S. officials who told the Washington Free Beacon the Obama administration may have misled Congress about the full scope and nature of the attack.

U.S. officials disclosed earlier this month that six Americans were struck by a mystery illness believed to be caused by a covert sonic device in what many think was a clandestine operation targeting U.S. personnel stationed in the communist country.

The number of Americans impacted is greater than previously disclosed, according to multiple U.S. officials who told the Free Beacon that those suffering from symptoms of sonic damage appears to be more than 10.

"It's definitely in the double digits," one source told the Free Beacon.
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Map

Syria summary: Crossing the Euphrates at Deir ez-Zor


Moon Of Alabama
Fri, 18 Aug 2017 12:55 UTC
Syria battle map 8/18/2017
The last three weeks in Syria were marked by further consolidation of the Syrian government positions. While this will likely continue, a new front of contention with the U.S. occupation force in north-east Syria is building up over Deir Ez-zor city and the oil-rich rural areas east of it.

Last week the Syrian army liberated Sukhnah east of Palmyra from the Islamic State occupation. The fighting was less severe than anticipated. After nearly surrounding the city and the killing of the local ISIS commander the enemy forces mostly fled towards the Euphrates and Deir Ez-zor.

Two large ISIS held pockets are forming in the east-Hama area. The 3,000 square-kilometer western encirclement is by now complete and remaining ISIS forces within the pocket are hunted down by Russian helicopters and Syrian army commandos. This will eliminate any danger for the narrow supply route to Aleppo city. The second pocket will soon close too. Within the next week the Syrian army will have consolidated the whole area. Troops currently concerned with surrounding the pockets will be freed for the push further east towards Deir Ez-zor. There will be no more danger of large surprise attacks in the back of advancing forces.
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Attention

Bannon the Barbarian goes 'thermonuclear'

Pepe Escobar
Sputnik
Sat, 19 Aug 2017 12:46 UTC
Donald Trump and Steve Bannon
© AP Photo/ Evan Vucci
"I'm leaving the White House and going to war for Trump against his opponents - on Capitol Hill, in the media, and in corporate America."

That is what former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, over the phone, told the man who wrote the book on how Bannon/Macchiavelli actually conquered the White House for The Prince, Donald Trump.

Immediately after his ouster Bannon had already alerted the Beltway - and the world - "that presidency is over. It'll be something else. And there'll be all kinds of fights, and there'll be good days and bad days, but that presidency is over."

The "new" American presidency is in fact subordinated to a triad: Pentagon generals; the Trump family; and Goldman Sachs/Wall Street (Less regulation! Less taxes! It's raining money, Hallelujah!)

Bannon added he'd got his hands back on his "weapons"; "I built a f*****g machine at Breitbart. And now I'm about to go back, knowing what I know, and we're about to rev that machine up. And rev it up we will do."
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Info

Bannon speaks: 'I'm going to war for Trump'

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Sat, 19 Aug 2017 12:36 UTC
Bannon's War
As Breitbart's Charlie Spiering reports, Bannon has returned to Breitbart News as Executive Chairman of Breitbart News "and chaired our evening editorial meeting"

As The Hill adds, Bannon reclaimed the title of Breitbart's executive chairman and directed the outlet's Friday editorial meeting, the website said in a statement on Friday.

"The populist-nationalist movement got a lot stronger today," said Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow. "Breitbart gained an executive chairman with his finger on the pulse of the Trump agenda.

As chairman, Bannon oversaw massive growth of the populist website before leaving to be chairman of Trump's campaign. Bannon never settled into his role as chief strategist in the White House, where he feuded bitterly with ideological rivals like Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, economic adviser Gary Cohn and national security adviser H.R. McMaster.

Breitbart eagerly accepted Bannon back into the fold. "Breitbart's pace of global expansion will only accelerate with Steve back," said Breitbart president Larry Solov. "The sky's the limit."
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Info

Trump reviews military options for Afghanistan at Camp David, teases 'many decisions made'


RT
Sat, 19 Aug 2017 12:24 UTC
Donald Trump
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
President Donald Trump and his top national security aides have yet to reach a decision on a new approach to the nearly 16-year war and occupation in Afghanistan after meeting for hours at Camp David.

Trump returned to his private golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Friday after spending the day at the presidential retreat in Maryland, where White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said he was "briefed extensively by his national security team on a new strategy to protect America's interests in South Asia."

"The president is studying and considering his options and will make an announcement to the American people, to our allies and partners, and to the world at the appropriate time," the White House said, according to Military.com.

Trump tweeted that he had a "GREAT meeting on National Security, the Border and the Military" on Friday.

No announcement was made on whether more troops would be committed to the region.
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Megaphone

Erdogan lashes out at Merkel, tells Turkish in Germany not to vote for chancellor's party


RT
Fri, 18 Aug 2017 18:56 UTC
Erdogan Merkel
© Michael Kappeler / Reuters
Turkey's president Recep Erdogan has once again lashed out against Germany, this time branding three of its political parties "enemies of Turkey" and urging his "countrymen" not to vote for them. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party was included on the list.

"I am calling on all my countrymen in Germany... the Christian Democrats (CDU), SDP, the Green Party are all enemies of Turkey. Support those political parties who are not enemies of Turkey," Erdogan said following Friday prayers in Istanbul, as quoted by Reuters.

"I call on them not to vote for those parties who have been engaged in such aggressive, disrespectful attitudes against Turkey, and I invite them to teach a lesson to those political parties at the ballot box," he said.

Erdogan's comments, some of the harshest yet against Merkel and her Christian Democrats, come ahead of the September 24 election which will determine if the chancellor wins a fourth term in office.
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Eagle

Trump administration: Steve Bannon ousted as the military exerts further influence over the White House

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Fri, 18 Aug 2017 00:00 UTC
US Generals
Ousting of Bannon as Chief White House Strategist leaves the generals in charge of the government

The announcement of the 'resignation' of White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon represents the culmination of a process which began with the equally forced 'resignation' of President Trump's first National Security Adviser General Michael Flynn.

Individuals who were close to Donald Trump during his successful election campaign and who largely framed its terms - people like Bannon and Flynn - have been picked off one by one.

Taking their place is a strange coalition of former generals and former businessmen of essentially conventional Republican conservative views, which is cemented around three former generals who between them now have the levers of powers in their hands: General Kelly, the President's new Chief of Staff, General H.R. McMaster, his National Security Adviser, and General Mattis, the Secretary of Defense.

In the case of Bannon, it is his clear that his ousting was insisted on by General Kelly, who is continuing to tighten his control of the White House.

Comment: Whether or not Bannon had much of an influence on the Trump Administration is no longer an issue. What we're seeing now in the elevation of former military personnel to the White House may be Trump's last ditch effort to surround himself with war party 'insiders' that he thinks may provide some level of security and protection against relentless Deep State attacks. The wagons have him surrounded, and his relative freedom to do anything of value for the US - and for the world - is being mercilessly curtailed. Hang on to your hats, this situation is only bound to get worse.

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