Puppet MastersS


Map

Raqqa Council wants to include Russia in discussion of region's post-liberation future


Sputnik
Fri, 11 Aug 2017 14:33 UTC
Raqqa, Syria
© Nour Fourat / ReutersRaqqa, Syria
The Council of the Syrian province of Raqqa wants to hold a meeting with the Russian side to discuss the future of the eponymous city after liberation from Daesh terrorist group, the council's deputy head Mohammad Hijazi told Sputnik.

Hijazi said that the council was holding a meeting in Turkey's Gaziantep with representatives of the United States, the Netherlands and Italy on running the province after its liberation from Daesh terrorists.

"We are holding a meeting in Gazantiep with the Italian and US sides, as well as the Netherlands' special envoy for Syria ... They are proposing to merge two councils in Turkey - [ours] and the Kurdish assembly in Ayn Issa to govern the province of Raqqa, govern the city through creation of police comprising locals, as well as to create a counterterrorism body, also comprising locals," Hijazi said.

Mohammad Hijazi also said that the Coulcil of Raqqa also hopes to hold a meeting with Russian representative to discuss the same issue.
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Map

Facing defeat in Syria and Iraq, ISIS inexplicably expands globally

Tony Cartalucci
New Eastern Outlook
Fri, 11 Aug 2017 14:07 UTC
ISIS in Southeast Asia
Throughout human history, when a military force and its economic center has been defeated, it contracts, then collapses. For the first time in human history, the self-proclaimed "Islamic State" (ISIS), has managed to reverse this fundamental aspect of reality - but not without help.

Facing defeat in Syria as government forces backed by its Russian and Iranian allies close in on the terrorist organization, stripping it of territory it seized, it has managed to spread far beyond Syria's borders, establishing itself in Libya, Afghanistan, and even as far as Southeast Asia where it has seized an entire city in the Philippines' south, and carried out attacks and conducting activities everywhere from Indonesia and Malaysia to allegedly Thailand's deep south.

It should be remembered, according to Western governments and their media, the territory ISIS holds in Syria is allegedly providing it with the summation of its financial resources and thus the source of its fighting capacity. According to official statements, the US and its European allies allege that ISIS fuels its fighting capacity with "taxes" and extortion as well as black market oil sales - all of which are derived from territory it holds in Syria.
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Binoculars

Iranian journalists charged for spying for Israel's notorious Mossad


Sputnik
Thu, 10 Aug 2017 14:16 UTC
Mossad graphic
Several Editors at Iranian news portal Ammariyon have been charged with spying for Mossad. The allegations are shocking, given the organization has consistently been a harsh critic of government policy in respect of Israel - although the spy agency has a long and at times dubious history of recruiting journalists to its covert ranks.

Names of the individuals have not been released as yet, although it's almost certain those involved will have authored, or edited, viciously condemnatory aricles about Iranian governments old and new. Ammariyon has emerged as the leading critic of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's administration, which it views as too liberal and reformist - and in 2011, the site caused a national scandal when it claimed then-leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his supporters were working with the Israelis in a plot against the Islamic republic.

While it may be surprising that journalists at a staunchly anti-Israeli organization would be on the Mossad payroll, such actions have precedent - in 2013, Hezbollah exposed a senior spy working for the agency within its foreign operations branch.
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Attention

Rogue state, what rogue state? Burgeoning EU-Iran relations snubs US

Finian Cunningham
RT
Thu, 10 Aug 2017 13:46 UTC
Hassan Rouhani
© Reuters
The phalanx of European leaders, ministers, and dignitaries, attending the inauguration of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani last weekend was a stunning snub to Washington. It was also a clear signal the US is losing its thrall over Europe.

Think about it. According to US President Donald Trump and the American Congress, Iran is the world's biggest state sponsor of terrorism. And yet here we saw European leaders respectfully attending the swearing-in of the country's re-elected president. A rather big contradiction, don't you think?

Federica Mogherini, the EU's highest ranking diplomat, was accompanied at the Iranian presidential ceremony by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Germany's Minister of State Michael Roth. Also in attendance were ministers and dignitaries from Austria, Britain, Denmark, Italy, and the Netherlands, as well as many other non-European countries.

So, what's all this American talk about Iran being a rogue state, a scourge of global terrorism? The presence of European officials - and the absence of American ones - during the inauguration of President Rouhani was a spectacular demonstration of dissonance and repudiation of American policy.
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Document

More than 60 women consider suing Google, claiming sexism and a pay gap


Guradian
Fri, 11 Aug 2017 13:16 UTC
Scandal over discrimination at the company deepens as dozens of current and former staff say they have earned less than men despite equal qualifications
Google building
© Mike Blake/ReutersGoogle is still reeling from the leak of a male software engineer’s 10-page manifesto criticizing diversity initiatives.
More than 60 current and former Google employees are considering bringing a class-action lawsuit alleging sexism and pay disparities against women, as the technology giant wrestles with a deepening crisis over alleged discrimination.

James Finberg, the civil rights attorney working on the possible legal action on behalf of the female employees, told the Guardian they contend they have earned less than men at Google despite equal qualifications and comparable positions.

Others, he said, have struggled in other ways to advance their careers at Google due to a "culture that is hostile to women".

Comment: Jordan Petersen interviews James Damore, author of "controversial" Google diversity memo



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Eye 1

New 'World Policeman'? China may intervene to prevent US first-strike against North Korea, but remain neutral if Pyongyang strikes first


RT
Fri, 11 Aug 2017 13:38 UTC
People's Liberation Army soldier
© Jason Lee / ReutersPeople's Liberation Army soldier
China will prevent the US and South Korea from carrying out strikes on North Korea and trying to overthrow the leadership there, but will remain neutral if Pyongyang launches missiles at American targets first, the state-run Global Times said. The warning, delivered through an editorial in the Chinese state-run newspaper on Thursday, comes as both the US and North Korea continue to exchange incendiary remarks, raising the risk of overreaction or miscalculation amid the crisis.

Beijing should make it clear that "if North Korea launches missiles that threaten US soil first and the US retaliates, China will stay neutral," the Global Times wrote. But if the US and its ally South Korea take on Pyongyang and try to "overthrow the North Korean regime and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so," the paper stressed.

Comment: China and Russia are prioritizing stability on the Korean Peninsula and have expressed their concern over the tough US stance towards North Korea.

See also: Also, just because something is opined in Chinese 'official state media' doesn't mean Xi is speaking!

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Star of David

Zionized Middle East policy: Trump taking advice from Kushner & Greenblatt

Wayne Madsen
Intrepid Report
Fri, 11 Aug 2017 00:00 UTC
Kushner and Greenblatt
© Kobi Gidon/GPOKushner and Greenblatt
The pro-Israeli Zionist "brain trust" Donald Trump has named to be his guiding force on Middle Eastern policy, plunged Trump into one crisis, the Saudi/United Arab Emirates blockade of Qatar, and almost into another, Trump's moronic criticism of Lebanese Hezbollah, while standing next to the Lebanese prime minister who owes his job to the Shi'a organization. Trump takes his Middle East advice from principally his son-in-law Jared Kushner, a contributor to and member of the board of the "Friends of the IDF," an American non-profit that raises funds for the Israeli armed forces.

Kushner was named by Trump as a "special envoy" to the Middle East, while Jason Greenblatt, a former attorney with the Trump Organization, was named as special envoy in charge of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Although the two positions appear to overlap, Kushner and Greenblatt, both Orthodox Jews who have little time for Palestinians, are on the same page when it comes to advancing the West Bank land grabbing policies of the Binyamin Netanyahu government in Israel.

Trump thoroughly Zionized his administration's Middle East policy with the appointment of another Israel supporter, David M. Friedman, as U.S. ambassador to Israel. Friedman had been a bankruptcy lawyer with the Trump Organization's primary law firm, Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman. The firm is headed by Trump's personal attorney Marc Kasowitz, who formerly represented Trump in the investigation being conducted of the White House by Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
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Info

Just can't stay away: US Africa Command confirms sending special forces to Libya to fight Daesh


Sputnik
Fri, 11 Aug 2017 12:52 UTC
Senegal Army and US general
© AFP 2017/ SEYLLOU
Special forces of the United States and their allies have lately been providing support to Libya's local forces in their fight against the Daesh (banned in Russia) terrorist organization in the country, the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) confirmed to Russia's Izvestiya newspaper on Friday.

According to AFRICOM's commentary as quoted by Izvestiya, US forces were sent to Libya and back within the framework of supporting Libyan forces affiliated with the Government of National Accord in their fight with Daesh and other terrorist groups. Additionally, AFRICOM stated that the practice of sending special forces to Libya would continue.

Undisclosed sources in the US Army and Congress also said earlier, as cited by Izvestiya, that the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy had deployed a few dozen of their own special forces soldiers in Libya for the same purpose.

In July, Prime Minister of the Libyan Government of National Accord Fayez Sarraj told Sputnik that there were concerns that Daesh militants would enter Libya after having been defeated in Syria and Iraq.
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Document

Here's the 'deep state' memo that blew up the NSC

Jana Winter and Elias Groll
Foreign Policy
Thu, 10 Aug 2017 11:57 UTC
Donald Trump with National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster
© Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
The memo at the heart of the latest blowup at the National Security Council paints a dark picture of media, academics, the "deep state," and other enemies allegedly working to subvert U.S. President Donald Trump, according to a copy of the document obtained by Foreign Policy.

The seven-page document, which eventually landed on the president's desk, precipitated a crisis that led to the departure of several high-level NSC officials tied to former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. The author of the memo, Rich Higgins, who was in the strategic planning office at the NSC, was among those recently pushed out.

The full memo, dated May 2017, is titled "POTUS & Political Warfare." It provides a sweeping, if at times conspiratorial, view of what it describes as a multi-pronged attack on the Trump White House.

Trump is being attacked, the memo says, because he represents "an existential threat to cultural Marxist memes that dominate the prevailing cultural narrative." Those threatened by Trump include "'deep state' actors, globalists, bankers, Islamists, and establishment Republicans."
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Cloud Precipitation

Leaked emails reveal USDA censoring use of term 'climate change'

Oliver Milman
The Guardian, UK
Mon, 07 Aug 2017 11:43 UTC
Storm clouds
© David Mcnew/AFP/Getty ImagesAmong the ‘intense weather events’ qualifying as climate change under the advice in the email chain is drought.
Staff at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have been told to avoid using the term climate change in their work, with the officials instructed to reference "weather extremes" instead.

A series of emails obtained by the Guardian between staff at the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), a USDA unit that oversees farmers' land conservation, show that the incoming Trump administration has had a stark impact on the language used by some federal employees around climate change.

A missive from Bianca Moebius-Clune, director of soil health, lists terms that should be avoided by staff and those that should replace them. "Climate change" is in the "avoid" category, to be replaced by "weather extremes". Instead of "climate change adaption", staff are asked to use "resilience to weather extremes".
USDA email
© Guardian

Comment: Trump obviously knows that the 'junk science' fueling climate change has been manipulated for political reasons. This is just another facet of the witch hunt against him.

For more on the climate change swindle, see:

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