Puppet MastersS


Pistol

CIA's pause in arms program has Syrian rebels worried

Dan Wright
Shadow Proof
Fri, 24 Feb 2017 00:00 UTC
rebel training
© Reuters/Ammar AbdullahRebel fighters in military training, Idlib province, Syria.
Since at least 2012, the United States has been supporting armed groups trying to overthrow the government of Bashar al-Assad. It has always been a difficult alliance because many of the rebel groups have ties to Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. The program has principally been run by the CIA.

In 2013, President Barack Obama waived a provision of the Arms Export Control Act that prevented arming terrorist organizations in order to arm Syrian rebels. Nonetheless, the weapons fell into Al Qaeda's hands, first by accident, then on purpose after some marketing.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly bashed the program and said, "We have no idea who these people are." He suggested the government was arming people who may see the U.S. as an enemy.

A recent pause in the program has many rebels worried that the CIA has gotten new orders from President Trump. According to Reuters, the program has been frozen since January after one rebel faction known as the Free Syrian Army (FSA) came under attack by the more dominant Al Qaeda-linked group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (formerly known as the Al Nusra Front).

Comment: Taking away weapons is a precursor to weeding out the rebel factions and correcting the trajectory of US involvement in the Syrian conflict. Trump needs a "tremendous plan" and swift execution while he still has momentum to shock and awe the CIA. The CIA has not told its rebels the extent of the ban, suggesting it is holding out on both Trump and its proxies.

See also:

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Umbrella

Make America British again: Queen Mum may bring former colony into Commonwealth


RT
Fri, 24 Feb 2017 17:06 UTC
Queen Mum
© Eddie Mulholland / ReutersQueen Mum
As a former British colony, the US could be the next "associate member" of the Commonwealth - thanks to President Donald Trump's reported love of the UK and Queen Elizabeth II. The plan, which is reportedly being backed by the Queen, is for the Commonwealth Society to open a branch in the US, according to The Telegraph. "The UK rather left this treasure in the attic, and forgot about it because people were so glued to Brussels," said Michael Lake, the director of the Royal Commonwealth Society.

The move comes amid efforts to use the Commonwealth as a platform to develop international relations in a number of areas, such as foreign policy and trade. Lake said that the move had been encouraged by Trump and the 'Bad Boys of Brexit' - a title given to former UKIP leader Nigel Farage and his followers by UKIP donor Arron Banks.

Back in December, Lake said in a letter to Trump that the move would allow the UK and US to "find imaginative ways" to collaborate. The letter was delivered to Trump by Farage, who has reportedly encouraged the move in talks with senior aides and the President's chief strategist Steve Bannon, as he believes the Commonwealth's principles would suit Trump's foreign policy outlook.

Comment: "We have adopted a policy of getting branches of the Commonwealth in non-commonwealth countries." Sounds a bit...invasive, crafty, imperial? If the principals and principles remain the same, it doesn't matter what you call it or how it is defined -- it is ultimately an ex-empire with a new guise to anchor itself, unite its dutiful "children" around it and rise again.

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Binoculars

Britain's new watchdog: UK terror threat highest level since '70s


RT
Sun, 26 Feb 2017 15:31 UTC
Max Hill
© The TelegraphTerror Chief Max Hill
The UK is at its highest risk of a terror attack since the IRA bombing campaign of the 1970s, according to Britain's new watchdog for terrorism laws.

Max Hill, a new independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said that radical Islamists were actively targeting UK cities and that there is an "enormous ongoing risk which none of us can ignore." "So I think that there is undoubtedly significant ongoing risk which is at least as great as the threat to London in the Seventies when the IRA were active on the mainland," Hill is cited as saying in an interview with Telegraph.

Speaking in his first major interview since his appointment, Hill said he was increasingly concerned that the imminent return of hundreds of native Britons, who left the country to fight for the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), may stir radical ideologies. "It's an enormous concern that large numbers - we know this means at least hundreds of British citizens who have left this country in order to fight - are now returning or may be about to return," Hill said.

Comment: Other pertinent content from the Telegraph interview:
Is Mr Hill prepared to stand his ground? "I have never been an employee of Government," he notes, adding: "I won't have any hesitation in expressing and maintaining my view."

Despite the threat Mr Hill - whose role is to scrutinise government legislation - opposes "draconian" measures that would imperil free speech online. He declines to back extra laws to force Facebook, Twitter and other social media giants to take down extremist content, proposing instead more international co-operation between governments.

Mr. Hill's views and concerns:

Expressed "enormous concern" at the imminent return of hundreds of British jihadists who have been fighting for Isil in Syria;

Warned that British teenagers as young as 14 are being radicalised by extremist videos and hate speech online;

Promised to stand up to Theresa May if he believes her administration's policies will harm British society;

Defended ministers who approved a reported £1 million compensation payment to Ronald Fiddler, the Guantanamo Bay detainee who this month carried out a suicide bomb attack in Iraq;

Pledged to review Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures amid concerns they are an "extraordinarily serious infringement" on freedom. [TPIMs, a form of control order that can restrict a person's movement or financial activity. He calls the orders an "extraordinarily serious infringement" on people's lives and, while careful to insist they remain "necessary", appears to caution their use.]


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Attention

Trump tells FBI: Find leakers now!

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Fri, 24 Feb 2017 00:00 UTC
Trump and tweet
© CBS News
US President Trump is piling the pressure on to the FBI to find the leakers from within the US intelligence community who brought down General Flynn and who have been trying to destabilise his administration. In two toughly worded tweets he has taunted the FBI for failing to track the leakers previously, both under his administration and during previous administrations. [tweeted message above]

The background to these tweets is that there is almost certainly growing shock and dismay within the US intelligence community that the President is treating the leaks as a criminal matter. As Trump himself says in his tweets, members of the US intelligence community have been leaking information to the media for years, and have got into the habit of thinking they can do so with impunity. Moreover there is no doubt that the Obama administration actually encouraged them to leak as part of its system of news management.

This President is different and - as I have written previously - the leakers have put themselves in his power by crossing over into outright illegality in their campaign to bring down General Flynn. That the FBI is for its part horrified at being ordered to carry out the leak investigation is completely unsurprising since - as Trump says in his tweets - some of the leakers who were involved in bringing down General Flynn almost certainly belong to the FBI.

Comment: When you command a clean house, you also have to take out the garbage.

See also:

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Attention

Deliberate deception: No amount of UN propaganda qualifies as humanitarian aid

Jean Perrier
New Eastern Outlook
Sun, 26 Feb 2017 00:00 UTC
US ammunition
While Russia supplies humanitarian aid to Syria, the US sends weapons to terrorists.
Last month, Helsinki hosted an international conference on the humanitarian situation in Syria, resulting in the launch of a regional refugee plan for the next two years, focused on assisting Syria's neighboring states in dealing with the refuge crisis. In accordance with this plan, UN officials seek 4.6 billion dollars worth of humanitarian aid to provide relief both to the Syrian refugees and the communities that provide them shelter. A spokesman for UN Secretary General Stefan Dyuzharrik emphasized the fact that the funds are going to help some 4.7 million refugees from Syria and 4.4 million people who assist them in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. At the same time, as it's been noted by Dyuzharrik, these funds are not meant to provide assistance to 13.5 million people in Syria itself.

So who is going provide those peaceful Syrians, who neither have the capacity nor the money to leave the country, with humanitarian aid?

According to UN estimates, out of more than 13.5 million Syrians that have found themselves in dire need of humanitarian assistance, some 6.3 million people are internally displaced persons, while another 5 million live in remote areas and destroyed cities with no infrastructure to support them.

Unfortunately, one is forced to admit that the absolute majority of Western countries are reluctant to provide any form of assistance to the Syrian population, who have witnessed their everyday life consumed by the the war. In particular, a full month has passed after the complete liberation of Aleppo, but no international humanitarian organization has made a single step to provide real assistance to the civilian population of the city.
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Donut

Rigged: WADA admits to IOC that evidence Russia is doping its athletes 'insufficient'


RT
Sun, 26 Feb 2017 20:25 UTC
russia olympics
WADA has admitted that Richard McLaren's 2016 report on the alleged use of doping by Russian athletes is "not sufficient to bring successful cases," the International Olympic Committee said.

"At the recent meeting (21 February) held by WADA in Lausanne to 'provide assistance to IFs [International Federations] regarding how to analyse and interpret the evidence,' it was admitted by WADA that in many cases the evidence provided may not be sufficient to bring successful cases," Christophe De Kepper, director-general and member of the executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said in a letter to IOC.

Based on the first part of McLaren's report published on June 18, 2016, which presented the results of his investigation into alleged doping at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games, WADA recommended that the IOC, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), and all international sporting federations exclude Russia from their competitions. The entire team of Russian Paralympians was consequently banned from the Rio games.

Comment: "Oops, we actually have no reliable evidence..."

Freedom and democracy; ain't it great?

In all probability, the Russians do have ways and means to get hi-tech drugs to their athletes.

The thing is, thanks to recent hacking of WADA files (probably done by the Russians), we now know Western athletes do too. In fact, WADA manages their drug 'exemptions' system!

Countless top sports stars and athletes in the West were outed as career-long cheats late last year. Western media did its best to sweep the exposures under the carpet. WADA and the IOC have probably been told to back down from pushing this any further because they now know the Russians can expose their scams too...

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Red Flag

Did Trump's new drug and human-trafficking policies prompt the CIA to move against him?

Mark H. Gaffney
The International Reporter
Sun, 26 Feb 2017 18:23 UTC
IR Editor: "Trump's executive orders would launch a new war on drugs! Evidently, president Trump idealistically (or naively) has decided to accomplish what no president before him was able (or willing) to do, namely, eradicate the double scourge of drug and human trafficking which have destroyed so many young lives. Certainly it is a goal worthy of our support. However, there is a hitch, namely, the collision of such a policy with the status quo. This needs clarification: If Trump's new anti drug trafficking policy is carried out it will place drug enforcement agencies in direct opposition to CIA officers who for many years have "managed" the flow of cocaine and heroin into the United States. In fact, "dismantling the transnational criminal organizations" responsible for the drug trade will ultimately require nothing less than the dismantling of the CIA itself."

Former Congressman Dennis Kucinich
Former Congressman Dennis Kucinich
In recent days, we have witnessed the disturbing spectacle of open warfare between the newly elected president and the intelligence community.

Former congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) described the situation as "unprecedented. Whether you are for Trump or against Trump," Kucinich told FOX News, "the White House is under attack from elements inside the intelligence community, which are trying to elevate tensions between Russia and the US." Kucinich continued: "At the bottom of that is money, an agenda for someone to cash in on conflict between the US and Russia."

Kucinich was spot on. The military industrial complex and their media pawns clearly do not want improved relations with Russia and are using their considerable power to prevent it, for the reason cited. Untold billions in military contracts are at stake. War and the preparations for war are extremely profitable; at any rate, for a privileged few.
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Rocket

US may mobilize THAAD missile defense system to S. Korea in June over China's objections


RT
Sun, 26 Feb 2017 12:25 UTC
THAAD missle
© ReutersA Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor.
Washington may deploy its high-tech THAAD antiballistic-missile system in South Korea in June - earlier than expected, local media report. Up to nine truck-mounted launchers, each with eight interceptors, could be mobilized.

To deploy the THAAD, the South Korean Defense Ministry plans take over the land in Lotte Skyhill Country Club's golf course in Seongju County, located some 300 kilometers south of Seoul, Yonhap news agency reported on Sunday.

While the exact number of launchers has not yet been announced, sources told Yonhap that the THAAD unit will have between four to nine truck-mounted launchers, each with eight interceptors. The battery will allegedly boast powerful 'X-band' AN/TPY-2 radar capable of detecting incoming missiles at great distances.

Seoul originally planned to sign the deal to take over the golf course in January, but plans stalled over strong objections to the deployment from Beijing. The ministry is now reportedly saying that the plan is being sped up.

"If the transfer and the design and development take place at the same time, the process can be completed without too much delay," a source told Yonhap, adding that "because of the unexpected delay, things will be sped up."

Comment: See also:
  • Dance of the Five Powers on the Korean Peninsula
  • US House Armed Services chair says US needs missiles that can reach Iran, N Korea


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Attention

Trump accuses NY Times of fabricating story about Russian contacts

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Sun, 26 Feb 2017 16:37 UTC
New York Times

President Trump accuses The New York Times of inventing sources for its story of contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia.

US President Donald Trump is making what is perhaps the most serious accusation against The New York Times in its recent history, which is that it at least in part fabricated its story of multiple contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence of 13th February 2017 by attributing it to briefings provided to The New York Times by anonymous officials who don't exist.

In what looks to me like an attempt to divert attention away from this accusation, The New York Times's various media allies are talking up claims that the White House supposedly breached rules by talking to the FBI about The New York Times story.

Comment: Donald Trump was right not to attend the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Here's why

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SOTT Logo Radio

SOTT Focus: Behind the Headlines: American Coup D'Etat, Anti-Russian Hysteria, Global Chaos, and the Fourth Turning


Sott.net
Sun, 26 Feb 2017 17:00 UTC
Churkin
‌In the midst of the coup atmosphere currently gripping the US, several related stories reflect American-generated chaos throughout the world: an uptick in Kiev's desperate war on Donbass civilians, the untimely death of yet another veteran Russian Ambassador, and the demonetization developments in India. All give a strong suggestion of where the elites would like to take things. How do all these fit together, and what are they a larger symptom of?

Join us this week on Behind the Headlines as we connect the dots that form the bigger, uglier picture. We'll also take look at one of the ideas of Trump's chief strategist Steve Bannon - the 'fourth turning' - and what it might mean for America's future, and the world's. As the saying goes, "when the US sneezes the whole world catches a cold." In this light, we will also be asking how the US's growing inner turmoil is affecting other nations, and what a great US crisis may mean in the future for all.

Running Time: 01:52:49

Download: MP3

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