Puppet MastersS


Attention

Internationalizing Mecca is a 'declaration of war:' Hajj controversy widens row between Saudi Arabia and Qatar


RT
Mon, 31 Jul 2017 12:20 UTC
Muslim pilgrims circle the Kaaba at the Grand mosque in Mecca
© Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters
The feud between the Saudi-led block and Qatar escalated over the weekend, with Doha protesting to the UN over restrictions on its citizens flying to Mecca, and Riyadh threatening "war" over what it considers calls to "internationalize the holy sites" in Mecca and Medina.

Following a meeting Sunday of the so-called Anti-Terror Quartet (ATQ) of Arab states which are embroiled in a conflict with Qatar, Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir lashed out at Doha, accusing it of politicizing the Hajj - the annual pilgrimage to Mecca that every Muslim has to perform at least once in their lifetime.

"Qatar's request to internationalize the holy sites is an aggressive act and a declaration of war against the kingdom," al-Jubeir told the Al Arabiya channel, adding, that Saudi Arabia "reserve the right to respond to any party" promoting such demands.

It was not immediately clear when such a move was suggested, as Doha has yet to publicly call for Islam's two holiest sites to be placed under international oversight. Al-Arabiya reported that Qatari media floated the idea after Saudi Arabia enforced new rules for Qataris travelling to Mecca in view of the air blockade on Doha.
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Snakes in Suits

'Tory civil war': Boris Johnson denies claims of quitting over EU migration


RT
Mon, 31 Jul 2017 12:14 UTC
Boris Johnson
© Eddie Keogh / Reuters
Boris Johnson has dismissed claims he is on the verge of quitting as foreign secretary and accused the Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable of "peddling lies" about him.

The spat comes as Johnson and Trade Secretary Liam Fox have withheld their support for Chancellor Philip Hammond's plans for a post-Brexit three-year transition period for migrant workers. Cable has said the party infighting amounts to a "civil war."

Hammond, supported by Home Secretary Amber Rudd, wants to avoid a "cliff edge" after Brexit, meaning that any changes would be implemented gradually. Brexiteers, however, fear that they were not properly consulted on statements about a transition deal made while the chancellor was "minding the shop" as Prime Minister Theresa May is away on holiday.
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Snakes in Suits

Nikki Haley threatens UN, time for talk on North Korea 'over'


RT
Mon, 31 Jul 2017 12:08 UTC
US Air Force B-1B Lancer bomber
© Jacob Skovo / Reuters
The US envoy to the UN, Nikki Haley, has said that the time for talk on North Korea is "over," and that another weak UNSC resolution is "worse than nothing." Tensions are flaring over Pyongyang's recent tests of what it said were intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Haley noted that "an additional Security Council resolution that does not significantly increase the international pressure on North Korea is of no value" and it "sends the message to the North Korean dictator that the international community is unwilling to seriously challenge him," according to the envoy's statement cited by AFP.

"The time for talk is over," the US envoy added.

She urged China to "decide whether it is finally willing to take this vital step."

On Sunday, US President Donald Trump tweeted that "they [China] do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk. We will no longer allow this to continue," adding that it shouldn't take much for Beijing to "solve this problem!"

In mid-July, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a news briefing that, "Recently, certain people, talking about the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, have been exaggerating and giving prominence to the so-called 'China responsibility theory'."

"I think this either shows lack of a full, correct knowledge of the issue, or there are ulterior motives for it, trying to shift responsibility," the official emphasized.
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Stop

Canadian anti-Russian arts propaganda is at it again: Arts columnist at leading Canadian daily calls for protest against Russian symphony orchestra

Roger Annis
New Cold War
Wed, 26 Jul 2017 00:00 UTC
Mariinsky Orchestra
The Mariinsky Orchestra and conductor Valery Gergiev
An arts columnist in Canada's Globe and Mail national daily has penned a column calling for readers to protest the appearance in Toronto this coming November 10 of the Mariinsky Orchestra based in St. Petersburg, Russia and its renowned conductor Valery Gergiev.

Kate Taylor's column appeared in the Globe edition of Saturday, July 22. It voices extreme, anti-Russia prejudice. It is titled 'Toronto's hosting of pro-Putin conductor Gergiev and his sexual politics is problematic'. An example of the extreme language wielded in the column is the description of Russia as "a Soviet Union minus only the gulags".
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Bad Guys

Long-standing pattern: The west continues to seek the destruction of Russia though Trump has tried his best to change this

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Sun, 30 Jul 2017 00:00 UTC
Putin and Trump
Donald Trump has not only the weight of the American elite on his shoulders, he has the weight of western history on his shoulders. Donald Trump's pragmatic world-view translating into tangible foreign policy was almost an impossible task. It is proving to be increasingly impossible by the day, but at least he tried. This in and of itself, deserves some commendation.

It is now clear that one man, even if that one man happens to be the President of the United States, cannot change the overall trajectory of western aggression against Russia. With the near-ancient exception of Mongolia and the more modern exception of Ottoman Turkey, all of the main foes and aggressors against Russia have been from the west and Europe in particular.

The young United States had little meaningful interaction with Russia except for a treaty of understanding in 1832 and the Alaska Purchase in 1867. However, in 1911, the United States decided to rescind its end of the 1832 treaty.

Alaska Purchase

Comment: What does it say about the west, and the U.S. in particular, that through connivance and subterfuge it has attempted to subvert and destroy Russia again, and again - and yet again? And what does it say about Russia that it has always come back seemingly stronger and wiser for it?

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Snakes in Suits

It's your money but you can't have it! EU proposes freezing bank accounts to bailout megabanks

Claire Bernish
The Free Thought Project
Sun, 30 Jul 2017 22:24 UTC
woman at banking machine
After nervous customers panicked and drained their accounts, ultimately causing the collapse of Spanish bank, Banco Popular, equally jittery European Union officials are debating the merits of freezing access - preventing anyone from withdrawing any money - at the first sign of a bank run.

Proponents claim measures to halt a rush of withdrawals would prevent the downfall of floundering financial institutions at their most vulnerable point - in hopes of staving off a catastrophe at least as harrowing as that of 2008 - while detractors admonish the move might have precisely the opposite effect, with investors rushing to yank funds at the slightest indication of trouble.

"The desire is to prevent a bank run, so that when a bank is in a critical situation it is not pushed over the edge," 'a person familiar with German government's thinking' told Reuters.

"Giving supervisors the power to temporarily block bank accounts at ailing lenders is 'a feasible option,' a paper prepared by the Estonian presidency of the EU said, acknowledging that member states were divided on the issue," Reuters reports.

"EU countries which already allow a moratorium on bank payouts in insolvency procedures at national level, like Germany, support the measure, officials said."
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Light Sabers

Russia gives US ambassadors the boot: Which Moscow compounds the US loses and keeps


RT
Fri, 28 Jul 2017 17:37 UTC
us embassy moscow
© Iliya Pitalev / Sputnik
Retaliating to the newest set of US sanctions against Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry has ordered the American embassy to scale down staff numbers to 455 and halt the use of several facilities.

While the question remains as to exactly how many people the US will have to send home, the list is known of the premises in Moscow that the diplomats are using. Some of them will have to be relinquished by August 1:

Comment: Considering Russia's and Putin's commitment to diplomacy, this appears to be a fairly significant negative sign with regards to Russia-US relations.

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Георгиевская ленточка

Russian amb. to UK invites Western nations to step up to the plate, join Russia's humanitarian efforts in Syria


RT
Sat, 29 Jul 2017 20:12 UTC
russian troops syria
© Mikhail Allaedin / SputnikServicemen of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria hand out humanitarian aid in Jiba in the Quneitra province, Syria.
Russia continues its efforts in Syria aimed at normalizing the humanitarian situation and eliminating terrorism in the region.

Along with fighting ISIS, al-Nusra Front in all its reincarnations, and other terrorist organizations recognized as such by the UN Security Council, Russia also contributes to establishing conditions to secure the ceasefire between the Syrian government troops and the opposition.

Starting from June, Russia has supported the signing of agreements on ceasefires with representatives of 508 towns and villages. The total number of reconciled inhabited areas has reached an unprecedented 2,043.

To end violence in Syria, Russia together with Turkey and Iran launched in Astana an initiative to set up de-escalation zones throughout the country.

On July 7, Russia, the USA and Jordan agreed to establish the first such zone in southwest Syria. Recently the final details have been worked out on how this zone will function, including the monitoring of cessation of hostilities and ensuring unimpeded access to humanitarian aid and crossing the border by civilians in either direction.

Comment: Russia is doing its part. The U.S.? Not so much. Comparing the Russian campaign in Syria, and the American on in Iraq, there's absolutely no question as to which nation is the more humane and humanitarian.

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Eagle

How the CIA and regional allies trapped Obama into arming the Syrian opposition - and why it ultimately benefited groups like Al Qaeda

Gareth Porter
The American Conservative
Thu, 27 Jul 2017 00:00 UTC
Free Syrian Army
© Dona_Bozzi / Shutterstock.com
Last week a Trump administration official decided to inform the news media that the CIA program to arm and train anti-Assad Syrian forces had been terminated. It was welcome news amid a deepening U.S. military commitment reflecting the intention to remain in the country for years to come. As my recent article in TAC documented, the net result of the program since late 2011 has been to provide arms to al Qaeda terrorists and their jihadist and other extremist allies, which had rapidly come to dominate the military effort against the Assad regime.

The Trump administration's decision to acknowledge explicitly its decision to end the program invites a more systematic analysis of why and how such a program, which was so clearly undermining a fundamental U.S. national-security interest, could have gotten started and continue for so long. The preliminary version of the program that began in late 2011 is easier to explain than its more direct form two years later, which had continued (at least formally) until now.
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Info

Embrace your criminality: Tillerson mulling closure of hypocritical war crimes office

Todd Pierce
The American Conservative
Thu, 27 Jul 2017 19:52 UTC
torture inmates
© Troy Page/truthout, Mike Benedetti, Caleb Kimbrough
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is reportedly considering closing the Office of Global Criminal Justice, a tiny agency with a meager budget of $3 million a year, located within the State Department.

According to its website, the office "advises the Secretary of State . . . on issues related to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide." It "also coordinates U.S. Government positions relating to the international and hybrid courts currently prosecuting persons responsible for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity - not only for such crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Cambodia-but also in Kenya, Libya, Côte d'Ivoire, Guatemala, and elsewhere in the world."

Furthermore, it deploys "a range of diplomatic, legal, economic, military, and intelligence tools to help expose the truth, judge those responsible, protect and assist victims, enable reconciliation, deter atrocities, and build the rule of law."
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