Puppet MastersS


Question

Aaand he's out? Sean Spicer reportedly resigns as White House press secretary


RT
Fri, 21 Jul 2017 17:49 UTC
sean spicer
© Jonathan Ernst / ReutersWhite House Press Secretary Sean Spicer
President Donald Trump's first press secretary, Sean Spicer, has reportedly resigned his post over objections to the new White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci.

Trump offered Scaramucci the job on Friday morning. Spicer resigned shortly thereafter, having told Trump that the appointment was a major mistake, the New York Times reported, citing "a person with direct knowledge of the exchange."

The resignation has not been officially confirmed, however, and Spicer's name remains on the White House press secretary's Twitter account as of 12:15pm Friday.

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Map

Analysis: Turkey trying to 'sabotage' Raqqa operation by disclosing coalition bases


Sputnik
Fri, 21 Jul 2017 17:52 UTC
Kurdish fighter
© REUTERS/ Goran Tomasevic
Earlier this week Turkey's news agency Anadolu reported that the United States had a total of 10 military outposts in Syria in the territory controlled by the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).

The report identified the locations where the bases were situated and outlined some of their uses, including US-led coalition airstrike coordination and the training of Kurdish fighters.

Anadolu noted that the locations of the US forces are often designated as "closed zones" and are classified. US ground troops supplement airstrikes and shelling, train local forces and conduct operational planning. Some units also participate in active combat operations.

The outlet also reported about three more posts in the north of the province of Raqqa, two of which host French troops alongside US personnel. The third transfers equipment to Kurdish forces and acts as a communication center of the US-led coalition forces.
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Bad Guys

A friendly reminder from Lavrov: U.S. bases in Syria are illegal, everyone knows it

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Fri, 21 Jul 2017 17:40 UTC
Sergey Lavrov
© Vladimir Pesnya / Sputnik
The US mainstream media has been going into Russophobic overdrive ever since it was announced that Donald Trump has ordered the CIA to stop funding Salafist terrorists in Syria, a program that was a flagship policy of Barack Obama.

As the Duran pointed out, the development is a small win for Syria and close to inconsequential for Russia.

This didn't stop Trump's CIA director Mike Pompeo from parroting the Russophobic statements of the US media, in spite of the fact that Pompeo along with Trump and US National Security Director General H.R. McMaster were apparently parties to the penultimate decision.

Pompeo stated that the Russian presence in Syria is an attempt to "stick it" to the US. In reality, the Russian presence is because the Syrian government asked Russia for a partnership in the fight against jihadist terrorism and Russia agreed to provide this assistance.

Comment: On the U.S. bases: However many times the Russians point out the brazen criminality of the U.S. presence in Syria, it's unlikely to change anything. International law does not apply to the United States. And the Americans like it that way. So do their vassals, apparently. And as long as that's the case, they can get away with anything. For a remarkably honest self-appraisal of the U.S. empire's views on such matters, this one is a must read: Writing's on the wall: Pentagon study admits U.S. empire collapsing, recommends massive effort to maintain global access to resources

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Snakes in Suits

Saving face? Bahraini envoy to Russia denies reports of reduced list of demands to Qatar


Sputnik
Fri, 21 Jul 2017 17:44 UTC
Doha, Qatar
© REUTERS/ Naseem Zeitoon/File Photo
The countries boycotting Qatar over its alleged support of terrorism did not scale down its list of demands to Doha as claimed by some media reports, Bahrain's Ambassador to Russia Ahmed Saati told Sputnik on Friday.

On Wednesday, media reports emerged that the new list included six demands instead of the initial 13 announced in June. Abdallah Al-Mouallimi, the ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations, told reporters on Wednesday that the states that broke off ties with Qatar expected it to adhere to the six principles of fighting terrorism adopted at the Cairo Summit in July.

However, Al-Mouallimi noted that no progress had been made on "the list of specific demands made by the four Arab States in June."

"We didn't cut down the list of our demands. The list wasn't modified. The media reports are actually not true. We don't have anything new in this regard," Saati said.
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Snakes in Suits

Pepe Escobar: A coup in the House of Saud?

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Thu, 20 Jul 2017 17:26 UTC
Mohammed bin Salman
© Reuters / Charles PlatiauSaudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
The secret is out: the ascension of Mohammad bin Salman, displacing CIA favorite Mohammad bin Nayef as Crown Prince, was in fact a white coup.

What has been an open secret across the Arab world is not a secret anymore even in the US: What happened last month in the deep recesses of the House of Saud with the ascension of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, aka MBS, was in fact a white coup.

Nearly a month ago, as I've written elsewhere, a top Middle East source close to the House of Saud told me: "The CIA is very displeased with the firing of [former Crown Prince] Mohammad bin Nayef. Mohammad bin Salman is regarded as sponsoring terrorism. In April 2014 the entire royal families of the UAE and Saudi Arabia were to be ousted by the US over terrorism. A compromise was worked out that Nayef would take over running the kingdom to stop it."
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Sherlock

"Help us, Facebook, you're our only hope": Russia probe turns to social media to find evidence of Russian fake news


RT
Fri, 21 Jul 2017 17:26 UTC
facebook
© Dado Ruvic / Reuters
Lawmakers are asking Facebook and other social media companies to help them figure out if Russia had anything to do with the spike in false news stories against former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election.

Senator Mark Warner (D-Virginia), the ranking Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, met with Facebook officials as part of the committee's investigation into Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.

"Was there coordination or collusion between the campaigns and these technology tools, which overwhelmed the search engine tools so that certain stories popped up at the top of your newsfeed?" Warner asked on CNN Thursday. "If the Russians know, how are the Russians smart enough to target in areas where the Democrats weren't knowledgeable enough? I don't feel like I have run that to ground yet."

Investigators also plan to interview members of the Trump campaign's social media team as a part of their Russia probe, including former Trump campaign digital director Brad Parscale.

Comment: There comes a point when it's obvious you're trying too hard to find something that doesn't exist. This latest development is just another sign of futile desperation. And just like every other new "lead", it will probably result in nothing. Wasted time, wasted money. But they keep on looking, because they "know" there's something to find. Sad.

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Propaganda

The Reign of Propaganda

Paul Craig Roberts
Institute for Political Economy
Thu, 20 Jul 2017 17:09 UTC
deep state graphic
If truth has a chance it is in a different country than America.

Masters of propaganda from its inventor, Jewish public relations expert Edward Louis James Bernays, to the Nazi Minister of Propaganda Paul Joseph Goebbels, agree that a lie can be turned into truth by constant repetition.

The more pure the lie, the more complete the success in turning it into The Truth. Lies partly based in fact or half-truths open themselves to factual challenge. For a propagandist the best lie is a lie unfettered by even a distant relationship to truth. Such a lie can be turned into such self-evident truth that no evidence is necessary. As Nikki Haley and Hillary Clinton put it: "Evidence! We don't need any stinking evidence. We know Russia hacked our election!"
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Sherlock

Report claims Trump Admin took public funds from Obamacare to undermine health care law


RT
Fri, 21 Jul 2017 17:11 UTC
trumpcare protest
© Saul Loeb / AFP
As President Donald Trump's administration tries to 'repeal and replace' Obamacare, they have reportedly been accessing funds meant for educating the public about the law and shifting it toward a PR campaign to sabotage it.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has taken public funds that previously went toward encouraging enrollment in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, and instead spent them on a social media campaign to repeal and replace the health care law, the Daily Beast reported Thursday.

Under HHS Secretary Tom Price's watch, a number of testimonial videos featuring individuals who claim their lives were harmed by the ACA have been produced. In total, there have been 23 "viral" videos uploaded to the official HHS YouTube page, which have gathered around a few hundred views each.

A source told the Daily Beast that there were around 130 similar videos made from 30 different interviews. Under former president Obama, outside contractors that shot and edited videos for the HHS charged around $550 an hour.
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Bulb

'Soft Brexit': Free movement of EU citizens to Britain will continue years after Brexit


RT
Fri, 21 Jul 2017 17:06 UTC
eu flag big ben
© Luke MacGregor / Reuters
The free movement of EU citizens to Britain could continue for up to two years after Brexit as part of a "soft landing" transitional deal, it has been reported.

Senior sources have suggested that a major shift in opinion is underway in cabinet that will delay the full implementation of a Brexit deal until 2022.

Leading Brexiteers in cabinet, including Liam Fox, Boris Johnson, and Michael Gove, have now signed up to the idea of a substantial "implementation phase" after the UK leaves in 2019, in order to give business and government time to adjust to leaving the bloc, sources say.

In return, Remainers such as Philip Hammond and Amber Rudd have reportedly finally accepted the idea that the UK will ultimately leave both the single market and the customs union.
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Light Saber

Lavrov: Russia gave US data on N. Korea missile launch on same day of Trump-Putin G20 meeting


Sputnik
Fri, 21 Jul 2017 16:57 UTC
north korea missile launch
© REUTERS/ KCNA
North Korea did not launch an intercontinental missile, the Russian Defense Ministry gave its data on the issue to the Pentagon the day Russian and US presidents, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, respectively, met in Hamburg, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

On July 4, North Korea announced it had successfully launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile, saying it traveled 580 miles and reached an altitude of 1,740 miles during its 39-minute flight before accurately hitting a targeted area in the Sea of Japan. The test immediately prompted sharp criticism from the international community.

Following the launch, the Russian Defense Ministry disputed Pyongyang's claim, saying the missile's flight parameters indicated it reached an altitude of 535 kilometers (332 miles) and traveled 510 kilometers before falling in central Sea of Japan.

However, US officials believe that Pyongyang had successfully launched an ICBM for the first time.

"By the way, we provided to the US on that very day that the presidents spent in Hamburg, our military provided to the Pentagon our objective data we received from our radars located just on the border with North Korea, and according to that data, it is not an intercontinental missile," Lavrov told the NBC network in an interview.
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