Puppet MastersS


Wolf

Saudi king's conniving son ruthlessly plotted his ascent to the throne

Ben Hubbard, Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt
New York Times
Tue, 18 Jul 2017 21:26 UTC
Mohammed bin Salman
© Saudi Press Agency, via European Pressphoto AgencyCrown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, who replaced Mohammed bin Nayef as the next in line to be king.
As next in line to be king of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Nayef was unaccustomed to being told what to do. Then, one night in June, he was summoned to a palace in Mecca, held against his will and pressured for hours to give up his claim to the throne.

By dawn, he had given in, and Saudi Arabia woke to the news that it had a new crown prince: the king's 31-year-old son, Mohammed bin Salman.

The young prince's supporters have lauded his elevation as the seamless empowerment of an ambitious leader. But since he was promoted on June 21, indications have emerged that Mohammed bin Salman plotted the ouster and that the transition was rockier than has been publicly portrayed, according to current and former United States officials and associates of the royal family.

Comment:

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Info

Trump to tap Raytheon military contractor lobbyist to lead Army


RT
Wed, 19 Jul 2017 21:41 UTC
Mark Esper
© Stars and Stripes‏ / Twitter
The Trump administration will nominate a former US Army officer and lobbyist for the missile manufacturer Raytheon to be the next Army secretary. It will be his third attempted nomination for the post.

The latest nominee to be the Army's top civilian is Mark Esper, a top lobbyist for Raytheon. He is a West Point graduate and a retired lieutenant colonel. His military career included a combat tour in Iraq during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. He was also a former aide to Senators Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska) and Bill Frist (R-Tennessee), according to the Washington Examiner.

Pentagon officials privately expressed confidence that Esper ‒ with his military, Pentagon and Capitol Hill experience ‒ will win quick Senate confirmation. He currently serves as Raytheon's vice president of government relations.
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Info

Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine agrees on safe zones around Donbass infrastructure


Sputnik
Wed, 19 Jul 2017 21:29 UTC
Ukranian protesters
© AFP 2017/ Aleksey FILIPPOV
Participants of the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine have agreed on creating safe zones around important infrastructure objects in Ukraine's conflict torn Donbass region, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine Martin Sajdik said Wednesday.

The situation in east Ukraine worsened at the end of January when fighting between local militias and the Ukrainian military intensified in the towns of Avdiivka and Yasynuvata.

"The participants of the group returned to the issues of securing critical infrastructure sites. The sides expressed readiness to establish safe zones around a pumping station in Vasilyevka and the Donetsk water filtration station [DFS]," Sajdik told reporters.
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Map

Syrian Army retakes 15 oil wells from Daesh militants in Raqqa Province


Sputnik
Wed, 19 Jul 2017 21:09 UTC
Syrian SDF fighter
© REUTERS/ Rodi Said
Syrian government forces regained control of 15 oil wells, a gas field close to Debsan and pumping stations in the south of the Raqqa province, a Syrian military source told Sputnik Wednesday.

Syrian government forces destroyed seven car bombs, a tank and several gun-mounted trucks during heavy fighting against the Daesh militants, the source added.

"The Syrian Army is advancing in the south of the Raqqa province. [The Syrian Army] regained control over 15 oil wells, freed the territory of a gas field and two pumping stations in Debsan. The Rmeilan settlement and the Rmeilan dam to the east of Debsan were liberated as well," the source said.
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Life Preserver

Confirmed: Trump ends CIA arming of Salafists in Syria

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Wed, 19 Jul 2017 21:13 UTC
Kurdish YPG militia
The race for Raqqa is now increasingly a two-horse race between US backed Kurdish forces and the Syrian Arab Army which relies on support from Russia, Iran and Hezbollah.

Today, two reports emerged within minutes of each other which indicate that under Donald Trump, the United States has fully shifted its policies in Syria away from arming and aiding Salafist/jihadist terrorist fighters and is now allying exclusively with Kurdish.

To a less extent, America is also politically allied with Russia in a limited capacity in south western Syria, something which is more significant due to the shift it represents rather than in terms of size or scope.

Here are the key events:
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Attention

'Don't leave town': Trump tells GOP senators to get healthcare bill on his desk


RT
Wed, 19 Jul 2017 20:57 UTC
Donald Trump speaks during a lunch meeting with Senate Republicans
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
President Donald Trump told Republican senators they should not to leave for their August recess until they have repealed and replaced the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.
"We can repeal but we should repeal and replace, and we shouldn't leave town until this is complete, until this bill is on my desk, and until we can all go over to the Oval Office and I'll sign it, and we can all celebrate for the American people," Trump told Republican Senators Wednesday.
He told the GOP lawmakers that Republicans are "closer than people understand" on getting health care reform done and "have to pull through."
"We are in this room to deliver on our promise," Trump said.

Comment: How about making all Congress critters shop for 'Obamacare' plans and see how long they will be for it!

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Chart Bar

Croissant diplomacy? France now leads global 'soft power' rating, US in third


RT
Wed, 19 Jul 2017 20:55 UTC
Macron and Trump
© Patrick Kovarik / AFP
France is ahead of the US and UK in the global 'soft power' ratings, a report commissioned by a London consultancy says.

The annual SoftPower 30 report by Portland, a UK-based strategic communications consultancy, was released on Tuesday.

It says that while the presidential victory of Emmanuel Macron contributed to France's jump in the ratings, Donald Trump's 'America First' policy could be viewed as a threat to US soft power.
"France's impressive climb up the Soft Power 30 ranks shows what a new leader with a positive global outlook can do for a country's reputation," the report said, adding that the country has jumped from fifth position to first since 2016.

According to the document, "the most impressive year on-year performance from 2016 to 2017 is France overtaking the UK, US, Germany, and Canada to secure the top spot."

"France's soft power has no doubt seen a boost with the defeat of the Front National and election of its youngest ever president, Emmanuel Macron," it added.
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Newspaper

Interview with John Pilger: Trump, Putin and the price for criticizing Israel

Dennis J. Bernstein
Consortium News
Wed, 19 Jul 2017 19:58 UTC
John Pilger
© theupcoming.com
Israel is well-known for having a potent U.S. lobby that not only influences Congress and the mainstream media but intimidates Americans who dare criticize its policies toward the Palestinians, as Dennis J Bernstein describes

There are very few journalist in the U.S. or Europe who have the courage to report fairly on Israel's seemingly endless illegal occupation of Palestinian lands. Personally, as a Jewish-American, and the grandson of a revered Rabbi, I have been roundly denounced by pro-Israeli representatives and their Zionist lobbyists in the U.S.

I've stopped counting the number of vicious personal attacks that have labeled me a self-hating Jewish anti-Semite. Here's one that got my attention and the attention of journalist Robert Fisk of the Independent of London, who I introduced one night for a lecture in Berkeley, California, and who then wrote an article about the plight of Jewish journalists and activists in the U.S. who dare to write or speak honestly about Israel's brutal and illegal occupation of the Palestinians:

Comment: You can download or listen to the interview with Mr. Pilger here.

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Bizarro Earth

'Make America Sick Again': Dems oppose passage of Trump admin's smog bill


RT
Wed, 19 Jul 2017 13:19 UTC
smog New York City
© Rickey Rogers / ReutersNew York City, US
The House of Representatives has voted to pass Republican-backed legislation blocking regulations which reduce smog-causing air pollutants. The bill's supporters say it will help job creators while opponents argue it would cost lives.

The Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2017, which, if signed into law, would scrap the implementation of air pollution standards for the next eight years. The guidelines were issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under President Barack Obama in 2015.

Those regulations reduced the allowed amount of ground-level ozone from 75 parts per billion (ppb) to 70 ppb.
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Star of David

Netanyahu playing Trump for a fool, just like Israel does to all presidents

Robert Parry
Consortium News
Tue, 18 Jul 2017 16:30 UTC
trump western wall jerusalem
© Official White House Photo by Dan HansenPresident Donald Trump places a prayer in-between the stone blocks of the Western Wall in Jerusalem, May 22, 2017.
Russia-gate is empowering Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to strong-arm President Trump into escalating the Syrian war by abandoning a recent cease-fire and challenging Iran and Russia, reports Robert Parry.

A weakened, even desperate President Donald Trump must decide whether to stand up to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or to repudiate the Syrian partial ceasefire, which Trump hammered out with Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 7.

Whether intentionally or not, this crossroads is where the months of Russia-gate hysteria have led the United States, making Trump even more vulnerable to Israeli and neoconservative pressure and making any cooperation with Russia more dangerous for him politically.

After meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Sunday, Netanyahu declared that Israel was totally opposed to the Trump-Putin cease-fire deal in southern Syria because it perpetuates Iranian presence in Syria in support of the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Comment: Trump may not like the EU, but he'd probably do well to take a page out of their book. Just as he's done with practically every other country and international organization, he could very easily tell Netanyahu, "Solving the Israel-Palestine conflict is a precondition for U.S.-American money. We send you guys billions of dollars every year. It's time you earned it. If not, I can think of plenty of better things to spend that money on." Not very likely, but it's probably the only option Trump has.

See: Mic blunder: Netanyahu overheard admitting Israel carried out dozens of strikes on Hezbollah convoys

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