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The Sun King Macron and The American Friend Trump

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Mon, 17 Jul 2017 16:42 UTC
Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron
© Reuters / Alain Jocard
Donald Trump's Eiffel Tower chat with the French establishment's new golden boy, President Emmanuel Macron, culminated in a political M&A.

So what did Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron really talk about throughout their effusive buddy-buddy Parisian act?This being France, let's start where things matter: gastronomy.

Yes, that dinner at Alain Ducasse's overpriced Jules Verne restaurant at the Eiffel Tower. Cool window table with a view. Only the principals, along with wives Melania and Brigitte. The Macrons are fluent English speakers. No leaks from the Elysée Palace.

The restaurant is part of Ducasse's sprawling empire, managed by businessman Xavier Alberti, who's married to Audrey Bourolleau, who happens to be the agriculture counsel to President Macron.
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Arrow Down

Is this the beginning of the end for the powerful idiot John McCain?

Tom Luongo
Russia Insider
Tue, 18 Jul 2017 19:12 UTC
John McCain
John McCain
Is McCain's influence in Washington waning?

The Republicans finally giving up on passing an Obamacare Lite bill (now they're going for full repeal with no immediate replacement) is a signal that big changes are on the horizon.

Trump seems more than happy with this outcome. As he should be, since this is what he originally promised.

But John McCain and the GOP leadership probably didn't appreciate the open insurrection in the Senate.

And you can bet that now the Democrats are running scared. That they remain committed to Russia-Gate tells you just how badly they are positioned for the 2018 midterms.

With donations crashing, Kid Rock declaring to run against Debbie Stabenow in Michigan, and Diane Feinstein retiring there is the potential for a real collapse of seniority for the Democrats at the committee level in the Senate, where all the power is concentrated.
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Star of David

Oopsy! Israeli Defense Forces accidentally admit to existence of secret airbase


Sputnik
Tue, 18 Jul 2017 16:35 UTC
Israeli army post in Golan Heights
© AFP 2017/ THOMAS COEX
The Israeli army accidentally revealed the existence of a previously unacknowledged airbase through its official website, hastily removing all references when the exposure was pounced upon by the media. The incident highlights the secrecy at the core of Israel's military strategy.

Officially, the Israel Air Force operates 10 major airbases under the ultimate leadership of Commander Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel — notable examples include Ramat David in the north, and the Uvda airbase near Eilat.

​However, military documents released in early July via the IDF's official website in accordance with Israel's Freedom of Information Law acknowledged the existence of another for the very first time.

The document describes the structure of the air force corps and its divisions, listing the names of all the bases and their respective commanders' names.
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Snakes in Suits

Trump admin slaps new Iran sanctions despite nuclear deal compliance


RT
Tue, 18 Jul 2017 17:11 UTC
US Department of the treasury seal
© Dennis Flaherty / Global Look Press
The US has imposed new sanctions on companies and individuals that it says provide material support to Iran's military, as well as on organizations involved in the country's ballistic missile program. The restrictions are not related to Iran's nuclear program.

The US Department of the Treasury "designated 16 entities and individuals for engaging in support of illicit Iranian actors or transnational criminal activity," the department announced on Tuesday.

The announcement comes the day after the Trump administration certified that Tehran is in compliance with the terms of the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement designed to ensure Iran doesn't make nuclear weapons.

The new sanctions "target procurement of advanced military hardware, such as fast attack boats and unmanned aerial vehicles, and send a strong signal that the United States cannot and will not tolerate Iran's provocative and destabilizing behavior," said US Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin in a statement.

"We will continue to target the [Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps] and pressure Iran to cease its ballistic missile program and malign activities in the region," he added.
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Rocket

Mattis goes to Turkey, fails to convince them not to buy Russian S-400


Russia Insider
Tue, 18 Jul 2017 17:05 UTC
S-400 missile system
US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis sounds rather bitter these days. He can't quite wrap his mind around Turkey insisting it is inches away from spending $2.5 billion on Russian air defense tech.
"The problem is, is how do you interoperate with NATO systems with Russians — they'll never interoperate," Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday after stopping in the Pentagon press room to speak with reporters before a meeting with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to discuss options in Syria.

"So we'll have to see, does it go through? Do they actually employ it? Do they only employ it in one area? But we'll have to take a look at it; Obviously, it's not going to be interoperable," Mattis said.

Mattis reiterated the U.S. had no formal say in how Turkey chose, or will proceed with the SAM system.

"This is a sovereign decision," he said.
Mattis keeps repeating the S-400 is not compatible with NATO air defenses (they can't share radar data, etc) as if that was news to the Turks. His comments come on the heels of an unsuccessful mission by the overall military commander of the US Air Force, David L. Goldfein, who traveled to Turkey last week to try and dissuade Ankara from making the S-400 deal with Russia.
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Jet5

MPs from Defence Select Committee demand truth on hidden costs of £150bn F-35 warplane deal


RT
Tue, 18 Jul 2017 18:49 UTC
A F-35 fighter jet
© George Frey / ReutersA F-35 fighter jet
MPs from the Defence Select Committee have demanded full disclosure of the hidden costs associated with the UK's controversial £150 billion F-35 warplane program.

Committee chair Julian Lewis said he would be pushing for a special investigation into the acquisition only a day after it was reported that the jets, which are set to be given to the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, were heavily criticized by an aviation expert.

On Monday, Pierre Sprey told the Times newspaper that the F-35 had fundamental issues in virtually every fundamental aspect of its performance.

These include overheating bomb bays, interoperability, manoeuvrability and cybersecurity problems.

Comment: See also: Britain's £150bn F-35 fighter jets are 'appallingly bad'

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Attention

Former House Speaker, rapist pedophile Dennis Hastert let out of prison early

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Tue, 18 Jul 2017 16:56 UTC
hastert
In April of last year, Dennis Hastert, former Speaker of the House and admitted child rapist, was sentenced to 15 months in prison after he was caught paying his victims to keep quiet. However, he was just released on Tuesday — two months before finishing his already insultingly lenient sentence.

Hastert was sentenced, not for raping children, but for illegally structuring bank transactions in an effort to cover up his sexual abuse of young boys.

According to the Chicago Sun Times, Hastert, 75, is now under the supervision of a residential re-entry management field office based in Chicago, according to Bureau of Prisons online records. That means he is likely at a halfway house in the region monitored by that office, or he is on home confinement.

When asked why he was let out early, the Bureau of Prisons did not reply, according to the Times.

Hastert was an admitted serial child rapist, yet because he is a well-connected politician and former Speaker of the House, this vile man's victims will receive no justice.

In spite of the fact that the judge called Hastert a "serial child molester," when he was sentenced, Hastert was never convicted of his crimes against children — only lying to cover it up.

Comment: The Hastert case goes much deeper than that: State Secrets: Sibel Edmonds reveals 'The Untouchables'

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Info

Pace and lead to the middle: U.S. scales back travel ban, allows grandparents, grandchildren visas


RFE/RL
Tue, 18 Jul 2017 16:27 UTC
pence trump mattis
© Reuters
The U.S. State Department, in a reversal, said on July 17 it would provide visas to grandparents, grandchildren, and other relatives of U.S. citizens who it previously barred from six predominantly Muslim countries.

In response to a U.S. District Court ruling last week against the restrictions the department had previously placed on such family members, the department instructed U.S. diplomats posted overseas to allow visitors from Iran, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, and Sudan if they have American grandparents, grandchildren, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, or first cousins.

The department previously had exempted from its travel ban only people with American parents, spouses, fiances, children, sons, daughters, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, and siblings.

But the state of Hawaii successfully challenged those restrictions, saying they weren't in keeping with the Supreme Court's ruling that people with "bona fide" family members should be allowed to visit.

Comment: According to Scott Adams, this is what we can expect from Trump: a hard opening, pacing his base of support, after which he leads them to the middle, where there is more common ground with his opponents. He hasn't been given much wiggle room to do even that, but when he's actually allowed to govern, it looks like that's actually what he does. What a shock!

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Info

US, Russia working on second Syrian ceasefire deal in Homs and East Ghouta


Sputnik
Tue, 18 Jul 2017 16:26 UTC
air strikes in Syria
© AFP 2017/ AMER ALMOHIBANY
Last Thursday, US President Donald Trump said that the US and Russia are currently discussing the second ceasefire agreement in Syria.

"It will be announced soon, before the next international meeting on Syria in Astana [in late August], around August 14 or 15. There will be expert consultations between Russians and Americans in one of the European capitals first. The ceasefire will probably cover Homs, and maybe Eastern Ghouta," the source said.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov confirmed to Sputnik that Russia and the United States may hold talks on a new ceasefire agreement in Syria, adding that the countries' work on de-escalation zones in Syria is progressing.
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Pistol

Petraeus organized billions of dollars' worth of illegal arms against Syria

Thierry Meyssan
Voltaire Network
Tue, 18 Jul 2017 00:00 UTC
Petraeus
© RT.comFormer CIA Director and Arms Entrepreneur, General David Petraeus
Operation Timber Sycamore, in its various aspects, is the most important criminal case of arms trafficking in history. In the updated parts, it involves at least 17 states and represents several tens of thousands of tons of weapons.

Over the last seven years, several billion dollars' worth of armament has been illegally introduced into Syria - a fact which in itself is enough to disprove the myth according to which this war is a democratic revolution. Numerous documents attest to the fact that the traffic was organised by General David Petraeus, first of all in public, via the CIA, of which he was the director, then privately, via the financial company KKR with the aid of certain senior civil servants. Thus the conflict, which was initially an imperialist operation by the United States and the United Kingdom, became a private capitalist operation, while in Washington, the authority of the White House was challenged by the deep state. New elements now show the secret role of Azerbaïdjan in the evolution of the war.

Comment: MInd-boggling the extent of this operation and how thoroughly it was organized and utilized.

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