Puppet MastersS


Star of David

Israeli paper investigates 1967 Israeli attack on 'USS Liberty' - US papers leave it in the letters column

James North and Philip Weiss
Mondoweiss
Fri, 14 Jul 2017 17:40 UTC
USS Liberty
USS Liberty, after the attack in June 1967
Earlier this week Haaretz once again showed itself to be head and shoulders above U.S. media in addressing issues of Israel's influence inside U.S. politics when it published a major inquiry into one of the lingering mysteries of the 1967 Six-Day War: Why did Israeli jets and boats attack the USS Liberty, a spy ship, on the fourth day of the war, killing 34 Americans and wounding scores of others?

The article reaches no fresh conclusions about the reason for the attack, or why it was swept under the rug with an apology and a handshake, but its headline is enormously provocative —
'But Sir, It's an American Ship.' 'Never Mind, Hit Her!'
And those lines are taken from a new American book on the case, a study that the U.S. press is ignoring. That's the problem here; Haaretz is confronting a U.S. mystery head on during an important anniversary when no US media will touch the story.

Comment: Eyewitness testimony:



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Info

Sebastian Gorka: US mulling return of seized Russian diplomatic property 'to give cooperation a chance'


RT
Fri, 14 Jul 2017 17:39 UTC
Russian diplomatic compound in US
© RT
The US may hand two diplomatic compounds confiscated by the Obama administration back to Moscow if it sees "acts of good faith" from the Kremlin, similar to the recently brokered ceasefire in Syria, Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to President Trump, says.

By considering a release of the Russian diplomatic compounds that have remained sealed since December, Washington wants to leave the door open for rapprochement with Russia, Gorka told CNN in an interview on Thursday.

The statement follows a warning by Moscow that it is preparing a "tough response" to the move, which took place in December 2016. During the transitional period for the new administration, the Russian government decided to hold off on retaliatory measures until US President Donald Trump's position becomes clear.
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Wine n Glass

Canada bans 'Product of Israel' labels for West Bank wines - considered misleading for wines produced in Occupied Territories

Sue Surkes and Jacob Magid
Times of Israel
Fri, 14 Jul 2017 17:18 UTC
israel wines west bank
Canada bans 'Product of Israel' labels for West Bank wines Ruling singles out 2 settlement wineries, also blacklists Golan and East Jerusalem vintages; Jewish group calls decision 'disturbing'

Canadian food inspectors have ordered liquor stores to stop selling wines made in the West Bank, saying their label identifying them as Israeli contravenes Ottawa's policy on the territory.

Settlers and at least one Canadian Jewish advocacy group reacted with anger to the ruling, which singles out the Psagot and Shiloh wineries, made in settlements outside Ramallah.

News of the order emerged with the issue of a letter Tuesday from the Liquor Control Board of Ontario to liquor vendors, detailing the ruling by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency a week earlier
"that 'Product of Israel' would not be an acceptable country of origin declaration for wine products that have been made from grapes that are grown, fermented, processed, blended and finished in the West Bank occupied territory."

The ruling extended to wines from "any other territory occupied by Israel in 1967" that carried such a label, which would be "considered misleading," specifically mentioning the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Gaza, as well as the West Bank.
The CFIA is a government body that controls all marketing and sales of wine in Canada.

Comment: "You did it, so we can do it too." A backhanded admission that Israel is in the same position as the West? Eastern European Jews have no historical claim to Palestinian land.

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Eye 1

Welcome to 1984: DHS has implemented biometric scanning of Americans' faces at major US airports

John Vibes
The Free Thought Project
Fri, 14 Jul 2017 00:00 UTC
biometric face scanning airports
In spite of the entirely unethical practice of gathering biometric data of innocent Americans, face scanners are now a reality. Welcome to 1984.
The Department of Homeland Security is implementing a new plan that will give Americans even less privacy while traveling abroad. Under the new system, Americans leaving the country will be forced to pass through biometric scanners that will scan individual faces.

While this program has not yet been fully implemented, there are already at least six airports that are currently running the program, and some of them have been using it for several months. The airports where you can currently expect to get scanned are in Boston, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, New York City and Washington, D.C. However, the Department of Homeland Security has been very clear that they hope to roll this program out nationwide by January 2018.

Comment: Facecrime: Facial recognition technology ushers in an Orwellian future
The justification for using this technology against a public who is never given the opportunity to consent or to op-out is, as always, public safety, as police and government agencies claim the technology is needed to spot criminal elements, gang members and other threats to the public. Here, a quote from George Orwell offers a glimpse of what the inevitable outcome of this is:
"It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself—anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face (to look incredulous when a victory was announced, for example) was itself a punishable offence. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: FACECRIME, it was called." - 1984, George Orwell


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Vader

US ASEAN policy isn't "confused" at all - merely the continuation of decades of coercion

Joseph Thomas
New Eastern Outlook
Fri, 14 Jul 2017 17:05 UTC
US military South China sea
In an effort to reinforce public perception that policy changes when a new administration assumes the White House, US and European analysts have made several attempts to push forward narratives describing US President Donald Trump's foreign policy as "confused" or "unclear" in contrast to his predecessor, President Barrack Obama.

However, upon closer examination, from the Middle East to Asia Pacific, US foreign policy has continued, virtually uninterrupted, for decades.
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Network

Trump gets over previous disagreements, calls relationship with Macron "unbreakable"


RT
Fri, 14 Jul 2017 17:08 UTC
trump macron handshake
© France24
Despite media efforts to get two recently elected world leaders to butt heads, by reminding them of their election-time animosity, the new bond between Trump and Macron seems to be "unbreakable" following US president's first official visit to Paris.

While noting they do have "occasional disagreements," US President Donald Trump on Thursday said that "the friendship between our two nations - and ourselves, I might add - is unbreakable." Trump was speaking after his talks with Emmanuel Macron, while patting his counterpart's shoulder.

"Both President Macron and I understand our responsibility to prioritize the interests of our countries and at the same time to be respectful of the world in which we live," Trump said.
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Bullseye

International convention countering terrorism and its financing ratified by Duma


RT
Fri, 14 Jul 2017 11:45 UTC
FinanceTerror
© The Daily Beast
The Russian lower house has ratified the convention on the confiscation of illegal funds and on countering the sponsorship of terrorism, introduced by the Council of Europe.
The Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism was introduced in May 2005 and signed by Russia in January 2009. In June this year, the Russian government approved the document for ratification and President Vladimir Putin forwarded it to the parliament.
The CE's convention regulates the powers and rights of law enforcement agents in the investigation of suspects' bank accounts and operations, as well as the procedure of seizing illegal income. It also regulates cooperation between various departments of the Russian Financial Intelligence Service.

According to explanations published on the Russian parliament's website, the ratification of the convention must improve the effectiveness of Russia's cooperation with foreign nations in the fight against the legalization of criminal funds and sponsorship of terrorism.

Comment: Legislation begins a process but it is the extent of the plan and followthrough that makes the difference. Promotional propaganda and the charm of 'a cause' engage susceptible egos, and funding greases the wheel. The process to reverse recruitment, dwindle numbers and cut off resources has to include a comprehensive frontal campaign as well as the threat of punishment after the fact.

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Snakes in Suits

Former Bill Clinton adviser on record: US president meddled in '96 Russian election favoring Boris Yeltsin

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Fri, 14 Jul 2017 00:00 UTC
Time Mag Yeltsin
© Time Magazine
Of course the US meddled in Russian elections in 1996.

Let's talk about election meddling. No one does it better than the United States.

See The Duran's post on this very subject here, which provides a massive list of foreign governments overthrown by the United States, starting with China in 1949 and ending with Ukraine in 2014.

As half of America goes completely insane (the other half could care less) over Hillary Clinton's made up Russian election meddling narrative, to explain away her pathetic election loss to Donald Trump, let's not forget that it was Hillary's husband, then-POTUS Bill Clinton, who subverted Russian elections in 1996 so as to ensure that Boris Yeltsin remained in office, and US neoliberal pillaging of Russia continued for another 3 -plus years until an unknown, Vladimir Putin, entered the Kremlin to drain the swamp.

TIME Magazine admitted in US election meddling in Russia, and now Bill Clinton advisor, and WH insider, Dick Morris, is on record admitting to US democracy subversion in this interview with Newsmax TV...


Comment: Why is Dick Morris just coming forward now with facts and projection? His assessment of 'taking out revenge' isn't evident in Putin's playbook.

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Airplane

Trump does a turnaround on off-record remarks aboard Air Force One


RT
Thu, 13 Jul 2017 22:02 UTC
Trump AF1
© CBS NewsPresident Trump aboard Air Force One
In a very unusual step, the White House has released a partial transcript of President Donald Trump's hour-long talk with reporters about Russia, China, health care and the border wall. The conversation was previously considered "off the record."

During the 70-minute chat, Trump touched on a variety of subjects, from relations with Russia and China to tariffs and trade, healthcare and his promised wall on the border with Mexico, complete with solar panels.

The conversation took place Wednesday evening, as Trump was flying to Paris to attend the Bastille Day celebrations at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron.

Russia: The sanctions stay

Asked if he would invite President Vladimir Putin to the White House, Trump said he would.
"I don't think this is the right time, but the answer is yes, I would," he said, adding that refusing to talk to Russia would be foolish.
Putin did not raise the issue of US sanctions against Russia during the two leaders' meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany last week, Trump said.
"We have very heavy sanctions on Russia right now. I would not and have never even thought about taking them off," he said, after explaining that he wants to make the US an exporter of oil and gas, directly competing with Russia. "I would never take the sanctions off until something is worked out to our satisfaction and everybody's satisfaction in Syria and in Ukraine."

Comment: 'First Perspective': Flight of fancy or grounded in reality?

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Attention

Assange: Obama's seizure of Russian Embassy is illegal (and sets a dangerous precedent)

Julian Assange
Twitter
Fri, 14 Jul 2017 16:17 UTC
Expelling "diplomats" is perfectly lawful. But seizing diplomatic property is a clear and dangerous breach of the Vienna Convention. I know all about this as I had to study whether the UK could legally seize Ecuador's embassy. No--even if every diplomat is expelled. The Vienna Convention governs all diplomatically certified buildings. Inviolability is explicit.
vienna convention
Obama's seizure of two Russian embassy properties is seen by the global diplomatic community as beyond the pale. Why? Not because of any great love of Russia. But because it places all embassies everywhere at risk by setting a new norm.

That is why even countries that opposed the US supported its rights in relation to the 1979 occupation of its embassy in Tehran.

Comment: The Duran's Adam Garrie points out that this is particularly relevant to Julian Assange's own case:
The reason that Assange has not been molested by British authorities is because he is legally on Ecuadorian soil so long as he remains in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London which he has done since 2012.

However, in the United States illegal seizing property of the Russian Embassy, a dangerous precedent is set for countries violating the rights of sovereign embassies throughout the world. ...

Russia and the US are not at war and were not at were when Obama ordered the seizures of Russian property. Likewise, there is no state of war between Britain and Ecuador, but if Obama could seize Russian territory over a clearly political agenda, could Britain do the same in respect of Ecuador?

Legally of course Britain cannot do so, but if a precedent for breaking such laws has been set by the United States, there is no telling whether or not a close NATO ally of the US could do something similar. Will those who commit war crimes together, violate the Vienna Convention together?

This is why, even if the dispute is resolved and the US hands back the stolen Russian property, it would set a legally important precedent for Russia to take the US to the International Court of Justice and at least demand compensation for being locked out of their own legal property.

For now, Russia is likely not going to follow Assange's advice as for the time being Russia seeks to prioritise a diplomatic solution to the crisis Obama caused. Russia delayed even raising the threat of diplomatic retaliation (which is legal) until Vladimir Putin met Donald Trump face to face, something which was clearly a good will gesture. Nevertheless, Russian patience is wearing thin.

Given that this is the reality, one can only imagine what Julian Assange must be feeling in respect of his own patience.


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