Puppet MastersS


Treasure Chest

Deutsche Bank sued over $3 billion in US by Jewish trust

David Voreacos and Susannah Nesmith
Bloomberg
Thu, 19 Jan 2017 18:21 UTC
deutsche bank
Deutsche Bank AG was sued in Florida by a Jewish charitable trust that claims the firm wrongly withheld as much as $3 billion from the heirs to a wealthy German family.

The lawsuit claims the bank refuses to return the funds initially deposited by the Wertheim family in accounts opened at what is now Credit Suisse Group AG before the rise of the Nazis in Germany. Those accounts were later transferred to Deutsche Bank, according to the complaint filed Wednesday in federal court by Wertheim Jewish Education Trust LLC.

Deutsche Bank has "refused to cooperate with the heirs of the Wertheim family fortune in the recovery and return of the monies that they are withholding from the rightful heirs," and preventing the use of the funds for charitable and other purposes, according to the complaint filed in Fort Lauderdale.
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Snakes in Suits

Regime change comes home: The CIA's overt threats against Trump

James Petras
Petras.Lahaine.org
Tue, 17 Jan 2017 17:45 UTC
Trump and Brennan
Introduction: The norms of US capitalist democracy include the election of presidential candidates through competitive elections, unimpeded by force and violence by the permanent institutions of the state. Voter manipulation has occurred during the recent elections, as in the case of the John F. Kennedy victory in 1960 and the George W. Bush victory over 'Al' Gore in 2000.

But despite the dubious electoral outcomes in these cases, the 'defeated' candidate conceded and sought via legislation, judicial rulings, lobbying and peaceful protests to register their opposition.

These norms are no longer operative. During the election process, and in the run-up to the inauguration of US President-Elect Donald Trump, fundamental electoral institutions were challenged and coercive institutions were activated to disqualify the elected president and desperate overt public pronouncements threatened the entire electoral order.

We will proceed by outlining the process that is used to undermine the constitutional order, including the electoral process and the transition to the inauguration of the elected president.
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Arrow Up

Chinese government ready to talk to resolve trade issues with Washington


RT
Thu, 19 Jan 2017 19:01 UTC
McDonald's
© Bobby Yip / Reuters
The Chinese government is willing to work with the new US administration to promote the healthy development of commercial ties, said China's Commerce Ministry spokesman Sun Jiwen.

"I believe China and the United States can resolve any disputes through dialogue and negotiation and that the China-US commercial relationship will not significantly stray from the path of mutual benefit," Sun told reporters on Thursday.

He added, "both sides benefit with cooperation, and both are hurt with conflict."

US President-elect Donald Trump, who will be sworn into office on Friday, has criticized China's trade practices and threatened to impose punitive tariffs on Chinese imports.

Comment: See also:

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Quenelle

Chinese President Xi Jinping says China to provide more humanitarian aid to Syria


Sputnik
Thu, 19 Jan 2017 17:49 UTC
Syrian army troops move through the town of Darayya, a suburb of Damascus
© Sputnik/ Mikhail AlayeddinSyrian army troops move through the town of Darayya, a suburb of Damascus
The aid will be used to help Syrian refugees and all those who have lost their homes as a result of the internal conflict in Syria, Xi Jinping said on Wednesday at the UN Office in Geneva, as quoted by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

In late December, Chinese Ambassador to Syria Qi Qianjin said that China planned to continue providing humanitarian and political support to civil-war-torn Syria.

Chinese Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Wu Haitao, stressed last month that China was calling on the international community to seek political settlement of the Syrian conflict as well as to fight terrorism and provide the Syrian people with humanitarian aid.
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Dollar Gold

Russian VTB CEO: Trump should prioritize lifting sanctions on Russian banks


RT
Thu, 19 Jan 2017 17:38 UTC
VTB Bank Andrey Kostin
CEO of JSC VTB Bank Andrey Kostin
President-elect Donald Trump should prioritize lifting sanctions on Russian banks imposed by the United States three years ago, said the head of Russia's second-biggest bank VTB Andrey Kostin at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

It is unfair US financials have risen 30 percent in the wake of Trump's victory given that Wall Street strongly backed Democrat Hillary Clinton for the presidency, according to Kostin who pointed out "Russian banking stocks have barely moved."

Talking about US sanctions against individual Russian financial institutions, the Russian banker said it's time for the president-elect to "compensate" for that.

"I think Mr. Trump should remove sanctions against the four leading Russian banks," said Kostin, adding the banks could not privatize or borrow from institutions in the West due to the restrictions.
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Bizarro Earth

Facebook blocks RT from posting until after Trump inauguration


RT
Thu, 19 Jan 2017 09:33 UTC
Facebook blocks RT from posting until after Trump inauguration January 2017
Facebooks notification to RT
RT has been blocked from posting content to its Facebook page. The ban, according to the Facebook bot, will last until Saturday 10:55pm Moscow time (2:55pm EST) and will extend across US president-elect Donald Trump's inauguration.
Facebook blocks RT from posting until after Trump inauguration
RT are banned from posting anything but text - no sharing of links, images or livestreams
A misplaced live streaming rights strike during RT's broadcast of President Obama's final press conference seems to have triggered the ban.

Comment: Also see: Update: Facebook restored RT's posting ability:
Facebook's restriction to allow RT to post text content only was apparently linked to live-streaming rights. RT was streaming the Obama press conference broadcast from an AP direct feed, to which it is officially subscribed. The agency has confirmed to RT the issue "must have been... on [Facebook's] end."

According to the Facebook bot, the restrictions were originally set to last until Saturday 10:55pm Moscow time (2:55pm EST).

The Facebook bot notification that interrupted RT's live stream stated that rights to the content had been claimed by Current Time TV, a part of Radio Liberty and financed by the US State Department.

Current Time TV claimed it had "not sent any complaints regarding RT or any other organizations in connection with the live feed."

During the time RT's rights were blocked, it did not receive any emails from Facebook to its page administrators.

Once the restrictions had been lifted, Facebook told RT in an email that "the reasons behind the temporary block of certain functions are being determined."
...
Earlier on Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman dubbed Facebook's actions "unacceptable." It might have been either a form of censorship or an "instrument of competitive struggle," Maria Zakharova said. "If it's actually perceived as censorship under a technical pretext, then it's unacceptable. It's also unacceptable because blocking of the competitive position that Russia Today (RT) TV channel has is obvious," Zakharova told a briefing in Moscow.

Meanwhile, Russia's telecom regulator, Roskomnadzor, has announced it will find ways to affect the work of American media and social networks in Russia should pressure on RT continue. "It is obvious to us that at this stage there is an unprecedented pressure on RT. And the most important thing is that it's groundless," the watchdog's head, Aleksandr Zharov, told TASS.


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Bad Guys

New Great Game: Saakashvili's Georgia opposition party splits, Afghan officials accuse Russia and Tajikistan of support for Taliban, drug crops

Christoph Germann
Newsbud
Wed, 18 Jan 2017 17:21 UTC
saakashvili bakradze
Looneybin Saakashvili (L) with David Bakradze (R).
Georgia's Main Opposition Party Splits but the Drama Ain't Over

Georgia's largest opposition party, the United National Movement (UNM), has split amid disagreements over the role of UNM leader and former President Mikheil Saakashvili, who gave up his Georgian citizenship for a new political career in Ukraine.

Leading UNM members who regard Saakashvili as a liability announced last week that they would leave the party and start a new political movement to challenge the Georgian Dream government.

The split came after months of infighting fueled by the UNM's devastating defeat in the October 2016 parliamentary elections and the dispute over the upcoming party congress, which is scheduled for January 20.

Several UNM leaders, including former National Security Council Secretary Giga Bokeria, former Parliament Speaker Davit Bakradze and former Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava, decided that it was time to move on.

"Saakasvhili was the party's founder, but he has become its undoing," Ugulava stated at the January 12 press briefing, just a few days after his release from prison.

"This man does not radiate leadership anymore. It pains me to say this, but he is not the Mikheil Saakashvili who united the people in 2002 [ahead of the 2003 Rose Revolution] . . ." Ugulava said, calling on the party's supporters "to look forward."
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Info

Armed opposition groups plans to discuss joining Syrian army in anti-terrorism fight


Sputnik
Thu, 19 Jan 2017 17:25 UTC
Syrian army soldier
© AFP 2016/ Ayham al-Mohammad
The delegation of Syrian opposition is planning to discuss at the Astana talks the possibility of forming joint units with the Syrian army, led by Russian and Turkish military advisers, to fight Daesh terrorists, a Syrian opposition source told Sputnik on Thursday.

"One of the issues on the discussion agenda is the formation of joint units consisting of members of armed opposition groups and Syrian army servicemen to fight the Daesh. These units will be led by Russian and Turkish officers," the source said.
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Eye 1

Polish Defense Minister wants to see Warsaw packed with weapons to counter 'Russia threat'


RT
Thu, 19 Jan 2017 18:19 UTC
F-16 Fighting Falcons during exercies at the Air Force base in Lask, Poland
© Agencja Gazeta / ReutersF-16 Fighting Falcons during exercies at the Air Force base in Lask, Poland
While Poland works on amassing an army capable of countering alleged "military pressure" from Russia, it will need US and NATO reinforcements as a "guarantee of independence," according to Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz.

"[NATO and US troops] are the guarantee of Poland's physical independence from military pressure exerted by Russia, until we build our own armed forces, until we can manage entirely in our own dimension," the minister told journalists at a press conference broadcast by Republika TV channel, as cited by Reuters.

Macierewicz stressed that Poland needs to strive to reach the point where its own armed forces are capable of defending the country without external help, noting that its army is currently being actively revamped "both by means of modernization, and by increasing the number [of troops and equipment]."

Apart beefing up its ranks, the Polish army is considering buying 14 helicopters from US-based Lockheed Martin's Sikorsky subsidiary Airbus.

Comment: See also:

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Snakes in Suits

Why is the West selling out Cyprus?

Andrew Korybko
The Duran
Thu, 19 Jan 2017 17:06 UTC
Cyprus talks
The Western powers are pressuring the Republic of Cyprus to agree to an unjust settlement of the Cypriot conflict in order to appease Turkey and draw it away from the Eurasian powers.

The latest round of Cypriot reunification talks have just kicked off, yet most of the locals are far from enthusiastic about it. There's a lot of worry among average folks that their country is being sold out to Turkey, with people pointing to the generous autonomy being proposed for the internationally unrecognized so-called "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" (unsurprisingly only recognized by Ankara) as proof of this.

Indeed, a lot of concessions are in fact being given to the Turkish community in the northern part of the island, and at the rate that things are going, there's no way that the native Greek majority would ever agree to any of this in a referendum. More than likely, the present reunification talks will result in a repeat of 2004, when the Greeks overwhelmingly voted against the UN-backed reconciliation proposal while the Turks almost just as equally supported it.

Comment: More on the Cyprus situation: Building totalitarianism in Europe via Cyprus: The last coup of Victoria Nuland

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