Puppet MastersS


Eye 1

North Korean officials accuse US of carrying out "a violent assault like gangsters" at US airport by Homeland Security


RT
Mon, 19 Jun 2017 11:50 UTC
North Korea flag
© Edgar Su / ReutersNorth Korea questioned if New York should be used to host international meetings.
North Korea accused the US of carrying out "a violent assault like gangsters" after a package was taken from delegates at JFK airport. The hostility has been used by Pyongyang to question if New York is a suitable location for international meetings.

The delegation was at the airport on June 16, en route home to North Korea following attendance at the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, according to the Pyongyang's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, cited by the Korean Central News Agency.

A group of 20 officials "using physical violence" confiscated the package from the delegates, according to the Ministry, with the North Koreans described as being "literally mugged." The Ministry said the confiscation was illegal as the delegates were in possession of a valid diplomatic courier certificate.

"The international community needs to seriously reconsider whether or not New York, where such an outrageous mugging is rampant, is fit to serve as the venue for international meetings," it said, demanding an official apology from the US.

Comment: See also:

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Info

Friendly reminder? Qatar will not shut gas pipeline to 'brothers' in UAE


RT
Mon, 19 Jun 2017 14:21 UTC
Doha, Qatar
© Warren Little / Getty Images
Despite the diplomatic dispute between the Gulf Arab nations and Qatar, Doha won't cut gas supplies to the United Arab Emirates (UAE); Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, chief executive of state-run Qatar Petroleum, told Al Jazeera.

He said it is part of the "force majeure" clause in the Dolphin gas pipeline agreement which pumps around 2 billion cubic feet of gas (57 million cubic meters) daily to the UAE.

"The siege we have today is a force majeure, and we could close the gas pipeline to the UAE," al-Kaabi said, adding "but if we cut the gas, it does great harm to the UAE and the people of the UAE, who are considered like brothers... we decided not to cut the gas now."
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Info

Could Russia and the Saudis be planning a natural gas cartel?

Cyril Widdershoven
Oilprice
Sun, 18 Jun 2017 14:03 UTC
Russian and Saudi Arabia flag placards
© Leonhard Foeger / Reuters
The fledgling production cut strategy of OPEC (Saudi Arabia) and non-OPEC (Russia and the FSU) shows that a new strategy is needed to counter the ongoing doubts in the markets.

At the same time, Russia and Saudi continue to give indications of a possible OPEC 2.0 scenario, in which a possible Russian membership is on the table. This would confront the market with a renewed and stronger oil cartel, although the overall strategies need to be adjusted.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia, via its oil giant Aramco has openly stated to be interested in global gas investment opportunities, starting in Russia's Siberian region. While the media still looks at the current discussions as a pure crude oil cooperation strategy, some see another development on the horizon.
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Radar

Turkish troops arrive in Qatar for joint war games amid Gulf tensions


RT
Mon, 19 Jun 2017 13:55 UTC
Turkish APC drives at their military base in Doha, Qatar
© Qatar News Agency / Reuters Turkish APC drives at their military base in Doha, Qatar June 18, 2017.
The first batch of Turkish troops have arrived in Qatar for a 'long-planned' Turkish-Qatari military drill, local media reported citing a Qatari Defense Ministry statement. The move comes amid tensions between Doha and its Arab neighbors.

The group has held their first training at Tariq bin Ziyad military base on Sunday, the Qatari Defense Ministry said according to Al Jazeera and the Gulf Times.

However, Reuters reported that the Turkish troops taking part in the drills are not newly-arrived, as "no new Turkish military unit had been sent to Qatar" according to its unnamed military sources. The news agency added that Tariq bin Ziyad military base currently houses about 90 Turkish soldiers.
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Stormtrooper

Increasing tensions: NATO stages first-ever war games in Baltic 'weak spot' to defend from 'Russia threat'


RT
Mon, 19 Jun 2017 13:15 UTC
A US military convoy heading towards Suwalki, Poland
© Ints Kalnins / Reuters A US military convoy heading towards Suwalki, Poland, on June 17, 2017.
British, Polish, American and Lithuanian troops took part in military exercises in the Suwalki Gap on the border between Poland and Lithuania, "protecting" NATO's soft spot from the "Russian threat" for the very first time.

Some 1,500 NATO troops participated in the war games in the Suwalki Gap over the weekend, alongside US helicopters and British aircraft, training to protect the area from alleged "aggression."
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Eye 2

Professor at London School of Economics suggests Theresa May should 'allow pedophiles to adopt children'

Rosa Prince
The Telegraph
Mon, 19 Jun 2017 12:02 UTC
Theresa May
Helen Reece, a reader in law at the London School of Economics, called on Theresa May, the Home Secretary, to relax rules which automatically ban sex offenders from caring for children, saying that this could breach their human rights.

In an article in the respected Child and Family Law Quarterly, Miss Reece suggested that reoffending rates were not high among sex criminals, adding: "despite growing public concern over paedophilia, the numbers of child sex murders are very low."

A review is currently ongoing into the Vetting and Barring Scheme, introduced following the 2002 Soham murders, amid concerns by ministers that it is too heavy handed.

Comment: The public should take these calls to normalize pedophilia very seriously. The Daily Mail reports that a Dutch woman was granted assisted suicide for tragic and 'incurable' wounds stemming from child sexual abuse. Clearly it is enough of a problem as it is, without bloated bureaucrats calling for its normalization.

For a more accurate depiction of sexual predators and the culture that seeks to normalize them, check out:

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Target

Iran warns ISIS of more missile strikes coordinated with Damascus


RT
Mon, 19 Jun 2017 13:00 UTC
IRGC launching a missile
© HO / IRIB TV / AFPIranian revolutionary guards Corps (IRGC) launching a missile from an undisclosed location in western Iran, towards Islamic State (IS) bases in Syria June 18, 2017.
Tehran has warned ISIS militants that any future attacks on the country will result in powerful strikes against the group. It comes after Iran launched missile strikes on ISIS in retaliation for twin attacks in Tehran earlier this month.

"If they carry out a specific action to violate our security, definitely there will be more launches, with intensified strength," Gen. Ramazan Sharif of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said on Monday, according to state television, cited by AP.

The IRGC's press office had a stern warning of its own to those who threaten Iran's security.

"The IRGC warns the Takfiri terrorists and their regional and trans-regional supporters that they would be engulfed by its revolutionary wrath and flames of the fire of its revenge in case they repeat any such devilish and dirty move in future," it said, according to Fars News Agency.
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Chess

The 'curious rules' of the Syrian War

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Mon, 19 Jun 2017 12:03 UTC
Syria Raqqa
© Reuter/ Rodi SaidSyrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters stand amid smoke in Raqqa's western neighbourhood of Jazra, Syria June 11, 2017.
The war is now a contest between foreign powers obeying international law along with their Syrian partner, versus foreign powers with open imperial ambitions.

Around the time of the Syrian victory in the Battle of Aleppo, the fact that the government of Syria would not fall has been more or less assured.

Recent events have made this a virtual certainty. Because of this however, a new kind of proxy war is taking place with its own unique unspoken rules.
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Info

US-backed SDF rebels vow to 'retaliate' if Syrian Army attacks positions in Raqqa


Sputnik
Mon, 19 Jun 2017 12:44 UTC
SDF fighters
© REUTERS/ Rodi Said
US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) rebels vowed to "retaliate" in case of Syrian army's attack on their positions in Raqqa. The statement comes following the US-led coalition's downing of a Syrian army jet in the area.

The SDF claimed that the Syrian government forces have recently been "mounting large-scale attacks" on their positions near Raqqa.

"Since June 17, 2017, the regime's forces...have mounted large-scale attacks using planes, artillery, and tanks in regions liberated by our fighters during battles for the city of Tabqa and the Euphrates Dam three months ago," SDF spokesperson Talal Selowas said on Facebook.

Comment: More from The Duran:
The statement from the SDF makes it abundantly clear that they intend to keep the territory they have "liberated". From the Syrian perspective, an occupational force of Syrian territory which refuses to allow Syria free movement of its forces on its own territory is acting as an aggressor. Any state in the world would view this in the same manner, just ask any US historian of the American Civil War.

As Kurdish forces are now unambiguously American proxies, this development has confirmed once and for all that American mission creep has led to attempts by US proxies to do what ISIS have been doing for years: illegally occupying Syrian territory with the goal of annexation.
And this is Russia's response: US-led coalition's downing of Syrian plane 'act of aggression' and 'support for terrorists', suspends memorandum ensuring air safety

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Snakes in Suits

To prevent fires in Britain, people must be aware of the neocons' warped priorities

Neil Clark
RT
Sun, 18 Jun 2017 12:08 UTC
Theresa May
© Peter Nicholls / Reuters Britain's Prime Minister, Theresa May, visits the scene of a tower block which was destroyed in a fire disaster, in north Kensington, West London.
The Grenfell Tower fire in West London, which has killed at least 58 people and left many more homeless, is a shocking indictment of the UK's neoliberal/neo-conservative Establishment and their warped priorities.

We don't have, it seems, enough money for all tower blocks in the country to be fitted with sprinklers and for adequate fire safety measures to be in place, but we do have enough to set fire to a series of secular Middle East countries that the Western elites and the endless war lobby want 'regime-changed'.

Just compare the very modest sums that would have ensured the safety of the mainly working-class inhabitants of Grenfell Tower with how much the British government has squandered on wars against 'target states' in recent years. The London Fire Brigades Union tweeted that 'Nobody has ever died in a fire in the UK in a property with an effective fire sprinkler system fitted'.
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