Puppet MastersS


Family

Putin reveals he has Grandchildren in Oliver Stone's tv special


Sputnik
Sun, 11 Jun 2017 17:50 UTC
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Oliver Stone in an interview that he is already a grandfather.

Putin
© Sputnik/ Michael Klimentyev
The full four-part documentary by Stone, dubbed The Putin Interviews, will be broadcast by the Showtime television network on June 12-15. The documentary has been partially released to date.

Stone's documentary about Putin has offered a rare glimpse into Putin's personal life as the Russian president avoids speaking about his family.

Oliver Stone asked Putin whether he likes his grandchildren.
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Arrow Up

Russian MoD: Syrian army reaches Iraqi border, cutting off Americans at al-Tanf

RI Staff
Russia Insider
Sat, 10 Jun 2017 13:32 UTC
russian mod ministry of defense map syria iraq
The Syrian Army has reached the Iraqi border, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

While we don't have a lot of details yet, here's what we can say: this is a brilliant move if true. Not exactly a checkmate yet, but definitely a check on US ambitions in southern Syria.
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Chess

British PM Theresa May backtracks on DUP agreement, says talks still ongoing


Radio Free Europe
Sun, 11 Jun 2017 08:04 UTC
British Prime Minister Theresa May
© AFPBritish Prime Minister Theresa May
British Prime Minister Theresa May's office says talks are still in progress between her Conservatives and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Northern Ireland after earlier saying an agreement had been reached to support May's government.

"The prime minister has tonight spoken with the DUP to discuss finalizing a 'confidence-and-supply' deal when Parliament returns next week," a spokesman said early on June 11.

The little-known ultraconservative DUP party said "talks so far have been positive."
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Snakes in Suits

Gulf States launch humanitarian hotline for mixed Qatari families after Amnesty International complaint


RT
Sun, 11 Jun 2017 15:59 UTC
People with Qatari flags
© Hamad I Mohammed / Reuters
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the UAE have launched hotlines for mixed Qatari families affected by the blockade on Qatar. This comes after Amnesty International slammed the Gulf States for separating families amid the political dispute.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry announced a hotline for the affected families on Sunday, Saudi Arabia Arab News newspaper reports.
"The Qatari people are a genuine extension of their brothers in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. King Salman addresses the humanitarian cases of Saudi-Qatari joint families, the people of Qatar are in King Salman's heart,"
the statement from the ministry said.
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Alarm Clock

Liberal fascism: It's Macron, not Le Pen, making state of emergency permanent

Ramin Mazaheri
The Saker
Sun, 11 Jun 2017 00:00 UTC
Police, Paris
© Daily Hampshire GazetteFrench police to have carte blanche.
Emmanuel Macron very quickly made it official: He will introduce a bill which will transform extraordinary state of emergency powers into regular police practice. According to Le Monde, which saw a leaked copy of the bill: "...almost all the measures of the state of emergency will be found in common law."

What this means is that the post-Charlie Hebdo war hysteria has not only never stopped, but will have become the new, permanent normal: Anyone can be arrested, searched and detained with just a simple accusation. Judges simply need to be "informed"; police have carte blanche.

So...when can I start referring to France as an "authoritarian state" without getting edited?

LOL, I don't know what it would actually require to finally start calling that spade a "spade".... I am reminded that Confucius' "rectification of names" doctrine shows that the failure to call things by their proper names can only lead to social disorder.

I hate to say I told you so, but after less than one month in power Macron has proven to be what many feared: All the fascism of Marine Le Pen, slightly less (perhaps) of the xenophobia, 100 times the austerity. What a lousy formula that is! And despite all the warning signs, Macron won pretty handily. And again, despite all the warning signs, Macron's party is set to win an absolute majority in Parliament when the final round votes are tallied on June 18. The bill transforming civil liberties in France will be immediately introduced three days later, on June 21. Macron is not wasting any time in showing his true colors, and the bill was obviously whistle-blown in order to warn voters.

Comment: Reminiscent of 9/11 when the 'Patriot Act' sucked all the rights of liberty out of the US by fear-duping the citizenry into knee-jerk permissiveness to manipulation and forfeiture of their freedoms.

At least, back then, a nominally conservative government was doing the emergency-declaring. In this situation in France, we have a centrist liberal government burying civil rights in one fell swoop. Anyone can be arrested in France anytime for any infraction. The state doesn't even need to say why it's doing so.

Et toi, France?

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Target

Qatari FM visits Russian counterpart in Moscow: Lavrov encourages Arab neighbors to work things out


RT
Sat, 10 Jun 2017 19:45 UTC
Al-Thani
© Sanaa TVFM Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani
The Qatari foreign minister has met with his Russian counterpart in Moscow, with the severing of ties between Qatar and some of its neighbors topping the agenda. Both ministers agreed the crisis should remain an internal issue. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said he explained what he called "an underpinning" to the recent crisis in the Arab world and Doha's "views on the issue" to Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in an exclusive interview with RT Arabic on Saturday.

The underlying reason for the events "must not be too deep," as relations between Doha and other Gulf states "were very friendly even two days prior to the escalation," the Qatari minister said. There have been meetings, consultations and summits in late May, "with no questions related to the current controversy having been raised" there.
"An information campaign to demonize Qatar has started all of a sudden," al-Thani said, claiming that all accusations against Doha have so far been "groundless, improvised" and lacking specifics. "If there are clear claims, they would have better been discussed at the table. Before taking any measures, Qatar should have been given a chance to answer to accusations," he said.
"Mr. Lavrov also stated his opinion, with it being that the conflict should stay within the scope of the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council]. Moscow is against any escalation, and we in Qatar agree," al-Thani told RT Arabic after his meeting with Lavrov.



Comment: Sacrificial lamb. When accusations come to the surface, blame someone else strongly, quickly, loudly. These are despicable tactics to deflect self-despicable deeds. Here it is twofold, as the blame game serves to unequivocally align Qatar with Iran, doubling down on 'reasons' to point fingers away from themselves -- the equally guilty.

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Attention

Gulf crisis: German FM warns 'there is danger this conflict could become war'


RT
Sat, 10 Jun 2017 21:38 UTC
Sigmar Gabriel
© The Indian ExpressVice-Chancellor and FM Sigmar Gabriel
The recent diplomatic fracture among some of the biggest Arab nations is so "dramatic," it could spiral into a war, Germany's foreign minister has warned in an interview with local media. Sigmar Gabriel described the ongoing crisis in the Arab world as being "dramatic," while speaking exclusively to the Frankfurter Allgemeinen Sonntagszeitung.

The isolation of Doha by such key players as Saudi Arabia and its allies present "a danger that this conflict could become a war," Gabriel, who is also Germany's vice-chancellor, warned.

However, citing his "personal talks" with officials from several states, including Saudi Arabia and Turkey, as well as with counterparts from Iran and Kuwait, Gabriel said that although "the situation is serious," he believes "there are good chances to go ahead" in trying to prevent further escalation.

On Friday, Berlin made calls for greater diplomatic efforts to restore relations between allied and neighboring countries in the Gulf. Any escalation into violence must be avoided, and the blockade of Qatar lifted, Germany's foreign minister said. "Along with our American colleagues, but above all our colleagues in the region, we must try to find solutions, especially lifting the sea and air blockades," Gabriel told reporters in Germany, as quoted by Reuters.

Comment: Target Iran. Force the hand. Qatar was the way in. War? Gabriel could be right.

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Info

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain ban Al-Jazeera as gulf blockade tightens on Qatar


RT
Sun, 11 Jun 2017 15:45 UTC
Doha
© Naseem Zeitoon / Reuters
Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have banned tourist destinations from airing the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network in the latest escalation in the regional spat. Violators of the decrees face fines, closure, revocation of tourism licenses, and even imprisonment.

"All channels from the Al Jazeera Media Network must be removed" and replaced with "official Saudi television ones," the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage said in a statement, as posted by The New Arab.

"Any facility acting in violation of the aforesaid Circular will be held liable and be penalized with a fine amounting up to SR100,000 or the cancellation of its license; or both the penalties."
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Eye 2

Have Western liberals been in bed with radical jihadists for far too long?

Grete Mautner
New Eastern Outlook
Sun, 11 Jun 2017 14:51 UTC
Islamic terrorism
Lately we've been witnessing an ever increasing number of reports and non-conspiratorial facts that expose an alliance that exists between Western liberals and jihadists. It's hardly a secret that in Libya NATO fought a war on behalf of al-Qaeda and other radical groups to topple the legitimate government of what used to be the most prosperous and stable African state. Countries like Britain even used their intelligence services to help bring latent jihadists, some of whom were under police surveillance, in a bid to topple the government of Muammar Gaddafi.

Even today such states as the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Netherlands, and Belgium are not just sponsoring radical militants across the Middle East and arming them, they are effectively providing close air support to radical forces in Syria, while helping the Saudis to aid the Wahhabist cause in Yemen.

Comment: More to the point, there is a need to shine a light on who provides the funds for these terrorists to carry out their agenda. Then it will become clear why the 'political forces' lack the will or ability to stop the radical militants.

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Snakes in Suits

Netanyahu calls for UN Palestinian refugee agency to be shut down


RT
Sun, 11 Jun 2017 14:44 UTC
United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) logo
© Mohammed Salem / Reuters
The UN Palestinian relief agency "perpetuates" the refugee issue instead of solving it and should be "dismantled," the Israeli PM stated, adding that he had conveyed the idea to the US envoy to the UN. The agency dismissed his proposal as "fantasy."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the comments on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) during a weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.

"It is time UNRWA be dismantled and merged with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees," Reuters quoted Netanyahu as saying.
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