Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

Alleged US plot to overthrow Philippine President Duterte exposed in The Manila Times

Duterte
© Ezra Acayan / ReutersPhilippine President Rodrigo Duterte
When today's reports in the Philippine press are only even half factual then a worrying but not surprising US foreign policy will be unfolding in the coming 2 years.

As if it was pulled straight out of a CIA play book (coup d'état 101) an alleged blueprint for the toppling of the Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte describes the details on how the US government should approach the Philippine government and nation in the next 1 and a half years, in order to successfully and terminally undermine the Duterte administration - in a state-sponsored attempt to force a regime change in the Philippines.

Former zionist US ambassador in the Philippines Philip Goldberg reportedly prepared that "blueprint" for the US government after Duterte provably started to steer away from the US its imperialism in Asia, by seeking closer ties with China and Russia after recently being elected the new president of the south east Asian sovereign nation.

As one reads the bullet points being described in the Manila Times article (a copy is provided below in case the original gets pulled or sent into the memory hole), one can't help it but to indeed see the striking similarities with practically all previous US-sponsored regime changes around the world, including Syria and Libya most recently.

Comment: The influence of the United States elite is waning all over the world, including a decline within the US itself. Duterte certainly faces some real challenges ahead because many in the Philippines still do believe in the illusion that the United States does have honorable intentions towards their country. History demonstrates they do not. Despite the United States' wishful thinking, a Philippine alliance with real friends like China and Russia is Duterte's best bet moving forward.


Briefcase

Trump team considering Dana Rohrabacher, Thomas Graham for U.S. Ambassador to Russia

DanaRohrabacher
© APCongressman Dana Rohrabacher
Donald Trump's transitional team is considering California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and ex-State Secretary Henry Kissinger's top aide Thomas Graham to be US ambassador to Russia, Russian media reported Wednesday.

Russia's Izvestia newspaper cited US diplomatic sources as saying Trump would be filling diplomatic posts next year, when he assumes office as the next US president on January 20.

The US president-elect's long-time friend Rohrabacher is high on the list of candidates for the top US diplomat in Russia, sources told the outlet. Rohrabacher said last year he did not consider Russia to be a threat to the United States.

The Californian lawmaker said last November he was under consideration to join the Trump administration as Secretary of State. The job has since been promised to Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson.

Another contender for the diplomatic role is Thomas Graham who has also called on Washington to cooperate with Moscow in areas of mutual interest. Graham is a former special adviser to President George W. Bush. He worked as a foreign service officer at the US Embassy in Moscow and is now managing director of Kissinger Associates.

Bad Guys

Fruits of the 'Arab Spring': How Tunisia got transformed into a major exporter of jihadists

Terrorist holding flag
The terrorist attack on the Christmas fair in Berlin that occurred on December 19, resulted in government officials pledging their commitment to the speedy deportation of failed asylum seekers, since the attacker was a Tunisian migrant. Tunisians have been treated extremely cautiously in Europe recently and at this stage it's imperative for us to understand why. Why is Tunisia, which was believed to be the most advanced democracy in the whole Arab world, now perceived as a major exporter of jihadists?

Six years ago, in December 2010, a 26-year-old street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in front of the Sidi Bouzid town hall to protest the injustice of the police harassment he was subjected to. This suicide shook the very foundation of the country and led to a massive civilian unrest that would force President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to resign and flee abroad. This second "Jasmine Revolution" marked the beginning of the so-called "Arab Spring", which affected a large number of Middle Eastern and Northern African states.

Comment: Also note wherever US military is involved in a country, extremism grows:


Vader

What is Henry Kissinger up to?

Kissinger meets Putin
Kissinger tries to lure Putin to the Dark side.
The English language Russian news agency, Sputnik, reports that former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is advising US president-elect Donald Trump how to "bring the United States and Russia closer together to offset China's military buildup."

If we take this report at face value, it tells us that Kissinger, an old cold warrior, is working to use Trump's commitment to better relations with Russia in order to separate Russia from its strategic alliance with China.

China's military buildup is a response to US provocations against China and US claims to the South China Sea as an area of US national interests. China does not intend to attack the US and certainly not Russia.

Chess

Do the tragedies of Syria signal the end of Arab revolutions?

Children celebrating Aleppo liberation
© Vanessa Beeley
Just as the catastrophic Anglo-American invasion of Iraq brought an end to epic Western military adventures in the Middle East, so the tragedy of Syria ensures that there will be no more Arab revolutions. And it's taken just 13 bloodsoaked years - from 2003 to 2016 - to realign political power. Russia and Iran and the Shia Muslims of the region are now deciding its future; Bashar al-Assad cannot claim victory - but he is winning.

"Aleppo must be taken quickly - before Mosul falls," a Syrian brigadier announced to me with a wan smile in the country's army headquarters in Damascus. And it did, scarcely a month later. There were - and still are - little Aleppos all over Syria in which the government and its armed "jihadi" opponents are playing "good guy" and "bad guy", depending on who is besieging whom. When the Sunni militias end their siege of little Shia towns like Faour, the civilians flock to government lines. It's reported as a slightly incomprehensible local dispute.

TV

Biased #fakenews purveyor CNN anchor: Don't cover Trump's tweets; force him to rely on MSM

DonaldTwit
© Conservatives4PalinIn control of the message.
US President-elect Donald Trump has largely ditched the "distorted" media, opting to communicate through Twitter rather than press conferences and interviews. But CNN anchor Don Lemon said the media facilitates that by choosing to cover his tweets. The leader-in-waiting hasn't held a press conference since winning the presidential election and regularly takes to Twitter to criticize the media landscape, using adjectives ranging from "crooked" to "dishonest."


However, Trump's choice to refrain from speaking to most news outlets, particularly left-leaning ones, is largely related to the industry's decision to give his tweets media coverage, according to Lemon. "Listen, I'm not a news executive. But if I were, I would say I would not cover his tweets," Lemon said on-air on Tuesday. Lemon said that if the media were to stop covering Trump's tweets, he would be forced to hold a press conference because "he hates being ignored."

Comment: Those precious snowflakes still have sour grapes, especially that "bunch" in MSM. The 'mea culpa' part has not 'aired' nor should we expect it any time soon. The 'programming' goes deep...


Chess

Kerry's goodbye speech: 2-state solution 'only way' for lasting peace between Israelis, Palestinians

John Kerry
© Justin Tallis / AFP
Secretary of State John Kerry laid out the US proposal for a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, less than a month before the Trump administration takes office and at a low point in US-Israeli relations.


Kerry's speech is widely seen as an attempt to set the Obama administration's Middle East policy in stone before the January 20 changeover. President-elect Donald Trump has been vocally supportive of Israel and vowed a change of policy after his inauguration.

"2-state solution is the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace between the Israelis and Palestinians," Kerry said emphasizing that it was the only way to ensure Israel's future as a Jewish and democratic state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Washington of conspiring against his country by not blocking the Egyptian resolution condemning Israeli settlements at the UN Security Council last week. The State Department has dismissed the accusation as "just not true."


"The US did in fact vote in accordance with our values," Kerry said. "No American administration has done more for Israel's security than Barack Obama's."

Comment: See also: U.S. secret agreement with Palestinians prior to U.N. Security Council vote on Israel's illegal settlements

Update: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denounced a speech by US Secretary of State John Kerry about Jewish settlements as "biased", adding that the top US diplomat completely ignored the deep roots of the conflict.
Kerry dealt "obsessively" with the issue of the Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, Netanyahu said in a statement, calling it an anti-Israeli speech.

"Like the Security Council resolution that Secretary Kerry advanced in the U.N., his speech tonight was skewed against Israel," the statement reads, as cited by Reuters.

Netanyahu went on to say that Kerry almost completely ignored the root of the conflict that, according to Israeli Prime Minister, consisted of the Palestinian opposition to the very existence of the Jewish state within any borders.



Eggs Fried

Obama legacy: 'Iran nuke deal was a positive step,' Kerry is thrown under the bus

obamaKerrypodium
© Business Insider
The only positive thing the Obama administration did was support the P5+1 deal with Iran - which in any event was done by another five countries, while the US almost destroyed it on many occasions, says Gregory Copley, editor of Defense & Foreign Affairs.

As Donald Trump and his new team gear up to move into the White House, the old administration is preparing to leave. One of the key figures departing is John Kerry. RT spoke to Gregory Copley, editor of Defense & Foreign Affairs, and discussed the state of US foreign policy in the run-up to a new administration taking office.

RT: How would you assess the work of the outgoing US administration, especially in regards to the fight against ISIS?

Gregory Copley: The anti-ISIS coalition has little or nothing to do with the US. Certainly, they are making a lot of headlines about it, and there are many air strikes in Syria, in Iraq, and Libya. But in reality and in terms of the substantive fight against ISIS, particularly against Al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups, the US has been counterproductive. This is more the case because the Obama White House and the State Department have actually been supporting the various jihadist groups and rebels including ISIS through Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Moreover, because of Kerry's ineptitude, the US is now mired in meddling in Syria and Yemen in ways which will considerably exacerbate the conflicts and the human suffering in those countries.

Comment: Just think of the depth of muck the US would be in if not for being mired in 'ineptitude!' Unfathomable!


Info

Battle for Mosul: Iraqi military losses and civilian displacement numbers below expectations

Iraqi soldier
© AFP 2016/ SAFIN HAMED
Losses among Iraqi government troops and the number of displaced civilians have fallen short of expectations in the campaign to liberate Mosul from terrorists, Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Jaafari told Sputnik.

"There are losses, but they are less than what we expected. The numbers of refugees are also less than our initial estimates. We thought there would be a million, but at this moment there are 120,000," Jaafari said.

The operation to retake Mosul from the Daesh (jihadist group has been continuing since October 17. The battle for the city began with 4,000 Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and 30,000 Iraqi soldiers backed by the US-led anti-terror coalition advancing on the city from the east, west and south.

Document

UNGA Syria War Crimes Resolution: An attempt to undermine Damascus legitimacy, negate terrorism fight success

UN Gen Ass
© Human Rights WatchUN General Assembly
The UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution establishing a mechanism to investigate war crimes in Syria is an attempt by Western countries to undermine the legitimacy of Damascus and to negate the success achieved by the country's army in fighting terrorism, Syria's Ambassador to China and former Ambassador to the United States Imad Moustapha told Sputnik. The Liechtenstein-proposed resolution was adopted on Wednesday by 105 votes in favor, with 52 abstentions, while 15 countries including China, Russia and Syria voted against.

"It goes without saying that this resolution is merely a continuation of the war against Syria in different means. The Western powers along with the oil rich Gulf states are rabidly looking for every possible tactic and venue to intensify the smearing and demonizing campaign [against the Syrian government], divert the attention from the series of successes attained by the Syrian Arab Army and its allies, and, most important of all, pump more blood and vigor into the veins of the armed terrorist groups," Moustapha said.

The resolution paves the way for the establishment of an independent panel to assist in the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for war crimes and human rights violations in Syria. In close cooperation with the UN's Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, the mechanism will collect and analyze evidence of violations of the international humanitarian law in order to expedite criminal proceedings in national, regional or international courts.

Following the Wednesday vote, Syria's Ambassador to the UN Bashar Jaafari slammed the measure, saying it was contrary to the UN Charter and a "flagrant interference in the internal affairs of a UN member state," as well as "a direct threat to a solution" of the Syrian conflict. Imad Moustapha also said that the UN Board of Inquiry's investigation into the September attack on the UN-Syrian Arab Red Crescent aid convoy in Aleppo failed to name the perpetrator after it found no evidence proving Moscow or Damascus' responsibility, contrary to the version pushed forward by the West.

Comment: The resolution was prepared by Liechtenstein and was co-sponsored by 54 countries including the US, France, Britain, Italy , Germany, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Those countries voting against the resolution were: Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Burundi, China, Cuba, North Korea (DPRK), Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Nicaragua, Russia, South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Zimbabwe.

More than 310,000 people have been killed, as per a UN Commission of Inquiry and civil society groups who compile documents, lists of witnesses and video footage. Hopefully these groups are impartial, untainted and accurate in their perceptions and records.