Puppet MastersS


Brain

2016: The year Washington lost its mind

John Wight
RT
Sat, 31 Dec 2016 17:20 UTC
Protesters wearing masks of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump
© Dominick Reuter / ReutersProtesters wearing masks of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
Seismic is the only word to describe 2016, especially when describing the US-Russia relationship.

Paraphrasing Gramsci, it was a year in which we witnessed the dying of the old world and the birth of the new. By no means, however, has the birth been painless. And nor is it complete.

Western hegemony - geopolitical, military, cultural, and economic - has never been so fiercely contested as it was in 2016. Surveying a year in which anti-Russian hysteria became the new normal in Washington, London, and Paris, not to mention across Eastern Europe on the part of governments for whom Russophobia was deployed as a convenient scapegoat to deflect from their own political and economic shortcomings, we are reminded no empire ever forgives its defeats.
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Bullseye

Latest Russian sanctions underscores the vindictiveness and pettiness of Obama administration


RT
Sat, 31 Dec 2016 15:15 UTC
neon american flag
© Keith Bedford / Reuters
The new American sanctions against Russia are a comedy show and a slap in the face, as there is no real evidence to Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 election, say experts.

The outgoing Obama administration has announced new anti-Russia sanctions that include the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats from the US. The move comes "in response to the Russian government's aggressive harassment of US officials and cyber operations aimed at the US election," Obama said in a statement on Thursday.

Moscow called the decision yet another manifestation of the unpredictable and aggressive foreign policy by the Obama administration.

"We consider this decision and these sanctioqns unjustified and illegal under international law," said Kremlin press spokesman Dmitry Peskov, adding that Russia will respond with countermeasures against the US.

Comment: Zakharova: 'Obama team are foreign policy losers, humiliate Americans with anti-Russia sanctions'

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Caesar

Master Judoka Putin "The Gracious" & the "Lame Duck" Obama he outclasses in every way

Bernhard
Moon of Alabama
Sat, 31 Dec 2016 15:21 UTC
The typical pettiness and vengefulness of the Obama administration was at full display with yesterday's expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats and the closing of two Russian estates in New York and Maryland. Obama also sanctioned the Russian external intelligence service FSB and the military intelligence service GRU as well as some of its leaders for doing their job.

The move was ostensibly over alleged but completely unproven Russian "hacking" to influence the U.S. election. But the real reason is likely Obama's loss of face after being left out of the successful negotiations of a new ceasefire in Syria.

True to form the Russian government responded with high-class trolling and generosity.

The first move came through the Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom. It tweeted about the current status of the Obama administration:
Russia tweet obama lame duck
© Russian Embassy UK/Twitter
The tweet gained so far more then 17,000 retweets and 19,000+ likes - certainly a "best of the year" candidate.

Comment: A succinct evaluation of two world leaders. Obama's departure can't come soon enough.

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Propaganda

Something rotten in the US: This Russia story stinks

Matt Taibbi
Rolling Stone
Fri, 30 Dec 2016 14:50 UTC
putin obama
© Pablo Martinez Monsivais/APThe Obama administration announced this week that nearly three dozen Russian nationals will be expelled from the country.
In an extraordinary development Thursday, the Obama administration announced a series of sanctions against Russia. Thirty-five Russian nationals will be expelled from the country. President Obama issued a terse statement seeming to blame Russia for the hack of the Democratic National Committee emails.

The capital's paper of record crashes legacy media on an iceberg

"These data theft and disclosure activities could only have been directed by the highest levels of the Russian government," he wrote.

Russia at first pledged, darkly, to retaliate, then backed off. The Russian press today is even reporting that Vladimir Putin is inviting "the children of American diplomats" to "visit the Christmas tree in the Kremlin," as characteristically loathsome/menacing/sarcastic a Putin response as you'll find.
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Cow

Happy New Year! Here are some of the ridiculous new state laws that will take effect January 1st

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Sat, 31 Dec 2016 15:07 UTC
Back in September we wrote about what we thought for sure would be the wackiest new state law passed in 2016. The law came from the state of California (of course) and demanded a 40% reduction in methane gas from cow flatulence by 2030. Here's what we had to say about the bill:
In yet another attack on California businesses, yesterday Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill (SB 1383) that requires the state to cut methane emissions from dairy cows and other animals by 40% by 2030. The bill is yet another massive blow to the agricultural industry in the state of California that has already suffered from the Governor's passage of a $15 minimum wage and a recent bill that makes California literally the only state in the entire country to provide overtime pay to seasonal agricultural workers after working 40 hours per week or 8 hours per day (see "California Just Passed A $1.7 Billion Tax On The Whole Country That No One Noticed").

According to a statement from Western United Dairymen CEO, Anja Raudabaugh, California's Air Resources Board wants to regulate animal methane emissions even though it admits there is no known method for achieving the the type of reduction sought by SB 1383.

"The California Air Resources Board wants to regulate cow emissions, even though its Short-Lived Climate Pollutant (SLCP) reduction strategy acknowledges that there's no known way to achieve this reduction."
This guy even invented a handy backpack for cows to store their farts...not such a dumb idea anymore, now is it?

andy backpack for cows to store their farts
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MIB

Top secret Snowden document reveals what the NSA knew about previous Russian hacking

Sam Biddle
The Duran
Thu, 29 Dec 2016 14:53 UTC
People hold pictures of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya during a rally in central Moscow on
© Dmitry Kostyukov/AFP/Getty ImagesPeople hold pictures of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya during a rally in central Moscow on
To date, the only public evidence that the Russian government was responsible for hacks of the DNC and key Democratic figures has been circumstantial and far short of conclusive, courtesy of private research firms with a financial stake in such claims. Multiple federal agencies now claim certainty about the Kremlin connection, but they have yet to make public the basis for their beliefs.

Now, a never-before-published top-secret document provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden suggests the NSA has a way of collecting evidence of Russian hacks, because the agency tracked a similar hack before in the case of a prominent Russian journalist, who was also a U.S. citizen.

Comment: Overall, Snowden is drawing a comparison to an instance in the past where the NSA was able to trace Russian hacker successful, and supposedly with certainty. That raises the question of why they aren't publishing any proof of the alleged hacks?

As an aside, here's an Intellipedia page about Anna Politkovskaya.

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Newspaper

Corporate media admits to publishing viral fake news after independent media busted them

Claire Bernish
The Free Thought Project
Fri, 30 Dec 2016 14:35 UTC
fake news graphic
Mangling facts for the benefit of U.S. government's anti-Russia, anti-Trump propaganda campaign, yet again corporate media published an article — which subsequently went viral — claiming that, in an interview, Julian Assange 'praised' Donald Trump but 'blasted' Hillary Clinton because, essentially, he's working for The Russians.

It simply isn't true.
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Mr. Potato

John Kerry says the problem with Syria is that young Americans "don't want to die anymore" (warning strong language)

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Fri, 30 Dec 2016 14:34 UTC
john kerry
Jimmy Dore and his crew of comedians properly expose John Kerry for the warmonger he is.

In this audio recording, US Secretary of State John Kerry explains that the problem in Syria is that young Americans are simply tired of fighting so many wars and therefore do not want to take part in another illegal US regime change war.

In other words...John Kerry says the problem with Syria is that young American men and women refuse to die, in order to overthrow a secular President Assad in favor of a Wahhabi, Al Qaeda-ISIS Sharia Law theocracy.
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Attention

Egypt reportedly to send peacekeeping forces to Syria

Leith Fadel
Al-Masdar News
Fri, 30 Dec 2016 14:22 UTC
Egyptian flag
Egypt will send peacekeeping forces to Syria in the coming days, as they attempt to administer the nationwide ceasefire among their Russian, Iranian, and Turkish diplomatic partners.

Egypt will partake in this diplomatic mission to freeze the bloodshed that is obstructing peace talks in Syria, Al-Arabiya reported on Friday.

In November, the Egyptian Army sent a group of officers to Syria, marking the first time in several years that any Egyptian military personnel have made this journey.

Comment: Putin confirms Syria ceasefire to go into effect tonight, peace talks to come
Lavrov extended an invitation to Egypt to join on as a truce guarantor. Eventually, they would like to have Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq and Jordan join on as well, not to mention the incoming Trump administration.


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Quenelle - Golden

Former UK Ambassador: Obama's lying about Russian hackers, is leaving office in a 'storm of deceit'

Craig Murray
Craig Murray Blog
Sat, 31 Dec 2016 13:32 UTC
craig murray
"The report is, frankly, a pile of complete and utter dross. To base grave accusations of election hacking on this report is ludicrous."
I had promised myself and my family that on this holiday I would do nothing but relax. However events have overtaken my good intentions.

I find myself in the unusual position of having twice been in a position to know directly that governments were lying in globe-shaking events, firstly Iraqi WMD and now the "Russian hacks".

Anybody who believes the latest report issued by Obama as "proof" provides anything of the sort is very easily impressed by some entirely meaningless diagrams. William Binney, who was Technical Director at the NSA and actually designed their surveillance capabilities, has advised me by email.

Comment: Craig Murray should know. After all, according to him, he was the middle man for these email leaks. Check out:

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