Puppet MastersS

Bomb

Egypt bombs failed Libyan state

Egyptian fighter jet
Egypt has bombed terrorist training camps in eastern Libya in retribution for the terrorist massacre on Christian pilgrims travelling to the Anba Samuel near the city of Minya.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said that the terrorists who committed the atrocity were trained in Libya.

President Sisi vowed, "Egypt will not hesitate in striking any camps that harbour or train terrorist elements whether inside Egypt or outside Egypt".

Cards

Art of the Deal in the Middle East: Trump's selling wars and terrorism

Donald Trump
© Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
It would be funny if it were not so sickening. US President Donald Trump's whirlwind tour through the Middle East was a "triumph" of make-believe rhetoric over reality. Donald "the peace-maker" is sowing decades of further violence in the war-torn region.

The horrific repercussions of American foreign policy are all around us, from the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories to the ongoing wars in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, to the latest terror attack in Britain where 22 people were killed in a suicide bombing at a concert in Manchester.

With a typical inane understanding of the web of international terrorism that American foreign policy has generated over many years, Trump glibly condemned the bombing atrocity in Manchester as the work of "losers."

Newspaper

Kushner Reportedly Proposed Russia Set Up Secret Communications With Trump

Jared Kushner
© ReutersU.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner
U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law proposed setting up a secret communications channel between Trump's team and the Kremlin at a meeting with Russia's ambassador in Washington after the election, media reported on May 26.

Ambassador Sergei Kislyak told his superiors in Moscow that Jared Kushner made the proposal during a meeting on December 1 or 2 at Trump Tower in New York, according to intercepts of Russian communications, The Washington Post reported, citing anonymous U.S. officials.

Kislyak said Kushner, who is now a senior White House adviser and is married to Trump's daughter, Ivanka, suggested using Russian diplomatic facilities in the United States for the communications, the newspaper said. The meeting also was attended by Michael Flynn, who later became Trump's national security adviser.

Comment: In a sane world, there is nothing wrong in establishing relations between two powerful nations on the planet. But, US media and establishment treats this as an act of treason and blows it out of proportion to maintain its control over the nation.


Snakes in Suits

'Getting Trump' with the New McCarthyism

roy cohn joe mccarthy
Lawyer Roy Cohn (right) with Sen. Joseph McCarthy.
Yes, I get it. A lot of people want to remove Donald Trump from the presidency for a lot of understandable reasons: his breathtaking incompetence, his relentless narcissism, his destructive policies, etc. But he was elected under the U.S. constitutional system. He may have lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by nearly three million ballots but he did prevail in the Electoral College.

And, unlike George W. Bush, who also lost the popular vote, Trump didn't have to steal Florida - and thus the White House - by enlisting Republican justices on the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the vote count prematurely. We now know that if all the ballots considered legal under Florida law had been counted Al Gore would have won regardless of which standard of "chad" was used. But Trump didn't have to resort to such bald-faced cheating.

And, yes, of course, there were many other problems with the election, such as Republican efforts to suppress African-American and other minority votes. But it's not as if the U.S. electoral process has ever been the gold standard of democracy that some Americans like to believe. The system has now - and always has had - serious shortcomings, but it also has enabled the diverse United States to function for more than two centuries without major political violence, with the exception of the Civil War when the process broke down over the South's insistence on slavery.

Info

Erdogan will allow German lawmakers access to Incirlik Base under one condition

German Tornado jets at Incirlink air base
© AFP 2017/ Tobias Schwarz
Turkey, which stopped a group of German lawmakers from visiting Bundeswehr troops at the Incirlik air base earlier this month, might be willing to let the deputies in after all, Turkish President Erdogan said.

Turkey is willing to discuss the possibility of German lawmakers visiting the Incirlik air base where some 260 German soldiers are stationed, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.

Erdogan said that Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavosoglu will discuss the issue with his German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel.

"Sometimes there may be those who openly support terrorists among German lawmakers... We expressed that some who openly support terrorists and almost act together with them will not be welcomed. Right now, our foreign ministers will discuss the issue with each other and we will take a step accordingly," Erdogan said, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported.

Quenelle - Golden

Corbyn clearly outshines Theresa May in British general election

corbyn
© Neil Hall / ReutersJeremy Corbyn, the leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's impressive speech on foreign policy highlights how he has continuously outshone Prime Minister Theresa May in the British general election.

British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's impressive speech on foreign policy and the West's failed "War on Terror" illustrates an unreported truth about the ongoing British general election: Jeremy Corby is cutting a far more impressive figure during the election than Prime Minister Theresa May is.

Before discussing this I wish to make one important qualification about Corbyn's speech.

Bad Guys

ISIS claims responsibility for deadly terrorist attack in Egypt

ISIS attack Egypt Coptic Christians
© Mohamed Abd El Ghany / ReutersA general view following a gunmen attack against a group of Coptic Christians travelling to a monastery in southern Egypt, in Minya, May 26, 2017
Islamic State terrorists have claimed responsibility for an attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt that killed at least 29 and injured over 20 more on Friday. The attack prompted Egypt to launch airstrikes on "terrorist camps" in eastern Libya.

Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement published by the terrorist group on Saturday.

Gunmen opened fire on two buses and a truck with Coptic Christians inside in Minya, Egypt on Friday.

Comment: Further reading:


Radar

Russian Air Force eliminating Daesh attempts to flee Raqqa, some disguised as civilians

ISIS billboard
© REUTERS/ Nour Fourat
A military source has confirmed that the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces have eliminated some 120 Daesh militants trying to flee the group's self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa, Syria. Mideast expert Semyon Bagdasarov warns that it's likely that the terrorists will try to take advantage of the humanitarian corridor established by Kurdish forces.

Speaking to Sputnik, a military source confirmed Saturday that 120 Daesh militants traveling in 39 pickup trucks armed with large-caliber machineguns were eliminated May 25 as they attempted to flee Raqqa for Palmyra, the central Syrian liberated by government forces earlier this year.

The source added that the Russian military contingent in Syria has received several intelligence reports that Daesh had made a deal with units of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) operating outside Raqqa, under which militants would be allowed to leave the city unimpeded.

"Upon receiving this information, the command of the Russian contingent in Syria has taken measures to prevent the exodus of Daesh terrorists in the southern direction," the source said.

Bomb

18 killed, 6 injured in suicide blast in Afghanistan on 1st day of Ramadan

Afghani police forces
© Omar Sobhani / Reuters
A suicide attack has killed at least 18 people and injured six others in Afghanistan's Khost Province on the first day of Ramadan. Attacks by militants in Badghis Province have also reportedly left 36 people dead and 50 more wounded.

A car bomb went off near a bus station and a football field close to a military base in Afghanistan's southeastern Khost Province on Saturday.

The attack targeted police vehicles, Tolo News reports, citing local officials.


The attack left at least 18 people dead and six more injured, including two children, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish.


There is no information so far on who is responsible for the assault.

Pirates

Dozens killed, 120 wounded in fierce clashes as rival factions battling for Libyan capital

Smoke rises after clashes between National Reconciliation Government of Libya and National Liberation Government in Tripoli, Libya on May 26, 2017
© Anadolu Agency / Getty ImagesSmoke rises after clashes between National Reconciliation Government of Libya and National Liberation Government in Tripoli, Libya on May 26, 2017
At least 28 people have been killed and over 120 wounded in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, where rival factions vying for control in the fractured country clashed on Friday using tanks, armored vehicles and pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns.

Heavy gunfire and artillery explosions rocked the districts of Abu Salim, Salahedeen and Qasr Bin Ghashir since early morning, when forces allied to the self-proclaimed National Salvation Government (GNC) tried to capture the territory controlled by the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA).


A third Tobruk-based government, aligned with military commander Khalifa Haftar, urged the people of Tripoli to "stand hand in hand with the GNA and its security apparatus to defeat the saboteurs."


At least 28 people were killed in the urban combat and more than 120 injured, according to health officials.


Armored vehicles, pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns and even tanks were seen rolling in the streets, of Tripoli according to witnesses and videos posted on social media.


It was not immediately clear how much territory either faction gained or controlled following a day of heavy clashes.