Puppet MastersS


Better Earth

Russia's mutual defense pact with North Korea is a geopolitical game-changer

PutinKim
© UnknownRussian President Vladimir Putin • North Korea's Kim Jong Un
Russia and North Korea just clinched a mutual defense pact during President Putin's trip to Pyongyang, which followed his counterpart Kim Jong Un's visit to Vladivostok last September that was analyzed here. This agreement is a geopolitical game-changer for three fundamental reasons:
- it raises the stakes in the US' dangerous game of nuclear chicken with Russia in Ukraine;
- accelerates the US' "Pivot (back) to Asia"; and
- could thus trap China and the US in an escalation spiral that moves the New Cold War out of Europe.
To explain, the first outcome can be interpreted as one of Russia's promised asymmetrical responses to the West arming Ukraine. If Russia achieves a military breakthrough across the front lines that's exploited by some NATO members as the pretext for commencing a conventional intervention which provokes a Cuban-like brinkmanship crisis in Europe, then North Korea might provoke its own such crisis in Asia in order to remind the US about the principle of "Mutually Assured Destruction" (MAD).

Comment: New script, new threats, redirected war machines...grab the popcorn and don't bypass the credits.


Russian Flag

Russia will 'never' withdraw troops - Putin

Putin
© Kristina Kormilitsyna/SputnikRussian President Vladimir Putin during an approach to representatives of the Russian media at Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi • June 20, 2024
Ukraine's unrealistic demand is intended to make peace talks impossible, the Russian president has said.

Ukraine's demand for the withdrawal of Russian troops is only designed to perpetuate the conflict, because that's the only way the current Kiev government can stay in power, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

Putin was speaking at a press conference in Hanoi following his meetings with the leadership of Vietnam on Thursday. Among other topics, he addressed the Ukraine conflict. Putin told reporters:
"If negotiations are linked to the withdrawal of our troops, about which the Kiev regime dreams, then this will never happen."

"Because the Kiev regime does not want to relinquish power, does not want to hold normal elections according to the Ukrainian constitution, they will forever drag out the ceasefire talks. This means that Kiev has an interest in our troops remaining there, because they don't want to hold elections."
As for attempts to "beat back" Russian troops from Kharkov, Putin said that Kiev's orders to achieve a victory on the battlefield "at all costs" will mean it is Ukraine that will suffer. Kharkov, he said, is a tactical operation, which Ukraine is trying to portray as strategic.

Eye 1

NATO installing permanent envoy to Ukraine, while not letting it join the club

Joe and Vlad
© US President Joe Biden • Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky at NATO summit in VilniusUS President Joe Biden • Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky • NATO Summit in Vilnius
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is planning to install a permanent special envoy to Kyiv as a new envoy post. This has to do with "institutionalizing" some of "the bilateral support that has flowed to Ukraine", says US ambassador to Kyiv, Julianne Smith. At the same time, last week, Biden made it (again) abundantly clear that Ukraine is not to become a NATO member.

One should keep in mind that back on 21 December 2022, during a joint press conference in Washington, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the US, Biden had already been clear enough on the limits of Washington's willingness to be there for Ukraine. The American's replies must have been a cold shower to his Ukrainian counterpart: when asked about sending more powerful weapons to Kyiv, Biden said that doing so "would have a prospect of breaking up NATO", and "breaking up the EU and the rest of the world." Moreover, according to him, his Atlantic Alliance allies were "not looking to go to war with Russia. They're not looking for a third world war." Then, he went on to "reassure" the Ukrainian president right next to him, by telling that "as I said, Mr. President, you don't have to worry — we are staying with Ukraine as long as Ukraine is there", in an unintendedly amusing remark that inadvertently almost paraphrased the famous cruel joke about Americans being willing to fight "to the last Ukrainian".

Green Light

Dutch leader Mark Rutte clears a big hurdle to becoming NATO chief after Hungary lifts objections

Rutte
© Omar Havana/APNetherland's PM Mark Rutte addresses the media at EU summit in Brussels • June 18, 2024
Hungary on Tuesday lifted its veto on Mark Rutte becoming the next head of NATO after the outgoing Dutch prime minister gave written guarantees that he would not force the country to take part in the military alliance's new plans to provide support to Ukraine.

Rutte's assurances, contained in a letter to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, remove a major obstacle to him becoming the next NATO secretary-general — the organization's top civilian official.

It could also allow NATO to put on a major show of unity and demonstrate solidarity with war-ravaged Ukraine when U.S. President Joe Biden and his counterparts meet in Washington on July 9-11. The summit is to mark NATO's 75th anniversary.

At talks in Budapest last week, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who is due to step down in October, clinched a deal with Orbán to ensure that Hungary would not block NATO's plans for Ukraine.

Stop

Hungary 'won't ride NATO war train' - Orban

Orban
© Pier Marco Tacca/Getty ImagesHungarian PM Viktor Orban
The US appears intent on continuing to fight Russia in Ukraine and hopes to win, but Hungary is acting to counter this destructive policy, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.

The vocal opponent of the Western approach to the Ukraine conflict expressed fresh criticism during a weekly interview on Kossuth Radio on Friday. Orban claimed:
"It appears that the Western world, led by the Americans, wants to defeat Russia, with the Germans playing the role of extras."
He described the strategy as "hopeless," adding that it is disastrous for the Ukrainians and Russians dying on the battlefield and is potentially escalatory.

The Hungarian leader claimed, however, that "we have already slowed the train to war," citing the outcome of the recent European Parliament elections in which his party enjoyed success while some pro-Ukrainian groups suffered setbacks.

The Hungarian government has secured assurances from both outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and his presumed successor, Mark Rutte, that Budapest will not be dragged into a "mission" that the US-led bloc is establishing in Ukraine, the prime minister said. Hungary will not contribute troops, weapons, or money to the plan, Orban vowed.

"I can pull the emergency brake. The train will stop, and we Hungarians will get off this train. And if we become very strong and the stars are lucky, we will convince the driver not to go any further."

Comment: Boiling frogs...Orban sees it.
See also:


Bizarro Earth

UK election rivals attack Farage for saying West provoked Ukraine war

Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage has been criticised for suggesting the West "provoked" Russia's invasion of Ukraine by expanding the European Union and Nato military alliance eastwards.

The Reform UK leader told the BBC that "of course" the war was President Vladimir Putin's fault.

But he added that the expansion of the EU and Nato gave him a "reason" to tell the Russian people "they're coming for us again".

Former Conservative Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, who is not standing in the election, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme Mr Farage was like a "pub bore we've all met at the end of the bar".

Comment: Farage sounds like the only sane, thinking person in a field of dangerous ninnies.


Bad Guys

Canada 'prepares possible evacuation of 45,000 citizens from Lebanon', Kuwait urges citizens to leave

israel lebanon
© AFPA thick column of smoke rises into the sky over Alma al-Shaab after Israeli bombardments on April 25, 2024.
Kuwait on Friday urged its citizens to leave Lebanon "as soon as possible," while Canada said it is preparing for the potential evacuation of 45,000 of its citizens from the country amid growing fears of a wider conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

On Friday, Kuwait's Foreign Ministry asked its nationals in Lebanon to depart "as soon as possible." The ministry also advised Kuwaitis not to travel to Lebanon "at the present time in view of the security situation taking place in the region."

Meanwhile, Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly informed her Israeli counterpart, Yisrael Katz, that Canada is preparing for the potential evacuation of 45,000 of its citizens from Lebanon. Joly stated that Canada has already deployed military forces to the region to facilitate the evacuation process if a wider conflict were to erupt between Israel and Hezbollah. On June 17, Canada updated its Lebanon's travel advisory risk level to "avoid all travel."

Comment: It's perhaps no coincidence that Israel's threat to escalate its aggression in the region is occurring alongside the West's provocations against Russia, and, to a lesser degree, China: Below is commentary from Israelis regarding its governments possible escalation, as well as a protest occurring right now:






TV

Saudi's MBS skips G7 meeting, urges for int'l recognition of Palestinian state and to hold Israel responsible for its crimes

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
© SPAFILE: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called on the international community on Monday to recognize an independent Palestinian state, emphasizing that this step is crucial for achieving peace.

"The Kingdom renews its call to the international community to recognize the independent State of Palestine, on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. This will enable the brotherly Palestinian people to obtain their legitimate rights" and pave the way for "comprehensive, just, and lasting peace," state news agency SPA quoted the Crown Prince as saying.

MBS stressed the importance of implementing recent UN Security Council resolutions, particularly those advocating for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. He urged the international community to take all necessary measures to protect lives in Gaza.

The Crown Prince called on the international community to take all measures that would protect lives in Gaza.

Comment: The relevant part of his speech where he also explicitly says that the 'occupying state' should be held accountable for its crimes:


Asharq Al Awsat reports on his seemingly last minute cancellation to the G7:
Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz informed Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of his inability to attend the Group of Seven (G7) summit on Friday due to Hajj season.

In a cable, the Crown Prince said he won't be able to participate in the summit slated for June 14 in Italy due to his commitments to oversee the annual Hajj season.


He will have known of Hajj's date well in advance.


The Crown Prince thanked the Italian prime minister for the invitation to participate in the communication session of the G7 summit.

The Prince noted the strength of the relationship between their countries and wished Italian authorities success in hosting the summit.
This is all particularly notable given other news relating to the Prince, and developments in Saudi: (20th May) Saudi king hospitalised for 2nd time, follows rumours of assassination attempt on prince


Clipboard

New poll shows UK PM Sunak facing landslide election defeat

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak britain
© Leon Neal/Getty Imagesspeaks to farmers as he campaigns on a farm near Barnstaple on June 18, 2024 in North Devon, United Kingdom. North Devon has been held by the Conservative Party since the 2015 general election.
Of the 632 seats being contested on July 4, Savanta said that 175 seats were currently "too close to call.".

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak could become the country's first sitting prime minister to lose their seat at a general election, according to the findings of a shock new poll.

The main opposition left-of-center Labour Party is on course to win a whopping 516 seats at the July 4 election, according to analysis published Wednesday by market research company Savanta, which was conducted in partnership with Electoral Calculus and the Telegraph.

If correct, the upcoming vote would deliver Labour a supermajority of 382, comfortably more than former Prime Minister Tony Blair's historic 1997 victory.

Comment: The tsunami of rejection of the globalists is gathering strength. And they seem to be clueless as to why. Sunak is a typical example: His only redeeming feature is his stance on the trans mess:


Crusader

Vatican charges Archbishop Viganò with 'crime of schism' - Viganò exposed abuse and fraud, condemned lockdowns

Archbishop Viganò'
© CopyrightScreenshot of Archbishop Viganò's YouTube channel. Ultra-conservative Carlo Maria Viganò says he is accused of splitting the church and denying pontiff's legitimacy.
A former Catholic church diplomat and virulent critic of Pope Francis has said the Vatican is putting him on trial for denying the pontiff's legitimacy.

Carlo Maria Viganò, 83, an ultra-conservative who was the Vatican's ambassador to the US from 2011 to 2016, said the powerful department of doctrine had summoned him on Thursday to hear the charges.

In posts in several languages on X, Viganò said the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith had set out accusations "of having committed the crime of schism" - that is, splitting the Catholic church.

He was also charged with "having denied the legitimacy of 'Pope Francis', of having broken communion 'with Him', and of having rejected the Second Vatican Council" in the 1960s, which set the church on a modernising path, Viganò wrote.

Comment: More research would be needed, but it seems that Viganò may be one of the more honourable members of the clergy; as summarized in the X-post below, that includes a video from his own social media account, and which is then laid out in more detail in the Wikipedia snippet that follows:
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has been summoned to the Vatican to be excommunicated by Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope.

As seen in this video, he courageously spoke out against child trafficking and named individuals such as Hillary Clinton, John Podesta, and former editor of The Recount, Slade Sohmer, who was arrested for child p*rnography.

He went on to speak about how Jeffrey Epstein ran a blackmail operation on his island, collecting evidence of well-known people committing heinous ritual crimes against children while working for the Israeli Mossad.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò also spoke out against the following:

- Stolen elections
- COVID mandates
- Corruption of the church
- Israel killing civilians in Palestine
- Against the World Economic Forum

He is now being charged with denying the legitimacy of "Pope Francis" and breaking communion "with Him" and of having rejected the Second Vatican Council.


On Wikipedia we read:
Carlo Maria Viganò (Italian pronunciation: [vigaˈnɔ]; born 16 January 1941) is an Italian Catholic prelate who served as Apostolic Nuncio to the United States 2011 to 2016. He previously served as secretary-general of the Governorate of Vatican City State from 2009 to 2011. He is known for having publicized the Vatican leaks scandal of 2012, in which he revealed financial corruption in the Vatican, and a 2018 letter accusing Pope Francis and other Catholic leaders of covering up sexual abuse allegations against former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, although Viganò himself has been accused of covering for McCarrick and shifting the blame to Pope Francis.[1]

Viganò was ordained a priest in 1968 and spent most of his career working in a diplomatic capacity for the Holy See. As a priest, he served on a number of diplomatic missions before being consecrated a bishop by Pope John Paul II in 1992. Viganò was appointed secretary general of the Vatican City Governatorate in 2009, where he reformed the finances of Vatican City and turned a budget deficit into a surplus. He complained directly to Pope Benedict XVI about financial corruption. The unauthorized publication of two of his letters led to the Vatican leaks scandal, exposing financial mismanagement and wrongdoing in the Vatican. On August 25, 2018, Viganò published an 11-page letter accusing Pope Francis and numerous other senior church leaders of concealing allegations of sexual misconduct against McCarrick. Viganò called on Francis to resign.

[...]
In 2009, Viganò was appointed secretary general of the Vatican City governatorate. In that role he established centralized accounting procedures and accountability for cost overruns that reportedly helped turn a US$10.5 million deficit for the city-state into a surplus of $44 million in one year.[9]

In 2010, Viganò suggested that the Vatican should drop out of the Euro currency agreement in order to avoid new European banking regulations. Instead, the Vatican chose to adhere to the Euro agreement and accept the new scrutiny that tougher banking regulations required.[10]

In late January 2012 a television program aired in Italy under the name of Gli intoccabili (The Untouchables),[11] purporting to disclose confidential letters and memos of the Vatican.[12] Among the documents were letters written to the pope and to the Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, by Viganò, complaining of corruption in Vatican finances and a campaign of defamation against him. Viganò, formerly the second ranked Vatican administrator to the Pope, requested not to be transferred for having exposed alleged corruption that cost the Holy See millions in higher contract prices.[13]

[...]

In May 2020, National Catholic Reporter reported that a number of German bishops had rejected COVID-19 conspiracy theories spread by Viganò,[118][119] saying that "populists and other conspiracy theorists [...] want to interpret all efforts to contain the pandemic as a pretext to found a hate-filled technocratic tyranny and wipe out Christian civilization."[118] Viganò had circulated an appeal he wrote and posted on the website Veritas Liberabit Vos in which he criticized "disproportionate and unjustifiable restrictions" on the "exercise of freedom of worship, expression and movement" enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying it was "social engineering" and "subtle forms of dictatorship" that violated "inalienable rights of citizens and their fundamental freedoms" and were a "disturbing prelude to the realization of a world government beyond all control".[120] He cast doubt on the "contagiousness, danger and resistance of the virus".[120] He said that "foreign powers" and "shady interests" were interfering in domestic affairs and were part of a "plot to create a world government" that "would result in the permanent imposition of unacceptable forms of restriction on freedoms".[121]

In his June 7, 2020 letter to then-President Donald Trump, which was published on LifeSiteNews,[122] Viganò made "apocalyptic claims about a looming spiritual battle and a globalist conspiracy pursuing a one-world government", according to the Catholic News Agency.[123] Viganò said that some Catholic bishops were aligned with the New World Order conspiracy,[124][125] and that they invoked the Masonic "universal brotherhood" — also part of the new world order plot. He described the protests and the COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns as a Biblical struggle between light and dark, urging President Trump to fight against the deep state in the United States, which included responding to the protests.[124] Viganò alleged that the protests were organized by now President Joe Biden who embodies the deep state goals.[125] President Trump responded favorably to the letter in a Tweet and encouraged everyone to read Viganò's letter.[126]

Journalists, from Radio Canada, The New York Times and historian and theologian Massimo Faggioli, traced the link between President Trump and Viganò, to the archbishop's appointment in 2011 as Nuncio to the United States.[17][127][128] In 2008, when President Obama was elected, American Catholics had increased their influence through their alliance with the Tea Party, according to Faggioli.[128] Faggioli said that in Washington over the next five years, Viganò "forged close ties" with the "militant fringe" of traditionalist Catholics and gradually embraced conspiracy theories.[127] When Pope Francis became Pope, some Catholics in the United States believed it was part of a globalist elite plot to liberalize the Catholic Church. Faggioli said that Trump had popularized and normalized the conspiracy theories, so that when Viganò published of a series of letters with strong conspiratorial overtones from May to October 2020, Trump's "most ardent Catholic supporters" had adhered to Viganò's messages.[127]

In a July 2020 interview, Viganò accused Pope Francis of following the 'homosexual agenda of the New World Order'.[129]


On October 30, 2020, Viganò wrote another letter to President Trump which framed the World Economic Forum's Great Reset initiative within the context of the New World Order global conspiracy theory "against God and humanity".[130] He said the Great Reset was led by the "global élite" who wanted to "subdue" humanity using "coercive measures" to "limit individual freedoms".[130][131] Viganò said the price of a promised basic universal income from the International Monetary Fund would be the "renunciation of private property". He warned that a digital ID, a health passport, and Bill Gates' vaccination would become mandatory, and refusal to comply would result in internment. Viganò said that the lockdowns in the early months of 2021 were part of the activation of the Great Reset. Viganò said in the October 30 letter that then President Trump represented the "final garrison against the world dictatorship" and that the United States represented a "defending wall" in a "war" against globalists, such as the President of the United States Joe Biden, Pope Francis (whom Viganò addresses as simply Jorge Mario Bergoglio), Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, France's President Emmanuel Macron, and Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.[130] Sections of this letter were included in an article by The Spectator columnist, James Delingpole — a key proponent of the great reset conspiracy theory — a version of the anti-lockdown conspiracy.[132] One Church official said that he was "simply stunned at what is being disseminated in the name of the Church and Christendom: crude conspiracy theories without facts or evidence combined with a right-wing populist combative rhetoric that sounds frightening."[118] Viganò did not offer proof to support his claims, according to the CNA.[123]
And there's more which can be found on the Wikipedia page. On balance, it seems there was a sexual abuse allegation, as well as a weak fraud allegation, against Viganò, but even establishment controlled Wikipedia doesn't appear to have much evidence backing those up.