Puppet MastersS


Che Guevara

Tulsi Gabbard: US history of regime change wars around the world leads to North Korea anti-American stance

Tulsi Gabbard
The Hill
Wed, 24 May 2017 18:59 UTC
missile launch
© Getty
Thanks to shortsighted politicians addicted to regime change wars, my constituents in Hawaii and the American people are on the verge of a stark new reality. As the United States faces an increasingly hostile and dangerously capable North Korea, we are spending billions on strengthening our missile defense systems, leaders from my home state are discussing reopening and restocking 1950s fallout shelters, and plans are in the works to teach a new generation of children how to "duck and cover," inflicting upon them the same nightmares many baby boomers faced throughout the Cold War.

Like his father, Kim Jong Un is a terrible tyrant that pursues his own grandeur at the expense of his people who starve and languish in isolation. Kim Jong Un's latest missile tests follow a long history of North Korea's strengthening and building up its nuclear weapons program. But we must recognize that their actions have not taken place in a vacuum. Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un learned lessons from the U.S. toppling other evil tyrants — like Saddam Hussein and Moammar Gadhafi.

Every time the U.S. embarks on a new war to "rid the world of a monster," it deepens the resolve of other "monsters" who believe the only way to protect themselves from our penchant for regime change wars is to have nuclear weapons as a deterrent.
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Chess

Rosenstein, Mueller and the Russia-Trump special investigation - The Deep State's regime change tactics in the US

Mike Whitney
Counterpunch
Wed, 24 May 2017 18:40 UTC
rod rosenstein
© Office of Public AffairsDeputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein
Let's say you own a big US corporation but need help managing your domestic accounts. So you hire a bright, young man named Bruno who just graduated from Harvard Business School with a Masters in corporate finance. And the first day on the job, you discover that Bruno has secretly employed a private detective who has obtained subpoena power to dig through all of your business accounts, all your investments past and present, all your taxes going back decades, and any personal transactions you might have made in the last 20 years or so.

And, oh yeah, and he also has the authority to interview anyone he chooses, including people who might have a grudge against you or who lost money on one of your dodgy real estate deals or who simply doesn't like the way you comb your hair. And, of course, Bruno knows that the information he gathers is going to be deliberately tweaked to look as suspicious as possible, then it's going to be leaked to the press and splashed across the headlines, then it's going to be presented as evidence to a Grand Jury, and then, finally - after months of excruciating testimony and nonstop mud-slinging - it will be used in criminal proceedings that will lead your removal as CEO of your corporation.

How would you feel about that? Would you feel like your new employee had betrayed you? Would you think that Bruno was a back-stabbing scoundrel who was secretly working for your enemies?

Rod Rosenstein is Bruno. The man is a skunk, there's no two-ways about it.
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X

Rand Paul: A move to force vote opposing Saudi weapons deal

Matthew Boyle
Breitbart
Tue, 23 May 2017 00:00 UTC
Rand Paul
© J. Scott Applewhite/APSenator Rand Paul
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), a key ally of President Donald Trump's in the U.S. Senate, plans to force a senate vote regarding the Trump administration's new more-than-$100 billion Saudi Arabian weapons deal announced on the president's foreign trip.

In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News in his U.S. Senate office on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Paul explained how he will do it and why:
There's an arms export legislation from the 1970s and it gives the power to one senator to ask for a vote if they object to an arms sale. I think that by selling Saudi Arabia more arms, we further the arms race. We encourage more arms to be bought on both sides of the arms race. I think that there's evidence that Saudi Arabia has been involved with terrorism. One of the leaked emails from Hillary Clinton was her saying that 'my goodness, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are funding ISIS in Syria—we need to do something to get them to quit funding these radical groups. So there's a lot of evidence. There's even evidence going back to 9/11. Sen. Graham—Bob Graham—said that he thought that there was from the 28 pages and other evidence that there was a great deal of evidence pointing to Saudi Arabia's government actually being involved in 9/11.

Comment: See also:

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Briefcase

'All on the table': Senate intel panel issues two additional subpoenas to Flynn


RT
Wed, 24 May 2017 01:27 UTC
Burr and Warner
© Kevin Lamarque / ReutersSenate Intelligence Committee Chair Richard Burr (L), ranking member Senator Mark Warner
General Michael Flynn has another chance to release subpoenaed documents before possibly being held in contempt of Congress, the Senate Intelligence Committee's leadership said as two new subpoenas were announced.

Following a closed-door intelligence meeting on Tuesday, Committee Chairman Senator Richard Burr (R-North Carolina) and Vice Chairman Senator Mark Warner (D-Virginia) told reporters the committee has issued new subpoenas to compel President Donald Trump's former national security advisor to produce documents as they investigate alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.

On Monday, Flynn's attorney, Robert Kelner, sent a letter to Burr and Warner, informing them that Flynn was invoking his Fifth Amendment constitutional right against self-incrimination in order to avoid releasing documents. In response, Burr and Warner said the committee has been reviewing a range of options to compel Flynn to release the documents.

First, Warner said the committee is directing the new subpoenas at two of Flynn's businesses because they do not have the right to plead the Fifth. "While we disagree with General Flynn's lawyer's interpretation of taking the Fifth, it is even more clear that a business does not have a right to take the Fifth if it's a corporation," Warner said. One subpoena has been served and another is in the process of being served, the senators added.

Comment: The 'Flynn Flinch,' a self-protective move within the environs of a witch-hunt.

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Chart Bar

Drumroll please: Trump reveals the winners and losers in $603B national security budget


RT
Tue, 23 May 2017 22:02 UTC
hatglobedollars
© Simanca/KJN
The Trump administration has unveiled its 2018 budget proposal, which boosts military spending beyond the sequestration cap. It would put total US national security spending, including the Departments of Energy and Justice, at roughly $603 billion.

Under the proposed budget unveiled Tuesday, the Department of Defense would receive $574.5 billion, with another $65 billion earmarked for the Overseas Contingency Operations slush fund. Another $2 billion will go to national defense programs including nuclear security. The budget also envisions $2 billion in savings from improved efficiency and reforms within the Pentagon, including base closures.

This would translate into a 9.5 percent increase in the Pentagon's budget over the current fiscal year. It is also $52 billion more than the military spending cap under the 2011 Budget Control Act, commonly known as sequestration.


Comment: Next step is congressional ratification. The bigger the budget, the stronger the chances you will expend it on a war...because you can.

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Pirates

Turkey recruits, trains thousands of FSA to fight YPG


Sputnik
Wed, 24 May 2017 10:41 UTC
turkflag gunmen
© Unknown
Turkey has ostensibly spent three months training a large rebel force planning to deploy them against the People's Protection Units (YPG), a commander of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) told Sputnik Turkey on condition of anonymity.

"Turkey is in the process of creating an army manned by the FSA fighters to carry out an operation against the YPG. This force will also be tasked with patrolling the security zone between Jarabulus and Idlib. This training has been ongoing for three months. Turkish special forces have led a training program lasting 45 days in Gaziantep and Kilis. Syrians from Idlib, Aleppo, Damascus and Hama have enrolled in this program. They have freely joined the FSA. These are mostly ethnic Turkmen or Arabs. There are some Kurds as well," the source said. The Ankara-trained FSA force is said to consist of 10,000 fighters.

The FSA commander added that those undergoing training receive $300 per month. Turkey also provides them with shelter and food. He did not specify when the program would be over, but said that it is going to happen soon. The FSA commander named the cities of Manbij, Afrin and Tell Abyad as the primary targets of Turkey's upcoming operation.

"According to the information we received, Turkey has been engaged in training the FSA to launch an operation in Afrin. Ankara decided to do this after the United States announced that they would arm the YPG. Turkey has chosen Afrin because unlike Kobani and Qamishli there are no US troops in the city. In addition, Turkey wants to capture Azaz, Marea, Idlib and territories to the West of the Jarabulus-Aleppo axis. Ankara wants to link western Aleppo and Idlib. We are awaiting Damascus' and Russia's response to these plans," Chairman of the Syrian Democratic Council Rezan Hiddo told Sputnik Turkey.

Comment: Will the US confront Turkey in support of the Kurds, who have devoted manpower and expertise on the battlefield in support of the US coalition and Syria, and to whom they have just upgraded armaments? Or will the US throw them under the bus and acquiesce to Erdogan's genocide?

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Gold Coins

Arizona makes it official: Gold and silver now treated as money

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Tue, 23 May 2017 00:00 UTC
Ron Paul
© TheFreeThoughtProject.com
A major victory against the United States Federal Reserve comes out of Arizona this week as Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed House Bill 2014 into law — officially allowing Arizona residents to use precious metals as currency — instead of fiat federal reserve notes. The bill went after the federal government's attack on precious metals by eliminating the capital gains taxes on precious metals. Arizona residents no longer have to tell the federal government how much they 'gained' or 'lost'.

To put this in layman's terms, if you buy an ounce of gold today for $1,200 and tomorrow it takes $1,300 to buy that same ounce — you did not make money — because that value is based on federal reserve notes. If you sell that coin for $100 more, it is not a profit but, rather, a loss. "It's called inflation," Representative Mark Finchem, who introduced the bill on January 9, said. "The Internal Revenue Service for many, many years has been taxing inflation as though it was a gain."

The Arizona bill now allows people to "deduct the amount of any net capital gain derived from the exchange of one kind of legal tender for another kind of legal tender or specie (gold and silver coins) from their gross income on their state income tax."

"The U.S. Mint is charged with protecting the value of money, but the Federal Reserve creates nothing but debt. Yet Congress authorized a tax when making the exchange of precious metals for dollars. It's illegal and they know it, this bill is an effort by one state to protect the people from such confiscation," said Finchem.

Naturally, this news is music to the ears of former Congressman and Campaign for Liberty Chairman Ron Paul, who testified before the Arizona Senate Finance Committee in support of the bill in March.

Comment: Bravo Arizona. One down, 49 to go.

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Snakes in Suits

Caught on tape: Wasserman Schultz threatens Capitol police chief for investigating her IT staff's crimes

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Wed, 24 May 2017 18:33 UTC
Imran Awan seen with Bill Clinton
Imran Awan seen with Bill Clinton
Something stinks here.

February we first reported on the Anwan brothers, the (Not-Russian) IT Staff Who Allegedly Hacked Congress' Computer Systems.

The brothers were barred from computer networks at the House of Representatives Thursday, The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group has learned.
Three members of the intelligence panel and five members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs were among the dozens of members who employed the suspects on a shared basis. The two committees deal with many of the nation's most sensitive issues, information and documents, including those related to the war on terrorism.

The brothers are suspected of serious violations, including accessing members' computer networks without their knowledge and stealing equipment from Congress.
The three men are "shared employees," meaning they are hired by multiple offices, which split their salaries and use them as needed for IT services.
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Magnify

Spy games: China intensifies campaign against US espionage

Ben Dooley
Yahoo News
Mon, 22 May 2017 00:00 UTC
Chinese cartoon
© AFP Photo/Greg BakerChinese propaganda cartoon warns residents about foreign spies.
A cartoon posted in a dusty alleyway in the heart of Beijing warns passersby not to fall prey to the charms of foreign men: they might be spies. It is a graphic reminder of a struggle usually waged in the shadows, and a sign of the Chinese government's intensifying campaign against espionage. The poster's comic book tale of love gone wrong ends in tears and a stern warning.

But China's real life spy games have had a darker denouement, according to a New York Times article Sunday alleging that authorities killed or jailed up to 20 people for spying on behalf of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The counterintelligence operation took place between the end of 2010 and 2012, the Times said, an exceptionally sensitive period in Chinese domestic politics that saw the downfall of some of the country's most prominent politicians amid a delicate leadership transition.

In the years since, there has been a marked rise in warnings against the influence of so-called "black hands", with state media frequently fretting about the infiltration of "foreign forces" into domestic politics and society. The rhetoric has been accompanied by a tightening of the domestic security environment, including a recent raft of sweeping legislation formalising the government's broad powers to counter threats from abroad.

Comment: Crazy-making.The only hope in canceling out this exhausting and unending activity is for both sides to reach 'nul set'. Until then, it remains an escalating 'treadmill' from which neither side can afford to, nor will ever, step away. They create a paradigm that excludes partnership for the greater good and benefits shared with all mankind.

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Briefcase

Legal process granted: Wikipedia to challenge NSA surveillance in court


Sputnik
Tue, 23 May 2017 21:44 UTC
NSABird cogs
© OpEdNews
In a rare bit of good news for privacy activists in the United States, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that a legal challenge to the massive global surveillance architecture of the NSA may proceed, amid claims that the agency routinely invades the privacy rights of citizens while trampling on the laws of the US Constitution.

The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, in a unanimous 3-0 vote, will allow the Wikipedia online encyclopedia parent organization, Wikimedia Foundation, to proceed with a legal challenge to the NSA's "Upstream" global surveillance arm.

NSA's Upstream, whose existence was made public following leaks by whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2013, is a US global spy program that accesses the cables, switches and routers comprising the principal data routes of the internet to conduct universal international communications surveillance. At least nine organizations, including Wikimedia Foundation, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch previously argued that, as their representatives source or receive over one trillion international communications every year, Upstream presented a violation of the right to privacy, free expression and association.

In 2013 a US District Judge in Baltimore had dismissed the lawsuit, citing a lack of evidence that the NSA conducted global surveillance "at full throttle." But in the new appeal to allow the lawsuit to proceed, Circuit Judge Albert Diaz suggested that there was "nothing speculative" about the claims made by Wikimedia Foundation and the other plaintiffs.

Diaz, Reuters reported, stated that the NSA interception and copying of international internet communications revealed "an invasion of a legally protected interest — the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures."

Comment: Wikileaks shined a light into this dark and deep hole. The showdown in court will be epic.

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