Puppet MastersS


Mr. Potato

Ex-Fake Intelligence chief Panetta says Trump risks blame for attack if he ignores briefings

Noah Browning
Reuters
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 17:51 UTC
panetta
© REUTERS/Rick WilkingUn-intelligent.
Former CIA director Leon Panetta said on Wednesday that President-elect Donald Trump risked being blamed after any potential attack on the United States if he refused to receive more regular intelligence briefings.

U.S. officials told Reuters that Trump is receiving an average of one presidential intelligence briefing a week - far fewer than most of his recent predecessors - but that his deputy Mike Pence gets briefings around six days a week.

Panetta, a former Democratic Congressman who served as CIA director and defense secretary in President Barack Obama's first term, told the Arab Strategy Forum, a conference sponsored by the government of Dubai, that Trump's aversion "can't last."

"I've seen presidents who have asked questions about whether that intelligence is verifiable, what are the sources for that intelligence, but I have never seen a president who said, 'I don't want that stuff,'" Panetta said.

Comment: So let's get this straight. Trump is receiving one briefing a week. He says they're repetitive. Those facts do not imply that as president he would ignore a terror threat. Presumably that would not be repetitive. And presumably the intelligence community would be intelligent enough to tell him, "We have something new and very important for you." Panetta is an idiot.

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Laptop

Clinton campaign aide Delavan claims Podesta leaks triggered by his 'typo'


RT
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 17:30 UTC
John Podesta
© Carlos Barria / Reuters
A "typo" in a message to John Podesta's aide may have led to thousands of emails from the account of Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman being leaked online.

The simple mistake allegedly occurred when Charles Delavan advised Podesta aide Sara Latham that a phishing attack email was a "legitimate" email. Delavan told the New York Times that he had meant to type "illegitimate."
Charles Delavan email
The original mail, sent to Podesta's Gmail account on March 19 this year, advised "Someone just used your password to try to sign in to your Google Account." It claimed the source of the attempted sign in was from Ukraine and provided a URL to where a new password could be set.


Comment: This is just a red herring. The original scam message had an obvious bogus "change password" link but the link provided by Delavan was correct.

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Piggy Bank

British MPs will enjoy second £1,000 pay hike in a year, as average worker endures 10% real term wage drop


RT
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 17:37 UTC
The House of Commons, London, Britain
© Parliament TV / ReutersThe House of Commons, London, Britain
MPs will see their salaries rise by over £1,000 ($1,271) next April, in the second pay hike in just one year, despite average UK earnings falling by over 10 percent in real terms over the past 10 years.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) approved the rise just months after the body pushed through a controversial 1.3 percent salary increase.

The £1,049 pay hike represents a 1.4 percent salary jump, and will see MP's annual earnings rise from £74,962 to £76,011.

It is well above the one percent cap imposed on public sectors until 2019, and significantly higher than most UK wage earners, who have seen their pay drop in real terms over the past decade.
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Gold Seal

Russian UN envoy points out hypocrisy of Samantha Power trying to claim moral high ground: "As if she was Mother Teresa herself"


RT
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 17:43 UTC
samantha power
© Mandel Ngan / ReutersUnited States Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power
Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin hit back at his US counterpart, Samantha Power, at a UN Security Council meeting, saying that she was not Mother Teresa and represents a country with a long record of violations.

Power and Churkin both spoke at a UN Security Council meeting on Aleppo in New York City on Monday. Power began by accusing Russia, the Assad government of Syria, and Iran of "conquest and carnage in Aleppo."

"You bear responsibility for these atrocities by rejecting UN ICRC evacuation efforts, you are signaling to those militia who are massacring innocents to keep doing what they are doing, denying or obfuscating the facts as you will do today," said Power emotionally.

According to the Power, Washington knows "what was happening" and everyone knows that Russia is involved.

"To the Assad regime, Russia and Iran, your forces and proxies are carrying out these crimes, your barrel bombs and mortars and airstrikes have allowed the militia to encircle tens of thousands of civilians," she said.
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Snowflake

Killary lost, get over it libtards and stop blaming Russia, WikiLeaks and 'Fake News'

H.A. Goodman
Huffington Post
Tue, 13 Dec 2016 17:25 UTC
crying hillary supporters
Stop blaming WikiLeaks.

Stop blaming Russia.

Stop citing a secret CIA report, especially since The New York Times published an article on October 31, 2016 titled Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia:
Law enforcement officials say that none of the investigations so far have found any conclusive or direct link between Mr. Trump and the Russian government. And even the hacking into Democratic emails, F.B.I. and intelligence officials now believe, was aimed at disrupting the presidential election rather than electing Mr. Trump.
Therefore, the FBI has already contradicted the CIA on its Russian conspiracy theories.

Was this New York Times article an example of "fake" news?

As for Russian interference through WikiLeaks, NSA Chief Mike Rogers is quoted on November 21, 2016 in The Hill stating DNC emails had little impact on the election:
National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers said Sunday that he does not believe the publication of stolen Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails affected the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
"I don't think in the end it had the effect that [the hackers] had hoped it might," Rogers said during a panel at the Halifax International Security Forum.
Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain (R-Az.) expressed a similar sentiment on Saturday, stating that, "I do not think that the outcome of the election was impacted by Russian hacking."
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Top Secret

Obama orders full Senate Torture Report to be shielded from public for 12 years


RT
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 20:32 UTC
Torture
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Those who wished to read the full text of the notorious Senate report on documenting the CIA torture of detainees after 9/11 will have to wait for 12 years. The White House ordered it kept under seal after Barack Obama leaves office.

Seven US senators urged the Obama administration to declassify the 6,770-page Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report on the CIA's detention and interrogation program so the public could have a full account of past torture practices.

White House counsel Neil Eggleston, in responding to the request, said the president had told the National Archives and Records Administration that access to the classified material should be shielded from public access requests for 12 years.

"At this time, we are not pursing declassification of the full study," Eggleston wrote in a letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein (D, California).

Comment: See also: Under White House protection, CIA suppressed Senate torture probe, threatened congress members

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Yoda

Forbes names Putin most influential person in the world for fourth year in a row


Sputnik
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 17:18 UTC
putin
© Sputnik/ Sergey Guneev
US business magazine Forbes named Wednesday Russian President Vladimir Putin the most influential person in the world for the fourth time in a row.

The magazine also included US President-elect Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the list of The World's Most Powerful People, granting them the second and the third places, respectively.

"For the fourth consecutive year, Forbes ranked Russian President Vladimir Putin as the world's most powerful person. From the motherland to Syria to the U.S. presidential elections, Russia's leader continues to get what he wants," the magazine said.

The magazine ranks global state leaders, capitalists, philanthropists and entrepreneurs along four criteria. The magazine editors assess the extent and use of the person's political power, influence and financial resources.
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Megaphone

Ex-Italian FM: Aleppo is key to liberating Syria from terrorists


RT
Tue, 13 Dec 2016 16:56 UTC
syrian soldiers
© Omar Sanadiki / Reuters
Retaking Aleppo and getting eastern Aleppo under full control of the Syrian government would be one of the key points to go ahead with a political solution for the future of Syria, says former Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini.

The Syrian army is reportedly on the brink of liberating the city of Aleppo; that has been engulfed in violence for almost six years. Although fighting continues in some areas, there have been scenes of celebration on the streets over the army's advance.

RT: What can the liberation of Aleppo mean for the future of the Syrian conflict?

Franco Frattini: It would be very important. It is key in the liberation of the entire territory of Syria from those that I wouldn't define as good faith rebels; they have close links to terrorist organizations. So, retaking Aleppo and eastern Aleppo under full control of the regime - even though the regime has committed some activities I don't like - would be one of the key points to go ahead with the political solution for the future of Syria. And this is very important, [it is] what Russia is [calling] for, what other partners want... But the first precondition is to liberate the most important cities and particularly Aleppo. Great success for the coalition against terrorism, against so-called rebels.
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Chess

Trump's pick of Secretary of State: 'Time to ensure that change means change'

John Wight
RT
Tue, 13 Dec 2016 16:43 UTC
Rex Tillerson
© Mike Stone / ReutersRex Tillerson
There'll be opposition to Trump's pick for Secretary of State, but there's a lot of momentum behind the anti-establishment president, and Rex Tillerson will be seen as a part of the anti-establishment future for the US, says political commentator John Wight.

US President-elect Donald Trump has picked Rex Tillerson, the head of oil giant ExxonMobil, as his Secretary of State.

He is to become the 69th Secretary of State and will also serve as a member of the National Security Council.

RT: Trump has picked Rex Tillerson as his Secretary of State, what do you think about his choice?
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Magnify

Imperial think-tank CFR sees NATO-Russia confrontation as top risk for US in 2017


RT
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 16:35 UTC
nato exercise latvia
© Ints Kalnins / ReutersBritish Ghurkas attend the multinational NATO exercise Saber Strike in Adazi, Latvia
A NATO-Russia confrontation has been deemed a top risk by a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) survey, conducted by foreign policy experts. This placed it alongside the risk of a nuclear crisis with North Korea and a severe terrorist attack on the US.

The likelihoods for all major American fears coming true were split into two groups - those with a moderate likelihood of happening, but causing a high impact; and those with a high likelihood of happening, but causing a moderate impact.

This year was different, however. Despite tempers flaring and tensions boiling over, the experts didn't feel there was anything to warrant their attention that would carry both - a high likelihood of happening, and a high risk of a severe impact at the same time. This was the opposite of last year, when the Syrian civil war was projected to intensify even further.

Nonetheless, the CFR's Center for Preventive Action (CPA), which conducted the survey, believes that if any escalation - intended or accidental - takes place alongside Russia-NATO borders, it will stem "from assertive Russian behavior in Eastern Europe" - and not any sort of provocation by Baltic NATO members, whether it be renewed force buildups or mass-scale military exercises.


Comment: All the US has to do is move the NATO bases away from Russia's border, end the useless sanctions against Russia, and that would likely alleviate any Russian reaction to American aggression. The US acts like it's Russia's fault they are surrounded by NATO:
Russia wants war
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