Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

Merkel announces that Turks in Germany 'forbidden' to vote on death penalty

German Chancellor Angela Merkel
© Fabrizio Bensch / ReutersGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that Turks living in Germany won't be allowed to vote in a possible referendum on restoring the death penalty in Turkey.

Turkish President Recep Erdogan - who has recently seen a significant increase in his powers after a landmark referendum victory - said he would stand in favor of bringing back capital punishment if the measure passed parliament or a referendum.

However, the death penalty is banned in all European Union states, which means the initiative could put an end to Turkey's EU membership prospects.

Bad Guys

The Revolving Door: Merkel's fmr defense minister joins arms corp with links to Saudis

Franz Josef Jung
© Fabrizio Bensch / ReutersFranz Josef Jung
The former German defense minister, Franz Josef Jung, has joined the board of the military hardware supplier Rheinmetall, linked to the sale of weapons used by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen through nebulous subsidiaries.

Jung, a member of Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDC) party, will sit on the company's supervisory board after being elected by company shareholders at its AGM in Berlin on Tuesday.

Rheinmetall has been accused in the past of using subsidiary companies to bypass German export controls. Its South African subsidiary, Rheinmetall Denel Munition has built ammunition factories in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Comment: One of many glaring examples of Western war profiteering - those who initiate massive military expenditures look forward to someday raking in the massive profits.

Further reading:


Eye 1

War in the Streets: Opposition snipers shoot 3 people in Venezuela

Violent Venezuela opposition protests
© (AP)
Three people were shot by alleged snipers in the Andean Venezuelan city of Merida on Monday.

According to local press reports, Merida state police officer Hugo Guillen (27), Los Andes University student Freilan Alvarez (21), and motorcycle taxi driver Anderson Dugarte (31) were critically injured when they came under sniper fire along the Viaducto Campo Elias Avenue at approximately 6pm.

As shown in an explicit video, Guillen was shot in the neck, while Alvarez received a bullet in the right eye and Dugarte was shot in the head. All three are currently receiving treatment in the Los Andes University Hospital.

Comment: Further reading:


Newspaper

Erdogan urges '100s of thousands' Muslims to visit Jerusalem in support of Palestinians

Israel tourist
© Ammar Awad / Reuters
The Turkish president has described Israel's treatment of Palestinians as "racist" and "discriminatory," as he urged Turks and other Muslims to visit Jerusalem "more often" to support the Palestinian struggle for an independent state.

Claiming that the decade-long Israeli embargo on the Gaza Strip "has no place in humanity," Recep Erdogan called Israeli practices against Palestinians "racist" and "discriminatory."

Attention

President Trump fires FBI director James Comey

James Comey
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
President Donald Trump has fired FBI Director James Comey at the recommendation of US Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, according to a White House announcement.

"The FBI is one of our Nation's most cherished and respected institutions and today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of law enforcement," said President Trump.

Comment: Well well, is Trump finally draining the swamp? Mainstream media tabloids like The Guardian and The Telegraph are already trying to twist the story, saying Comey was fired due to the ongoing investigation into Trump's ties with Russia. Idiot John Mcain has also weighed in:
"While the President has the legal authority to remove the Director of the FBI, I am disappointed in the President's decision to remove James Comey from office. James Comey is a man of honor and integrity, and he has led the FBI well in extraordinary circumstances. I have long called for a special congressional committee to investigate Russia's interference in the 2016 election. The president's decision to remove the FBI Director only confirms the need and the urgency of such a committee."
Even Bernie Sanders has jumped on the bandwagon:

Here's what Trump had to say on his official, presidential twitter account:




Video

Video confirms White Helmets are Al-Qaeda's "Hidden Soldiers"

Abu Jaber, Al-qaeda
Abu Jaber, leader of Tahrir al-Sham (al-Qaeda in Syria)
As hard as the Western corporate media works to employ propaganda techniques and tragic narratives with which to convince their respective populations that the terrorists funded by Western governments fight against the Syrian government are actually democracy-loving freedom fighters and selfless activists, more and more revelations come to light showing the true nature of heavily hyped groups like the White Helmets.

Indeed, it seems that every week, another piece of evidence emerges revealing the White Helmets to be nothing more than a wing of al-Qaeda/al-Nusra designed to produce clever propaganda videos to tear at the usually hardened heartstrings of unsuspecting Americans. After having been exposed for housing themselves in the same building as Nusra/Qaeda, carrying weapons (also see Vanessa Beeley's article here), using dangerous and erratic rescue and emergency techniques, proudly proclaiming support for terrorists and the desire to see Syrian military personnel killed, the White Helmets went on to sign documents and proclamations in support of Nusra in its effort to prevent civilians from access to drinking water.

Now, a little-known video made by the leader of Tahrir al-Sham (al-Qaeda in Syria), Abu Jaber, on March 16, 2017, is making the rounds of social media, showing Jaber praising the White Helmets as the "hidden soldiers of the revolution" and thanking them for what they do."Second, a message of thanks and gratitude to the hidden soldiers of our revolution," Jaber said. "On top of the list are the parents of the martyrs and the men of the White Helmets."

"Second, a message of thanks and gratitude to the hidden soldiers of our revolution," Jaber said. "On top of the list are the parents of the martyrs and the men of the White Helmets."

Comment: At this point, regular readers of SOTT.net are well-aware that the White Helmets are PR tool for Western imperialism in Syria.


Snakes in Suits

Neoliberalism, a species of fascism

neolib
© Siiri Taimla/Orange Magazine
The time for rhetorical reservations is over. Things have to be called by their name to make it possible for a co-ordinated democratic reaction to be initiated, above all in the public services.
Liberalism was a doctrine derived from the philosophy of Enlightenment, at once political and economic, which aimed at imposing on the state the necessary distance for ensuring respect for liberties and the coming of democratic emancipation. It was the motor for the arrival, and the continuing progress, of Western democracies.
Neoliberalism is a form of economism in our day that strikes at every moment at every sector of our community. It is a form of extremism.

Fascism may be defined as the subordination of every part of the State to a totalitarian and nihilistic ideology.
I argue that neoliberalism is a species of fascism because the economy has brought under subjection not only the government of democratic countries but also every aspect of our thought. The state is now at the disposal of the economy and of finance, which treat it as a subordinate and lord over it to an extent that puts the common good in jeopardy.

The austerity that is demanded by the financial milieu has become a supreme value, replacing politics. Saving money precludes pursuing any other public objective. It is reaching the point where claims are being made that the principle of budgetary orthodoxy should be included in state constitutions. A mockery is being made of the notion of public service.

The nihilism that results from this makes possible the dismissal of universalism and the most evident humanistic values: solidarity, fraternity, integration and respect for all and for differences. There is no place any more even for classical economic theory: work was formerly an element in demand, and to that extent there was respect for workers; international finance has made of it a mere adjustment variable.

Comment: Good luck to that thing called humanism and along with it, the rational, autonomous self. We may be, at this point in our evolutionary framework, unable to disengage our individual natures from that of the whole without disenfranchisement. We have become machines with enhanced programming dependent on the collective function and group mindset to achieve stability and balance. Never mind that the perceived benefits short circuit creativity, diversity, thought and solutions. Is there an adjustment to neoliberalism, that offers a balance between the hive and each individual worker as unique and contributing entities, worthy of consideration? Capitalism and power remain the societal driving factors. Unless these two overriding mechanisms are revised, stripped down, relegated to their agreed-upon strengths and places, we will not achieve enough beneficial change to keep humanity from becoming the thing it most abhors.


Cards

Is Rex Tillerson a 'realist' in Washington?

Rex Tillerson
© The Telegraph"The Realist," Rex Tillerson
In first address to State Department and before meeting Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov US Secretary of State Tillerson repudiates neocon ideas and supports a 'realist' foreign policy.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, delivering his first address to the staff of the State Department, has set out a vision of US foreign policy which if different would be radically different from anything seen over the last few decades.

Specifically Tillerson turned neocon foreign policy orthodoxy on its head by arguing that a foreign policy based on promoting US 'values' carried the risk of obstructing US national security and economic interests:
In some circumstances, if you condition our national security efforts on someone adopting our values, we probably can't achieve our national security goals. It really creates obstacles to our ability to advance our national security interests, our economic interests.

Comment: It is in the US' best interests if Tillerson does succeed in bridging the gap between the US and Russia. As a realist, if that is the correct/best terminology, he is one of the few that might just turn things around.


Cookie

Israel's proof of Marwan Barghouti's terrorism is a cookie

Barghouti
© AvaazPrisoner Marwan Barghouti
There seems to be no bottom to the abyss Israel is willing to sink to in its desperation to save its public image against the current Palestinian hunger strike.

Yesterday, the Israeli Prison Services released footage which is allegedly from the 27th of April and 5th of May, supposedly showing hunger strike leader Marwan Barghouti eating something which was wrapped in paper, while sitting on the toilet. Minister of Public Security and Hasbara (propaganda) Gilad Erdan exploited the 'discovery' to make his own video, saying that this proves that "Barghouti is a murderer and hypocrite who urged his fellow prisoners to strike and suffer while he ate behind their back."

There are multiple problems with this footage, beyond the very real possibility that it is fake. A Palestinian prisoner's advocacy group is saying that the footage is not recent and possibly even a decade old.


Comment: That's how the propaganda cookie crumbles. See also:


Passport

NATO troops, wanted by Ankara for coup attempt, granted asylum in Germany

Turk in flag Brandenburg
© picture alliance/dpa/k.-D. Gabbart
Germany has granted refugee status to Turkish nationals who were stationed at NATO bases and applied for asylum amid Ankara's wide scale crackdown on disloyal officials after a failed coup in Turkey last July, according to local media reports. Only "several" Turkish soldiers and their families have been so far given asylum in Germany, the Süddeutsche Zeitung paper, WDR and NDR reported. The asylum seekers are reportedly Turkish officers with diplomatic passports who used to be stationed at NATO bases in Germany and were later dismissed by Ankara.

According to Süddeutsche Zeitung sources, Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) previously held back on reviewing the applications, while awaiting the result of the Turkish constitutional reform referendum. But their pleas were reportedly given the green light after the April 16 plebiscite granted Turkish President Recep Erdogan sweeping new powers. The claims by the Bavarian paper however were never officially confirmed by BAMF.

The approved asylum applications are likely to escalate the tension between Ankara and Berlin, already strained during preparations for the referendum. Erdogan accused Germany of acting like "Nazis" and "fascists" as several German cities banned rallies to drum up support of the plebiscite among Turks living in Germany. It even prevented Turkish ministers from appearing at the events.

Comment: A little help for the Gulenists, courtesy of German officials, it seems.