Puppet MastersS


Map

Syrian Army's new plans: Secure the realm, attack ISIS in the east


Moon of Alabama
Tue, 09 May 2017 17:57 UTC
The de-escalation agreement for four fighting zones in Syria has come into effect. The battles between Syrian government forces (red) and the foreign supported "rebels" (yellow) has ebbed in the north, in Idleb and north Hama, in the south round Deraa, around the besieged "rebel" enclaves north of Homs and east of Damascus in east-Ghouta. That does not mean that those areas are peaceful or safe. In the north Turkey is skirmishing with U.S.-supported Kurds (purple), in Deraa governate ISIS is infighting with other Jihadi "rebels" and in east-Ghouta various "rebel" groups are trying to eliminate each other.

This de-escalation has freed up Syrian government forces which are now repositioning for a large attack through south-east Syria towards Deir-Ezzor and the Iraqi border. One axis of the attack will be from the capital to the east along the Damascus-Baghdad highway towards the Iraqi border. Another one will aim from Palmyra east through Sukhnah towards Deir Ezzor. (Roughly painted as red arrows on the map).
syria map
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Rocket

China tests new missile in Bohai Sea near Korean peninsula


RT
Tue, 09 May 2017 19:27 UTC
Launching missiles
© Reuters
Beijing has tested a new missile close to the Korean peninsula amid heightened tensions in the region, after North Korea, South Korea, and the US recently conducted military drills in the area.

The Chinese military carried out the test in the busy northeastern Bohai Sea close to the Korean peninsula "in recent days," Chinese Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday, citing a statement from China's Defense Ministry.

The operation was designed to "enhance the combat skills of the forces" to safeguard national security, the brief statement said.

Comment: See also: Arms race: China's new missile defense system to defend against US and South Korea

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Attention

Boots on the ground: US, UK, and Jordan reportedly deploy thousands of troops in southern Syria


PressTV
Tue, 09 May 2017 16:42 UTC
US UK Jordan troops Syria
The aerial photo released by the media bureau of Syria's Joint Operation Command on May 8, 2017, allegedly shows the heavy military presence of the US, UK and Jordanian troops in the Syria-Jordan border areas.
Reports coming out of Syria suggest that a joint military force of US, British, and Jordanian troops, equipped with tanks and helicopters, have reportedly been deployed in the war-torn country's southern border areas from Jordan's northern region.

The troops are now reportedly positioned in a long strip region across the border zones of Syria's southern provinces of Dara'a and Suwayda, from Tel Shahab rural area, just a few hundred meters from the Jordanian border, to al-Nasib Border Crossing and Khirbet Awad village.

The forces have also been seen near Ramtha, a Jordanian city, located in the far northwest of the Arab country close to the Syrian border.

The media bureau of Syria's Joint Operation Command also released a number of aerial photos (shown below), taken by drones, which purportedly showed the presence of a large number of British Challenger tanks, UK's main battle tank (MBT), and American Cobra and Black Hawk helicopters.

The exact number of the ground troops is not known, but according to local reports, some 2,000 soldiers have been deployed along the border between Syria and Jordan.
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Eye 1

Washington's McCarthyism of Russia-gate

Robert Parry
Consortiumnews
Sun, 07 May 2017 15:28 UTC
Carter Page
Former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page.
Congressional demands for personal and business information from several of Donald Trump's campaign advisers demonstrate how the Russia-gate investigation continues to spill over into a new breed of McCarthyism infringing on civil liberties, including freedom of speech and freedom of association.

The original thinking had been that congressional and other investigations would concentrate on specific concerns from alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election, such as whether a Trump intermediary somehow conveyed purloined Democratic emails to WikiLeaks for publication on the Internet.

WikiLeaks denies getting the leaked emails from Russians and the Trump campaign denies colluding with Russians, but President Obama's intelligence chiefs claimed that Russian agents hacked the emails and then used intermediaries to get the material to WikiLeaks - although no real evidence of that has been presented publicly.

Comment: See more on the Senate hearings on Russia: 'No evidence Russia influencing voter tallies in...50 states': Clapper, Yates testify before Senate Judiciary Subcommittee

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X

Stephen Colbert's potty mouth leads to FCC investigation after obscene Trump joke


Guardian
Fri, 05 May 2017 15:16 UTC
Stephen Colbert Trump joke
Stephen Colbert's remarks about Donald Trump are going to be investigated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), according to its chairman.

On Thursday, Ajit Pai said the body had received several complaints after the comedian said: "The only thing [Trump's] mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin's cock holster," on his Monday night show.

In an interview with the radio host Rich Zeoli, Pai said: "I have had a chance to see the clip now and so, as we get complaints, and we've gotten a number of them, we are going to take the facts that we find and we are going to apply the law as it's been set out by the supreme court and other courts and we'll take the appropriate action."

After the show aired on Monday night, the hashtag #FireColbert began trending worldwide, with some calling the host's joke homophobic.

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Laptop

Facebook bidding for political influence by hiring ex-Tory and Labour aides


RT
Tue, 09 May 2017 15:19 UTC
Favebook logo with smartphone
© Jaap Arriens / Global Look Press
Facebook is stepping up its attempts to build influence as a political tool by hiring former Tory and Labour political aides to target voters in the run-up to next month's general election.

The social media giant confirmed to the Guardian that it employed staff "whose role it is to help politicians and governments make good use of Facebook."

Facebook recruits include a former Downing Street adviser to David Cameron, a former aide to ex-Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls and a social media expert who worked with the Tories' election strategist Lynton Crosby.

"They have created these links into the campaigns so they can whisper in the parties' ears, say 'we know what you need, why don't you come and spend some money with us,'" source with knowledge of the strategy told the newspaper.

"Their job is to persuade political campaigns to use Facebook."

Comment: More about controlling your world view and perceptions: How Washington, Israel, and associated trolls control information, leading us to our destruction

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Eye 1

Election of Macron another sign of today's Orwellian era of illusions sold as democracy

Finian Cunningham
Sputnik
Tue, 09 May 2017 15:05 UTC
macron
© REUTERS/ Christian Hartmann
French President-elect Emmanuel Macron heralds a new era of politics alright. In an eerily sinister way. This is a huge setback for democracy, not, as the Western media would portray, some kind of victory for the people.

Headlines and commentaries were gushing this week on the election of Macron as the eighth president of France's Fifth Republic. It was supposed to be a victory for European "enlightenment values" and the defeat of nasty populism.

Macron, we are told with benign tones, is a "centrist," a "liberal," an "outsider" who will bring "long-overdue change" to the political establishment in France and across Europe.

The Euronews outlet ran the headline: "Macron victory heralds new political era in France." The spin of newness was contradicted by the accompanying photograph of Macron being patronizingly flanked by outgoing president Francois Hollande.

Hollande is the epitome of the French establishment, who ends his career as the most despised president in the modern history of France. Hollande and his political cronies destroyed the Socialist Party (PS) with their servile embrace of neoliberal capitalist policies. Macron was one of those cronies who was appointed economy minister by Hollande in 2014 without ever having served in elected office before. It was Macron who designed the much-hated employment "reforms," gutting employee rights and giving bosses greater powers to hire and fire.

And as the new president, Macron is promising to drive through even more draconian measures undermining workers and trade unions.
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Video

MoD denies authenticity of ISIS video showing execution of 'Russian agent'


RT
Tue, 09 May 2017 15:08 UTC
Russian deminers in Syria
© Sputnik
The Russian Ministry of Defense has denied the authenticity of a video purporting to show the execution of a Russian intelligence officer in Syria that was released by the propaganda wing of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

The terrorist group released the 12-minute-long video through its media outlet, Furat Media, on Tuesday May 9, which is celebrated in Russia as the day of victory over Nazi Germany. According to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors online jihadi activity, it shows a man dressed in a black jumpsuit kneeling in a desert while urging other Russian agents to surrender before being beheaded by a bearded man in combat fatigues. The video also shows footage of what it claims to be the aftermath of Russian bombing raids.
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Health

Pathetic! Canadian soldiers in Latvia sent out with fire squads when getting pizza in fear of Russian threat

Paul Robinson
Russia Insider
Tue, 09 May 2017 14:48 UTC
Canadian soldiers Latvia
© No weekend passes for these guys!
There is a foreign land so threatened by its neighbour that it requires Canadian troops to defend it, and so dangerous within its borders, so full of traps and snares, that it isn't safe for those Canadian troops to leave their bases other than in large, organized groups.

The country? No, not Afghanistan (we've given up on that), and not Iraq (out troops there aren't confined to base); not Mali (talk of a Canadian military peacekeeping there has vanished of late); and not Yemen (besides, we support the people bombing that country into smithereens and are selling them armoured vehicles); no - Latvia.

Yes, that's right, Latvia, a country so teeming with danger that Canadian soldiers are forbidden to leave their barracks.

Comment: Who needs dezinformatsiya? These clowns discredit themselves with their sheer lunacy!

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Vader

Pentagon's plan for Europe? Make it the frontline in a war with Russia

Manlio Dinucci - translated by Anoosha Boralessa
Voltaire Network
Tue, 09 May 2017 15:02 UTC
Nato General europe
General Curtis Scaparrotti head of the US’s European Command
In preparation for President Trump's visit to Europe (24 May: Rome; 25 May: the Nato Summit, Brussels; 26- 27 May: the G7 Summit at Taormina), the Pentagon presented its strategic plan for the "European theatre". Its spokesperson? General Curtis Scaparrotti who, as the head of the US's European Command, automatically becomes the head of NATO, holding the office of Supreme Allied Commander for Europe. On 2 May, in the US Senate, the General recalls that "the European theatre remains critical to our national interests" and that "the Nato Alliance gives us a unique advantage over our adversaries". Yet such an advantage has now been placed in danger by a "resurgent Russia [that] seeks to undermine the Western-led international order and reassert itself as a global power".

The Supreme Commander calls on its European allies to close in ranks around the United States to defend by every possible means, the "international order" - the one that is founded on the economic, political and military supremacy of the West - endangered by the emergence of new states and social subjects.
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