Puppet MastersS


Info

Afghan militant leader Hekmatyar urges Taliban 'brothers' to end war and offers to mediate talks

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
© ReutersAfghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar speaks to supporters in Jalalabad Province on April 30.
Notorious Afghan militant leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has called on his Taliban "brothers" to end their insurgency and offered to mediate talks with the government.

Hekmatyar's remarks on May 4 followed his return to the capital, Kabul, months after he signed a peace deal with Afghanistan's government.

"I call upon the Taliban to choose me as their brother," he told a ceremony that was held in his honor at the presidential palace. "I will fight for all your legitimate demands."

Attention

Copy of 'Dr. Strangelove'? US General says NATO is ready to fight 'adversary' Russia in Europe

General Curtis M. Scaparrotti
He is totally out of touch.

General Curtis M. Scaparrotti, the head of America's European Command spoke before a US Senate subcommittee and delivered a statement worthy of Dr. Strangelove.

The script transcript of his remarks is something straight out of the early 1950s.

General Scaparrotti made the wild claim that Russia is the enemy of Europe, Ukraine, Georgia and perhaps most astonishingly of all, an enemy of Turkey.

Wall Street

Societe Generale bank profit drops after $1bn dispute settlement with Libya

French bank Societe Generale
© Gonzalo Fuentes / Reuters
French bank Societe Generale reported a 19 percent fall in quarterly net income on Thursday, following its agreement to pay €963 million ($1.1 billion) to the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) over alleged bribery.

Net income fell to €747 million ($817 million) from the previous year's €924 million (over $1 billion). The bank said it has also set aside a €350 million ($381 million) provision in the first quarter related to the case.

"Societe Generale and the Libyan Investment Authority jointly announce that they have signed a confidential settlement agreement that resolves all matters between both parties concerning five financial transactions entered into between 2007 and 2009 that have been the subject of legal action in the English High Court," SocGen and LIA said in a joint statement.

Snakes in Suits

Based on lies, Tories may call for vote to bomb Syrian govt facilities if they win general election

A British RAF Typhoon plane
© Darren Staples / Reuters
Theresa May's Conservatives may push for a fresh vote on launching airstrikes against Syrian government targets if they win a big enough majority at the June 8 general election, it has emerged.

The prime minister reportedly believes another vote is required before the UK can join the US in the event of another chemical incident.The issue of chemical weapons could help swing a vote in favor of bombing Syrian Army positions, the Guardian reports.

David Cameron's government lost a similar vote in 2013 after an alleged chemical attack in Ghouta.

Whistle

A letter to George Monbiot, about Syria...

Tim Hayward
© Tim Hayward
I write this open letter, George, because you have been using your public platform to defend claims about Syria that I fear may be damaging for its people.

Most recently, you blogged a note about the 4th April chemical incident in Khan Sheikhoun, Syria, and you related this to the more general issue of competing narratives.

Professor Postol of MIT criticised the NATO/Gulf State account of the incident, and you say his claims 'should be treated with great caution'. That's fair enough. Shouldn't we apply a similar standard of scrutiny to claims made on both sides?[1] You replied to the Media Lens article reporting Postol's claims without acknowledging that it also mentioned that 'former and current UN weapons inspectors Hans Blix, Scott Ritter and Jerry Smith, as well as former CIA counterterrorism official Philip Giraldi, had all questioned the official narrative of what happened on April 4.'

We can be cautious about what they all say, of course, but I hope we may avoid the hubris of just dismissing their concerns.

Comment: Misinformation is not unfamiliar to Monbiot. For instance, as one example, consider the subject of nuclear toxins and what Dr.
Helen Caldicott had to say about George:
George Monbiot and others at best misinform and at worst distort evidence of the dangers of atomic energy



Info

Trump and Abbas express optimism about reaching 'historic peace treaty' with Israel in first meeting

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and US President Donald Trump
© Carlos Barria / Reuters
US President Donald Trump and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met for the first time, expressing optimism about rebooting peace talks between Israel and the PA, facilitated by Trump, who didn't mention the two-state solution Abbas seeks.

Trump began his remarks in the Oval Office on Wednesday by praising Abbas for his work on the "very important" 1993 agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians, called the Oslo I Accords, "which laid the foundation for peace." Abbas was the signatory for the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and the agreement established the PA as a self-government body in 1994.

"I want to support you in being the Palestinian leader who signs his name to the final and most important peace agreement that brings safety, stability, prosperity to both peoples and to the region," Trump said, adding that he's committed to working with both sides to reach such an agreement, one that "cannot be imposed by the United States or by any other nation."

Target

Who to believe about Syria? "Please just don't let yourself be deceived"

Bus bombing Syria
© U-NewsPhoto of US-backed terrorist bus bombing against civilians in Syria
I'm no expert about Syria, so why these blogposts? The initial stimulus was realising that people of good will and similar ethics can have some markedly contrasting views of the situation in Syria. This was a puzzle to me. And given the gravity of what's at stake, I felt an obligation to try and solve it.

The basic disagreement could not be explained by familiar sorts of political bias. It cuts across left-right and authoritarian-libertarian lines; a person's stance on it can not even be predicted by their stance, say, on Palestine, or Cuba. Attitudes to Russia can be a better indicator, but if my own case is anything to go by, this has nothing particularly to do with political views and is anyway an effect rather than a cause. What Putin says about Syria tends to resonate with what I've come to think; I have never thought that any statement was true because Putin made it. I also just don't think it very intellectually mature or responsible to suppose that something is false because he says it!

Comment: February 2017 - Also from Tim Hayword:

UK Channel 4's 'debunking' of Eva Bartlett's on-the-ground reporting from Aleppo is more fake news


Arrow Down

Macron has "deplorable" moment, calls Le Pen supporters 'enemies', 'hateful cowards'

Macron
© Getty
French Presidential hopeful Emmanuel Macron this week lashed out at Front National voters, branding them "anti-France" and "true enemies".

In a moment resembling Hillary Clinton's infamous "deplorables" comment, Mr. Macron — who currently leads Front National leader Marine Le Pen in the polls — took to the stage at a 10,000-strong rally in Paris to dub Front National the "anti-France party", branding their supporters "fearmongerers" and "extreme".

"They're here. It's they. It's they who are our true enemies," declared Mr. Macron.

"Powerful, organized, skillful, determined," he said: "You pass them in the streets, in the countryside or on the web, most often well hidden. As hateful as they are cowardly. You know them. The party of the agents of the disaster, the fearmongerers. The French far-right. It's here".

The French Presidential favourite was joined on stage by the country's Energy and Environment Minister Segolene Royal, when he called for "spirit of resistance" — a word often employed by hard-left "antifa" activists and Democrats insistent upon derailing the President Trump administration in the United States.

Comment: Oh, the irony. Macron sows division, fear and hatred, while lashing out at people for doing the same because they do not support a pro-establishment monkey.


Info

USS Carl Vinson in show of force with S. Korea and US destroyers

USS Carl Vinson being escorted
© U.S. Navy
The US Navy has released a video of its state-of-the-art Nimitz-class aircraft carrier the USS Carl Vinson being escorted towards North Korea by South Korean destroyers and F-18 Hornets, as they transit the Western Pacific.

Helicopter footage shows F/A-18 Hornets and Super Hornets from Carrier Air Wing Two - assigned to the Carl Vinson - jetting off from the carrier and buzzing over South Korea's 'Sejong' and 'Yang Manchun' destroyers.

America's Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers USS Wayne E. Meyer, USS Michael Murphy, and USS Stethem, are also present.

Bad Guys

'Resistance from Washington war-hawks and public sentiment will determine Trump's relationship with Russia', says analyst

Moscow Washington
© Sputnik / Reuters
The Putin-Trump phone call was very significant, but Trump will consider his options carefully when it comes to Syria due to excessive resistance from hawks in both the Democratic and Republican parties, says foreign policy analyst Michael Hughes.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump held an urgent phone call on May 2 to discuss crucial issues, including the Syrian crisis and the current tension over North Korea.

The conversation came after the Russian President welcomed the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, to the Black Sea resort town of Sochi for talks.