Puppet MastersS


Red Flag

Abe planing to enforce first-ever change to Japanese post-WWII pacifist constitution by 2020


RT
Wed, 03 May 2017 15:50 UTC
Shinzo Abe
© Kham / Reuters
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has unveiled a plan to make a first-ever revision to the country's pacifist constitution which has been in force since Japan's defeat in WWII. He wants to see the revision take effect in 2020.

The prime minister has stated that the year Japan will host the Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo will be the year in which the country will "be born anew" and will move forward "in a solid manner."

"I strongly desire that 2020 will be the year a new Constitution goes into force," he said in a video message, aired by Japanese television broadcasters.

"Parliamentarians will soon have to begin concrete discussions in order to present to the people a plan to initiate a constitutional amendment," Abe added, as cited by Kyodo news agency.

Comment: Here it looks like the "North Korea threat" is being used as a pretext for US to gain Japan as an ally against China.
RT: Is Abe using the fear of the Japanese people toward the Korean aggression to reach his goals? Do you think Japan should become more militarized considering North Korean efforts with nuclear weapons?

Tim Beal: No, this is all a pretext. What is happening is that the Americans have been contemplating for a long time how to destroy, if you like, North Korea, how to possibly disarm it, how to take it over. This situation has become a difficult point partly because of Trump, partly because North Korea's program of developing a nuclear deterrent is reaching a stage where they can in a few years' time retaliate against the US if they are attacked. If that happens, then it is going to be very difficult for the American government to attack North Korea. At the moment, it is still on the edge because although there will be lots of people killed in North Korea, South Korea, millions of people, perhaps, and in Japan, as Senator Graham said, "It will happen there, it won't happen in the US." So, at the moment an attack on North Korea doesn't pose a huge amount of danger to the US, but it would in the future. If the US is going to achieve its aim of disarming North Korea and taking it over, in a sense, they have to do it fairly soon. They can't hang around and wait. That is the problem at the moment. Japan, following its defeat in WWII, hosts the main American base in East Asia. This is aimed at China, but in the event of an attack on North Korea, the Koreans would retaliate, of course, against the American bases in South Korea and in Japan. So, Japan is in the firing line there. Abe is playing on these fears to push for the remilitarization.


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Attention

Jihadists withdraw from Astana talks on Syrian crises

Breakingnews.sy - translated by Samer Hussein
Fort Russ news
Wed, 03 May 2017 15:42 UTC
Astana talks
Syrian jihadists withdrew their participation from Astana talks on settlement of the Syrian crisis. The fourth round of talks has already begun.

Earlier on Wednesday, The delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic, headed by Dr. Bashar Al Jaafari, met with Iranian delegation, headed by Hossein Ansari Gabri, Foreign Minister's Assistant for Arab and African affairs and Russian delegation, headed by Alexander Lavrentiev, Putin's special envoy for Syria, as well as with Staffan de Mistura, UN's special envoy for Syria.

Meanwhile, the so-called "Syrian armed opposition" announced it will not participate in the talks.

Comment: More on the 'safe zones': Russia proposes creation of four de-escalation zones for reduction of tension in Syria

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Moon

US and Europe unleashing lawlessness and war

Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture Foundation
Tue, 02 May 2017 14:53 UTC
soldier holding flag
This week the Kiev regime went into rogue overdrive when it cut off electricity supplies to some three million people in the self-declared Lugansk republic of eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian energy ministry under the control of the Kiev regime said it was because the breakaway province was in arrears over bill payments. That's rich coming from a cabal that has continually dragged its feet over unpaid bills for billions of dollars-worth in gas supplies from Russia.

From where does Kiev learn its rogue conduct? From its masters, of course, in Washington and the European Union. The present unraveling of international law and order is their lamentable legacy.

Donetsk, the other separatist self-declared Ukrainian republic, would also likewise be subjected to power-cuts, according to reported comments from Kiev. But, apparently, such a move would not be easy as areas under the control of Kiev would also be impacted. Also, the Donetsk People's Republic, unlike the LPR, is said to be fairly self-sufficient in electricity supplies owing to its own local thermal power plants.
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Mr. Potato

Establishment puppet Macron bans RT and Sputnik from campaign headquarters

Nick Holdsworth and Rhonda Richford
Hollywood Reporter
Mon, 01 May 2017 14:52 UTC
macron
© Sylvain Lefevre/Getty ImagesFrench presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron
The Kremlin's international TV news outlet RT has cried foul over a decision by French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron to ban it, along with affiliated radio outlet Sputnik, from his campaign headquarters.

Campaign staff for Macron told media outlets that RT and Sputnik spread "fake news" and seek to undermine the independent candidate's campaign.


Comment: RT and Sputnik report on the reality of Macron and what his plan is for running France. Those actions certainly undermine Macron's campaign, because he will not be acting in favor of the French people but rather for the wealthy elites who have placed him into power.


Former banker Macron is a pro-European centrist widely tipped to win the French presidency Sunday in a runoff by beating far-right leader Marine Le Pen, head of the Front National (FN).

RT has challenged Macron to identify news stories from it that are not fact-based. State-funded RT and Ruptly have been denied accreditation with the Macron campaign along with radio service Sputnik, which is part of another Russian government media group Rossiya Segodnya.
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Info

Indian Army carries out two successful BrahMos missile tests past 48 hours


Sputnik
Wed, 03 May 2017 14:45 UTC
India's advanced BRAHMOS Block III land attack cruise missile system
© Gurinder Osan, File
The Indian army successfully carried out two tests of an upgraded version of the BrahMos missile over the past two days, the press service of the Indian Defense Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

"South Western Command's Corps 'Strike One' successfully carried out the firing of the advanced BRAHMOS Block III land attack cruise missile system in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands on the 3rd of May 2017 for the second consecutive day. The successive launches reinforce the formidable weapon's precision strike capability," the statement reads.

The Indian Defense Ministry added that this launch was the fifth successful test of the Block III version of BrahMos in a row, which is "an incredible feat not achieved by any other weapon system of its genre."

Comment: A lot of missile tests lately:

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MIB

Lawyers for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev say US government refuses to share "classified docs" in appeal process


RT
Tue, 02 May 2017 14:45 UTC
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
© U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston / ReutersDzhokhar Tsarnaev
Attorneys for convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have told a federal court that they "will not be able to meaningfully" appeal Tsarnaev's death sentence without accessing 13 secret documents which federal prosecutors refuse to share.

The government filings pertain to the US District Court case that resulted in a 30-count conviction and death sentence for Tsarnaev, who planted a bomb that killed three marathon spectators and injured many others. The bombing sparked a massive manhunt for the 23-year old and his older brother, Tamerlan, in 2013. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with police a few days later.

Tsarnaev's attorneys are appealing the conviction and sentence, but they have yet to file a brief doing so, according to the Boston Herald.

Last month, Judge George O'Toole Jr., who presided over Tsarnaev's trial, issued an order barring Tsarnaev's lawyers from accessing the "classified" documents. Sealed court filings have long marked O'Toole's handling of Tsarnaev's high-profile case.

Comment: Seems like the government prefers to keep Tsarnaev imprisoned as the patsy in the Boston Bombings, and they will use the "confidential information" excuse to further that aim. If the government had an airtight case, they surely would be open to a full discovery of the evidence against their defendant. Clearly, their case is not as strong as they make it out to be, so they have to whitewash the judicial process by not allowing the defendant full access to evidence. One cannot help but conclude that there must not be a very strong case against Tsarnaev.

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Snakes in Suits

Netanyahu threat? Iranian 'expansion' in Middle East poses threat to Russia


Sputnik
Wed, 03 May 2017 14:21 UTC
Benjamin Netanyahu
© REUTERS/ Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
Israel believes that the Iranian "expansion" in the Middle East region poses a threat to Russia and tries to persuade Moscow to abstain from cooperation with Tehran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with the Channel 9.

"We say that Iran - and I told [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin about that - poses a threat not only to us. Ultimately, that is also a threat to you," Netanyahu said on late Tuesday.


Comment: Is this a veiled threat that Israel will unleash terrorists to wreak havoc in Syria and beyond?

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Info

Libyan rivals Haftar and Sarraj reach agreement on political unification


Sputnik
Wed, 03 May 2017 14:09 UTC
Khalifa Haftar
© AP Photo/ Mohammed El-SheikhyField Marshal Khalifa Haftar
Fayez al-Sarraj, the head of Libya's UN-backed government, has met with his rival Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar in the United Arab Emirates. It has been reported as a rare, but highly anticipated meeting between the leaders from the two rival Libyan factions.

The two men held one-on-one talks in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, May 2, but the meeting had been brokered by outside Arab powers, including Egypt and the UAE. Sources close to Haftar have suggested that the meeting was cordial and positive.

Outside powers, including Egypt and Russia, have been calling for a political solution to Libya's fratricidal conflict for months. Forging a lasting reconciliation between Haftar and Sarraj has long been recognized as the fulcrum to achieving unity in post-Gaddafi Libya.
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Bad Guys

5 reasons Ukraine is a much bigger threat to peace and safety than North Korea

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Wed, 03 May 2017 13:45 UTC
dead Ukrainians Donbass
It doesn't fit the western narrative, but Ukraine is a far bigger threat to its own people and its neighbours than North Korea is or has been for decades.

The Korean Peninsula is often thought of as a volatile region, a dangerous region, an unpredictable 'weaponised' region. In particular, the United States has accused North Korea of being a threat to regional peace and stability.

Objectively, there is some truth to all of this, but the Demilitarised Zone separating the two Korean states is far less unstable than the Syria/Iraq border which is currently controlled by ISIS.

But when it comes to threatening regional instability and causing bloodshed, there is one place that is vastly more deadly and volatile than the Korean Peninsula: the battle-zone between Kiev controlled Ukraine and the Donbass Republics.
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Георгиевская ленточка

The Putin - Merkel meeting: An acknowledgment of realities

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Tue, 02 May 2017 12:27 UTC
Merkel Putin
The key point about the summit meeting in Moscow between Russian President Putin and German Chancellor Merkel is that it signals Merkel's acceptance that Putin's hold on power is secure.

Angela Merkel met Vladimir Putin for the first time in Moscow in 2 years, her last visit there being a brief visit she made in 2015 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Victory In Europe.

Apart from that one meeting, which it was impossible politically for Merkel to avoid, Merkel's visit to Moscow today is her first visit there since her negotiation with Putin in February 2015, which took place in the run-up to the signing of the Minsk Agreement.

Merkel has avoided to Moscow since then, and has signalled her disapproval of visits there by other German politicians.

Merkel's visit to Moscow is supposed to be taking place in the run-up to the G20 summit in July in Germany,which Merkel will be hosting.

This is an excuse than than a reason for the visit. Even if it is true that Merkel is busy contacting G20 leaders in preparation for the summit, that did not require her to go to Moscow to meet Putin there.
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