Puppet MastersS


Red Flag

Trump's deep state compromise: Free reign on domestic front, totally compromised in foreign affairs

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Sat, 29 Apr 2017 15:29 UTC
Donald Trump
© Reuters
Donald Trump is still Donald Trump, but only when it comes to domestic issues.

When the so-called 'neo-conservative' movement took over much of the Republican party towards the end of the Cold War, the movement was generally defined by ultra-hawkish politicians, keenly desperate to maintain and expand US global hegemony while embracing much of the 'big government' policies typically associated with many in the Democratic party.

The neo-cons were big on ideology and possessed not an ounce of foreign policy pragmatism. They were more interested in war crimes than the culture wars, they were friendly to finance capitalism and big business, they were big on corporate driven free trade and spoke increasingly little about small business initiatives and middle class tax cuts.

The total failure of these policies as adopted by Republicans and copied by Democrats throughout the 1990s and early 21st century, helped get Donald Trump elected. He campaigned against neo-conservatism on both the domestic and foreign policy fronts.

Comment:

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Propaganda

'Race against time!': New York Times helps establish another 'WMD justification' for war - now with North Korea

Adam Johnson
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
Wed, 26 Apr 2017 00:00 UTC
N Korea nukes
Buoyed by a total of 18 speculative verb forms—five "mays," eight "woulds" and five "coulds"—New York Times reporters David E. Sanger and William J. Broad (4/24/17) painted a dire picture of a Trump administration forced to react to the growing and impending doom of North Korea nuclear weapons.

"As North Korea Speeds Its Nuclear Program, US Fears Time Will Run Out" opens by breathlessly establishing the stakes and the limited time for the US to "deal with" the North Korean nuclear "crisis":
Behind the Trump administration's sudden urgency in dealing with the North Korean nuclear crisis lies a stark calculus: A growing body of expert studies and classified intelligence reports that conclude the country is capable of producing a nuclear bomb every six or seven weeks.

That acceleration in pace—impossible to verify until experts get beyond the limited access to North Korean facilities that ended years ago—explains why President Trump and his aides fear they are running out of time.

Comment: It's a testament to just how bought and sold the NY Times is to US establishment war-mongers, security agencies, the military and its aligned think-tanks - that they would have the absolute gall to help bring about yet another destructive war on the grounds of 'weapons of mass destruction'. We've seen it all before, and before the day is done, we may see the relative truth of North Korea's missile tests as yet another pretense for hurling the world into another senseless and murderous war.

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Black Magic

Yemen: The new graveyard of empires?

Catherine Shakdam
New Eastern Outlook
Sat, 29 Apr 2017 00:00 UTC
Yemen Houthis
Yemen Houthis

"Some have called Afghanistan 'the graveyard of empires,' and it probably is the graveyard of empires." James G. Stavridis

Indeed, many great empires over the centuries came to crash against the stubborn will of Afghanistan, only to drive this one people to think their land an extension of their national identity - the very air in their lungs. A warning against imperialism, we may soon learn to look upon Afghanistan as the one cautionary tale our modern-day neocons should have paid attention to, if not to lose their shirts in endeavour they could not possibly have succeeded in carrying out.

Assuming that any one particular country will fall to the will of those deemed greater and mightier does not always make it so. History has taught us too many times that numbers matter little in the face of victory for any of us to entertain the idea that might is in fact always right.

I would personally argue that might carries very little in the face of stealthy determination.

Resistance as it were, is a far greater power than that of military superiority. A minority can defeat the majority when that minority is animated by conviction - whatever the impetus behind it. Maybe here western powers should have brushed up on their study of the Scriptures and remember that once upon a time David stood before Goliath but a boy with a slingshot ... and yet it is the giant who fell, and his reign of terror with him.

Comment: Defense Secretary Mattis hides the real goals of the US in Yemen

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Георгиевская ленточка

Russia's long struggle for a true civilizational identity

The Saker
The Unz Review
Sat, 29 Apr 2017 14:46 UTC
jehova's witnesses Russia
© JW.orgJehovah's Witnesses in Russia
By now you must have heard it - Putin is "persecuting the Jehovah's Witnesses" in Russia. Alas, this one is true. Well, this is maybe not nearly as terrible as the Ziomedia makes it sound, but still, a pretty bad and fundamentally misguided policy.

Why did the Russian government take such a drastic decision?

The Russian Justice Department has banned the JW as an organization on the grounds that the JW were a
""totalitarian sect of an anti-Christian orientation, the teachings of which contains teachings and practices which can damage the personality and health of the adept, his family, as well as traditional national spirituality and public interests" (source).
Another source report that:
"The Supreme Court of Russia stated that the Jehovah's Witnesses' church organization has systematically and through central governance infringed on human rights and trampled the freedoms of those belonging to the denomination. The sect forbids restricts families, bans many types of education and restricts medical treatments". The same author then concludes that "So, in principle it is about protecting the rights and freedoms of Russians and on the other hand about breaking the laws governing churches' activities. The Jehovah's Witnesses have been given warnings and notices demanding that they reform, but without results. Therefore, do as the Romans do, or get out of Rome."
Does that make sense to you?

To me it makes no sense whatsoever.
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Info

Russia's Foreign Ministry points out Montenegro defies democracy by ratifying NATO membership without referendum


RT
Sat, 29 Apr 2017 15:05 UTC
Protesters burn the NATO flag
© Savo Prelevic / AFP Protesters burn the NATO flag on April 28, 2017 during a protest against the Montenegro's accession to NATO in Cetinje.
The ratification of Montenegro's NATO membership by a parliamentary vote instead of a referendum is a violation of democratic norms, Russia's Foreign Ministry said, adding that Moscow reserves the right to protect its national security after the move.

Russia's Foreign Ministry has expressed "deep regret that the current leadership of [Montenegro] and its Western backers didn't heed the voice of conscience and reason."

"The adoption of fundamental acts, affecting the key issues of state security, by the vote of individual MPs on the basis of a formal majority without taking into account the opinion of the country's people is a demonstrative act of violation of all democratic norms and principles," the statement read.
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Info

French Mistral helicopter carrier with 2 British rotorcraft arrives in Japan


RT
Sat, 29 Apr 2017 14:55 UTC
French amphibious assault ship Mistral
© Nobuhiro Kubo / ReutersFrench amphibious assault ship Mistral arrives at Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's Sasebo naval base in Sasebo, Nagasaki prefecture, Japan April 29, 2017.
The Mistral, France's amphibious assault ship, arrived at a Japanese naval base on Saturday. The warship, which has two British Royal Navy helicopters on board, will take part in a joint drill with Japan and the US next month.

The French ship will lead the exercise in the Pacific near Guam, where the militaries of the four nations will practice landings around the island of Tinian. Some 700 troops will participate.

Japanese officials and children's welcome dances greeted the Mistral in Sasebo in the Nagasaki prefecture, where Japan has a major Maritime Self-Defense Force base that also hosts US Navy warships. The French ship will remain there until May 5, Reuters reported.
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Info

Donald Trump's first 100 days: The monumental golf edition


RT
Sat, 29 Apr 2017 13:16 UTC
Donald Trump with golf club
© David Moir / Reuters
Donald Trump has officially racked up 100 days of service as president of the United States - but 19 of those he has spent on golf courses.

President Trump has spent 10 of the last 14 weekends since he was sworn in on January 20, at one of his golf clubs. And a reported 28 percent of his presidency has been spent in Mar-a-Lago alone.

That's more rounds than Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton played in all their first 100 days... combined. Much more. In fact, neither avid-golfer Obama nor Bush hit the green at all in their first weeks as commander-in-chief. Clinton did manage to squeeze three rounds in during his, according to the New York Times.
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Info

Russia has proof of Yatsenyuk's involvement in 1995 Chechnya executions


Sputnik
Sat, 29 Apr 2017 13:06 UTC
Arseniy Yatsenyuk
© Sputnik/ Pavel Palamarchuk
Russia's Investigative Committee has evidence of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk's involvement in execution and torture of Russian servicemen during the hostilities in the Russian region of Chechnya in 1995, the committee's spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said Saturday.

Petrenko added that the investigative committee intended to seek the conviction of Yatsenyuk in accordance with the Russian legislation, using all legal instruments of the international law.

"The committee has evidence that Ukraine's former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk participated in at least two armed conflicts on the Minutka square in Grozny city on December 31, 1994 and on February, 1995, while he was also involved in torture and execution of captured Russian servicemen in the Oktyabrsky district of Grozny on January 7, 1995," the spokeswoman said.
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Radar

Chinese warships to arrive in Philippines on Sunday for first time in decade


Sputnik
Sat, 29 Apr 2017 13:02 UTC
Chinese warships
© Sputnik/ Vitaliy Ankov
Three Chinese warships are heading toward the Philippines shores for the first time in a decade.

A group of China's warships is expected to arrive in the Philippines on Sunday paying the first visit of the Chinese Navy to the Philippine port in a decade, Chinese media reported.

According to the South China Morning Post newspaper, the group comprising three ships, namely Changchun, Jingzhou and Chaohu, would arrive in the port of the Davao City located on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.
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Radar

SDF to use US tanks to storm Raqqa as major offensive takes shape


Sputnik
Sat, 29 Apr 2017 12:54 UTC
US soldiers
© REUTERS/ Rodi Said
The Syrian city of Raqqa remains occupied by Daesh terrorists since early 2014. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) with the backing of a US-led international coalition is set to storm Raqqa and liberate it next month. It has been reported that US tanks will be used during the battle.

A representative of the command of the Syrian Democratic Forces, who wished to remain anonymous, told Sputnik Arabic that the US had recently delivered heavy weapons and tanks to the SDF.

"Two days ago, as part of the upcoming battle against Daesh the US sent us tanks and heavy weapons. The armament was delivered to Rojava [Kurdish de facto autonomous region in northern Syria]. It arrived on wagons through the territory of northern Iraq, through the border crossing point Semelka," the source said. From there, the armaments were brought north of Raqqa.
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