Puppet MastersS


Eagle

The U.S. Empire Under Trump Has Become Increasingly Desperate and Dangerous

Michael Krieger
Liberty Blitzkrieg
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 11:29 UTC
Soldiers off to war
My current working hypothesis is that the U.S. is a late-stage empire about to enter a more serious and dangerous period of collapse. In case you missed it, I outlined my broad brush view in the very popular recent post, Prepare for Impact - This is the Beginning of the End for U.S. Empire. Here's a brief excerpt:
I believe last night's strike represents the beginning of the end for U.S. empire. Although the U.S. has been declining domestically for this entire century, America has still been calling all the shots on the international front. This makes sense in late-stage empire, as the focus of the fat and happy "elite" becomes singularly obsessed with domination and power, while the situation back home festers and rots.

Trump won on an "America first" platform that promised to emphasize the well-being of American citizens over geopolitical adventurism. We now know for certain he's been manipulated into the imperial mindset, and his recklessness will merely accelerate U.S. decline on the world stage, and in turn, back home.
When I came across reports yesterday that the U.S. Justice Department is trying to figure out a way to prosecute the world's most courageous and effective news publisher, Wikileaks' Julian Assange, I immediately saw it to be further evidence of the incredible insecurity and desperation of the American establishment.
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Dollars

Kremlin advisor reveals 'cure for US aggression'


TASS
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 20:44 UTC
Putin's advisor also believes that Donald Trump is just "doing what the ruling elite expects him to do"

dollar
© Sergey Konkov/TASS
The only way to stop the United States' aggression is to get rid of dollar addiction, a Kremlin advisor said on Friday.

"The more aggressive the Americans are the sooner they will see the final collapse of the dollar as the only way for the victims of American aggression to stop this aggression is to get rid of the dollar. As soon as we and China are through with the dollar, it will be the end of the United States' military might," Sergey Glazyev said in an interview with TASS.
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Bad Guys

At least 50 dead in Taliban attack on Afghan military base


RT
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 20:24 UTC
soldiers
© AP
Dozens have been killed in an ongoing attack on an Afghan military base, a US military official said, adding that the death toll may be over 50, Reuters reports.

"We're talking probably more than 50 casualties," said Colonel John Thomas, a spokesman for the U.S. military's Central Command, as quoted by Reuters.

"There is a mosque and a dining facility on the base that seemed to, at this point from our reports, be the subject of significant attack from enemy forces."

Comment: Update (April 22): More than 100 Afghan soldiers have been killed and injured in a Taliban attack on a military base in northern Afghanistan, the country's Defense Ministry has confirmed, as cited by AFP and local news agency Pajhwok.
The attack lasted several hours and ended with two of the attackers blowing themselves up, with seven others killed, the ministry said in a statement.


Earlier US military estimates had put the death toll at no less than 50, while anonymous officials cited by Reuters said as many as 140 soldiers may have been killed.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani went from Kabul to the city of Mazr on Saturday, the Pajhwok news network reported.


Militants used military vehicles and disguises to talk their way into the 209th Corps base in the northern Balkh province. Then they opened fire on the soldiers as they were eating dinner or leaving a mosque after Friday prayers.


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Dominoes

Erdogan to meet with Putin, disappointed in Trump over Syria

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 00:00 UTC
Erdogan Putin
© Turkish American NewsGot a problem? Phone a friend.
Turkish President Erdogan announces visit to Moscow on 3rd May 2017, after being disappointed in hopes of further US intervention in Syria. Turkish President Erdogan, fresh from his referendum victory and now Turkey's uncrowned Sultan, has just confirmed that he intends to go to Moscow on 3rd May 2017, where he will meet with Russia's President Putin. This will be President Erdogan's first foreign trip since he gained constitutional powers as Turkey's new executive President.

News of Erdogan's trip comes shortly after news has circulated that a deal for Turkey to buy S-400 anti aircraft missiles from Russia is about to [be] agreed, a fact which as my colleague Adam Garrie says, appears to be a further sign that Turkey is for the moment pivoting towards Moscow.

President Putin must be weary of his endless dealings with Erdogan, with whom over the last year he has had more meetings and conversations that we know about than with any other world leader (Putin may have had even more conversations with Chinese President Xi Jinping. However if so then these are being kept secret).

In recent weeks the Russians have been given a further lesson that placing any trust in President Erdogan's word is a fool's idea.

Comment: Turkey is a fickle friend. Erdogan is like the crazy driver in six lanes of frenzied freeway traffic that keeps changing lanes thinking he will pass everyone by, but instead creates road rage for everyone he cuts off. In the end, no one may be willing to let him pass.

However, Russia is patient and values history and its significance as much as it works in the present to bring adolescent, acting-out politicians into the grown-up world. Whether Erdogan is worthy, or even recognizes the differences between the Russian and Western philosophy of leadership, he is lucky to have such a choice.

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Airplane

China 'challenged' Philippine jets carrying government and military staff flying over South China Sea


RT
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 19:05 UTC
Subi Reef Thitu Island
© Pinterest
Chinese forces attempted to drive away two Philippine planes carrying Manila's military and defense chiefs, according to officials. The incident occurred near an artificial Chinese island in the disputed South China Sea. The aircraft was carrying Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, military chief of staff Gen. Eduardo Ano and around 40 journalists when it was "challenged" by China on Friday, AP reported

China reportedly warned the Philippine planes that they were entering the periphery of Chinese installations, and to avoid mishap they should turn around. In response, the Philippine aircraft messaged back, stating that they were flying over territory belonging to Manila.

"Those were just exchanges and no untoward incident happened," Lorenzana told reporters, adding that such instances are normal, amid the unresolved territorial conflicts in the South China Sea. The incident occurred just 25 kilometers (15 miles) away from the Chinese-held Subi Reef, located in the disputed Spratly island chain.

When asked by AP what he thought of the bird's eye view of China's development of the Subi Reef - one of the numerous man-made islands that Beijing has built across the Spratly island chain - Lorenzana gave a nod to Beijing's resolve. "A grudging admiration to the Chinese for their resolve and single-mindedness to bolster their claims," he said. "I wished we had the same."

Once the aircraft landed on Pag-asa, known internationally as Thitu, Lorenzana announced that the Philippines would start to develop the island, the second-largest island in the Spratly archipelago, which is also claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Comment: A complicated situation that need not have transpired if all parties had honored the rights of ecosystems to exist and flourish in the way they are/were intended. But mankind is a predator and being a fellow human has no assurances at all.

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Footprints

Le Pen calls for restoration of France's borders, expelling foreign nationals on watchlist


RT
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 12:49 UTC
Marine Le Pen
© Morocco World News"I call...for immediate restoration of our national borders!"
Presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has called on the French government to immediately reinstate the country's borders and expel foreign nationals being monitored by intelligence services in the aftermath of yesterday's terrorist attack in Paris.

"I call upon this ephemeral government, worn out by inaction, for immediate restoration of our national borders," Le Pen said in a statement from her campaign headquarters just two days ahead of the first round of France's presidential elections.

The leader of the far-right political party, National Front, also called on the French government to "immediately" expel all foreign nationals being monitored by intelligence services, referring mainly to those on the "Fiche S" list, which contains people considered to be a threat to national security who should be constantly monitored.

According to Le Pen, the French government has done everything to make the Republic lose the war against terrorism.


Comment: See also:

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Snakes in Suits

US official who helped broker Iran nuclear deal demoted and reassigned


RFE/RL
Sat, 22 Apr 2017 16:40 UTC
John Kerry
© Reuters
A top U.S. State Department official who helped broker the Iran nuclear deal was demoted and reassigned after right-wing media outlets questioned her loyalty to U.S. President Donald Trump, media are reporting.

Politico.com and other media reported that Sahar Nowrouzzadeh, who has worked since July as an adviser to the secretary of state on Iran and Persian Gulf matters, earlier this month was sent back to the department's Office of Iranian Affairs after her loyalties were questioned by Brietbart.com and the Conservative Review.

Politico said Nowrouzzadeh, an American born in the United States to parents of Iranian descent, was transferred against her will. She joined the government in 2005 when George W. Bush was president.
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Family

Trump - in North Korea you will be murdering human beings!

Andre Vltchek
Information Clearing House
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 15:00 UTC
Public Housing Pyongyang
© Andre VltchekPublic Housing Pyongyang
When I think about North Korea, what first comes to my mind is a mist over the calm and majestic surface of the Taedong River near Pyongyang. Next I always recall two lovers, locked in a tender and almost desperate embrace, sitting side by side on the shore. I saw them every day, while taking brisk walks at dawn. Now I don't know for sure whether they were real or just a product of my fantasy; a sad and gentle reminder of all that has been already lost, as well as of all that should have happened but never really materialized.

Currently, as Donald Trump's "armada" is speeding towards China and DPRK, I keep recalling those moments: the cliff, the lovers and a lone fisherman with his long rod at the other side of the river. Everything in my memory connected to those dawns is now motionless, serene.
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Megaphone

"He's taken off handcuffs on war machine and turned it over to glorified Generals"- Oliver Stone blasts Trump

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Thu, 20 Apr 2017 15:01 UTC
america grimreaper
Oliver Stone had reserved some hope for Donald Trump, as many did.

The hope was that Trump would, as he promised, drain the swamp and finally stop America's senseless war policy.

Stone is having buyers remorse, as he comes to the realization that instead of taking down the neocon war machine, the neocons (with the enlisted help of the liberal left) pushed Trump into more endless conflict.

Stone sounded off in this Facebook post entitled, "So It Goes" (full FB post below).
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Eye 1

VP Pence vows to honor refugee deal with Australia, which Trump had called 'the worst call by far'


RT
Sat, 22 Apr 2017 13:55 UTC
Refugee deal
© Tim Wimborne / ReutersActivists in support of refugees claiming asylum in Australia rally, Sydney.
US President Donald Trump may have branded a deal the Obama administration struck with Australia to resettle up to 1,250 refugees in America as "dumb," but his vice president has now assured the Aussies that Washington will honor it anyway.

Mike Pence offered the assurances to Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Saturday during a joint media conference in Sydney.

"We will honor this agreement out of respect to this enormously important alliance," Pence said at Turnbull's harbor side official residence.

The deal was agreed to by former US President Barack Obama shortly before he left the White House. The US agreed to accept up to 1,250 asylum seekers currently being held by Australia in processing camps on the islands of Papua New Guinea and Nauru. In return, Australia would resettle refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
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