Puppet MastersS


Snakes in Suits

Trump advisor slams Russia for 'subversive actions in Europe' but can't name them


Sputnik
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 15:21 UTC
Herbert McMaster and Donald Trump
© AFP 2017/ NICHOLAS KAMM
Trump National Security Adviser Herbert McMaster has cryptically accused Russia of 'subversive activities' in Europe, but made no effort to specify what he meant. Speaking to Radio Sputnik, Russian political observer Dmitri Abzalov suggested that McMaster's remarks were detrimental to any possible thaw in relations between Russia and the West.

Speaking to ABC News This Week on Sunday, McMaster accused Russia of engaging in "subversive actions in Europe," noting that this, along with Moscow's support of the "horrible regime" in Syria, meant that it was time for Washington to have some "tough discussions [with] Russia."

The senior Trump adviser did not elaborate what 'subversive actions' he was talking about.
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Attention

Turkish opposition calls for annulment of referendum granting new presidential powers, citing unstamped voter ballots


RT
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 11:57 UTC
Turkish referendum april 2017
© Murad Sezer / ReutersBallot papers at a polling station, Istanbul, Turkey, April 16, 2017. Erdogan announced his victory in Sunday’s tightly-contested referendum, with about 25 million Turks supporting his proposal and the ‘Yes’ camp garnering some 51.5 percent of the vote.
Turkish opposition figures have called for the results of Sunday's referendum granting new presidential powers to be annulled, citing unstamped ballots given to voters. The electoral board insists the referendum result is valid, however.

Bulent Tezcan, deputy chairman of the main opposition Republican Peoples' Party (CHP), said Monday that the "only one way to end the discussions about the vote's legitimacy and to put the people at ease... is for the Supreme Electoral Board to cancel the vote."

It is illegal to count the unstamped ballots as valid, Tezcan said. He added that his party had received complaints from a number of regions where people couldn't vote in privacy, with some ballots counted in secret, as cited by Reuters.

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

War fever: Trump administration recklessly escalating the conflict with Korea

Joseph Kishore & David North
World Socialist Web Site
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 00:00 UTC
US warships
US warships approach North Korea
The danger of a military conflict between the United States and North Korea continued to escalate throughout the weekend. Far from seeking to lessen tensions between the two countries, the Trump administration continued to employ rhetoric that signaled the possibility of imminent military action by the United States.

On Sunday, North Korea reportedly test-fired a medium-range ballistic missile, but this launch failed. The American media is speculating that covert US-organized sabotage may have been responsible. Trump administration officials have refused to deny or acknowledge involvement, but the US has been developing such techniques directed at North Korea for several years.

Trump's national security advisor, Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, declared Sunday morning on ABC's This Week program that the "situation just can't continue." He added, "The president has made very clear that he is not in the business of announcing in advance exactly what he's going to do."

Comment: See also:

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Stock Up

China's economy roars back to lift global outlook as US consumer weakens


Bloomberg
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 14:58 UTC
Chinese economic growth chart
China's economy stormed back in the first quarter, clocking its first back-to-back acceleration in seven years and bolstering the global growth outlook just as signs of subdued consumer spending have surfaced in the U.S.

The Chinese economy accelerated to a better-than-expected 6.9 percent, powered by strength in housing, infrastructure investment, exports and retail sales. And it looks to have done so without worsening credit risks, a welcome development for economists worried about the nation's towering debt burden.
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Stock Up

Chinese economy maintains steady momentum, reports 2017 Q1 growth of 6.9%


RT
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 10:07 UTC
Beijing
© Thomas Peter / Reuters Beijing, China
The world's second-largest economy, China has started 2017 with its strongest quarterly performance in 18 months. Official data shows the growth came on the back of a surge in industrial activity, property investment and increased credit.

Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 6.9 percent, well ahead of last year's figure and is slightly higher than many economists had forecast.

According to China's National Bureau of Statistics, "the national economy maintained the momentum of steady and sound development from the second half of last year, getting off to a good start in 2017 and laying a solid foundation for accomplishing the whole-year growth target."

Comment: China's great leap forward: Western frogs croak dismay

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Stormtrooper

Fox commentator Jack Keane - the most arrogant, ignorant, retired general money can buy

Michael Scheuer
Non-Intervention.com
Thu, 13 Apr 2017 19:44 UTC
Jack Keane
© Fox NewsU.S. Army General Jack Keane (ret.)
It was almost as if a retired U.S. general wanted to sharpen and buttress the point made in this space on 11 April 2017, the one that argued that President Trump ought to purge scores of serving U.S. generals if he intends to put America First and thereby abandon endless, unnecessary war. Today, 12 April 2017, retired U.S. Army General Jack Keane appeared twice on FOX News and did exactly that.

Keane has been a staple interviewee on FOX for as long as I can remember. He has been treated as great military god by every FOX host, and he has advocated unnecessary U.S. military interventionism as the solution to nearly every foreign-policy problem the republic encounters. And when the military interventionism that he and his fellow generals — retired and serving — have advocated becomes an obvious and murderous quagmire that kills our Marines and soldiers, deepens the nation's bankruptcy, and returns thousands of maimed, mentally troubled, and suicide-prone veterans to the United States, the loud demand from Keane and his far-from-the-front general buddies is always the same; namely, increase the size of the failed military intervention and reinforce defeat. Some military god, eh?

In two appearances on FOX today, General Keane was at his smug, arrogant, and relentlessly interventionist best. On Fox&Friends this morning, Keane crowed with smarmy self-satisfaction:
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Beaker

Russia demands explanation from UK on samples examination from Syria's Idlib


Sputnik
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 14:44 UTC
Russian Foreign ministry building
© AFP 2017/ JOEL SAGET
Moscow will demand explanations from the United Kingdom in relation to London's statement concerning the results of the examination of the samples from the site of the alleged chemical attack in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib on April 4, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.

On Wednesday, UK Ambassador to the United Nations Matthew Rycroft said at the UN Security Council that UK specialists had detected sarin or a sarin-like substance in samples taken from the site of the supposed chemical attack in Syria.

"There is an interesting coincidence — the British lead the fact-finding mission, they have not told anyone what this mission is doing, but the UK researchers have already examined the samples. I think that we are lodging a request to explain what is going on today," Lavrov said at a press conference.
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Attention

Russia warns US against 'Syria-style' strike in N. Korea


RT
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 13:26 UTC
The guided-missile destroyer USS Preble
© Woody Paschall / U.S. Navy photoThe guided-missile destroyer USS Preble (DDG 88).
Mike Pence's statement on the US running out of "strategic patience" towards Pyongyang does not contribute to resolving the crisis, Sergey Lavrov said, voicing hopes there will be no repeat of the US strike on Syria in North Korea.

"I hope that there won't be any unilateral actions like we recently saw in Syria and that the US will follow the policies Trump repeatedly declared during his election campaign," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, regarding the statement made by US Vice President Mike Pence on Monday during his visit to South Korea.

The world has witnessed the "strength and resolve of [President Trump] in actions taken in Syria and Afghanistan," according to Pence, who threatened North Korea "not to test" this resolve or "or the strength of the armed forces of the United States."

The Russian foreign minister warned not to take any military actions and stressed that the "risky nuclear and missile endeavors of Pyongyang" violating UNSC resolutions could not be used as an excuse for violating international law and the UN Charter "in the same fashion" as in Syria.

The period of US policy before the current escalation could be hardly described as an "era of strategic patience," Lavrov added.

Comment: See also: 'Intensive punitive measures': Regional allies react to US 'end of patience' on N. Korea

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Map

The Golan Heights: Sold to the highest bidder until everyone loses

Henry Kamens
New Eastern Outlook
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 14:06 UTC
Israeli soldiers
The Golan Heights, internationally recognized as Syrian territory, were seized by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967. The ostensible reason for this was that the Heights could be used to terrorize Israel, being mountains with Israeli plains below, and thus Israel was merely ensuring its security. However the State of Israel has long claimed the area as rightfully its own - the late film director Menahem Golan was originally surnamed Globus, but changed his surname in 1948, during the Israel War of Independence when Israelis were encouraged to adopt Hebrew names - rather like a German calling himself Alsace, or a Hungarian calling himself Zagreb.

In 1981, the Israeli parliament voted to annex two-thirds of the region. The United Nations has repeatedly stated that Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights is illegal, calling for them to be returned to Syria. However Israel is still holding on to them, citing the same security reasons, hoping that everyone who might disagree will be labelled anti-Semitic and thus excluded from debate.
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Magnify

US 'politicians, bureaucrats & academics' linked in Turkey's failed coup attempt probe


RT
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 10:54 UTC
Turkey protests
© Erdal Yavuz / Facebook
Turkey has launched an investigation to examine whether 17 prominent Americans could have links to the FETO movement of an exiled US-based cleric, Fethullah Gulen, which Ankara blames for last summer's failed coup attempt.

The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched the probe into 17 individuals including US politicians, bureaucrats, and academics after a number of Turkish attorneys filed a criminal complaint against these persons, local media report.

Former CIA Director John O. Brennan, New York Senator Chuck Schumer, US attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) President David Cohen are among the suspects, Anadolu reports.

Other American residents caught in the probe include Henri Barkey, Director of the Middle East Program at Wilson Center former CIA figure Graham E. Fuller, and President of the Turkic American Alliance (TAA) Faruk Taban.

Schumer, for instance, is being suspected of receiving millions of dollars from Gulen's movement and representing his organizational interests in the US.

Comment: See also: Germany investigates 20 'Turkish spies' complicit in snooping on Gulen movement

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