Puppet MastersS


Attention

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


RT
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 13:58 UTC
Mike Pence
© Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters US Vice President Mike Pence in Paju, South Korea, April 17, 2017.
US Vice-President Mike Pence announced the "end of strategic patience" towards Pyongyang, adding that "all options are on the table."

Pence spoke on Monday while visiting the 4km-wide heavily-mined demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas.

"President Trump has made it clear that the patience of the United States and our allies in this region has run out and we want to see change," Pence told reporters. "We want to see North Korea abandon its reckless path of the development of nuclear weapons, and also its continual use and testing of ballistic missiles is unacceptable."
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Stock Down

Saudi Arabia to shelve infrastructure projects costing billions as cheap oil bites


RT
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 13:48 UTC
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
© Faisal Al Nasser / Reuters Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, March 1, 2017.
The oil-rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been forced to cancel or restructure economic and infrastructure projects worth billions of dollars, according to a Reuters report, which refers to sources in the government.

The Saudi government has ordered ministries and organizations to review the projects to either scrap or make them more efficient.

Most of the projects go back to the era of lavish government spending buoyed by crude oil prices above $100 per barrel. However, as current prices are below $55, they are no longer cost-efficient.
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Chess

After referendum victory Erdogan says time for Turkey to 'shift gears'


RT
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 12:04 UTC
Tayyip Erdogan and his wife Emine
© Murad Sezer / ReutersTurkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his wife Emine
After claiming victory in a referendum that greatly expands his powers, the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan has strongly hinted that the time has come for Turkey to consider reinstating the death penalty.

Erdogan used his victory speech on Sunday night to reveal that he will "immediately" discuss bringing back the capital punishment with Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and the leader of the nationalist opposition.

"If it [a parliament bill] comes in front of me, I will approve it," the Turkish leader said as cited by AFP. "But if there is no support [from in parliament]... then what shall we do?"

"Then we could have another referendum for that," Erdogan added.
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War Whore

Boris Johnson's stupidity on display: Russia could help 'relieve Syrians of tyranny,' join US-led coalition


RT
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 12:04 UTC
Boris Johnson
© Alkis Konstantinidis / ReutersBritish Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
UK Foreign Minister Boris Johnson has suddenly suggested that Moscow join the Western coalition in Syria, saying that Russia could assist in "relieving Syrians of a tyranny" of "toxic Assad." Russian MPs were not thrilled by the prospects.

"Assad has been clinging on. With the help of Russians and Iranians, and by dint of unrelenting savagery, he has not only recaptured Aleppo. He has also won back most of 'operational' Syria," Johnson wrote in a column penned for The Telegraph. While Johnson called for gathering "all evidence at Khan Sheikhoun," citing the "painful" lessons of the 2003 Iraq invasion, the British FM seems to have already drawn his conclusions.

"It is in some ways bizarre that Bashar al-Assad should be so reckless," Johnson writes, adding that "it seems mystifying that he should now raise the stakes by so blatantly murdering so many of his own people with chemical weapons."

Comment: Further reading:

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Black Magic

Nicaragua versus zombie US foreign policy

Tortilla con Sal
teleSUR
Fri, 14 Apr 2017 00:00 UTC
Ortega and Putin
© AFPNicaragua's Daniel Ortega looks towards his guest, Vladimir Putin, after he landed in Managua.
The latest Washington Post caricature of Nicaragua adopts the attitudes of 19th Century imperialism rather than engaging honestly with the country.

Back in November 2008, on election night in the United States, a reporter here in Nicaragua asked then U.S. ambassador Robert Callahan what changes to expect in U.S. Latin American policy under the new President Barack Obama. Callahan, veteran U.S. death squad diplomat from Honduras to Iraq, replied he foresaw no change because U.S. policy in the region has been the same for decades. Sure enough, a few weeks after President Obama's fake goodwill message at the Trinidad and Tobago summit of the Americas in 2009, his government supported the military coup in Honduras. As Callahan predicted, from 2008 to date, apart from cosmetic change toward Cuba, U.S. regional policy has been virtually indistinguishable from the previous fifty years.

Now, the U.S. ruling elites are making sure President Trump adheres, like his predecessors, to the Monroe Doctrine from which Latin America and the Caribbean have suffered since the time of Simon Bolivar. In Nicaragua's case, the most recent examples of the U.S. elites' efforts to hijack President Trump's policy in the region have been the anti-Castro Republican-inspired revival of the NICA Act and the Washington Post's psychological warfare attack of April 8, "The Soviet Union fought the Cold War in Nicaragua. Now Putin's Russia is back." The Washington Post report is a disturbing sign that the Democrat wing of the US elites will work with Republican extremists to attack Nicaragua as they did in the 1980s.
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Wall Street

Japan to go ahead with TPP talks despite US withdrawal


RT
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 12:04 UTC
Japan TPP Protest
© Yuya Shino / Reuters
In an apparent reversal of its previous position, Japan may yet go ahead with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks, even after the exit of a core member. Donald Trump withdrew from the pact as one of his first acts in office, calling it a "job-killing" deal.

The trade deal seemed doomed without the US, which was TPP's biggest market accounting for 60 percent of its GDP, and after Japanese officials earlier said that it would be meaningless to proceed without American involvement.

But Tokyo may now attempt to salvage what's left of the deal with its remaining 11 members, signaling a U-turn from its previous stance.

Comment: Further reading: Cutting out the middleman: Japanese banks replacing SWIFT with China's CIPS payment system for inter-bank settlements

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Bad Guys

British MPs want to strip Assad's wife of UK citizenship after she accused West of lying about chemical weapons attack


RT
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 10:53 UTC
Asma Assad wife Bashar
© Sana / ReutersAsma Assad, the wife of the Syrian president Bashar Assad
The British-born wife of Syrian President Bashar Assad may have her citizenship revoked due to a social media post in which she accused western countries of lying about the use of chemical weapons by her husband.

British MPs have put forward a suggestion to deprive Asma Assad - who hails from west London - of her British citizenship, after one of her social media posts that blamed western media of lying and propaganda stirred too much controversy, according to the Sunday Times.

"The time has come where we go after [President] Assad in every which way, including people like Mrs. Assad, who is very much part of the propaganda machine that is committing war crimes," Nadhim Zahawi, a Conservative MP on the Commons foreign affairs committee, told the newspaper.

Comment: Asma Assad is a better example of humanity than any jihadi-loving MP, but that's the problem isn't it? Maybe her political resemblance to Princess Diana is just too much for them to bear. It's a sign of the times when government official try to strip someone of their citizenship for having the integrity to speak the truth, while they themselves heap praise and support on terrorist extremists.

Check out: Desert Rose: Asma al-Assad gives first interview in 7 years (VIDEO)

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Quenelle

Fmr Italian FM: Anti-Russian sanctions over Syria another 'absurd idea by UK'


RT
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 10:53 UTC
Franco Frattini
Franco Frattini
President Assad's fate belongs to the Syrian people, and this should be reiterated during the meeting of G7 foreign ministers, says former Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini. Russia should be viewed as an ally, not an enemy in fighting terrorism, he adds.

The Syrian crisis is likely to dominate G7 foreign ministers' talks in Italy. The two-day summit in the town of Lucca is the first chance for the G7 countries to discuss the issue since the US airstrike on Syria which followed an alleged chemical attack. An extended session on Tuesday will be dedicated to the conflict.

Comment: Further reading: MIT Professor eviscerates White Helmets 'evidence' of Syrian chemical weapons attack

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Bad Guys

'We have no choice': Trump justifies expansion of American war machine


RT
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 10:53 UTC
Donald Trump US Military Army
© Jonathan Ernst / ReutersUS President Donald Trump in Hampton, Virginia
The US has "no choice" but to continue boosting its military power, Donald Trump has said, after Washington's war machine showcased its latest weapons over the past week and demonstrated its willingness to use them.

Trump authorized the unilateral cruise missile strikes on Syria and followed up by dropping the "Mother of all Bombs" on Afghanistan.

"Our military is building and is rapidly becoming stronger than ever before," the US President tweeted Sunday. "Frankly, we have no choice!"

Comment: Yes, the US has no choice... the rest of the world is acquiring the same (and sometimes better) tech. How is the US going to dominate them then?

Once rumored to be a hoax, Iran shows off its elusive new fighter jet

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Info

Trump says China working with US on North Korea problem


RT
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 09:09 UTC
US President Donald Trump (R) and Chinese President Xi Jinping
© Carlos Barria / ReutersUS President Donald Trump (R) and Chinese President Xi Jinping
US President Trump has said that China is working on the "North Korean problem" with Washington, while Pyongyang states they will be building up its nuclear capacity until the US stops its 'nuclear blackmail.'

"Why would I call China a currency manipulator when they are working with us on the North Korean problem? We will see what happens!" Trump said on Twitter.

The tweet comes just as US security advisor Herbert Raymond McMaster stated that "all options are on the table for North Korea," during his visit to Afghanistan.

McMaster also branded North Korea "a hostile regime," and Kim Jong-un an unpredictable leader who's "demonstrated his brutality." He also said the US government is working on a range of options for North Korea with its partners, including the Chinese leadership.

Comment: Three US aircraft carriers, USS Carl Vinson, USS Ronald Reagan and USS Nimitz, will enter the Sea of Japan next week, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing a South Korean government source.
Washington and Seoul are discussing joint drills, which will include the three aircraft carriers, with USS Carl Vinson expected to enter the Sea of Japan by April 25 and other ships joining it, according to the report.

On Sunday night, South Korean and US military reported registering what they believed to be a failed missile test by Pyongyang.
Beijing and Moscow have launched intelligence-gathering vessels to follow the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier as it travels toward the Korean Peninsula, according to numerous sources in the Japanese government.
The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and its group are believed to be in waters around the East China Sea, heading north toward the Korean Peninsula.

China and Russia, which prioritize stability on the Korean Peninsula, have expressed their concern over the tough US stance towards North Korea, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying the issue should be resolved peacefully through political and diplomatic efforts.

The dispatch of the intelligence-gathering vessels may be aimed at sending a warning signal to the United States, reports have speculated.

No official comments from the Russian Defense Ministry were available at the time of publication.
US Vice President Pence arrived at military base Camp Bonifas in South Korea, located next to the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea, according to a White House pool report on Monday.
Pence reportedly arrived at the base around 9:30 a.m. local time [00:30 GMT] and was expected to visit the DMZ, a narrow strip of land that acts as a buffer zone between the two countries.

The US vice president's three-day visit to South Korea began on Sunday.
According to the CNN broadcaster, Pence said on the second day of his three-day visit to South Korea that the "era of strategic patience is over" during his visit to Camp Bonifas military base, located next to the Demilitarized Zone, separating North and South Korea.
The vice president also reportedly said that US President Donald Trump was hoping that China would help "bring about a change of policy in North Korea. An abandonment of its nuclear weapons program and its ballistic missile program."


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