Puppet MastersS


Attention

Fierce battle for Mosul: House-to-house fighting, 400K civilians trapped

Ricky Twisdale
The Duran
Sat, 15 Apr 2017 14:36 UTC
Iraqi troops in Mosul
As the Iraqi army closes in on the core of the city of Mosul, desperate terrorist resistance meets them at every turn.

While most of the mainstream media's focus remains on Syria and on Bashar al-Assad's and Vladimir Putin's alleged "crimes" there - mostly staged false-flags and manufactured propaganda on social media - there is a genuine humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Iraqi city of Mosul.

The Iraqi army, with US and other western advisors and aided by significant air support, are pushing onto the heart of the embattled city - the biggest stronghold of ISIS in Iraq.

Iraqi commanders report desperate house-to-house and street-by-street fighting with ISIS fanatics as they close in on the city's Great Mosque, where the group's apparent leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed a caliphate 3 years ago.

Around 400,000 people remain trapped in Mosul, according to reports.
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Wolf

Raytheon lobbyist Ed Rogers has free rein to push for war in WaPo editorials


Mint Press News
Fri, 14 Apr 2017 14:04 UTC
Raytheon Ed Rogers
© CNBC
Raytheon lobbyist and Washington Post contributor Ed Rogers appears on CBNC (screenshot).
The Washington Post has given Ed Rogers, top lobbyist for Raytheon, an outlet for his blatantly pro-war editorials. The Post has failed to disclose Roger's ties to the weapons manufacturer - whose missiles were used in last week's strike against Syria - generating yet another conflict of interest for the CIA-funded and Bezos-owned paper

The Washington Post, the capital's paper of record, is at again - pushing war propaganda and failing to disclose glaring conflict of interests within the paper, particularly regarding one of its contributors whose ties to the nation's largest weapons manufacturers have been conveniently omitted from his WaPo editorials.

As Media Matters reported, WaPo contributor Ed Rogers has been given free range to praise and push for more military action against the Syrian government, all while failing to disclose that Rogers doubles as a lobbyist for defense contractor Raytheon, the very company that manufactured the Tomahawk missiles used in last week's strike.

Comment: WaPo is there whenever the CIA needs them. But Jeff Bezos is a good capitalist too:

The Washington Post actually takes Russian government money

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Snakes in Suits

'CIA chief Pompeo treats American people as enemies'


RT
Fri, 14 Apr 2017 14:11 UTC
Wikileaks on computer screen
© Jens Bьttner / Global Look Press
The Trump administration doesn't want Americans to access the truth about what's happening in Syria or North Korea, that's why the CIA is trying to demonize WikiLeaks which consistently brings truth to the people, says Arvin Vohra of the Libertarian Party.

The CIA Director Mike Pompeo has called the WikiLeaks organization "a hostile intelligence service."
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Gear

Play the game - or else: Congressman says corruption in D.C. is 'worse than you think'

Rachel del Guidice
The Daily Signal
Fri, 14 Apr 2017 14:03 UTC
Rep. Ken Buck.
© Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/NewscomRep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., just released a new book detailing government corruption, entitled, “Drain the Swamp: How Washington Corruption is Worse Than You Think.”
Corruption on Capitol Hill is "worse than you think," according to Colorado Rep. Ken Buck.

"When you first get here, you think that you are in some sort of fairy-tale novel," Buck, a Republican, said. "They wine and dine you and they show you just exactly what it's like if you play the game. It's a wonderful life."

Things quickly change, however, if "you don't play the game."

"If you don't play the game ... it becomes a much less conformable existence here," Buck said.

Buck, who has served Colorado's 4th Congressional District since 2015, also previewed his new book, "Drain the Swamp: How Washington Corruption is Worse Than You Think," which was published on Tuesday.
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Chess

Why the U.S. can't bomb North Korea like it did Syria

Catherine Wong
SCMP
Sat, 15 Apr 2017 13:55 UTC
north korea nukes
Treaties, uncertainties over Pyongyang's nuclear readiness, and the sheer scale of armaments on both sides maintain a delicate truce on the Korean peninsula

Even though the administration has indicated that military option is among the options under review, there are many signs that North Korea is not Syria - as military action against the former carries far greater risks.

Comment: Further reading: Why North Korea needs its nukes - and how they would give them up
North Korea is understandably nervous each and every time the U.S. and South Korea launch their very large yearly maneuvers and openly train for invading North Korea and for killing its government and people. The maneuvers have large negative impacts on North Korea's economy.

North Korea justifies its nuclear program as the economically optimal way to respond to these maneuvers.


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Bad Guys

Gorbachev: New arms race underway between Russia & the West


RFE/RL
Sat, 15 Apr 2017 13:55 UTC
Mikhail Gorbachev
© Vasily Maximov—AFP/Getty Images
Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, called on the West to "restore trust" with Russia and warned that the two old adversaries are moving toward a renewed state of Cold War.

"All the indications of a Cold War are there," he said in an interview with German newspaper Bild on April 14. "The language of politicians and the top-level military personnel is becoming increasingly militant. Military doctrines are formulated increasingly harshly. The media picks up on all of this and adds fuel to the fire. The relationship between the big powers continues to worsen."

A new arms race between Russia and the West is already under way, Gorbachev said.

Comment: Further reading: US aims to financially break Russia with arms race
During the Reagan presidency, the US embarked on a surge in military spending which inevitably induced the Soviet Union to respond likewise. Both countries incurred massive financial problems owing to the accelerated arms race. In the case of the Soviet Union, the unsustainable arms expenditures led to the collapse of its economy, and consequently its political system dissolved in 1991.

However, in the case of the US, it could postpone financial and political disaster because the American dollar as the top international reserve currency allowed Washington to simply keep printing dollars and pile up a mountain of debt. A quarter of a century after the official end of the Cold War, the US stands out as the biggest debtor nation on the planet with a total of $20 trillion in arrears. A day of reckoning is long overdue. [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin is therefore prudent when he said this week that he would not allow his country to once again become embroiled in any arms race with the US. One suspects that Putin and his advisors have studied history well and understand that such an arms race - if precipitated - would lead to much more grievous economic and political problems for Moscow than it would for Washington; simply because of the peculiarity of US dollar being unfairly privileged by the global financial system.


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Info

Lavrov meets with Qatari counterpart in Moscow on Saturday


Sputnik
Sat, 15 Apr 2017 13:48 UTC
Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
© Sputnik/ Eugene OdinokovQatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will discuss with his Qatari counterpart on Saturday the situation in Syria, military as well as political, and prospects "for promoting a political process with constructive international assistance."

Lavrov will hold talks with his Qatari counterpart, Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Thani, in the Russian capital on Saturday.

"During their meeting in Moscow, the foreign ministers of Russia and Qatar will compare views on key issues in the Middle East with a focus on settlement options for regional crises and firm resistance to international terrorism. The ministers will exchange opinions on a wide range of current regional and international issues, as well as bilateral relations," the statement published by the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
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Dollars

Kremlin's top brass and Russian officials release their 2016 earnings


RT
Sat, 15 Apr 2017 13:33 UTC
Russian Federation Council meeting
© Vladimir Fedorenko / Sputnik
Minister of North Caucasus affairs, Lev Kuznetsov, has become the richest member of the Russian government. According to tax returns, he earned 582 million rubles (over $10 million) last year, 12 times more than in 2015.

The press service of the Ministry of North Caucasus Affairs told Interfax that Kuznetsov's earnings grew due to enhanced income from deposits, as well as the sale of expensive real estate in Moscow.

The income of the minister's spouse grew threefold in 2016, from 10.9 million rubles in 2015 to 32.7 million rubles ($580,000). As a result, the Kuznetsov family's total income amounted to 614 million rubles ($10,899 million) last year, the most for any family of Russian government officials.
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Info

Mike Pence to spend Easter with US troops in South Korea on Sunday


Sputnik
Sat, 15 Apr 2017 13:30 UTC
Mike Pence
© REUTERS/ David Swanson/The Philadelphia Inquirer
Vice President Mike Pence is flying to South Korea on Saturday to spend the Easter holiday visiting with US and South Korean troops, the White House announced in a press schedule.

Pence will depart from Anchorage, Alaska on Saturday and arrive in Seoul on Sunday, according to the schedule.

"On Saturday, Vice President Mike Pence will depart Washington, DC on Air Force Two en route to Anchorage, Alaska. There, the plane will be refueled before departing for Seoul, South Korea," the schedule issued on Friday stated.

On Sunday, Pence will arrive in Seoul, South Korea, where he will visit the Seoul National Cemetery and participate in an Easter church service, the White House noted.
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Snakes in Suits

'New' plan for Syria published in New York Times: US should use ISIS as a proxy

Bryan MacDonald
RT
Fri, 14 Apr 2017 12:32 UTC
Screenshot from The New York Times
© The New York Times
Thomas Friedman appears to become aroused by the prospect of war. It'd be more appropriate for The New York Times to let him manage this affliction from the safety of his private space than on the pages of the newspaper.

Especially when the Pulitzer Prize winner is calling for America to effectively ally itself with ISIS in Syria.

The definition of a "chicken hawk" is relatively straightforward. It's a person "who strongly supports war or other military action, yet who actively avoids or avoided military service when of age." And, according to Wikipedia, "generally the implication is that chicken hawks lack the moral character to participate in war themselves, preferring to ask others to support, fight and perhaps die in an armed conflict."

Comment: There's nothing 'new' about this plan: the CIA and friends have been using 'ISIS' as proxy regime change agents since they created them. What is new is that the psychos are openly discussing this reality in public. Their days are surely numbered.

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