Puppet MastersS


Sherlock

Democratic Senators call for probe of Trump firm's Azerbaijan business dealings


RFE/RL
Thu, 30 Mar 2017 13:04 UTC
Trump addresses congress
A group of senior Democratic U.S. senators has asked the Treasury Department and the attorney general's office to investigate President Donald Trump's alleged business dealings in Azerbaijan, which they say may have violated U.S. sanctions against Iran.

Diane Feinstein (California), ranking member of the Judiciary Committee; Ben Cardin (Maryland), ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee; and Sherrod Brown (Ohio), ranking member of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, issued the appeal on March 30.

They said their concerns were raised by an article in The New Yorker magazine entitled Donald Trump's Worst Deal, which describes the Trump Organization's business dealings with Azerbaijani Transport Minister and oligarch Ziya Mammadov.

Mammadov is alleged to have ties with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which is under U.S. sanctions for supporting terrorism.
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Eye 1

The deep state surveillance behind Russia-gate

Ray McGovern and Bill Binney
Consortium News
Tue, 28 Mar 2017 12:40 UTC
deep state survellance
Although many details are still hazy because of secrecy - and further befogged by politics - it appears House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes was informed last week about invasive electronic surveillance of senior U.S. government officials and, in turn, passed that information onto President Trump.

This news presents Trump with an unwelcome but unavoidable choice: confront those who have kept him in the dark about such rogue activities or live fearfully in their shadow. (The latter was the path chosen by President Obama. Will Trump choose the road less traveled?)

What President Trump decides will largely determine the freedom of action he enjoys as president on many key security and other issues. But even more so, his choice may decide whether there is a future for this constitutional republic. Either he can acquiesce to or fight against a Deep State of intelligence officials who have a myriad of ways to spy on politicians (and other citizens) and thus amass derogatory material that can be easily transformed into blackmail.
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Star of David

Israel slashes additional $2 million in funding to UN over criticism, then approves illegal settlement building in West Bank


RT
Fri, 31 Mar 2017 12:15 UTC
llegal Israeli settler outpost
© Baz Ratner / Reutersllegal Israeli settler outpost of Amona, in the occupied West Bank
Tel Aviv is cutting another $2 million from its UN contribution this year in protest of what it calls the international body's "obsessional discrimination" against Israel, saying the money will go to helping "friendly" developing nations instead.

The decision to slash the annual payment comes in response to "hostile resolutions adopted a few days ago by the UN's Human Rights Council (UNHRC)," the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon also accused the UN of "obsessional discrimination against Israel," The Times of Israel reported.

Nahshon said the withheld funds will be used for development projects in countries that support Israel in international organizations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesperson to the Arab media, Ofir Gendelman, also tweeted that the money will go towards "friendly" developing nations.

Comment: The Israeli cabinet has doubled down on showing how little Israel cares for the UN by approving illegal settlements in the West Bank for the first time in over 20 years. The fact that US president Donald Trump suggested to Netanyahu that Israel stop its illegal destruction of Palestinian homes in the process of building settlements seems to matter little to the Powers That Be in Israel.

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Newspaper

Beijing: Stop obsessing over 'man-made islands' in South China Sea


RT
Fri, 31 Mar 2017 11:47 UTC
South China Sea
© U.S. Navy / Handout via ReutersChinese dredging vessels purportedly seen in the waters around Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea
There's "no such thing" as man-made islands in the disputed South China Sea, Beijing said on Thursday, adding that all construction work presently underway in the area is for civilian purposes only, including some "necessary defensive facilities."

Beijing has laid claim to nearly all of the resource-rich South China Sea, through which an estimated $5 trillion worth of trade passes each year. The dispute over the area involves the Spratly and Paracel Islands. Beijing's territorial claims to the islands partly overlap those of the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan. China also has ongoing territorial disputes in the area with Malaysia and Brunei.

A tribunal at The Hague said in a ruling last July that "there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the 'nine-dash line,'" referring to a demarcation line on a map of the sea from 1947. Beijing has ignored the verdict, however, saying its islands come with exclusive economic zones, where Chinese people have had activities for 2,000 years.

Comment: Further reading: The Geopolitics of Rex Tillerson's 'Successful Visit' to China

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Chess

Beijing's 'soft power' faces complications in South-East Asia

Natalia Rogozhina
New Eastern Outlook
Fri, 31 Mar 2017 11:47 UTC
Mao Zedong Tiananmen Square China Beijing
© Kim Kyung-Hoon / ReutersParamilitary solders stand guard at Tiananmen Square where the portrait of late Chinese chairman Mao Zedong is seen
China's "soft" diplomacy is aimed at increasing the country's attractiveness and improving its image to increase its influence in the world and create favorable conditions for strengthening its economic positions by means of such political tools as culture, education, ideology, as well as trade and investment. According to the Chinese leadership, the country cannot become a great power without implementing the soft power policy.

However, according to the efficiency index (used to evaluate the impact of one state on other states), in 2016 China only ranked 28th in the world. However the index is much higher in South-East Asia. An opinion poll shows that most citizens (except for the Vietnamese) believe that China has a strong impact on other nations in the region, and a positive attitude prevails.

This fact is largely connected to China's Soft Power policy, which should demonstrate its intention to secure peace and prosperity in the region by means of strengthening and expanding mutually beneficial cooperation with the neighboring states.
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Bad Guys

ISIS commanders flee Raqqa as Syrian forces approach the city


Sputnik
Fri, 31 Mar 2017 11:47 UTC
Syrian ARmy ISIS Raqqa
© Sputnik/ Hikmet Durgun
In an interview with Sputnik Turkey, Nasir Hec Mansur, Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said that Daesh commanders are fleeing Raqqa as the army successfully advances toward the city.

The commander said that the Syrian forces are about 5 to 10 km away from reaching Raqqa.

"At present it is difficult to say the exact date when we will reach Raqqa due to security and technical reasons, but I expect that it will happen within the next month." Mansur told Sputnik Turkey.

Comment: Further reading:

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Blackbox

Who visited Lugansk? The Russian press secretary or Putin's personal advisor?

Tom Winter (translator)
Fort Russ
Fri, 31 Mar 2017 11:47 UTC
Vladislav Surkov
Vladislav Surkov
bigmir.net &bigmir.net [one hour earlier] Translated by Tom Winter -

Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian president, described news about his visit to Lugansk as "another canard," but did not deny the arrival of Vladislav Surkov in the Russian-controlled city, suggesting that this information be checked with the Security Service of Ukraine.

This is written by RIA Novosti.

"I'm directly from Lugansk now and I'm calling Canard. No, this is another canard, don't pay any attention to it, "Peskov said.

Answering the question whether presidential aide Vladislav Surkov was in Lugansk, he said:
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Yoda

Lavrov mocks Swedish Prime Minister's suggestion of Russia influencing Sweden's election as "childish fears"


The Local
Fri, 31 Mar 2017 11:55 UTC
lavrocv
© TT
Sergey Lavrov has labelled Sweden's Prime Minister "childish" for expressing fears over Russian influence in Sweden's election next year.

In an interview with US magazine National Interest, Lavrov said there was "no proof" Russia was involved in the US elections or has interfered in Germany and France ahead of their respective elections this year.

He then said: "By the way, I read yesterday that the Swedish prime minister is becoming nervous that they also have elections very soon and that Russia would 100 percent be involved in them."

Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said in January he could not rule out the possibility that Russia may try to influence the Swedish general election in 2018.

Comment: Check out the full interview with Lavrov: National Interest magazine interviews Russian FM Lavrov

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Camera

FBI Records Vault releases images of 9/11 attacks

Claire Bernish
The Free Thought Project
Fri, 31 Mar 2017 10:49 UTC
Others could be seen as putting to rest a popular theory American Airlines Flight 77 never actually smashed into the Pentagon.

But, given the stony silence from the U.S. government toward families of victims of the attacks, even the meager disclosure is a welcome morsel of information with the potential to provide answers.

Indeed, in the very first image, labeled plainly, "9-11 Pentagon Debris 1," a single piece of wreckage sits isolated on a parcel of lawn — bearing the American Airlines logo and marked with letters and numbers.
Pentagon debris
© FBI
Mangled metal in the second image appears obviously to have come from a plane, but — like the entire release — no description accompanies to explain when, where, or how the wreckage was discovered by investigators.

Comment: See also: Evidence That a Frozen Fish Didn't Impact the Pentagon on 9-11 and Neither Did a Boeing 757

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Magnify

BBC has no choice but to admit there's no evidence of collusion during US election between Russia and Trump campaign

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Thu, 30 Mar 2017 10:20 UTC
trump top secret
Shortly after I wrote my article about how the Russiagate scandal is flagging, an article appeared on the BBC's website which confirmed my article's key point: that no evidence has been found of collusion during the US election between Russia and the Trump campaign.

The BBC article incidentally provides a classic example of something I also spoke of in my article: the fact that in the absence of any actual evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign supporters of the Russiagate scandal are now latching on to what can be best described as 'non-facts' to keep the flagging 'Russiagate' scandal going.

The 'non-fact' in this case is that it seems that US intelligence identified a Russian diplomat called Kalugin at the US embassy in Washington as a Russian spy. Kalugin, we are asked to believe, is the same person as a Russian spy at the US embassy called "Mikhail Kulagin" who the Trump Dossier alleges was recalled in August 2016 because of his excessively heavy involvement in Russia's interference in the US election.
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