Puppet MastersS


Coffee

Simple question: Were the hackers who broke into the DNC's email really Russian?

Roger Stone
© Joe Raedle / Getty ImagesRoger Stone, a longtime political adviser and friend to President Donald Trump, speaks before signing copies of his book ‘The Making of the President 2016’ at the Boca Raton Marriott on March 21, 2017
The question of whether political operative Roger Stone helped Russian hackers break into the email of Democratic politicians, to some people, invites another: Who says the hackers were Russian?

The FBI does, and so do several U.S. intelligence agencies, as they've declared repeatedly over the past five months. But among private-sector computer security companies, not everybody thinks the case is proven.

"I have no problem blaming Russia for what they do, which is a lot," said Jeffrey Carr of the international cybersecurity company Taia Global Inc. "I just don't want to blame them for things we don't know that they did. It may turn out that they're guilty, but we are very short on evidence here."

Beaker

Russia destroys last remaining supplies of deadly chemical weapon Soman

chemical weapons
© Sputnik/ Pavel Lisitsyn
Russia has destroyed the last of its supplies of the deadly chemical weapon soman, the Federal Administration for the Safe Storage and Destruction of Chemical Weapons announced on Saturday.

"On March 25 2017 at the Kizner facility for the storage and destruction of chemical weapons in the Udmurt Republic, in accordance with the schedule for the destruction of chemical weapons in the Russian Federation, the last drop of the poisonous substance soman was destroyed," the administration's head Colonel-General Valery Kapashin stated.

"As of today, Russia's supplies of the poisonous skin irritant mustard gas and the organophosphate soman have been completely destroyed."

Attention

Why Trump was lucky the Obamacare repeal bill failed

ryancare, obamacare repeal

By pulling a complex repeal bill from Congress the President has avoided a protracted battle on a complex and unpopular issue.


The withdrawal of the Obamacare repeal bill from the House of Representatives has highlighted divisions within the Republican Party. It is clear that whilst all Republicans claim to oppose Obamacare, they are far from united on an alternative, and as of the time of writing it is far from certain they will ever agree on one.

I wholly lack the knowledge to say whether the alternative to Obamacare proposed by the Trump administration was better or worse than the current system it was intended to replace. Given the hurry with which it was cobbled together I suspect it was worse.

I would also say that it is baffling to me, as I suspect it is to most Europeans, that the US seems incapable of coming up with a coherent and cost-effective health care system when this is something which has been done successfully in all the other developed countries.

However if the story of US health care reform is one of a seemingly never-ending disaster, I doubt the decision to pull the bill from the House of Representatives before the vote will do the President much political or electoral harm.

Megaphone

Lavrov gives landmark speech: New centers of economic power will end US 'global domination'

Lavrov speech

Russia's Foreign Minister paves the way for a consensus-driven world order in a landmark speech in Moscow


This is perhaps one of Sergei Lavrov's finest addresses. It needs to be read in its entirety to fully appreciate the scale and depth of Lavrov's observations — although we've provided a very short excerpt for those with short attention spans.

Lavrov's driving thesis is that the U.S.-led global order has abandoned the concepts of state sovereignty and international law, choosing political expediency over consensus.

Crusader

Telling it like it is: Putin slams governments for imperialism, pedophilia, and "faith in Satan"

Putin
In a rarely seen speech, Putin states that there is a moral crisis occurring in the west and it is one that is purposely created by governments.

In short, the moral foundations of objective right and wrong often linked to Christendom have eroded.

In their place the imperial oligarchs have erected a system that reverses what is good and replaces it with propaganda that leads to cultural decay and erasure of identity, according to Putin.

Comment:


Bulb

Iran Imposes Sanctions Against 15 US Companies That Support Terrorism

Down with USA
Iran has imposed sanctions against 15 US companies for "supporting terrorism" in response to new US sanctions against Tehran, according to local media.

Jet5

Syria fully reopens Kuweires air base and prepares to use it against ISIS

Syria Kuweires air base
Full reopening of Kuweires air base in northern Aleppo province possible sign of Syrian army offensive against ISIS's capital Raqqa.

The Syrian military has fully re-opened the Kuweires air base 30 km east of Aleppo, making it possible for a Russian built IL-76 transport aircraft to land and take off from the base.

In a war where no lack of courage has been shown by the combatants on either side, the successful defense of Kuweiris air base by the Syrian military stands out as an especially heroic episode in the bitter Syrian war.

Info

Erdogan: Turkey may hold Brexit-style referendum on EU accession bid

Tayyip Erdogan
© Kayhan Ozer / Reuters
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced plans to hold a "Brexit-like" referendum on whether Ankara should carry on with a process to join the European Union, amid strained relations with its western partners.

A new vote on the EU accession bid might be organized in Turkey after the April 16 constitutional referendum, which could give Erdogan new powers, the Turkish president announced Saturday.

USA

Winning hearts and minds: US airstrikes in Raqqa take civilian toll again

US fighter jet
Several civilians were killed and wounded in the US-led coalition fighter jets' strikes on al-Omran region in Raqqa on Saturday.

Local sources in Raqqa province reported that the airstrikes have left 6 civilians, including two women and two children, dead and several others injured.

Also, the US-led coalition fighter jets pounded a school in al-Mansoureh city West of Raqqa city that hosts 50 displaced families on Wednesday.

SANA news agency quoted the local sources as saying that the US airplanes attacked al-Badiyeh al-Dakheliyeh school, 30km away from Raqqa city, which hosts 50 displaced families from Aleppo, Raqqa and Tadmur.

The airstrikes destroyed the school completely but the number of casualties has not been announced yet.

Info

'Optimism far from reality': Moscow dismisses West's 'rosy forecasts' on Raqqa offensive

Syrian soldiers
© Rodi Said / Reuters
Moscow has questioned the Western coalition's optimism about soon recapturing Raqqa from Islamic State, saying only international cooperation can help liberate the city. However, it is exactly coordinated partnership on various fronts that is lacking.

The "very hard but essential" battle for Raqqa is just days away, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian claimed on Friday.

"France has always said that [liberating] Raqqa is the main aim. Today, we can say that Raqqa is surrounded and the battle will begin in the coming days," he told France's CNEWS television.