Puppet MastersS


USA

Pepe Escobar: Trumpquake - How Baudrillard anticipated Trump

Pepe Escobar
Sputnik News
Tue, 07 Mar 2017 22:38 UTC
US President Donald J. Trump
© AFP 2017/Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA PoolUS President Donald J. Trump delivers his first address to a joint session of Congress from the floor of the House of Representatives in Washington, DC, USA, 28 February 2017.
It was, indeed, a Trumpquake. And the sequel was a given; the whole world, transfixed, in real time, 24/7, hanging on every word, tirade, feeding frenzy oozing from the swamp and its various flesh-eating monsters and manmade pathogens, deep state-related or otherwise.

The Trump presidency is the ultimate larger-than-life - for many the only - show on earth. It's open to debate whether the vicious civil war currently in effect between Team Trump and powerful deep state factions enmeshed with the neocon/neoliberalcon galaxy is just shadowplay; or whether this is the real deal underlining the eventual crash and burn of the American Empire.

That's all too predictable, when a reality TV star becomes president. When "post-truth" pseudo and/or non-events on screen 24/7 make a mockery of "reality." When the screen determines the perception of truth; if an "event" is not on show, it never happened.

The "post-truth" battle happens - where else - on a vortex of digital screens. And that's why US corporate media is freaking out. Because now there are no limits to how much it can suppress/repress/digress; what ideas are "appropriate" to be discussed; and what taboos cannot be broken, as debating the pernicious effects of neoliberalism, globalism or the industrial-military-intelligence-security complex.

And what a pity that the neo-Gibbon who could track this Decline and Fall to perfection - in fact did it, decades in advance, died 10 years ago, on March 6, 2007.
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Star of David

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May wants British people to feel 'pride' in the Balfour Declaration

Robert Fisk
The Independent
Fri, 03 Mar 2017 18:22 UTC
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
© GettyForeign Secretary Boris Johnson greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Foreign Office, London, on 6 February 2017
Balfour initiated a policy of British support for Israel which continues to this very day, to the detriment of the occupied Palestinians of the West Bank and the five million Palestinian refugees living largely in warrens of poverty around the Middle East, including Israeli-besieged Gaza. Surely we should apologise

Theresa May told us that Britain will celebrate the centenary of the Balfour Declaration this summer with "pride". This was predictable. A British prime minister who would fawn to the head-chopping Arab autocrats of the Gulf in the hope of selling them more missiles - and then hold the hand of the insane new anti-Muslim president of the United States - was bound, I suppose, to feel "pride" in the most mendacious, deceitful and hypocritical document in modern British history.

As a woman who has set her heart against immigrants, it was also inevitable that May would display her most venal characteristics to foreigners - to wealthy Arab potentates, and to an American president whose momentary love of Britain might produce a life-saving post-Brexit trade agreement. It was to an audience of British lobbyists for Israel a couple of months ago that she expressed her "pride" in a century-old declaration which created millions of refugees. But to burnish the 1917 document which promised Britain's support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine but which would ultimately create that very refugee population - refugees being the target of her own anti-immigration policies - is little short of iniquitous.
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Cell Phone

85% of smartphones in the world can be 'weaponized' by CIA


RT
Tue, 07 Mar 2017 19:56 UTC
smartphone
© Erik Tham / Getty Images
The majority of the world's smartphones have been "weaponized," according to WikiLeaks, which revealed in its latest leak that the CIA went to extreme measures to utilize the Android OS for spying.

Google's Android operating system, used in 85 percent of the world's smart phones, including Samsung and Sony, was found to have 24 'zero days' - the code name used by the CIA to identify and exploit vulnerabilities for the purpose of secretly collecting data on individuals.

The techniques allow the CIA to access data from social messaging platforms, including WhatsApp, Weibo and Clockman before encryption, according to WikiLeaks.

Both audio and message data were vulnerable to the exploit through the CIA's exploitation of gaps in the OS.
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Target

Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister fear mongers Russian destabilization efforts

Leah Schnurr
Yahoo News
Mon, 06 Mar 2017 00:00 UTC
Crystia
© The Indian ExpressForeign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland
Canada's foreign affairs minister said on Monday that her country should be prepared for Russia to try to destabilize its political system, saying it would be similar to its efforts in the United States.

Chrystia Freeland, who is a critic of Russia and is barred from entering that country, was asked whether Russia had engaged in a smear campaign against her after negative articles appeared in pro-Russian media about her Ukrainian grandfather.

"It is public knowledge that there have been efforts, as U.S. intelligence forces have said, by Russia to destabilize the U.S. political system," Freeland told reporters in Parliament. "I think that Canadians and, indeed, other Western countries should be prepared for similar efforts to be directed at us."

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded last year that Russia hacked and leaked Democratic emails during the 2016 presidential election campaign as part of an effort to tilt the vote in Republican Donald Trump's favor. The Kremlin has denied the allegations.

Comment: Freeland exemplifies the mindless paranoia of those who believe anything without testing the logic or challenging the validity. 'Public knowledge' is only as good as it is real.

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Stop

Tit-for-tat: Malaysia bans N. Koreans from leaving country, expels ambassador in response to Pyongyang's ban


RT
Tue, 07 Mar 2017 07:44 UTC
banned from leaving
© Press TVBanned from leaving.
Malaysia banned North Korean citizens from leaving the country after Pyongyang banned all Malaysians from leaving North Korea over the investigation into the recent killing of Kim Jong-un's half-brother in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak urged Pyongyang to immediately allow all Malaysian citizens to leave, and slammed the move. "This abhorrent act, effectively holding our citizens hostage, is in total disregard of all international law and diplomatic norms," Najib was quoted by Reuters as saying, adding that he had called an emergency meeting of the National Security Council. Najib said he also ordered the police "to prevent all North Korean citizens in Malaysia from leaving the country until we are assured of the safety and security of all Malaysians in North Korea."

Comment: See also:

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Boat

North Korea: US & South Korean drills may lead to war


RT
Tue, 07 Mar 2017 11:31 UTC
Kim Jong-Un
© KCNA/AFPKim Jong-Un and military personnel
North Korea has warned that US and South Korean joint military exercises could result in "actual war." North Korean diplomat Ju Yong Choi described the joint military exercises as "massive, unprecedented" and a "major cause of escalation of tension that might turn into actual war," reported Reuters. The diplomat, speaking in Geneva to a UN-sponsored conference on disarmament, said the ongoing exercises were aimed at conducting a "pre-emptive nuclear attack" against Pyongyang.

The latest comments come amid rising tensions on the peninsula, with the US deploying the first elements of its anti-missile defence system to South Korea.

In response, US Disarmament Ambassador Robert Wood said North Korea was "a pariah, an outlier" which violated international laws with its ballistic missile and nuclear tests. On Tuesday the first pieces of the US missile defence system - Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) - arrived in South Korea, reported Reuters. THAAD is designed to detect and destroy incoming missiles from North Korea which threaten civilian populations. Last month US Defense Secretary James Mattis said no countries had anything to fear from THAAD "other than North Korea."

North Korea on Monday launched four missiles into the Sea of Japan as part of a drill it said was part of an exercise which simulated the targeting of US military bases.

Comment: From show to showdown? So far it has been a 'war of rhetoric' where words spoke louder than actions. Is it now turning into the rhetoric of war where 'actions speak louder than words'?

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Rocket

Despite Russia and China objections, US deploys THAAD defense system to S. Korea


RT
Tue, 07 Mar 2017 12:21 UTC
THAAD delivery
© ReutersOsan US Air Base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul.
The US has begun to deploy its advanced THAAD anti-missile defense system in South Korea, despite angry opposition from Russia and China. The step comes after North Korea fired four ballistic missiles toward Japan as part of an exercise targeting US bases there. According to US Pacific Command, the first elements of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system arrived at Osan airbase in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, on Tuesday.

"Continued provocative actions by North Korea, to include yesterday's launch of multiple missiles, only confirm the prudence of our alliance decision last year to deploy THAAD to South Korea," US Pacific Commander Admiral Harry Harris said in a statement, as cited by Reuters.

The move comes after North Korean state media said the country's leader, Kim Jong-un, had personally supervised Monday's launch of four missiles that landed in the sea off the northwest coast of Japan, angering both Seoul and Tokyo. US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe discussed the launches during a phone call on Tuesday, with Abe stating that the threat posed by North Korea has intensified.


Comment: China's state-run Global Times warned the possibility of war on the Korean peninsula was growing because of the U.S.-South Korean military drills and the North Korean missile launches. "The Chinese public is angry that Pyongyang's nuclear program has provided an excuse for Seoul to deploy THAAD."

Will China take a short-cut and reprimand trade partner N. Korea for its nuclear ambitions or stick to angry opposition to American-S. Korean-Japanese pro-active stance that most certainly has China in its sights?

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Document

Republicans release new legislation to replace Obamacare


RT
Mon, 06 Mar 2017 22:11 UTC
Obamacare boat
© CNN MoneySeasick?
House Republicans have released the American Health Care Act, legislation to replace Obamacare. The reconciliation process also includes legislation released by Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

On Monday, House Republicans released Obamacare replacement legislation, entitled the American Health Care Act, online. The legislation keeps President Barack Obama's signature health care reform's protections of pre-existing conditions, but strips away mandates on individuals and employers, as well as some taxes and subsidies. It also allows the states' insurance exchange structures to remain in place.

Under the proposal, expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare is slated to continue until January 1, 2020.


Comment: The country suffered through years of machinations for the ACA under Obama resulting in a whopping 20M Americans now experiencing an expensive phase of this dysfunctional attempt (out of a population of about 327M -- meaning over 300M did not think enough of it to "buy" it). The Democrats are damning new legislation before analyzing what it is or how it will work, instead of becoming part of the process. According to alarmist and former KY Governor Beshear: "People are gonna die..." if Trump revises the healthcare act. Unfortunately, Mr. Beshear, it is government that is on life-support.

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Sherlock

The head of Britain's secretive intelligence agency just resigned - A connection to Micheal Flynn ousting?

Philip Giraldi
Vetrans News Now
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 20:38 UTC
Michael Flynn
The American media is ignoring a story from London about the abrupt resignation of Robert Hannigan, the head of Britain's highly secretive Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), which is the code breaking equivalent of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). Hannigan's resignation on January 23 surprised everyone, with only a few hours' notice provided to his staff. He claimed in a press release that he wanted to spend more time with his family, which reportedly includes a sick wife and elderly parents. Given the abruptness of the decision, it seems likely to be a cover story.

The British media is speculating that Hannigan was pushed out because he was resistant to sharing sensitive intelligence with the Trump White House, but that story makes no sense. The UK's formidable GCHQ does indeed have significant resources that make it the most valued partner for the NSA, but the bilateral flow of information is predominantly from Washington to London, making the relationship more valuable to Britain than to the U.S., no matter who is president.

Hannigan, who is only 51, was a senior civil servant brought into GCHQ in November 2014 for an anticipated four-year tour of duty. He was tasked with initiating reforms in the wake of the Snowden revelations. Hannigan promised more openness and accountability. But one of his first moves was to condemn attempts by mostly U.S. technology companies to restrict government access to their messaging systems, making them "the command and control networks of choice" for terrorists.
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Eye 1

Facebook Zero: Modern day 'People's Receiver' and the destruction of independent thought

Tony Cartalucci
New Eastern Outlook
Tue, 07 Mar 2017 20:10 UTC
Zuckerberg
© dpa
"All of Germany hears the Führer with the People's Receiver," reads a World War II propaganda poster. It was advertising the Volksempfänger - or, the People's Receiver - described by the US Holocaust Museum which contains one of the radios in its collection in Washington D.C. as:
Goebbels's ministry recognized the tremendous promise of radio for propaganda. It heavily subsidized the production of the inexpensive "People's Receiver" (Volksempfänger) to facilitate sales. By early 1938, the number of radios in German homes surpassed more than 9 million, roughly one for every two German households. Three years later, this figure rose to almost 15 million, providing 50 million Germans with regular radio reception.
The radio lacked the capability to receive foreign radio stations, and on its dial, only German and Austrian stations were marked. This - in conjunction with radio jamming efforts - was a deliberate attempt to confine the German public's access to information to only that emanating from Berlin.

According to archives maintained by Yale University, during the Nuremberg trials after the war, Nazi Germany's Minister of Armaments and War Production, Albert Speer would remark (emphasis added):
Hitler's dictatorship differed in one fundamental point from all its predecessors in history. His was the first dictatorship in the present period of modern technical development, a dictatorship which made complete use of all technical means in a perfect manner for the domination of its own nation. Through technical devices such as radio and loudspeaker 80 million people were deprived of independent thought. It was thereby possible to subject them to the will of one man.
Should a similar dictatorship rise today, seeking to make complete use of all technical means in a perfect manner for the domination of global populations, it is very likely they would pursue similar methods - not over radio waves - but by dominating the 21st century's primary means of communication - the Internet.
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