Puppet MastersS


Rocket

White House considers direct military action to counter N. Korea

David Choi
Business Insider
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 08:57 UTC
Kim Jong-Un
© ReutersNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-Un
In a dramatic shift from traditional policy, an internal White House review on North Korea strategy revealed that the option to use military force or a regime change to curb the threat of North Korean nuclear weapons was on the table, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. This review comes at the heels of a report claiming President Donald Trump believed the "greatest immediate threat" to the US was North Korea's nuclear program.

Recent provocations from the Hermit Kingdom, including the ballistic missile launch in the Sea of Japan and the killing of Kim Jong Un's estranged half-brother in Malaysia, may have provoked this shift in the policy that have many officials and US allies worried. "North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won't happen!" Trump tweeted in January. Several weeks later, North Korea conducted its missile test.

Since then, Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland consulted with other officials to address North Korea's fresh series of provocations. In the meeting, held about two weeks ago, the officials discussed the possibility of a plan "outside the mainstream," The Journal reported.

According to The Journal, McFarland requested for all options to overhaul American policy toward North Korea — including for the US to recognize North Korea as a nuclear state and the possibility of a direct military conflict.

Comment: Confronting Kim Jong-Un and North Korea for pursuing nuclear capability and aggressive threats is far more complicated when China is NK's trade partner with the ability to use a belligerent NK as its foil. So far the picture is unclear. At least the call for any and all options has the potential to create a thoughtful and balanced way forward, but will it?

See also:

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Chess

US, Japan see Beijing as the enemy in 'Cold War mindset' says Chinese envoy


RT
Sat, 04 Mar 2017 03:25 UTC
Abe and Trump
© Asian Correspondent
Washington and Tokyo are deliberately portraying Beijing as an enemy to strengthen their security alliance, China's ambassador to Japan has said, expressing dissatisfaction with their "Cold War mindset" and latest attempts to contain China's regional ambitions. "It sounds as if Japan and the United States are purposely taking China as their enemy and saying 'Let's join hands and go at China'," ambassador Cheng Yonghua said Friday in Beijing, Kyodo reports.

The diplomat particularly criticized the agreement to further enhance their bilateral security alliance, noting that such diplomacy contradicts Tokyo's promise to improve relations with China. He said the Japan-US alliance develops in a "clearly a Cold War mindset." "Frankly speaking, I am dissatisfied with what the Japanese side has been doing since January," Cheng said with regards to Sino-Japanese relations.

US President Donald Trump in February reassured Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during their meeting in Washington that his administration remains committed to maintaining the United States' long-standing security alliance with Japan, especially when it comes to disputed islands in the East China Sea known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese. The Japanese leader also pledged that his country would play a "greater role" in joint defense and security operations.

Comment: A little push here, a little shove there...it is a shame these things always start out and/or end up in having to choose sides. A 'Cold War' mindset or is it just a 'MENtality?'

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Heart - Black

Shock Doctrine: Brazil's coup is unfolding according to plan

Ted Snider
Truthout
Sat, 04 Mar 2017 00:00 UTC
Dilma Rousseff
© Tomas Munita / The New York Times)President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil during an interview with foreign correspondents at her office in Palacio do Planalto, Brasilia, Brazil on March 24, 2016.
The social democratic, left-wing government of Brazil was removed in a coup.

Though that striking statement could be ripped from the headlines of newspapers today, it also describes the headlines of half a century ago, in April of 1964.

The Brazilian coup gets forgotten in the crowd of Latin American coups. In discussions of Latin American interventions, it often gets lost in the press of the 1954 Guatemalan coup against Jacobo Árbenz or the 1973 Chilean coup against Salvador Allende. But the Brazilian coup that was sandwiched between them was significant and merits more attention.

In Who Rules the World, Noam Chomsky explains that in 1962, President John F. Kennedy made the policy decision to transform the militaries of Latin America from defending against external forces to "internal security" or, as Chomsky puts it, "war against the domestic population, if they raised their heads." The Brazilian coup is significant because it may have been the first major manifestation of this shift in the US's Latin American policy. The Kennedy administration prepared the coup, and it was carried out shortly after Kennedy's assassination. Chomsky says that the "mildly social democratic" government of João Goulart was taken out for a "murderous and brutal" military dictatorship.

Comment: Brazil's manufactured coup: The 'Shock Doctrine' returns to Latin America

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Black Magic

Terrifying! In breaking news CNN and NYT are now reporting that Russian ambassador once talked to some Americans

Ricky Twisdale
The Duran
Fri, 03 Mar 2017 00:00 UTC
Sergey Kislyak
J.D. Gordon and Jared Kushner join a growing list of suspects who at one time talked to Trump and another time talked to a Russian

Once upon a time, Vladimir Putin out of sheer spitefulness and rage, named an ambassador to the United States.

His name is Sergey Kislyak, and you can see his ominous image above.

There is no word yet on whether the individuals pictured in his immediate vicinity have been charged with treason.

That is exactly the kind of hysteria being pushed by the failing, fake news mainstream media, as their talking heads wax indignant and express shock that advisors for an incoming US president might have cause to communicate with representatives of the Russian government - the second most powerful nation on the planet.

Comment: And the story gets even more horrific! We also learn that:
the Associated Press and USA Today reported that Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, spoke with Kislyak at the same Heritage Foundation event where Sessions spoke to the ambassador last summer.

Kislyak was one of several foreign diplomats who attended the Heritage Foundation event on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last July.

Page said he "never did anything improper in my activities related to Russia" during the campaign.

USA Today reported that J.D. Gordon, who was the Trump campaign's director of national security, also met with Kislyak at the convention.
No doubt Kislyak is a master spy! And half of Washington D.C. must be on the Kremlin's payroll!

But seriously, the Deep State-inspired hysteria is a profoundly sad symptom of just how far gone and hysterical those in power (and their lackeys in the media) have become.

See: The Fourth Turning and Steve Bannon Pt. 3: Implications for Hysterica-America that goes into this in some depth.

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Info

Russian envoy says Geneva talks 'outlined the way forward' for Syrian settlement


RT
Sat, 04 Mar 2017 19:25 UTC
UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura addresses the Syrian invitees in the presence of members of the UN Security Council and the International Syria Support Group in Geneva
© Pierre Albouy / Reuters
The latest round of intra-Syrian talks "outlined" the way forward for the settlement of the conflict, Aleksey Borodavkin, the Russian envoy to UN Office in Geneva has said, urging the parties to be more constructive and ready for compromise.

Despite no breakthrough, Borodavkin noticed "certain progress" in the negotiations between the Syrian government and three opposition groups which concluded on Friday after a 10-month stalemate.

"Warnings of ill-wishers, who predicted a failure of the Geneva round and the ensuing breakdown of the Syrian ceasefire - nothing of this came true," he said. "The way forward has been outlined. Everything depends now on the degree of constructiveness in all parties to the talks," the envoy added.

According to Borodavkin, the Syrian government acted professionally during the negotiations, showing determination to achieve a positive result.
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Георгиевская ленточка

Donbass is breaking away from an agonized Ukraine

The Saker
The Unz Review
Sat, 04 Mar 2017 17:48 UTC
ukraine flag
Tectonic shifts are continuing to occur in the political landscape of the Ukraine. Last week, following the imposition of a total blockade against Novorussia by the Ukronazis, Russia declared that she will from now on recognize the official documents emitted by the DNR and LNR authorities. This week, the Novorussian authorities have nationalized all the key factories of the Donbass. Furthermore, the Novorussians have now declared that since the Ukrainian authorities are not willing to purchase their coal and anthracite they will from now on export them to Russia. And just to make sure that they cover all their bases, the Novorussians have also declared that from now on only the Russian Ruble will be circulating in the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics.

Not to be undone, the Ukronazis have also taken a highly significant step: the Ukrainian Prime Minister has declared that he thinks that the irregular forces currently enforcing the blockade should be considered official border guards (as for these soon to be "border guards", they have explained that their main border post shall be called "nightingale" in honor of the Nachtigall battalion of the Nazi Abwehr).

Comment: For more details and analysis on the blockade and nationalization, see: Donbass nationalizes Ukrainian oligarchs' businesses - neo-Nazi blockade continues - UPDATE.

Some in Ukraine were initially skeptical about the DLPR nationalization, but now they are predicting a collapse of the hryvnia and predictably blaming Russia, specifically Putin's economic adviser Sergey Glaziev. But Glaziev has responded to those accusations:
"The problem of existing property relations on the territories of the DPR and LPR is exclusively an internal question which is being decided, as far as I know, absolutely independently. I have long since been dealing with the Ukrainian question, but I have nothing whatsoever to do with formulating economic policies, property issues, or other questions," Glazev explained his relationship to the events in Donbass to Tsargrad. "These people are dealing with everything independently," he emphasized.
...

Just recently, a man "calling himself" (Glazev's words) the General Prosecutor of Ukraine, Lutsenko, accused Glazev of participating in organizing events in Crimea and South-Eastern Ukraine in early 2014 through phone conversations. Lutsenko claimed that Glazev's phone records showed that he discussed the preparation of the Crimean referendum and the organization of riots in Donetsk, Odessa, and Kharkov. Glazev harshly responded: "I don't comment on the ravings of Nazi criminals."

In fact, Glazev has expressed his opinion on the state of the Ukrianian economy - but, as he stresses, only in the framework of the topic which he deals with, i.e., integration on the post-Soviet space. In particular, at a celebration dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Institute for CIS Countries, Glazev said: "Many say that we are losing in terms of soft power. I would say that it is more complicated. We are losing in part of our post-Soviet space a hybrid war which is being waged against us, against Russia first and foremost. Our enemy lays down at night calmly, as they say, but unfortunate people who have fallen into his integration embrace have to sleep sometime."

Glazev mentioned Ukraine in this context: "In fact, this is what we are seeing under the guise of 'European integration', the signing of an association agreement with the EU which is in fact a forced restructuring of Ukraine which is today essentially an occupied territory deprived of legitimate organs of power where the main acting figure is the American ambassador. In reality, the Ukrainian government and parliament have no real authority."
...
As for Donbass, Sergey Glazev has expressed rather skeptical opinions on the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics transfer of Ukrainian companies to external management. "I do not believe that this measure is correct in current circumstances because maintaining profitable work will now be difficult. The violation of credit histories for enterprises will affect them in a not very good way. But overall, I believe that after the 2014 coup and the signing of the association agreement with the EU, Ukraine's entire economy is controlled from Brussels. How the DPR and LPR will build relations with Kiev is their own, internal affair."


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Gold Bar

Russia and China fight back against the Deep State's gold scam

Stewart Dougherty
Goldseek.com
Fri, 03 Mar 2017 00:00 UTC
Putin and Xi Jinping
As the Fiscal Year 2018 budget, and particularly its war component are floated, it has become clear that without continued, massive military spending, paid for with mass-produced electrons masquerading as money, U. S. GDP would collapse, taking the country's financial and monetary systems with it. The nation, whose real economy has been hollowed out, for profit, by the Deep State plunderers, has become significantly reliant upon deliberately contrived wars and military tensions for its economic survival.

With systemic monetary risk now at an unprecedented level, intensified by a new, partisan, "politics of defeat," scorched earth agenda being implemented by those displeased with the results of the 2016 election, there has never been a more dangerous time for people to denominate their wealth in unbacked, baseless, debt-drugged dollars.

The absolute last thing the Deep State, and particularly its Banking Division (the Bank State), can allow the people to figure out at this time is that there is a far more safe, secure and potentially profitable way for them to position their financial assets than dollar-denominated bank deposits: precious metals. A widespread movement into metals at this time would damage the Bank State and its umbrella organization, the Deep State, because their future profits require the control and progressive expropriation of the people's money.
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Bullseye

The swamp is alive and well: Time for Trump to purge the US government of Obama loyalists looking to sabotage his administration

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Sat, 04 Mar 2017 11:00 UTC
Trump and Obummer
Barack Obama's DC swamp is deep and dangerous for President Trump.

Intelligence leaks, mainstream media witch hunts, Democrat party calls for impeachment...the swamp is alive and well, and it is headed by none other than former POTUS Barack Obama and his loyal following of neo-liberal insiders who are doing everything in their power to remove Trump.

President Trump must act fast to rid the US government of anything Obama, before the former POTUS succeeds in his plan to subvert the current White House Administration.

Zerohedge reports...
And while the source of the leaks may be easy to deduce, the appropriate response is not so easy to implement. That said, there is a growing chorus of advisers to the President who are urging him to purge the government of former Obama political appointees and quickly install more people who are loyal to him.
The swamp seems to be much deeper than anyone could have predicted.

Comment: See also:

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Chart Pie

China to boost defense budget by 7% in 2017 to prevent 'outside meddling'


RT
Sat, 04 Mar 2017 17:48 UTC
Chinese armored vehicles
© Tyrone Siu / Reuters
China will increase its defense budget by around seven percent in 2017, as it guards against "outside meddling" in its disputes, an official from the top legislative body said, adding that the "gap in capabilities" with US is enormous.

"We call for a peaceful settlement through dialogue and consultation [of the disputes]. At the same time we need the ability to safeguard our sovereignty and interests and rights," Fu Ying, spokesperson for the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislative body, said, as cited by AFP.

She added that "strengthening of Chinese capabilities benefits the preservation of peace and security in this region, and not the opposite."

"In particular, we need to guard against outside meddling in the disputes," she added.
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Attention

Has Sec. Def. Mattis already brought us to the brink of war?

Mehdi Hasan
The Intercept
Sat, 04 Mar 2017 17:29 UTC
iranian warship strait of hormuz
© Mahdi Marizad/Fars News Agency/APA photo released by the semi-official Fars News Agency shows an Iranian warship before it leaves Iran’s waters at the Strait of Hormuz on April 7, 2015.
Did you know that the Trump administration almost went to war with Iran at the start of February?

Perhaps you were distracted by Gen. Michael Flynn's resignation as national security adviser or by President Trump's online jihad against Nordstrom. Or maybe you missed the story because the New York Times bizarrely buried it in the midst of a long piece on the turmoil and chaos inside the National Security Council. Defense Secretary James Mattis, according to the paper, had wanted the U.S. Navy to "intercept and board an Iranian ship to look for contraband weapons possibly headed to Houthi fighters in Yemen. ... But the ship was in international waters in the Arabian Sea, according to two officials. Mr. Mattis ultimately decided to set the operation aside, at least for now. White House officials said that was because news of the impending operation leaked."

Get that? It was only thanks to what Mattis's commander in chief has called "illegal leaks" that the operation was (at least temporarily) set aside and military action between the United States and Iran was averted.

Am I exaggerating? Ask the Iranians. "Boarding an Iranian ship is a shortcut" to confrontation, says Seyyed Hossein Mousavian, former member of Iran's National Security Council and a close ally of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Even if a firefight in international waters were avoided, the Islamic Republic, Mousavian tells me, "would retaliate" and has "many other options for retaliation."

Comment: A few points to keep in mind. 1) As Hasan points out, a real war with Iran would be a disaster. 2) A proxy war is already taking place, in Yemen. 3) None of Mattis's "crazy ideas" have been implemented...yet. Either this means the time hasn't been right yet to make such a move, or such ideas are being blocked by other parties, or it's just information warfare to provoke and scare Iran. 4) Pepe Escobar says Flynn was fired not because of his Russia scandal, but because he wanted to go to war with Iran. So who's on first here?

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