Puppet MastersS


Info

Syrian army about to free Palmyra

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Mon, 27 Feb 2017 17:05 UTC
Palmyra, Syria
Syrian army captures mountain overlooking Palmyra, placing ISIS positions under threat from its artillery. Attack to drive ISIS out of Palmyra appears imminent.

After reaching the foot of the Jabal Hayyal mountain on Friday, Syrian troops have captured its summit.

This now puts the Syrian army in a position overlooking Palmyra, which it is now able to dominate with its artillery.

The highly reliable Al-Masdar news agency, which obtains many of its reports from the Syrian army, also reports that Syrian troops:
have taken control of the Quarries area northwest of Palmyra in what appears to be a pincer maneuver much similar to the 1st Palmyra offensive back in March, 2016
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Bad Guys

DPR Commander: Neo-Nazis left Donetsk water station but Kiev's blockade continues

J. Arnoldski (translator)
RusVesna / Fort Russ
Mon, 27 Feb 2017 16:50 UTC
DPR Donetsk water blockade Kiev Ukraine
Yesterday, February 26th, the deputy commander of the Donetsk People's Republic, Eduard Basurin, reported at a press conference that Ukrainian forces have forced neo-Nazi radicals to vacate the Donetsk Water Filtration Station which they occupied back on February 25th.

"As a result of strong condemnation of the Ukrainian side's actions, the military leadership of Ukraine has found the strength in itself and was able to drive the radical nationalists out of the Donetsk filtration station," Basurin announced.

Continuing, the DPR commander warned: "Nevertheless, the enemy has continued to reinforce its bunkers near the station, which is a fundamental violation of the agreements adopted earlier in Minsk with the signature guarantees of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on March 15, 2015."

Comment: DPR forces stated before, the situation is deteriorating rapidly:
"Water still running, but doesn't seem to be clean. It is not and cannot be trusted. There are many wells, and filtered water is still available. The situation is serious. People, especially more vulnerable like elderly and mothers are concerned, but we continue with our business and our lives. This is a serious provocation and complete breach of Minsk. As of now, there is NO ceasefire. I will post updates as they occur." - "Texac" Bentley


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Stock Down

Fire sale: Greece will surrender gold, utilities, real estate in exchange for pieces of paper printed in Brussels

Matthew Allen
Russia Insider
Mon, 27 Feb 2017 16:30 UTC
nazi flag acropolis greece
Conquered by the Neoliberal Reich.
Germany announces the final pillage of Greece

It's official: The Germans will not allow debt relief for Greece. Instead, Berlin wants to send in the repo man.

The untold story of the Greek "bailouts" is that it wasn't a "bailout" — it was an auction of Greek assets. Real, tangible things with real, tangible value were seized in exchange for pieces of paper that guarantee Athens will be chained to Berlin and Brussels for the foreseeable future.


Comment: German minister calls for 'Plan B': Greece should pledge 'cash, gold or real estate' for new loans


Comment:

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Question

Is Theresa May's Brexit strategy about to be derailed by second Scottish #IndyRef?


RT
Mon, 27 Feb 2017 16:46 UTC
Theresa May
© Stefan Wermuth / Reuters
UK Prime Minister Theresa May fears First Minister Nicola Sturgeon could call for a second Scottish independence referendum the moment negotiations for Britain's exit from the EU are launched next month.

According to the Sunday Times, Downing Street is bracing for a repeat of the September 2014 referendum after Sturgeon said bringing the UK out of the single market would "undoubtedly" raise the chances for another independence vote.

"It is possible that we will have to face Nicola Sturgeon calling a second referendum, have to bring in direct rule in Northern Ireland and trigger Article 50 all at the same time," a government source told the newspaper.
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Snakes in Suits

Trump's 'obsolete NATO' means Europe paying for US militarism

Finian Cunningham
RT
Mon, 27 Feb 2017 16:33 UTC
NATO military exerecise
© Michael Dalder / Reuters
When US President Donald Trump dismisses the NATO alliance as "obsolete" what he really means is not withdrawing from the military pact, but rather offloading running costs onto European nations.

Several times during his election campaign, Trump sounded contemptuous about the 28-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization. His comments about it being "obsolete" raised hopes in certain quarters that the 45th president would scale back American military participation in NATO as part of a wider move to reduce US belligerence.

When Trump gave his inauguration speech on January 20, the thrust of his "America First" theme appeared to be a new focus on building US society and infrastructure, as opposed to squandering resources by intervening militarily around the world as under previous administrations.
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Info

'Soft coup' against Jeremy Corbyn is already underway behind the scenes - shadow chancellor


RT
Mon, 27 Feb 2017 14:42 UTC
Chancellor John McDonnell
© Darren Staples / ReutersBritain's shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, John McDonnell.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell claimed this week that members of his own party are in cahoots with the "Murdoch media" in a renewed attempt at bringing down the Labour leader.

"The coup is not being waged up front in public but strictly behind the scenes," the Corbyn ally wrote in a piece for the website Labour Briefing.

"Having learned the lesson of the last coup attempt - that a direct attack on Jeremy and his policies will provoke a backlash from many party members - the coup perpetrators are this time round pursuing a covert strategy."

He added that the unnamed plotters were "willing to go so far in denigrating Jeremy that they endanger their own parliamentary seats and endanger the very existence of the party."

The apparently well resourced "soft coup" allegedly includes "daily and constant" briefings to the press about Corbyn's office and anonymous interventions on every statement made by the socialist leader in Parliament.

Comment: See also:

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Document

Media analyst - 'US held hostage for too long, Trump right to bar MSM from White House gaggle'


RT
Sat, 25 Feb 2017 16:27 UTC
Sean Spicer
© Kevin Lamarque / ReutersWhite House spokesman Sean Spicer
Many Americans are secretly loving the Trump administration's media offensive, because for the longest time these organizations, they believe, have held a monopoly with their haughty attitude that they know better, says political commentator Lionel.

In the latest clash between the Trump administration and the media, several Western news outlets were barred from Friday's off-camera Q&A session with White House press secretary Sean Spicer.

Outlets denied entry to the "gaggle"included the New York Times, Politico, CNN, the Guardian, BuzzFeed, among others. However, Trump-friendly conservative publications, such as Breitbart News, the One America News Network, and the Washington Times, were granted admission, as well as TV networks ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox News.
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Attention

Fighting in Donbass, coal blockade, and infighting in Kiev, as Ukraine's crisis deepens

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Mon, 27 Feb 2017 16:20 UTC
Ukraine coal blockade
Coal-powered plant
Crisis deepens in Ukraine as far right militants seize and are then driven out of water filtration plant and mount coal blockade threatening country with energy emergency.

The last few weeks have witnessed an acceleration of Ukraine's downward slide.

Following the bitter fighting in and around Avdeevka and the angry telephone exchange between Russian President Putin and German Chancellor Merkel, an attempt was made to bring the fighting in the area around Avdeevka to an end and to arrange for a mutual pullback of forces to the starting lines.
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Stock Down

Germany takes hard line on debt relief: 'Greece must not be granted a bail-in' where creditors take a loss

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Mon, 27 Feb 2017 16:17 UTC
Greece EU financial crisis
Germany's deputy finance minister says 'no debt relief for Greece.'

Fearful that EU member states and "institutional creditors" would take a complete bath, and suffer political retribution from their local constituents, Germany is once again warning all involved in the never ending Greek debt crisis, that a "bail in" involving creditors must not take place.

A "bail in" involving the Greek population (in the spirit of the Cyprus "bail in" model used years ago), we imagine will be perfectly acceptable for the German deputy finance minister, and the unelected oligarchs ruling over their EU kingdom.

"There must not be a bail-in," Jens Spahn was quoted by Reuters.

Referring to losses that Greece's creditors would have to take if debt was written off, Spahn told German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk....
"We think it is very, very likely that we will come to an agreement with the International Monetary Fund that does not require a haircut."
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Dollars

Trump plans to boost Pentagon budget by $54bn - White House


RT
Mon, 27 Feb 2017 16:16 UTC
Pentagon
© Flickr/ Rudi Riet
President Donald Trump aims to increase the Pentagon's budget by $54 billion, as part of a push to rebuild America's "depleted military." Trump also promised to rein in domestic spending and do more with less.

Details of the new budget will be unveiled sometime in March, but the president is expected to preview portions of it during Tuesday's night address to Congress.

In a Monday meeting with governors at the White House, Trump said the budget will be heavy on "public safety and national security" and feature a "historic increase of defense spending to rebuild the depleted military."
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