Puppet MastersS


Attention

Obama administration to pay $500mn settlement to 17 Native American tribes, long-standing disputes over mismanagement of tribal lands

Native Americans
© Kevin Lamarque / ReutersU.S. President Barack Obama smiles as he is honored in a blanketing ceremony before speaking at the White House Tribal Nations Conference in Washington September 26, 2016.
Washington will pay 17 Native American tribes a total of $492.8 million to settle long-standing disputes over mismanagement of tribal lands by the Department of the Interior. The settlement comes amid ongoing protests over the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Federal authorities manage almost 100,000 leases on nearly 56 million acres of trust lands on behalf of Native American tribes, including oil and gas extraction rights, timber harvesting, grazing, farming and housing. Additionally, the government manages about 2,500 trust accounts for more than 250 tribes. More than 100 tribes have sued the government, claiming the government mismanaged their lands and money.

Comment: History of uranium pollution:
  • In December 1995 and January 1996, U.S. Marine Corps Harrier aircraft training near Okinawa, Japan fired about 1,520 DU - depleted uranium - rounds. The Japanese government was not notified for almost a year.
  • In February 1999, two U.S. Marine Corps Aircraft expended 263 DU rounds at the U.S. Navy firing range in Vieques, Puerto Rico, which is not licensed for DU munitions. This "accidental" release was only discovered through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Military Toxics Project.
  • In January 2003, the Navy admitted routinely firing DU from its Phalanx guns in prime fishing waters off the coast of Washington state since 1977.
The people of Iraq (1991), Bosnia (1994-1995), Kosovo (1999), Afghanistan (2001-2003), Libya (2011) and Syria (2013) experienced uranium exposure first-hand:

Immediate battlefield exposures of combat and cleanup personnel to "depleted" uranium are only the tip of the toxic and radioactive iceberg. Continuing environmental exposures present a much longer-term danger to civilians in post-conflict areas. The Royal Society (the British national academy of sciences) recently concluded that because DU may move into the environment - especially water sources - over many decades, "contaminated land might be a concern for hundreds of years" and "contamination of water supplies or other sensitive components of the environment... might only become apparent after a number of years or more likely decades."

Firing of DU munitions can immediately contaminate air, soil, and water with ingestible particles of toxic and radioactive "depleted" uranium.(Read more in the original publication: "The depleted uranium fact sheet".)

See also:
  • Navajo Nation sues EPA over toxic gold mine spill which turned Animas River yellow



Gem

Russia offers Cuba 55 bilateral cooperation projects worth $4 billion

Cuban flag
© ITAR-TASS/V.Shirokov
Russia has offered Cuba 55 bilateral cooperation projects with a total value of about $4 billion, Russia's Deputy Minister of Economics Nikolai Podguzov told TASS on Monday.

"Cuba was offered 55 projects to be implemented in 2016-2020, totaling almost $4 bln," the Russian deputy minister said after a meeting of the working group for trade and economic cooperation and priority projects of the Russian-Cuban Intergovernmental commission for trade and economic, scientific and technical cooperation, which was held in Cuba's capital of Havana.

Comment: The US could learn a thing or two from Russia on how to build rather than destroy: US renews sanctions and keeps blockade on Cuba despite UN vote


Black Magic

The debacle that was the Clinton-Trump debate

clinton and trump
The first debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump was a political and cultural abomination. It demonstrated, in both style and substance, the thoroughgoing decay of American capitalist society over many decades.

It says a great deal about the US political system that, out of 330 million people in America, the choice for president has been narrowed down to these two individuals, both members of the financial aristocracy—they last met face-to-face when the Clintons attended Trump's third wedding in 2005—and both deeply and deservedly hated by a large majority of the population.

Comment: It really doesn't matter who wins the election. Since policy is really dictated by those who control the money, it's unlikely that neither Trump nor Hillary will be able to do anything they "promise" unless they are allowed to do so by them. It's more than likely nothing promised will be delivered and decline of America will continue as usual.


Footprints

Thierry Meyssan: Why the Syrian cease-fire has failed

Petro Porochenko
Ukraine President Petro Porochenko visiting the Security Council on 21 September.
The Western public was enthusiastic about the US - Russia agreement for a cease-fire in Syria, and believed that it could bring peace. This shows that they have no memory of how the war was started, and no understanding of the goals it is meant to pursue. Explanations...

The cease-fire in Syria lasted no longer than the week of Eïd. There have been many cease-fires since the signature of the peace treaty between the United States and Russia. This one lasted no longer than the current peace or the previous cease-fires.

Let's review the facts - on 12 December 2003, President George W. Bush signed a declaration of war against Syria, the Syrian Accountability Act. After a series of attempts to open hostilities (the Arab League summit of 2004, the assassination of Rafic Hariri in 2005, the war against Lebanon in 2006, the creation of the Islamic Salvation Front in 2007, etc.), US special forces took the offensive at the beginning of 2011, organising a hoax intended to make people believe that this was an interior Syrian «revolution». After two vetos by Russia and China in the Security Council, the United States finally accepted a peace treaty in Geneva which they signed, in the absence of the Syrian delegation, on 30 June 2012.
First remark
Those who pretend that the current conflict is not an exterior aggression, but a «civil war», can not explain the consequences of the declaration of war against Syria by President Bush in 2003, nor why the peace treaty of 2012 was signed by the major powers in the absence of any Syrian representative.
Since the signature of the peace treaty, four years ago, the war has started again, despite multiple attempts to find a solution, negotiated alone by Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian opposite number, Sergey Lavrov.

Comment: See also: SOTT News Snapshot: Syria ceasefire failure is entirely the U.S.'s fault


Info

'My God, where are you?': Duterte promotes death penalty as certain means of serving justice

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte
© Ted Aljibe / AFP
The Philippines' president said that growing influence of atheism and agnosticism leads to people disrespecting laws and committing heinous crimes. And "if there is no God," capital punishment is the only way to make sure justice is served.

President Rodrigo Duterte has condoned the restoration of the death penalty in the Philippines "because the fear is not there" anymore. According to him, the previous presidents had given in to the pressure of the "bleeding hearts" and the Catholic Church who had been against the death penalty "because only God can kill".

"The problem with that is, I ask you, 'what if there is no God?'" Duterte said to reporters at the presidential palace in Manila.

"When a one-year-old, an 18-month-old baby is taken from the mother's arms, brought under a Jeep and raped, and killed, where is God? And in Syria women and children, who don't want to have sex with ISIS, they are burned. So where's God? My God, where are you?" he addressed the creator directly.

Previously, Duterte promised to personally deal with Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) jihadists by eating them alive in public.

MIB

Kurdish trade unionist 'assassinated' in London cafe, ordered by Turkish spies

gun shooting
© Andy Clark / Reuters
Declassified documents reveal how Turkish spies ordered the assassination of a Kurdish trade unionist in a London cafe, a British newspaper has reported, renewing fears of Ankara's alleged black ops across Europe.

No one was charged with the murder of Mehmet Kaygisiz, 33, who was shot in the back of the head in 1994 while playing backgammon in a north London cafe.

Police at the time thought the crime was related to extortion rackets or growing animosity between Turks and Kurds in London as the Kurdistan Workers' Party's (PKK) guerrilla war intensified in Turkey's southeast.

But evidence has now emerged linking Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) to the killing, according to an investigation by the Times.

Stock Down

Wells Fargo hit with multiple lawsuits over fake accounts, fraudulent sales

Wells Fargo bank branch
© Gary Cameron/Reuters
Six former Wells Fargo employees filed a class action lawsuit in federal court against the bank claiming they were demoted or fired when they refused to participate in the bank's illegal practices of opening fake accounts.

The lawsuit is the just the latest of allegations surrounding fraudulent practices which have mostly revolved around the alleged creation of more than 2 million secret, unauthorized bank accounts. Plaintiffs are seeking $7.2 billion or more in damages.

The federal class-action lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal court on Monday claims that Wells Fargo violated several laws, including Dodd-Frank and the section of Sarbanes-Oxley that prohibits retaliation against whistleblowers. The suit also says the bank made employees work beyond eight hours a day without paying overtime, violating the Fair Labor Standards Act.

"I expect many other law firms around the country will be bringing cases," Jonathan Delshad, an attorney, told the Los Angeles Times. He filed the suit on behalf of employees who may have been fired or demoted over the last 10 years for refusing to engage in the bank's illegal practices.

Wells Fargo spokesman Ancel Martinez told the LA Times the bank disagrees with the allegations in the suit and "will vigorously defend against any misrepresentations [they] contain."

Comment: We hope this lawsuit goes somewhere, but it's likely that none of the executives involved will go to jail or be punished in any meaningful way for their actions. That's fascism for you: corporations are protected, the labor force oppressed.


Dollar

Obamacare fail: Whitehouse plans to veto penalty exemption bill for failed co-op plans

Barack Obama
© Kevin Lemarque/Reuters
President Barack Obama is set to veto a Republican-passed bill that gives people an exemption from penalties if they purchase health insurance through Obamacare co-ops, but then lose their plan because the co-op failed.

"These options are available to all consumers in these circumstances, not just those enrolled in coverage through co-ops," said the Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday, which issued a statement on the White House's stance on the veto, and argued the measure was unnecessary.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Adrian Smith (R-Nebraska) "would create a bad precedent for using exemptions from the individual-responsibility provision to address unrelated concerns about the Affordable Care Act," the White House said.

The bill was intended to help enrollees of three nonprofit health insurers set up under Obamacare, known as co-ops, that have failed in the middle of this year, forcing people to find a new plan.

The OMB argued the bill would be a "step in the wrong direction" and weaken the "individual responsibility provision," which in turn would "increase insurance premiums and decrease the number of Americans with coverage."

Comment: See also:


Snakes in Suits

Government shutdown nears after Senate fails to pass continuing resolution over lead-contamination crisis

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) (L) and U.S. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
© Reuters
The federal government may soon be underwater, with the Senate divided over, well, water. The lack of funding for Flint's lead-contamination crisis kept a temporary spending bill from being passed, and now a government shutdown is mere days away.

On Friday at the stroke of midnight, the US government will be officially unfunded and move into shutdown mode, unless the Senate and House of Representatives can recover from what took place Tuesday.

In a 45-55 vote, a continuing resolution bill to fund the federal government through December 9 failed to gain a bare majority in the Senate. It falls far short of the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster.

Rocket

Assistant Secretary of State: We should deploy THAAD anti-missile systems in S.Korea as soon as possible

Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)
© Missile Defense Agency / AFPTerminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)
The US will deploy the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea "as soon as possible," Washington confirmed, less than three months after Seoul agreed to host it. The move, opposed by China and Russia, allegedly aims to counter the North Korean threat.

As North Korea continues to disregard UN sanctions by repeatedly testing nuclear technologies and the means by which to deliver them, the US and South Korea are pushing full steam ahead to position the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system on the peninsula.

Speaking to House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel told US lawmakers that the ever-increasing threats from North Korea necessitate urgent action.

While refusing to provide a concrete timeline for the THAAD deployment, Russel said that "given the accelerating pace of North Korea's missile tests, we intend to deploy on an accelerated basis, I would say, as soon as possible."

Comment: For further reading: