Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

What's Blackwater doing in China?

James Corbett
Corbett Report
Tue, 21 Feb 2017 17:40 UTC
Erik Prince Blackwater Mercenary Xi
OK, OK, not Blackwater. That's the mercenary force of convicted war criminals founded by Erik Prince that will never outrun its infamy no matter how many times it changes its name.

No, no, no! Not Blackwater! It's Frontier Services Group—an entirely different mercenary group chaired by Erik Prince—that is heading to China! And they're not there to sell mercenary services! Absolutely not. They're merely opening some "forward operating bases" to help the Chinese train "ex-" PLA soldiers how to be mercenaries! It's entirely different!

Now that we have that clear, some context: Erik Prince is the notorious mercenary who believes he's the modern-day descendant of "Wild Bill" Donovan. (Prince even named his youngest son, Charles Donovan Prince, after Bill.) Prince's budding career as a contract killer went down in flames in 2009 after it was revealed that Blackwater was a front for a secret CIA assassination program. He later admitted that Blackwater "became a virtual extension of the CIA" and took orders directly from the agency, but by that point the news spotlight had shifted elsewhere.

Comment: While some maintain that China is merely part of an omnipotent 'NWO' construct, it remains to be proven that A) the world is as completely controlled as they claim, and B) that a world order can't naturally emerge independent of Western 'dog eat dog' values. As James O'Neill puts it in his article, China's 'One Belt One Road' is a New Geopolitical Paradigm:
We therefore have, on the one hand, a decaying empire endlessly fighting wars of choice, and by bluff, bluster and bullying desperately trying to cling to the vestiges of superpower status.

On the other hand, reverting to Mackinder's world island, we have an entirely different geopolitical and economic model. Over the past twenty years China has been constructing a wholly different economic framework. Unlike the Americans who treat every exercise as a zero sum game, i.e. one where they must win and someone else must lose, the Chinese approach is perfectly encapsulated in President Xi's terminology of "win-win."


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Eye 2

Trump's "Watergate" all about the Deep State scuttling cooperation with Russia

Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture
Mon, 20 Feb 2017 17:36 UTC
Trump Flynn
The adage about One Man's Terrorist is Another Man's Freedom Fighter is aptly paraphrased for the running battle in Washington between President Trump and his intelligence agencies. Only instead of "terrorist" substitute the word "leaker".

Prominent sections of the US media are willingly acting as conduits for intelligence agencies leaking classified government information to damage the Trump White House. The media and Trump's political enemies are thus acting as accomplices in criminal disclosure of supposedly secret government information, which at another time the same media and politicians would condemn as treasonous. Think Edward Snowden or Chelsea Manning for instance.

Trump has hit back after his National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was forced to resign over disclosed phone contacts he had with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak earlier this year. With barely contained anger, Trump described the leaks as "criminal" and "un-American" and has scorned media outlets for conspiring to destabilize his presidency - only less than one month after taking office.

In turn, media outlets like the New York Times, Washington Post and CNN have disparaged Trump for trying to "deflect" the issue away from alleged contacts with Russian state officials to the issue of intelligence services leaking classified information. Such disclosure is a criminal offense, punishable by jail for breach of government secrecy rules.

Trump does have a point though. The practice of leaking confidential information by security services is a grave breach.

Comment: The Deep State knives have been out for Trump since the day of the election

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Folder

Report: Trump associate said to have facilitated back-channel Ukraine peace plan


RFE/RL
Mon, 20 Feb 2017 00:00 UTC
Michael Cohen
© AFPLawyer Michael Cohen
An exclusive report in The New York Times says a lawyer for U.S. President Donald Trump has helped a pro-Russia opposition Ukrainian lawmaker submit to Trump's administration a proposed alternative peace plan for the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on February 20 that the report was "absurd" and that Moscow had no knowledge of the purported peace plan.

According to the February 19 Times report, Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen submitted the plan to former national security adviser Michael Flynn about one week before Flynn resigned over allegations that he misinformed the administration about the nature of his contacts with Russia's ambassador to the United States. Cohen -- who has no foreign-policy experience -- is himself under investigation by the FBI for possible connections with Russian intelligence. He denies the allegations.
The plan was created by Ukrainian opposition lawmaker Andriy Artemenko, who claims to have documents proving corruption by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. It called for Russia to withdraw its forces from eastern Ukraine and for Ukraine to hold a referendum on leasing the region of Crimea to Russia for a period of 50 or 100 years. Moscow seized and illegally Ukraine's Crimea region in 2014.
According to The New York Times report, Artemenko's plan outlines "a way for President Trump to lift sanctions against Russia."

Comment: According to the NYT, Cohen said Mr. Sater had given him the written proposal in a sealed envelope and he left the proposal in Mr. Flynn's office. While Cohen reportedly acted on his own initiative (or more likely was used as the delivery mechanism), both Cohen and Sater said they had not spoken to Mr. Trump about the proposal and that neither had experience in foreign policy. Paul Manafort denies any knowledge of the plan or any role in it.

Was it a confluence of altruism and diplomatic freelancing by amateurs and associates behind the scenes? ...an attempt to smudge relations with Russia and ding the Trump administration with incompetence? ...a direct manipulation by specific factions for specific effects?

Update (Feb. 21): No surprise here: Ukraine's top prosecutor is going after Artemenko on suspicion of treason:
Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko told reporters on February 21 that Andriy Artemenko may have committed a treasonous offense in designing a plan to lease Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula to Russia in exchange for Kyiv regaining control of land held by Russia-backed separatists in the east.

The peace-for-sanctions-relief plan Artemenko claimed he co-authored thrust him into the spotlight on February 20 after The New York Times reported that it had wound up on the desk of Trump's short-lived national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

A document announcing the inquiry shared on Facebook by Lutsenko accuses Artemenko of carrying out subversive activities against Ukraine.

Such actions are punishable in Ukraine by 10 to 15 years in prison.

Artemenko, who was ousted on February 20 from the Radical Party, could not immediately be reached for comment.


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USA

Anti-Trumpers are lapping up the media's lies

Riley Waggaman
Russia Insider
Tue, 21 Feb 2017 17:44 UTC
Putin killed Abraham Lincoln
We apologize for the understatement, but February has been a disappointing month for anyone who was looking forward to a less awful world.

The dangers we face today are now visible and apparent: One wrong move in Yemen could spark a major conflict between Iran and the United States. One wrong move in Ukraine could spark a conflict between Russia and the United States. One wrong move in Syria and the peace settlement collapses and then we're all back at square one: mindless "moderate" killing, in perpetuity.

It didn't have to be this way. But at some point after November 8, Americans who voted for the lady who didn't win decided that they would chew and swallow any and all baloney in the noble pursuit of dethroning the fascist KGB dictator, Donald Trump. We didn't even vote for the guy. But c'mon, people.

It doesn't matter if the tomes of "damning evidence" contradict each other, or if this evidence even exists at all. It's completely irrelevant. The ends justify the means. And the means involves lapping up the lies, no matter how offensive they are to basic critical thinking.

A few recent examples, the first being today's "big story".
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Radar

China opposes US naval patrols in South China Sea


RT
Tue, 21 Feb 2017 18:40 UTC
USS Blue Ridge, the flagship of the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet
© Tyrone Siu / ReutersUSS Blue Ridge, the flagship of the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet
China says it respects the principles of freedom of navigation and overflight, but "opposes" when other states undermine its sovereignty using this pretext. The statement comes after a US aircraft carrier group began patrols in disputed South China Sea waters.

"China always respects the freedom of navigation and overflight all countries enjoy under international law," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a daily news briefing on Monday, as cited by Reuters.

"But we are consistently opposed to relevant countries threatening and damaging the sovereignty and security of littoral countries under the flag of freedom of navigation and overflight. We hope relevant countries can do more to safeguard regional peace and stability," the spokesman said.

The statement was China's first official comment on the latest US patrol mission. The US Navy made the announcement on its website last Saturday, stating that the strike group, including Nimitz-class aircraft carrier 'USS Carl Vinson', together with aircraft from the 'Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2', and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer 'USS Wayne E. Meyer' started "routine operations" in the South China Sea.

The deployment came a day after China completed war games with an aircraft carrier in the disputed waters and less than a week after Beijing issued a stern warning for the US to stay away from the area, stating that "China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their adjacent waters."

Comment: See also: US aircraft carrier group deployed for 'routine patrols' in South China Sea

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USA

Iran negotiator says 'US won't quit nuclear deal, but will try to provoke Tehran into it - Iranians won't fall for the US' provocations'


RT
Tue, 21 Feb 2017 16:59 UTC
anti-US mural
© Morteza Nikoubazl / Reuters An anti-U.S. mural on a wall, Tehran.
Despite growing tensions, Washington is unlikely to simply abandon the Iran nuclear deal, but will rather use sanctions and accusations to provoke the Islamic Republic into withdrawing from it, a former member of Iran's National Security Council told RT.

US President Donald Trump's administration has recently imposed new sanctions on Tehran, accusing the country of sponsoring terrorism.

In his latest meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu, Trump had harsh words for the hard-fought Iran nuclear deal, calling it "one of the worst deals I've ever seen."

This rhetoric is not new for the US President, who said dismantling the deal was at the top of his agenda while still on election campaign trail.
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Bad Guys

CIA & the "Blind Sheik": Media buries the truth about U.S. support for Radical Islam

b
Moon of Alabama
Tue, 21 Feb 2017 16:51 UTC
CIA Einrichtung
Two days ago the Takfiri Islamist leader Omar Abdul-Rahman, the so called "Blind Sheik", died in a U.S. prison. He had been found guilty of involvement in the 1993 attempt to bring down the World Trade Center in New York and of other crimes.

The obituaries of Omar Abdul-Rahman in U.S. media are an example of white washing of the U.S. exploitation of radical Islamism for its imperial purposes. While extensively documented in earlier media and official reports the CIA's facilitation and involvement with Abdul-Rahman is seemingly stricken from history.
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Sherlock

Russian Defense Ministry: Armed opposition in Syria receiving weapons from abroad


Sputnik
Tue, 21 Feb 2017 16:51 UTC
Aleppo Syria Militants Terrorist opposition tank
© AFP 2016/ Omar haj kadour
Armed groups in Syria have been receiving weapons from abroad, the Russian defense minister said.

Syria's armed opposition and groups of mercenaries have been supplied with arms and ammunition from abroad throughout the duration of the war in Syria, Russian Defense Minister, Army Gen. Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday.

"The war in Syria continues for almost six years. All this time, armed opposition groups and groups of mercenaries have been incessantly supplied from abroad with ammunition, armaments and and other material means required to conduct active combat operations," Shoigu said at a youth forum.

Comment: For the West, war is just another business opportunity - one that opens up a country's resources to corporate and financial institutions without recourse to bargaining and other economic impediments.

Further reading: US & UK have made Saudi Arabia the world's 'second-largest arms importer'

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Quenelle - Golden

'Still looking for Iraqi WMDs?' Top quotes from the career of Vitaly Churkin


RT
Tue, 21 Feb 2017 14:36 UTC
On many occasions over the decade that he served as Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin has countered attacks by Western diplomats with a pointed turn of phrase. RT looks at six such moments from Churkin's distinguished career.
Vitaly Churkin Russian diplomat quotes
The US envoy to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, received this response from Churkin on August 29, 2008, after he condemned Russia's "invasion" of Georgia.

Comment: The Duran has made an excellent video compilation of Vitaly Churkin's finest moments. Here is an example of Churkin defending Syria from the West's imperialist warmongers:
Churkin debates the situation in Syria while showing his master of the English language speaking circles around Fox News host Greta Susteren...

And here, in just the last few days, Churkin blasts Kiev for yet again violating the Minsk Agreements, assaulting civilians, and lying about it:


RIP Churkin - You spent your days mounting a defense of humanity from gross predation; your passing is a tragedy.

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Gold Coins

Russia responds to US threats of more economic sanctions with gold buying spree

Paul Kaiser
Russia Insider
Tue, 21 Feb 2017 16:35 UTC
putin goldene türen
If you aren't convinced that hopes of a possible US-Russia detente have all but vaporized, this should clear up any lingering doubts:
Russia gold buying returned in January with the Russian central bank buying a very large 1 million ounces or 37 metric tonnes of gold bullion.

The increase in the gold reserves came after Russia did not buy a single ounce in December - a move seen as potentially a signal or an olive branch to the U.S. and the incoming Trump administration.
Just yesterday we wrote about Russia's "gold ruble" concept. Over the last three years, Russia has launched a massive gold buying spree in order protect its economic interests — especially the value of the ruble — from western economic warfare.
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