Puppet MastersS


Handcuffs

Turkey: 44 of 47 suspects go on trial in Erdogan assassination attempt


Sputnik
Mon, 20 Feb 2017 14:02 UTC
Arrest made
© REUTERS/ Kenan GurbuzThe accused, of an attempt to assassinate President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the July 15 failed coup, are escorted by Turkish gendarmes as they arrive for the first hearing of the trial in Mugla, Turkey.
A trial of a group of 44 participants, charged with attempting to assassinate Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the July 15 failed military coup, has started in the Turkish city of Mugla, local media reported Monday. During the attempted coup, rebels attacked a hotel in the country's southwestern resort of Marmaris where Erdogan stayed. Erdogan managed to leave the place minutes before the arrival of the attackers.

According to the Anadolu news agency, a total of 47 supporters of Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, living in exile in the United States, are charged in this case. Three, including Gulen, are on the wanted list in Turkey.

The first hearing is ongoing in the conference hall of the Chamber of Commerce of Mugla, the case is being reviewed by a judicial panel for grave offences.

The prosecutor has demanded to sentence each of the accused for at least six consecutive life sentences each under the Turkish penal code for attempting to kill the President, attempting to overthrow the constitutional order, crimes against the legislative body and the government, leading an armed terrorist organization, and intentional killing of an official.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Calendar

The difference a month makes: Trump's first thirty days in the media hole

Danielle Ryan
RT
Mon, 20 Feb 2017 09:48 UTC
trump
© Brian Snyder / Reuters
It's been thirty days since Donald Trump took office and what a 30 days it's been. The Trump administration — whether operating in sheer chaos or running like a "finely tuned machine" — is certainly one of a kind. Let's look at some of the highlights (or lowlights, depending on how you see it) of Trump's first month down the media hole.

Week 1: American carnage

Trump began his presidency with an inauguration speech that read like a damning portrayal of a dying nation rather than one of the usual screeds on American Exceptionalism we've come to expect from the men who have occupied the White House before him.

Trump bemoaned the poverty of inner cities, the rusted-out factories "scattered like tombstones" across the land, a failing education system, infrastructure falling into disrepair and decay, and the "crime and gangs and drugs" that have robbed the country of its "unrealized potential". The "American carnage" stops now, he said. To some, Trump sounded like an un-American Debbie Downer — but for the millions of Americans affected by poverty, crime, drugs and job losses, his speech was a refreshing dose of reality.

The US, Trump said, would seek friendship with all the nations of the world, but with the understanding that it is the right of all countries to "put their own interests first". His words, at least on day one, reassured foreign leaders that he had little interest in becoming entangled in new military conflicts.

Comment: Trump is making it clear that the media lives in his world; he doesn't live in theirs. See also:

Read More...
Headphones

Lavrov: US intel taps Russian ambassador's communications routinely


RT
Mon, 20 Feb 2017 13:14 UTC
Russian embassy
© Yin Bogu / www.globallookpress.comRussian Embassy to the United States in Washington D.C.
US intelligence services have made it clear to the media that they regularly tap the communications of the Russian ambassador to the US, says Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

"In connection with the scandal that was built up around Trump's adviser, General Flynn, US intelligence services told journalists absolutely officially, though anonymously - that our ambassador's [Sergey Kislyak] communications are routinely tapped," Lavrov told journalists.

The tapping includes "his reports to Moscow about his activities in Washington," the minister added.

Lavrov also called to pay attention to the activities of those who attempt "to survey any processes all over the globe, including via means that are known to be not quite legitimate."

Comment: This is no great surprise, in fact expected, given the networking sophistication available. It is more likely meant to be a basic statement of 'what is' when accusations against Russian intel operations again start to fly.

Read More...
Hardhat

Shake-up at State level: Tillerson dismisses staffers in droves


Sputnik
Sat, 18 Feb 2017 01:40 UTC
fired staffers
© The Event ChronicleLet Go
Aides to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson purged approximately two dozen State Department staffers on Thursday, in a shakeup that has many officials on edge, fearing that a major restructuring is imminent.

While Tillerson was away on his first overseas trip as Secretary of State attending the G20 in Bonn, Germany, his aides alerted much of the staff working for the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources and the Counselor offices that their services were no longer needed.

Career officials are now extremely worried about their jobs, particularly given how abruptly the firings happened; before assignments had been finished by staffers or any replacements had been hired. "Inside the State Department, some officials fear that this is a politically-minded purge that cuts out much-needed expertise from the policy-making, rather than simply reorganizing the bureaucracy," CBS News reported.

The staffers who were let go act as a conduit between the Secretary and county bureaus. "It is irresponsible to let qualified, nonpartisan, experienced people go before you have any idea of their replacement. You can't do foreign policy by sitting in the White House, just out of your back pocket," Tom Countryman, Former Assistant Secretary for Non-Proliferation, who was let go earlier this month, told CBS.

Many of the people who lost their jobs will reportedly be reassigned to other positions within the department.

Comment: Shakeups in personnel from an incoming administration are nothing new. However, it would be interesting to know who exactly he fired at State, and what their briefs were...

Read More...
Question

N. Korea denies report man killed in Malaysia airport was Kim Jong-un's half brother


RT
Mon, 20 Feb 2017 11:26 UTC
Kim Jong-nam
© Kyodo / via ReutersFile photo of Kim Jong Nam
North Korea's envoy to Malaysia has denied that the man killed at Kuala Lumpur airport last week was the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, saying the Malaysian police's murder investigation cannot be trusted.

Monday's comment, which came hours after the CCTV footage of the purported attack emerged, was the first official statement issued by Pyongyang's representative on the murder of a man identified by Malaysian authorities as Kim Jong-nam, Kim Jong-un's estranged elder half-brother.


Comment: South Korean government officials stated earlier that fingerprint checks proved the man who died in Malaysia was Kim Jong-nam. Now it isn't?

More curious is why the assassination team chose a crowded airport with security cameras everywhere to conduct a 'hit'. Something in raising the fear factor or publicly pitting N-S Koreas against each other? A message? A warning?


"It has been seven days since the incident, but there is no clear evidence on the cause of death and at the moment we cannot trust the investigation by the Malaysian police," the envoy said, as cited by Reuters. "The embassy has already identified his identity named Kim Chol, a DPRK citizen, as mentioned in his passports," the statement added.

The video shows a woman approaching a man from behind and wiping his face with a cloth.


Comment: If the victim was not the half-brother of Kim Jong-un, why was this person killed in such a public place, drawing worldwide attention? Mistaken identity?

More from RT:
The low-quality initial CCTV footage allegedly showing the moment of the deadly attack on the [presumed] half-brother of North Korea's supreme leader has emerged online as tensions between Pyongyang and Kuala Lumpur escalate over his killing.

[The video] purportedly shows the attack on Kim Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on February 13. A woman wearing a white shirt and blue skirt is seen approaching the man from behind - believed to be Kim Jong-nam - and grabbing his face while spraying him with some substance, presumably a fast-acting poison. Presumably, it's the same "LOL-shirt wearing" Indonesian woman, who has already been identified as Siti Aishah and whose been detained by security forces.
See also: Always, always keep in mind, whenever North Korea pops up in the news, that it's ultimately about serving US interests. Without NK 'acting all weird and dangerous', there's no 'legitimate' justification for 400 US military facilities ringing China (via S. Korea, Japan, the Philippines, etc).

Read More...
Star of David

NYT runs Israeli's op-ed recommending hideous proposal that Palestinians 'emigrate voluntarily'

Scott Roth and Phil Weiss
Mondoweiss
Mon, 20 Feb 2017 19:21 UTC
New York Times headquarters
© Wikipedia
In the last few days The New York Times has run several opinion pieces from the Israeli or American Zionist point of view. We've seen none from Palestinians. Last Wednesday was a low point. Right alongside Tom Friedman urging Donald Trump to "save the Jews" from division over Israel, the Times ran a piece called, "A Settler's View of Israel's Future," by Yishai Fleshler, international spokesperson for the illegal settler community in Hebron.

The article included a bible lecture about why the two-state solution was dead: "Judea and Samaria belong to the Jewish people. Our right to this land is derived from our history, religion, international decisions and defensive wars."
Read More...
Attention

White House reportedly investigating Deputy Chief of Staff and #NeverTrumper Kate Walsh as source of leaks

Lucien Wintrich
Gateway Pundit
Sun, 19 Feb 2017 16:01 UTC
kate walsh
GotNews reported Sunday that one of the primary sources of the series of leaks that were designed to undermine the Trump Administration and his presidency have been coming from none other than #NeverTrumper Kate Walsh. She is being investigated as one of the primary persons of interest that have been distributing highly confidential information to sources such as The (Failing) New York Times, and others.

When TGP reached out to GotNews founder, Charles Johnson, for comment on the story he said that it was "100% reliable, I'm unwilling to reveal the primary White House sources, but Walsh was behind the leaks."

Comment: Trump tweets that investigation into leaks within intelligence community could be launched

Read More...
Info

Russia now runs the peace process to end Syria's War

Eric Zuesse
Strategic Culture Foundation
Wed, 15 Feb 2017 16:51 UTC
Asad and Putin
Part One

Immediately prior to the resumption of the Syrian peace talks in Geneva on February 23rd, here's a status-report on what has been achieved in these talks so far:

(PRELIMINARY NOTE: Many allegations in this report are contrary to what has been reported by virtually all Western press agencies, and so the documentation behind any such allegation here can immediately be accessed by the reader, simply by clicking onto its link, wherein the untrustworthiness of the Western press can be verified on the given matter, and the facts that haven't been reported by the mainstream media are verified.)
Read More...
Attention

Russian ambassador to UN Vitaly Churkin has died suddenly in New York, one day before turning 65


RT
Mon, 20 Feb 2017 18:31 UTC
Vitaly Churkin
© Associated Press photo/Seth Wenig
Vitaly Churkin, who served as Russia's permanent representative to the United Nations since 2006, "died suddenly" in New York, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced.

Churkin would have turned 65 on Tuesday.

The announcement "of the untimely passing away of Ambassador Vitaly Churkin this morning" was met with shock when it was delivered during a session at the UN headquarters.


Comment: Our condolences to his family, friends and the Russian government.

Read More...
Passport

DHS secretary signs memos with sweeping new guidelines for deporting illegal immigrants

David Nakamura
Washington Post
Sat, 18 Feb 2017 17:53 UTC
illegal immigrants US
© Larry W. Smith/European Press AgencyA United States Border Patrol agent contains people after crossing the Rio Grande River into the United States near McAllen, Texas.
The Department of Homeland Security drafted new guidelines that would speed up deportations and make it more difficult for migrants to claim asylum. The agency plans to hire thousands of additional enforcement agents, expand the pool of immigrants prioritized for deportation and enlist the help of local law enforcement.

Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly has signed sweeping new guidelines that empower federal authorities to more aggressively detain and deport illegal immigrants inside the United States and at the border.

In a pair of memos, Kelly offered more detail on plans for the agency to hire thousands of additional enforcement agents, expand the pool of immigrants who are prioritized for removal, speed up deportation hearings and enlist local law enforcement to help make arrests.
Read More...