Puppet MastersS


Arrow Down

S. Korea turns to Russian crude oil as OPEC cuts supply


RT
Fri, 17 Feb 2017 16:37 UTC
oil tanker
© Maxim Zmeyev / Reuters
Russia has begun exporting oil to South Korea for the first time in a decade to cover Middle East supply shortages. This follows the self-imposed output cut by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

SK Energy bought one million barrels of Urals grade crude for arrival in late March or early April, Kim Woo-kyung, a spokeswoman for South Korea's top refiner said on Friday.

According to Reuters trade sources, the crude was sold by Litasco, the trading arm of Russia's second-largest oil company, Lukoil.

The deal became feasible after OPEC agreed to trim production. In January, the oil cartel achieved 93 percent of pledged cuts for the month.

"Dubai crude supply is tight in Asia after the OPEC cut deal, making other crude outside the region more economical," added the SK Energy spokesperson, adding that shipment fees had dropped also.
Read More...
Star of David

Israel's vision for Palestine's future is terrifying

Ramzy Baroud
Politics for the People
Fri, 17 Feb 2017 16:07 UTC
Israel apartheid checkpoint
© Tamar Fleishman, PCCrossing the Qalandiya Checkpoint.
Empirical historical evidence combined with little common-sense are enough to tell us the type of future options that Israel has in store for the Palestinian people: perpetual apartheid or ethnic cleansing, or a mix of both.

The passing of the "Regularisation Bill" on 6 February is all we need to imagine the Israeli-envisaged future. The new law allows the Israeli government to retroactively recognise Jewish outposts built without official permission on privately-owned Palestinian land.

All settlements - officially recognised settlements and unauthorised outposts - are illegal under international law. The verdict has been passed numerous times by the United Nations and, more recently, pronounced with unmistakable clarity in UN Security Council Resolution 2334.

Israel's response was the announcement of the construction of over 6,000 new housing units to be built throughout the Occupied Palestinian territories, the construction of a brand new settlement (the first in 20 years), and the new law that paves the way for the annexation of large swathes of the occupied West Bank.
Read More...
Treasure Chest

US banks complain pesky money laundering rules interfere with their bottom lines

Riley Waggaman
Russia Insider
Fri, 17 Feb 2017 16:03 UTC
Stacks of money
© DEABut what about the shareholders?
U.S. banks love to launder drug money. It's their second favorite thing to do, after bundling toxic debt and selling it with AAA ratings to your volunteer fire department's pension fund.

The problem is that there are now "rules" which sometimes interfere with day-to-day money laundering operations. This bureaucratic red tape is sucking profits from the shareholders.

Thankfully the U.S. banking industry has a team of all-star lobbyists who know how to get things done!
America's largest banks are to propose a complete overhaul of how financial institutions investigate and report potential criminal activity, arguing that rules imposed in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and strengthened during the Obama administration are onerous and ineffective, sources said.

The Clearing House, a trade association representing the largest U.S. banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), Bank of America (BAC.N) and Citigroup (C.N), has long raised concerns about the effectiveness of the current [money laundering] rules, but this will be the first time the group has publicly called for them to be revamped.

[...]

Faced with record penalties in recent years over failures to alert authorities to criminal activities, banks say they now over-report, filing hundreds of thousands of SARs out of fear of later falling foul of regulators.

"Now we tell banks to file a (report) on everything that might be criminal," said Gary Shiffman, CEO of compliance software maker Giant Oak. "But when everything is a priority nothing ends up being a priority."

The number of suspicious activity reports rose from 669,000 in 2013 to almost a million in 2016, according to U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN), which enforces anti-money laundering rules and collects data on suspicious transactions from banks around the country.

Complying with anti-money laundering rules, including the manpower needed to file suspicious activity reports, costs U.S. companies as much as $8 billion a year, the Heritage Foundation estimated in a report last year.
Read More...
Light Sabers

Syrian Foreign Ministry condemns Turkish 'crimes and attacks' on Syrian people and violations of Syrian sovereignty in letters to UN


RT
Fri, 17 Feb 2017 16:06 UTC
turkish tanks
© Umit Bektas / ReutersTurkish army tanks and military personal are stationed in Karkamis on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern Gaziantep province, August 25, 2016
The Syrian Foreign Ministry has condemned Turkey's "repeated crimes and attacks" on the Syrian people as well as violations of Syrian sovereignty and territorial integrity, in two letters to the UN, Syria's SANA news agency reports.

The ministry expressed its discontent with Turkey's actions in letters sent to the UN secretary general and the current president of the UN Security Council.

In the letters, the Syrian authorities ask the UNSC to exert influence on Ankara and force it to put an end to "repeated crimes and attacks against the Syrian people and violations of the sanctity and unity of Syria's territory," SANA writes.

Damascus says that Turkey's "aggression against Syria" has continued for five years and involves "providing various forms of military, material and logistic support to the terrorist organizations and facilitating the entry of foreign militants into Syria."
Read More...
Take 2

Dunford assures Russia: 'No US boots on the ground' in Syria

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Fri, 17 Feb 2017 16:03 UTC
Russian General Valery Gerasimov
General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, reportedly uses Baku meeting to reassure General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the Russian military's General Staff, that the Pentagon has no plans to send ground troops to Syria.

The Russian daily Kommersant has provided more information about the Dunford-Gerasimov meeting held between the two countries' top military leaders in Baku, Azerbaijan on Thursday.

It seems that the meeting - the first between the US and Russian militaries held at this level since January 2014 (ie. since before the Ukrainian crisis became international) - took place in a cordial atmosphere. Kommersant says that Gerasimov was unfazed by the rhetoric coming from US Defense Secretary Mattis. Clearly Gerasimov read it - correctly - as public posturing of no significance.

However one topic the Russians did bring up, which it turns out has caused them serious worry, is the question of reported US plans to send ground troops to Syria.
Read More...
Light Sabers

Western Aggression: Russia warns NATO risks 'vicious' new Cold War with its increased spending and Black Sea presence


RT
Fri, 17 Feb 2017 15:56 UTC
nato warships
© AFPWar ships of the NATO Standing Maritime Group-2 take part in a military drill on the Black Sea
Moscow will take "all necessary measures" to protect its national interests in the Black Sea, Russia's envoy to NATO has said, warning the alliance risks ushering in a vicious new Cold War with its significant spending and military build up in the region.

Wrapping up NATO Defense Minister's two-day meeting in Brussels, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg outlined the new steps the alliance has taken to counter so-called 'Russian aggression.'

Part of the strategy adopted at the meeting was to increase NATO's naval presence in the Black Sea to complement its "regional posture in the air and on land."

"We will have increased presence in the Black Sea, but it will be measured, it will be defensive and it will in no way aim at provoking any conflict or escalating tensions, but it is one element in a broader adaptation of NATO defense and deterrence to a more demanding and challenging security environment including in the Black Sea region," Stoltenberg said answering a question from a reporter from St. Petersburg.
Read More...
Quenelle

Taking names and kicking butt: Top 8 moments from yesterday's Trump press conference

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Fri, 17 Feb 2017 15:40 UTC
trump press conference
The greatest Presidential press conference you will ever see.

It was an extraordinary 75 minutes. A press conference that will go down in history.

Why was it so great? Trump and the media just had it out for over an hour.

It was real, it was human, it was non-scripted. It was a refreshing break from Obama's ass kissing, teleprompter discussions with the media.

It was honest, real, and completely engaging.
Read More...
Light Sabers

Trump lecturing 'fake news' on Russia: Getting along is great, sinking their ship isn't


RT
Fri, 17 Feb 2017 15:33 UTC
Donald Trump
© AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
Donald Trump would love to get along with Moscow, but due to "false, horrible and fake" news reporting, Americans would likely see it as weakness and would rather praise as "great" an order to sink a Russian ship, the US president has said.

"Tomorrow you'll say: 'Donald Trump wants to get along with Russia. This is terrible!' It's not terrible. It's good," Trump said during his 90-minute press conference on Thursday in which he mounted a vigorous offense against "fake news" and its impact on Russian-US relations.

"I know politically [getting along with Russia] is not very good for me... The greatest thing I could do is shoot that ship that's 30 miles off shore right out of the water. Everyone in this country is going to say 'Oh, that's so great!' That's not great... I would love to get along with Russia."

Comment: Trump also took a jab at Hillary Clinton:
Trump said he wanted to "get along" with Russia, but did nothing for Moscow so far, unlike his political rival Hillary Clinton.

"I didn't do anything for Russia. I've done nothing for Russia," Trump said. "If we could get along with Russia, that's a positive thing. We have a very talented man, Rex Tillerson, who's going to be meeting with them shortly."

He added that "Hillary Clinton gave them 20% of our uranium."

"Hillary Clinton did a reset, remember? With the stupid plastic button that made us all look like a bunch of jerks," the US leader said.
Clinton presenting red reset button to Lavrov
Lavrov explains to Clinton the wrong word was used - peregruzka means overcharged.


Read More...
Sherlock

4 Reasons Why CNN Is Fake News (VIDEO)

Jay Fayza
Rebel Media
Tue, 14 Feb 2017 15:42 UTC
cnn fake news
Recently, CNN host Chris Cuomo stated that being called a fake journalist or a fake news outlet is akin to being called an ethnic slur.

CNN does market themselves as "the Most Trusted Name In News," so what is it about their coverage that makes people distrust them?

I'll show you five examples of things they do that has led people to call them "fake news."

Read More...
Control Panel

Reasons why Michael Flynn was fatality #1 in the political war to takedown the Trump presidency

Joachim Hagopian
Sott.net
Fri, 17 Feb 2017 00:00 UTC
Michael Flynn
The alternative press tends to view the ruling elite as one monolithic centralized amalgamation of robber baron bankers and oil moguls personified by a handful of elitist bloodlines like the Rothschild and Rockefeller families, together wielding near absolute power over all their Fortune 500 corporate monopolies (including the 6 mega media giants for 90% optimal information control) as well as national oligarchic governments (through legalized bribery) as a means to further enslave and micro-control the global masses. Though this world-view may largely be accurate, it fails to take into account the not so nuanced dynamic presently rearing its ugly head, manifesting as splintered, behind-the-scenes fractionalization of deep state politics into two warring camps with largely, blindly ignorant followers.

Each ideological camp, the Trump/right wing supporters and the Obama-Clinton/left wing supporters, has legions of foot soldiers ready to fight the second civil war. They've largely fallen prey to the elite's divide and conquer trap. The bottom line reality is regardless of who or what party occupies the White House, the same controlling interests that select and finance the two major party candidates are still pulling the puppet strings whichever one is placed in power. In other words, every American president over the last half century has served the diabolical elite, and not the people. And the last president that tried to serve the American people was murdered.
Read More...