Puppet MastersS


Info

EU looks to China amid transatlantic trade uncertainties


Xinhua
Sat, 11 Feb 2017 15:46 UTC
EU and Chinese flag graphic
As its ties with its largest trade partner the United States are becoming increasingly uncertain, the European Union (EU), relying on international trade to keep its economic recovery on track, is looking to China.

The post-Brexit EU is seemingly in a perpetual crisis, and with U.S. President Donald Trump now in the White House, trade protectionism remains a big worry for many. It can safely be concluded that transatlantic trade deals are currently on the rocks.

Last week, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said the bloc is ready to stand with China in the fight against protectionism. "If others around the world want to use trade as a weapon," she said, "I want to use it as a tonic; a vital ingredient for prosperity and progress."

She also commended Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech at the World Economic Forum, where the Chinese leader stood up for globalization and multilateralism.

After the United States, China is the EU's second-largest trading partner and the EU is China's largest.

Comment: Trump has pushed the EU closer to China by threatening import tariffs and trying to isolate China. But now even 'The Donald' may be backtracking: The pivot to China

Read More...
Gear

How the US 'fake news' media manipulates public understanding of North Korea

Caleb Maupin
New Eastern Outlook
Sat, 11 Feb 2017 00:00 UTC
North Korea
US Media continues its campaign against "fake news," urging people to only listen to mainstream, pro-western capitalist news sources, despite their documented record of factual inaccuracies.

US media coverage around anything related to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is a great example of media bias and deception in practice. Sometimes US media is caught blatantly reporting false things about the DPRK, such as the outrageous claim that Kim Jong-Un executed someone by feeding them to a pack of wild dogs. This was proven to be fake, or untrue news.

However, most of the manner in which the US public is deceived about the DPRK is more subtle.

Comment: The geopolitics of North Korea's bomb
Since the West refuses to talk to North Korea, or come to any sort of agreement with it which does not involve North Korea's total capitulation to Western demands, the North Koreans have no incentive to change their behaviour or to rein in their nuclear weapons programme.

To be clear, whilst there is no possibility of the North Koreans now giving up the nuclear weapons capability they already have, there might be a possibility that in return for some meaningful concessions from the West - for example involving an easing of sanctions or some sort of confidence building measures on the North Korean peninsula of the sort that worked well in Europe during the Cold War - they might be prepared to place some limits on it.


Read More...
Attention

Lavrov: OSCE cannot whitewash Ukrainian troops in Donbass anymore


Sputnik
Sun, 12 Feb 2017 15:36 UTC
Ukrainian soldier with skull mask
© AFP 2016/ ANATOLII STEPANOV
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe cannot turn the blind eye to what Kiev troops are doing in Donbass, the Russian foreign minister said.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (OSCE SMM) has already realized that concealing the Ukrainian government army's ceasefire violations in Donbass is futile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview broadcast Sunday.

"They [Kiev] continue to blatantly lie and blame everything on us, on Donbass [independence supporters] despite reports by OSCE SMM, which has always tried to stay neutral. Even when the OSCE SMM detects bursts of gunfire and notes directions from where it erupted without mentioning that the Ukrainian forces were located there - even such 'neutrality' is clear evidence that the SMM understands it cannot whitewash the Ukrainian army and its battalions anymore," Lavrov told the NTV Channel.
Read More...
Gear

Not to be missed! Trey Gowdy's stinging takedown of 9th Circuit Court for blocking Trump's temporary immigration ban

Dave Urbanski
The Blaze
Fri, 10 Feb 2017 19:05 UTC
Trey Gowdy
© Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Like a number of prominent conservatives, U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) had harsh words for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled to block President Donald Trump's temporary immigration ban executive order.

Gowdy — who chairs the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations — often wields a rapier-like wit when issuing criticism. And it was in no short supply in his Thursday statement on the matter.

"No one familiar with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals should be surprised at today's ruling," Gowdy began. "The 9th Circuit has a well-earned reputation for being presumptively reversible. Unlike the district court order, there is at least a court opinion which can be evaluated."

Comment:

Read More...
Info

Russian FM Lavrov expects to talk to US counterpart Tillerson soon on Ukraine and bilateral relations


RT
Sun, 12 Feb 2017 15:31 UTC
Sergey Lavrov
© Michael Klimentyev / Sputnik
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said in an interview he will probably be in contact with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson soon, and is expecting to discuss the situation in Ukraine, bilateral relations, and other major international issues.

Commenting on the situation in Ukraine with Russian channel NTV, Lavrov said he sees no alternative to the package of measures in the Minsk agreement.

"The Europeans, and hopefully the Americans, will confirm this," he said.

"I say 'hopefully' because the US team that will deal with Ukraine has not been formed yet," he added.
Read More...
Info

THAAD in South Korea poses direct threat to Russian security, ambassador wants to expand economic ties with Seoul


ITAR-TASS
Sun, 12 Feb 2017 15:19 UTC
US THAAD missile defense system
© AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man
The deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in South Korea continues Washington's policy of creating a missile defense segment in Northeast Asia and thereby poses a threat to Russia, Russia's ambassador to Seoul, Aleksandr Timonin, told TASS in an interview.

"The decision to deploy US THAAD missile systems in South Korean territory remains Russia's major concern," he said. "We are being told these US missile systems are purely defensive and meant for warding off missile threats coming from North Korea."

Timonin said Russia had a wider vision of this issue.

"We regard this as further efforts by Washington to create a new regional segment of the United States' global missile defense in Northeast Asia near the Russian border," he said. "This is a direct threat to the security of our country, because the main aim of the US global missile defense is to minimize the effectiveness of Russia's missile potential."
Read More...
Info

The pivot to China

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Sat, 11 Feb 2017 15:01 UTC
Xi Jinping
© EPA
When President Xi Jinping visited the United Nations in Geneva last month, before his landmark pro-globalization speech in Davos, he said China's proposition to the world was to "build a community of shared future for mankind and achieve shared and win-win development."

Then came the astonishing numbers. "In the coming five years, China will import US$8 trillion of goods, attract US$600 billion of foreign investment, make US$750 billion of outbound investment, and Chinese tourists will make 700 million outbound visits."

For most of the "community of shared future," it didn't take long for the implications to sink in.
Read More...
Star of David

Israel's confiscation law means 'from now on it's legal to steal from Arabs'

Gideon Levy
Norman Finkelstein
Sun, 12 Feb 2017 13:34 UTC
Israeli flag
© Pixabay
On Monday this week the die was cast. Israel was declared the second apartheid state.

At midday in London, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to support the two-state solution any longer, thus marking the end of this strategy. That evening the Knesset passed the confiscation bill, marking the new regime it was establishing in its stead.

Israel has had its say, and it's loud and clear: one state, from the sea to the Jordan River, and its regime - apartheid. Two peoples, one of them superior. The spit in one's face can no longer be called rain. This spit requires a response, and the response must be action.

Comment: Further reading: NYT book review reveals 'Israel receives more U.S. military aid than every other country in the world combined'

Read More...
Eye 1

What they're not telling you about the UK media's attack on Sputnik


Sputnik
Sun, 12 Feb 2017 13:34 UTC
Sputnik
© Sputnik/ Igor Rusak
Over the weekend, leading British news media including the BBC, The Times and The Independent published similar, scathing attacks on Sputnik, citing a NATO claim that the news agency was part of a "Kremlin misinformation machine." The allegations aren't new, nor is the lack evidence to back them up. More interesting was what UK media left out.

On Saturday, the BBC, The Times and The Independent released three similar hit pieces on the Sputnik news agency and its 'disinformation' operations in the UK, and cited a NATO official in their attempt to back up their claims.

NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu told the BBC in no uncertain words that the alliance feels that "outlets like Sputnik are part of a Kremlin propaganda machine which are trying to use information for political and military needs."
Read More...
Light Saber

Sanctions & cheap oil have turned Russia into a 'grain superpower'

Matthew Allen
Russia Insider
Sun, 12 Feb 2017 13:34 UTC
Russian bear Russia Moscow
Watching the ruble make a (modest) comeback against the dollar and euro over the last week, we were suddenly reminded of the fact that Russia is expected to return to growth in 2017. This means it took Russia less than three years to recover from plummeting oil prices and western-imposed economic sanctions.

It was March, 2014 when the sanctions were announced, and things went from bad to worse after that. The ruble tanked after oil plummeted to historic lows. Major budget cuts were announced (the Russian government depends heavily upon oil revenues to balance its checkbook). Russia's Central Bank began to burn through its foreign currency reserves, in hopes of protecting the ruble from speculators. It looked grim.

By now, Russia was supposed to have been crushed. Completely destroyed. Look at how wrong all the pundits and politicians were.

Comment: Further reading: As Russian economy strengthens more money floods in from foreign investors

Read More...