Puppet MastersS


Chess

Russia and Israel: The neocon dilemma

Stephen J. Sniegoski
Consortium News
Wed, 07 Sep 2016 17:47 UTC
PutinNetanyahu
© www.washingtontimes.comGripping! Check out the expressions and body language...!
A great brouhaha has erupted in the U.S. presidential campaign over charges that Donald Trump is a Kremlin tool because of his desire for friendly relations with Russia.

Trump is being condemned from almost all quarters, even by those Democrats who in the past could be categorized as peaceniks, but the strongest opposition to Trump comes from the neoconservatives, who are the most ardent in taking a hard line on Russia. A number of them are actively supporting Hillary Clinton after being allied with Republicans since Ronald Reagan ran for president in 1980.

Now, the neocons are noted for being staunchly pro-Israel, maintaining that Israeli and American interests coincide. Yet neither they nor, for that matter, the American mainstream media have acknowledged the fact that Israel and Russia are developing a close relationship, which encompasses economic and security measures.
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Chess

Approaching checkmate? Russia continues to stack up military & diplomatic wins in Middle East

Danielle Ryan
RT
Thu, 08 Sep 2016 17:48 UTC
Russia
© Vadim Savitsky / ReutersRussian military jets are seen at Hmeymim air base in Syria
Moscow's engagement in the Middle East is about more than simply its national interests. It's about sending a message that the rules of the game have changed; that the unipolar world is in its twilight years.

Russia's presence and influence in the Middle East since the collapse of the Soviet Union has been extremely limited. For context, during the early years of Boris Yeltsin's rule, even the former Soviet bloc was disregarded as a foreign policy priority for the new Russian Federation. Instead, Yeltsin and his foreign minister Andrei Kozyrev focused on securing Russia's entry into Western international organizations. Committed to a fully Western course, Yeltsin and Kozyrev supported sanctions on Iraq, Libya and Yugoslavia, initially supported the US bombing of Iraq in 1993 and began to neglect relations with Asian and Middle Eastern nations.

In recent years, however, as Moscow regained its economic and military strength, and as it became clear that Russia was not a desired member of the Western club of nations — that all began to change. The winds of change had already begun to blow in the late 90s when Kozyrev was replaced as foreign minister by Yevgeny Primakov, but economically and geopolitically weakened as it was, there was very little Moscow could do at that time to influence external conflicts. Fast-forward a few more years and Russia could finally begin to etch out a new, independent role for itself in the Middle East.
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Document

Integrate or leave: Merkel's Bavaria allies want enshrined in law 'dominant' German-Christian values


RT
Fri, 09 Sep 2016 17:27 UTC
Bavaria
© Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters
The Bavarian ruling party and Merkel's ally CSU has proposed a set of new measures aimed at toughening Germany's refugee policy and fostering integration and particularly called for enshrining the priority of the German traditional and Christian values in the legislation.

"Germany must stay Germany," says the document by the Christian Social Union party (CSU), which was published by the Bavarian Kurier daily. "We are against our open-to-the-world country being changed through migration and inflow of refugees," it adds, emphasizing that "it is not the Germans, who should look up to the refugees..." but, on the contrary those who come to Germany should adopt German culture.

The paper also lashes out at the multi-culturalism policy advocated by Merkel. It proposes to introduce a"dominant culture" (Leitkultur) rule in Bavaria that would mean the opposite to multi-culturalism and would encompass all the German traditional national and Christian values as well as customs and traditions.
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Stock Down

Reality check Ukraine: Russian claim for repayment of $3 billion goes to trial in January

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Fri, 09 Sep 2016 15:43 UTC
Poroshenko
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko visited the Lviv region on August 18.
Confirmation that Russia's claim for repayment of its $3 billion debt goes for trial in January increases pressure on Ukraine amidst mood of deepening depression and malaise.

Claims that Ukraine would be able to keep the case Russia is bringing against it in the Commercial Court in London for repayment of its $3 billion debt to Russia going indefinitely, appear to have been proved wrong.

The Russian Finance Ministry is now saying that the case will go for trial on 17th January 2017. The trial will last 3 days, and is due to conclude on 20th January 2017.

It is unlikely the Commercial Court will hand down Judgment on 20th January 2017, the last day of the trial. More probably the Judgment will be handed down a few weeks later.

Comment: Further reading:

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Chess

Is Britain playing both sides of the South China Sea standoff between China and Vietnam?


RT
Fri, 09 Sep 2016 17:12 UTC
Chinese naval vessels participate in a drill on the East China Sea
© China Daily / Reuters
Just a day after the UK pledged to bolster its support for Vietnam, the British government has promised China almost identical defense cooperation - despite the fact that the two Asian nations are teetering on the edge of a potential armed standoff.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon met with his Chinese counterpart, Chang Wanquan, in London on Thursday on the sidelines of an international conference on UN peacekeeping.

Hours earlier, it was reported that a similar agreement had been reached with military officials from China's fierce local rival, Vietnam.
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Attention

Obama faces humiliation: House unanimously passes bill allowing Sept 11 lawsuits against Saudi Arabia

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Fri, 09 Sep 2016 16:58 UTC
Obama and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz
Two days before the 15 year anniversary of the September 11 attack, moments ago the House unanimously passed - to thunderous applause - legislation allowing the families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia in U.S. courts. The bill, which passed the Senate unanimously in May, now heads to President Obama's desk. And that's where things get tricky for Obama.

The White House has fiercely opposed the bill, arguing it could both strain relations with Saudi Arabia and also lead to retaliatory legislation overseas against U.S. citizens. Obama has lobbied fiercely against the bill, and has hinted strongly it will veto the measure.

He is not alone: the Saudi government has likewise led a vocal campaign in Washington to kill the legislation. Those efforts have been fruitless in Congress, however. Meanwhile, the legislation saw broad support from both parties, and Congress could override an Obama veto for the first time if he rejects the legislation. Such an outcome would undoubtedly embarrass Obama and divide Democrats ahead of the 2016 elections and a crucial lame-duck session of Congress.

For now, Obama is adamant: "The Saudis will see this as a hostile act," said Dennis Ross, Obama's former Middle East policy coordinator. "You're bound to see the Obama administration do everything they can to sustain a veto."

How Obama will spin such a pro-Saudi, and anti-US decision, which may be overriden anyway, to the US population is unclear.
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Dollar

The Wall Street mega-banks backing the Dakota Pipeline

Jay Syrmopoulos
The Free Thought Project
Thu, 08 Sep 2016 16:55 UTC
dakota access pipeline
Over the Labor Day weekend, while many people were celebrating and preparing for the upcoming school-year, Dakota Access, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Crude Oil, began bulldozing American Indian burial sites. As protesters attempted to intervene in the desecration of ancestral land, private security guards used attack dogs and pepper spray, injuring dozens of people, including children.

Although the burial and ceremonial sites were identified by experts only a few days earlier, in order to stop construction on these sites, the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) needed to officially survey the area. However, before they were able to undertake a survey, Dakota Access intentionally plowed through the land, destroying unknown numbers of graves and artifacts. Activists on the ground reported construction workers deliberately dozed the site before SHPO had an opportunity to survey it.
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Quenelle

Victories of Syrian Army in Aleppo signal defeat for US 'ceasefire' plan

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Fri, 09 Sep 2016 11:48 UTC
Syrian army
The latest advances of the Syrian army in south west Aleppo mean that the Jihadis have lost all the gains they made in late July and early August.

The Syrian army's counterattack in south west Aleppo continues to gain force, with reports that its has now fully recaptured the Ramousseh neighbourhood, seized by the Jihadis in early August.

This enables the government once more to send supplies to Aleppo through the main road to its south west. As discussed previously, the government has always been in a position to send supplies to Aleppo either via the recently captured Castello road or through other routes. However the road in the city's south west was its main supply route to the city, reopened during the Syrian army's offensives at the beginning of the year, and it is now open again.

The latest advances of the Syrian army in south west Aleppo mean that the Jihadis have now effectively lost all the gains they made during their offensive in late July and early August. The only result of the offensive was to cause the Jihadis extremely heavy casualties.
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Info

Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz pledging $20 million to defeat Trump

Julie Bykowicz | AP
Thee Washington Post
Fri, 09 Sep 2016 16:50 UTC
Dustin Moskovitz, a Facebook co-founder
© Eric Risberg/Associated Press
With a new promise of $20 million to help defeat Donald Trump, billionaire Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz becomes one of the top Democratic donors of the election

The Silicon Valley entrepreneur calls the Republican presidential candidate dangerous and divisive and says his appeal to Americans who feel left behind is "quite possibly a deliberate con."

By contrast, Moskovitz says, Democrats and their nominee, Hillary Clinton, are "running on a vision of optimism, pragmatism, inclusiveness and mutual benefit."

Moskovitz wrote about his planned contributions in a Thursday night posting on the website Medium titled "Compelled to Act." Until now, Moskowitz had made only one federal campaign contribution, $5,200 in 2013 to Democrat Sean Eldridge. The husband of another Facebook co-founder, Eldridge unsuccessfully ran for a New York congressional seat.
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Pistol

NY state rep Bill Nojay kills himself in cemetery amidst fraud allegations


RT
Fri, 09 Sep 2016 16:14 UTC
New York State assemblyman Bill Nojay
© nyassembly.gov
New York State assemblyman Bill Nojay has been found dead at a cemetery and sources claim he shot himself in the head at his family's burial plot.

In a death eerily similar to Nick Wasicsko, the former Yonkers mayor featured in HBO's mini-series "Show Me A Hero," Nojay reportedly planned to turn himself into authorities on Friday for fraud charges relating to a Cambodian rice company.

The Khmer Times of Cambodia reported that Nojay and three others convinced a woman to invest in company that would export rice to the US.

The woman claims that eight months after investing one million dollars, she discovered the company was bankrupt.

Comment: More on the tragic story:
Police tell us someone called 911 around 9:00 Friday morning for a welfare check of an individual at the Riverside Cemetery on Lake Avenue.

They say when they arrived, they witnessed an individual shoot themselves.

Police are not confirming the identity of the person at this time, pending notification of family.


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