Puppet MastersS


Jet1

Whoops: South Korean military plane accidentally drops anti-ship missiles into sea

P-3CK
© wikipedia.orgP-3CK
A South Korean military plane has accidentally dropped anti-ship missiles into the Sea of Japan (or the East Sea), according to the country's military, which added that the crew triggered the release by pushing the wrong button.

The P-3CK four-engine anti-submarine and maritime surveillance plane dropped three Harpoon missiles, a torpedo, and depth charges into the sea, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the South Korean military.

"One of the plane's crew mistakenly touched the emergency weapons release switch at around 6:10am," an official source was cited as saying.

Info

No US aircraft carriers now deployed and none expected in Middle East for months

US aircraft carrier group
© Flickr/ Matt Morgan
For a rare couple of months, there will be no US Navy aircraft carrier in the Middle East.

But it's not only the Middle East whose waters are calmer: For the next week, there will be no American aircraft carriers deployed at sea anywhere else in the world, Fox reports.

The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and its naval entourage, which had been deployed in the Middle East for the past seven months, returned to the Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia December 30.

Pistol

Six people killed and 25 injured after Daesh attack in Iraqi city of Najaf

Destroyed buildings in Mosul
© REUTERS/ Thaier Al-Sudani
At least six people were killed and 25 injured after militants attacked a security checkpoint near Iraqi city of Najaf, local media reported Sunday.

According to the Kurdistan24 media outlet, several gunmen, who were traveling in cars, opened fire and detonated an explosive load at the checkpoint in Najaf.

The Daesh terrorist organization outlawed in Russia and many other countries reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack.

Rocket

North Korea on 'last stage' of preparation for test-launch of banned ICBMs

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches the ballistic rocket launch
© KCNA / Reuters
Pyongyang is burning the midnight oil developing banned intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said during a televised New Year's message.

"Research and development of cutting-edge arms equipment is actively progressing, and ICBM rocket test launch preparation is in its last stage," Kim said on Sunday, as cited by Reuters.

A South Korean military expert warned last week that Pyongyang is able to miniaturize nuclear warheads and mount them on a wide range of ballistic missiles, NK News reported.

Propaganda

MSM is now making a peevish fuss about the "fake news" hysteria it created

msm fake news
After coming under attack, the alternative media successfully appropriated and reassigned the now ubiquitous term "fake news" to a variety of disingenuous mainstream media outlets. The corporate media is not too happy about this, and is doing what it does best (aside from cheerleading for war). It's whining about it to its readers.

Nothing more perfectly highlights the mainstream media's instinctual response to complain than an article published on Christmas Day in The New York Times, which reinvents history by claiming alternative media is to blame for turning "fake news" into an overly expansive and thus meaningless term. Here are a few excerpts:

TV

China's CCTV launches global 'soft power' media network

A view shows the China Central Television (CCTV) building and the Central Business District (CBD)
© REUTERS/StringerA view shows the China Central Television (CCTV) building and the Central Business District (CBD) area on a sunny day on December 2, 2015.
China Central Television (CCTV), Beijing's largest and most important TV network, said it will launch a new global media platform at the stroke of New Year's Day to help re-brand China overseas.

The new multilingual media cluster will have six TV channels, a video newsletter agency and a new media agency and will see the original CCTV News channel renamed as China Global Television Network, the network said on its website on Friday night.

China has been extending its global influence with "soft power" tactics such as launching new English language media and auditioning international public relations firms to tailor its branding strategy.

Bullseye

Trump has New Year's tweet for his 'many enemies'

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump
© Mike Segar / ReutersU.S. President-elect Donald Trump

While Pope Francis tweeted about reflecting on 2016 and being thankful for the year, President-elect Donald Trump took a different tone with his New Year's message, including to his "many enemies."

"Happy New Year to all, including to my many enemies and those who have fought me and lost so badly they just don't know what to do," he wrote in the tweet.

Yoda

'The only adult in the room' - Putin showed class as outgoing Obama ratchets up US-Russia tensions

putin
© Aleksey Nikolskyi / SputnikRussian President Vladimir Putin
The problem is the consensus is going in the direction that says: 'We have to punish Russia.' And this is coming from Congress, media, and the White House, and particularly being pushed by the Hillary Clinton camp, says Philip Giraldi, former CIA officer.

The outgoing Obama administration announced on Thursday new anti-Russia sanctions that include the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats from the US on the unproven claim that Russia somehow hacked into computers from the Democratic National Convention.

The move comes "in response to the Russian government's aggressive harassment of US officials and cyber operations aimed at the US election," Obama said in a statement on Thursday.

Moscow called the decision yet another manifestation of the unpredictable and aggressive foreign policy charted by the Obama administration.

Will the damage ruin Donald Trump's hopes for restoring relations with Russia? RT spoke with Philip Giraldi, former CIA officer, for his views on the issue.

Light Sabers

Putin's Bear to Obama's Turkey

Obama and Putin
© Sputnik/ Michael Klimentyev
True to national emblem, Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown bear-like stoicism. As for the presumed American eagle, US President Barack Obama appears more like a trussed-up turkey.

Not for the first time, the contrast in character between Putin and Obama was illustrated in the latest diplomatic spat over alleged Russian hacking. The temptation to hit back in kind to Washington's sanctions must have been great for Moscow. But in the end, the Russian leader probably showed that the best response was to simply ignore Obama's clumsy stupidity.

With typical histrionics and contrived fanfare, the White House announced that it was expelling 35 Russian diplomats, whom it accused of being "spies" and of alleged hacking during the US presidential election in November. Initially, Moscow appeared ready to reciprocate with an equivalent banning of American officials.

Comment: Exit Obama in a Cloud of Disillusion, Delusion and Deceit


Alarm Clock

Best of the Web: Exit Obama in a Cloud of Disillusion, Delusion and Deceit

Obama pathetic
I had promised myself and my family that on this holiday I would do nothing but relax. However events have overtaken my good intentions. I find myself in the unusual position of having twice been in a position to know directly that governments were lying in globe-shaking events, firstly Iraqi WMD and now the "Russian hacks".