Puppet MastersS


Bomb

Ukraine ceasefire 'holds' for third day, despite repeated violations


RFE/RL
Mon, 26 Dec 2016 16:23 UTC
debaltsevo
© TASSThe latest truce came after a battle for control of Debaltseve, which sits on a key railway junction in eastern Ukraine
A new cease-fire negotiated between Ukraine's government and Russia-backed separatists in the east held by a thread for a third day as both sides reported clashes near the strategic town of Debaltseve.

The two sides agreed to the so-called "indefinite" cease-fire last week, with the help of mediation from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the agreement reached on December 21 was a sign that his war-weary nation is on a road to lasting peace after nine previously negotiated cease-fires came unraveled.

Mortar and artillery fire has continued without any casualties.

"Our positions have come under attack 33 times since early Sunday," the Ukrainian military said in a statement.

Russian-backed separatists said their side had come under fire from Ukrainian grenade launchers 62 times in the past day.

Comment: Another shameful legacy of the Obama admin. More details on the results of this current "ceasefire":
The number of casualties in the Nazi Kiev offensive in Debaltsevo area has rose to 50 killed and 100 wounded Ukrainian Junta soldiers, said LPR People's Army command chief Colonel Oleg Anaschenko.

"We are aware of more than 50 killed and approximately 100 wounded Nazi Kiev fighters but Ukrainian defense ministry still lies saying there are only six dead and 19 injured soldiers."

"We are also aware that the death toll could have been lower if the nazi Ukrainian command evacuated their wounded soldiers timely," he said.

Six LPR soldiers died in wake of Kiev's attack, seven sustained injuries. They were taken to hospitals and their lives are out of danger. Two servicemen are still unaccounted for.

A heavy fighting erupted on December 18 in vicinity of Debaltsevo as Nazi Ukrainian armed forces attacked LPR positions in Debaltsevo area. As of December 21, Ukrainian Junta casualties amounted to 40 killed and 50 wounded. Four LPR soldiers died and five were injured. The situation in the area remains tense.


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Attention

Russia-Turkey-Iran talks: Ankara finally openly voices its readiness to work with Assad


Sputnik
Mon, 26 Dec 2016 16:14 UTC
Syrian flags in market
© AFP 2016/ LOUAI BESHARA
Commenting on the recent trilateral meeting between Russia, Turkey and Iran on the Syrian crisis and the resulting joint statement on reviving the political process to end the conflict, Turkish opposition politician Öztürk Yılmaz noted to Sputnik that it is the first time Turkey has openly voiced its readiness to work with President Assad.

Last week, the foreign ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey discussed the situation in Syria, including Aleppo, in Moscow.

The top diplomats of the three countries then issued a joint statement to revive the political process to end the ongoing conflict in the war-torn country.


Comment: Russia, Turkey, Iran Triumvirate ready to resolve Syrian crisis, act as guarantors for negotiations

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Arrow Down

Erdogan is implementing his own "fake news" censoring policy: 1,656 people arrested for supporting terrorists or insulting Turkey's leader

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Sun, 25 Dec 2016 11:09 UTC
Erdogan
Erdogan continues to crackdown on free speech, targeting social media users.

Social media is taking a double hit in Turkey, under Erdogan's rule.

Facebook and Twitter are already censorsing of "fake news" (meaning any publication that is not establishment media or liberal left ideology).

Erdogan is also cracking down on social media free speech, implementing his own "fake news" censoring policy.

In the last six months Turkish authorities have arrested 1,656 people accused of supporting terrorist organizations or insulting government officials on social media. At least 10,000 others social media users are under investigation according to the Interior Ministry.

Comment: See also: False news by omission misinforms, pointing such out may soon be censored

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Laptop

Person of the Year 2016: The mysterious Russian hacker

Robert Bridge
RT
Mon, 26 Dec 2016 15:49 UTC
Smoking computer hacker
© Grigoriy Sisoev / Sputnik
In the past year, the world was introduced to a suspect for all seasons and purposes; an interloper so slippery he has yet to be positively identified. Yet, like Sasquatch, Loch Ness and UFOs, we know he is out there, lurking, and laughing at us all.

In dark, smoke-choked rooms across the vast expanse of 11 time-zones that is Putin's Russia are brooding Dostoyevskian characters consumed with one overriding objective: Hacking Hillary Clinton's email server in a brazen attempt to strike at US democracy and deliver Russia-friendly demagogue Donald J. Trump to power. Yes, Clinton made the task easier by using her home computer to send classified messages, but this should not lessen our appreciation for these provocateurs.

It has been a long and thankless road for the Russian hacker. Whenever he is mentioned, it is in the hushed tones of secret sources behind the closed doors of some windowless government agency, and reported in media of dubious repute. But Russians have to take their fame and notoriety where they can get it these days.

"It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russia's goal here was to... get Trump elected," an anonymous US official briefed by another anonymous official told the Washington Post. "That's the consensus view."
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Stock Up

Ruble closing year as world's best-performing currency


RT
Mon, 26 Dec 2016 16:02 UTC
Russian ruble banknotes of different denominations.
Russian ruble banknotes of different denominations.

The Russian ruble is expected to be one of the strongest currencies in the world this year with the Brazilian real only trading better against the dollar. Rising oil prices and growing interest from foreign investors despite sanctions are the main reasons behind the rally.

This year the Russian currency has strengthened 17 percent against the dollar, only marginally beaten by Brazilian real which gained over 17 percent.

The ruble had a tough first month of the year when oil dipped to $27 per barrel. At the time, the currency hit an all-time low of 82 against the dollar. With crude prices stabilizing, it rebounded to 60.40 in December. On Monday, it was trading at 60.80 against the dollar and 63.60 against the euro, both close to eighteen-month highs.
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Black Magic

Russian Ministry of Defense: Mass graves of brutally tortured civilians found in Aleppo


RT
Mon, 26 Dec 2016 15:55 UTC
Aleppo, Syria
© RT
Mass graves with dozens of bodies of civilians subjected to brutal torture have been discovered in Aleppo neighborhoods left by militants, the Russian Defense Ministry said Monday.

Many of the corpses were found with missing body parts, and most had gunshot wounds to the head, according to a statement by Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov.

"The completion of a uniquely large-scale humanitarian operation by the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Aleppo will destroy many of the myths that have been fed to the world by Western politicians," Konashenkov said in a statement. "The results of only an initial survey of Aleppo neighborhoods abandoned by the so-called 'opposition' will shock many."

In addition to the massacres on militant-held territory, the area had been extensively mined: streets, cars, the entrances to buildings and even children's toys had been booby-trapped.

In one small area, three tanks, two cannons, two multiple rocket launchers and numerous homemade mortars were found.

Comment: Sickening barbarism created and funded by the U.S.

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Info

Hungarian PM demands Brussels change migrant policy after Berlin attack


RT
Mon, 26 Dec 2016 15:43 UTC
Workers place concrete barriers outside the Christmas market at Breitscheid square in Berlin
© Hannibal Hanschke / Reuters Workers place concrete barriers outside the Christmas market at Breitscheid square in Berlin.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called on Brussels to protect Europe's borders from illegal immigration in the wake of the deadly terrorist attack in Berlin, but European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker prefers to rely on European values.

"It is unprecedented that, in the heart of Europe, Christians were murdered at Christmas," Orban said in an interview with Hungarian online newspaper veol.hu.

A 24-year-old Tunisian, Anis Amri, drove a truck into Christmas market stalls next to Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at Breitscheidplatz in a December 19 terrorist attack that left 12 people dead and 56 others injured.
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Cut

Newt Gingrich says Trump to begin presidency by repealing 70% of Obama's legacy


RT
Mon, 26 Dec 2016 10:03 UTC
U.S. President Barack Obama
© Larry Downing / ReutersU.S. President Barack Obama
US President-elect Donald Trump may reverse up to 70 percent of President Barack Obama's executive orders, practically erasing the legacy of the first African-American head of state, Former House speaker Newt Gingrich told Fox.

"I think in the opening couple days, he's going to repeal 60 to 70 percent of Obama's legacy by simply vetoing out all of the various executive orders that Obama used because he couldn't get anything through Congress," Gingrich said in an interview with "Sunday Morning Futures" on Fox Business.

Obama, who signed over 260 executive orders in his two terms in office, urged Trump, who will be inaugurated on January 20, not to circumvent Congress when trying to enact his agenda. Obama used his executive powers to push through labor, climate and immigration reforms after Congress refused to go along with his proposed programs.

"My suggestion to the president elect is, you know, going through the legislative process is always better, in part because it's harder to undo," Obama told NPR last week. "In my first two years, I wasn't relying on executive powers because I had big majorities in ... Congress and we ... [were] able to get bills passed. Even after we lost the majorities in Congress, I bent over backward consistently to try to find compromise and a legislative solution to some of the big problems that we've got."

Obama noted that Trump is "entirely within his lawful power" to sign new executive orders and "if he wants to reverse some of those rules, that's part of the Democratic process."
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Star of David

In defiance of UNSC resolution, Israel reportedly set to approve hundreds of new homes in East Jerusalem


RT
Mon, 26 Dec 2016 09:16 UTC
Construction of hundreds of new homes in East Jerusalem
© Baz Ratner / Reuters
Jerusalem's zoning committee is expected to approve construction permits for hundreds of new homes in East Jerusalem, in a move which is illegal under international law. Settlement construction was slammed by the latest resolution adopted by the UN Security Council.

The Jerusalem Local Planning and Construction Committee is expected on Wednesday to approve permits to build 618 apartments in Jewish neighborhoods across the Green Line, Haaretz reported.

Some 140 homes will be erected in Pisgat Ze'ev, 262 in Ramat Shlomo and 216 in Ramot, Haaretz reported, adding that even more permit requests for Pisgat Ze'ev and Ramot may be added before this week's meeting.

According to other Israeli media reports, the Committee might approve as many as 5,600 homes in response to the United Nations Security Council resolution which condemned Israeli settlement activities and called for a halt to illegal construction.

The planning committee will approve 2,600 new housing units in the neighborhood of Gilo, another 2,600 units in Givat Hamatos, and 400 units in Ramat Shlomo, for a grand total of 5,600 units in East Jerusalem, reported Israel Hayom.

"We remain unfazed by the UN vote, or by any other entity that tries to dictate what we do in Jerusalem. I hope the Israeli government and the new US administration will support us, so we can make up for the lack [of construction] during the eight years of the Obama administration," Deputy Jerusalem Mayor Meir Turgeman who heads the zoning committee told Israel Hayom.

Israel captured East Jerusalem and the West Bank in 1967. Israel subsequently annexed East Jerusalem and considers the entire city its capital. Palestine claims East Jerusalem as its future capital.

So far this year 1,506 housing units have been approved for construction in East Jerusalem, compared to 775 units in 2014 and only 395 units in 2015, Haaretz reported. But despite the UN resolution, construction is set to continue.

Comment: Further reading:

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Wall Street

Trump's economic plan is a betrayal of the people who voted for him

Mike Whitney
Counter Punch
Thu, 22 Dec 2016 21:51 UTC
Donald Trump
© Evan Guest
Trump's economic plan has sent stocks ripping higher for six weeks straight. But what's going to happen to stock prices when Congress gives Trump's plan a big thumbs down? Has anyone thought about that yet?

And what about the Fed? Does anyone seriously think that Fed chairman Janet Yellen is going to sit on her hands while Trump launches a $1 trillion fiscal stimulus package that triggers a sudden burst of growth followed by a sharp uptick in inflation?

No, Yellen's not going to sit on her hands. She's going to raise rates to prevent the economy from overheating which is going to throw cold water on Trump's pro-growth government-spending plan.

Comment: If The Donald listens to this message, just maybe: Former CIA spy has a surprising Christmas message for Trump

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