Puppet MastersS


Star of David

US Embassy relocation to Jerusalem backed by Trump and Israeli officials


RT
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 20:06 UTC
trump signs
© Baz Ratner / ReutersIsrael has a new toy.
Donald Trump's apparent eagerness to fulfill his campaign pledge to switch the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem has received the backing of local officials, who insist the move will be as easy as changing a sign on a building. Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat, said on Tuesday he is confident that Trump will deliver on his promise to relocate the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, telling AP he has already spoken to Trump's team on the issue. "Naturally my intuition tells me that it's different this time, knowing the people, hearing his statements, where we are today," he said.

Both Barkat and his deputy, Meir Turgeman, say they have been contacted about finding a location for the embassy in Jerusalem. A building belonging to America already exists in the neighbourhood of Arnona, which was originally slated for the eventual US embassy. Jerusalem officials say all it will take is a change to the sign on the door.

The US embassy is currently in Tel Aviv, Israel's business capital. Israel classed Jerusalem as its capital in 1950, although it's not formally recognized by the international community, who maintain foreign embassies in Tel Aviv.

The CIA World Factbook states, "while Israel proclaimed Jerusalem as its capital in 1950, the international community does not recognize it as such; the US, like all other countries, maintains its embassy in Tel Aviv-Yafo."

Palestinian officials want East Jerusalem as its capital in the event of a two-state solution. Israel captured East Jerusalem in the Six Day War of 1967 and annexed it from the rest of the West Bank. The land grab is not recognized, but Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its capital.

Comment: "...any attempt to move the embassy to Jerusalem will not help achieve peace" is an understatement. It would be hard to find the upside on this decision, considering it's a violation of international law and an escalation of hostilities with lives in the balance, namely Palestinian. Moving the US embassy falsely validates Israel's claim to Jerusalem and Palestinian territory.

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Bad Guys

New Great Game: Russia upping its game in Tajikistan, Afghanistan peace process

Christoph Germann
The New Great Game
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 20:51 UTC
Russia Stepping Up its Game in Tajikistan to Counter Chinese Competition

shoigu
At the end of November, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that Russia will supply Tajikistan with "large quantities" of military aircraft over the next year, indicating that China's growing influence in Tajikistan has not gone unnoticed in Moscow.

As defense ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) gathered in the Russian capital for a regular meeting, Shoigu and his Tajik counterpart Sherali Mirzo signed a defense cooperation plan for 2017.

"Next year, a key phase in defense cooperation, supplies of arms and military equipment will begin," the Russian Defense Minister said. "In particular, these are large quantities of aviation equipment, planes and helicopters. I think it will all be done in time. And, of course, will contribute to stability in the region."

Shoigu also noted that Russia will continue to train military personnel for Tajikistan's armed forces, highlighting the threat posed by ISIS and other terrorist organizations in Afghanistan.
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Target

Stephen Cohen chastizes liberal media for demonizing Russia, Tillerson, stigmatizing all dissent

Philip Weiss
Mondoweiss
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 00:00 UTC
Stephen Cohen
© Russia InsiderStephen Cohen
Stephen Cohen was on WNYC this morning exploding the new Cold War discourse of Russian-demonization. He said that progressives and Democrats have all lined up for a view of Russia and Putin as evil, that it is a dangerous belief because there are three hot points between the superpowers right now, that the intelligence agencies have produced no "public facts" to support the view that Russia hacked the Democratic Party emails, and that Donald Trump was "wise" when he said that he refused to demonize Putin and wouldn't it be great if the two countries could cooperate not fight.

Finally Cohen, the professor of Russian history, said that we have entered a period of McCarthyism because his views are not published in the New York Times or Washington Post or on MSNBC, and younger scholars tell him that they would damage their careers if they expressed these ideas.

It's astounding that these views are being expressed in the mainstream at last, on Brian Lehrer's WNYC show. Hat's off to Lehrer. Maybe this will break a dam and lead to what Cohen seeks: "open debate" of US policy towards Russia. The American people do not want a new cold war, he says, even if the Clintonite elites do. The interview's not up yet at WNYC, so my summary is from handwritten notes:

Comment: Do arguments based in reason and knowledge stand a chance against the runaway freight train of hysterical innuendo, fear mongering and baseless accusations? Not if the twisted agenda to subvert truth and justice gathers its threshold of support as exemplified by the Clinton debacle. What better way to bury a half dozen scandals than to camouflage it under a much bigger one.

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Whistle

UN's 'Mother Theresa' Samantha Power insinuates Russia is not capable of shame

Dean Parker
Russia Insider
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 00:00 UTC
PowerSam
© Getty Images
It is tough life you're leading if you're US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power. Invariably when you're not running over African children you are working yourself into moral outrage over governments with far less to answer for than your own.

But how do you accomplish that? Simple, all it takes is a wild imagination and a healthy dose of hypocrisy:


'"To the Assad regime, Russia, and Iran - three Member States behind the conquest of and carnage in Aleppo - you bear responsibility for these atrocities. By rejecting UN-ICRC evacuation efforts, you are signaling to those militia who are massacring innocents to keep doing what they are doing. Denying or obfuscating the facts - as you will do today - saying up is down, black is white, will not absolve you.

"When one day there is a full accounting of the horrors committed in this assault of Aleppo - and that day will come, sooner or later - you will not be able to say you did not know what was happening. You will not be able to say you were not involved. We all know what is happening. And we all know you are involved. Aleppo will join the ranks of those events in world history that define modern evil, that stain our conscience decades later. Halabja, Rwanda, Srebrenica, and, now, Aleppo.

"To the Assad regime, Russia, and Iran, your forces and proxies are carrying out these crimes. Your barrel bombs and mortars and airstrikes have allowed the militia in Aleppo to encircle tens of thousands of civilians in your ever-tightening noose. It is your noose. Three Member States of the UN contributing to a noose around civilians. It should shame you.

Comment: Upside down and inside out. This twisted mouthpiece doesn't miss a trick.

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Light Sabers

Trump will ruthlessly decimate the CIA for turning on him

Ricky Twisdale
Russia Insider
Thu, 15 Dec 2016 21:10 UTC
trump
On Wednesday night, NBC released a report, in collusion with a myriad of anonymous sources reputed to be inside the CIA and other intelligence agencies, claiming that Vladimir Putin personally directed the destruction of Hillary Clinton via hacking hers and the DNC's servers before the US presidential election.

Via NBC:
U.S. intelligence officials now believe with "a high level of confidence" that Russian President Vladimir Putin became personally involved in the covert Russian campaign to interfere in the U.S. presidential election, senior U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News.

Two senior officials with direct access to the information say new intelligence shows that Putin personally directed how hacked material from Democrats was leaked and otherwise used. The intelligence came from diplomatic sources and spies working for U.S. allies, the officials said.
The report does not cite any source by name for its information, other than incorrigible moron Micheal McFaul, one time US ambassador to Russia, as a cheerleader for the report.

I must stress, this is an incredible direct accusation against the President of Russia, which has the potential to provoke both international and domestic crises which could quickly spiral out of control. This is far, far beyond reckless.
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Snakes in Suits

2016: The year that Facebook became the bad guy

Olivia Solon
The Guardian
Mon, 12 Dec 2016 06:00 UTC
F for fBOOK
© AOL.com
Mark Zuckerberg started 2016 with a cookie cutter message of hope. "As the world faces new challenges and opportunities, may we all find the courage to keep making progress and making all our days count," he wrote on his Facebook wall on 1 January. He and his wife, Priscilla Chan, had just had their daughter, Max, and had been sharing warm and fuzzy photos of gingerbread houses and their dreadlocked dog Beast over the holiday season.

Then 2016 happened. As the year unfurled, Facebook had to deal with a string of controversies and blunders, not limited to: being accused of imperialism in India, censorship of historical photos, and livestreaming footage of human rights violations. Not to mention misreported advertising metrics and the increasingly desperate cloning of rival Snapchat's core features. Things came to a head in November, when the social network was accused of influencing the US presidential election through politically polarized filter bubbles and a failure to tackle the spread of misinformation. The icing on the already unpalatable cake was Pope Francis last week declaring that fake news is a sin.

This was Facebook's annus horribilis. Mark Zuckerberg must long for the day when his biggest dilemma was deciding which grey T-shirt to wear on his first day back at work.

It wasn't all bad. None of these controversies made a dent on the bottom line; Facebook had a bumper year for advertising revenue, and the $3bn investment to tackle "all diseases" (no big deal) through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was well received. But this year has revealed how difficult it has become for the social network to stand behind its mission to "make the world more open and connected" when the decisions it makes can be so divisive.
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Laptop

Yahoo 2013: Hackers data breach accessed over 1B user accounts


RT
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 22:58 UTC
yahoo breach
© ConsumerAffairs.com
Yahoo says it believes hackers stole data from more than one billion user accounts in August 2013, making it the email company's largest data breach. The tech company said the information stolen by hackers may have included names, email addresses, phone numbers, birthdates and security questions and answers. The company said it believed bank account information and payment card data was not affected.


Comment: What about this statement is reassuring? We're just finding out now?


The hack revelation comes as telecom giant Verizon is proposing a $4.8 billion acquisition of Yahoo. The latest disclosures come just three months after the company revealed 500 million Yahoo accounts were hacked in a separate attack.

The latest hack was discovered after law enforcement provided Yahoo with data files that a third party claimed as Yahoo user data, according to a letter sent by Yahoo's Chief Information Security Officer Bob Lord to customers. The company said it had not been able to identify the hacker associated with the theft, and said it was likely a separate hack to the one the company disclosed in September 2016 that involved 500 million accounts.

The announcement in September referred to a massive data breach the company experienced in late 2014. In a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission in November, the company acknowledged that hackers could have planted malware that would have allowed them access to compromised accounts later.

The hacking disclosures come as Yahoo continues to reel from a scandal that it had built a custom software program to search all of its customers' incoming emails for specific information provided by US intelligence officials. According to Reuters, the program was built in 2015 to comply with a government directive.

Comment: More bad news for Yaboohoo. And, the victims -- the public -- are the very last to know. The best way to reduce the loss of private data is to collect less of it and not give it to the government. The best way to protect individual private data is not give it out.

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Cut

Eurozone threatens Greece after promise to help poorest pensioners at Christmas


RT
Thu, 15 Dec 2016 10:48 UTC
Greek pensioner leans on a shepherd's crook at protest pension cuts athens
© Alkis Konstantinidis / Reuters A Greek pensioner leans on a shepherd's crook during a demonstration against planned pension cuts in Athens
Greece's European creditors have halted the country's debt relief deal after Athens proposed a one-off payout to pensioners which contradicts Brussels' austerity demands.

The sides are struggling to agree on the latest review of Greece's rescue plan of €86 billion. Last week they agreed on a short-term debt relief deal under which Athens must reduce its public debt by 20 percent of GDP by 2060.

Three days later Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras promised 1.6 million pensioners a Christmas bonus of between €300 and €800. He said the government would spend €617 million in one-off benefits for low-income pensioners ahead of Christmas because Greece had exceeded its 2016 primary surplus target.

The PM also suspended a planned increase in sales tax for the eastern Aegean islands which had received scores of refugees from the Middle East and elsewhere.

"The institutions have concluded that the actions of the Greek government appear to not be in line with our agreements" said Eurogroup spokesman Jeroen Dijsselbloem, adding "no unanimity now for implementing short-term debt measures."


Comment: The Eurogroup and it's corrupt creditors have no regard for democracy and helping the poorest.

To see what Greece has already been put through: 10 Things That We Can Learn About The Economic Collapse In Greece


Comment: The economic situation in Greece was created due to fraud by the big banks, political prostitutes and fake news, who in turn are reaping the benefits through privatisation: Also see:

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Laptop

US has no evidence on claims that Putin was involved in hacking


Sputnik
Thu, 15 Dec 2016 21:02 UTC
Hacking
© Kacper Pempel / Reuters
The Obama administration has received no additional intelligence confirming media reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally directed hacking in the 2016 US presidential election, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a briefing Thursday.

On Wednesday, NBC News anonymously cited two senior intelligence officials as saying a full analysis of the hacking, ordered by President Barack Obama, contained evidence of Putin's personal involvement.


Comment: Anonymously cited? Doesn't sound too credible. It doesn't appear that they have any evidence of Putin's involvement much less alone Russian involvement according to intelligence veterans. See: Russian Hacking? Not likely: DNC docs were leaked, not hacked, intelligence veterans say


Comment: Yet that didn't stop Earnest from saying the following:
Mr Earnest said: "only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorised these activities".

"It's pretty obvious," he said.


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Airplane

Genius move: Congress votes to give jihadists anti-aircraft missiles

Mike Whitney
Information Clearing House
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 00:01 UTC
manpads
© Reuters
On Thursday, the Senate passed a bill that puts every American who travels by plane at risk. It is among the stupidest pieces of legislation ever written and it explains-- to a great extent-- why the US Congress has a public approval rating of 13 percent and is among the most loathed institutions in America.

The 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed the House last Friday in a 375-34 vote. On Thursday, it cleared the senate with a 92 to 7 margin. The bill will now be sent to Obama where it is expected to be signed into law. According to an article on SOFREP titled "Congress authorizes anti-aircraft missiles for Syrian opposition":
Congress for the first time authorized the Department of Defense to provide vetted-Syrian rebels with anti-aircraft missiles. The provision is contained within the $619 billion Fiscal Year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, which passed the Senate on Dec. 8 and the House on Dec. 2.

Under the bill, the Secretaries of Defense and State must submit a report to Congress explaining why they determined Syrian groups need man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS).

Comment: See also:

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