Puppet MastersS


Eye 1

Obama: Russians hacking our election 'not fancy brand of spying'


RT
Tue, 13 Dec 2016 10:44 UTC
Obama
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Outgoing US President Barack Obama reiterated allegations that Russia helped Donald Trump by hacking Democrat emails, but downplayed its importance. He also lamented that the hack story received so much media coverage during the US election season.

"Russia trying to influence our elections dates back to the Soviet Union. What they did here, hacking some emails and releasing them, is not a particularly fancy brand of espionage or propaganda," Obama said in an interview with the host of Comedy Central's Daily Show, Trevor Noah. "We were frankly more concerned in the run-up to the election to the possibilities of vote tampering, which we did not see evidence of."

He said his administration accused Russia of hacking the Democratic National Committee (DNC) a month before the election took place, and that "it was no secret."

"I don't think there was any doubt among anybody in the media or among members of Congress as to who was being advantaged or disadvantaged by the political gossip that was being put out in drip-drip-drip fashion leading up to the election," Obama explained.

Comment: 'No proof, no evidence, no hard facts' that show Russia meddled in US election - America's Lawyer



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Light Sabers

US Pacific Fleet Commander: US will confront China over South China Sea, satellite photos allegedly show militarization


RT
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 18:27 UTC
spratly islands
© U.S. Navy / ReutersChinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea
The top US military official in the Pacific has warned Beijing off taking control over the disputed South China Sea, while an American think tank has published photos it says prove that China has installed weapons on seven separate manmade islands in the disputed maritime route.

"We will not allow a shared domain to be closed down unilaterally no matter how many bases are built on artificial features in the South China Sea," the commander of the US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris, said during a speech in Sydney, Australia. "We will cooperate when we can but we will be ready to confront when we must."

Washington has urged Beijing to comply with the ruling of the tribunal, assembled under the auspices of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which rejected China's historical claims on the water mass. Beijing does not accept the authority of the tribunal.

Harris said that China "can choose to disregard the rule-based international order, or contribute to it as a responsible stakeholder." Harris, who was appointed by President Barack Obama last year, promised that America's "enduring interests"would not change after the inauguration of Donald Trump early next year.
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Horse

UK Labour MP Ben Bradshaw says 'highly probable' that Russia hacked BREXIT vote

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 18:17 UTC
Russian hacking Brexit
© Getty
When all else fails, and one needs a scapegoat that is too amused to respond to silly allegations, just blame the Russians.

Not only did the Kremlin hack the DNC, RNC, White House, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania election systems, but Russia skillfully manipulated the votes of Americans to hand Trump the election win over Hillary Clinton.

Putin has controlled Trump for decades now. Trump is the Kremlin's Manchurian candidate.

Russia skillfully hacked John Podesta's emails with an intricate phishing technique, passing on the content to KGB agent hiding Julian Assange.

Vladimir Putin is now preparing to hack German election systems, in order to tip the results and hand Angela Merkel a 2017 election loss.

And of course let's not forget BREXIT...the latest Putin hack that has now been exposed thanks to UK Labour lawmaker Ben Bradshaw.

The Kremlin skillfully manipulated 17.4 million people to support the BREXIT vote.

Bradshaw said, as quoted by the Independent newspaper on Tuesday...
"Not only their interference, now proven, in the American presidential campaign, [but] probably in our referendum last year. We don't have the evidence for that yet. But I think it's highly probable."
Forget the economy, unemployment, austerity, massive income inequality, corruption, political correctness, identity politics, illegal wars, regime change, ISIS funding, refugee migration, and illegal immigration...what is causing the neo-liberal religion to come apart at the seems is Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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Star of David

Kissing up: British PM Theresa May hails 'remarkable, tolerant' Israel, slams anti-Semitism in Labour


Tines of Israel
Mon, 12 Dec 2016 03:29 UTC
Theresa may
© CFIBritish Prime Minister Theresa May addresses a Conservative Friends of Israel lunch, December 12, 2016
In speech to Conservative Friends of Israel, Theresa May calls Balfour Declaration 'one of the most important letters in history'

In a speech overflowing with praise and support, Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday hailed the State of Israel as "a remarkable country" and "a beacon of tolerance," said UK ties with Israel were "crucial," promised to raise the bilateral trade relationship to new heights, and described the Balfour Declaration as "one of the most important letters in history."


Comment: Gah! Pass the sick bag. One wonders what kind of dirt Israel has on May to produce such an obsequious speech. It's reminiscent of the boot-licking twenty-nine standing ovations an equally compromised Congress gave Netanyahu.


In an address to her Conservative Party's Friends of Israel, May also castigated the opposition Labour Party for "turning a blind eye to anti-Semitism."


Comment: To May, anti-Semitism means that Corbyn calls out Israel on its crimes. Simply unacceptable!


The speech at a CFI luncheon, which received a standing ovation from the 800 guests, underlined May's ongoing support of Israel, maintaining the approach of successive Conservative prime ministers — and contrasting with the Labour Party of Jeremy Corbyn, a relentless critic of the Jewish state.

As the UK forges "a new role for itself on the world stage," in the wake of its decision to leave the European Union, May said it would seek to be "open, outward-looking, optimistic" and that "Israel will be crucial to us as we do that." This, she said, was "because I believe our two countries have a great deal in common. As the (Israeli) ambassador Mark Regev said, we have common values; we work together, on health, counterterrorism, cybersecurity, technology; and we can help each other achieve our aims."

May firmly rebutted the so-called BDS movement against Israel, declaring: "I couldn't be clearer: The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is wrong, it is unacceptable, and this party and this government will have no truck with those who subscribe to it."


Comment: Hmm. So the free expression of opinion and the freedom to choose what activities are supported by an individual will now be illegal. What would they do if every British citizen voted with his/her pounds and simply didn't buy Israeli products? Would the government force companies to invest in Israel against the wishes of stockholders? Would it boycott its own companies for supporting BDS? Where would it end?


Comment: Translation: "We are proud to support the lying, thieving, murderous parasite that we helped birth, even though it turns on us at every chance."

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TV

Jimmy Dore dismantles Democrat party politician for 'lying about Russian election hack'

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 17:59 UTC
Rep. Adam Schiff Tucker Carlson
Tucker Carlson asks his guest Adam Schiff for proof of Russia's involvement in the recent hacks against Hillary Clinton.

Jimmy Dore revisits what is now Tucker Carlson's legendary shredding of Dem. Congressman Adam Schiff on the Russian Election Hack "fake news".

The Duran reported on the Carlson interview last week...
Tucker Carlson embarrasses this very confused, and shockingly dumb, US congressman.

The interview spins out of control with Rep. Adam Schiff resorting to canned idiotic name calling, so often used by the ignorant neo-liberal left.

At one point, Schiff accuses Tucker Carlson of "carrying water for the Kremlin", and then tells Carlson that "you're going to have to move your show to RT - Russian television".

Carlson simply calls Schiff's statement "dumb", for which Schiff can only reply with the standard "you're an apologist for the Kremlin" line.
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Chess

Why Turkey has been allowed to invade Syria (for now)


Russia Insider
Tue, 13 Dec 2016 19:33 UTC
syria turkey expansion
Since it begun in August the Turkish invasion of northern Syria has wrestled control of nearly 2,000 square kilometers of sovereign Syrian territory originally held by ISIS.

There was a lot of speculation whether Erdogan originally crossed the border with Russian assurances that they would not stand in his way or not, but virtually every analyst I have read agrees that if he got a Russian greenlight in August it was at most to take a shallow border area, not to move deep into Syria and lay claim on al-Bab, Manbij and even Raqqa as he has.
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Play

Well-supplied: Western backed militants maintained vast network of tunnels beneath Aleppo

Ziad Alzoghbi
The Duran
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 00:00 UTC
Television film from Syria shows extraordinary pictures of the vast network of tunnels crafted by Al-Qaeda under the streets of Aleppo.


Here is something the Western media will never show: film of an extensive network of tunnels dug deep below eastern Aleppo by the Al-Qaeda led Jihadis during their four years of occupation there.

t goes without saying that the construction of such an elaborate network requires considerable resources, including at least basic engineering knowledge, and could not have been done without the assistance of Al-Qaeda's foreign sponsors.

The Syrian Arab Army has in the last couple of days discovered these elaborate networks of tunnels as they liberated East Aleppo.
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Laptop

Smoothing over frictions: Trump meets with Silicon Valley elite, Tesla, Uber & Pepsi CEOs join advisory council

Dustin Volz and David Shepardson
Reuters
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 17:59 UTC
nooyi musk kalanick
© ReutersPepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi (L), SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk (C), Uber CEO Travis Kalanick (R)
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Silicon Valley executives have a chance to smooth over frictions when they meet at his Manhattan tower on Wednesday for talks, after both sides made no secret of their disdain for each other during the presidential campaign.

Sources said the meeting may skirt the numerous disagreements with Trump -- who has accused tech companies of being overvalued -- in favor of a focus on shared priorities.

"If he can reform the tax code, reduce regulation, and negotiate better trade deals, the U.S. technology community will be stronger and more competitive than ever," Oracle Chief Executive Safra Catz, who will attend the meeting, said in a statement.

The tech luminaries, including Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) Tim Cook, Facebook Inc's (FB.O) Sheryl Sandberg and Tesla Motors Inc's (TSLA.O) Elon Musk, will get a chance to promote their priorities like strong encryption and liability protections from content shared by their users.The meeting is billed as an introductory session, said four sources briefed on the talks, all of whom requested anonymity to discuss a private meeting.

Comment: In addition to SpaceX/Tesla head Elon Musk and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi also joined the advisory council. RT adds:
Musk and Kalanick inject a mix of innovation and new technologies into the team consisting mainly of old-fashioned 'blue-chip' companies, while Nooyi will be the third woman on the panel.

"America has the most innovative and vibrant companies in the world, and the pioneering CEOs joining this Forum today are at the top of their fields," Trump said in the announcement. "My Administration is going to work together with the private sector to improve the business climate and make it attractive for firms to create new jobs across the United States from Silicon Valley to the heartland."

The announcement comes as top executives from Silicon Valley - who by and large backed Trump's rival Hillary Clinton in the presidential race - are set to meet with the president-elect at Trump Tower on Wednesday. In addition to Musk, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg will be attending the summit. PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, who reportedly helped set up the meeting, is one of the few tech entrepreneurs who openly backed Trump during the campaign.


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Mr. Potato

Ex-Fake Intelligence chief Panetta says Trump risks blame for attack if he ignores briefings

Noah Browning
Reuters
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 17:51 UTC
panetta
© REUTERS/Rick WilkingUn-intelligent.
Former CIA director Leon Panetta said on Wednesday that President-elect Donald Trump risked being blamed after any potential attack on the United States if he refused to receive more regular intelligence briefings.

U.S. officials told Reuters that Trump is receiving an average of one presidential intelligence briefing a week - far fewer than most of his recent predecessors - but that his deputy Mike Pence gets briefings around six days a week.

Panetta, a former Democratic Congressman who served as CIA director and defense secretary in President Barack Obama's first term, told the Arab Strategy Forum, a conference sponsored by the government of Dubai, that Trump's aversion "can't last."

"I've seen presidents who have asked questions about whether that intelligence is verifiable, what are the sources for that intelligence, but I have never seen a president who said, 'I don't want that stuff,'" Panetta said.

Comment: So let's get this straight. Trump is receiving one briefing a week. He says they're repetitive. Those facts do not imply that as president he would ignore a terror threat. Presumably that would not be repetitive. And presumably the intelligence community would be intelligent enough to tell him, "We have something new and very important for you." Panetta is an idiot.

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Laptop

Clinton campaign aide Delavan claims Podesta leaks triggered by his 'typo'


RT
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 17:30 UTC
John Podesta
© Carlos Barria / Reuters
A "typo" in a message to John Podesta's aide may have led to thousands of emails from the account of Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman being leaked online.

The simple mistake allegedly occurred when Charles Delavan advised Podesta aide Sara Latham that a phishing attack email was a "legitimate" email. Delavan told the New York Times that he had meant to type "illegitimate."
Charles Delavan email
The original mail, sent to Podesta's Gmail account on March 19 this year, advised "Someone just used your password to try to sign in to your Google Account." It claimed the source of the attempted sign in was from Ukraine and provided a URL to where a new password could be set.


Comment: This is just a red herring. The original scam message had an obvious bogus "change password" link but the link provided by Delavan was correct.

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