Puppet MastersS


Attention

CNN boss admits 'democrats bigger First Amendment threat than Trump'

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Tue, 06 Dec 2016 20:50 UTC
Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes
Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes
In a somewhat shocking admission in this age of 'fake' news and paid liars, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes told Business Insider's Henry Blodget on Tuesday that the "real threat" to the First Amendment did not come from President-elect Donald Trump during the campaign, but rather from the Democratic Party.

Bewkes' own media property, CNN had suffered serial (and rightful) abuse from Donald Trump throughout the election campaign (and still since his election) with frequent threats to open up libel laws...

BI's Blodgett asked Bewkes "Do you worry about that at all?" His response left many shaking their heads...
Bewkes said he didn't "think that's a serious thing," adding that "we should all worry" if someone were seeking to change the First Amendment. He suggested that came from the Democratic Party, which "had a campaign plank to change the First Amendment, and they were doing it in the guise of campaign finance reform."

"And that was worrying me more," Bewkes said. "The press tends to miss that because they tend to lean that way, and therefore they were supporting what they were viewing - I think overly charitably - as something in cleaning up money in politics when in fact what it would do is restrain multiple voices."
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Snakes in Suits

US policymakers propose working closer with Islamic State's sponsors

Tony Cartalucci
New Eastern Outlook
Wed, 07 Dec 2016 20:27 UTC
Islamic State fighters
US-based corporate-financier funded policy think tank, the Brookings Institution, published a particularly incoherent piece titled, "Should we work with the devil we know against the Islamic State?" The piece's author, a senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings, Daniel Byman, claims (emphasis added):
Saudi Arabia has proven a major source of terrorist recruits and financing, while the Syria-Turkey border was a major crossing point for Islamic State recruits. Both countries [Saudi Arabia and Turkey] still have much to do, but that's the point—if the Trump administration alienates them, the Islamic State problem will get much worse. With the United States on the other side in Syria, Turkey and Saudi Arabia might send anti-aircraft weapons to Syrian rebels and otherwise escalate the fighting in ways dangerous for international terrorism—actions that, so far, the United States has helped reduce.
In essence, Byman is admitting what the rest of the world already long ago concluded - the vast fighting capacity the so-called "Islamic State" (ISIS) possesses is not only a result of immense state sponsorship, it is sponsored by two of America's closest allies in the region - Saudi Arabia and NATO-member Turkey.
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Boat

Britain scraps last aircraft carrier while replacements still years away


RT
Wed, 07 Dec 2016 20:19 UTC
British Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious
© Darrin Zammit Lupi / Reuters
Britain's last aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious - known as Lusty - has set sail to be scrapped in Turkey, leaving a self-conscious Royal Navy without a working replacement and rocked by equipment scandals.

Illustrious, which came into service in 1982, was the UK's last aircraft carrier and one of three Invincible-class ships commissioned in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

It was rushed into service to catch the lattermost stages of the Falklands War and served in the Gulf Wars and Sierra Leone conflict.

A last attempt to raise enough money to turn the carrier into a floating museum failed in November and it will sail out to the LEYAL shipyard in Turkey to be scrapped.
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Bad Guys

EU auditors find that 'corrupt' Ukraine remains under oligarch influence


RT
Wed, 07 Dec 2016 17:06 UTC
Kiev protests
© Alexey Vovk / Sputnik Protest against high utility rates and for teachers' pay rise outside Verkhovna Rada in Kiev.
The results of EU-backed reforms in Ukraine are "fragile," while public policymaking is still under heavy influence from vested interests, the body charged with oversight of spending EU budget money reports.

The report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) gives lukewarm approval for the way European financial assistance was used in Ukraine between 2007 and 2015. It said reform efforts in the country did get some impetus after the dramatic change of the government in 2014, but the progress was limited and the results remain in question.

"EU support for Ukraine remains a work in progress, despite good efforts by the Commission," said Szabolcs Fazakas, the ECA member responsible for the report. "At the time of our audit, there was a strong political commitment to public administration reform. But management changes jeopardized the reforms and low salaries created openings for corruption. Further steps are needed to meet objectives."

The report gives a discouraging description of Ukraine both before and after the so-called Maidan events.
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Jet1

Airstrike hits busy market near Iraq-Syria border, reports say 55 civilians killed


RT
Wed, 07 Dec 2016 18:47 UTC
iraq al-qa'im
© Wikimapia.orgAl-Qa'im, an Iraqi town located nearly 400 km northwest of Baghdad near the Syrian border
Dozens of civilians were killed in an airstrike on the Islamic State-held town of Qaim in Iraq on Wednesday, local MPs and medics told Reuters, adding that many women and children were among the dead.

The airstrike reportedly hit a busy market in the small town, which is located in Anbar province, near the Syrian border.

Anbar lawmaker, Ahmed al-Salmani, and medical sources told Reuters that 55 civilians were killed.

Comment: So it's OK when the US tries to bomb ISIS...and misses, but when Russia actually does bomb ISIS it's inhumane, illegal and they are the bad guys?



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Chess

West in panic, 85% of Aleppo liberated; Assad to pay a visit


Katehon
Wed, 07 Dec 2016 20:23 UTC
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
85% of Aleppo has now been liberated since last night. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has stated his desire to visit Aleppo.

The liberation of the city

Over the last day, a few more neighborhoods in Aleppo were liberated, while the total number of areas that have fallen under the control of the government now amount to 85%. During the night, thousands of terrorists surrendered to the authorities and they with their families are being sent to Idlib. According to the Russian ceasefire center, about 3,000 terrorists across the whole country have surrendered their weapons.

The West in panic

After the planned shelling of the Russian hospital, which was expected to mix up Russia's plans in Syria, the Obama Administration has revoked recent proposals to resolve the situation in Syria. These proposals were earlier described by Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov as "in line with the approach long since advocated by Russian experts in negotiations with the Americans." The Obama Administration has now also announced its refusal to meet for consultations with Russia.

However, all of this has turned out to have an entirely different impact. Instead of announcing the end of the mission or at least a truce, which the West and NATO called on Russia to do yesterday, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov has said that any and all terrorists who remain in the city will be completely destroyed. This has caused great panic among the terrorists and their patrons, who have begun to make contradictory statements and knee-jerk movements.
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Eye 1

What makes so many Democratic operatives cynical, soulless hacks?

Ryan Cooper
The Week
Tue, 06 Dec 2016 00:00 UTC
Rahm Emanuel
© Reuters/Jim YoungPssst: The 'Party's' over.
The narrowness of Hillary Clinton's stunning loss to Donald Trump — especially given the fact that she actually won the popular vote by 2.5 million and rising — has led many liberals to conclude that the Democratic Party only needs a slight adjustment to win future presidential elections. A better candidate, a more competent campaign, or a more credible message on economic issues — any one of them might have kept the presidency in Democratic hands.

On one level, this is true. A large football stadium's worth of additional votes distributed correctly across three states, and Clinton would be president-elect today. But it also obscures the fact that the Democratic Party has basically collapsed at the state level.

There are many things the party must do to rebuild. Here's one more to add to the growing list: The Democrats need a better breed of operative. Democratic hacks today have a poor understanding of how to think clearly about their party's best interests. Too often, they confuse being monstrous with political savvy, and fail to see the harm their constant pursuit of big-dollar donors does to their political cause.

Comment: The Democratic Party lost connection with the public and in doing so, lost its soul and its moral compass. The foremost evidence for this disconnect and move to the dark side was exemplified by Killary Clinton, a self-compromised package that unwrapped over the months of the campaign, ultimately leading to a stunning loss -- a victory for the people. For its corruption, lies, fraud and manipulations, the Democratic Party machine and its candidate were dishonorably exposed. Self-inflicted, the DNC blamed it on the public it professed to represent.

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Radar

Research suggests global peace at risk as drone warfare spreads to 'smaller powers'


RT
Tue, 06 Dec 2016 17:18 UTC
drone
© Tsgt. Robert Cloys / Global Look Press via ZUMA Press
Smaller military powers like Iran, Nigeria, and Turkey are following in the footsteps of the US and UK in using drone warfare both within and beyond their own national boundaries, according to the Drone Wars think tank. Although the majority of research on drones has centered on US, UK, and Israeli operations, other nations are increasingly deploying the technology and its applications.

Drone Wars' Chris Cole says most of the new users have acquired Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) from China, while a few, like Turkey, have built their own. Recent examples include the UAE deploying UAVs in Yemen and Libya, the Nigerian government launching them against the Islamist Boko Haram group, and Iran using drones to attack targets near Aleppo in Syria.

"The last fifteen months has seen a surge in the use of armed drones by a second wave of users," Cole said in the report. He added that it is "highly likely that other countries will acquire the technology and begin launching drone strikes over the next 18 months, including European countries."

"The implications for global peace and security of multiple nations using drones to launch cross border strikes is very serious," he warned. Although some believe that proliferation is not an issue, Cole's "short survey" has already shown that "four of the new wave of users (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey) have launched cross border strikes on at least six occasions (UAE in Yemen and Libya; Saudi in Yemen; Iran in Syria and Iraq; and Turkey in Iraq) in the past 15 months alone."

Comment: Flying the unfriendly skies...converting the 'Age of Man' to the 'Age of Machines'.

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Dollar Gold

Bahrain's royals fund UK think tank IISS


RT
Wed, 07 Dec 2016 09:40 UTC
BahRoyals
© topnews.oneUK think tank funders, Bahrain princes.
The International Institute of Strategic Studies, an influential UK diplomacy and security think tank run by prominent military, political, and business figures, has received over $38mn in secret donations from Bahrain.

Bahrain, a former British colony and oil-rich Arab country which accommodates the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, had secretly donated more than $38 million (£30 million) to the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), a reputed UK think tank which positions itself as a leading global military and security research consultancy, according to human rights group Bahrain Watch.

The donations, which the IISS received over the course of five years, were said to form around a quarter of the think tank's budget, or over $7.6 million (£6 million) per year, Bahrain Watch said citing confidential documents it obtained in cooperation with the Guardian. Money from the Bahrain government was received in large part under a secret memorandum of understanding (MoU) between IISS head John Chipman and Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, who had previously served as ambassador to the UK.

The IISS and Bahrain agreed to "take all necessary steps to keep confidential all classified information which is disclosed or obtained in relation to this MoU, and neither shall divulge such information to any third party."

Comment: When you want to change public opinion and hide your evils, use money. How think tanks are funded influences decisions on how and what receives research attention. The current trend is to fund specific short-term projects, which in turn covers general operating expenses, but changes the focus to specialization of a single issue or defined target audience, and in so doing, risks a loss of the mission in the rigors and timeliness of specified and 'pre-bought' research.

FYI: IISS is ranked as fourth-best non-US research institution. First is Chatham House (UK), second is Bruegel (Belgium), third is French Institute of International Relations. In 2015 there were 6,846 global think tanks.

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Nuke

Brit PM May to uphold Iran nuclear deal, despite Trump's assessment


RT
Wed, 07 Dec 2016 12:55 UTC
TMayandPrinces
© Belfast Telegraph
British Prime Minister Theresa May is standing her ground against US President-elect Donald Trump, as she prepares to tell Gulf leaders that she will continue to back the Iran nuclear deal. May is visiting Bahrain and will be making a speech at the Gulf Cooperation Council on Wednesday. She says she is "clear-eyed" on the issue, despite Trump's continuous attacks on the fragile diplomatic agreement.

"We secured a deal which has neutralized the possibility of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons for over a decade," May will tell regional officials. "It has already seen Iran remove 13,000 centrifuges together with associated infrastructure and eliminate its stock of 20 percent enriched uranium. That was vitally important for regional security. But we must also work together to push back against Iran's aggressive regional actions, whether in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Syria or in the Gulf itself.

"As we address new threats to our security, so we must also continue to confront state actors whose influence fuels instability in the region. So I want to assure you that I am clear-eyed about the threat that Iran poses to the Gulf and the wider Middle East, and the UK is fully committed to our strategic partnership with the Gulf and working with you to counter that threat," Britain's prime minister is to say.


Comment: Pot calling the kettle black. State actors such as the UK don't count.


Comment: Digging in her heels, team player Theresa May wants economic partnerships with a cadre of Gulf states and won't rock the boat. Objective in sight, the game's 'afoot.' Not even human rights violations will slow her down.

See also:

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