Puppet MastersS


Blackbox

What is Netanyahu up to in Africa?

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (L) walks with Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni (R)
Benjamin Netanyahu is on a four-nation tour of sub-Saharan Africa for the first visit of Israel's prime minister to the continent in almost 30 years.

He arrived in Uganda on Monday on the first leg of a four-day trip which will also take him to Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia.

By visiting Africa, the Israeli premier wants to end decades of hostility and convince African countries to stop voting against Israel at the United Nations.

Netanyahu also seeks to cast off Israel's pariah status in the black continent as he faces growing criticism from Western allies over the dim prospects for a resolution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Bomb

Double bombings: Death toll in Baghdad so far 213, ISIS claims one

site car bomb
© Khalid al Mousily / ReutersPeople gather at the site of a suicide car bomb in the Karrada shopping area in Baghdad.
In the deadliest single attack in Baghdad this year, a refrigerator truck bomb in a Shiite district has killed at least 213 people. Islamic State claimed responsibility, while survivors lambasted the Iraqi prime minister for failing to ensure security.

Late on Saturday night, the suicide bomber drove the vehicle into a busy shopping intersection in the affluent Karrada district of the Iraqi capital. The holy month of Ramadan meant the street was busy with residents breaking their fast after nightfall, with many also gathered to watch the Euro 2016 football championship on public TV screens, and shop ahead of next week's Eid festival.Then the explosion rang out.



"It was like an earthquake. I wrapped up my goods and was heading home when I saw a fireball with a thunderous bombing," eyewitness Karim Sami told AP. "I was so scared to go back and started to make phone calls to my friends, but none answered." A host of buildings - including a shopping center and a gym - were damaged, with charred cars smoking in the street.

At least 25 children were killed, and the death toll mounted throughout Sunday, as a fire took 12 hours to contain, and rescue services attempted to extract bodies from under the rubble. Almost immediately, the Islamic State terror group boasted that it was behind the attack on its sectarian rivals, calling it a "security operation."

Comment: We can take the statement from the White House and toss it. Perfected indignation. Of course ISIS will succeed. It has, it does and shall as long as it is useful, supplied, protected, and 'terror' remains the change agent. These are two more horrific tragedies that need not have happened.


Telephone

U.S. government approved 100% of wiretap applications in 2015

Telephones
© Getty Images
A ten-year study of how state and federal law enforcement wiretaps suspects shows that the government is extremely efficient at the practice, and is only getting better.

The new report, conducted by the Federal Judiciary, looked at the prevalence of the FBI and state and local police petitioning for a warrant to surveil someone. Methods range from tracking their computer activity to bugging a home telephone or a room, though it overwhelmingly—96 percent of the time 2015—meant tracking or listening to their cell phone calls.

It has become a common enough practice that in a ten-year span, a wiretap request has been denied only eight times, and never more than twice in a year. According to the report, "no wiretap applications were reported as denied in 2015."

Limitless wiretaps
© Vocativ
And while the number of wiretaps that courts approve has steadily risen over the past decade, to the point where they've more than doubled from 1,774 in 2005 to 4,148 in 2015, wiretapping has become a more cost-effective process.

Comment: Study: Knowledge of mass surveillance creates 'chilling effect' and is silencing dissent online


Che Guevara

Corbyn issues video online: Calls for UK Labour Party members to "come together" and stand against Tory leadership

Jeremy Corbyn
© Neil Hall / ReutersBritain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has issued a fight-back Facebook video in a bid to convince rebel MPs to "come together" and get behind his leadership.

The video release comes after former Shadow Business Secretary Angela Eagle said she would challenge Corbyn in a leadership contest if he did not stand down.

Last week, Corbyn lost a vote of confidence in his leadership of the Labour Party by 172 votes to 40. The vote was non-binding, and he appears to be ignoring the outcome.

More than 50 of the Labour shadow cabinet and frontbench MPs have resigned, triggered by complaints about Corbyn's efforts in the EU referendum campaign.


Comment: See also:


Powertool

FBI admits supplying dummy-bomb to 'domestic terrorist' in BLM bomb plot

Manufactured terrorism
An update on our story from ten days ago. In case you haven't heard the details, the FBI admits in their own felony complaint that multiple undercover FBI agents infiltrated Bill Keebler's 'Patriot Defense Force' in Utah, encouraged Keebler to use explosives, volunteered to make them, and then supplied the inert explosive device for Keebler to plant at an abandoned Arizona Bureau of Land Management facility. [See our previous article here]

FBI Special Agent Steven Daniels swore to and signed this felony complaint on June 22, 2016. It was signed by Utah Magistrate Judge Dustin B. Pead. (Here is a bio on Judge Pead.)

Keebler is currently being held without bail, and is charged with violating 18 U.S.C. § 844(f), "Attempted Damage to Federal Property by Means of Fire or Explosive.". Also note the part in bold where agent Daniels swears, on June 22, 2016, that: "KEEBLER had conducted reconnaissance on the BLM facility in Arizona in October, 2015, with Lavoy Finicum. A PDF (Patriots Defense Force) member/UCE (Under Cover FBI Employee) who was accompanying KEEBLER at the time took pictures of the BLM facility at Mount Trumbull."

However, at the June 29, 2016 hearing, prosecutors changed their story and corrected that lie, backtracking and admitting that Lavoy Finicum was not there. This didn't stop FBI agent Steven Daniels to swearing to it as truth on June 22.

This begs the question, what else is Daniels lying about or exaggerating in the felony complaint against Bill Keebler?

Comment: FBI creates and foils terrorist plot aimed at those who question government


Boat

Global Times: Washington should pay a price for force intervention in S. China Sea dispute

US ships
© China Daily / ReutersSouth China Sea in 3D: Debate. Defleet. Defeat. What'll it be?
Beijing must prepare to make the US "pay a cost it can't stand" if it intervenes in the South China Sea dispute by force, a state newspaper editorial has warned, days before a court at The Hague rules on the territorial row between China and the Philippines.

The American military build-up in the South China Sea, including the deployment of two carrier strike groups, comes in defiance of China's vital interests and represents "a direct threat to national security," the state-run Global Times said in strongly-worded editorials in its Chinese and English editions on Tuesday. Beijing should accelerate developing its strategic deterrence capabilities to contain the United States, the newspaper added. "Even though China cannot keep up with the US militarily in the short-term, it should be able to let the US pay a cost it cannot stand if it intervenes in the South China Sea dispute by force." China is a peaceful country that welcomes dialogue on the disputed region, the influential newspaper wrote, "but it must be prepared for any military confrontation."

The Global Times is believed to have close ties with the government as it operates under the auspices of the Communist Party's official newspaper, the People's Daily. The Tuesday editorial went online a week ahead of a ruling by the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague on the South China Sea dispute between China and the Philippines. In 2013, the Philippines filed a complaint with the court, asking it to rule on who owns the Spratly Islands, which lie at the heart of economically important shipping routes in the area. China sees the ruling - which is due to be announced on July 12 - as "posing more threat to the integrity of China's maritime and territorial sovereignty," the Global Times stated, claiming "the arbitration becomes nothing but a farce." Beijing has said it will not recognize the ruling.

Comment: The US has run amok or this is just another distraction, one of many to poke at. It certainly would not put up with China milling around San Diego Harbor with two carrier strike groups sent to "enforce freedom of navigation." Swim or sink.


Eye 2

Flashback Zbigniew Brzezinski: How Jimmy Carter and I started the Mujahideen

Carter Brzezinski
© history.state.govPresident Carter and National Security Advisor Brzezinski

Comment: This is a SHORT interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor, in a French newspaper in 1998. Under Brzezinski and Carter, the US supported the covert funding of the Mujahideen, the Taliban's predecessor, and also, to a lesser degree, Osama bin Laden. Interview of Zbigniew Brzezinski Le Nouvel Observateur (France),Jan 15-21, 1998, p. 76*


Q: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs, From the Shadows, that American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan 6 months before the Soviet intervention. In this period you were the national security adviser to President Carter. You therefore played a role in this affair. Is that correct?

Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise: Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.

Q: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into war and looked to provoke it?

Brzezinski: It isn't quite that. We didn't push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would.

Q: When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against a secret involvement of the United States in Afghanistan, people didn't believe them. However, there was a basis of truth. You don't regret anything today?

Brzezinski: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter: We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.

Q: And neither do you regret having supported the Islamic [integrisme], having given arms and advice to future terrorists?

Brzezinski: What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?

Comment: Mr. Brzezinski remains a fundamental figure in foreign policy decisions made by the USA, dating back to 1966 and the Johnson administration. His advisory role as a geostrategist has greatly influenced and shaped America's relentless quest for dominance and its escalation of war, resulting in increased destabilization and human suffering all over the world.


Footprints

Popov: Brexit replication in continental Europe

One does not simply
© euanalysis.blogspot.com
On 1st July, "The People's Party - Our Slovakia" (LSNS) started collecting signatures for the holding of a referendum on secession of Slovakia from the EU and NATO. This was stated by the party leader Marian Kotleba speaking in front of the Parliament building, according to the Bratislava newspaper SME. "Signatures will be collected solo (for each of the two subjects - ed.)," said Kotleba. "Ideally, there would be two referendums". He explained this option by the fact that some citizens may wish to vote differently in each referendum. For the announcement of a referendum in Slovakia it is necessary to collect at least 350,000 signatures, despite the fact that the population of the country is 5,400,000 people.

On the same day the message from their neighbouring Czech Republic came. Czech President Milos Zeman urged the country to hold a referendum on the membership of the Republic in the European Union and NATO. However, he noted that he would vote for continued membership in both organizations.

"I do not agree with those who support an exit from the European Union. But I will do my best to arrange a referendum where they can express their opinion. The same applies to an exit from NATO," said M. Zeman. Under the Constitution, Zeman has no right to convene a referendum. However, this does not prevent him from creating a public initiative. Zeman potentially risks repeating the fate of British Prime Minister David Cameron, a supporter of continued membership in the EU, who initiated a referendum with a reverse result.

Even if the majority of Czechs would vote for the preservation of EU membership, (probable if the referendum takes place) the fact is that a popular vote will seriously strengthen the position of eurosceptics from the Communists (Communist party of Bohemia and Moravia) to the nationalists ("ANO" party ("Yes").

Comment: Brexit happened and, so far, Britain is withstanding the increasing pressure to revert course, though the situation is increasingly muddy. The US/NATO/EU megablock will be pulling no punches to silence the eurosceptics and stop the stampede even to the point of using military force -- and, magically, those forces are already there!


Eye 2

War crimes: Amnesty slams US proxy armies in Syria for torture and killings of civilians in areas under their control

daesh fighters
© Truthloader / YouTube
Jihadists operating in northern Syria are committing torture and summary killings of civilians in areas under their control, a new report by Amnesty International has revealed.

The probe, "Torture was my punishment: Abductions, torture and summary killings under armed group rule in Aleppo and Idlib, Syria "documents widespread abuse carried out by jihadists in the Aleppo and Idlib provinces of northern Syria. It's based on interviews with some 70 individuals living or working in the areas.

"This briefing exposes the distressing reality for civilians living under the control of some of the armed opposition groups in Aleppo, Idlib and surrounding areas. Many civilians live in constant fear of being abducted if they criticize the conduct of armed groups in power or fail to abide by the strict rules that some have imposed," Philip Luther, director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Program, said.

The 36-page brief accuses five jihadist groups of carrying out abductions and torturing their victims in "war crimes" that have been taking place since 2012. The NGO highlights atrocities committed by the Nour al-Dine Zinki Movement, al-Shamia Front and Division 16 alongside Jabhat al-Nusra and the Ahrar al-Sham Islamic Movement.

Dollars

China invests over $2billion in Russian Far East development

russian far east
© Sputnik/ Prihodko
Russia's mechanisms for developing its Far East have attracted 16 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) worth of Chinese investments to the region, Russian Far East Development Minister Alexander Galushka said Tuesday.

Chinese investors have invested in a cement plant and plan investing in an oil refinery in the Amur Region's Belogorsk ADT, as well as working in the Sakha Republic's Kangalassy and Primorsky Territory's Nadezhdinskaya ADTs. Chinese businesses also became cornerstone investors in the new Amuro-Khinganskaya ADT in the Jewish Autonomous Region, providing some 10 billion rubles ($157 million) in funds, according to the statement.

"Due to new Far East development mechanisms, such as Advanced Development Territories [ADT], the Vladivostok free port area, the Far East Development Fund and targeted infrastructural project support, the volume of investments that was attracted came to 1.1 trillion rubles, or around 110 million yuan. All of these mechanisms are popular with Chinese businesses. The volume of Chinese investments came to 163 billion rubles, or 16 billion yuan," Galushka was quoted as saying in a ministry statement.

Chinese investments have also gone into projects located outside of the Russian Far East's special zones. Over seven billion rubles have been invested in a timber plant in the Berezovyi village located in the Khabarovsk territory, while a joint Russian-Chinese agroindustrial development fund has generated 10 projects worth 80 billion rubles that are ready for investment and will be presented at the Eastern Economic Forum due to be held in Vladivostok in September.

In March, the Far East Development Ministry told Sputnik that Chinese investors have injected more than $1.9 billion in Russian Far East development projects, which include an oil refiner and a logistical center, as well as a cement factory and a plant for reworking ferrous scrap metals.