Puppet MastersS


Briefcase

End of the 50-year war? Colombia-FARC ceasefire welcomed by Russia


Sputnik
Fri, 24 Jun 2016 16:14 UTC
colombia negotiations
© REUTERS/ Presidency-Peace Office/Handout via Reuters
On Thursday, Colombia's government and the FARC group signed a ceasefire deal thus putting an end to more than 50 years of hostilities.

Russia welcomes the ceasefire deal between Colombian authorities and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and believes this agreement is a decisive step toward a final peace treaty, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday.

"We consider the signing of this important document by Colombian President J. Santos and FARC leader T. Jimenez to be a decisive, historical step on the path to signing a final peace agreement in the near future, which will put an end to five decades of armed conflict," the ministry said in a statement.

Russia is ready to provide "any necessary assistance," including through the UN Security Council, the ministry said.

On Thursday, Colombia's government and the FARC group signed a ceasefire deal at an official ceremony held in Havana.

Comment: The dirty war in Colombia is just one of many funded and fueled by Western interests and intelligence agencies. For the British role in creating and supporting the culture of torture, rape, and death squads, see SOTT Radio Network's interview with T. J. Coles: Behind the Headlines: Britain's Secret Wars: Interview with T.J. Coles

More on the deal, from Katehon:
Terms of the agreement

According to the agreement, after 180 days the rebels would have to completely disarm and return to civilian life, and ordinary soldiers can expect full amnesty. However, for those who have committed serious crimes, there will be a tribunal procedure. It is likely that because of this part, the insurgents will be forced to flee to the forests or to create an autonomous structure, which will refuse to submit to the current leadership of the FARC.

History of conflict

FARC was established in 1964 as the military wing of the local Communist Party. In its ranks are up to 20,000 people. The group acts mostly in remote mountainous areas, carrying out attacks on public infrastructure. FARC is also are suspected of having links to drug cartels. During the years of conflict, which is the longest in Latin America, more than 200,000 people have been killed in Colombia.


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Arrow Up

Seeing the light? Italian parliament opposes automatic renewal of anti-Russian sanctions


RT
Tue, 28 Jun 2016 15:51 UTC
Italian senate
© Remo Casilli / Reuters A general view of the Italian Senate is seen during a debate in Rome, Italy.
The Upper House of the Italian Parliament has adopted a resolution opposing the automatic renewal of anti-Russian sanctions. The text of the resolution, proposed by the opposition Northern League, was approved by a majority vote.

The resolution lists a set of recommendations to the Italian government on key issues that will be raised at the EU summit on June 28-29. Among other things it commits the government "to argue that the sanctions against Russia will not be renewed automatically," according to the Italian Senate session records.

Drafted by the deputy head of the senate and national coordinator of the Northern League, Roberto Calderoli, the resolution also mentions migrants and refugees issue as well as the situation around the UK leaving the EU following a referendum.

Earlier, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi also raised his voice against the automatic renewal of the anti-Russian sanctions.

Comment: Europe is in revolt against anti-Russia sanctions

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Blackbox

'Apology' accepted? Gazprom is ready to restart Turkish Stream project dialogue


RT
Mon, 27 Jun 2016 16:01 UTC
gazprom
© Sergey Guneev / Sputnik
Gazprom is ready to resume talks with Ankara on the construction of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline after Russia received an apology for the downing of its warplane from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the company's spokesperson said.

The Russian gas giant is "open for dialogue" on the Turkish Stream project, which would run along the bottom of the Black Sea, Gazprom spokesperson Sergey Kupriyanov told Interfax on Monday.

In 2014, Gazprom and Turkey's Botas signed a memorandum of understanding for the construction of Turkish Stream.

Comment: Born from the ashes of South Stream (which Russia cancelled after EU treachery), Turkish Stream would have been a boon for Turkey (and Greece). But it too was cancelled after Turkish treachery. Now its prospects are once again on the rise. However, despite official statements and press coverage, the new Turkish PM is back-pedalling, denying that Erdogan apologized. It's hard to see what he hopes to gain for Turkey by doing so. Russia is essentially saying, "If you're polite, things will go well for you." But perhaps there are 'hidden' conditions; for example, something to do with Turkey's ongoing support for ISIS. With a renewed Syrian Army offensive in Aleppo (along with U.S./SDF offensives) threatening to defeat Turkey's proxies, it would be best for Turkey to capitulate, resume relations with Russia, and back away from their Syrian intervention. The only question is whether or not they'll do the sane thing.

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Post-It Note

Leaked memo: France, Germany to introduce post-Brexit EU reform


RT
Mon, 27 Jun 2016 18:55 UTC
Hollande & Merk
© news.forexlive.com"Don't see Austria nor the Dutch..." "Not spotting Denmark either but I could be wrong!"
Paris and Berlin want to reinforce integration within the EU after the British referendum, bolstering common defense, migration and fiscal ties among the members, media revealed citing a French-German memorandum. A common French-German memorandum entitled 'A strong Europe in the world of uncertainties' was released by Poland's TVN broadcaster on Monday. The document is said to be authored by French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The nine-page memo comes after the British voted in a referendum to leave the EU, a decision which the document describes as a loss of "not only a member state, but a host of history, tradition and experience" that the UK has shared with Europe throughout the last decades.

In the joint paper, Ayrault and Steinmeier allegedly wrote that both "Germany and France have a responsibility to strengthen solidarity and cohesion within the European Union" despite "different degrees of ambition towards further integration among the member states."

The document, which the Polish broadcaster claimed was a bombshell plan to create a "super-state" led by a Paris-Berlin alliance, proposed closer cooperation on internal and external security, the migrant crisis, as well as a change in the EU's fiscal and economic policy. "The EU will in future be more active in crisis management," the memo reportedly said, proposing to introduce the "European Security Compact" - a number of military means able to deal with emerging crises, including a deployable high-readiness forces, developing common military spending plans as well as investing in conflict prevention.


Comment: The EU is scrambling with its new and obvious vulnerabilities. While the waters are now murky, it will be interesting to watch and see what strategies will be put into play and who will benefit.

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Footprints

Brexit, Article 50: What is it and why is it necessary?

Jennifer Rankin, Julian Borger, Mark Rice-Oxley
The Guardian
Sat, 25 Jun 2016 06:32 UTC
Merkel Hollande
© www.rt.com"Down to a two-star flag, are we?"
Rarely have 250 words been so important - five short, obscure paragraphs in a European treaty that have suddenly become valuable political currency in the aftermath of Britain's decision to leave the EU.

Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty sets out how an EU country might voluntarily leave the union. The wording is vague, almost as if the drafters thought it unlikely it would ever come into play. Now, it is the subject of a dispute between EU leaders desperate for certainty in the wake of the Brexit vote, and Brexiters in the UK playing for time.

Article 50 says: "Any member state may decide to withdraw from the union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements." It specifies that a leaver should notify the European council of its intention, negotiate a deal on its withdrawal and establish legal grounds for a future relationship with the EU.

On the European side, the agreement needs a qualified majority of member states and consent of the European parliament.

The only real quantifiable detail in the article is a provision that gives negotiators two years from the date of article 50 notification to conclude new arrangements. Failure to do so results in the exiting state falling out of the EU with no new provisions in place, unless every one of the remaining EU states agrees to extend the negotiations. No country has ever invoked article 50 - yet.

Comment: Well, thank the EU for Article 50! It is so simple it hardly matters, except for how long it will take to actually define it into practical usefulness, tying up parliament for years. Not lost on those countries who want to depart will be the difficulty of actual exit and how it ultimately affects Britain.

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Chess

Erdogan and Putin plan phone conversation for Wednesday


RT
Tue, 28 Jun 2016 13:14 UTC
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan
© Sputnik / Reuters
President Vladimir Putin will have a phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayip Erdogan, on Wednesday - the first since Russia-Turkey relations became strained after last year's downing of a Russian jet over Syria, the Kremlin reports.

"The phone conversation between President Putin and President Erdogan will take place tomorrow [on Wednesday], initiated by Russia," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

On Monday, Erdogan sent a letter to President Putin to offer his apologies for the death of a Russian pilot who was killed when his jet was downed over the Syrian-Turkish border. "The head of the Turkish state expressed his deep sympathy and condolences to the relatives of the deceased Russian pilot and said 'sorry,'" Peskov said.


Comment: Erdogan is of course a fair-weather 'friend'. He's a shameless opportunist, yet Putin has a broader interest in establishing stability among the chaos and is ever willing to leave the door open to reason and rationality. The United States has made it a point to keep tensions high between Moscow and Ankara, so these latest moves will be interesting to watch unfold.

See:

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Bad Guys

Europe during Brexit shock: Top officials pushing hard for 'European Superstate'

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Tue, 28 Jun 2016 12:34 UTC
European Union
Plans for a closer European Union have been surfaced, being branded as an attempt to create a European superstate.

Never to let a good crisis go to waste, EU officials and German / French politicians are floating around the blueprints for what will eventually become an EU superstate.

Think of it as a United States of Europe, where all member nations will turn over their entire sovereignty to the unelected elites in Brussels.

This means no national armies, no local laws, no central banks, no member state fiscal control. Everything will be under the control of Juncker, Tusk, and the globalist cabal they diligently serve.

Is the UK lucky it got out when it did? You bet!

We were certain that the EU superstate was the ultimate plan in play for the European Union, but the Brexit seems to have accelerated its implementation, confirming what many of us at The Duran already knew...that instead of reforming, Brussels leadership (under the tutelage of the US) would double down on a tighter, more integrated EU.

Comment: Further reading: The Nazi origins of the European Union

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Bad Guys

NATO's military presence along Russian border is Cuban missile crisis in reverse


Sputnik
Tue, 28 Jun 2016 12:42 UTC
nato russia
Commenting on the buildup of NATO forces on Russia's borders and the increasing frequency and scale of military exercises, French journalist Christine Bierre, editor-in-chief of the Solidarite & Progres newspaper, warned that the situation is reminiscent of a Cold War-era conflict which brought the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation.

In a recent analysis for the paper, the official organ of the French political party of the same name, Bierre warned that "when we talk about the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, only in reverse, this is not just rhetoric. Nearly 60,000 soldiers of NATO and allied countries have been participating in four series of maneuvers in the Baltic countries, Romania and Poland."

"The most provocative among these exercises were the recently completed Anaconda-16 drills in Poland," the journalist suggested. "Moreover, they were not organized by NATO, but by Poland itself, which the British and Americans have been inciting against Warsaw's old Russian enemy. In total, these exercises involved around 31,000 troops from 24 countries, making them the largest the country has seen since the collapse of the Warsaw Pact in 1991."

As if that weren't enough to escalate tensions between Moscow and NATO, Anaconda-16 is being complemented by Baltops-16, Saber Strike-16, and Swift Response-16, the latter involving Germany and Poland. "The chart published by the Department of Defense...speaks for itself," Bierre noted.

Comment: Further reading: US destroyer maneuvers dangerously close to Russian patrol boat in Mediterranean

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Bad Guys

German President Gauck: 'The elites are not the problem, the people are the problem'

Vlad Tepesblog
You Tube
Wed, 22 Jun 2016 12:37 UTC
German president Gauck
© Via YouTube/Vlad Tepesblog
The Solution

After the uprising of the 17th June
The Secretary of the Writers Union
Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee
Stating that the people
Had forfeited the confidence of the government
And could win it back only
By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier
In that case for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?

Bertholt Brech, 1953
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Radar

US destroyer maneuvers dangerously close to Russian patrol boat in Mediterranean


RT
Tue, 28 Jun 2016 12:26 UTC
Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely
© Lt. Cmdr. Corey Barker / U.S. Navy / Reuters
The US guided-missile destroyer Gravely breached international navigation safety rules by coming within dangerous proximity of the Yaroslav Mudry, a Russian frigate, in the eastern Mediterranean, the Russian Defense Ministry has said.

The USS Gravely approached the Yaroslav Mudry, a Russian frigate, on June 17, passing across her course at a "dangerous" distance of 180 meters (55ft), the Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

The encounter occurred in international waters. The Yaroslav Mudry did not deviate from her course and refrained from engaging in dangerous maneuvering with the US warship, the ministry added.
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