Puppet MastersS


Attention

Iranian vessel aims weapon at US helicopter over international waters - UPDATE


Sputnik
Mon, 28 Nov 2016 22:03 UTC
US SH-60 helicopter
© AFP 2016/ Leila Gorchev
An Iranian vessel has aimed their weapon at a US Navy helicopter during an encounter in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday. The incident is being described as "unsafe and unprofessional" by US Defense Agencies, Reuters reports.

The encounter took place as the US SH-60 helicopter was flying over international waters and had reportedly flown within a half mile of two Iranian vessels. Deciding that the helicopter was too close, one of the vessels then fixed their weapon on the aircraft.

Comment: Russia Insider provides the U.S. Navy with a helpful summation:
So, to recap:

A U.S. military helicopter was cruising off the coast of Iran.
  1. Some sort of weapon, from some sort of Iranian vessel, was pointed at said U.S. military helicopter, which, again, was flying off the coast of Iran.
  2. "At no point did the crew of the helicopter feel threatened".
  3. Bomb Iran. Early and often.
For visual learners, here is a graphic which nicely sums up how Iran nearly provoked WW3:
Iran for dummies


Read More...
Treasure Chest

Saving Poroshenko? US State Dept offers $800k to Ukraine NGOs, Congress to give $350 million military aid


RT
Thu, 01 Dec 2016 01:25 UTC
Activists of the nationalist organizations, Ukraine
© Alexei Vovk / Sputnik Activists of the nationalist organizations, Ukraine. File photo.
Washington is offering a grant of up to $800,000 to Ukrainian public organizations that will monitor regional authorities and secure ties with local media. Political analysts say it's a way to keep President Petro Poroshenko in power amid declining popularity.

"[The] goal is to enhance the accountability and responsiveness of the Ukrainian government at the local level through civil society advocacy, monitoring, and civic activism," reads a US State Department funding announcement, published this week on the grants.gov website.

It explains further that the State Department is looking for "civil society organizations," either non-profit or for-profit (with some conditions) that will provide proposals "to perform a watchdog function and advocate for democratic governance" in Ukraine.

Comment: This news after the Normandy Four failed in any breakthrough on Ukraine. And to add to that $800K: US Congress to allocate $350 mln on military aid for Ukraine
The US Congress is set to allocate $350 million for military assistance to Ukraine, a source in the US Senate Armed Services Committee told TASS.

The source said next year's draft defense budget includes "$350 mln for Ukraine."

"It is authorization for lethal assistance," the source said, adding that the decision on allocating the money will be in the authority of the US president, with no preconditions.

The 2017 defense budget, recently agreed by both chambers of the Congress, will be put to the vote later this week.


Read More...
Stock Down

About that Russian defense spending: It's the ekonomika, stupid

James Mugg
The Strategist
Fri, 25 Nov 2016 00:00 UTC
Russian tanks parade
© RealClearWorldRussian Military Modernization
In 2014, the Russian economy faced two major setbacks: international economic sanctions following Russia's annexation of Crimea, and a collapse in global oil prices. At the time, crude oil alone represented more than a third of Russian exports by value. The Russian economy has no doubt seen better days, but defence spending has until now largely been protected from the recent economic downturn. But that might be about to change: economic pressures are mounting and the Kremlin will likely be forced to choose between sustaining foreign operations and moving ahead with military modernisation plans.
Read More...
Snakes in Suits

Analyst predicts Western nations will come under pressure to probe Clinton Foundation spending


Sputnik
Thu, 01 Dec 2016 01:15 UTC
Bill and Hillary Clinton
© AP Photo/ Matt Dunham
Western European nations are facing growing pressure to end their financial contributions to the Clinton Foundation and investigate its spending, investment analyst Charles Ortel told Sputnik.

"The penny has dropped: The governments have decided not to fund Clinton Foundation activities anymore," Ortel said Tuesday. "Canada, Sweden and Ireland are countries that may undertake investigations or end their practice of contributing large sums to the Clinton Foundation."

He was commenting after Norway and Australia announced last weekend that they were ending their annual contributions to the charity, founded in 1997 by then-US President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton.
Read More...
Boat

Greece will permit Russian tankers transit


Russia Beyond the Headlines
Mon, 28 Nov 2016 00:00 UTC
Dimitrios Velanis
© Sputnik InternationalDimitrios Velanis, Special Advisor Russian Relations
Dimitrios Velanis, the special advisor on Russian relations to the Greek prime minister, told Russian news agency RIA Novosti that Greece will not take any action against Russia should Russian tankers carrying fuel for the country's air forces in Syria travel through Greek territorial waters. The EU currently bans the supply of jet fuel to Syria from EU countries under EU Council Regulation 1323/2014 ban. The embargo applies whether or not the fuel originated in the European Union.

"I would answer with the words used by the Russian Ministries of Defense and of Foreign Affairs, which were that the sanctions put in place by the EU and by NATO do not affect Russia, since it is not a member of these organizations," Velanis said. "We understand that Russia's intervention in Syria, with its navy and air forces, needs of course to keep them going. Planes don't fly without fuel.

"We know that Russian planes bomb terrorists, and not the Syrian people, unlike what is written in several Western news sources. To say that Russia is attacking peaceful ideals is 100 percent false. The Western media does not portray what is really happening, and similarly there is plenty of propaganda against Russia. But the Greek people understand this," he said.
Read More...
Bad Guys

Parliament rules Tony Blair not accountable for Iraq deception


RT
Wed, 30 Nov 2016 14:25 UTC
Tony Blair
© Toby Melville / ReutersBritain's former Prime Minister Tony Blair
MPs have voted down a motion on whether or not former Prime Minister Tony Blair should be held to account for allegedly deceiving Parliament to take Britain into the 2003 Iraq invasion.

The motion was led by Scottish National Party (SNP) foreign affairs spokesman Alex Salmond and a range of other MPs from the Green Party, Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru - as well as some from the Labour and Conservative camps.

Some 439 MPs voted in defense of Blair while only 70 voted he should be held to account.

The motion said the Chilcot report, published in July, "provided substantial evidence of misleading information being presented by the then prime minister and others on the development of the then government's policy towards the invasion of Iraq."

It was opposed by the section of right-wing Labour MPs who subscribe to Blair's ideas, several of whom argued that the debate was an SNP ploy to split Labour.
Read More...
Propaganda

Marie Antoinette moment: Liberal order gatekeepers are headed for the guillotine

James Corbett
corbettreport.com
Tue, 29 Nov 2016 22:28 UTC
guillotine
In a surprising moment of self-awareness, Wolfgang Münchau just published an editorial in the Financial Times comparing the gatekeepers of the "global liberal order" (the FT included) to Marie Antoinette and the House of Bourbon, blindly "let them eat cake"-ing their way toward their own guillotine.

Münchau knows of what he speaks; as associate editor of the Financial Times he is in the unenviable position of acting as the spokesman for the banksters ensconced in the City of London. And in case you haven't noticed, the banksters aren't exactly the most popular people in the world right now. But don't take my word for it, take his:
"Some revolutions could have been avoided if the old guard had only refrained from provocation. There is no proof of a 'let them eat cake' incident. But this is the kind of thing Marie Antoinette could have said. It rings true. The Bourbons were hard to beat as the quintessential out-of-touch establishment.

"They have competition now.

"Our global liberal democratic establishment is behaving in much the same way. At a time when Britain has voted to leave the EU, when Donald Trump has been elected US president, and Marine Le Pen is marching towards the Elysée Palace, we — the gatekeepers of the global liberal order — keep on doubling down."

Comment: Further reading:

Read More...
Snakes in Suits

Trump announced he'd be leaving his business 'in total' to focus on presidency


RT
Wed, 30 Nov 2016 20:51 UTC
Trump International Hotel
© Kevin Lamarque / ReutersFlags fly above the entrance to the new Trump International Hotel on its opening day in Washington September 12, 2016.
Seeking to quell controversy over potential conflicts of interest between his impending presidency and his business empire, President-elect Donald Trump announced he would be leaving his business "in total" to focus on the White House.

True to form, social media-savvy Trump made the announcement on Wednesday in a series of tweets and a Facebook post. He said he would address "leaving my great business" at a December 15 press conference in New York City, with his children present.

"While I am not mandated to do this under the law, I feel it is visually important, as President, to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses. Hence, legal documents are being crafted which take me completely out of business operations. The Presidency is a far more important task!"
Read More...
Star of David

Political infighting: Israeli parliament postpones vote on West Bank settlement bill


Sputnik
Wed, 30 Nov 2016 22:30 UTC
Israeli settlement in Givat Zeev
© AFP 2016/ THOMAS COEX
The Israeli Parliament on Wednesday made the decision to postpone the vote on a bill that would retroactively legalize thousands of settler homes on the West Bank's private land, amid disputes between Israeli lawmakers, local media reported Wednesday.

The draft settlement bill proposes to allow Israeli settlers to remain on the Palestinian territory, while offering financial compensation to owners of the land. It has already been approved in the first reading.

According to the Jerusalem Post, a fraction of the Kulanu party has been in disagreement with the Likud party over the option of blocking court orders on legalization of settlements. Likud supported the inclusion of the option in the bill, while Kulanu opposed. As a result, Kulanu withdrew the bill from parliamentary discussions, the media reported.
Read More...
Pistol

Obama expands global reach of US Special Ops death squads

Patrick Martin
World Socialist Web Site
Tue, 29 Nov 2016 00:00 UTC
ObamJSOC
© Signs of the Times
In major actions reported only briefly by the establishment press, President Obama has given vast new scope to the Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), authorizing it to carry out assassinations across the globe.

The units of JSOC have long been employed by the chiefs of the six major regional military commands, such as Centcom, which covers the Middle East and Central Asia, to conduct counter-terrorism operations. One such unit, Seal Team Six, carried out the assassination of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May 2011.


Comment: The evidence for this operation was never verified, nor the body examined and identified -- if there really was one. He most likely died years earlier of illness. Obama's version was show and tell, and take the credit.


Obama has approved a proposal to give JSOC independent authority to operate outside the regional commands, essentially as a globalized assassination force. JSOC units will bypass the regional commanders and report directly to Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in the Pentagon.

Comment: We already knew the trajectory of the Obama and Clinton team: The United States of Global Dystopia with secret laws, secret budgets, secret kill lists and massive abuse of power. Apparently a good majority of Americans sensed a different option with Trump, a chance for something -- anything -- better. Perhaps Trump has figured that out and will act accordingly...that is if he doesn't find himself the target of Obama's JSOC.

See also:

Read More...