Puppet MastersS


Megaphone

An ex-Clevelander: Here's why Trump won

Andrew Korybko
Katehon
Fri, 11 Nov 2016 00:00 UTC
Donald Trump
© Katehon
Hi everybody,

As you may know, I'm an American who was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, although I made a life decision four years ago to permanently leave the US and move to the Russian Federation. If you're interested in my specific background and what motivated me to take that step, I suggest that you check out the interview that I gave to Serbian-American journalist Stephen Karganovic about this last spring when I visited him in Belgrade.

I'm addressing you all directly in a form which I never use in my articles, and that's the first-person. I know that so many of you guys are confused and struggling to understand why Trump won, and I totally understand what you're feeling because it's very difficult for any foreigner to truly comprehend what just happened in the US. The best way for me to convey this to you all is to talk on a personal level in the hopes that my delivery will get through to you. I'm not expecting anyone to agree with the points that I make, but just to understand what motivated Trump supporters to get out to the polls and shake up The Establishment.

Although I don't live in the US anymore, I was born and raised in one of the most quintessential representations of what constitutes modern-day "average America", and that's Cleveland, Ohio. Despite being nearly halfway across the world, I never lost touch with where I came from and will always remember the formative experiences which shaped my worldview. I still stay in contact with my American family and several close friends so I remain up to date on what's going on "back home", and as they say, "you can take someone out of their homeland, but you can't take the homeland out of the person".

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

Aleppo militants shell Syrian Army with poison chlorine gas, scores injured


RT
Tue, 15 Nov 2016 00:11 UTC
Syrian militants carrying weapon
© FILE PHOTO Abdalrhman Ismail / Reuters
Militants used shells containing poison chlorine gas to attack Syrian military positions in Aleppo on Sunday, injuring scores of government troops, according to the Syrian Army.

In a statement Monday, the General Command of the Syrian Army and Armed Forces confirmed that terrorist groups located in the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo targeted the al-Nairab area and its surroundings with mortar shells containing chlorine on Sunday evening, SANA news agency reported.

Scores of civilians and military personnel were injured, the military said.

Citing sources on the ground, RT Arabic reported that at least 28 government troops were injured. Local media gave the same figures for those injured.

Comment: Sputnik provides more details:
"Samples taken by Russian officers of the Scientific Center of Radiational, Chemical and Biological Security at the site proved that militants [in Aleppo] used chlorine as a poisonous gas," ministry's spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.

According to Konashenkov, militants in Aleppo have started to use chlorine against Syrian servicemen and civilians more often. However, none of French or British politicians who publicly voice concern over the situation in Aleppo pay attention to such crimes.

"Precisely, they want to see only Syrian authorities as those responsible for it [chemical weapons' use]," he said.
[...]
Despite numerous reports of militants' use of chemical weapons, the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) expert panel recently released the fourth report, which, in particular, claimed that the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad had used chemical weapons at least three times in the country throughout 2014-2015. On Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed regret over the OPCW decision.


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Eye 1

Pence administration fighting to conceal emails from public eye


RT
Mon, 14 Nov 2016 00:04 UTC
Vice-President elect Mike Pence
© Carlo Allegri / Reuters
An Indiana appeals court will consider next week whether email communications of Indiana Governor and Vice President-elect Mike Pence that were sought in a public records request are subject to court order. A county court previously ruled they are not.

The case amounts to an effort by the Pence administration to affirm its ability to shield its communications, or public records, from even the reach of the judiciary in the state, legal analysts told the IndyStar.

In December 2014, William Groth, an Indianapolis attorney, first sought the contents of Pence communications with the office of Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who sued the Obama administration shortly after President Barack Obama announced reforms to the US immigration system. The Pence administration joined the suit — State of Texas, et al v. United States — with the consent of Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller.
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Eye 1

'War crimes of torture': ICC prosecutor signals charges against US armed forces and CIA


RT
Mon, 14 Nov 2016 23:03 UTC
waterboarding torture
© Shannon Stapleton / Reuters
The US may have committed war crimes of torture, cruel treatment and rape, when it interrogate dozens of people in Afghanistan between 2003 and 2014, the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor said.

The International Criminal Court's preliminary probe of the US armed forces and CIA activities in Afghanistan between 2003 and 2004 shows there to be a "reasonable basis to believe that, in the course of interrogating these detainees ... members of the US armed forces and the US Central Intelligence Agency resorted to techniques amounting to the commission of the war crimes of torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity, and rape," chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said, according to the AFP.

Between May 2003 and the end of 2014 in Afghanistan, at least 61 detained persons "appear" to have been subjected to torture, cruelty and "outrages upon personal dignity," while under control of US armed forces, the report says.

Comment: Even if the US is found in violation, nothing much will be done because Washington has long claimed that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over the US, and, therefore, its citizens are not subject to its rulings, as the US has never ratified the Rome Statute that established the court in the first place.Also read: International Criminal Court reportedly 'about to probe US war crimes in Afghanistan'

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Star of David

Water war against Palestinians: Israel planned to supply West Bank with 40% less water than settlers


RT
Mon, 14 Nov 2016 22:52 UTC
Palestinians getting water from well
© Nayef Hashlamoun / Reuters
Israel's National Infrastructure Minister Yuval Steinitz has been forced to block a plan that would see the country's national water company build more infrastructure to provide water for controversial Jewish settlements, than for Palestinians, who already receive less.

In its future infrastructure plan, discussed at an unpublicized official meeting in September, the state-owned Mekorot Water Company proposed increasing the amount of water for Palestinians in the Israel-controlled West Bank from 45 cubic meters per person currently, to 65 cubic meters by 2050. In comparison, by the end of that period the Israeli settlements on the land occupied by Israel following the Six-Day War in 1967, would be receiving 40 percent more water.

Details of the meeting were disclosed by the Hebrew-language news website The Marker, and cited in the Haaretz, an English-language daily.
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Star of David

Israeli ministers okay draft bill to legalize Jewish settlements on private Palestinian land despite Supreme Court ruling


RT
Mon, 14 Nov 2016 22:46 UTC
boy sits near an israeli flag
© Ronen Zvulun / ReutersA boy sits near an israeli flag atop the roof of a vehicle at the entrance to the Jewish settler outpost of Amona in the West Bank, October 20, 2016.
An Israeli ministerial committee has approved a draft bill to allow settlers in the occupied West Bank to remain in homes built on private Palestinian land. The country's attorney-general said the bill is legally flawed.

The bill was okayed unanimously on Sunday, and states that the Israeli government could confiscate land in exchange for compensation.

The vote is believed to be aimed at avoiding the evacuation of the Amona settlement in the West Bank by December 25 ordered by the country's Supreme Court.

About 40 families live in Amona on the territory, which is privately owned by the Palestinians.
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Treasure Chest

Russia and Iran plan $10bn arms supply to Tehran


RT
Mon, 14 Nov 2016 22:40 UTC
Russian S-300 missile system
© Pavel Lisitsyn / Sputnik
Russia and Iran have been negotiating the supply of $10 billion worth of weapons and hardware to Tehran following the successful delivery of Russia's S-300 air defense missile systems to the country in October.

"These negotiations are being carried out, the road has been paved.

"The order book, discussed today, [reflects] the needs of Tehran and amounts to some $10 billion," the head of the defense and security committee of the Russian upper house of parliament, Viktor Ozerov, told reporters on Monday during a parliamentary visit to Iran, as cited by TASS news agency.

He said the arms in question include T-90 tanks, artillery systems, and various aircraft. He added that the sides did not discuss a one-time delivery - rather a number of deliveries over years.
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Info

Ex-UK ambassador to Moscow: Trump right on Russia, Britain must listen


RT
Mon, 14 Nov 2016 22:34 UTC
Trump and Putin
© Reuters
Britain should take advice from US President-elect Donald Trump by "listening to the Russians instead of lecturing them" to avoid a new Cold War, says former UK Ambassador to Moscow Sir Tony Brenton.

"Trump is right too that our present approach has failed (sanctions have boosted Russian determination), and if we are to avoid slipping into a dangerous new Cold War, we need to listen to the Russians instead of lecturing them," Brenton wrote in the Telegraph.

The West's "demonization" of Russian President Vladimir Putin is also out of hand, Brenton added.

"With military expenditure one-tenth of that of the West, Russia is not the threat our 'experts' wallow in."
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Snakes in Suits

Moronic EU will maintain Russia policies, even if US changes course


RT
Mon, 14 Nov 2016 22:24 UTC
Federica Mogherini
© AGENCIA EFE / YouTube
Brussels will pursue its own policies when it comes to Russia even if the new American administration abandons Obama's course for US-Russian relations, the EU foreign policy chief announced after dining with EU Foreign Ministers.

"You know, the European Union has a very principled position on the illegal annexation of Crimea and the situation in Ukraine. This is not going to change, regardless of possible shifts in others' policies," Federica Mogherini said Sunday after dinner with the ministers.


Comment: "Principled" on a misguided premise.


"I see the need for the Europeans to strengthen their defense and security agenda and cooperation, regardless of the changes in the administration in the United States," she added, referring to President-elect Donald Trump.
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Info

Erdogan says Turkey may hold referendum on joining EU


RT
Mon, 14 Nov 2016 22:17 UTC
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan
© Murat Cetinmuhurdar / Presidential Palace / Handout via Reuters / Reuters
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Brussels of pressing Ankara to give up its bid to join the EU. Noting that Ankara's patience "has limits," Erdogan hinted he might hold a referendum on the question of Turkey's accession to the bloc.

"The European Union is pressing us to withdraw from our [accession] process. If they don't want us, they should make a decision and speak clearly about it," Erdogan told the Hurriyet daily on Sunday.

"Our patience has its limits. If need be, we could also consult our people. Let's see what the people will say," he said.

Ankara began formal accession talks with the EU in 2005. In March 2016, the sides reached what seemed to be a historic deal, sealing a joint plan to tackle the migrant crisis. Ankara promised it would assist the EU in dealing with the influx of refugees and migrants, in exchange for multibillion-euro funding as well as the potential facilitation of EU accession and visa-free travel within the Schengen zone for Turkish citizens.
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