Puppet MastersS


Question

Dutch PM seeks answers from Ankara as local Turks urged to report those insulting Erdogan


RT
Sat, 23 Apr 2016 16:20 UTC
Mark Rutte
© Vincent Kessler / ReutersThe Netherland's Prime Minister Mark Rutte
The Dutch Prime Minister says he's "surprised" and will ask Ankara for clarification following allegations that the Turkish consulate in the Netherlands sent a plea to Turks living in the country to report people insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"I am surprised. It's not clear what the Turkish government aims to achieve with this action," PM Mark Rutte told journalists during a joint press conference with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Dutch city Eindhoven, according to AFP.

Comment: Here's a little song for your entertainment.

See also:
Boomerang effect: 'Insult Turkey's Erdogan' contest set up by Spectator magazine

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Smiley

Boomerang effect: 'Insult Turkey's Erdogan' contest set up by Spectator magazine


BBC
Tue, 19 Apr 2016 00:00 UTC
Jan Boehmermann
© ReutersGerman satirist Jan Boehmermann offended President Erdogan deliberately on air and is now facing potential prosecution
A UK-based magazine has offered a prize to the author of the most offensive poem about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is suing a German comedian over a satirical verse.

The Spectator is offering £1,000, donated by a reader.

It comes after Germany opened the door for a comedian to potentially be prosecuted over a TV broadcast.

Jan Boehmermann had recited a satirical poem on the TV channel ZDF which made sexual references to President Erdogan.

Mr Boehmermann is now under police protection and Angela Merkel's government has approved a criminal inquiry, under a little-used law concerning insults against foreign heads of state.
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Gold Seal

Landmark ruling: Victims of CIA torture can sue 'interrogation program' psychologists


RT
Sat, 23 Apr 2016 16:07 UTC
Suleiman Abdullah Salim
© acluvideos / YouTubeSuleiman Abdullah Salim, a Tanzanian fisherman, was brutally tortured at a CIA black site in Afghanistan.
A court ruling will allow CIA torture victims to sue two psychologists who designed and operated the agency's brutal interrogation program.

US District Court Judge Justin Quackenbush ruled Friday that Tanzanian Suleiman Abdullah Salim, Libyan Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud, and the family of deceased Afghani Gul Rahman have the right to hold individuals accountable for the CIA program that led to their abuse.

Rahman died in CIA custody in 2002 from hypothermia, dehydration and exposure. His family have never been officially notified of his death and have yet to receive his remains.

James Elmer Mitchell and John "Bruce" Jessen, two CIA-contracted psychologists, are being sued under the Alien Tort Statute for "their commission of torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; non-consensual human experimentation; and war crimes".
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Treasure Chest

Duplicitous Kerry: U.S. "won't object" to foreign bank deals with Iran


RT
Sat, 23 Apr 2016 12:56 UTC
kerry zarif
© Brendan McDermid / ReutersU.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R) and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
The US will not stand in the way of foreign deals with Iran that are in line with the landmark nuclear deal, US Secretary of State John Kerry said to clear up some "confusion" before his meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Kerry and Zarif met for the second time this week on Friday at UN headquarters in New York.

"The United States is not standing in the way and will not stand in the way of business that is permitted with Iran since the [nuclear deal] took effect," Kerry read from prepared text.

"We've lifted our nuclear-related sanctions as we committed to do and there are now opportunities for foreign banks to do business with Iran. Unfortunately, there seems to be some confusion among foreign banks and we want to try to clarify that as much as we can."

Kerry addressed the issue after Iran complained that US financial regulations are still blocking promised sanction relief for Iran.

Comment: More lies from the forked tongue of Kerry? Or is he actually coming around to reason? Because Kerry has been anything but up front and sincere up until this point.
Sec State Kerry: Proud Of Undermining The Nuclear Deal With Iran

Indeed the very next day after Kerry's announcement the U.S. raised new sanctions against Iran ... The U.S. claims that Iran, by testing ballistic missiles, somehow infringes on UN Security Council Resolution 2231. But that resolution only "calls upon Iran", i.e. politely asks, to not test missiles designed to be nuclear capable. ... Besides those new sanction over ballistic missiles the U.S. is doing everything to block any real relief from the old sanctions.

As soon as the sanctions over the nuclear program were formally lifted, the U.S. sent its bureaucrats out to warn off any bank from doing business with Iran:
US Treasury officials, since 'implementation' day, have been doing the rounds, warning European banks that the US sanctions on Iran remain in place, and that European banks should not think, even for a second, of tapping the dollar or euro bond markets in order to finance trade with Iran, or to become involved with financing infrastructure projects in Iran. Banks well understand the message: touch Iranian commerce and you will be whacked with a billion dollar fine - against which there is no appeal, no clear legal framework - and no argument countenanced. The banks (understandably) are shying off. Not a single bank or financial lending institution tuned up when President Rouhani visited Paris, to hold meetings with the local business élite.
... The same man that defended the unfreezing of Iran's money against opponents of the deal and who promised the lifting of sanctions, Secretary of State Kerry, is now boasting that this did indeed not happen in any practical way ... The U.S. government expected that the nuclear deal would unfreeze $55 billion of Iranian money. It then sabotaged the deal and is now proud to announce that only $3 billion were actually unfrozen.
...
The Europeans want to get into business with Iran, so do the Russians and the Chinese. The U.S. is trying to block them all. ... I am sure that this childish flim-flam the Obama administration and the Secretary of State are now so proud of, will come back to bite and will in future impede the role of the U.S. in the world's financial system.


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Bad Guys

"Neo-Nazis and slave labor": EU Commission proposes opening Europe to millions of Ukrainian migrants


Sputnik
Sat, 23 Apr 2016 12:40 UTC
Ukraine EU
© AP Photo/ Alik Keplicz
The dream of the Maidan revolutionaries -for Ukrainians to be able to travel to Europe without visas, has moved one step closer to reality, with the European Commission proposing to lift visa restrictions on Ukrainians. What might a visa-free regime between Ukraine and the European Union look like for Ukrainians and Europeans? Sputnik investigates.

Speaking at a press conference in the Ukrainian capital earlier this week, Johannes Hahn, the Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, announced that the EU-Ukraine Agreement on Association has 'preliminarily taken effect', 'preliminarily' because of the Dutch referendum, where Dutch voters chose to reject the treaty 61% to 38%.

On May 11, the EU's Justice and Home Affairs Council is set to consider the liberalization of the visa regime for Ukrainians. More importantly, the European Commission's proposal will now need the backing of the EU's member states, as well as that of the European Parliament.
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Chess

2 years of sanctions have proven that 'Russia can live without Europe'


Sputnik
Sat, 23 Apr 2016 12:33 UTC
russia sanctions
Pointless, costly, ineffective
After dealing with nearly two years of anti-Russian EU sanctions, Forbes columnist Kenneth Rapoza has come to the conclusion that "yes, Russia can live without Europe." However, even though it still has a long way to go before it fully replaces European goods with home-grown replacements, the effect of Russian countermeasures may be more acute.

"They repeatedly predicted catastrophic consequences for us, saying that our economy will be left 'in tatters.' It is not in tatters. There are difficulties, but Russia's current economic and financial situation is much better than it was during other periods of our history," Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday, summing up the results of the Finance Ministry's 2015 performance.

Columnist Kenneth Rapoza has expanded the statement even further, explaining how some of Russia's food producers "have learned to like less competition from Europe, thanks to sanctions", even though "Russia has a long way to go before it replaces European goods with with home-grown ones."

Comment: It's thanks to the West's psychopathic elite that either country has to adapt to these unnatural conditions. Russia may be doing a better job of adapting than Europe, but who's really better off for it?

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Blue Planet

Made in Russia: An organic revolution

F. William Engdahl
New Eastern Outlook
Fri, 22 Apr 2016 23:59 UTC
Russia organic food Putin
© Eduard Korniyenko / Reuters "Russia is able to become the largest world supplier of healthy, ecologically clean and high-quality food which the Western producers have long lost, especially given the fact that demand for such products in the world market is steadily growing." - Vladimir Putin
As if it were not enough that Vladimir Putin's Russia makes a monkey out of the US "anti-ISIS" campaign in Syria by accomplishing more in six months to damage the terrorist advance in that country than the Pentagon managed, with its suspiciously ineffective campaign in fourteen months, now Russia delivers a huge slap in the face to US agribusiness domination of global food trade by deciding to make Russia the world's largest exporter of healthy, non-GMO, non-industrial food.

Ignored by western media, as are most positive developments in Russia, President Vladimir Putin made his annual Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly Address on December 3. In his remarks he announced the national goal for Russia to become food self-sufficient within four years - by 2020.

One of the least commented sectors of the Russian economy — especially by superficial western economists who imagine Russia is merely an oil and gas export-dependent country much like Saudi Arabia or Qatar — is the significant transformation underway in Russian agriculture. Today, less than a year and a half into the decision to ban exports of major EU agriculture imports as a retaliation to the silly EU sanctions on Russia, Russia's domestic farm production is undergoing a remarkable rebirth, or, in some cases, birth. In dollar terms, Russian exports of agriculture products exceed in value that of weapons, and equal a third of gas export profits. That's interesting in itself.
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Stop

Ankara rejects Kurdish offer of peace talks, opposition reports


RT
Wed, 20 Apr 2016 15:42 UTC
Erdogan kurd peace talk
© www.thenews.com.pk"The terrorists can choose two paths: surrender to justice or be neutralised, one by one. There is no third way left in Turkey."
The leader of a pro-Kurdish party in Turkey says that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) wanted to agree to a return to talks with the Turkish government a few months ago, only for Ankara to reject the proposal. The claims were made by Selahattin Demirtas, the Kurdish leader of the HDP (People's Democratic Party) on Wednesday. "A few months ago, we were in contact with Qandil (PKK) in an effort to return to the negotiating table. The government knew that we were working for this but the government rejected it," Demirtas said, as cited by Reuters.

A 2 1/2-year ceasefire between the PKK and Ankara was shattered in July. Kurdish militants are fighting for the right to self-determination and greater autonomy for Kurds - demands which Ankara rejects.
Since July, almost 400 soldiers and police and several thousand militants have been killed in the conflict which has largely take part in the southeast of Turkey, according to government figures. Opposition parties say between 500 and 1,000 civilians have also been killed in the fighting.
Ankara's anti-terrorist operations have not only been based in the southeast of Turkey, but have also spilled over into Iraq and Syria. On Wednesday, Turkish warplanes struck PKK targets in northern Iraq, according to CNN Turk. Earlier this month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said members of the PKK should either surrender or be "neutralized," stressing that the time for peace talks is over.

In a speech broadcast live by the state television channel TRT, Erdogan said that counter-terror operations against PKK fighters will continue until the last militant is neutralized, expressing confidence that the mission would be accomplished. The president went on to state that Ankara had tried to disarm PKK fighters, but those efforts had not been successful.

Comment: Erdogan gets away with annihilating the Kurds under the broad definition of "fighting terrorism." By labeling all Kurds everywhere as terrorists, therefore targets, he hostilely conducts airstrikes and ground incursions with no discrimination as to fighters or civilians. In reality, the PKK and other Kurdish groups have been successfully fighting ISIS. In reality, Turkey has been aiding and abetting ISIS for the West and the Kurds are inconveniently interfering in this subterfuge. Erdogan sees complete extermination as his solution and will therefore grasp any excuse to avoid peace talks.

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Dollars

Pathocratic Saudi Arabia bribes U.S. media for positive image


Moon of Alabama
Thu, 21 Apr 2016 23:46 UTC
Barack Obama and Saudi Arabia's King Salman
© Reuters / Jonathan ErnstUS President Barack Obama concludes a meeting with Saudi Arabia's King Salman at the G20 summit in Turkey, November 15, 2015.
A timely Washington Post piece looks at how the Saudis bribe left, right and center:
Saudi government has vast network of PR, lobby firms in U.S.

The Saudi government and its affiliates have spent millions of dollars on U.S. law, lobby and public relations firms to raise the country's visibility in the United States and before the United Nations at a crucial time.
...
Five lobby and PR firms were hired in 2015 alone, signaling a stepped-up focus on ties with Washington. The firms have been coordinating meetings between Saudi officials and business leaders and U.S. media, ...

Comment: This is what they call a match made in heaven. There's no place on earth Western media would rather get their blood money from than the twisted, racist, murderous regime in Riyadh.

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Snakes in Suits

Breaking a key campaign promise Obama bows to Turkish genocide denial as Erdogan calls for war on Armenia


Sputnik
Fri, 22 Apr 2016 21:37 UTC
US President Barack Obama and Recep Tayyip Erdogan
© AFP 2016/ BERK OZKAN / POOL
President Obama broke a campaign promise in refusing to honor the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians so as not to anger Erdogan, his dictatorial, terror sponsoring counterpart.

On Friday, US President Barack Obama declined to call the systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 a genocide, breaking a key campaign promise in the final year of his presidency.

Sunday April 24 marks Armenian Remembrance Day, commemorating the suffering created by the first genocide of the 20th century. The ethnic cleansing and brutality culminated in the death march of over one million Armenians, accompanied by Turkish soldiers who denied the Armenians food and water, mercilessly beating to death those who could not keep up with the march, and systematically raping women.
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