Puppet MastersS


Dominoes

Pepe Escobar: The coup in Brazil should fail

Pepe Escobar
Sputnik
Fri, 15 Apr 2016 14:38 UTC
Dilma Rousseff brazil coup
© Evaristo SA/Agence France-PresseBrazilian President Dilma Rousseff gestures during the Education in Defense of Democracy event, at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, on April 12, 2016
As a metaphor of the advanced state of putrefaction plaguing the entire political system of one of the Global South's leading nations, nothing comes close to what is about to take place in Brazil. The notoriously corrupt leader of the lower House in the Brazilian Parliament, Eduardo Cunha — holder of 11 illegal Swiss accounts, listed in the Panama Papers, and indicted at the Supreme Court — has scheduled a crucial plenary vote on the possibility of impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff for this coming Sunday. Sunday traditionally is the day when an overwhelming majority of Brazilians relax watching football on TV.

The crook in question also tried to defined the rules of the game; the roll call would start with the wealthier southern states, which are more favorable towards impeachment — a euphemism for coup/regime change, the culmination of the soft Hybrid War strategy deployed from the beginning by the usual suspects allied with the Brazilian oligarchy/comprador elites.

This voting procedure — now changed; voting will alternate northern and southern states — was supposed to create a wave in the House floor towards impeachment, thus allowing the glorious entrance of another crook; current vice-President Michel Temer. Anyway, the magnificent piece of double-down crooking should ideally yield Temer as President and Cunha as Vice-President.

Comment: Pepe Escobar's comments: The ousting of Brazil's Rousseff, criminal impeachment or US/NSA-led coup?

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Snakes in Suits

Saudi Arabia threatens to liquidate its Treasury holdings if Congress probes its role in 9/11 attacks

Tyler Durden
Zerohedge
Sat, 16 Apr 2016 14:40 UTC
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry with Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir
© Kevin Lamarque / ReutersU.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during his meeting with Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir.
Back in January, when the market was watching in shocked silence as oil prices were crashing to decade lows and as concerns emerged that Saudi Arabia may need to commence selling its vast, if unquantified, USD reserves, we wrote a post titled "Attention Finally Turns To Saudi Arabia's "Secret" US Treasury Holdings" where we noted something very surprising: whereas we do know that Saudi Arabia is the owner of the world's third largest USD reserves...
US treasury holdings chart
... their actual composition remains as a secret, because while the US discloses the explicit Treasury holdings of all other nations, Saudi Arabia's holdings, for some unknown reason, are not officially disclosed.

"It's a secret of the vast U.S. Treasury market, a holdover from an age of oil shortages and mighty petrodollars," Bloomberg wrote of Saudi Arabia's US Treasury holdings.

"As a matter of policy, the Treasury has never disclosed the holdings of Saudi Arabia, long a key ally in the volatile Middle East, and instead groups it with 14 other mostly OPEC nations including Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Nigeria," Bloomberg goes on to note, adding that the rules are different for almost everyone else. Although Saudi Arabia's "secret" is protected by "an unusual blackout by the U.S. Treasury Department," for more than a hundred other countries, from China to the Vatican, the Treasury provides a detailed breakdown of how much U.S. debt each holds."
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Chess

Implosion, the House of Saud

Pepe Escobar
Strategic Culture Foundation
Thu, 14 Apr 2016 00:00 UTC
Obama and Sauds
© www.strategic-culture.orgPresident Barack Obama • Prince Mohammed bin Nayef • Prince Mohammad bin Salman
The Panama Papers psyops revealed that - ailing - King Salman of Saudi Arabia is among a roast of notorious offshore profiteers '"in relation" to "associates."

The House of Saud used British Virgin Islands shell companies to take out at least $34 million in mortgages for lavish houses in London and "a luxury yacht the size of a football field." And yet Western corporate media has given it a glaring pass. Quite predictable: House of Saud notables feature heavily among prime Western vassals. As it stands, a major disconnect is also in effect. The House of Saud is busy spinning the need for austerity at home even as it is now positioned as the world's third-largest spender on weapons, ahead of Russia.

"Austerity" is a bit rich when I revealed earlier this year that the House of Saud not only unleashed an oil price war - against Russia, Iran and the US shale oil industry - but also was busy unloading at least $1 trillion in US securities on the market to balance its increasingly disastrous budget. And now we have a major PR offensive in Western corporate media by Warrior Prince Mohammad bin Salman, 30, the lead conductor of the disastrous, illegal and crammed with civilian collateral damage war on Yemen. Young Salman is selling himself as an Arab David Bowie - the Man Who Changed the World, mostly because of his desire to partially privatize Aramco and partially extract Saudi Arabia from its strict role as an oil hacienda by creating a $2 trillion fund.

For the US, UK and France, especially, Saudi Arabia is the proverbial "key ally." It's not only the - again proverbial - second-largest oil reserves in the world, and the notorious Mob-style 1945 "protection" deal struck between Roosevelt and Ibn Saud. It's the House of Saud as the key anchor for the petrodollar; and the House of Saud consistently buying over $100 billion in weapons from the West in the past few years.

Yet, in parallel, Saudi Arabia - a mix of theocracy and absolute monarchy, complete with a gaggle of intolerant, fundamentalist imams - keeps perpetuating its role of ideological matrix to all strands of Salafi-Jihadism, including of course its latest incarnation: the phony ISIS/ISIL/Daesh "Caliphate." The House of Saud, directly and indirectly, has lavished over $100 billion all across the lands of Islam - and beyond - to spread its fundamentalist Wahhabi "vision."

Comment: Saudi Arabia is a manipulated entity by Washington, be it from the administration, Pentagon or CIA. No matter how integral a country becomes in "Exceptionalistan," it has to remember it is only a tool that can be used, played or discarded. And, according to the West, royalty is no "exception." Is a royal coup unfolding in the near future, given CIA infiltration of Saudi military, Saudi monetary schemes, the alienation of its people and a future Clinton presidency? A Syrian repeat?

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Propaganda

Washington and its presstitutes lie through their teeth - Syrian elections latest proof

Paul Craig Roberts
Institute for Political Economy
Thu, 14 Apr 2016 14:06 UTC
syria parliamenary elections 2016
© Xinhua/Ammar Two Syrian women walk by the posters of candidates for Syria's parliamentarian elections in Damascus, capital of Syria, on April 12, 2016.
Today (April 14) Syria held parliamentary elections at 7,000 polling stations, keeping the voting open an extra five hours to accommodate the massive turnout. All were allowed to vote, even displaced Syrians from the two provinces still terrorized by Washington and Israeli backed ISIS.

Washington is angry, because Syria held elections before Washington had time to purchase its slate of politicians and organize Washington-funded NGOs to take to the streets to protest and to claim that Assad had stolen the election.

Despite the massive voter turnout and extended hours for voting, the US State Department set the tone by declaring that the elections are not legitimate in Washington's eyes and do not represent "the will of the Syrian people."

Washington's two-bit punk vassals in London and Paris chimed in with both claiming that the war conditions in Syria to which London and Paris have contributed mean that the idea of elections is "totally unrealistic."

Comment: See also:

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Clipboard

Russian foreign affairs committee: The US has no reason not to recognize the parliamentary elections in Syria


Sputnik
Wed, 13 Apr 2016 12:03 UTC
Syria Elections
The United States has no reason not to recognize the parliamentary elections in Syria that are currently underway in the country, Russian Foreign Affairs Committee head Alexei Pushkov said Wednesday.

"There are no reasons not to recognize the results of the elections," Pushkov said during a press conference in Moscow.

Earlier, the US State Department said Washington does not see the elections in Syria as being legitimate because they do not reflect the will of the Syrian people.

"The US statement in regard to the will of the people has no reasoning whatsoever," Pushkov added.

Comment: The US continues to pump out total nonsense, despite the people of Syria choosing and supporting Assad repeatedly.
"It's hard to see in any way how these can be credible elections when the regime continues to kill [its] citizens," Kirby stated. "The United States is unable to see how Syrian parliamentary elections can be credible amid the absence of citizens [who have fled]."


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Bad Guys

No return to normality for Europe while it lives in NATO Bizarro World

Xenia Zinoviev
Russia Insider
Fri, 15 Apr 2016 18:46 UTC
USS donald cook
© UnknownDestroyer USS Donald Cook docks in the military port of Gdynia, Poland in order to demonstrate military strength and the "solidarity" of the US Navy with NATO

Originally appeared at German Economic News. Translated by Xenia Zinoviev

NATO considers that the future relationship with Russia will be tense: "there will be no return to normality until Russia again respects international law", NATO stated on Friday.

The statement arose few days after NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg in Washington announced the new orientation of NATO. According to that, NATO wants to train its armies in Eastern Europe in order to strengthen military ties against Russia, since Russia is clearly seen as a threat.

The military alliance therefore advertises its intention of positioning itself in a way that would allow joint action at any time in case of Russian aggression, if it were to be detected by NATO. Thus NATO considers the actions in Crimea as an internationally illegal annexation, justifying a military response. The first escalation was the sanctions brought down on Russia by the US and EU.

Since then NATO has increased its military presence in Eastern Europe. Due to bad economics Russia cannot do much to counter it, thus restricting itself to occasional flights with combat aircraft in international airspace, which is, of course, denounced by NATO as provocation.


Comment: Actually, not only has the effect of the sanctions been exaggerated, but on the whole these sanctions are also hurting the European vassal states which were forced to adopt them by the USA, who sits comfortably thousands of miles away. See:

NATO follows the anti-Russian alignment of the US foreign policy: in the budget for 2017 a fancy sum of $582.7 billion is to be used against, according to the Pentagon, the Russian menace. $187 billion is allocated for Overseas Contigeny Operations (OCO). The military mission of NATO lies in protection of the USA and EU even on foreign territories, claims Stoltenberg in his speech in front of the Atlantic Council.
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Snakes in Suits

Neocons openly pushing for a 'dark horse candidate' general to oust Trump


Sputnik
Sat, 16 Apr 2016 09:05 UTC
Seven Days in May capture
© YouTube/WarnerMoviesAU
Unnerved over the idea of a Trump presidency, wealthy members of the GOP inner circle are desperately looking for a new candidate for the job, and one name has come up again and again - retired United States Marine Corps General James Mattis. Mattis, Neocon pundits openly write, may be the ideal "dark horse candidate" to save their new world order.

Over the last few months, James Mattis, a distinguished retired marine commander who last served as the head of US Central Command, has been repeatedly mentioned by neoconservative strategists and pundits as a possible antidote to Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and even Hillary Clinton.

Known as 'the Warrior Monk' for his devotion to the military, the 65-year-old officer holds tremendous respect among the military, and has been called 'the most revered Marine general' in a generation by the Military Times.
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Info

Secretive 'FSB Batmobile' and 'Tiger' assault vehicles debut in Dagestan anti-terror operation


RT
Sat, 16 Apr 2016 08:57 UTC
FSB Batmobile
© Алексей Штейнбух / YouTube
The latest marvels of Russian armored engineering have been deployed by Russian special forces during an anti-terrorist operation in Dagestan. The "Falkatus" and "Tiger" assault vehicles, which were top secret until only recently, were finally caught in action, much to everyone's amazement.

The special operation conducted on the outskirts of Makhachkala earlier this week resulted in the neutralization of three members of a terrorist cell. But besides this feat, the world received its first glimpse of two state-of-the-art armored multipurpose SUVs that military enthusiasts and bloggers have been speculating about for years.
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Snakes in Suits

Saudi Prince drops Doha bomb: 'No deal without Iran...we are selling at every opportunity'

Tyler Durden
Zerohedge
Sat, 16 Apr 2016 08:41 UTC
Saudi deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman
In what appears to be a Doha party-pooping statement, Saudi deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman stated unequivocally that The Kingdom won't restrain its oil production unless other producers, including Iran, agree to freeze output at a meeting this weekend in Doha. This a major problem because - if you remember - this week's melt-up in oil (and thus stocks) was predicated on an anonymous diplomat cited by Interfax saying a deal will get done without Iran (which the Russians refused to confirm). All that hope crushed by a reality that has been painfully obvious that no side will be given in the Iran-Saudi tete-a-tete... and now, as Citi warned "expect a sharp sell-off."
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Snakes in Suits

Polish FM lacking common sense states Russia more dangerous than 'non-existential ISIS threat'


RT
Sat, 16 Apr 2016 07:47 UTC
Witold Waszczykowski
© Kacper Pempel / Reuters
Islamic State and other terrorist groups do not represent an existential threat to Europe, unlike Moscow and perceived aggression on its part, claimed foreign minister Witold Waszczykowski in the latest round of anti-Russian "nonsense" coming from Polish politicians.

"By all evidence, Russia's activity is a sort of existential threat because this activity can destroy countries," said Witold Waszczykowski, while visiting annual Globsec security forum in Bratislava.

When asked specifically about the threat of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), when compared to Russia, the minister said that while being a very serious one, "this is not an existential threat for Europe."

"We also have non-existential threats like terrorism, like the great waves of migrants," he added.

Comment: In a way, from their perspective, it's true. Russia is more dangerous to the Polish elite because it can sway their normal population back to reality, while ISIS doesn't really exist.

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