Puppet MastersS


Black Cat

Is Hillary Clinton the Democrats' Richard Nixon?

Eric Zuesse
Sott.net
Fri, 22 Apr 2016 19:25 UTC
Hillary Clinton
© Reuters / David Becker
Richard Nixon's similarities to Hillary Clinton are remarkable:

1: Both were highly successful politicians who had exceptionally negative net-approval ratings from the U.S. public, but were viewed highly favorably by the voters within their own Party.

2: Both were unsuccessful in their first run for the Presidency, but managed to come back and ran considerably more successful campaigns the second time around.

3: Both were highly distrusted, except by the voters within their own Party.

4: Both went into their Presidential campaign years (especially the second time around) as being "the candidate with experience."

5: Both were war-hawks and proponents of a big military, but were also liberals on social policies and regulatory policies (for example, Nixon signed into law the National Environmental Policy Act, several environmental initiatives including the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, the Mammal Marine Protection Act, and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency; and, he started the Earned-Income Tax Credit, which "now lifts more children out of poverty than any other government program").

Comment: It gets worse. Arch war criminal Henry Kissinger had the ear of Nixon, and now is one of Hillary's 'trusted advisors". It can only be hoped that Killary will have her own Watergate moment before the election. But don't hold your breath.

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Bomb

Broke and paranoid - The US is risking nuclear war

Finian Cunningham
RT
Fri, 22 Apr 2016 19:08 UTC
White House
© Flickr/Glenn Pope
Many observers fear that not only are we seeing a new Cold War, but that we are also in the throes a new global arms race. This stems from the United States being both wildly over-stretched militarily and wildly irrational.

In short: broke and paranoid.

Twenty-five years after the official end of the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union, political and military leaders in Washington continue to portray Russia and China as "existential threats". This level of threat-designation is not reciprocated by Moscow or Beijing.

While the Russian and Chinese leadership are no doubt wary about maverick American power, still there is nowhere a comparable rhetorical riposte of aggression. Even though it could be reasonably argued for, given the routine, shrill claims made by Washington against Russia and China.

This is the first point. Washington's assessment of security risks in the world is so far off reality. It is often prejudiced, subjective, heavily propagandized, and inaccurate.

Take the recent close encounter in the Baltic between the USS Donald Cook guided-missile destroyer and Russian fighter jets. The incident was some 70 nautical miles off Russia's territory, yet US officials decried it as "evidence of Russian aggression".

The same illogical inversion of reality is asserted against China which is routinely accused of impinging on territories in the South China Sea - by American forces patrolling thousands of miles from their home bases.

At least in the heyday of the old Cold War, US planners had a semblance of ideological basis for their hostility towards Moscow and Beijing. Anti-Communism may have been overblown, but that perceived threat had an ideological premise invoking the need for military power.

Today, what is the basis for American hostility towards Russia or China? There is negligible justification for American belligerence other than specious claims about Russian and Chinese aggression. The reality is that the aggression is one-sided American conduct.
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Alarm Clock

How the Syrian talks broke down: Al-Qaeda was facing defeat

Eric Zuesse
Strategic Culture Foundation
Fri, 22 Apr 2016 18:19 UTC
alloush
During the negotiations that had led to the Syrian peace talks, a key question was whether Russia and the Syrian army would be allowed to continue uninterrupted, their military actions against ISIS and al-Qaeda (al-Qaeda in Syria is called «al-Nusra».)

Throughout the negotiations between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, there was agreement that ISIS (the US Government calls it 'ISIL') has no place there, and must continue to be bombed and attacked without interruption until exterminated; but Kerry opposed Lavrov's demand to include al-Nusra's (al-Qaeda's) forces as also having no rightful place in Syria. Kerry finally accepted that al-Nusra should have no part in ruling Syria, and thus he reluctantly acceded to Russia's demand. This agreement by Kerry enabled the peace talks to begin.

These talks broke down on April 18th because Al-Nusra was facing imminent defeat in the key city of Aleppo, and because such a defeat was unacceptable to Mohammed Alloush, the Saudi agent, and head of the Saudi-Wahhabist group, the Army of Islam. He was selected by King Saud to lead the rebel side at Syria's peace negotiations. «There was 'no way' the opposition could resume formal talks amid a military escalation and a worsening humanitarian situation», senior opposition negotiator Mohammed Alloush told Reuters on April 18th.

Comment: Further reading: Digging in their heels: The Obama admin's illusory 'credibility' maintained by a series of big lies

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Gold Seal

Best of the Web: Pepe Escobar: US nixed OPEC oil deal by threatening to reveal Saudi role in 9/11

Pepe Escobar
Sputnik
Fri, 22 Apr 2016 17:58 UTC
fahrenheit 911
Michael Moore exposed the Saudi connections to 9/11 in his documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, released back in 2004. US State Department staffers apparently finally got around to watching it just recently.
US President Barack Obama landed in Saudi Arabia for a GCC petrodollar summit and to proverbially "reassure Gulf allies" amidst the oiliest of storms.

The Doha summit this past weekend that was supposed to enshrine a cut in oil production by OPEC, in tandem with Russia - it was practically a done deal - ended up literally in the dust.

The City of London - via the FT - wants to convey the impression to global public opinion that it all boiled down to a dispute between Prince Mohammed bin Salman - the conductor of the illegal war on Yemen — and Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi. The son of — ailing — King Salman has been dubbed "the unpredictable new voice of the kingdom's energy policy."

A famous 3 am call did take place in Doha on Sunday. The young Salman called the Saudi delegation and told them the deal was off. Every other energy market player was stunned by the reversion.

Yet the true story, according to a financial source with very close links to the House of Saud, is that "the United States threatened the Prince that night with the most dire consequences if he did not back down on the oil price freeze."

So - predictably — this goes way beyond an internal Saudi matter, or the Prince's "erratic" behavior, even as the House of Saud is indeed racked by multiple instances of fear and paranoia, as I analysed here.

As the source explains, an oil production cut would have "hindered the US goal of bankrupting Russia via an oil price war, which is what this is all about. Even the Prince is not that erratic."

Comment: Indeed, explicit threats are hollow.

Still, it's a hoot watching the psychos turn on each other!

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Light Sabers

Thanks to Russia: US ambassador says no room for NATO expansion


RT
Fri, 22 Apr 2016 17:34 UTC
Stoltenberg and Poroshenko
© Gleb Garanich / ReutersNATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg (C) and Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko
There's not much "additional room" for NATO expansion in the years to come, a US ambassador to the alliance has said, adding that Russia plays an important part in the strategic environment.

Saying that the military bloc is facing an upheaval equal to the times during the last years of the Cold War, it is now time to put "a brake" on NATO expansion, Douglas Lute said Friday.

"I think Russia plays an important part in the strategic environment and the strategic environment will put a brake on NATO expansion," Lute told the Aspen Security Forum in London, as quoted by Reuters.

"In practical terms I don't [think] there's much additional room in the near term, the next several years perhaps or maybe even longer, for additional NATO expansion," he said.
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Vader

Killary's Super PAC spending over $1 million on online trolls


RT
Fri, 22 Apr 2016 17:09 UTC
Hillary Clinton
© Lucas Cobb/Flickr CC
A pro-Hillary Clinton Super Pac is spending serious money to tackle negative Clinton comments across social media.

Describing its focus as being "to defend Hillary Clinton from baseless attacks," Correct the Record is launching a digital taskforce and investing over $1million to "push back on online harassment."

"Correct The Record will invest more than $1 million into Barrier Breakers 2016 activities, including the more than tripling of its digital operation to engage in online messaging both for Secretary Clinton and to push back against attackers on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and Instagram," said the PAC in a statement released Thursday.

The statement says "lessons learned from online engagement with 'Berni Bros' during the Democratic Primary will be applied to the rest of the primary season and general election - responding quickly and forcefully to negative attacks and false narratives."
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Eye 2

Best of the Web: Brzezinski details the elites' desperate and hopeless imperial strategy against Russia and China


Katehon.com
Thu, 21 Apr 2016 16:25 UTC
Zbigniew Brzezinski
Zbigniew Brzezinski
Famous American political scientist Zbigniew Brzezinski once again frightened mankind by saying that "the end of America's global role ... would most probably be global chaos". To avoid this, the supporter of the American hegemony of the United States suggested Global Realignment. That's the name of his article in the Journal The American Interest. So, what is the American Interest according to Brzezinski?

To briefly summarize the content of Brzezinski's article, it boils down to two theses:

1) The United States is no longer a global imperial power.

2) As was already mentioned above - the probable chaos as a result of the collapse of the US imperial hegemony. In order for the United States to maintain its power, Brzezinski offers several recipes:
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Attention

Lavrov: Turkey's statements on Karabakh are calls for war


ITAR-TASS
Fri, 22 Apr 2016 16:33 UTC
Nagorno-Karabakh soldier
© Vahan Stepanyan, PAN Photo via AP
The Turkish authorities' statements on Nagorno-Karabakh are unacceptable as these are calls for war, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after talks with his Armenian counterpart Eduard Nalbandyan on Friday.

"The statements of the Turkish leadership are absolutely unacceptable. These were the calls not for peace but for war," Lavrov stressed. "These were calls to resolve the conflict by military means," he said, adding that this absolutely contradicts the position of the co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group.

"Unfortunately, we have got accustomed to such 'twists' of the current Turkish leadership," he said.

Earlier Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticized the work of the Minsk Group (Russia, France and the US) on Nagorno-Karabakh, accusing it of "inaction."
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Bomb

Russian sappers find large ISIS munitions depots in Palmyra holding 12,000 explosive objects


ITAR-TASS
Fri, 22 Apr 2016 16:22 UTC
Palmyra
© Konstantin Leifer/TASS
Russia's mine pickers involved in demining of Syria's Palmyra found and destroyed one of Islamic State's biggest weapons depots holding more than 12,000 explosive devices, including mines and shells, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Friday.

"The depot was well disguised. It was spotted thanks to the use of special equipment brought by Russian field engineers to Syria. Russian sappers retrieved from the depot more than 12,000 explosive objects, including large-caliber mines for mortars, artillery shells, as well as anti-tank and anti-infantry mines," he said.

"It was one of the biggest munitions depots used by Islamic State militants to organize terror attacks not only in the province of Homs but also in other Syrian provinces," Konashenkov noted.
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Gold Bar

Pimco's economist has a stunning proposal to save the economy: The Fed should buy gold

Tyler Durden
Zerohedge
Fri, 22 Apr 2016 15:57 UTC
Cartoon of Ben Bernanke
Back in December 2014, just before the ECB officially launched its initial phase of QE in which it would monetize government bonds, Mario Draghi was asked a very direct question: what types of assets could the ECB buy as part of its quantitative easing program. He responded, "we discussed all assets but gold."

The reason for his tongue in cheek response was because over the prior few weeks speculation had arisen that gold could be part of the central bank's asset purchases after Yves Mersch, a member of the ECB executive board and former Governor of the Central Bank of Luxembourg, said on November 17 that "theoretically the ECB could purchase other assets such as gold, shares, ETFs to fulfill its promise of adopting further unconventional measures to counter a longer period of low inflation."

Mario Draghi promptly shot down that idea.

But according to a provocative paper released by none other than Pimco's strategist Harley Bassman, Yves Mersch's inadvertent peek into what central bankers are thinking, may have been on to something.
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