Puppet MastersS


Attention

Russian UN envoy says US decision to suspend Syria contacts 'regrettable' because 'there's no alternative'


RT
Mon, 03 Oct 2016 20:24 UTC
Syria ruins
© Ammar Abdullah / Reuters
Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, has hit out at Washington's decision to freeze all cooperation with Russia over Syria, in the wake of a series of diplomatic setbacks.

"I don't think there is any alternative [to the bilateral ties between Moscow and Washington]," the diplomat told Russian reporters in New York. "That they have announced this is highly regrettable."

"There is also no alternative to trying to implement a ceasefire, and to stopping the Al-Nusra Front and ISIS while making sure that the so-called moderate opposition understands that time has come to lay down their weapons."
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Snakes in Suits

Revenge? State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman orders Trump Foundation to halt fundraising in New York


RT
Mon, 03 Oct 2016 19:29 UTC
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump
© Mike Segar / Reuters
The New York State Attorney General's Office has issued a cease and desist letter to the Donald J. Trump Foundation, claiming the charity is in violation of state registration rules.

State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman called on the New York-based charitable foundation, created by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in 1988, to "immediately cease soliciting contributions or engaging in other fundraising activities in New York" and to offer the attorney general's office proper financial reports and audited financial statements pursuant to state law.

In the Notice of Violation, the attorney general's office said that the Trump Foundation "is in violation of section 172 of Article 7-A New York's Executive Law, which requires charitable organizations that solicit contributions in New York State to register with the Charities Bureau and to provide annual financial reports and annual audited financial statements."
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Propaganda

Trump and Clinton both cited losses to get tax breaks along with the New York Times itself


RT
Mon, 03 Oct 2016 19:20 UTC
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton
© Rick Wilking / Reuters
Hillary Clinton's campaign has accused Donald Trump of tax avoidance, citing documents from 1995 showing that a major loss "could have" allowed him to pay no income tax for years. Clinton's own tax returns show she used the same device, though.

The leading story in the New York Times on Sunday was the discovery that the Republican presidential candidate had claimed a $916 million Net Operating Loss (NOL) on his 1995 tax return, which could have allowed the billionaire businessman to legally avoid paying any federal income tax for up to 18 years.

This was based on the three pages from what appears to be Trump's tax return that were mailed to the newspaper anonymously from a New York address.

Comment: So this mindless farce of the US election cycle keeps on going.

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Info

Heavy fighting erupts as Taliban fighters try to enter northern Kunduz in repeat of 2015 victory


RT
Mon, 03 Oct 2016 19:10 UTC
Taliban militia
© Noorullah Shirzada / AFP
Taliban fighters are engaged in a coordinated assault on the city of Kunduz in an apparent attempt to repeat 2015's breakthrough success, which resulted in its brief capture. There are concerns about the group making huge military strides again.

The midnight attack on the northern city, the capital of Kunduz Province, took place from four directions, and according to Reuters, fighting continued Monday morning in and around the city. Military helicopters and ground troops were engaged in heavy fire, as the city was deserted of its inhabitants, with businesses closed everywhere.

"We are putting all our efforts together to push them back," a police commander in Kunduz, Sheer Ali Kamal, told the agency.
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Eye 1

The war for your mind: Propaganda techniques of empire

James Petras
The James Petras Website
Sun, 02 Oct 2016 17:44 UTC
us propaganda machine
Washington's quest for perpetual world power is underwritten by systematic and perpetual propaganda wars. Every major and minor war has been preceded, accompanied and followed by unremitting government propaganda designed to secure public approval, exploit victims, slander critics, dehumanize targeted adversaries and justify its allies' collaboration.

In this paper we will discuss the most common recent techniques used to support ongoing imperial wars.

Role Reversal

A common technique, practiced by the imperial publicists, is to accuse the victims of the same crimes, which had been committed against them. The well documented, deliberate and sustained US-EU aerial bombardment of Syrian government soldiers, engaged in operations against ISIS-terrorist, resulted in the deaths and maiming of almost 200 Syrian troops and allowed ISIS-mercenaries to overrun their camp. In an attempt to deflect the Pentagon's role in providing air cover for the very terrorists it claims to oppose, the propaganda organs cranked out lurid, but unsubstantiated, stories of an aerial attack on a UN humanitarian aid convoy, first blamed on the Syrian government and then on the Russians. The evidence that the attack was most likely a ground-based rocket attack by ISIS terrorists did not deter the propaganda mills. This technique would turn US and European attention away from the documented criminal attack by the imperial bombers and present the victimized Syrian troops and pilots as international human rights criminals.
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Star of David

Moscow court finds Russian pro-Israeli blogger guilty of extremism, fined 1/2 million rubles


Radio Free Europe
Mon, 03 Oct 2016 18:13 UTC
Anton Nosik
© RFE/RLAnton Nosik

Comment: Putin has stated publicly that the Russian government will do everything necessary to fight extremism. Russia continues to match their words with deeds by fining this troll! It's too bad he didn't get jail time.


A Moscow court has found prominent Russian-Israeli blogger and web pioneer Anton Nosik guilty of extremism and fined him half a million rubles ($8,000) over a blog post titled "Wipe Syria Off The Face Of The Earth".

The Presnensky district court ruled that Nosik had incited hatred or hostility toward Syrians in his October 1, 2015, post, but the court declined to give him a prison sentence because of "mitigating circumstances."

The judge noted that Nosik is the father of a small child and does not have a criminal record. Prosecutors had asked for Nosik to be jailed for two years.

Nosik denied the charge of extremism throughout his trial, but stood by his blog post, which was published after Russia launched a campaign of air strikes in Syria on September 30, 2015.

In his blog post, Nosik said he "warmly welcomes" any bombing in Syria regardless of the loss of civilian life or infrastructure because he deems Syria a threat to Israel.

After the trial on October 3, he told Interfax he intended to appeal his fine.

Comment: See also: Putin on fighting extremism, color revolutions

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Arrow Down

Anti-corruption hysteria: Ending Brazil's dreams of the future


Katehon
Mon, 03 Oct 2016 00:00 UTC
U 40 brazilskih gradova protesti protiv novog predsjednika
© AP
A famous saying about Brazil is that it is "the country of the future". This saying may be taken as a hopeful one, pointing at the immense potential the country has in terms of culture, natural resources, etc; or as one of sorrow - greatness lays always in the distant future, never in the present.

Great sovereigns are a rarity anywhere in the world, and Brazil is no exception. We may easily cite two: Emperor Pedro II, who created the Brazilian Empire (as an emerging power) and preserved national unity in a continent-sized nation by crushing provincial revolts and strengthening the presence of the State, and Getúlio Vargas, who led Brazil into the modern industrial era. Pedro II and Getúlio Vargas ruled in the 19th and 20th centuries respectively. With all their faults, these men had a vision to fulfill the great dream of a strong, unified, respected and prosperous country, and each contributed towards that dream.

A grandiose dream: 2002-2012

We are still in the early stages of the 21st century, but one might argue that the political cycle of 2002-2012 - during the terms of former president Lula and his successor Dilma Rousseff, both from the Worker's Party (PT) - will in the future be remembered as a stillborn attempt at achieving that same greatness. During the decade, Brazil blossomed through major infrastructure projects, military modernization, social improvements, steady economic growth, and an unbeknownst level of international respect and credibility. The country seemed to be taking a new leap forward. The basis for this new cycle were:

Economic: huge increase in internal market, commodity exports to China, state-backed lobbying and strengthening of Brazilian trans-national companies acting in strategic locations (South America, Portuguese Africa), state-backed infrastructure mega-projects (irrigation canals, hydroelectric dams, natural gas powerplants, oil drilling sites, ultra-deep water pre-salt layer drilling, oil refineries, ports, shipyards, etc).

Comment: What is taking place in Brazil has little to do with actually fighting corruption. Rather, it is a power grab by Brazil's elites and a mainstream media which is an intrinsic part of these elites, to wrest control of the country and begin to privatize state industries for their own benefit. They are being aided and abetted by the U.S. neocons who seek to undermine by any and all means the BRICS's collective effort to produce a viable alternative to the global economic/financial system.

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Eye 2

Gloves come off? US suspends bilateral contact with Russia over Syria


RT
Mon, 03 Oct 2016 18:00 UTC
Syria destroyed buildings
© Abdalrhman Ismail / Reuters
Washington has "suspended" bilateral contacts with Moscow over the Syrian crisis, the US State Department said.

US officials had threatened for a week to withdraw from the Syrian peace process, after the latest ceasefire negotiated by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Secretary of State John Kerry collapsed amid bloody fighting.


Comment: The Washington warhawks won.

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Radar

Russia and US on verge of 'very sharp conceptual disagreement' over Syria


Sputnik
Mon, 03 Oct 2016 17:47 UTC
Damascus, Syria
© AP Photo/ Hassan Ammar
Moscow and Washington are currently at the stage of "a very sharp conceptual disagreement" over the Syrian crisis, Russia's deputy foreign minister told Sputnik.

Russia and the United States have vast conceptual differences on the approach to resolving the Syrian conflict, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Sputnik. "We are now at the stage of a very sharp conceptual disagreement with those who, like the US representative to the United Nations, are trying to moralize without having the slightest justification for that," Ryabkov said in an interview when asked about the recent spate of disagreements between the two countries on Syria.

Comment: Washington has now suspended cooperation with Russia: Gloves come off? US suspends bilateral contact with Russia over Syria

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Bad Guys

The American massacre at Deir ez-Zor: A 21st-century Mukden Incident?

Andrew Korybko
Katehon
Mon, 03 Oct 2016 17:53 UTC
carter
Secretary of War Ash Carter - de facto POTUS?
The US and Imperial Japan might be a lot more alike than many people imagine.

Imperial Japan committed some of the worst atrocities of the entire 20th century, despite its crimes largely remaining unknown among the general non-Asian populace. Tokyo also adhered to a fascist ideology during this time as well, which it relied on to 'justify' its genocide of the Chinese people and others.

The US, just like Imperial Japan, has also carried out abominable horrors that it's attempted to 'justify' with the fascist ideology of "American Exceptionalism", but there are even more similarities to these two Empires than initially meets the eye.

Japan invaded northeastern China ("Manchuria") in 1931 after the fabricated Mukden Incident, which was a false-flag attack carried out by the Imperial Army in order to set into motion the establishment of the "Manchukuo" puppet state. What's especially notable about this ploy, however, is that it's generally regarded that the military did this outside the purview of the formal government, and that this false-flag activity was essentially designed to pressure the government into eventually accepting the invasion and occupation of northeastern China as a fait accompli.
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