Puppet MastersS


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NGOs: Grassroots empowerment or information warfare tools?

Daniel Deiss, J. Hawk, Edwin Watson
South Front
Sat, 01 Oct 2016 15:47 UTC
south front
During the early phases of the post-Cold War "New World Order," NGOs were touted as representing a new wave of international politics. Instead of allowing international issues to be settled in closed meetings, the people themselves, informed by intrepid citizen journalists, would from now on play the key role in setting the agenda. Like most of the promises made in the 1990s, this one also failed to deliver. It became clear that many NGOs, far from representing the "grass roots" of politics, were more akin to the artificial grass-like stadium surface known in the US as "astroturf". It may look and even, to a degree, feel like the genuine article, but it most certainly is not. Many NGOs, while presenting a public image of bottom-up activism, were funded by major corporations or governments, which had the effect of depriving them of their independence and objectivity.

Given the success of NGOs as promoters of corporate interests, it did not take very long for them to begin to position themselves as independent, objective, and trustworthy sources of political information. Their appeal was largely based, once again, on the perception that the average NGO, or even a blog dealing with international affairs, is being implemented as a collection of concerned citizens engaged in unbiased news collection, analysis, and reporting. In that respect, they filled quite a large niche vacated by government spokesmen, news organizations, and intelligence services, all of which have been losing the public's trust and which were no longer seen as objective.


Comment: On the White Helmets: On SOHR:

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Binoculars

What is Turkey up to? 1000 special forces sent into Syria on secretive mission to secure 'security zone'

Kim Sengupta
Independent (UK)
Sat, 01 Oct 2016 16:02 UTC
turkey tank
While international focus is on the devastating bombing going on in Aleppo, another offensive is taking place, much of it in the shadows, which could be a game-changer in Syria's bloody civil war.

The Turkish military, with armour, air-power and troops on the ground - a thousand of them special forces - are moving deeper into Syria, along with Syrian opposition fighters, setting up a "security zone" across the border.

Operation Euphrates Shield has been marked for Ankara by increasing acrimony with Washington and warming of relations with Moscow. The Turkish forces have attacked Kurdish fighters who are America's key allies in the fight against Isis, while Russia, busy securing Aleppo for ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has given tacit approval for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's actions in northern Syria.

Comment: Any guess as to what the plan is here? Is Erdogan acting on his own, or is this part of a larger cooperation?

See also: No 'Hot War', only dirty tricks as U.S. Imperialists go to the wire against Russia over Syria

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Snakes in Suits

Former British diplomat: US warning to Russia was 'unprofessional, threatening, tactless and undiplomatic'


RT
Sun, 02 Oct 2016 17:29 UTC
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
With the US election approaching, the State Department is indulging in 'Billary Clinton' electoral rhetoric, as a number of people hope to get a promotion if she wins, William Mallinson, a former British diplomat and professor at Marconi University told RT.

The US is threatening to end cooperation with Moscow in Syria unless "Russian and Syrian attacks on the city of Aleppo stop."

The ultimatum was made in a phone call between US Secretary of State John Kerry, and Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

The US State Department says it's also looking at non-diplomatic options for responding to the situation.

Reacting to State Department spokesman John Kirby, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said Russia is aware there are US specialists in Aleppo planning and controlling terrorist operations. He also accused Washington of covering up its real motives on the ground in Syria by saying it is working to separate the terrorists from the moderate rebels.

Comment: Russia has come out with its own warning: Russia warns against US attack on Syrian forces

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Rocket

Oops they did it again!: US kills 22 in Somalia using 'misdirected' drone strike

Daniel McAdams
Ron Paul Institute
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 00:00 UTC
Somalia drone strike
In what the US is calling a "misdirected" airstrike, some 22 Somali citizens and soldiers were killed by a US missile fired from a drone intended to take out al-Qaeda affiliated al-Shabab militia members. According to the BBC, the airstrike may have been a ruse by one region in Somalia seeking to settle scores with another courtesy of US military might: "Officials in the semi-autonomous region of Galmudug accused neighboring Puntland of misleading the US into believing they had targeted extremists."

Comment: Where's the outrage from the Western media on this?! Why isn't Samantha Power condemning this "mistake" by the US military??

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Bad Guys

Al-Nusra Shariah spokesperson endorses Syrian White Helmets as mujahideen

Paul Antonopoulos
Almasdar News
Sat, 01 Oct 2016 17:18 UTC
Abdallah Muhammad al Muhaysini
In the latest video, an al-Nusra spokesman endorses the Nobel Peace prize candidates, the White Helmets, as mujahideen.

Abdallah Muhammad al Muhaysini, is a popular Saudi cleric who has relocated to Syria illegally and became the Army of Conquests Shariah Court spokesperson.

The White Helmets are seen as humanitarians, but the relationship between them and internationally recognized terrorist groups like al-Nusra is ignored.

Abdullah Muhaysni says the White Helmets "are no different from the Mujahideen".

In an interview with the Swiss Islamic Central Council, he said, "I was an admirer of al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Islamic State of Iraq."

Comment: More articles on these White Helmets:

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Network

Russian server head on DNC hack: 'No idea' why FBI still has not contacted us


RT
Sun, 02 Oct 2016 17:05 UTC
people typing on computer keyboard
© David McNew / Reuters
Blaming Russia because servers are from here is "absurd," Vladimir Fomenko, owner of the Russian server company implicated in the DNC hack, told RT adding that they are ready to help any special service in investigating the attack.

Fomenko's web hosting service, King Servers, was identified by American cybersecurity company ThreatConnect as the platform for the attack on emails of the Democratic National Committee. Six out of the eight IP addresses used by the hackers were hosted on King Servers, ThreatConnect claimed in September.

But the 26-year-old from Biysk, in western Siberia, is far from being scared or unwilling to cooperate. In fact, he recently told the New York Times that "If the FBI asks, we are ready to supply the IP addresses, the logs." However, he says, "Nobody is asking... It's like nobody wants to sort this out."

Comment: Could it be the FBI knows where the cyberattacks originated from but don't want to disclose it because it would put a stop to the anti-Russia propaganda?

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Attention

Migration crisis: The "Palestinianization" of refugees within the EU

Daniel Deiss, J. Hawk, Edwin Watson
Global Research
Thu, 08 Sep 2016 00:00 UTC
migrants EU
© AP/Philippe Huguen
The EU migration crisis is still at the top of the agenda. Various political forces are trying to use this problem for their own benefit, often forgetting that most of the refugees from the Middle East and Africa who arrived in the EU in the last two years did so out of fear for their lives. They traded their modest but stable and predictable lives for chaos, loss of loved ones, poverty of refugee camps, criminality of city outskirts, and ostracism by the EU populace.

In reality, the second decade of the 21st century, which only a quarter century ago was predicted to be socially progressive and technologically creative, saw millions of people displaced from their homelands due to their desire to simply survive physically.

The EU saw the arrival of 1,353,000 migrants in 2015. Germany received 539 thousand, Sweden 152 thousand, Hungary 149 thousand, and Italy and Austria 90 thousand apiece, according to Eurostat. Over 3,700 migrants have perished on the way to Europe in 2015.


Comment: These suggestions were not on the EU to do list:
  • Stop the wars.
  • Give the refugees back their countries.
  • Stay out.


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Dominoes

The usefulness of propaganda in modern democracies

Neil Godfrey
Vridar
Sat, 10 Sep 2016 00:00 UTC
collage face
© www.mischmasch.comBits repeated eventually come together and we see the big picture for what it is.
It is a remarkable fact worthy of attention that modem propaganda should have begun in the democratic States. During World Was I we saw the combined use of the mass media for the first time; the application of publicity and advertising methods to political affairs, the search for the most effective psychological methods. But in those days German propaganda was mediocre: the French, English, and American democracies launched big propaganda. Similarly, the Leninist movement, undeniably democratic at the start, developed and perfected all propaganda methods. Contrary to some belief, the authoritarian regimes were not the first to resort to this type of action, though they eventually employed it beyond all limits. This statement should make us think about the relationship between democracy and propaganda.
Propaganda began in modern democratic states? Surely those of us who are so fortunate to live in open democracies are free to think for ourselves and make informed decisions for the greater good. We have a free press, publicly accountable education and the secret ballot. After all . . .

Comment: How much of what we think and believe are truly our own thoughts and conclusions? And how are we to know unless we learn to discern the truth from the ploy.

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Snakes in Suits

Erdogan blasts EU for keeping Turks 'waiting at the door,' warns 'game' over


RFE/RL
Sat, 01 Oct 2016 16:51 UTC
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has used a major speech to his country's lawmakers to press the European Union to clarify its position on eventual Turkish membership and follow through on a perceived pledge to let Turks travel visa-free by this month in exchange for help stemming the flow of migrants.

Eyed with suspicion in the West as he appears to crack down on civil liberties in the wake of a failed coup, Erdogan came out swinging in the October 1 address to the opening session of the Turkish parliament.

"If the EU is going to make Turkey a full member, we are ready. But they should know that we have come to the end of the game," he said in the televised speech.


Comment: Interesting Erdogan keeps pressing this EU membership issue when his people seem to be against it: Foreign Minister Cavusoglu: Turkish people 'pressing' govt to drop aim of EU membership


He said it was no time to "beat around the bush or engage in diplomatic acrobatics," and he accused the EU of keeping Turkey's 80 million or so citizens of "waiting at the door for 53 years" since early talk of possible Turkish membership.

Comment: Here is part of Turkey's "definition of terrorism": Turkey MPs Back Extension Of Troop Mandate In Syria, Iraq
The Turkish parliament has backed extending for another year a mandate for ongoing military operations in neighboring Syria and Iraq.

Forces from Turkey have focused largely on fighting alongside Syrian rebels against militants from the radical fundamentalist Sunni group Islamic State (IS) since invading Syria in a major operation that began in late August.

But they have also targeted Kurdish militia, some of whom are allied with the United States in the multifaceted Syrian conflict that's nearing its six-year mark, as well as attacked members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq.

Iraqi officials have also expressed concern as Turkish troops appear to be girding for an offensive aimed at taking the IS-held city of Mosul, in northern Iraq.

The Turkish military mandate allowing for troops to operate against terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq to its south dates back to October 2014.

Its extension was backed by ruling and opposition parties.


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Bomb

'I stopped Netanyahu from catastrophic attack on Iran' - Peres' years-long claim made public


RT
Sun, 02 Oct 2016 02:15 UTC
Benjamin Netanyahu
© Lucas Jackson / ReutersIsrael's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu points to a red line he has drawn on the graphic of a bomb as he addresses the 67th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. Headquarters in New York, September 27, 2012.
In a statement that was not to be made public until his death, the former Israeli President told Jerusalem Post he stopped PM Benjamin Netanyahu from a "catastrophic" military strike against Iran, at the time the world leaders were engaged in nuclear deal talks.

Israel has been the most ardent critic of Iran's nuclear program for decades, viewing Tehran's progress in this sphere as a direct threat to Israel and regional security. For years the country has resisted the P5+1 negotiations on Iran's nuclear future.

Benjamin Netanyahu's cartoon of a nuclear bomb which he presented to the UN General Assembly in September 2012 certainly grabbed the world's attention. Having incessantly talked about "red lines" for Iran's nuclear development, four years ago he literally drew one across the bomb to illustrate the point at which the international community should take decisive action. Netanyahu set his literal red line at the 90 percent threshold of uranium enrichment.

Up until P5+1 (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, plus Germany) announced the agreement with Iran in July 2015, to limit the country's nuclear development in exchange for sanction relief, Israel was threatening to take unilateral action against Tehran.

Comment: It was Peres, to the total shock of the Iranians, who first cast Iran in the role of Israeli enemy and international threat. This bold move as casting director produced a total shift in Israel's foreign policy and world view. It represented a complete realignment of the periphery doctrine. Rabin and Peres, who had until recently been pushing the Americans to improve relations with Iran, would now attempt to make friends with the Arab vicinity and vilify the Iranian periphery.

It was this reorientation by Peres that first severed relations with Iran and sought to cast the Islamic Republic as a world threat. It was this reorienting and casting decision by Peres and Rabin that set in motion the push for conflict with Iran. It was now, for the first time—with obvious implications for today—that Israel began to accuse Iran of seeking nuclear weapons and warning the world that Iran would have a nuclear bomb before the millennium: a script still being read by Netanyahu.

See also: This Nobel Prize winning "peace maker" has quite a legacy indeed:

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