Puppet MastersS


Snakes in Suits

Congress concerned about Chinese investment in Hollywood

Brent Lang and Gene Maddaus
Variety
Thu, 22 Sep 2016 16:03 UTC
movie theater
© AMC
The rise of Chinese investment in Hollywood is raising alarms in Congress, which could complicate studios' ambitions to strengthen ties to the Middle Kingdom.

The latest salvo came in a letter from 16 members of Congress last week, which called for closer scrutiny of Chinese investment in the U.S. entertainment and media sectors. The letter cited the Dalian Wanda Group's acquisitions of Legendary Entertainment, AMC and Carmike Cinemas, and warned of "growing concerns" of Chinese efforts to exert "propaganda controls on American media."


Comment: Don't the Chinese know, propaganda controls on American media is the express domain of the US government. They can control the minds of the American people, but no one else is allowed to!


Wanda has been on a buying spree, of late, announcing a merger between AMC and Carmike that would make it the largest exhibitor in the world. Earlier this week, news broke that Wanda plans to form a multi-picture alliance with Sony Pictures.

Rep. Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, warned that growing Chinese investment could raise strategic concerns.

"Would we raise questions if Russia or Iran was buying large parts of U.S. media and entertainment companies? Of course we would," Smith said in a statement to Variety. "Raising questions about Chinese investment is no different."
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Bad Guys

Over 120 rebels quit Syria's Homs under deal with Syrian government

AFP
France 24
Thu, 22 Sep 2016 15:45 UTC
Syrian soldier stands guard
© AFP
More than 120 rebels and dozens of their relatives on Thursday left the last rebel-held district of Syria's Homs city under a deal with the regime, the governor said. The group was the second wave of fighters to leave the Waer neighbourhood under an agreement reached between opposition and government forces in December.

The United Nations oversaw the original deal but was not present during Thursday's operation, and its decision to stay away delayed the evacuation, which had been due to start Monday.

Homs governor Talal Barazi told reporters that "123 armed men and 157 civilians from the families of the armed men left to northern Homs province".

The evacuees were headed to Dar al-Kubra, which is under rebel control.
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Jet4

India sign deal with France to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets


RT
Fri, 23 Sep 2016 17:47 UTC
Rafale fighter jet
© Charles Platiau / ReutersA French Air Force Rafale fighter jet
India has signed one of its biggest defense deals in decades, committing to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from French aviation company Dassault. The agreement will set Delhi back $8.8 billion.

The agreement was signed on Friday by India's defense minister, Manohar Parrikar, and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian. The deal follows four years of negotiations, delays and obstacles.

"You can only ever be completely sure once [the deal] has been signed and that's what happened today," Le Drian after the ceremony, referring to the delays, AFP reported.

Parrikar said the deal will "significantly improve India's strike and defense capabilities," according to Reuters.

Comment: See also:

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Chess

Group with ties to Soros launches Putin-Trump conspiracy site

Edmund Kozak
LifeZette
Wed, 21 Sep 2016 15:50 UTC
soros españa
A website peddling conspiracy theories about Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin was launched Wednesday by individuals with ties to left-wing billionaire George Soros.

The site, www.putintrump.org, claims that "Donald Trump's lavish praise of Russian president Vladimir Putin, his criticism of our strategic NATO alliance, and his campaign staff's close financial ties to pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine put our national security interests at risk."

According to GotNews, Soros-tied PR firm Ripple Strategies sent out an internal memo from co-founder Glenn Turner Tuesday evening announcing the site's launch. It described it as a site "that rigorously details and analyzes the disturbing, unprecedented ties between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin."

Far more disturbing for others, however, should be the unprecedented lengths to which the Western globalists and their allies on the Left will go to sink Donald Trump's campaign.

Ripple Strategies lists Soros' Open Society Foundations as a client, but a deeper dig reveals that the putintrump.org's ties to George Soros go far further than just its PR firm.
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Jet3

UK scrambled jets to intercept Russian bombers that flew close to "area of interest" but did not breach British airspace


RT
Fri, 23 Sep 2016 15:39 UTC
raf fighter jet
© Paul Hackett / Reuters
Typhoon fighter jets were scrambled from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland to intercept two Russian Tu-160 Blackjack bombers, the British Ministry of Defense said on Thursday.

While the Russian planes "at no point did...breach British airspace," the MoD says they were flying near a UK "area of interest" and thus were escorted by the Typhoons until they safely left the vicinity.

This incident is the latest in a series of encounters between the Russian and UK air forces, which have taken on a tenser atmosphere since the start of the Ukraine crisis. According to statistics obtained by the Mirror in February, between 2010 and 2015 there were 102 instances of Quick Response Aircraft being scrambled by the Royal Air Force, 50 of which were in response to Russian planes. The rest of the encounters were mostly with civilian aircraft.

In February, Typhoons from RAF Coningsby intercepted two Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers off the coast of Cornwall. At the time, then-Prime Minister David Cameron said: "I suspect what's happening here is that the Russians are trying to make some sort of a point and I don't think we should dignify it with too much of a response."
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Treasure Chest

Countries queuing up to do business with Iran: US 'wants to get in that queue'


Sputnik
Fri, 23 Sep 2016 15:21 UTC
Hollande and Rouhani
© AFP 2016/ STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN
Following the lifting of the Western sanctions regarding its nuclear program, Iran seems to be in the focus of European and Asian businesses; London-based political commentator Chris Bambery told Radio Sputnik why Tehran is gradually becoming a "prime investment area for Western capitalism."

On Wednesday, major aviation giants Airbus and Boeing announced that they have received permission from the US government to sell aircraft to Iran, part of a series of landmark deals potentially worth some $50 billion in total following last year's nuclear accord.

Airbus announced that early on Wednesday it received a license from the US government for its first sale of seventeen planes to Iran.
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Yoda

Putin makes his country great again, and is gaining global popularity in the process

Peter Korzun
Strategic Culture Foundation
Fri, 23 Sep 2016 14:28 UTC
Vlad Putin
© The Awe Some Daily
The September parliamentary elections in Russia resulted in a big win for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The ruling United Russia party gained an absolute majority of seats. All other parties represented in the parliament back the national leader.

With the broad support he enjoys at home, the Russian president is becoming more and more popular abroad. For instance, US GOP candidate Donald Trump consistently says kind words for Vladimir V. Putin, who is often demonized by American media. Contrary to all predictions, this stance only fueled the Trump's popularity among American voters.

According to an August 2016 YouGov / Economist poll, only 27 per cent of registered Republicans have a negative view of the Russian president, compared with 66 per cent two years ago.

Eighty-five per cent of Republicans say they view Mr. Putin to be a strong leader, while just 18 per cent of Republicans say the same of Barack Obama. Among voters backing Mr. Trump, the Russian president's approval ratings are even higher, with one-third of Trump supporters saying they view Mr. Putin favorably.

It means the American grass roots' support for President Putin is on the rise at the time the bilateral relations are at low ebb and going through a period of heightened tensions!

It's not the US only. The support for the Russian president is strong and going up in the Europe.

Comment: Another reason to celebrate Putin and his policies: Russia's rebirth of agriculture surpasses arms trade, exceeds US grain exports, may outpace oil

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Network

Japanese PM Shinzo Abe meets with Castro for advice on dealing with North Korea


RT
Fri, 23 Sep 2016 15:18 UTC
castro shinzo abe meeting
© Alex Castro / ReutersCuba's former President Fidel Castro (R) and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (L) meet in Havana, Cuba, September 22, 2016
Japanese PM Shinzo Abe has called on Cuba, one of North Korea's allies, to denounce the country's troubling nuclear program and use leverage to stop it, as he met with the revolutionary leader Fidel Castro in Havana during his first-ever visit to the country.

Abe has become the first Japanese leader to come to the island state since the Cuban revolution of the 1950s, spearheaded by Castro, who served as president for four decades. The visit falls in line with the strategy of gradual rapprochement with the West pursued by Fidel's younger brother and Cuba's current leader, Raul Castro. The policy reached its culminating point with US President Barack Obama traveling to the country in March on an official state visit, the first by a US leader in 88 years.

Prior to the ongoing UN General Assembly session, Japan' s PM vowed to "take the leadership toward a new UN resolution" on North Korea, which had recently carried out its fifth nuclear test in violation of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. While addressing the session he called the danger posed by the North's nuclear rapid nuclear development "substantially more serious" than ever.

The issue was also high on the agenda during more than an hour-long meeting with Fidel Castro on Thursday.

"The PM pointed out the necessity [for] the international community to respond to this [North Korea's nuclear test] rigorously in unity,"Japan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Yasuhisa Kawamura said after the meeting, as cited by Reuters.
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Eye 1

All for a purpose: Obama-era surveillance worse than Stasi, says Oliver Stone


AFP
Thu, 22 Sep 2016 14:43 UTC
Oliver Stone and Edward Snowden
© Associated PressOliver Stone and Edward Snowden
US film director Oliver Stone on Thursday accused President Barack Obama's administration of implementing a surveillance system worse than that of the feared Stasi secret police in East Germany.

Speaking at the San Sebastian film festival in northern Spain, where he presented his film "Snowden," Stone said many in the US had grown disillusioned with a president they once saw as "a man of great integrity."

"On the contrary, Obama has doubled down on the (George W.) Bush administration policies," said Stone, whose latest movie is a biographical political thriller about Edward Snowden, the former intelligence contractor who revealed a vast US surveillance programme in 2013.

Obama "has created... the most massive global security surveillance state that's ever been seen, way beyond East Germany's Stasi, way beyond that."

"In the name of one thing -- terrorism -- to change all the rules is not a marginal response, it's an extreme response," he told reporters.

"Let's beware of fascists and tyrants who tell us 'we are going to protect you'. I don't want that."

Comment: The justification for such a system of surveillance given by Bush and then continued by Obama is that it is necessary to safeguard the American people and the United States against the threat of terrorism after 9/11. A person would think then that more Americans and people would critically investigate 9/11 for themselves to ensure what those in authority are saying and doing is correct and justified. This is sadly generally not the case. The justification of protection from the terrorism threat couldn't be further from the truth. Those at the top could care less about the American people. Elements of the U.S. government had a hand in 9/11 with subsequent coverup of their deeds and endless wars ever since.

The surveillance state in addition to the police state to go along with it were put in place after 9/11 to ensure control and domination of the American people. Whether it is economic warfare and collapse, global weather issues leading to food problems and general chaos or cosmic related catastrophe, TPTB want to ensure they remain on top.

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Jet3

Iranian general says military chased away US spy plane


Sott.net
Fri, 23 Sep 2016 14:57 UTC
spy plane
© Reuters
Iranian General Farzad Esmaili told the Iranian state television that the country's air defense responded to an attempt by a US-controlled U-2 spy plane to fly over the country by scrambling its air defense to chase the plane away from the country's border.

The Pentagon did not respond to the incident, which according to the general happened in "recent days." The general did not disclose details of the attempted violation of Iranian airspace.

Just last week Iran accused the US of flying a surveillance plane within a mile of its border. Iran responded by threatening to shoot down the American spy plane if it crossed in Iranian territory. The Iranian military reportedly believes the US is testing Iranian reaction to close flybys.

Also, in August Iranian gunboats intercepted an American destroyer in the Strait of Hormuz. Washington described it as an "unprofessional maneuver," but it's clear the US is poking and prodding the Iranian military's readiness in response to a military threat.
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