Puppet MastersS


Eye 1

Obama set to veto legislation of 9/11 victims' bid to sue Saudis

Andrew Beatty
AFP News Agency
Wed, 21 Sep 2016 01:25 UTC
Obama
© AFP Photo/Zach GibsonWhite House officials say President Barack Obama will reject the "Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act" by a Friday veto deadline, after a little over a week of deliberation.
President Barack Obama is poised to veto legislation exposing Saudi Arabia to court action over the 9/11 attacks, stepping in to defend legal precedent and an awkward ally, but inviting election-time opprobrium.

White House officials say Obama will reject the "Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act" by a Friday veto deadline, after a little over a week of deliberation.

The administration is worried the bill -- passed unanimously by Congress -- would undermine state immunity, setting a dangerous legal precedent.

Obama's aides tried and failed to have the legislation substantially revised, and now face the prospect of Republicans and Democrats joining forces to override the presidential veto, a relatively rare rebuke of White House power.

Comment: See also:
  • 9/11 and the breakdown of Western society

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Stock Down

UN warns of epic debt defaults if global financial crisis hits


RT
Fri, 23 Sep 2016 14:51 UTC
stock trader
© Shannon Stapleton / ReutersA trader puts his hand to his face while working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, 2007
If the global economy enters a new economic crisis it may lead to epic debt defaults, according to trade economists at the United Nations.

"As capital begins to flow out, there is now a real danger of entering a third phase of the financial crisis which began in the United States housing market in late 2007 before spreading to the European sovereign bond market," the annual report of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Following the 2008-2009 crisis, developing countries faced a huge influx of cheap credit. The process was heated by quantitative easing programs in the developed nations.

"Alarm bells have been ringing over the explosion of corporate debt levels in emerging economies, which now exceed $25 trillion. Damaging deflationary spirals cannot be ruled out," the report says. Under the conditions of slowing global GDP the debt is likely not to be redeemed.
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MIB

Is Putin going to resurrect the KGB?

Colonel Cassad/Translated by Julia Rakhmetova
Colonel Cassad
Mon, 19 Sep 2016 14:45 UTC
kgb symbol
The Ministry for State Security (MGB) is set to be inaugurated before the Russian presidential elections in 2018, the newspaper Kommersant writes, referring to a confidential source. The new super-agency will be based at the Federal Security Service, which will take back the functions of the Committee for State Security (KGB) of the USSR. It will consist of the Foreign Intelligence Service and most of the units of the Federal Protective Service, which will continue as the Presidential Security Service, responsible for communication and transportation of high officials.

The new ministry will not just investigate criminal cases initiated by the Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), but will also exercise oversight, although its chief directorate of procedural controls has practically been liquidated.

"We (officers of the Federal Security Service) only provided support for investigations before, now we will control this process from the moment criminal proceedings are initiated to their submission to the court", - according to a source at the FSB internal publication. MGB officers will also verify how effectively investigators use sensitive information.
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Jet3

Russian troops arrive in Pakistan for first ever joint military drill


RT
Fri, 23 Sep 2016 14:37 UTC
Russian soldiers
© Georgiy Zimarev / Sputnik
Russian troops have arrived in Pakistan on Friday to take part in two-week military exercise, a first in the two countries' modern history. Moscow and Islamabad were on opposite sides during the Cold War.

Around 70 Russian soldiers and officers along with some 130 Pakistani counterparts are taking part in the war games called Friendship 2016, which kick-start on Saturday. The name is a symbolical reference to the old Cold War tensions between Moscow and Islamabad, which the two capitals are now trying to overcome.

On Friday, an Ilyushin Il-76 military transport plane delivered the troops to Pakistan from their home base in southern Russia.
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Snakes in Suits

Time to re-evaluate Washington's Syria policy: It has gone completely off the rails

Danielle Ryan
RT
Mon, 19 Sep 2016 14:05 UTC
A general view shows damaged buildings in the Waer district in the central Syrian city of Homs, Syria
© Omar Sanadiki / Reuters A general view shows damaged buildings in the Waer district in the central Syrian city of Homs, Syria September 19, 2016.
Fifteen years, hundreds of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars later, the United States' war on terror has spawned more instability, violence and chaos than we could have imagined when this undefined and never-ending global campaign began.

Today, jihadist terror groups control more territory and are more of a threat to the world than they were on September 11, 2001. Last week, US-based security firm the Soufan Group estimated that many of the post-9/11 concerns about global terrorism are "considerably worse now than in 2001." The group argued the spread of violent extremism has "surpassed anything [Osama] bin Laden likely thought achievable in a fifteen-year period."

This is why Washington's actions in Syria seem utterly inconceivable to those who would like to believe the US' main goal in that country is fighting terrorists. I am one of those people: I would like to believe that Washington's number one priority, globally speaking, is fighting terrorism. I would like to believe they will put aside their differences with other world powers, including Russia, in pursuit of that goal. Sadly, however, believing such a thing would make me incredibly naive.
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Bad Guys

Erdogan accuses US of delivering plane loads of arms to Kurds


RT
Fri, 23 Sep 2016 15:41 UTC
Kurdish Peshmerga fighters
© Ari Jalal / ReutersKurdish Peshmerga fighters inspect an rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launcher
Turkey's President Erdogan has accused the US of supplying arms to Kurds fighting against Islamic State in Syria. Erdogan equated the Kurdish forces with IS militants, and referred to previous cases when American weapons were seized by Islamists.

"If you think you can finish off Daesh [Arabic pejorative for IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL] with the YPG and PYD, you cannot, because they are terrorist groups too," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Turkish television, Reuters reported on Friday.

The Turkish strongman then went further, saying that the US has already sent more weapons to Kurdish militia which he described as "terrorist groups."

"Three days ago America dropped two plane loads of weapons in Kobani for these terrorist groups," Erdogan said, adding that he had discussed the issue with US Vice President Joe Biden, who had claimed to be unaware of the arms supplies.

Comment: See also:

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Footprints

Brit leader Theresa May publicly contradicts Foreign Sec. Johnson - says Brexit timetable is her choice


RT
Fri, 23 Sep 2016 13:18 UTC
Theresa May Boris Johnson Brexit
© ReutersBritain's Prime Minister Theresa May (L), British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
Prime Minister Theresa May has very publicly contradicted her Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's statement that the process of Brexit could start as soon as early 2017, insisting the decision to leave the EU is solely her own.

In their latest public spat, May's office was forced to clarify remarks made by Johnson in New York on Thursday, where he indicated the government could trigger Article 50 early next year.

"The decision to trigger Article 50 is hers. She will be doing it at a time when she believes it is in the best interest for Britain," Downing Street sources said on Friday morning.

"The prime minister's position has not changed."

While in the US to attend the UN General Assembly, Johnson said the UK will "probably" begin Brexit talks early next year and wrap them up by 2019.

Comment: Britain and the U.S. are cut from the same cloth. They want all the advantages in relation to other countries while giving nothing back. It will be interesting to see how the Brexit negotiation proceeds, should they ever even begin.

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Stock Up

Russia's rebirth of agriculture surpasses arms trade, exceeds US grain exports, may outpace oil


Sputnik
Fri, 23 Sep 2016 11:27 UTC
wheat grain export
© Sputnik/ Artem Kreminsky
Amid a record-setting harvest, Russia's agricultural sector is giving the Russian economy a powerful and much-needed boost; according to some observers, the sector even has the potential to gradually wean the country off its dependence on the export of hydrocarbons.

Earlier this month, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization projected a record grain harvest for Russia, with the US Department of Agriculture following suit, saying that Russian grain exports now exceed those of the US.

This year, the country is expected to produce about 64 million metric tons of wheat, with the total grain harvest expected to reach between 113 and 116 million tons. This would mean exceeding contemporary Russia's previous record - set in 2008 when farmers produced 108.2 million tons of grain. About 40 million tons from this year's harvest is expected to be exported, up from the 32 million tons exported last year.

Amid the bumper crop bonanza, which is becoming a regular occurrence as the Russian agro-industrial complex takes advantage of sanctions on European food products, some officials are beginning to suggest that agriculture may soon turn into a major tool helping to ease the country's dependence on oil and gas exports as a percentage of its exports earnings.

Comment: Another example of how Western sanctions against Russia has led to the country's development not in despite of the obstacles but because Russia's leaders have used such challenges as a means for growth.

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Airplane

American empire: Washington 'grants permission' to France and Germany to sell Airbus planes to Iran

Thomas Erdbrink & Nicola Clark
New York Times
Wed, 21 Sep 2016 09:45 UTC
all seeing eye
Bow down to your imperial masters!
The United States on Wednesday removed a final hurdle for Western aircraft manufacturers to sell planes to Iran, a country desperately in need of hundreds of new aircraft.

The Treasury Department granted the aviation giants Airbus and Boeing licenses to deliver planes to Tehran. The decision is a boon not only for the two companies but also for Iranian politicians who want to expand Iran's engagement with the world now that sanctions linked to Iran's nuclear program have been lifted.

A spokesman for Boeing said the license covered the sale of 80 planes to Iran's national carrier, Iran Air. Airbus confirmed that it received a license for an initial sale of 17 planes, part of a larger deal that involves a total of 118 planes.

The green light for aircraft sales allows Iran, a country of 80 million, to start rebuilding its aging fleet of Boeing and Airbus planes and other secondhand aircraft purchased clandestinely from other countries. Over the past four decades, hundreds of Iranians have died in crashes caused by malfunctioning or poorly maintained aircraft.


Comment: Blaming the victim, as always. At least one of those aircraft was deliberately shot down by the US, killing 300 people.


Comment: Thank you, Master!

That insinuation that the Iranians are war-hungry savages who need to be kept on a short leash is, of course, like the 'Iranian nukes' scare, just Washington's BS narrative.

The US, as global hegemon, seeks to 'regulate' Iran's development because it knows the enormous potential that country has in terms of geography and resources - both human and capital - and that its rightful place as regional power in the Middle East has yet to be realized.

Iran is steadfastly anti-USrael Empire. The USraeli 'green revolution' regime change attempt in 2009 failed, so the next best option was to 'train' the Iranian elite to receive rewards whenever they 'behaved', and uphold economic sanctions whenever they 'misbehaved'.

(S)electing the 'milder' Rouhani over 'nutty' Ahmadinejad, for example, was 'rewarded' with the (sort of) 'nuclear peace' deal, but it still hangs over their heads because anything non-compliant they do that the boss doesn't like, they'll suddenly found the terms of the deal have been 'broken' and sanctions reimposed.

This is also why the anti-Russian sanctions exist; to 'teach' Russia that 'annexing other territories' comes with a 'price'. The US doesn't know it yet, but in this case IT is the entity being 'taught lessons'...

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Chess

No chance of moving forward: Renewing of Syria ceasefire fails


Al Arabiya
Fri, 23 Sep 2016 10:18 UTC
A Syrian man carries a baby
© AFPA Syrian man carries a baby after removing him from the rubble of a destroyed building following a reported air strike in the Qatarji neighborhood of the northern city of Aleppo
A high-level international meeting on the crisis in Syria broke up Thursday without agreement on a way to revive a collapsed US and Russian-brokered truce.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said his Russian counterpart had not been able to promise to ground Syria's bombers and to halt the bombardment of its cities.

"The question now is whether there remains any real chance of moving forward, because it is clear that we cannot continue on the same path any longer," Kerry said.

"The first thing that we have to do is find a way to restore credibility to the process, if that can be done," he said, of attempts to restore the ceasefire.

Comment: AS IF that is the main concern here! The only country that cannot, but should, be able to guarantee that it can ground its 'accidental' jets is the USA.

See also: US defends bluffing agreement on Syria - Obama backs plan

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