Puppet MastersS


Stock Down

In December foreign officials sell a record $48 billion in U.S. Treasurys

Tyler Durden
Zerohedge
Tue, 16 Feb 2016 03:24 UTC
There has been much speculation whether foreign official institutions (central banks, SWFs, reserve managers and so on) are selling Treasurys or equities, or both as part of the Quantitative Tightening phenomenon.

Moments ago, courtesy of the latest TIC data we have an answer: based on the monthly flow report breaking down Treasury transactions between foreign official and private entities, in December the far more important, former, group sold $48.1 billion in US Treasurys: the highest single monthly outflow on record.
Chart treasury bond sales

Comment: U.S. Treasury notes not so safe anymore? Wonder what the powers-that-be have in mind in the near future, an economic collapse perhaps? Will the U.S. run out of buyers for their treasury notes?

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Attention

Still not feeling safe: France extends state of emergency for three more months


Sputnik
Tue, 16 Feb 2016 03:10 UTC
French police
© REUTERS/ Philippe Wojazer
According to the French BFMTV news channel, 212 lawmakers of the French parliament's lower chamber, the National Assembly, supported the Interior Ministry's draft law on the measures extension up to May 26.

Last week, the upper house of the French Parliament, the Senate, voted for the three-month extension.

On November 13, a series of terrorist attacks across Paris left at least 130 people dead. The Daesh terrorist group, outlawed in Russia and many other countries, claimed responsibility for the tragedy.
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Magic Wand

Bernie Sanders - the pull of illusion

Chris Hedges
TruthDig
Sat, 13 Feb 2016 02:54 UTC
Bernie Sanders
© Evan Vucci / Associated PressDemocratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaking during a campaign event Saturday at the Reno Sparks Convention Center in Reno, Nev.
Bernie Sanders, who has attracted numerous young, white, college-educated supporters in his bid for the presidency, says he is creating a movement and promises a political revolution. This rhetoric is an updated version of the "change" promised by the 2008 campaign of Barack Obama and by Jesse Jackson's earlier National Rainbow Coalition. Such Democratic electoral campaigns, at best, raise political consciousness. But they do not become movements or engender revolutions. They exist as long as election campaigns endure and then they vanish. Sanders' campaign will be no different.

No movement or political revolution will ever be built within the confines of the Democratic Party. And the repeated failure of the American left to grasp the duplicitous game being played by the political elites has effectively neutered it as a political force. History, after all, should count for something.

The Democrats, like the Republicans, have no interest in genuine reform. They are wedded to corporate power. They are about appearance, not substance. They speak in the language of democracy, even liberal reform and populism, but doggedly block campaign finance reform and promote an array of policies, including new trade agreements, that disempower workers. They rig the elections, not only with money but also with so-called superdelegates—more than 700 delegates who are unbound among a total of more than 4,700 at the Democratic convention. Sanders may have received 60 percent of the vote in New Hampshire, but he came away with fewer of the state's delegates than Clinton. This is a harbinger of the campaign to come.
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Bullseye

Turks launch 100+ artillery strikes on Syrian towns in Aleppo


RT
Tue, 16 Feb 2016 20:55 UTC
Turk shelling
© www.hurriyetdailynews.comTurkish troops shell Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party positions in Syria's Azaz district.
Both government and opposition-held towns in Syria over the border from Turkey have fallen under Ankara's shelling that began last week, according the Russian Ministry of Defense. Turkey's artillery has fired more than 100 shells at bordering areas in the northwest province of Aleppo, targeting both Syrian government forces and the opposition, MoD spokesman Igor Konashenkov told reporters on Tuesday. "Impartial monitoring bodies have detected more than a hundred rounds of fire that targeted border towns in the province of Aleppo," Konashenkov said.

Last week Turkey started pounding Syrian Kurdish forces with fire in northern Syria in an apparent attempt to stop them from taking over the city of Azaz, Aleppo. On Monday, at least 14 people were killed after missiles hit a children's hospital, a school and other buildings, witnesses told Reuters. Ankara was quick to blame Russia for the strikes in Azaz. Monday's attacks have been condemned by the international community, with the UN calling on war parties to reduce hostility ahead of the planned ceasefire in Syria.

On a separate occasion, members of the United Nations Security Council expressed their concern with the aggressive actions carried out by Ankara in Syria and will urge it to follow international law. "The UN Security Council members are concerned with the Turkish attacks on a number of Syrian regions," UNSC President Rafael Ramirez said, according to TASS news agency, after a meeting held upon Russia's request, adding that the members "have agreed to ask Turkey to obey international law."


Comment: The problem with "asking" Turkey to obey international law, is that Turkey is a part of a coalition that defies it. There is no mechanism or structure to enforce international law other than by honor, and therein lies the problem with asking Ankara to abide. They don't have to.


Comment: Turkey sees the shelling of Syrian border towns as a two-for-one. It upholds its obligation to the coalition in supporting ISIS terrorists and is able to reign deadly force down on the Kurds, a long-standing goal within its own borders.

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Bad Guys

If Assad can't be forced to leave, Balkanize: Israel's 'Plan B' for Syria


Dan Sanchez
Tue, 16 Feb 2016 00:00 UTC
Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon
Architect of Empire Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon

From Yinon to Yaalon


The U.S. and Russia are ostensibly trying to arrange a truce in Syria. As The Daily Mail reported, Israel recently voiced doubts about its success:
...Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said he was "very pessimistic" about the truce's prospects.
"Unfortunately we are going to face chronic instability for a very, very long period of time," he said. "And part of any grand strategy is to avoid the past, saying we are going to unify Syria. We know how to make an omelette from an egg. I don't know how to make an egg from an omelette."
Referring to some of the warring sects, Yaalon added: "We should realise that we are going to see enclaves — 'Alawistan', 'Syrian Kurdistan', 'Syrian Druzistan'. They might cooperate or fight each other."
Ram Ben-Barak, director-general of Israel's Intelligence Ministry, described partition as "the only possible solution".

Comment: Fascinating to see how these pathological planners for the Israeli Empire think. They exacerbate the very worst problems of the countries they seek to destabilize and call it inevitable; they support jihadi movements then say that the partitioning of Syria is the only solution possible; they instigate strife and attack groups that may present a block to their ambitions and then label them enemies.

See the pattern?

Israel, like the U.S., are 'reality creators' in the most malevolent sense. Israel covets the resources and the land of other geographically close nations, and then manufactures the 'facts on the ground' to help bring about the targeted country's downfall; that's Israel. But probably not for very much longer as the secret is out, and spreading:

The man behind the curtain: Israeli colonel captured among ISIL terrorist forces in Iraq

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Cookie

NATO official admits cooperation with Iran is possible


Sputnik
Tue, 16 Feb 2016 01:19 UTC
NATO
© AFP 2016/ Gerard Cerles
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) does not exclude that its cooperation with Iran is possible in the future, NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia James Appathurai, staying on visit in Azerbaijan, said Tuesday. According to Appathurai, the agreement with Iran regarding its nuclear program is a right step toward possible cooperation.

"We have received no indication from Iran, there are no discussions within NATO about establishing relations. I don't exclude that it might happen at some point in the future," Appathurai said, as quoted by Azerbaijan's Trend News Agency.

In July 2015, Tehran and six international mediators — Russia, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany — reached a historic deal on Iranian nuclear program, which is set to ensure the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program in exchange for the termination of anti-Tehran sanctions.

In mid-January, the sanctions were removed after the International Atomic Energy Agency verified Tehran's compliance with the nuclear agreement. The move makes it possible for Iran to develop relations with different military-political and economic international entities and states, which have been frozen for decades.

Comment: Iran has re-established itself as prominent power in the Middle East and of the world and now NATO must eat the well deserved crow at its feet.

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Book 2

United Nations calls on Turkey to comply with international law in Syria over attacks on Kurds


RT
Wed, 17 Feb 2016 00:55 UTC
United Nations
© Reuters
Following a briefing requested by Russia, the UN Security Council has urged Ankara to comply with international law in Syria. The closed-door meeting was called to discuss recent Turkish shelling of Kurdish YPG militia targets in Syria's north.

"UN Security Council members are concerned with the Turkish attacks on a number of Syrian regions," Venezuelan Ambassador Rafael Ramirez, who now chairs the UNSC, said after the meeting, as cited by TASS.

The UN Security Council received a letter from the Syrian government in which Damascus condemned Turkey's attacks in the north of Syria, Ramirez explained, noting that the entire council expressed "concern" about these violations.

"All members of the Security Council ... agreed to ask for Turkey to comply with international law," he added.

The UNSC also reiterated its commitment to the Munich agreement, expecting that all parties involved in the discussions will work toward a ceasefire to "allow humanitarian access for every place in the Syrian territory."

When asked if the UNSC discussed the shelling of the hospitals and schools in Northern Syria on Monday which left close to 50 people dead, Ramirez said the Council indeed discussed the issue, but reached "no agreement" or "consensus" because of "different sources" of information on the incidents.

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USA

US: The People vs. the Police State

John W. Whitehead
The Rutherford Institute
Tue, 16 Feb 2016 23:08 UTC
"We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself."—Dietrich Bonhoeffer
People vs State
© People's Tribune Org
The untimely death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has predictably created a political firestorm.

Republicans and Democrats, eager to take advantage of an opening on the Supreme Court, have been quick to advance their ideas about Scalia's replacement. This is just the beginning of the furor over who gets to appoint the next U.S. Supreme Court justice (President Obama or his successor), when (as soon as Obama chooses or as long as Congress can delay), how (whether by way of a recess appointment or while Congress is in session), and where any judicial nominee will stand on the hot-button political issues of our day (same-sex marriage, Obamacare, immigration, the environment, and abortion).

This is yet another spectacle, not unlike the carnival-like antics of the presidential candidates, to create division, dissension and discord and distract the populace from the nation's steady march towards totalitarianism.

Not to worry. This is a done deal. There are no surprises awaiting us.

We may not know the gender, the orientation, the politics, or the ethnicity of Justice Scalia's replacement, but those things are relatively unimportant in the larger scheme of things.

The powers-that-be have already rigged the system. They—the corporations, the military industrial complex, the surveillance state, the monied elite, etc.—will not allow anyone to be appointed to the Supreme Court who will dial back the police state. They will not tolerate anyone who will undermine their policies, threaten their profit margins, or overturn their apple cart.

Scalia's replacement will be safe (i.e., palatable enough to withstand Congress' partisan wrangling), reliable and most important of all, an extension of the American police state.

With the old order dying off or advancing into old age rapidly, we've arrived at a pivotal point in the makeup of the Supreme Court. With every vacant seat on the Court and in key judgeships around the country, we are witnessing a transformation of the courts into pallid, legalistic bureaucracies governed by a new breed of judges who have been careful to refrain from saying, doing or writing anything that might compromise their future ambitions.
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Target

Who is to blame for the tragedy in Yemen?

Viktor Mikhin
New Eastern Outlook
Tue, 16 Feb 2016 00:00 UTC
Hadi and Saleh
© www.washingtonpost.comIt's about these guys: Left: former president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi; Right: former president Ali Abdullah Saleh...and a what amounts to a war soap opera cast of factions and characters.
Advisor to the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Akbar Velayati, met Russian colleagues in Moscow, during which the parties agreed on the need to end the bombing in Yemen. "We expressed our opinion on the events unfolding in Yemen. We stated that the Saudis have sunk into a slump and ultimately, the people of Yemen must come out on top. The aim of the actions of the people of Yemen is an early end to the Saudis' defective blind bombardments which now plague Yemen," said Ali Akbar Velayati in a press conference recently held in Moscow.

In connection with this, we must remember that an armed conflict continues to rage in Yemen, where on one side, there are the Huthis rebels of the Shiite movement, Ansar Allah and the part of the army loyal to ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh. On the other, are the troops of the ousted President, Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who are being supported on the ground and from the air by the Arab coalition forces led by Saudi Arabia. In the south of Yemen, there are militants of the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Islamic state terrorist groups. There are also clashes with government forces by militants of the "Southern Movement" that have been pushing for the independence of the southern Yemeni provinces since 2007.

Only supporters of the Shiite movement, Ansar Allah (Huthis), are fighting in Yemen with the terrorist organization, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, said the Russian ambassador to Yemen, Vladimir Dedushkin, who is well-versed in the complicated situation. "Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have recently strengthened their position as never before in Yemen. The entire eastern part of Yemen, nearly 70% of the country, is largely controlled by extremists. Currently, Al Qaeda's sole opponent is Ansar Allah, who is simultaneously stemming the onslaught of the coalition, and the army of President Hadi," he said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

Comment: The Plot: Geopolitical ramifications of Western puppet masters at work to destabilize and destroy as much as possible in order to effect change for the worse. The results are so promising, it bears repeating in country after country until...please stay tuned while we pause for sanity identification...

Unfortunately, the tragedy of Yemen is real - real people, real atrocities, real destruction, real crises with no end in sight. And regarding the question "Who is to blame?" It is never who you ask.

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Jet5

Russia is ready for anything: Deploys its most advanced spyplane to Syria

Matthew Allen
Russia Insider
Tue, 16 Feb 2016 14:46 UTC
Tu-214R russia spyplane
The Tu-214R
Russia prepares for any Turkish or Saudi surprises in Syria

With Turkey's ongoing shelling of Kurdish and Syrian forces, as well as several reports of Turkey sending mercenaries across the border in an attempt to stop SAA and Kurdish advances, it seems that Russia isn't taking any chances: Anticipating Ankara's next move is paramount.

Comment: Considering that Erdogan stabbed Russia in the back when Turkey shot down and murdered a Russian pilot last November, Putin is wise to anticipate attacks from them. Erdogan appears to be so thoroughly delusional that he believes that he can continue poking the bear without consequences. Does he really think that Turkey can go head to head in a war with Russia?

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