Puppet MastersS


Vader

Why they need us: New armed anti-terrorism police on Britain's streets labeled 'PR stunt'


RT
Tue, 20 Sep 2016 14:57 UTC
British police
© Adrian Dennis / AFP
Plans to deploy more armed police officers to shopping centers and tourist attractions around Britain are being dismissed as an "anti-terror PR stunt" that overlooks "proper policing work" needed to combat a terrorism threat.

Essex Police and Kent Police both confirmed they will be sending armed police officers geared up with guns and Tasers to sites including Bluewater and Lakeside shopping centers, Canterbury cathedral, the Port of Dover and Southend Airport.

The forces stressed there was no intelligence to suggest a direct threat, but said extra patrols would ensure they were "adequately prepared."

"We want the public to know what we're doing to protect them and not to panic if they see officers with firearms or Tasers on patrol," Kent Deputy Chief Constable Paul Brandon said.


Comment: "We need to send a message of why they need us!"


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Bullseye

RNC says there are consequences for Bush, Cruz & Kasich to get in line behind Trump... or else


RT
Mon, 19 Sep 2016 21:06 UTC
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus
© Mario Anzuoni / ReutersRepublican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus suggested there will be consequences for GOP politicians who fail to get behind presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Speaking on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday, Priebus had harsh words for failed presidential candidates Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz and John Kasich, as well as other Republicans who have not endorsed Trump for president.

"We're a private party. We're not a public entity," Priebus said. "Those people need to get on board."

"And if they're thinking they're going to run again someday, I think we're going to evaluate the nomination process, and I don't think it's going to be that easy for them," he warned.

The GOP chairman pointed to the RNC pledge signed by all candidates which promises they will support the candidate who is nominated during the primary season.

"I affirm that if I do not win the 2016 Republican nomination for the President of the United States, I will endorse the Republican presidential nominee regardless of who it is," the beginning of the non-legally binding pledge reads.

"Look, people who agreed to support the nominee, who took part in our process, they used tools from the RNC," he explained."They agreed to support the nominee. They took part in our process."

The RNC chairman's statements may not be enough to convince Trump's primary opponents to support their rival, particularly in light of the harsh statements Trump made about them during the primaries.
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Eye 1

Surveillance state: DARPA's 'Aerial Dragnet' to track and monitor low-flying drones in crowded urban areas


RT
Tue, 20 Sep 2016 13:59 UTC
darpa drone dragnet
© darpi.mil
Amid the rise of drones, or small unmanned aerial systems, DARPA, the Pentagon's research arm, is developing technology "to provide persistent, wide-area surveillance of all UAS operating below 1,000 feet in a large city."

The program, known as Aerial Dragnet, is a new effort by the the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to track and counter small unmanned drones used in crowded urban areas. Though the program is targeted to aid US military forces' ability to "detect and identify such craft," the agency indicated last week that the technology will be used in the US.

Comment: What could go wrong? FAA sees possibility of millions of drones crowding U.S. skies

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Chart Pie

Fun with fake statistics: The 5% 'increase' in median household income is pure illusion

Charles Hugh Smith
Of Two Minds
Sat, 17 Sep 2016 13:45 UTC
Money
The truth is the rich are getting richer and everyone else is losing ground as inflation chews through stagnant incomes. Supporters of the status quo nearly wet their pants with joy when the Census Bureau reported that real (adjusted for inflation) median household income rose 5.2% between 2014 and 2015. Too bad it was completely bogus: the supposed increase in everyone's income is pure statistical trickery.

First, the marks who fell for it: here's the Huffington Post wetting itself with glee: Average Americans Just Got a Huge Income Boost. This headline is risibly wrong on a number of counts. Most importantly, a notch up in median household income doesn't mean "average Americans Just Got a Huge Income Boost": It means that half of households in 2015 earned more than $56,516 and half earned less than $56,516. It does not mean every household saw a boost in income.
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Quenelle - Golden

Russian elections confirm 'overwhelming support' for Putin's government

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Tue, 20 Sep 2016 13:08 UTC
Putin
© Sputnik/ Grigoriй Sыsoev Dalj

The elections to the Duma accurately reflect voting in the country. The elections confirm overwhelming support for Vladimir Putin and the government, and prove that Russia's "liberal opposition" is no more than a fringe group.

Though there are still a few votes to count, the results of the Duma elections are no longer expected to change, and are as follows:

United Russia, Russia's governing party, has won 54.21% of the vote. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation came second with 13.53% of the vote, and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) of Vladimir Zhirinovsky came in third place with 13.28% of the vote. The social democratic A Just Russian party gained 6.19% of the votes.

No other party overcame the 5% threshold for entry into the Duma in the half of the Duma elected by the proportional representation/party list system.
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Eye 1

Turkish FM: Turkey will establish 'safe zones' in Northern Syria


Sputnik
Tue, 20 Sep 2016 13:09 UTC
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu
© AP Photo/ Burhan Ozbilici
Ankara plans to clean the northern Syrian cities of Manbij and al-Bab from Daesh militants soon and create safe zones there, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday.

On August 24, Turkish forces, backed by US-led coalition aircraft, began a military operation dubbed Euphrates Shield to clear the Syrian border town of Jarablus and the surrounding area of Daesh, outlawed in Russia and many other countries. On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Jarablus had been cleansed of Daesh, and Turkey planned to defeat the jihadists in al-Bab.

"This is what we have been asking at every meeting — without ground operation, you cannot defeat this bloody terrorist organization... [We plan] to make this area, Manbij, a safe zone, and to clean Daesh from this region, al-Bab should be the next target. But Raqqa is the kind of capital of Daesh in Syria, and Mosul is their capital in Iraq, they have to be defeated in those main two cities, as well," Cavusoglu told CNN.

Comment: Further reading:

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Arrow Up

Paul Craig Roberts: Will Russia surrender to US aggression?

Paul Craig Roberts
Paul Craig Roberts Org
Mon, 19 Sep 2016 04:18 UTC
Vlad Putin
© The Awe Some Daily
The Russian government's sincere and diligent effort to prevent chaos in Syria and additional massive refugee flow into Europe, all the while avoiding conflict with Washington and its vassals, has been brought to an end by Washington's intentional attack on a known Syrian army position, thus wrecking the cease-fire agreement that Russia sacrificed so much to achieve.

The response to this fact by the Obama regime's ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, reveals that Washington will lie to the hilt in order to achieve its agenda of reducing Syria to the same chaos as Washington has reduced Iraq and Libya. Washington, and Washington alone, is responsible for the war in Syria. When the British Parliament and the Russian government blocked Obama's intended US invasion of Syria, the Obama regime armed and financed jihadist mercenaries to invade Syria, pretending that the jihadists were Syrian rebels fighting for democracy in Syria. Samantha Power turned history upside down and blames the war on Russia's intervention at the request of the Syrian government against the ISIL jihadists that Washington sent to destabilize Syria. What Samantha means is that if Russia had not come to the aid of Syria, Washington and ISIL would already have destroyed Syria, and there would be no war.

Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, Russia's ambassador to the UN, said that in his 40 years of diplomacy he had never seen such a high-handed and demagogic performance as Samantha's. Churkin seemed to imply that such an unrealistic and twisted response to known facts as Samantha delivered leaves him without hope of any successful diplomatic outcome.

If the Russian government has finally arrived at the conclusion that Washington is determined to destroy political stability in Syria and to replace it with chaos, it has taken a long time.

The Russian government has studiously avoided this conclusion, because once diplomacy is acknowledged as useless, force confronts force. In today's context that means thermo-nuclear war and the end of life on Earth.

This is the reason that the Russian government has replied diplomatically to Washington's coercive provocations, offering Washington cooperation in place of conflict.

However, Washington wants conflict. The Russians have pretended that Washington has a common interest with Russia in combating terrorism, but terrorism is Washington's tool for destabilizing Syria, then Iran, and then the Muslim provinces of the Russian Federation and China.
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Light Saber

Duterte stands firm against American hegemony despite media slander

Jose Maria Sison
Katehon
Mon, 19 Sep 2016 03:12 UTC
Rodrigo Duterte
© KatahonPresident Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines
Chairperson of the International League of Peoples' Struggle, Chief Political Consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, author of books on Philippine and global issues, outstanding Filipino poet Prof. Jose Maria Sison explains the aggressive media campaign against President Duterte and talks about the steps towards country's independence.

The anti-terrorist program of President Duterte is directed particularly at terrorist group Abu Sayyaf. Abu Sayyaf and its allies are responsible for bombing the public market in Davao city on 2 September. Abu Sayyaf is also engaged in kidnapping foreigners. Naturally, that Duterte's government must fight against them. The latest act of terrorism was intended to harm innocent civilians. but terrorist's actions cannot intimidate the Philippines' nation. Terrorism is senseless.

The Duterte's government has been undertaking a successful campaign against drugs. There have been casualties as a result of that campaign. The latest count shows that 3500 people have been killed. Of course, a number have been killed, because they resisted the policemen, who were arresting drug dealers and drug users. Also, there is a phenomenon of police officers, who are involved in a drug trade. Those officers has been killing their former agents in order to cover their crimes. There are many explanations for the rise of casualties. Among the drug lords there is also a competition for the market. Anyway, 6100 people have surrendered themselves for rehabilitation. Those addicts are victims. I think it might help to strike drug lords on different levels.

Comment: More on this very interesting political leader:

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Clipboard

Democracy in action: The results of the Russian election, what they mean - and for whom

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Mon, 19 Sep 2016 00:00 UTC
russia elections
Russia's parliamentary elections show a contented and stable country, but one where was an intense intellectual discussion between the two main opposition parties - the Communist Party and the Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party - over Russia's future direction.

I'd like to begin my piece with a new entry to the increasingly valuable Duran Lexicon. Dull election = Peaceful exercise of democracy.

That's what Sunday's election was. But do not be fooled by the calm, the results are significant.

Whilst the four parties that dominated the Duma after the previous election in 2011 remain the parties of power, the shift in the particular balance of power represents an intellectual referendum on the state of Russian affairs over the last 5 years, more than it represents changing feelings towards particular parties.

With over 97% of votes now counted, United Russia have increased their percentage of the vote from 49.3% in 2011 to 54% in 2016.

That United Russia were going to win the election was an assured assumption. In a country that is broadly contented with its government and exceptionally contented with its President who supports the party of government, it is only natural for such a party to win and win big.

Comment: What a fascinating thing to look at when we compare the Russian election to that of the U.S.'s grotesque and stomach churning circus display.

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Jet5

U.S. allies now claiming involvement for Deir Ezzor attack


Moon of Alabama
Mon, 19 Sep 2016 20:18 UTC
F-16 KC-135
F-16 Fighting Falcon
The U.S. is trying to distribute the blame for its air support of ISIS against the Syrian Arab Army in Deir Ezzor.

The facts, not put into doubt by any U.S. statement, via the Russian military report after Saturday's incident:
"Today at 17:00-17:50 Moscow time, international anti-Daesh coalition (two F-16 and two A-10 jets) carried out four strikes on Syrian government forces' units encirled by Daesh near Deir ez-Zor airport. The coalition's aircraft entered Syrian airspace from the side of the Iraqi border," Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.
...
As a result of the attack, 62 Syrian soldiers were killed and some 100 others were injured, according to information received from the Syrian command in Deir ez-Zor, he said.
The Syrian government now says some 82 soldiers were killed in the attack which also destroyed 3 T-72 tanks, 3 infantry fighting vehicles, an anti-aircraft gun and at least 4 mortars. Following the attack the Islamic State troops stormed the Syrian government position on the Jabal Thardeh hill. They are now able to harass the airport of Deir Ezzor, the only supply line for the ISIS besieged city and the 150,000+ civilians living there under government protection.
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