Puppet MastersS


Radar

Duterte continues offensive to "destroy" ISIS linked group in the Philippines


Aljazeera
Tue, 30 Aug 2016 15:38 UTC
Abu Sayyaf
© APAbu Sayyaf, whose name translates as 'Bearer of the Sword', has pledged allegiance to ISIL and has been allied with al-Qaeda
Twelve soldiers have been killed in clashes with the Abu Sayyaf armed group on a remote southern island in the Philippines, as a government offensive against the fighters entered a fifth day. Philippines army Major Filemon Tan said on Monday that five soldiers were also wounded in the firefight that lasted more than an hour in the jungles of Patikul town on Jolo island.

"The fighting was really intense. We lost 12 men," Tan said, according to Reuters news agency. "You can really expect heavy casualties from both sides due to [the] volume of fire," he continued, adding that it was unclear how many fighters from the armed group were killed but he estimated more than 30.

Already, more than 20 Abu Sayyaf fighters have been killed since Thursday when the military launched an air-and-ground offensive in Patikul, an Abu Sayyaf stronghold, after newly elected Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who started his six-year term on June 30, ordered troops to "destroy" the group.
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Bullseye

Central banks are ready to make their 'brave new world'

Brandon Smith
Alt-Market
Wed, 31 Aug 2016 15:42 UTC
Janet Yellen
© Reuters/Gary CameronInternational Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde, left, applauds U.S. Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen after their question-and-answer session at the inaugural Michel Camdessus Central Banking Lecture in Washington.
The latest Federal Reserve meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is over and so far it would seem that the general investment world is not too happy about Janet Yellen's statements as well as those of other Fed officials. In fact, many people are looking for some simple clarity as to what the central bank is actually planning.

Most importantly, investors want to know why the Fed is suddenly so adamant about continued interest rate hikes in 2016. Only a couple months ago, almost everyone (including alternative economic analysts) was arguing that the Fed would "never dare" to raise rates again so soon, and that there was no chance of a rate hike so close to the presidential elections.

Instead, investors have been greeted with surging rate-hike odds as Fed officials openly hint of another boost, probably in September.

As I have been saying for years, if you think the Fed's motivation is to protect or prolong the U.S. economy, then you will never understand why they do the things that they do. Only when people are willing to accept the reality that the Fed's job is to undermine the U.S. economy can they grasp central bank behavior.

Comment: Planning to push the reset button: What will the global economy look like after the 'great reset?'

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Star of David

By the powers of the Almighty: Israel's role in the Syria epic battlefront

Phil Butler
New Eastern Outlook
Wed, 31 Aug 2016 15:20 UTC
Soldiers
A Haaretz article headline this week reads; "Israel Has Never Been So Secure or Prosperous, but Don't Thank Netanyahu." It is a headline that punctuates a serious question some experts have had since the so-called Arab Spring began; "Why on Earth is Israel so quiet, so untouched in all this mayhem?" Since Turkey now seems poised to stab Vladmir Putin in the back once again, maybe it's time we addressed the extraordinary fact of Tel Aviv's miraculous inoculation from terror.

News Turkey rolled tanks into Syria to fight alongside Barack Obama's alleged "moderate" at the same moment US Vice President Joe Biden arrives to speak with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Suddenly, amazingly, Turkey does yet another about face on the world stage in doing what would seem the Obama White House's bidding. Biden, supposedly in town to patch up NATO, lends a foreboding accent to the most jumbled up mess on our planet. Syria really has become, a near hopeless quagmire now, and perhaps this was some kind of stop gap strategy, intended as a final jab at Russia, Putin, Assad, and the Iranians. But regardless of who "IS" at play in all this geo-political circus act, Israel remains wholly in tact, completely AOK from deep inside the tinder box. No fire or flickering flames of jihadist terror even lick at the borders of the most hated state in the Arab world. It's biblical, epic, right out of Indiana Jones and the quest for the Arc of the Covenant.
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Attention

United Nations reports number of people killed in Yemen war revised to 10,000 over past 18 months


Sputnik
Wed, 31 Aug 2016 15:18 UTC
Yemen
© Reuters/ Stringer
10,000 people were killed in the Yemen civil war over the past 18 months, according to the new data of the United Nations. The United Nations corrected its estimates of the number of people killed in the Yemen civil war over the past 18 months, revising them from 6,000 up to 10,000, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Jamie McGoldrick said on Tuesday, as cited by media. According to McGoldrick, the estimates were based on data collected from healthcare facilities, Yemeni Akhbar daily said. He added that the figures could increase as there were no health facilities in many of the country's regions.

Yemen has been engulfed in a military conflict between the government headed by Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Houthi rebels, the country's main opposition force. Since March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition of mostly Persian Gulf countries have been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request. The UN human rights office said earlier this month that about 6,000 civilians were killed and more than 6,700 wounded in Yemen between March 2015 and August 23, 2016.

Comment: Yemen is not facing a mere 'civil war'. It is a war of genocide wrought with Western backed war crimes.

U.S.: 'Saudi strikes on Yemen hospitals are okay with us'
U.S. & Saudis committing 'absolutely horrific' war crimes in Yemen

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Stock Down

To keep their grip on the global economy, banks are fleecing their customers by charging them fees for saving money

Justin Gardner
Free Thought Project
Tue, 30 Aug 2016 15:03 UTC
bankers
© TheFreeThoughtProject.com
Yesterday, it was reported that banks are preparing for an "economic nuclear winter" as the taxpayer-funded giveaway to megabanks - euphemistically known as "quantitative easing" - is on the verge of collapse.

Things look particularly grim in the EU, where Brexit has rattled the nerves of central economic planners who worship at the altar of banking cartels and stock market schemes. Major European banks such as Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and RBS have seen their shares plummet, and are now prepared for the worst.

Fear and uncertainty are being felt not only by bank executives, but also by citizens who have had no choice but to live under the system of central banks and stock market shenanigans. In Germany, people are losing faith in banks and finding that the only ones they can really trust are themselves.

Sales of home safes are skyrocketing now that interest rates have gone into negative territory and people are actually having to pay a fee for making deposits into their savings accounts.
"Germans point to the European Central Bank, which since 2014 has tried to reignite eurozone inflation by pushing interest rates below zero. Savers now face the prospect of being charged fees on their deposits. Some companies and large private depositors already incur charges.

The latest such sign that penalty rates are creeping in comes from a small cooperative bank in the Bavarian town of Gmund on the Tegernsee lake. As of Sept. 1, the bank, Raiffeisenbank Gmund, will charge its customers 0.4% on deposits above €100,000. Some 140 customers with total deposits worth €40 million are affected, said management board member Josef Paul."

Comment:

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Dominoes

Turkey accuses Germany of "cultural racism" after remarks on Turkey's EU accession


RT
Wed, 31 Aug 2016 15:21 UTC
Guenther Oettinger
© Nigel Treblin / ReutersGuenther Oettinger, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society
A statement by Germany's European commissioner saying that Ankara's EU bid is "unrealistic" while president Erdogan is in power has been described as "cultural racism" by Turkey's Minister of EU Affairs, Reuters reports, citing Anadolu news agency.

Turkish Minister of European Union Affairs Omer Celik was speaking to the state Anadolu Agency, Reuters reported.

On Tuesday, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Guenther Oettinger told Bildnewspaper that in the current circumstances Turkey's EU accession "is not realistic all through the next decade."

"This will surely be an issue [for discussion] for the time after [President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan," he said. The official added, however, that Ankara is an important geostrategic and economic partner for the EU, and maintaining healthy bilateral ties is critical.
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Jet3

Battle for Aleppo: Russian bombers pound ISIL meeting, kill nearly 40 terrorists


FARS News Agency
Wed, 31 Aug 2016 15:01 UTC
Russian bomber in Syria
The Russian Air Force conducted airstrikes on a gathering of ISIL militants in the Syrian province of Aleppo, killing tens of terrorists.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that the airstrikes conducted by the country's bombers in Aleppo has killed around 40 members of the ISIL.

"On August 30, 2016, a mass gathering of Daesh fighters numbering up to 40 have been killed as a result of the Russian Su-34 bomber's strike in the Maaratat-Umm Khaush area of Aleppo province," the ministry said.
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Bad Guys

ISIL appoints German kid as new execution brigade commander in Iraq


FARS News Agency
Wed, 31 Aug 2016 14:55 UTC
Young ISIL militants
Security sources in Nineveh disclosed that the ISIL has named a German kid for leading the terrorist group's execution squad in the province.

"The ISIL has started recruiting 10 to 17-year-old children and is using them for suicide attacks against the security forces in Nineveh and is now using the same kids for firing squads," the security sources told al-Soumeriya news website on Wednesday.

"After the ISIL decreased the salaries of its members, many of them have defected or are refusing to fight and therefore, the ISIL has been forced to use children," the source added.

"The ISIL has now chosen a German child as the commander of its execution brigades," he said.
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Heart - Black

Head of British military admits he knew psychological risks of taking malaria drug but still forced soldiers to take it


RT
Wed, 31 Aug 2016 14:50 UTC
General Dannatt
© David Moir / ReutersBritain's army chief General Dannatt
General Sir Richard Dannatt, former head of the British military, concedes he knew first-hand the psychological risks attached to Lariam and refused to take it himself, all the while allowing his troops to take the controversial anti-malarial drug.

In an interview with the BBC on Tuesday, the former general said he had been aware of the effects of Lariam on his own son Bertie, who suffered physical and mental side effects after taking it in Africa.

"He became extremely depressed, not the person that he would normally be - a very bubbly, personable sort of individual.

"He got very withdrawn, and we got very worried about him," the ex-general said.

This compelled him to refuse to take it while serving in the military, instead opting for an 'anything but that' approach due to what he recognized as the drug's "pretty catastrophic" potential.
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Star of David

On it goes: Israel approves about 300 new settler units in West Bank


PressTV
Wed, 31 Aug 2016 14:45 UTC
Israeli construction cranes and excavators
© AFPThis picture taken on July 29, 2016 shows a general view of Israeli construction cranes and excavators at the building site of new units in the illegal settlement of Gilo in occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds.
Israel has approved the construction of 285 new settler units in the occupied West Bank in defiance of international calls to end the illegal project in the Palestinian territories.

The Tel Aviv regime approved the building of 234 settler units in the illegal settlement of Elkana, 31 in Beit Aryeh, and 20 others in Givat Ze'ev, Israel's Haarez daily reported on Wednesday.

The regime also retroactively legalized some 178 housing units already built in the illegal Beit Aryeh settlement.

Israel "continues to plan and build all over the West Bank, while also giving settlers the message that any construction done without planning will be retroactively legalized," settlement watchdog Peace Now said.
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