Puppet MastersS


Propaganda

Putin did it again! Cyber-security company blames hacks into DC think-tanks on Russia


RT
Tue, 30 Aug 2016 12:59 UTC
hacking
© Reuters
Russia has once again been accused of backing hackers who this time allegedly penetrated several Washington think tanks that offer policy analysis to US lawmakers. The new accusations come as the FBI investigates an attack on the Democratic Party.

Just as with the Democratic National Committee (DNC) hack that failed to substantiate any direct link to Moscow, cybersecurity company CrowdStrike has now blamed the new intrusion on Russian government-backed hackers.

In an interview with Defense One, founder of CrowdStrike, Dmitri Alperovitch, blamed a group called COZY BEAR, or APT29, allegedly linked to the DNC hack, for breaking into the think tanks' servers.

The "highly targeted operation" that reportedly happened last week, according to Alperovitch, targeted "fewer than five organizations and 10 staffers researching Russia," the publication reports. In making the announcement, the head of the security firm failed to disclose any details of the attack or the hackers' victims.

The failure to disclose any concrete proof was sidestepped and instead concern for victims' interests was focused on.

Comment: The US government continues to plumb the depths of its ability to blame everything and anything on Russia. Pretty soon Putin will be blamed for 9/11, Pokemon Go and the stifling summer heat. See also: SOTT Exclusive: Is Putin really an Islamofascist refugee terrorist bent on infiltrating America? Sanity says 'no', but Hillary says 'yes'

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Light Sabers

Philippines president Duterte places bounty on heads of "ninja" cops who are protecting drug syndicates


RT
Tue, 30 Aug 2016 12:55 UTC
duterte
© Erik De Castro / Reuters
The president of the Philippines has taken his much criticized war on drugs to another level, placing a bounty on the heads of "ninja" cops protecting drug syndicates. He said they will "face a day of reckoning," announcing a US$43,000 reward on their heads.

"I might be inclined to place a reward on their heads, the members of the ninja or the members of the police who are protecting the drug syndicates in this country. I am placing per head 2 million peso [$43,000]," President Rodrigo Duterte said in a National Heroes Day speech on Monday.

"I want the police and the armed forces to destroy the drug apparatus in this country," he told retired and serving soldiers, government officials, and foreign diplomats.

He also said that officers who are aware of unethical "ninja" cops should "squeal on your friends," Reuters reported.

Last month, Duterte - who came to power in May on a promise to wipe out drugs and dealers - named around 160 officials, judges, police, and soldiers who he said were protecting drug traffickers or selling drugs in their neighborhoods.
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Bad Guys

ISIS takes responsibility for Yemen bomb that kills over 60


RT
Mon, 29 Aug 2016 01:56 UTC
yemen suicide bomb ISIS
© Saleh Al-Obeidi/Agence France-Presse
The car-bombing site at an army recruitment centre in the southern Yemeni city of Aden, August 29, 2016
At least sixty people have been killed in a suicide bombing that targeted a southern Yemeni militia compound in the town of Aden, a spokesman for security services told AFP. The Islamic State terror group has taken responsibility for the attack.

Sky News Arabia reports that 71 people have been killed, citing local medics. At least 67 were wounded in the explosion, director general of Yemen's health ministry in Aden, al-Khader Laswar said, as cited by Reuters. He put the death toll at 54.

A suicide bomber reportedly drove a car into a building being used by the Popular Resistance, a local militia supporting Sunni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who is now in exile, witnesses told Reuters.

The explosion took place in front of "Sanafir" school in the Muammar Gaddafi neighborhood in the north of the city, which is named in honor of the former Libyan leader, AFP reported.


The terrorist act comes just a day after the Red Cross announced it would begin supplying Yemen with morgues to due to the growing death toll - something rare for the organization, which usually focuses on providing food, water, and healthcare.

Comment: Updates

Sputnik:
The death toll from a terrorist attack in the Yemeni southern city of Aden left 71 people dead and at least 98 wounded, Sky News Arabia reported Monday.

Earlier in the day, an attacker in a car rammed into a group of recruits at the camp in northern Aden, which is the second largest city in the country.
RFE/RL:
Security officials in Yemen say a suicide attacker in the southern city of Aden set off a massive car bomb on August 29 -- killing 25 pro-government troops who were preparing to travel to Saudi Arabia to fight along Yemen's northern border.
[...]
The car bomber attacked a staging area near two schools and a mosque in Aden where the troops were registering to join the expedition.


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Radar

Russian S-300 missile system now deployed at Iran's Fordow nuclear facility


RT
Mon, 29 Aug 2016 00:42 UTC
Iran nuclear power
© wikipedia.orgFordow Nuclear and Physics Research Center (NPRC)
Iran has deployed a Russian-made S-300 surface-to-air missile defense system at its Fordow uranium enrichment facility, the country's state media have reported, as cited by Reuters.

"Our main priority is to protect Iran's nuclear facilities under any circumstances," Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' (IRGC) air defense force, told state TV.

Esmaili did not say whether the new missile defense system was operational, however the IRGC commander did say that, "Today, Iran's sky is one of the most secure in the Middle East."

The Fordow site, which is around 100km south of the capital Tehran, has not enriched any uranium since a nuclear deal between Iran and six international powers came into effect in January.
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Star of David

Israeli commander "Captain Nidal" threatens Palestinian youth: "I will make half of you disabled, and let the other half push the wheelchairs."


teleSUR
Sat, 27 Aug 2016 00:18 UTC
Israel assault youth
© BADIL The comments are isolated incidents, but part of a wider system of oppression
Among a number of comments, the commander reportedly warned that he would make Palestinian youth disabled

An Israeli army commander has made shocking threats to Palestinian youth held in the Al-Duheisha, saying he will "make all the youth of the camp disabled," according to a Palestinian rights group, the Middle East Monitor reported on Friday.

The commander reportedly in charge of Al-Duheisha is known as "Captain Nidal." The Resource Centre for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, BADIL, said that they have heard from local Palestinian youth that the commander as well as threatening to make youth disabled, "will have all of you working with crutches and in wheelchairs ... I will make half of you disabled, and let the other half push the wheelchairs."

"I will make all of you stand in line at the ATM waiting for your disability subsidies and assistance," BIDL reported with an injured youth told to warn others in the camp that "Nidal will make all of you disabled."

Comment: A prime example of "most moral army in the world".

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Arrow Up

Terrorists to surrender Moadamiyeh City in Damascus province to Syrian government


FARS News Agency
Mon, 29 Aug 2016 00:10 UTC
Syrian terrorists
Militants in the city of al-Moadamiyeh in Damascus province said they are ready to surrender the city to the Syrian government in lieu of a safe corridor to move to Idlib in the next two days.

Reports said on Monday a thick smoke is spiraling over Moadamiyeh city while informed sources said that the terrorists are destroying their command centers, heavy weapons and arms caches inside the city to prepare for surrendering the city.

Ala Ibrahim, the governor-general of Damascus's countryside, said that at present, negotiations are underway to retake the city from the militants.

"The Army will start demining operations upon arrival in Moadamiyeh and will open the roads after establishing security," he added.
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Radar

Third US Navy Freedom-class ship breaks down in past eight months


Sputnik
Mon, 29 Aug 2016 23:28 UTC
US littoral combat ship USS Freedom
© AP Photo/ Lockheed-Martin via U.S. Navy, File
The USS Freedom has suffered from a devastating seawater leak, and is only the latest example of mechanical issues within the Pentagon's combat ship fleet.

Earlier this month, the US Navy received the USS Detroit, its seventh littoral combat ship (LCS). The small, multipurpose vessels are designed to perform operations close to shore. But as the Navy accepts a new Freedom-class LCS into its fleet, the lead ship, USS Freedom, has experienced significant technical difficulties.

"Based on initial assessments from the inspection, Freedom's #2 [main propulsion diesel engine] will need to be removed and rebuilt or replaced," Pentagon officials said, according to Military.com.
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Chess

The coup against Dilma Rousseff is disastrous for Brazil

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Mon, 29 Aug 2016 18:26 UTC
El impeachment' a Dilma Roussef, más cerca que nunca
© Ueslei Marcelino-Reuters
Rousseff is the victim of a highly corrupt and dysfunctional political system, which is specious reasons to remove from office one of the few politicians who is not corrupt. Given Brazil's recent history of political violence and instability it is a reckless and dangerous step which can only increase cynicism and instability and make instability greater.

Though it is attracting remarkably little notice around the world, Brazil is quietly completing the process of replacing its democratically elected President with an appointed one. Dilma Rousseff, elected President of Brazil in 2010 and re-elected in October 2014 with 51.6% of the vote in the election's second round, was suspended from her elected office in April 2016 by votes in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate. She is now undergoing trial for impeachment before the Senate.

By general consensus Rousseff was a less than successful President of Brazil. She has herself admitted mistakes. She never asserted her authority effectively and proved to be a less than competent and at times erratic manager of the Brazilian economy. She completely lacked the charisma and authority of her predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who chose her as his successor, and whose shadow she never fully escaped

The single factor that probably eroded Rousseff's support more than any other was Brazil's fall into recession soon after her re-election in 2014. Coming after a decade of rapid growth and rising living standards, this came as a shock for many Brazilians, and lost her support within her working class electoral base.

Whilst a strong case can be made that Rousseff handled the recession badly, it is important to say that she did not cause it. As a major commodities exporter Brazil was inevitably hit hard by the collapse in oil and commodity prices which began in mid 2014. That would have inevitably caused a recession in Brazil whoever was President.

Comment: The collapse of the oil and commodities markets wasn't just happenstance, nor has it only affected Brazil. This was part and parcel of the U.S. waged economic war fought against Russia, and Brazil being a BRICS partner has suffered in no small part because it wants something other than a world dominated by U.S. hegemony. The impeachment proceedings against Rousseff is unconstitutional and fueled by corrupt powers who do not have Brazil's best interest at heart.

See also:

'Impeachment equal to political death penalty'
"I am asking you to vote against the impeachment. Vote for democracy," Brazil's suspended president told Federal senators, before they started their questioning session, expected to last all day Monday.

Saying that accusations against her are unfair, and that she hasn't committed any crime against the budget, Rousseff said, "my conscience is clean. Depriving me of my [presidential] mandate is equal to a political death penalty."

In her emotional speech, she added that she had feared death only two times in her life before - when she was tortured, and when she had cancer. "Now I am fearing the death of democracy," she said.

"We are here to defend what we believe in - democracy and justice," a protester told RT. Another of Rousseff's supporters called for people's resistance to those senators who want her deprived of power, saying it's not right that "54 senators can remove a president who is elected by 54 million people."


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Gold Coins

Saudi Arabia continues to burn through foreign reserves to cover budget deficit, Yemen war costs


RT
Mon, 29 Aug 2016 23:14 UTC
money foreign currency reserves
© Fahad Shadeed / Reuters
Riyadh's foreign reserves dropped to $555 billion, down $6 billion in July, as low oil prices continue to eat up the country's assets abroad.

Saudi Arabia's foreign holdings are 16 percent down on the same month in 2015 and are at their lowest level since February 2012. The holdings peaked in August 2014 at $737 billion falling with oil prices.

The assets are likely to consist of US dollars, securities like US Treasury bonds and deposits with banks abroad. The deposits reduced by $8 billion to $125 billion in July, but holdings in foreign securities grew by $2 billion to $371 billion after 10 straight months of contraction.

Comment: The Saudis have attempted to force their competitors from the oil game by driving prices down to the point where even they can barely make any money. At the same time they are waging what is proving to be an unwinnable war in Yemen where their only strategy is to throw money at it, in the form of ever-larger arms purchases (of which the US defense industry is the principle benefactor) and hiring mercenary armies, as their own military is a joke. Between these two ludicrous decisions, the House of Saud may very well have doomed itself.

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Info

South China Sea tensions: US, India sign major military pact amid Chinese concerns


RT
Mon, 29 Aug 2016 23:14 UTC
US aircraft carrier
© Mike Blake / Reuters
The US and India have signed a major military deal facilitating the bilateral use of navy bases, allowing Washington to boost its military presence on China's doorstep.

The signing of the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA), which has been in preparation for over a decade, is one of the highlights of Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar's three-day visit to Washington.

During a joint press conference following the document's signing, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter praised the agreement, saying it would aid the "overall maritime security" and contribute to "freedom of navigation" across the world.


Comment: In other words, US has more options to project its power.

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