Puppet MastersS


Dollar Gold

Why neither Trump or Hillary has presented a constructive, realistic economic program

Mikhail Khazin
Russia Insider
Mon, 22 Aug 2016 14:51 UTC
Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, republican U.S.presidential candidate Donald Trump
© Reuters
Modern economic science lacks the language and theory for creating such programs. Only Trump is likely to develop a realistic program going forward.

The author is a leading Russian economist, publicist, and TV and radio host. (Wikipedia - Russian only)

Sometimes referred to as the "Russian Paul Krugman", he writes prolifically, and has a very large audience in Russia. His articles typically receive hundreds of thousands of views. He is known for explaining complex economic ideas in clear terms non-specialists can understand.

He is a former senior economist in the presidential administration and a frequent speaker at international conferences.

Let's start with an old Russian joke: Optimists learn English, pessimists - Chinese, and realists - how to use a Kalashnikov.

To properly evaluate a future Trump or Clinton administration, a realist must ask two questions: 1) What are the economic development models proposed by each candidate, and 2) How successful are they likely to be in implementing them?

Let's compare the two candidates:

Comment: How long can we be convinced to ignore economic reality?

Read More...
Radar

Flight-test of radar component of Russia's next-gen A-100 AWACS coming March 2017


RT
Mon, 22 Aug 2016 15:27 UTC
Russia AWAC
© Alexander Vilf / SputnikAn A-50U airborne early warning aircraft
Russia's brand new 'flying radar', reportedly capable of detecting enemy targets at ranges of more than 600km, will be flight-tested next March. The A-100 Premier will make her maiden flight by 2018, a defense source told Russian media.

The Beriev A-100 is an airborne early warning and control (AWACS) aircraft currently being developed by Russia, an upgrade of the A-50. The long-awaited addition to the Russian Air Force has already been verified on the ground and are ready for in-flight equipment trials, the source told Izvestia newspaper.

"At the moment, all deadlines have been set up and agreed with the military industry," the source said.

An older Il-76 version, the MD-90A aircraft - codenamed A-100LL during the flight tests - would be first used as a "flying laboratory" to stress-test all systems in the air. The trial is scheduled for March 2017, the source said.

Once the flight tests are complete, the newest variant of the aircraft called Il-476, which was designated for the new 'flying radar', will accommodate the avionics and radar systems, including its distinctive rotating radar dome above the fuselage.

"If everything goes as planned, the 'original' A-100 will make the maiden flight in 2018," the source said.
Read More...
Георгиевская ленточка

Russian claims to have shot down US drones violating Crimean airspace


Bosnia Press
Tue, 16 Aug 2016 03:18 UTC
US drones
© DARPADARPA's Vertical Take Off And Landing Combat Drone
The war you don't hear about: numerous American military aircraft (albeit of the unmanned variety, though with the possibility of being armed and dangerous) have apparently been violating Russian airspace, leading to the Russians shooting - yes, shooting - them down following the refusal of the Americans to acknowledge Russian diplomatic notes of protest.

The military violation of the territory, including the airspace, of a sovereign state is ordinarily taken to be a casus belli - an act of war.

But to be fair to the Americans, they may justify their belligerent behavior, flagrantly refusing to respect Russia's sovereignty, on the basis that they do not recognize Crimea to be a part of Russia.

Therefore, they do not recognize any violation of the airspace of Russia as having taken place. Rather, they would contend that the American aircraft in question were flying within the sovereign territory of Ukraine, with the permission of the government with the only legitimate authority to grant or refuse such permission, namely the government of Ukraine.

Nevertheless the Russians have made it clear that they consider Crimea to be a sovereign part of Russia. The Russians have made diplomatic protests over what they see as violation of their territory. The Americans have ignored them. The Russians have therefore shot down - and in one case commandeered and landed - these aircraft making incursions into their sovereign territory.
Read More...
Network

The Philippines begin peace talks with the New People's Army after 45 years of conflict


Tasnim
Mon, 22 Aug 2016 14:26 UTC
New People's Army
The Philippine government and Maoist-led guerrillas opened peace talks in Oslo Monday to try and end nearly five decades of conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people. Both sides, who agreed a truce over the weekend, sat facing each other in the Holmenkollen Park Hotel's "Nobel" room, named after the Nobel Peace Prize, with photographs of former winners including the Dalai Lama on the walls.

"This is a conflict that has been lasting for far too long," Norwegian Foreign Minister Boerge Brende told the meeting, saying there now seemed to be a "historic momentum" building to end the conflict, according to Reuters. "I'm really crossing my fingers," for progress, he told the parties, each represented by six negotiators.

Talks brokered by Norway between the government and the Maoist-led rebels' National Democratic Front stalled in 2012 over the government's refusal to free communist leaders who had been in jail for decades. Both sides declared a truce at the weekend to pave the way for the week-long talks in Oslo. Last week, Manila also freed 17 captured communist guerrilla leaders in the Philippines so they could attend the talks in Norway.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte had previously ended a unilateral truce with the communist New People's Army late last month as rebels did not respond to a deadline to reciprocate the government's truce. The 3,000-strong New People's Army, the armed wing of the communist party, operates mainly in the eastern and southern regions of the country.

Comment: It's unlikely the peace talks between the Philippines and the NPA would be occurring without Duterte. A significant part of his presidential campaign was aimed at the need to end this conflict. While the West has painted him as a zealous supporter of the Communist rebels, he's been insistent on strict measures for the peace talks to continue. First and foremost he's been firm in his position that the guerrillas cease their use of land-mines and attacking civilians.

Read More...
No Entry

Southcom report: Sunni extremists entering the US through Mexico

Bill Gertz
Washington Free Beacon
Mon, 22 Aug 2016 14:59 UTC
U.S. Border patrol
© Spencer Selvidge
Sunni extremists are infiltrating the United States with the help of alien smugglers in South America and are crossing U.S. borders with ease, according to a U.S. South Command intelligence report.

The Command's J-2 intelligence directorate reported recently in internal channels that "special interest aliens" are working with a known alien smuggling network in Latin America to reach the United States. The smuggling network was not identified.

Army Col. Lisa A. Garcia, a Southcom spokeswoman, did not address the intelligence report directly but said Sunni terrorist infiltration is a security concern.

Comment: Thousands of Middle Eastern illegal immigrants busted with forged papers at US border

Read More...
Dollars

Iran may loosen grip on rial foreign exchange rate to get more investment


RT
Mon, 22 Aug 2016 14:45 UTC
Iran money
© Thaier al-Sudani / Reuters
Tehran is sending signals it may soon let the market decide the exchange rate of the Iranian rial, Bloomberg reports. The current dual-exchange rate system is hindering the inflow of foreign cash, which is crucial to rebuild the Iranian economy.

Iranian officials are reportedly allowing bankers to buy foreign currency at the market exchange rate rather than the central bank rate. At present, the Iranian rial is 12 percent cheaper in the open market, trading at 35-36 against the dollar, while Tehran sells it at 31.

The market are obliged to buy foreign currency at the exchange rate set by the central bank, and the gap between the two rates has widened during the years of international sanctions.
Read More...
Newspaper

If you only read The New York Times or Washington Post, you have no idea the Soros leak happened

Peter Hasson
The Daily Caller
Mon, 22 Aug 2016 13:34 UTC
George Soros
© REUTERS/Pascal Lauener
On June 4, 2016, the New York Times editorial board wrote an article titled "Big Money Rearranges Its Election Bets."

"Both parties are busy exploiting the power of barely regulated super PACs to accept unlimited six- and seven-figure donations for candidates," the editors wrote. "At the same time, campaigns are concealing the names of other rich donors in 'dark money' operations palmed off as tax exempt 'social welfare' agencies supposedly dedicated to doing good, not to bare knuckle politics."

But two-and-a-half months later, when the internal workings of a powerful political network palmed off as a tax-exempt "social welfare" agency supposedly dedicated to doing good were released to the public — unveiling the big money ties to many of the left's top social causes — the Times kept its readers in the dark.

Comment: For a peak at some of the documents:

Read More...
Bad Guys

Insane! Ex-CIA Director Morell still advocates for murder of Russians & Iranians

Ray McGovern
Consortium News
Mon, 22 Aug 2016 12:52 UTC
Michael Morell
© Win McNamee / Agence France-PresseFormer Deputy CIA Director Michael Morell
On Aug. 17, TV interviewer Charlie Rose gave former acting CIA Director Michael Morell a "mulligan" for an earlier wayward drive on Aug. 8 that sliced deep into the rough and even stirred up some nonviolent animals by advocating the murder of Russians and Iranians. But, alas, Morell duffed the second drive, too.

Morell did so despite Rose's efforts to tee up the questions as favorably as possible, trying to help Morell explain what he meant about "killing" Russians and Iranians in Syria and bombing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad into submission.

In the earlier interview, Morell said he wanted to "make the Iranians pay a price in Syria. ... make the Russians pay a price in Syria."

Rose: "We make them pay the price by killing Russians?"

Morell: "Yeah."

Rose: "And killing Iranians?"

Morell: "Yes ... You don't tell the world about it. ... But you make sure they know it in Moscow and Tehran."

Comment: It's lunatics like Morrell who have been busy sculpting the US' murderous foreign policy for decades. And it looks like they're getting their way in Syria, check out: Western propaganda fans the flames as U.S. recklessly escalates war in Syria

Read More...
Bad Guys

Western propaganda fans the flames as U.S. recklessly escalates war in Syria

Daniel Lazare
Consortium News
Mon, 22 Aug 2016 13:29 UTC
moderate rebels
© AFP"We're here to bring you freedom and democracy."

The U.S. government, having illegally sent American troops into Syria, is now threatening to attack the Syrian military if it endangers those troops, an Orwellian twist that marks a dangerous escalation, explains Daniel Lazare.

War, like politics, is filled with surprises. While the focus in Syria has been on a U.S.-backed rebel offensive in Aleppo that has succeeded in turning tables on Bashar al-Assad's government, a new and unexpected flashpoint has developed 200-plus miles to the east where U.S. jets are engaged in a dangerous showdown with Syrian warplanes near the city of Hasakah.

The trouble began on Wednesday when, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Kurdish forces advanced on the pro-government National Defense Forces that controls portions of the city. When the NDF responded with arrests, the fighting took off.

This is not the first time that Kurdish and government forces have clashed in Hasakah, which is divided among Kurds, Arabs, Aramaic-speaking Assyrians, and a small number of Armenians. But what makes the latest confrontation so serious is that the U.S. quickly upped ante by scrambling two F-22 fighters to intercept a pair of Syrian Su-24s bombing Kurdish positions.

NBC News reported that the jets came within a mile of one another on Thursday and were in visual contact before the Syrian aircraft left the scene. U.S. jets chased away two more Su-24s the next day as well.
Read More...
Eye 1

Member of EU Parliament: EU leaders supported Brexit because Britain was obstacle to creating EU army


Sputnik
Mon, 22 Aug 2016 12:37 UTC
Brexit verschoben,EU-Austritt Großbritannien
© Reuters/Neil Hall
Polish member of the European Parliament Janusz Korwin-Mikke said that Great Britain was an obstacle to greater unification of the EU and to the European army.

The United Kingdom plans to leave the European Union were supported by the EU leadership as the country presented a major hurdle on the way to creating a pan-European army, Polish member of the European Parliament Janusz Korwin-Mikke told Sputnik on Monday.

He was commenting on Sunday's statement by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who said that the European Union needed its own armed forces to "fulfill" its mission in the world.

"My opinion [is that] Brexit was supported by Mr. Junker and leadership of the EU because Great Britain was an obstacle to greater unification of the EU and to the European army," the non-attached Polish lawmaker said.

Comment: Further reading:
In an interview with the BBC aired last month, Lawson said that the US' primary interest is to be able to exert its influence over the entire EU by having its closest ally, Britain, within the bloc. Lawson was demur on the subject, but in effect what he meant was that Britain is Washington's surrogate in relations towards the rest of Europe.

Fear the Brexit: Why the American Empire needs the UK to stay in the EU


Read More...