Puppet MastersS


Attention

Chinese media targets Australia in South China Sea dispute


Sputnik
Sun, 31 Jul 2016 18:17 UTC
aircraft carrier
© AP Photo/ Zha Chunming
The state-run Global Times issued a scathing editorial calling for war between Beijing and Canberra if Australia continues to meddle in the South China Sea dispute.

Chinese state-run media declared Australia "an ideal target for China to warn and strike" if it ventured into the contested South China Sea in a scathing call for war laced with insults against the country.

The Global Times, known for a hardline nationalist editorial line, blasted Canberra on Saturday, in an opinion piece titled "'Paper Cat' Australia Will Learn its Lesson," for supporting the July 12 ruling by the international arbitration tribunal at The Hague countering Beijing's historical claims to the South China Sea.

Beijing denounced the decision and has refused to abide by the tribunal's findings arguing that the court lacked requisite jurisdiction because China never submitted to bilateral arbitration - a position supported by legal scholars who argue that the Philippines unilateral call for judgment was not binding.

Comment: From Pepe Escobar's recent Escalating activities in South China Sea - Is war inevitable?:
For Beijing, it's crystal clear; the eastern seaboard must be protected at all costs - because they are the entry and exit point of China's global supply chains. Yet as Beijing improves its military sophistication, the hegemon - or exceptionalist - machine gets itchier and itchier. Because the whole ingrained exceptionalist worldview can only conceive it as a "threat" by a peer competitor.


Read More...
People 2

IOC defies attempt to ban entire Russian Olympic team

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Mon, 01 Aug 2016 17:58 UTC
IOC Rio Olympics Russia doping
Despite the grossly unfair treatment of Russian athletes the most important fact about the doping scandal is that an attempt to expel a whole country from the Olympic movement has been defeated.

There is understandable anger and bewilderment in Russia at the announcement by the IOC that Russian athletes who have been cleared to compete at the Olympic Games in Rio by their own sports federations must now also pass a separate check by a 3 person IOC panel. It must indeed seem to the Russians that they are being asked to play against a constantly shifting set of goal posts.

I should say that the IOC decision is not actually unexpected and does not actually represent a retreat from its original decision. However it is understandable that there is anger about it in Russia, and about the fact that whilst Russian athletes with completely clean records who have had the misfortune of merely been named in ways that might even theoretically connect them to doping are being banned from Rio, athletes from other countries who have actually been caught doping are being allowed to compete there.

I agree that this is all outrageous. Indeed one of the most ugly aspects of this whole affair is the cruel bullying and mistreatment of young athletes who have done nothing wrong, simply because they happen to be Russian. It goes without saying that the training programmes of even those Russian athletes who do finally get to Rio have been badly disrupted, and their chances of winning medals must now be seriously diminished. Russians must prepare themselves for a drastically reduced medal haul from these Games.

Comment: The Olympic Games has been a political tool ever since its inception. The attempt to ban an entire team because the country they come from is unacceptable to the elite is just the latest use of this tool. An athlete's inside view of the "Olympic Movement":

Why the Olympics are a lot like 'The Hunger Games'

Read More...
V

Assange: Hacked emails show U.S. armed ISIS in Syria, Hillary knew of Libya-to-Syria arms shipments in 2011

Jim Hoft
Gateway Pundit
Sun, 31 Jul 2016 18:02 UTC
assange clinton
© ReutersWikileaks founder Julian Assange targets "war hawk" Hillary Clinton
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton knew that the US was sending arms from Libya to Syria back in 2011, a year before the Benghazi consulate attacks.

Hillary Clinton denied she knew about the weapons shipments during public testimony (under oath) in early 2013 after the Benghazi terrorist attack.

Senator Rand Paul questioned Hillary Clinton about this gun running program back in January 2013 during her testimony on the Benghazi terrorist attack.


On Tuesday Julian Assange told Democracy Now that the Wikileaks DNC emails contains information on the weapons shipments to Syria.
Julian Assange: So, those Hillary Clinton emails, they connect together with the cables that we have published of Hillary Clinton, creating a rich picture of how Hillary Clinton performs in office, but, more broadly, how the U.S. Department of State operates. So, for example, the disastrous, absolutely disastrous intervention in Libya, the destruction of the Gaddafi government, which led to the occupation of ISIS of large segments of that country, weapons flows going over to Syria, being pushed by Hillary Clinton, into jihadists within Syria, including ISIS, that's there in those emails. There's more than 1,700 emails in Hillary Clinton's collection, that we have released, just about Libya alone.

Comment: Not a big surprise. War whore Hillary doesn't care how many terrorists she has to create and arm in order to kill the people she doesn't like. Same with all the others within the American establishment who use terrorism as their primary means of foreign policy.

Read More...
Bad Guys

Saudi oil manipulation is not killing the U.S. shale oil industry

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Telegraph (UK)
Sun, 31 Jul 2016 17:48 UTC
shale
© BLOOMBERGOrion Drilling Co's Perseus rig in Webb County, Texas. Oil and gas production in the US state's Eagle Ford and Permian basins have transformed the global market
Opec's worst fears are coming true. Twenty months after Saudi Arabia took the fateful decision to flood world markets with oil, it has still failed to break the back of the US shale industry.

The Saudi-led Gulf states have certainly succeeded in killing off a string of global mega-projects in deep waters. Investment in upstream exploration from 2014 to 2020 will be $1.8 trillion less than previously assumed, according to consultants IHS. But this is a bitter victory at best.

North America's hydraulic frackers are cutting costs so fast that most can now produce at prices far below levels needed to fund the Saudi welfare state and its military machine, or to cover Opec budget deficits.

Comment: Is Opec really targeting the U.S. shale industry? Or did the Saudis and the Americans agree to increase output and lower costs in order to target Russia, primarily? The fact that the shale industry isn't suffering as much as some predicted might be the clue here. See also: Saudi Arabia starts crude battle with Iran for Asian oil market

Read More...
Question

Summarizing the '28 pages': Who was behind 9/11 and how long will America's dictatorship continue?

Eric Zuesse
Strategic Culture
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 17:35 UTC
flowers graves
The following summary consists of quotations from the suppressed 29 pages (previously miscalled '28 pages') themselves, so that the accuracy of this summary won't be doubted. The entire document is here; and, of course, it provides much more information adding to the account that's here merely summarized by these quotations from it.

The document focuses mainly on FBI information regarding two of the 19 hijackers, and on the two individuals who were their handlers in the United States, and on those individuals' connections to (including their receipts of funds from) the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan al-Saud, and to other members of the Saudi royal family.

The SUMMARY (in its own words) now follows:
Read More...
Propaganda

UK urged to reject Saudi 'propaganda' amid juvenile execution fears


Sputnik
Mon, 01 Aug 2016 14:53 UTC
Juvenile execution
© AFP 2016/ Carl Court
UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is being urged to publicly reject Saudi Arabian "propaganda" claims concerning three young men on death row, amid fears the protesters are set to be executed in the country - despite being convicted as juveniles.

Following recent activity and comments on influential Saudi Arabian Twitter profiles, human rights groups are growing increasingly concerned over the future of Ali al-Nimr, who was sentenced to death for his role in anti-government protests in 2012 — while he was just 17 years old.

Recent comments have suggested Ali al-Nimr could be facing imminent execution, while two other men, Dawoud al Marhoon and Abdullah al Zaher — who were 17 and 15 at the time of their arrest — have also been sentenced to death by Saudi officials.

Comment: See also: Leaked documents reveal concern of British police 'teaching Saudi torturers'

Read More...
Handcuffs

Afghan Police mop up Kabul hotel attackers, 1 officer killed


Sputnik
Mon, 01 Aug 2016 17:48 UTC
Afghan police hotel attack
© Omar Sobhani/Reuters
Afghan security forces have completed the operation against Taliban attackers at Kabul's Northgate hotel, with one police officer and two assailants killed, local media said Monday.

Earlier, a truck bomb explosion hit the Northgate guesthouse, located on Jalalabad Road in the Pul-e-Chakri area and frequented by foreigners. Several militants attacked the building after the blast and were inside the compound, with security and special forces later launching an operation to clear the compound. The Taliban has taken responsibility for the attack.

The operation resulted in two more police officers and two special forces members getting injured, the TOLO news channel reported.

One attacker died in the blast, with his two accomplices killed in the ensuing gunfight, according to the channel.

No casualties among hotel guests and staff have been reported, while the hotel and surrounding buildings have sustained significant damage, the news outlet said, citing its correspondent at the site of events.

Afghanistan has been experiencing significant political, social and security-related instability for decades, as radical extremist organizations, including the Taliban, continue to stage attacks against civilian and military targets.
Read More...
Attention

'Special forces shadow wars' face legal threat from Corbyn through new War Powers Act


RT
Mon, 01 Aug 2016 11:54 UTC
Special forces
© eliteukforces.info
Special forces operations should be subject to proper democratic oversight through a new War Powers Act, which would prevent troops being risked in Britain's 'shadow wars,' according to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

He told Middle East Eye on Friday of his concerns over the repeated use of a legal loophole to deploy troops from the secretive SAS unit into war zones such as Iraq and Libya without a democratic mandate.

The prime minister is currently able to deploy special forces without a vote, a capability which is buttressed by the UK's long-standing but increasingly controversial policy of refusing to comment on clandestine military activities.
Read More...
Snakes in Suits

The irrefutable truth: Everyone is linked to Putin

Phil Butler
New Eastern Outlook
Mon, 01 Aug 2016 17:14 UTC
Putin trying to hear
Life and world politics have at last become ultra-predictable. Waking each morning, I can count on some news of refugees and problems in Europe. As usual Syria, Libya or some other Arab country are a horrid and unthinkable mess. Hillary Clinton and husband Bill remain as slippery as ever, no matter what wrongdoing is revealed. And Donald Trump is always going to say something outrageous, of this you can be sure. Last week the Russophobes wanted Russia's Olympic team banned. Failing that, this week Hillary Clinton's opposition is a Russian spy! A pattern emerges if one cares to see it. Now let me show you a snapshot.

Last Sunday, the International Olympic Committee ruled fairly, to not ban over 300 Russian athletes because of the impropriety of a few. The "Olympic" front of the war on Vladimir Putin and Russia failed, even though 10,000 western media outlets and every crooked corporate type on the globe demanded a Russia ban. The IOC took a little flack, but weeks of lobbying to hurt the Russians failed. It was expected you see, but time to move on.
Read More...
Eye 1

40,000 rally to support Erdogan in Cologne, Germany amid counter-protests


RT
Sun, 31 Jul 2016 18:47 UTC
protest
© Thilo Schmuelgen / ReutersSupporters of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan wave Turkish flags during a pro-government protest in Cologne, Germany July 31, 2016.
Thousands of people have gathered in the German city of Cologne to hold a demonstration in support of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following a failed coup attempt. However, they were met by several counter-rallies also being held.

Erdogan's supporters gathered near the banks of the river Rhine in Cologne's Deutz district. They started arriving early in the morning, even though the demonstration was scheduled to start at 3pm local time (14:00 GMT).

Comment: More stories:

Read More...