Puppet MastersS


War Whore

NATO and Western media organs pump hard in preparation for war against Russia

Putin intense

Introduction


America's announcement that Russia has committed 'aggression' against America, is an announcement that America is at war against Russia; and here is how America's 'news' media have said that it's the case — that Russia has aggressed — even as the U.S. government is still only preparing to attack Russia, and isn't yet ready actually to invade that country.

Right now, this propaganda is only psychological warfare, preparation of the U.S. public to accept that America's invasion of Russia, when it comes, will be 'defensive,' not 'offensive'. This psychological framing of the big invasion, in advance, is important in order for the American people to believe, when the invasion comes, that it's some sort of 'just' war, not an aggression, and conquest, by NATO — America and its allies — against Russia. (At least some people in the global aristocracy are already buying nuclear-proof bomb-shelters, because they're sufficiently well-connected to know what's not being published.)

Dissecting a Key Deception

On June 16th, Adam Johnson at FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting) headlined "'Allegedly' Disappears as Russians Blamed for DNC Hack", and he broke an enormously important news story about the Washington Post's propaganda for the U.S. to go to war against Russia. It concerned the question of whether the Russian government had been, as the Post's reporter Ellen Nakajima alleged, caught red-handed in a cyberattack against both the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the U.S. government (particularly former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton).

In Adam Johnson's opening, here was his blockbuster:

Arrow Down

Russia-bashing reaches new low, US media reduced to juvenile name-calling

anti-Russia bashing
It's doubtful that the media sport of Russia-bashing will ever go out of fashion. As they say, no journalist or analyst ever hurt their career by focusing their ire on Moscow.

Hysterical op-eds about the Evil Empire and its malevolent leader are ten a penny these days — and most of them, while very often scant in the facts department and ample in the conspiracy department, can be skimmed over and forgotten about. More of the same. No point getting too hyped up about it.

But every so often, a piece comes along that is so bad, on so many fronts, that it deserves a response. A recent piece in the Boston Globe meets the requirements. "Putin's Russia is a poor, drunk soccer hooligan," proclaimed the headline. If there was an award for excellency in Russia-bashing, this piece would surely be the winner.

I know it's hard to imagine, but it gets worse than the headline. Russia, the author wrote a few paragraphs in, is like an "oiled, aged, but still buff, body builder" who hides his "geriatric walker" off-stage — and "Boozy Yeltsin" was a "fitting representative" for the country. Funny, huh?

Airplane

The true measure of Ankara's apology - Halt ISIS operations along Syria's border

Russian MiG
© New Eastern Outlook
The Washington Post summarizes the recent apology offered to Russia by Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in its article, "Turkish president apologizes for downing of Russian warplane last year." It reports:
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan apologized Monday for the downing of a Russian warplane in November and called for Russia and Turkey to mend a bilateral relationship that has become openly hostile over the incident.

One Russian pilot was killed last year when two Turkish F-16s shot down a Russian Su-24 warplane over Turkey's border with Syria in an unexpected clash that Russian President Vladi­mir Putin called a "stab in the back administered by the accomplices of terrorists."
Additionally, the Washington Post would note:
In a statement, Erdogan's press secretary said Russia and Turkey "have agreed to take necessary steps without delay to improve bilateral relations," specifically noting regional crises and the fight against terrorism.
Indeed, the fight against terrorism does truly require Turkey's aid. And its aid in this fight, particularly along the Turkish-Syrian border will serve as the true measure of Ankara's sincerity regarding its apology and regret for Russia's downed SU-24 warplane.

SOTT Logo S

SOTT Focus: Erdogan apology leads to total turnaround in Russian-Turkish relations

Putin and Erdogan sat together
© SputnikRussian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Turkish President Recep Erdogan
In December 2014, as a result of meddling and coercion by the EU on behalf of the USA, Bulgaria reneged on its commitment to the massive South Stream pipeline project. Ever stoic, the Russian government basically said "your loss" and took their business elsewhere. That elsewhere was Turkey. Then, on September 30, 2015, Russia surprised just about everyone by beginning a large military operation in support of the Syrian government against terrorism. Just under two months later, in late November 2015, a Turkish jet shot down a Russian bomber flying near the Syrian-Turkish border (it could plausibly have made a very brief pass into Turkish airspace). Turkish president Erdogan and prime minister Davutoglu stood by the pilot's actions, blamed Russia, and refused to apologize.

Throughout this entire period, Turkey was perhaps the biggest covert sponsor of terrorists in Syria, including the FSA, al-Nusra, and Daesh. For example, Serena Shim died mysteriously in October 2014 after revealing direct links between Daesh and Turkish intelligence, MIT. Following the shoot-down of the Russian jet and the murder of its pilot (a war crime), Russia began a steady and consistent policy of exposing Turkish complicity in the destabilization and destruction of Syria via terror proxies like Daesh. This included deep involvement in Daesh's oil trade, supplying arms, fighters, border crossings, etc. Whereas before you would have been labeled a conspiracy theorist for suggesting such ties, by now it is common knowledge. So Turkey's image (or at least that of its leadership and deep state) has been seriously tainted.

Attention

Fighting breaks out between Kurds and IRGC troops in Iran

iranian kurds
© AFPIranian Kurdish fighters from the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran train as they prepare to celebrate Norouz, the Persian New Year, in the town of Koya, 100 kilometers north of Irbil in Iraq's Kurdish region, in March.
Clashes erupted this month between Kurdish fighters and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), with each side claiming to have inflicted casualties on the other. The country's heavily censored media have even reported the fighting and acknowledged fatalities on the government side. But why the sudden flare-up?

Who is fighting and how widespread is the violence?

The past two weeks of fighting have reportedly pitted official forces against members of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), with deadly clashes between the IRGC and Kurdish rebels in heavily Kurdish northwestern Iran, near the border with Iraq. Combat was reported on June 15-16 in Oshnavieh, in Iran's West Azerbaijan Province. More fighting followed in the nearby Sarvabad, Mahabad, and Marivan regions.

On June 28, the IRGC said its forces had killed 11 Kurdish rebels in the Sarvabad region. An IRGC commander, Mohammad Hossein Rajabi, said three of his troops were also killed in the clashes. The KDPI claims that several of its fighters and more than 20 IRGC members have been killed, and it accuses Iranian forces of shelling villages on the border over the weekend.

Comment: A local flare-up, or are some state actors playing the Kurdish card in Iran, as they have done and are doing in Syria and Iraq? With the Kurds it's unlikely. They have been 'at war' with Iran for over 30 years. The reason Iranian Kurds may be emboldened right now, or the Iranian government might be a little more concerned than usual, is the fact that the situation in Syria over the past 4 years has involved Western use of the Syrian Kurds and their desire for an independent state as a weapon against Assad. Such a situation would not only encourage Kurds across Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran, but also make the governments of those nations, in this case Iran, a little concerned about a potential 'flare up' in the Kurdish struggle for independence, and seek to keep a lid on it.


Ambulance

Incompetence or intent? Another U.S. proxy force decimated by Daesh, weapons seized

new syrian army
Like lambs to the slaughter. "OK guys, here's the deal. These are the guns you're gonna leave behind when Daesh blows you to smithereens. Just make sure you keep them in good condition."
The U.S. military has again failed in one of the training programs it runs in support of fighting the Islamic State. Earlier training missions had failed to create competent and willing forces. Supplies for U.S. supported forces ended on the black markets or directly in the hands of the Islamic State. Is all this really incapability or is there some intent behind this?

Stock Down

Toll of shooting down Russian plane? $9B downturn for Turkish economy

Erdogan and money
© news.yahoo.com
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered an apology to Russian President Vladimir Putin for the Russian Su-24 bomber downed in November of last year in the skies over Syria by Turkish air force. This step opened an opportunity for Moscow to cancel economic sanctions against Turkey, reported Kremlin's press service.

In November of last year, Russian fighter which took part in Moscow military campaign in Syria was shot down. Ankara announced that it had acted lawfully, as the plane crossed the Turkish airspace; Moscow denies these arguments. After the incident, Moscow quickly imposed sanctions, among which was a ban on imports of almost all food products - from tomatoes and apricots to chicken and salt products. However, it has not affected such important energy projects such as the international gas pipeline "Turkish stream".

Sharp deterioration in the socio-economic situation in Turkey forced Erdogan to take the first step to rapprochement with Moscow. It is expected that this year economic growth will be reduced to 3.5%. Last week the World Bank said that it is much lower than was recorded in the beginning of Erdogan's reign. A sharp drop in tourism revenue after a series of explosions this year and unrest in the South-East of the country played a role.


Comment: With the latest devastating developments at Istanbul's airport, perhaps the lower tourism count (-700K) actually saved some lives.


Russian sanctions, the growth of a terrorist threat, the escalation with Kurds in the South of the country, deterioration of Turkey's relations with the United States and the European Union because of refugees - all these factors have had a tremendous impact on the economy. According to many experts, Turkish business elites have been dissatisfied with this situation and since the end of last year put pressure on Turkish leadership, especially Erdogan.

Comment: Did Erdogan think there was no price to pay for his rash actions in downing the Russian Su-24? Does he think there is no price to pay for ongoing genocide of the Kurds, black market ISIS oil trade, the EU blackmail refugee deal, while facilitating repression and terrorism in his own country and in adjacent states? At least we now have his benchmark for triggering the 'remorse' of his actions...the power of money and the pressure of the elites...just like in the USA.


Eye 1

Proposal could give border agents the right to ask visitors to the US for access to their social media accounts

customs agent
© Tami Chappell / Reuters
Watch what you say on Facebook and Twitter or you might not be able to enter the US.

A new proposal to ask visitors for their "social media identifier" could help border agents "investigate" your background without having to go to the NSA.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), believes having this "identifier" could help it find "possible nefarious activity and connections."

If the plan is approved following a public consultation process that ends on August 22, those traveling under either the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) or visa waiver programs under Form I-94W would have the option of answering, "Please enter information associated with your online presence - Provider/Platform - Social media identifier," according to the Federal Register.

The social media information would be gathered in addition to the numerous database checks, fingerprinting, and face-to-interviews that already take place.

Comment: This should make it pretty clear to people that if you want to keep your freedom of speech and retain your right to personal privacy, you should find somewhere else to visit than the US. Spend your money in a country that actually supports freedom.


USA

Thanks America! Islamophobia reaches Japan


Comment: The 9/11 effect: What happens when the "world's only superpower" decides that it needs to demonize 1.5 billion Muslims in order to justify its imperial expansion into Muslim countries (and everywhere else) in order to keep Russia contained, and it does this for 15 straight years?


Muslims in Japan
Japan, on the other side of the planet from the USA, starts to demonize Muslims too. When that happens, ya know the mind-job is pretty much complete.The Supreme Court of Japan has upheld the government's right to continue the mass surveillance of Muslim residents, places of worship, halal restaurants, and other institutions related to the practice of Islam.

The decision came from a second court appeal in a case of Japanese Muslims who argued that the broad monitoring is unconstitutional, invades their privacy, and infringes on their freedom of religion.

"They made us terrorist suspects," Mohamed Fujita, one of the plaintiffs in the case, told Al Jazeera. "We never did anything wrong — on the contrary."

War Whore

Kerry: Britain could stay in EU as it has no idea how to negotiate the Brexit

kerry
© Nicolas Asfouri / Reuters
Britain could remain in the EU for the foreseeable future, with Downing Street appearing not to know how to negotiate the divorce, US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Colorado at the Aspen Ideas Festival a day after speaking to Prime Minister David Cameron.

The UK will have to implement Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty in order to leave the EU, which would kick-start a process that could last months, if not years before an exit is formalized. This would involve a series of renegotiations of treaties and other headaches for Britain.

"This is a very complicated divorce," Kerry told the audience in Colorado, days after Cameron announced he was stepping down. The British PM feels "powerless" to negotiate the country's exit, which he had campaigned against. According to the US secretary of state, this is a "fair conclusion - to go out and start negotiating a thing that he doesn't believe in and he had no idea how he would do it."

According to Kerry, even the high-profile 'Leave' campaigners such as former London Mayor Boris Johnson are also in no hurry to leave. Whether this means that Brexit could be reversed remains unclear, Kerry said in answer to a reporter's question. "I think there are a number of ways" to go about mitigating the damage, he said.