Puppet MastersS


Snakes in Suits

Searching for scapegoats: New Justice Department rules target corporate executives for prosecution


RT
Thu, 10 Sep 2015 22:12 UTC
U.S. Attorney General Loretta
© Yuri Gripas / ReutersU.S. Attorney General Loretta
New guidelines issued by the Justice Department provide instructions on prosecuting corporate officers. The rules could put pressure on corporations to turn over evidence against their own executives.

Under the guidelines issued on Wednesday, the Justice Department (DOJ) told civil and criminal investigators to focus on individual employees, rather than the corporation as an entity, from the very beginning of a potential case, according to The New York Times, which was provided with a memo outlining the new policy.

The guidelines further state that in settlement negotiations, corporations won't receive credit for cooperating with the government unless they turn over evidence against employees, "regardless of their position, status or seniority.


Comment: It takes flesh and blood people to commit a crime, and criminal executives should be held accountable for their actions. But when an enterprise is criminal and parasitic by it's very nature, then it's paying lip-service to justice to ignore the corporation's complicit criminality to focus on the actions of a few individuals.

It sounds like this new policy gives criminal corporations and the DoJ a chance to improve their public images by scapegoating a few people without having any real impact on bottom lines or bringing about real, positive changes in society. Unfortunately for them they can't shirk their karma forever, and when bread and circuses stop heads always roll.

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Propaganda

US continues to fabricate claims about Russian troops in Syria

Stephen Lendman
Global Research
Thu, 10 Sep 2015 23:20 UTC
Image
We heard the same refrain before. It keeps repeating about nonexistent "Russian aggression" in Ukraine.

Now it's Syria. On Monday, its Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi called rumors about Russia building up its military presence in his country "fabricated by intelligence agencies of the West and some Arab countries."
This hostile campaign is aimed at creating the impression that the Syrian state has become so weak that it has to seek direct military assistance from its friends.

Our relations with Russians, including in the military sphere, have been developing for a long time. However, there are no Russian troops in Syria. Russia conducts no military activities on land, at sea or in the air.
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Attention

"Fed risks triggering panic and turmoil": World Bank warns against raising rates

Mac Slavo
SHTFplan
Thu, 10 Sep 2015 00:00 UTC
Image
Could things crumble and crash over a simple rate hike?

Many experts say they could, and well, things aren't so simple after all.

With all things being equal, and with respect to the status quo of the powers that be, the current state of affairs appear very .... um, delicate, and rather prone to disaster.

By the official account, the Federal Reserve has been actively propping up the system with unlimited liquidity and dirt cheap money to the big banks to keep things from going under. Not that this is the whole story, but it's a decent starting point.

Because they have started something they cannot finish, everything is vulnerable to toppling over the moment that Federal Reserve "stimulus" and "aid" is removed.

Now, even the World Bank is cautioning the Fed against taking action. So what now?

Comment: For a closer view of the 'whole story' see: 2015, the BRICS checkmate Western finance?

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Stop

Hungary readies border fence and calls 'state of crises' on refugees

Gergely Szakacs and Krisztina Than
The Daily Mail
Thu, 10 Sep 2015 22:21 UTC
Image
© AAPIllegal migrants walk toward the city centre next to the fence around the refugee camp in Debrecen, 221 kms from Budapest.
Hungary said on Thursday it expected to finish building a fence along its border with Serbia by early October, and indicated it would call a "state of crisis" next week as the right-wing government readies a clampdown on migrants and refugees streaming through the Balkans.

With 3,321 registered entering from Serbia on Wednesday, the highest daily total yet, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff said Hungary planned to introduce "different rules of the game" from next week, with penalties for illegal entry, accelerated asylum procedures and possible expulsion back over the border.

He said the fence, in part being built by prisoners along the 175-km (109-mile) border, would be completed sooner than planned, by the beginning rather than the end of October.

"This 3.5-4-metre tall fence can be adequate to protect the country, especially if policemen are patrolling on the other side," Lazar told a weekly news conference.

He said the government would meet next Tuesday to consider a proposal by the interior ministry to declare a "state of crisis due to mass migration". Such a move would make it easier for authorities to take control of public or municipal property, for example to accommodate asylum seekers.

A week later, parliament is expected to discuss sending the army to the border.

Comment: Hungary is really setting a bad example with the refugee crises:

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Red Flag

Biting the hand that feeds it: Al Qaeda magazine urges attack on U.S. economic leaders

Robert Windrem and Tracy Connor
NBC News
Wed, 09 Sep 2015 21:57 UTC
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett (R) and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates
© Rick Wilking / Reuters
A notorious al Qaeda magazine is encouraging lone-wolf terrorist attacks on U.S. economic leaders, including Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg and Warren Buffett.

The list in Inspire magazine also included industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch, internet entrepreneur Larry Ellison, and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. A prominent economist was also on the list but asked that his name be withheld. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke was named, though not Janet Yellen, who succeeded him.

Also pictured was Jim Walton, one of the heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune, although he was misidentified in the caption as his late father, Sam Walton. Several other names on the list were misspelled.

Comment: So what would be the purpose of threatening the economic elites? The American economy is not reviving. Or is this just a distraction from the inevitable economic collapse?

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Bad Guys

The history of NATO's war against Africa


CounterPunch
Thu, 10 Sep 2015 12:42 UTC
US Army Africa
© Unknown

WBAI: In the past decade, America has quietly expanded its military presence throughout Africa. Take us there as a starting point and educate us.

Eric Draitser: The last decade is a good timeframe to discuss this because there have been such significant changes both in terms of what's happened on the continent of Africa, and in terms of how the United States and its military establishment have responded to that. People may remember, or they may not in fact, that back in 2007 towards the end of the Bush administration we had the establishment of the US military's so-called Africa Command (AFRICOM). And from its humble beginnings, so to speak, in terms of "cooperative security arrangements" and "counter-terrorism," AFRICOM has quietly expanded to become a continent-wide military footprint that the United States uses for all sorts of goals. In fact, the US military establishment has insinuated itself in almost every single country on the continent with the exception of two (Zimbabwe and Eritrea).

And so, although it doesn't receive much media attention, though it doesn't get much fanfare, the United States has deeply penetrated Africa militarily, and is directly engaged in every important conflict on the continent. Whether you want to discuss the US-NATO war on Libya in 2011, the United States was a principal part of that conflict. The US is deeply engaged in West Africa, both in terms of the so-called counter-terrorism operations against Boko Haram, as well as being a principal participant in the conflicts around the Lake Chad basin. It has deep penetration in the Sahel region both with counter-terrorism and surveillance. And we could go on and on. The point here is that anywhere you look in Africa the US military is involved.

Comment: Also see: Exposing history's biggest empire

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Heart - Black

It seems Obama won, so did Netanyahu

James Zogby
Huffington Post
Sat, 05 Sep 2015 09:10 UTC
Ob/Net
© all-len-all.comThe "Winners."
For the past several weeks, considerable attention was paid to the number of Democratic senators announcing their support for the Iran deal. The number needed to insure that the deal would go through was 34.

As the total came closer to the magic 34, media in the US and Israel were rife with analysis and commentary about what all this meant for Israel. Since the Israeli Prime Minister had invested so much personal capital in his effort to block the deal, and his US lobbying arm, AIPAC, had, likewise, made its defeat their number one priority, one could hardly blame liberal Jews for wanting to celebrate AIPAC's defeat or for some Israelis to lament what they called "Netanyahu's strategic blunder".

Both views, however, are naïve and shortsighted. On several levels, Netanyahu won. Let me explain.

Comment: Games and game faces. Pathocrats are geared to never lose.

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Bad Guys

U.S. foreign policy has always been to 'drive a wedge' between Russia and China

Caleb Maupin
New Eastern Outlook
Thu, 10 Sep 2015 20:01 UTC
Putin Xi China Russia
© AFP 2015/ KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV
In his interview with Bill O'Reilly, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump ranted against Barack Obama's foreign policy. Within his tirade, he proclaimed:
"You can't have everybody hating you. The whole world hates us. One of the things that I heard for years and years, never drive Russia and China together, and Obama has done that."
These are very interesting words that point to a fundamental reality of US foreign policy. The fear of a world where these two massive countries stand arm in arm — with economies independent of western banking institutions — is nothing new. Since the creation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the strategy of the ruling financial elite of the United States, often openly stated, has been to divide the leaders of Russia and China, in order to effectively undermine both, and keep their position of dominance within the global market.

Comment: The West has certainly been busy trying to disintegrate Eurasia, and thereby rule out any imperial competitors. This makes up the bulk of the 'great games' that are played continuously as the Western elite feed an insatiable, bottomless greed. But it looks more and more like their time 'in the sun' is almost up. Thankfully, nothing lasts forever. See:

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Light Saber

Lavrov spells it out: U.S. appeasing terrorists who want to oust Assad


RT
Thu, 10 Sep 2015 20:21 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Sergey Karpukhin
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Washington is making a grave mistake by appeasing those who want to use the terrorist group Islamic State to force the ouster of Syria's president, Bashar Assad.

On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke on the phone with his US counterpart, Secretary of State John Kerry, who expressed concern over Russian support to the Syrian leader.

"Kerry was also pushing the very strange idea that supporting Bashar Assad in his anti-terror fight only strengthens the positions of ISIS, because the sponsors of ISIS would pump even more arms and money into it," Lavrov said.

"It's an absolutely upside-down logic and yet another attempt to appease those who use terrorists to fight dissenting regimes," the Russian FM said, mentioning US attempts to cooperate with varrious extremist groups in Syria over the past few years.

"It's a colossal mistake that the US-led [anti-ISIS] coalition never considered interaction with Syria, not even information exchange," Lavrov said. "I cannot comprehend this logic, or rather absolute lack of logic."

"We help not only Syria, we also provide weapons to Iraq and other countries of the region that find themselves on the frontline with the terror threat. Equally for Iraq and other countries, we do so without any political preconditions," Lavrov said.
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Green Light

Palestinians are set to raise flag at the UN, awaiting yes or no


Middle East Online
Wed, 09 Sep 2015 00:00 UTC
UN flags fly
© www.charismanews.comWill the Palestinian flag be among these?
The General Assembly is set to vote at 1900 GMT on a draft resolution which would allow Palestine and the Vatican to raise their flags at UN headquarters in New York.

The United Nations on Thursday is expected to allow the Palestinians to raise their flag at its headquarters in New York, in a symbolic move highlighting Palestinian aspirations for statehood. The General Assembly is set to vote at 3:00 pm (1900 GMT) on a draft resolution that diplomats say is almost certain to garner a majority in the 193-nation forum.

"It is a symbolic thing, but another step to solidify the pillars of the state of Palestine in the international arena," said Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian representative to the UN. The resolution would allow the flags of Palestine and the Holy See - both of which have non-member observer status - to be hoisted alongside those of the member states.


Comment: The flag-flying resolution, which diplomats said the Palestinians were expected to circulate [...] had apparently been prepared without the explicit consent of the Vatican's mission to the United Nations. In a note circulated to some UN members and seen by Reuters, the Vatican made clear that while it did not object to the Palestinians proposing a resolution to fly their own flag, the Holy See had no plans to join the initiative...


If adopted, the UN would have 20 days to implement the move, which would be in time for a visit by president Mahmud Abbas on September 30. Mansour said the initiative had the potential to "give our people some hope that the international community is still supporting the independence of the state of Palestine.

Comment: The Palestinian flag is a "symbol of martyrs, sacrifices, revolution and statehood," stressing that the UN move is of political and moral significance, and an important step in achieving an independent state. -Ramallah trade unions

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