Puppet MastersS


USA

US refuses any joint operations with Russia to liberate Raqqa

Islamic State militants
© AP Photo/ Militant website via AP, File
The United States is not planning any joint operations with Russia to liberate the Syrian city of Raqqa from Daesh, US Department of Defense spokesperson Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza told Sputnik on Friday.

"We are not planning any operations with Russia to jointly liberate Raqqa from ISIL [Islamic State] control. In Syria, our focus remains on equipping and enabling local, motivated forces who can take the fight to ISIL," Baldanza said.

Media reports on Thursday indicated that Kurdish forces may be planning an imminent operation to liberate the Islamic State stronghold. According to reports, coalition aircraft dropped leaflets over the city on Thursday, calling on civilians to evacuate.

Comment: US still refuses to work with Russia despite the open invitation. A reason for this could be that working with Russia militarily would bring into question the current anti-Russian propaganda.


Attention

Russia has not seen such amassing of hostile forces on its borders since 1941

US tanks in military exercises
© AP Photo/ Shakh Aivazov
Russia has not seen such a major military buildup close to its borders since 1941 when the Third Reich sent the Wehrmacht to conquer the Soviet Union, Professor Stephen F. Cohen said in his recent interview on The John Batchelor Show, referring to NATO's increasingly assertive strategy in Eastern Europe and the Baltics.

"We have been watching for nearly a month a steady buildup of American and NATO forces along near Russia's borders - on land, on sea and in the air," he said. "There has been nothing like this on Russia's borders, such an amassing of hostile military force, since the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941."

Russia has been concerned with NATO's overall strategy and its recent moves particularly. Last week the US completed its first land-based component of the Aegis missile shield at an air base near Deveselu, Romania. A day later, the alliance held a groundbreaking ceremony in Poland. The Aegis Ashore base is scheduled to be deployed in Redzikowo by 2018.

Bad Guys

Pivot state: Washington amends defense bill to give India 'NATO ally' status

NATO US

Comment: The US has kicked its hybrid war against the BRICS into overdrive. Washington's 'soft coups' have Brazil in crisis and have Venezuela burning. Now, with India increasing their naval cooperation with the US, and granting safe haven to anti-Chinese extremists, the country is fast becoming the perfect tool for sabotaging the entire effort.

Yet there are still obstacles to this new alliance - one being Washington's alliance with Pakistan, India's long-standing rival. In this article we see that Washington is perhaps willing to at least pay lip service to playing 'tough' with Pakistan, in order to turn India into a tool for American empire.



US lawmakerson Thursday approved amendments to a defence bill that seeks to bring India on a par with
NATO(North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) allies for sale of defence equipment and technology transfer, even as they voted to increase restrictions on military assistance for Pakistan , including immediately blocking $450 million in aid, unless certain conditions are met.

The passage of the National Defense Authorisation Act (NDAA), 2017, was the scene of much action relating to the Indian subcontinent and Asia Pacific region, as lawmakers moved to codify Washington's Asia pivot, a strategy that includes strengthening New Delhi's military muscle implicitly aimed at countering Beijing's expansionism.

Comment: In the end it seems India is betting on the wrong horse here. The US empire is dying, and hopes to take the world with it. To sabotage the newly developing BRICS nations at this time is to commit one's nation to the fate of a dying empire.

Further reading:


Bad Guys

Turkish MPs temporarily suspend constitution, strip Kurdish MPs of legal immunity

erdogan con isis
Turkey's parliament has voted to approve a bill to temporarily suspend the constitution and lift immunity from a selection of Members of Parliament.

In Friday's vote, 376 MPs voted to approve the bill, which was introduced by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and aims to lift the immunities of mainly pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MPs.

Friday's vote surpassed the minimum 367 required to pass the bill without going to a referendum.

The bill was backed by from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has accused HDP parliamentarians of violating the Turkish constitution by advocating for autonomy for Kurds in Turkey in the midst of a reignited war between Turkey and the PKK.

Erdogan has also accused HDP of being a political wing of the PKK, an outlawed organization in Turkey.

Comment: Further reading: Turkey on 'dead-end path' as Erdogan consolidates unchallenged power


Quenelle

Polish PM: Poland will never bow to EU's ultimatums

Poland EU
© Przemek Wierzchowski / Agencja Gazeta / Reuters
Poland's rightwing Prime Minister Beata Szydlo vowed Friday that her government would never bow to any EU ultimatum and accused some members of the European Commission of trying to 'destroy' the 28-member bloc.

Szydlo was responding to a Monday deadline set by the Commission for Poland to reverse a controversial overhaul of the country's top court that has set off a fiery dispute between Warsaw and Brussels.

'Poland will never succumb to any ultimatum,' Szydlo said during a stormy debate in parliament.

'There are some in the European Commission... who want to destroy the European Union rather than see it develop.'

Comment: Further reading: Poland's new ultra-national government is double trouble for EU and Russia


Light Saber

My year in Syria: An interview with Miguel Fernández, Cuban journalist

cuban journalist syria
© Miguel FernándezMiguel Fernandez near Damascus
For almost a year Miguel Fernandez was the only journalist from the Western world accredited to work in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and on his return to Havana gave Sputnik Mundo an exclusive interview about his experiences.

For almost a year Miguel Fernandez was the only journalist from the Western world accredited to work in the Syrian capital, Damascus. He worked there on behalf of the Prensa Latina news agency, which has been present in Syria since 2011. After returning home to Havana, he gave Sputnik an exclusive interview about his experiences.

"Seeing how these people don't give in, that they dream about a prosperous country, is the biggest lesson that Syria gave me," Fernandez said.
"Fear is the first thing that war creates, that fear which forces people to be on guard. However, Damascus broke that pattern. When my colleague arrived I took him around the city and he noticed that buses and taxis are traveling around, people are sitting in cafes and going shopping, children are going to school. He asked me, 'where is the war?'"

"I said, I will show you before we leave for Cuba. And after less than a day, when we were traveling in a taxi, a mortar shell fell in front of us, onto a group of people, some of whom died, and there was chaos all around."

"I looked at that and I said - that is war. That resistance of the Syrian people, the unwillingness to accept the hardships of war, has inspired me."

Vader

Collusion with terrorists is only leverage US has in Syria

Collusion with terrorists
© Amer Almohibany / Reuters
There is a simple explanation why Washington refuses to proscribe the militant groups Jaysh al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham as terrorist. Because Washington relies on them for regime change in Syria.

Therefore, Washington and its Western and Middle East allies cannot possibly designate Jaysh al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham as terrorist; otherwise it would be a self-indicting admission that the war in Syria is a foreign state-sponsored terrorist assault on a sovereign country.

This criminal conspiracy is understood by many observers as an accurate description of the five-year Syrian conflict and how it originated. Syria fits into the mold of US-led regime change wars in the Middle East and elsewhere. However, Washington and its allies, assisted by the Western corporate news media, have maintained a fictitious alternative narrative on Syria, claiming the war is an insurgency by a pro-democracy rebel movement.

That narrative has strained credulity over the years as the putative "secular rebels" have either vanished or turned out to be indistinguishable from extremist groups like al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra and so-called Islamic State (also known as Daesh).

Washington asserts that it only supports "moderate, secular rebels" of the Free Syrian Army. British Prime Minister David Cameron has claimed that there are 70,000 such "moderate rebels" fighting in Syria against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. But no-one can locate these supposed pro-democracy warriors.

Comment: Wouldn't it be nice if everyone who still thinks that the US somehow supports a "moderate opposition" in Syria read this?


Bad Guys

Curfew imposed as anti-govt protesters storm PM's office, Green Zone in Baghdad

protest in Babhdad
© Khalid al Mousily / Reuters Anti-government protesters storm Baghdad's Green Zone in Iraq May 20, 2016.
At least three people are reported dead and scores injured after Iraqi state forces used live bullets and tear gas against anti-government protesters attempting to storm the Green Zone area of Baghdad.

A curfew has now been imposed.

People in the mostly young male crowd shouted, "This is the revenge of the people!" and "Don't side with the corrupt!" as they gathered outside the heavily fortified area to censure the government for failing to pass a key anti-corruption law.

Friday's demonstration was called by secular protesters, who are calling for Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to overcome bickering among the special interest groups and factions within his government.


Comment: This protest follows on the heels of one made by adherents of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr who has led protests against corruption in the past: Followers of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr storm Baghdad's Green Zone, enter parliament


Star of David

Israeli Defense Minister resigns, saying "dangerous and extremist elements have taken over Israel and the Likud Party"

Moshe Ya'alon
© Tomer AppelbaumDefense Minister Moshe Ya'alon explains his resignation at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv on Friday, May 20, 2016.
Extremist elements have taken over the country, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon warned on Friday morning as he explained his resignation from political life.

"This morning I told the prime minister that I'm resigning from the government and the Knesset and taking a break from political life," Ya'alon said at the IDF's military quarters in Tel Aviv. "I have no intention of leaving the public and political life, and in the future will return to compete for the national leadership of Israel."

"I saw before me the safety of Israel and its citizens in all of my acts and decisions, and the good of the country above all other considerations. This was so in security and professionals matters and in matters of values and rule of the law."

Earlier on Friday, Ya'alon wrote on Facebook that "I notified the prime minister this morning that following his conduct in the latest developments and in view of the lack of trust in him, I am resigning from the government and the Knesset and taking time out from political life." Noting that he worked harmoniously with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a long time, Ya'alon said in his speech that "unfortunately, I recently found myself in strong disagreement on moral and professional issues with the prime minister, a number of ministers and several MKs."

Comment: In response, Netanyahu doubled down on the crazy in his inner circle by naming far-right extremist Avigdor Lieberman as new Defense Minister, who has called for beheading disloyal Palestinian citizens:
"Those who are against us, there's nothing to be done - we need to pick up an ax and cut off his head," Lieberman asserted at Israel's "Voting for Democracy - 2015 Elections" conference.
He's also previously called for new wars in Lebanon and Gaza, saying "a fourth operation in the Gaza Strip is inevitable, just as a third Lebanon war is inevitable, and for bombing Palestinian civilian structures:
"At 8 a.m. we'll bomb all the commercial centers ... at noon we'll bomb their gas stations ... at 2 we'll bomb their banks," he said.
It certainly seems like Israel is going to be getting even more extreme and violent in the near future.


USA

How fascism is coming to America

donald trump
© REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein
The Republican Party's attempt to treat Donald Trump as a normal political candidate would be laughable were it not so perilous to the republic. If only he would mouth the party's "conservative" principles, all would be well.

But of course the entire Trump phenomenon has nothing to do with policy or ideology. It has nothing to do with the Republican Party, either, except in its historic role as incubator of this singular threat to our democracy. Trump has transcended the party that produced him. His growing army of supporters no longer cares about the party. Because it did not immediately and fully embrace Trump, because a dwindling number of its political and intellectual leaders still resist him, the party is regarded with suspicion and even hostility by his followers. Their allegiance is to him and him alone.

And the source of allegiance? We're supposed to believe that Trump's support stems from economic stagnation or dislocation. Maybe some of it does. But what Trump offers his followers are not economic remedies — his proposals change daily. What he offers is an attitude, an aura of crude strength and machismo, a boasting disrespect for the niceties of the democratic culture that he claims, and his followers believe, has produced national weakness and incompetence. His incoherent and contradictory utterances have one thing in common: They provoke and play on feelings of resentment and disdain, intermingled with bits of fear, hatred and anger. His public discourse consists of attacking or ridiculing a wide range of "others" — Muslims, Hispanics, women, Chinese, Mexicans, Europeans, Arabs, immigrants, refugees — whom he depicts either as threats or as objects of derision. His program, such as it is, consists chiefly of promises to get tough with foreigners and people of nonwhite complexion. He will deport them, bar them, get them to knuckle under, make them pay up or make them shut up.

Comment: The irony of this fairly accurate piece on Trump is that it was authored by Robert Kagan - an arch-neocon and arch criminal himself. Let's see: Killary supporter, co-founder of the Project for the New American Century, attacker of alternative media, spouse of Victoria Nuland, and the list goes on... Just goes to show how accurately these pathological types can write about other nut jobs like Trump, but are so blind when it comes to their own breathtaking hubris.