Puppet MastersS


Attention

Moscow regards preparations for US-Georgian drills as deliberate provocation


ITAR-TASS
Sat, 07 May 2016 13:09 UTC
US-Georgian military exercises (Noble Partner 2016)
© AP Photo/Shakh Aivazov
Moscow regards preparations for the US-Georgian military exercises (Noble Partner 2016) as a provocation aimed at deliberate destabilization of the military-political situation in South Caucasus, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

"We consider this sustainable 'reclamation' of the Georgian territory by the NATO military as a provocative step aimed at c destabilization of the military-political situation in South Caucasus. Washington and its allies that are openly appeasing Tbilisi's revanchist aspirations also contribute to that to a considerable degree," the ministry said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry noted that the Noble Partner 2016 maneuvers had several objectives, including to prepare the Georgian army for participation in the NATO Response Force (NRF) and strengthen the Georgian potential of territorial self-defense.

Comment: On a related note:
Pentagon To Send In Tanks And Troops To The Republic Of Georgia, Military Exercises Or Military Buildup !

The Pentagon has begun the process today of loading tanks onto ferries in Varna, Bulgaria, to make their way across the Black Sea to Batumi, in the Republic of Georgia, where they will be used in upcoming military exercises, which will involve some 650 US troops and 150 British troops.

This is the second year of the exercise, which appears to be meant to be an annual event, and the first time US combat tanks will be involved. Last year, the US sent Bradley Fighting Vehicles to Georgia for the operation.

The Georgian Defense Ministry announced the deployment would happen back in January, saying at the time that the presence of the tanks would underscore US support for the Georgian Republic against Russia.


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Star of David

Israel escalating attacks in Gaza: Mainstream media frames it as 'retaliatory'

Dan Cohen
Mondoweiss
Fri, 06 May 2016 12:11 UTC
News headlines
After 21 months of a one-way ceasefire, Israel is once again escalating attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip.

Yesterday, Israeli shelling killed Zaina Attia al-Amour, a 54-year-old grandmother.

"My mum was killed while sitting peacefully in our farm," her son Mohammed al-Amour told Middle East Eye's Mohammed Omer.

Airstrikes in eastern Rafah also injured 21-year-old Khazima al-Farra.

Two days before, airstrikes on Gaza City injured three children and 65-year-old Hassan Hassanien.
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Chess

Turkish PM's forced resignation is latest example of Erdogan's lust for power


Sputnik
Sat, 07 May 2016 03:40 UTC
Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
© Umit Bektas / Reuters
With the announcement that Ahmet Davutoglu will step down from his role as Turkish Prime Minister, Radio Sputnik's Loud & Clear speaks with journalist William Whiteman to discuss this latest example of President Erdogan's increasing authoritarianism.

"[President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan is obviously trying to centralize as much power as possible to himself and his presidential position. "Previously, the position of president within Turkish politics had been a largely ceremonial one..." Whiteman tells Loud & Clear.

"So many people are seeing this as an attempt to move Turkey into a dictatorship."

When Davutoglu was selected, it was assumed that he would follow Erdogan's lead. But the prime minister proved himself to be more independent than the president has liked.

Comment: Further reading: Sliding to dictatorship: Erdogan party strips power from Davutoglu

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Airplane

Cold War 2.0 - The Hybrid War

Pepe Escobar
Sputnik News
Fri, 06 May 2016 16:49 UTC
NATOheadquarters
© AFP 2016/John ThysThe NATO emblem is seen before a defence ministers meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on October 22, 2013.
We are all living in Hybrid War time. From R2P ("responsibility to protect") to color revolutions, from currency attacks to stock market manipulations.

From judicial-financial-political-media enabled "soft" coups - as in Brazil - to support for "moderate" jihadis, multiple stages of Hybrid War now cross-pollinate and generate a vortex of new mutant viruses.

Hybrid War, a Beltway concept, has even been turned upside down by the conceptualizers. NATO, affecting puzzlement at the very existence of the concept, interprets the Russian "invasion" of Ukraine as Hybrid War. That serves prime Hybrid War purveyors such as the RAND corporation to take it further, peddling war game scenarios of Russia being able to invade and conquer the Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — in less than 60 hours.

And that, in turn, foments even more Western military hysteria, encapsulated by the new NATO commander, a.k.a. Dr. Strangelove; Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, who made sure he would come up with a stage entrance worthy of his predecessor, Philip Breedlove/ Breedhate.

Slightly amused at the whole conceptual circus, Russians respond with actions. Extra deployments in our Western borderlands? No problem; here's your asymmetrical answer. And say hello, soon, to our new toy: the S-500s.
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Bad Guys

US Senator: Lavrov's right, US has teamed up with al Qaeda in Aleppo


Sputnik
Sat, 07 May 2016 03:34 UTC
Aleppo Syrian Army
© Sputnik/ Iliya Pitalev
Senator from the US State of Virginia Richard Black claims that the US government has likely acted to prevent the Syrian government's armed forces from recapturing the city of Aleppo from the al-Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra Front.

The US government has likely acted to prevent the Syrian government's armed forces from recapturing the city of Aleppo from the al-Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra Front, Senator from the US State of Virginia Richard Black told Sputnik.

"It is clear to me that what is happening is we are trying desperately to slow down the Syrian army's advance, which is on the verge of crushing al-Nusra and liberating Aleppo once and for all," Black said on Friday.

Comment: Further reading: Syria SITREP - 'Rebel' infighting, refugee camp bombed, ceasefire largely holding

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Pistol

Turkish editor who exposed Turkey's links with Syrian terrorists assailed by gunman outside courthouse


RT
Fri, 06 May 2016 19:41 UTC

An assailant has tried to shoot the editor-in-chief of Turkey's Cumhuriyet newspaper Can Dündar , before the court was to announce the verdict on his case, Reuters reported, citing witnesses. The paper had published reports implicating the Turkish government in having links with extremists.

The gunman shouted "traitor" before firing at least three shots at the journalist, an eyewitness told Reuters, adding that Dündar, who was unarmed, was not injured in the incident.

Reportedly at least one journalist who was covering Dündar's trial was injured, however.

In the aftermath of the attack, Dundar described the incident in an interview to Ruptly as an "intimidation" that, he said, "won't work on us" and "nobody should be worried about [the incident]."

"They are trying to sort things out in that way as they cannot do within the frame of justice," the journalist added, explaining the underlying reasons for such an assault.

The assailant was subsequently arrested.
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Attention

Turkish journalists convicted for leaking documents showing Turkey was arming Syrian terrorists


RT
Fri, 06 May 2016 18:33 UTC
convicted turkish journalists
© Ozan Kose / AFP Editor-in-chief of Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet daily Can Dundar (C) and the newspaper bureau chief in Ankara Erdem Gul (R)
Can Dundar and Erdem Gul, journalists from Turkey's Cumhuriyet newspaper, have been convicted on charges of "revealing state secrets" and sentenced to over five years in prison by an Istanbul court.

Dundar,editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet newspaper, was sentenced to five years and ten months in prison, while his colleague, who headed the paper's Ankara bureau, got five years behind bars, Turkish Hurriyet daily reported on Friday.

The Turkish court has reportedly acquitted them on some of the charges, including that of "coup attempt," according to the newspaper.

The two had also faced life sentences for publishing their report which claims that Turkey has delivered weapons to terrorists in Syria.

Earlier in March, the court named Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as the complainant in the case. The hearings were held in secret.

The case of the two journalists, who faced charges for revealing state secrets, espionage, and aiding a terrorist group, has drawn international attention since the Erdogan critics were jailed last year.

Comment: President Assad: 'Erdogan's army of terrorists invaded Syria long ago'

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SOTT Logo S

SOTT Focus: Syria SITREP - 'Rebel' infighting, refugee camp bombed, ceasefire largely holding

Harrison Koehli
Sott.net
Fri, 06 May 2016 20:12 UTC
As the shaky Aleppo 'regime of silence' stumbles on, here's some of the latest news from Syria. First, South Front reports: "Infighting is ongoing between militants groups in East Ghouta, near Damascus, amid Syrian government forces' gains in the area. The situation is tense between Jaish al-Islam and Failaq ar-Rahman."
east ghouta
© South Front
Further north, in Idlib, a refugee camp was bombed, killing at least 28 people. The U.S., Syria, and Russia all denied that it was one of their airstrikes. UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond blamed the Syrian Army. ("The Assad regime's contempt for efforts to restore the cessation of hostilities in Syria is clear for all to see," he said. The Right Honorable Gentleman (sic) had better look up the meaning of the word 'clear'.) The Russians probably have the right idea:
The refugee camp could have been shelled from multiple rocket launchers used by al-Nusra Front terrorists in the region, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said Friday. "Judging by the nature of destruction seen on photos and videos, the [refugee camp in Idlib] could have been either intentionally mistakenly struck from multiple rocket launchers, which are now often used by al-Nusra Front terrorists in the area," Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.

According to Konashenkov, photos of the site on social networks show that "there are no shell craters from aircraft ammunition and other traces of airstrikes." He also said that no flights were carried out by aircraft, Russian or other, over Sarmada in Syria's province of Idlib, near the border with Turkey where the refugee camp had been struck. "We have carefully analyzed the information from flight control area in that region on May 4 and May 5, 2016. There were no flights by Russian or any other aircraft over Sarmada."
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Bullseye

Brazilian senate committee vote: Yes to Rousseff impeachment process


Sputnik
Thu, 05 May 2016 21:37 UTC
Rousseff
© www.yahoo.comBrazil's Chamber of Deputies votes to impeach President Rousseff.
A Brazilian Senate committee voted Friday 15-5 in favor of the admission of the impeachment process of President Dilma Rousseff, local media reported.

According to the D24am portal, the Senate is now expected to vote on the issue on May 11. Should the upper house of the parliament vote in favor of impeaching her, Rousseff will be suspended for up to 180 days.

Brazil's leader has been facing rising discontent over the country's struggling economy and a major corruption scandal in the state-owned energy corporation Petrobras. She headed the company between 2003 and 2010, the period during which most of the corruption reportedly took place.

Rousseff's impeachment process has been characterized by her supporters as a political witch-hunt and the Brazilian head of state vowed to fight the campaign against her.

Comment: This is no surprise. More than 60% of the Brazilian parliament, and its potentially new president, are under investigation for corruption. They want the investigation to stop and can make this happen by voting Dilma Rousseff out. The US covertly supports these politicians, and the oust of Rousseff, in order to negatively affect the BRICS alliance which it deems a threat. Rousseff has not been charged with any crimes, nor implicated in any corruption scandals. She claims it is a 'coup.' It is.

See also: The Brazil fingerprint: Just look at who is to be installed as president and finance chiefs

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Pirates

Best of the Web: Pentagon plan: Convert Daesh caliphate into US-backed Syrian rebel redoubt

Stephen Gowans
what's left
Fri, 06 May 2016 21:11 UTC
special forces
US Special Forces are recruiting and equipping Sunni Arab fighters to capture Raqqa, the capital of ISIS’s caliphate. Once captured, the territory will likely remain in the hands of the US surrogates and almost certainly won’t be returned to the legitimate Syrian government. Instead, it will form the core of a US-puppet regime in Syria.

Comment: The scenario Gowans describes in this article is definitely plausible. It accounts for much of the U.S.'s 'strategy' in Syria today, and some of its more perplexing talking points. Whether or not it will actually happen is a different story. Syria and her allies are likely clued in to what's really going on, and doing everything in their power to prevent it. We'll just have to wait and see.


Washington is preparing to mount a campaign to transfer control of Syrian territory currently held by ISIS to rebels who operate under US influence, forming a rebel redoubt from which US proxies can continue to wage war on Damascus, and establishing the foundation of a US puppet state in Syria.

A key to US strategy is the artificial division of the conflict into a part to be resolved by military means, involving ISIS, and a part to be resolved through a political settlement, involving all other rebel formations. Nusra Front, the exception, is to be ignored, and rebranded. As Al-Qaeda's Syria franchise, it can hardly be embraced openly by the United States, though there is evidence of its being equipped covertly by the CIA.


Comment: And according to Lavrov, the Americans even tried to get it included in the latest Aleppo ceasefire!

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