Puppet MastersS


Attention

Leaked documents reveal TTIP could tear asunder Europe's long-held environmental and consumer protections


RT
Tue, 03 May 2016 14:53 UTC
TTIP protest
© Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters
Climate protection, jobs, food safety and online privacy rights will be whittled away under the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), an explosive tranche of leaked documents reveal.

The text of the secretive EU-US trade negotiations indicate the watershed deal could tear asunder long-held environmental and consumer protections many Europeans hold dear.

Greenpeace Netherlands published the classified documents on Monday to dismantle a veil of secrecy over the trade agreement and lay bare its implications for climate protection, human health, workers' rights, internet privacy rights and the very social fabric of Europe itself.

The NGO, which has a long history of environmental campaign work and research, obtained the documents from an unknown source.

Green Peace Netherlands worked with a number of high-profile media outlets on the data, including Hamburg-based TV station NDR, Cologne-headquartered public broadcasting group WDR and renowned Munich-based newspaper Süddeutscher Zeitung.

Comment: The Truth behind the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)

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Blackbox

EU deputy reveals no actual treaty signed with Turkey - who's gonna pay them the 3 billion Euros?

Pete Kimberley (translator)
Voltaire Network
Tue, 03 May 2016 15:20 UTC
Sophie in t’Veld
Sophie in t’Veld
While we have been stating for several weeks that the 3 billion Euros annually promised by the European Union to Turkey are not destined to help the migrants, but to finance the war against Syria, European deputy for Holland Sophie in t'Veld (Liberal Democrats) caused a shockwave by unmasking the scandal - according to her, no Treaty has been signed between the Union and Turkey.

This is unique in European history - the decisions taken by the Council have been formulated exclusively by way of a Press communiqué.

It seems that it is now impossible to hide this manipulation any longer.

So who is going to pay the 3 billion Euros annually?

And from what budget?

Comment: Further reading: Erdogan's blackmail: EU will offer Turkey visa-free travel after Turkey threatens to back out of migration deal

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Snakes in Suits

Erdogan's blackmail: EU will offer Turkey visa-free travel after Turkey threatens to back out of migration deal


RT
Tue, 03 May 2016 15:09 UTC
turkey eu
© Francois Lenoir / Reuters
The European Commission will propose easing visa requirements for Turkey on Wednesday, Reuters quoted sources close to the Brussels-Ankara negotiations. The reports come after Turkey threatened to back out of the migration deal.

Reuters cited a diplomatic source as saying that Turkey's visa-free demands will be met when the European Union's top executive body announces its proposal to ease visa requirements for Turkish citizens during a meeting on Wednesday. Another source said that the committee's preparatory meeting already supported the proposal Monday.

The European Commission is scheduled to report on May 4 whether Turkey has met the benchmarks for visa-free travel.

An EU official speaking to Reuters on Monday claimed that Turkey has fulfilled as many as 65 requirements, meaning it doubled the number of satisfied conditions in less than two weeks. As of the end of April, Turkey had reportedly met less than half of the conditions required.

In April, Ankara threatened to back out of the migration agreement with the EU, unless travel rules were eased for Turkish citizens when entering the 28-nation union.
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Alarm Clock

Lavrov announces upcoming cessation of hostilities agreement in Aleppo


RT
Tue, 03 May 2016 15:10 UTC
Lavrov optužio SAD zbog činjenice da se Al-Nusra Front teroristi i
A cessation of hostilities in the Syrian city of Aleppo will be announced in the coming hours, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday after talks with UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura.

Lavrov added that the US and Russian militaries are currently holding talks on the Aleppo ceasefire.
"I hope that in the coming hours such an agreement will be announced," the minister said after the meeting in Moscow.

According to UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura, the stalled Syria peace talks could be resumed if an Aleppo ceasefire is agreed. He added that there is now a possibility to relaunch the ceasefire by extending local truces.

"I have a feeling and a hope that we can relaunch this," De Mistura said. "We all hope that ... in a few hours we can relaunch the cessation of hostilities. If we can do this, we will be back on the right track."


Comment: In the run-up to the cessation, the Syrian Arab Army is doing all they can to repel the moderate jihadis in Western Aleppo:



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Red Flag

Trump: US should shoot down Russian planes that fly near American aircraft


Sputnik
Mon, 02 May 2016 15:03 UTC
trump
© AP Photo/ Seth Perlman
US presidential candidate Donald Trump said that the flybys of Russian planes over American aicraft demonstrated a lack of respect for the United States and President Barack Obama.

US military pilots would have to shoot at Russian planes that perform flyby maneuvers over American aircraft if diplomatic channels to prevent such incidents fail, US presidential candidate Donald Trump told an Indiana radio station on Monday.

Trump emphasized that Washington's initial response to such incidents should be diplomacy.

"And if that doesn't work out, I don't know... at a certain point, when that sucker comes by, you gotta shoot," Trump stated.

On Friday, US media reported that a Russian Su-27 jet performed a "barrel-roll" over a US Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance plane in the Baltic Sea.

Comment: Americans should be worried about what might happen if Trump gets elected. They might find themselves with nothing but enemies around the world.

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Eye 1

FBI forces woman to unlock her phone using fingerprint biometrics


RT
Mon, 02 May 2016 14:56 UTC
iphone fingerprint
© Jason Lee / Reuters
A federal judge has signed a warrant to compel a woman to unlock her iPhone's fingerprint security mechanism. While the Fifth Amendment would prevent a person from having to give their passcode, biometric methods are not similarly protected.

Paytsar Bkhchadzhyan was arrested in late February, and within only 45 minutes the FBI had a warrant in hand, compelling her to use her finger to unlock her iPhone with its Touch ID sensor. It's believed that prosecutors wanted the data inside the phone, because Bkhchadzhyan is the girlfriend of an alleged Armenian gang member, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Normally, locked smartphones are only opened by way of a passcode, and the Fifth Amendment prevents law enforcement from demanding passwords, even with a warrant. Demanding biometric information like fingerprints, however, is not considered self-incrimination.

Compelling someone to provide their fingerprint is something of a legal grey area that appears to be created by mixture of legal precedents: Police can take fingerprint evidence from a person without a warrant, and a phone can be searched if they do have a warrant and, of course, a method to access it.
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Eye 1

British McCarthyism: Labour councilors suspended over 'anti-Israel' social media posts


RT
Mon, 02 May 2016 13:32 UTC
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn
© Peter Nicholls / ReutersJeremy Corbyn

Two Labour councilors have been suspended over posts criticizing Israel, including likening human rights abuses of Palestinians by the Jewish state to the treatment of Jews by Nazi Germany, as well as blaming Israel for the US Sandy Hook shootings.


Nottingham City councilor Ilyas Aziz had shared the controversial Facebook posts back in 2014, which were discovered by political website Guido Fawkes.

One post read: "Jews and Muslims lived together in the Middle East, in peace pre-1948. Perhaps it would have been wiser to create Israel in America, it's big enough. They could relocate even now."

Comment: British McCarthyism continues. The 'anti-Semitic' scandal is part of a 'slow motion coup' according to George Galloway, ostensibly to oust Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Party leader; as the British government continues to shield Israel from the massive growing pressure of the BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) movement. See also:

British McCarthyism: Is London's 'anti-Semitic' scandal a move against Jeremy Corbyn?

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Rocket

Nusra front terrorists fire missiles on Aleppo


Sputnik
Tue, 03 May 2016 09:55 UTC
aleppo destruction

The Nusra Front terrorist group has launched 60 missiles in an attack on the Syrian city of Aleppo over the past hour, killing nine people, an Aleppo militia source said on Tuesday.

"Nusra Front fighters and their allies have launched 60 missiles on Aleppo in the past hour. Tishreen, Masaken, Al-Sabil and Al-Nil streets have sustained the most damage. Nine civilians have been killed and 45 have been injured," the source told RIA Novosti.

The militants began by firing at Christian areas of the city, the source said, adding that the missiles were launched from the Bani Zeid, Kafr Hamrah and Bustan al-Basha districts.

The Nusra Front, which an extremist organization not included by the Syrian ceasefire agreement and outlawed in many countries, including Russia, has in recent days been increasingly active around Aleppo and in the Latakia province.

Comment: No doubt that in the Western press, any and all civilian deaths will be blamed on the regime and/or Russia, because the Western-backed terrorists can do no wrong.

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Info

Turkish Parliamentarians end up in massive brawl over lifting lawmakers' immunity from prosecution


Sputnik
Tue, 03 May 2016 12:39 UTC
Fight in Turkey parliment
© YouTube/OA
A debate in the Turkish parliament over lifting lawmakers' immunity from prosecution ended in a massive punch-up, on Monday; the previous meeting on the issue on Thursday was also postponed because of a scuffle.

The video circulating in the Internet caught the parliamentarians of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and oppositional Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) violently trading kicks and punches.

The scuffle is believed to have been sparked by Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag after he criticized last week's fistfight and brawl, saying that the advisers had been involved in violence, according to Turkish Hurriyet Daily News.

HDP İstanbul deputy Garo Paylan was quick to respond by calling the minister's remarks slander.
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Attention

Inherent Resolve results: US service member killed near Irbil, Iraq in 'enemy fire'


RT
Tue, 03 May 2016 12:29 UTC
US soldier in Iraq
© Reuters
US Defense Secretary Ash Carter says an American service member has been killed in Iraq. A statement from the US-led forces in Iraq added the fatality was "a result of enemy fire."

"It is a combat death, of course. And a very sad loss," the senior official told reporters at a press conference in Germany.

According to Carter, the serviceman was killed "in the neighborhood" of Irbil, northern Iraq. Irbil is the capital of semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

No further official details were given apart from the US-led Operation Inherent Resolve stating that a coalition "service member was killed in northern Iraq as a result of enemy fire."
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