Puppet MastersS


Nuke

Iran nuke deal -- What's cookin' at the Vienna table

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Fri, 03 Jul 2015 20:45 UTC
Kerry
© YouTube'Working Hard' on Iran Nuclear Talks.
Vienna -- As the clock ticks towards a -- possible? -- Iran nuclear deal, sources very close to Iranian negotiators expressed to Asia Times their frustration about American negotiators; they seem not to be prepared, yet, to make a clear choice between keeping some UN Security Council sanctions and getting an agreement.

Asia Times has also learned that the major -- extremely contentious -- point at the negotiating table concerns the operation of the Joint Commission dispute resolution mechanism. None of the P5+1 players want this to be leaked -- yet.

As for an overview of the status of negotiations, Iranian officials are cautious; "Still undecided."

A good sign is that the general language on how sanctions are to be lifted, including the "simultaneous and parallel" principle, is already decided. The negotiations advancing towards this make or break weekend are now focused on "operational details."

Still, there are serious divisions within the P5+1, especially over key aspects of what the UN Security Council should be doing; on the complex mechanism through which sanctions would be lifted; and on access -- the famous "verification" regime. That leads Iranian negotiators to a quirky formulation; "We can say with authority that they have to spend more time negotiating among themselves than negotiating with us." At the same time the Iranians acknowledge the problems faced by the Obama administration; "They have to go through so many difficult channels."

Over the past few days, stonewalling by the U.S. side has run -- in parallel -- with anti-deal lobby machinations now introducing Divide and Rule inside the Iranian political decision system, pitting factions against each other.
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USA

Putin congratulates Obama on Independence Day


ITAR-TASS
Sat, 04 Jul 2015 19:51 UTC
Image
© ITAR-TASS/ALEXEY NIKOLSKY
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday congratulated US President Barack Obama on the US national holiday - Independence Day, the Kremlin reported Saturday.

"In his message of congratulations, the Russian President noted that, despite the differences between the two countries, Russian-American relations remain the most important factor of international stability and security," the report on the Kremlin's website said.

"Vladimir Putin expressed confidence that Russia and the USA can find solutions to the most complicated international issues and efficiently resist global threats and challenges as they base their dialogue on principles of equality and respect of each other's interests," it said.

Comment: Well, Putin is being human here but certainly has major obstacles with the US: Putin's phone call to Obama and its significance

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Snakes in Suits

Governor of Odessa Saakashvili dismisses 20 senior officials


ITAR-TASS
Sat, 04 Jul 2015 19:45 UTC
Image
© Mykola Lazarenko/Ukrainian presidential press service/TASS
The new chief of the Odessa regional state administration, Mikhail Saakashvili, has cracked down on the departments of internal audit and cooperation with law enforcement agencies and of the prevention of and struggle with corruption. Having heard 2014 performance reports by the heads of these two agencies last year Saakashvili said they were doing nothing and ordered the dismissal of all staff.

"You are being dismissed for doing nothing at all. People are complaining about bribers and extortions. In the meantime, you say everything is fine and nobody has been punished. We will rely on the public. We will find experienced auditors, accountants and other specialists, who will be addressing these issues instead of the negligent bureaucrats," local media quote Saakashvili as saying.

He promised that he would identify the sources of funds to pay public activists for their efforts and grant them appropriate powers.

Comment: Must be looking for more compliant people to run his office.

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Attention

Egypt on the edge of a full blown civil war

The Board
GEFIRA.org
Wed, 01 Jul 2015 19:24 UTC
Image
© Amr Nabil/AP
In the past days there have been dozens of separate attacks in Egypt, from the Sinai up to Cairo. Probably more than 60 people have died, when the Egyptian army used F16 fighter jets to protect itself against it disgruntled population. It is clear that the Egyptian rulers are not going to be able to contain the current situation, today could be marked as the start of Egypt's civil war.

Democratic elected governments have been violently overthrown, in Algeria, Egypt and Palestinian territories. In Algeria the FIS (Islamic Salvation Front) had won the first held elections with a convincing majority in 1990 and 1992. It has been removed from power in 1992 by a coup d'etat that was highly approved by the West. Probably 150,000 people died in the civil war that followed these events up.

HAMAS winning the 2006 elections in the Palestinian territories resulted in a war among Palestinians and ended up with a split of Gaza and the West Bank.

In 2011 Morsi, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood won the first free elections in Egypt.

In 2013 the first elected president of Egypt was removed by the army. There are clear signs that anti-democratic forces were deliberately destabilizing Egypt before the coup d'etat in 2013. In the running up of the July 3th coup by General Sisi an artificial oil shortages was created that contributed to the mass protest against the elected president of Egypt.

Comment: And the violence in Sinai continues:
Egyptian armed forces have killed over 200 militants in North Sinai in the past three days, a military source told Sputnik Saturday.

The Egyptian forces launched a military operation against the radicals and targeted the terrorists' positions with airstrikes.

"The total number of militants killed after the attack on army checkpoints in North Sinai has reached 205 people in the past three days," the source told Sputnik.

Wilayat Sinai, translated as the Sinai Province, is a part of the Egypt-based Ansar Bait al-Maqdis jihadist group, which pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in November 2014.


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Wall Street

An Economic Hit Man speaks out: John Perkins on how Greece has fallen victim to 'Economic Hit Men'

Michael Nevradakis
Truthout
Sat, 04 Jul 2015 17:18 UTC
Image
© Peter Thompson / The New York Times

Comment: This interview was originally done on September 11, 2014 and hopefully the Greek people are listening to this and keep this in mind as they vote on the referendum tomorrow.



John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, discusses how Greece and other eurozone countries have become the new victims of "economic hit men."

John Perkins is no stranger to making confessions. His well-known book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, revealed how international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, while publicly professing to "save" suffering countries and economies, instead pull a bait-and-switch on their governments: promising startling growth, gleaming new infrastructure projects and a future of economic prosperity - all of which would occur if those countries borrow huge loans from those organizations. Far from achieving runaway economic growth and success, however, these countries instead fall victim to a crippling and unsustainable debt burden.

That's where the "economic hit men" come in: seemingly ordinary men, with ordinary backgrounds, who travel to these countries and impose the harsh austerity policies prescribed by the IMF and World Bank as "solutions" to the economic hardship they are now experiencing. Men like Perkins were trained to squeeze every last drop of wealth and resources from these sputtering economies, and continue to do so to this day. In this interview, which aired on Dialogos Radio, Perkins talks about how Greece and the eurozone have become the new victims of such "economic hit men."
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SOTT Logo Radio

SOTT Focus: The Truth Perspective: In-dependence Day Nonsense


Sott.net
Sat, 04 Jul 2015 18:00 UTC
Sott Talk Radio logo
Broadcasting from deep in the heart of the American Empire, join your hosts Harrison Koehli and Elan Martin, and fellow Sott.net editors, as they discuss everything from current events and the latest machinations and manipulations of the global elite to history, science, and religion, and how it all fits together.

This week, join our hosts as they discuss that glorious American holiday Independence Day, and why you're not as free and independent as you think you are.

The Truth Perspective is brought to you by the SOTT Radio Network and SOTT.net, your one-stop source for independent, unbiased, alternative news and commentary on world events.

Live every Saturday from 2-4pm EST / 11am-1pm PST / 8-10pm CET.

Running Time: 02:01:00

Download: MP3

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Stock Down

Déjà vu: Current Chinese stock market crash presages another financial crisis

Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse
Thu, 02 Jul 2015 00:00 UTC
chinese stock market collapse
As The South China Morning Post explains, a series of lifelines from Beijing failed to stop the slide in the mainland's stock market on Thursday, with the key Shanghai Composite Index closing below the critical 4,000 mark for the first time in almost three months.
The second largest stock market in the entire world is collapsing right in front of our eyes. Since hitting a peak in June, the most important Chinese stock market index has plummeted by well over 20 percent, and more than 3 trillion dollars of "paper wealth" has been wiped out. Of course the Shanghai Composite Index is still way above the level it was sitting at exactly one year ago, but what is so disturbing about this current crash is that it is so similar to what we witnessed just prior to the great financial crisis of 2008 in the United States. From October 2006 to October 2007, the Shanghai Composite Index more than tripled in value. It was the greatest stock market surge in Chinese history. But after hitting a peak, it began to fall dramatically. From October 2007 to October 2008, the Shanghai Composite Index absolutely crashed. In the end, more than two-thirds of all wealth in the market was completely wiped out. You can see all of this on a chart that you can find right here. What makes this so important to U.S. investors is the fact that Chinese stocks started crashing well before U.S. stocks started crashing during the last financial crisis, and now it is happening again. Is this yet another sign that a U.S. stock market crash is imminent?

Comment:

Chinese stock plunge leaves state media speechless
Preview? Greece crisis deepens, stock markets tumble

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Star of David

Coincidence? Israel hit with rockets from Egypt's Sinai, ISIS affiliate claims responsibility


RT
Sat, 04 Jul 2015 16:51 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Amir CohenA member of Egypt's security forces gestures as he stands on a watchtower in North Sinai as seen from across the border in southern Israel July 2, 2015.
Several rockets have struck Israel, with an ISIS-affiliated group in Egypt's Sinai claiming responsibility. There were no casualties. Some view the assault as a follow-up to July 1, the Sinai Province group's biggest one against Egyptian forces in years.

The group released a statement through its Twitter supporters claiming to have launched three Grad missiles in the direction of "occupied Palestine." The authenticity of the statement has not been verified.

Sinai, which borders the Gaza Strip, is thought to be the origin of the attack, according to an unnamed Israeli military source speaking to Reuters. The Israelis say they have so far found fragments from two rockets in the Negev region.

Comment: Interesting how these rocket attacks occur after something happens to Israel that they don't like.

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Eye 2

More Congressional theater? Samantha Power's feet held to the fire over roots of Ukrainian crisis, commits felony by lying to Congress


Russia Insider
Sat, 04 Jul 2015 14:27 UTC
Samantha Power
© UnknownSamantha Power claims that Russia is responsible for the horrors that have descended upon Syria

The US Ambassador to the UN, she claims she believes majority of civilian shelling casualties are victims of the separatists.

The penalty for lying to Congress is up to 8 years of imprisonment.

Ambassador Power's testimony was the subject of a story we ran on Monday of this week, and a helpful reader got back to us and pointed out that we had missed the most important part of it.

Apparently, Ambassador Power lied to the committee she was testifying before, thereby committing a felony.

Comment: Representative Rohrabacher holds Samantha Power's feet to the fire, insisting that she recognize that the [Washington-instigated] Maidan coup was the cause of all subsequent chaos in Ukraine. But is it any more than theater at this point?

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Chess

The significance of Putin's choice of words at Friday's Security Council Meeting

Danielle Ryan
Russia Insider
Sat, 04 Jul 2015 14:50 UTC
Putin
© Global ResearchNot a man who minces words
When Vladimir Putin spoke to a meeting of Russia's Security Council on Friday he used a phrase which should have immediately caught the attention of anyone who has kept a close eye on the deteriorating relations between Russia and the West.

Referring to the sanctions imposed on Russia over the crisis in Ukraine, Putin said:
"We cannot expect a change in the hostile policies of some of our geopolitical opponents in the immediate future."
Geopolitical opponents.

A Google search for that exact phrase along with Putin's name indicates that this is the first time he has used it publicly in such a context, at least in the last year, which is the timeframe the search covered.

Comment: Things are taking a turn for the even-worse. Check out: Putin's phone call to Obama and its significance

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