Puppet MastersS


Георгиевская ленточка

Saudi Arabia looking to build relations with Russia due to waning US influence in Middle East


Sputnik
Fri, 08 Apr 2016 17:07 UTC
putin saudi king salman
© Sputnik/ Alexei Druzhinin
Saudi Arabia has set on a course of building pragmatic relations with Russia, amid the weakening US influence, according to US journalist David Gardner.

After King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud came to the throne in 2015 the main reins of power fell in the hands of his son and deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Under his control, Riyadh has adopted a more assertive line in its global and regional policy. The kingdom started a military operation against Houthi rebels in Yemen, intensified support for Syrian militants and cut diplomatic ties with Iran.

At the same time, there is another visible trend - approaching with Moscow, despite the fact that Moscow supports some of Riyadh's foes.

"Alliances of convenience are hardly new to the Middle East. The will to power of entrenched regimes often coexists with pragmatism, making strange bedfellows of sworn enemies," the article for Financial Times read.
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Boat

Greece sells largest port Piraeus to Chinese company in second major privatization


RT
Fri, 08 Apr 2016 17:05 UTC
port of Piraeus, Greece
© Yiannis Kourtoglou / Reuters
Athens has signed a €368.5 million deal to sell the operator of Piraeus port to the Chinese shipping group COSCO, Reuters reported. This is the second major privatization for the country since last year.

Under the deal, COSCO will acquire 51 percent of the listed Piraeus Port Authority for €280.5 million and the remaining 16 percent for €88 million after five years, once it concludes mandatory investments. The company will invest €350 million over the next decade, and will pay an annual fee to the Greek state for running the port.

The Chinese state-owned company was the sole bidder for the port. COSCO already operates the container terminal in Piraeus under a 35-year concession it acquired in 2009. It is investing €230 million to build a second container terminal at the port which it plans to turn into a logistics hub for Chinese exports to Europe.
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Star of David

Israeli demolitions of Palestinian structures in West Bank have tripled, according to UN report


RT
Fri, 08 Apr 2016 15:16 UTC
Palestinian home demolished
© Abed Omar Qusini / ReutersA man walks past the damaged house of Palestinian assailant Ahmad Zakarneh after it was partially demolished by Israeli forces in the West Bank town of Qabatya near Jenin April 4, 2016.
The United Nations has once again condemned Israel for its demolitions of the Palestinian structures in the West Bank, which have increased alarmingly over the last three months, according to new figures.

The average number of demolitions a month has soared by more than 200 percent to 165 since January, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said, according to Reuters. February saw the unprecedented number of 265 demolished buildings.

Israel is issuing an increasing number of demolition orders for Palestinian buildings, arguing that their construction was illegal. At the same time it is practically impossible for a Palestinian to obtain a construction permit in the West Bank, which is occupied by the Israeli military.

Some 2,020 Palestinians filed a request for building permits in West Bank areas between 2010 and 2014, but only 33 of them were approved, according to Israeli Civil Administration data. Structures such as a fence or a tent also need official approval.

"It is a very marked and worrying increase," Catherine Cook of the OCHA said, adding that the situation in the West Bank hasn't been this critical since 2009, when the UN started monitoring the damage and began collecting data.

"The hardest hit are Bedouin and Palestinian farming communities who are at risk of forcible transfer, which is a clear violation of international law," Cook noted.

Comment: See also:

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Family

Russian Duma committee approves bill to give land to foreigners in Far East


RT
Thu, 07 Apr 2016 16:50 UTC
Russia's Sakhalin Island
© Sergey Krasnouhov / SputnikRussia's Sakhalin Island
A plot of land in Russia's Far East could be yours, after a Russian lower house committee approved a bill that, if passed, will introduce the free handover of land to Russians and foreigners who want to build homes or start businesses in agriculture or tourism in the region.

The Russian lower house Committee for Real Estate and Construction recommended that the State Duma approve the bill in the second reading in a session coming up on April 12. The parliament already approved the draft in the first reading on December 18, 2015.

The current document provides for the free handover of 1 hectare (about 2.5 acres) of land to foreign citizens. However, foreigners will only be allowed to use the land, and the registration of full property rights is only possible after the naturalization of potential owners.

The original bill was drafted by the Russian government in November last year. The explanations attached to the document read that the authorities expect the free land handover to attract more people to the Far East Federal District, to slow or stop the outward migration of locals, and to boost the socio-economic development of the territory.
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Yoda

Case closed: Putin isn't named in the Panama Papers


Sputnik
Fri, 08 Apr 2016 16:27 UTC
Putin
© Mikhail Klimentyev / Reuters Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Comment: The Western media's focus on Putin in the Panama Papers is pretty telling when the Russian president isn't even named once among the 11.5 million documents. That should give people a clue about the nature of this 'leak'.


Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he is not mentioned in the so-called Panama Papers on offshore activities, so the discussion about it is pointless.

"Your humble servant is not there, so there's nothing to talk about," Putin said at a media forum.

Musician Sergei Roldugin, listed in the Panama Papers leak, did try to run a business, but not a billion-dollar business, Vladimir Putin said.

"As for Sergei Pavlovich Roldugin...he is a very creative person. Many creative people in Russia, I don't know, maybe one in two if you look into it, try to do business. As far as I know, so did Sergei Pavlovich," Putin said at a media forum.
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Mr. Potato

"Common thieves" George Osborne Tweet on tax evasion is pretty awkward for David Cameron now

Christopher York
Huffington Post
Fri, 08 Apr 2016 16:12 UTC
osborne tweet
© Twitter
On 29 October 2014, George Osborne tweeted "Tax evasion is not just illegal it's immoral.People evading tax should be treated same as common thieves."

On 7 April 2016, his boss, David Cameron admitted befitting from a tax-avoiding offshore fund.


Unsurprisingly, Osborne's original tweet is now doing the rounds again with more than a few people pointing out the irony.

Comment: Also see: "Morally repugnant": Chancellor George Osborne family business' £6m offshore deal

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Magic Wand

Flashback "Morally repugnant": Chancellor George Osborne family business' £6m offshore deal

Paul McNamara and Guy Basnett
Channel 4 News
Tue, 07 Jul 2015 15:28 UTC
Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne
© Toby Melville / ReutersBritain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne
Chancellor George Osborne's family business made £6 million in a property deal with a developer based in a tax haven, a Channel 4 News investigation has found.


Wallpaper firm Osborne & Little teamed up with a secretive corporation in the British Virgin Islands, to draw up plans to redevelop its former London headquarters into housing.

The companies jointly applied for planning permission for around 45 flats and houses, and once given the go-ahead, Osborne and Little sold its site to the offshore firm for £6,088,000.

A legal expert shown contracts obtained by Channel 4 News said Osborne & Little must have known the developer was based offshore, and had the potential to avoid millions in tax.

At the time, the Chancellor was the beneficiary of a family trust that owned at least 15% of Osborne and Little, so would have personally benefitted from the sale.

It is not known what the Chancellor's personal stake was.

The deal calls into question his commitment to clamping down on offshore firms avoiding tax, a practice he has gone on to publicly condemn as "morally repugnant".

The offshore company, called Nightingale Mews Incorporated, went on to redevelop the site, in Denning Mews, Clapham, and is estimated to have avoided up to £2 million in tax on its profits.

Comment: "I regard tax evasion and, indeed, aggressive tax avoidance, as morally repugnant" - George Osborne

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Treasure Chest

Best of the Web: Hillary's emails confirm France and US killed Qaddafi for his gold and oil

Bob Fitrakis
Free Press
Thu, 31 Mar 2016 17:27 UTC
Muammar Gaddafi
With the recent release of Hillary Clinton's emails by Wikileaks, the public now knows exactly how the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) went from a collective defense organization to the new Barbary Coast Pirates of imperialism.

During the 2011 Libyan uprising, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1973 which called for a ceasefire and authorized military action to protect civilian lives. A coalition formed, centered around NATO with the March 17, 2011 passing of the Resolution. Its purpose -- a so-called "no-fly zone" over Libya.

The irony that the U.S.-dominated NATO military organization would be concerned with "protecting" Arab civilians is all too obvious since the United States is the nation most responsible for killing Arab civilians.

The real reasons for the attack have been dealt with most directly by America's famous reformed "economic hitman," John Perkins.

Perkins points out that the attack on Libya, like the attack on Iraq, has to do with power and control of resources, not only oil, but gold. Libya has the highest standard of living in Africa. "According to the IMF, Libya's Central Bank is 100% state owned. The IMF estimates that the bank has nearly 144 tons of gold in its vaults," Perkins wrote.

NATO went there like modern Barbary Coast Pirates -- to loot Libya's gold. The Russian media, in addition to Perkins, reported that the Pan-Africanist Qaddafi, the former President of the African Union, had been advocating that Africa use the gold so plentiful in Libya and South Africa to create an African currency based on a gold dinar.

"It is significant that in the months running up to the UN resolution that allowed the U.S. and its allies to send troops into Libya, Muammar al-Qaddafi was openly advocating the creation of a new currency that would rival the dollar and the euro. In fact, he called upon African and Muslim nations to join an alliance that would make this new currency, the gold dinar, their primary form of money and foreign exchange. They would sell oil and other resources to the US and the rest of the world only for gold dinars," Perkins explained.

Comment: See also:

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Extinguisher

Turkish MP charged with terrorism, revealed Daesh's source of sarin gas


Sputnik
Thu, 07 Apr 2016 15:26 UTC
Eren Erdem
© theiranproject.comEren Erdem, journalist and Republican People's Party deputy accused of treason for telling the truth.
Eren Erdem, from Turkey's opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), who revealed that Daesh terrorists had obtained sarin gas supplies through Turkish territory, now faces terrorism charges in his country; the lawmaker says that the accusations are based on some "secret witness statements" without any documentary evidence.

Eren Erdem, the deputy of Turkey's CHP political party, who is also an investigative journalist, now faces terrorism charges in his own country. The Turkish government has submitted a motion to remove Erdem's parliamentary immunity opening up Erdem to a possible lifetime in prison for 'terrorism links.'

Sputnik Turkey got in touch with the Turkish lawmaker regarding the investigation in the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) against him. Erdem explained the reasons behind the charges to Sputnik, calling the investigation yet "another conspiracy" against him. "They have launched an investigation into me for being a member of the 'parallel structure' which is a nondescript and ambiguous terrorist organization," the lawmaker says. "This investigation is based on 'secret witness' statements. There is no documentary evidence except this 'secret witness.' So, who is the secret witness?" he wonders.


Comment: Remove a dignitary's immunity, after the fact? The "fact" is Turkey supplies Daesh with chemical weaponry and profits from it. As with every pathological despot, Erdogan externalizes blame, not for his actions but for his exposure, unwittingly tightening his own noose a victim at a time. Funny thing...the more you suppress truth, the more dramatic its rebound.

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Bad Guys

Media blackout: 1.5 million starving in Donbass as Kiev escalates conflict


Russia Insider
Fri, 08 Apr 2016 11:35 UTC
Ukraine Donbass war
The situation on the contact line remains very tense, especially in the north of Donetsk and Gorlovka and in the area of the Yasinovatsky checkpoint situated in between. At the beginning of the week, the intensity of bombardment decreased slightly. But by the middle of the week, it at least doubled. This increase in the shelling of the Republics by the Ukrainian side may be related to the beginning of the next round of the Contact Group negotiations in Minsk on April 6. Donbass residents noticed long ago that on the eve of meetings in both the Minsk and Norman formats, the intensity of bombardments on the Ukrainian side increased accordingly.

The shelling by the Ukrainian military involved mostly mortars as well as rounds fired from infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers and small arms. The Ukrainian military press service also reported daily mortar bombardments of their positions by the DPR side, but this was of a lesser intensity than that visited on the territory of the Republics.

The significant difference in the level of bombardment carried out by the Ukrainian and DPR sides can be explained by reference to the experience of residents living in areas controlled by Kiev near the front. They relate that the DPR army returns fire only when the intensity of bombing increases, after having first allowed several salvos to go unanswered. Their return fire, residents explain, is usually conducted twice: the first to observe the fall of shot, and the second to suppress the firing point. After which, the bombardment coming from the Ukrainian side stops

Comment: Thanks to a media black-out it's easy to forget that a war is being waged in Ukraine, and that millions of people are suffering under Kiev's constant aggression. It's no wonder that the Dutch voted 'no' to a Ukraine-EU Association Agreement, but do the people of Europe really understand the devils their leaders let loose on the people of the Ukraine?

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