Puppet MastersS


Info

Wishful thinking? Kissinger outlines new vision of cooperation in Russia-US relations

Henry Kissinger
© AP Photo/ Richard Drew
On Wednesday, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger traveled to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin for a 'friendly dialogue'. Greeted by Putin as an 'old friend', Kissinger published an article the next day outlining his vision for the future of US-Russia relations.

Commenting on the meeting, Russian television network RT recalled that over the years, Kissinger has held nearly a dozen face-to-face meetings with the Russian president. In 2013, Putin complimented the former secretary of state, emphasizing that Moscow always pays close attention to his views, and calling him "a world class politician."

Comment: Kissinger indeed provides a vision but with no real possible solutions. How can Russia have any meaningful dialogue with a psychopathic US?


Lemon

Kerry: Blame Russia for the collapse of UN-peace talks, weakening US position Syria

kerry
© www.israelnationalnews.comKerry lays blame for the suspension of peace talks on Russia, asserts it has a responsibility to stop bombing the Syrian opposition. Says who?
US Secretary of State John Kerry's recent remarks regarding Russia's role in the Syrian conflict shows how Moscow's military aid to Damascus has weakened Washington's position in the Arab country, an American geopolitical analyst says. Kerry on Thursday demanded that Russia halt its bombing campaign in Syria, implicitly blaming Moscow for the collapse in the UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva.

In an interview with Press TV, Eric Draitser said that Kerry's remarks hint at Washington's fading influence in Syria. "What this really tells you is that the United States recognizes just how weak its position has become, its position both at the negotiating table via its Saudi and Qatari and Turkish proxies, and also weak on the battlefield," he said.

Draitser attributed the situation to Russia's aerial campaign in Syria, which was started last September upon a request by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Russia's involvement in the war changed the nature and the tactical situation of the years-long conflict, therefore affecting the ongoing UN-brokered peace talks in Geneva which involves anti-government forces, the analyst noted.

"There is a growing realization among the so-called opposition that they will not win this war. The United States and its allies in NATO and in the [Persian] Gulf - it understands now that the so-called regime change, the removal of the dictator and all of these other phrases, all of this has now been lost to history," he explained. This why Kerry is now urging Russia to stop attacking Daesh positions in Syria, Draitser argued.

However, he warned against being overly optimistic about the possibility of a peaceful end to the conflict as "the situation the so-called opposition is now so critical and that they have been devastated so completely, now we enter into a new phase," where a Turkish invasion of Syria is a looming possibility.

Comment: Will Turkey provide the back door for a US/Russia conflict?


Snakes in Suits

War pigs: Saudi Arabia declares its ground forces ready to invade Syria

Islamic State militants
© AP Photo/ Rased News Network via AP, File
A Saudi military spokesman has confirmed that Riyadh is prepared to join any US-led ground operations to fight Daesh, also known as IS/Islamic State, in Syria, if such operations are approved by the coalition.

"The kingdom is ready to participate in any ground operations that the coalition (against Islamic State) may agree to carry out in Syria," Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri told al-Arabiya TV. Asseri is also the spokesman for the Saudi-led Arab coalition in Yemen.

"If there was a consensus from the leadership of the coalition, the kingdom is willing to participate in these efforts because we believe that aerial operations are not the ideal solution and there must be a twin mix of aerial and ground operations," Asseri added.

Comment: So Saudi Arabia doesn't want to miss the party along with Turkey. Saudi Arabia is not doing so well in Yemen and has financial issues to boot from the lower oil prices. Can they really afford to invade Syria?


Piggy Bank

More taxes: US proposes $10 per barrel oil fee to fund clean transportation initiative

Syria oil well pumps
© AFP 2016/ YOUSSEF KARWASHAN
The White House proposed a $10 per barrel fee to be paid by oil companies in order to fund a new Clean Transportation initiative, according to a Thursday press release.

President Barack Obama's transportation proposal is intended to curb greenhouse gas emissions, combat climate change, and reduce the US dependency on oil. If the program goes into effect, the fee on oil companies would be phased in over the course of five years.

"So to meet our needs in the future, we have to make significant investments across all modes of transportation...That is why we are proposing to fund these investments through a new $10 per barrel fee on oil paid by oil companies," the White House said.

The United States consumed nearly 7 billion barrels of petroleum products in 2014, or approximately 19.11 million barrels per day, according to the US Energy Information Agency.

Comment: Of course this fee will be passed on to the people by raising the gasoline prices.


Pirates

False promises: Trans Pacific Partnership 'benefits' are strictly for the corporations

transpacific partnership
Boosters of 'free trade' agreements - like the Trans Pacific Partnership that's being signed today - like to make big promises, writes Pete Dolack: trillions of dollars of economic gains, billions of dollars of investment, millions of new jobs. But there's only one certainty, and it's one they never mention: the permanent redistribution of power and income from working people to capital.

So-called 'free trade' agreements are continually advertised as creators of jobs, yet jobs are lost and wages decline once they go into effect.

As representatives of the 12 countries participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership gather today in New Zealand to sign the agreement, the usual unsubstantiated claims are being put forth.

Water

Nestle's ties to the Michigan water crisis

Rick Snyder Nestle
© AP Photo/Al GoldisMichigan Gov. Rick Snyder, center, meets with senior staff to begin his first morning as governor, his chief of staff Dennis Muchmore, right. is married to Nestle’s Michigan spokesperson Deb Muchmore. Jan. 3, 2011, in Lansing, Mich.
As celebrities, corporations and citizens alike donates thousands of gallons of bottled water to the lead-poisoned residents of Flint, Michigan, Nestle, one of the world's largest manufacturers of bottled water, has come under fire for its ties to the state's water woes.

The global food and drink giant teamed up with Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola, and Pepsi to deliver up to 6.5 million bottles of water to 10,000 school students in Flint. Celebrities including Madonna and Jimmy Fallon have pledged tens of thousands of dollars toward relief efforts.

Although Nestle controls over 70 bottled water brands, some local activists are pushing back against the company's involvement in relief efforts. On Sunday, New Era Detroit published a warning: "On the behalf of New Era Detroit we ask that you not purchase Nestle's or Ice Mountain bottle (sic) water which is owned by Nestle."

Comment: Nestle is heavily invested in sucking the world dry. They won't be satisfied until the world is parched and they own the only spigot.


Snakes in Suits

Jeb Bush begs crowd to "please clap" after giving yawn-inducing speech

Jeb Bush
Jeb Bush speaks to supporters in Manchester, New Hampshire
Struggling Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush was forced to politely ask a group of supporters to applaud for him on Wednesday after a rant about his ability to lead the country was met with complete silence.

Speaking at an event in Manchester, New Hampshire on Wednesday, Bush lashed out at GOP hopeful Donald Trump, and promised not to be a divisive president.

"My pledge to you, I will be a commander-in-chief that will have the back of the military," he said. "I won't trash talk, I won't be a divider-in-chief or an agitator-in-chief. I won't be out there blowharding, talking a big game without backing it up."

"I think the next president needs to be a lot quieter, but send a signal that we're prepared to act in the national security interest of this country," Bush added. "To get back in the business of creating a more peaceful world."

Bush paused, waiting for approval from the crowd. But instead, he was met with an awkward silence.

"Please clap," the candidate said, looking demoralized.

The crowd obliged.


Vader

Western aggression: US has its military force closer to Russia than it did during Cold War

nato tanks
© AFP 2016/ ILMARS ZNOTINS
The decision to quadruple its military presence in Europe puts the US at its highest risk of a nuclear war with Russia, since the Cuban missile crisis of the early 1960s, as during the entire history of the mutual relationship it has never placed its military forces so close to Russia, according to Professor Stephen F. Cohen.

Referring to the recently announced US plan to quadruple its military presence in Europe, political analyst Professor Stephen F. Cohen called it an unprecedented and very dangerous provocation.

"We have never put our military force so close to Russia in the history going back to the 18th century," he said during the John Batchelor Show.

"During the last Cold War our military presence ended in West Berlin. Now we are militarily right on Russia's borders, at a minimum, in the three Baltic countries, Romania and Poland."

Light Sabers

Pepe Escobar: Why Erdogan, the Sultan of Chaos, is freaking out

Aleppo airstrike damage
© Abdalrhman Ismail / ReutersResidents inspect damage after airstrikes by pro-Syrian government forces in Anadan city, about 10 kilometers away from the towns of Nubul and Zahraa, Northern Aleppo countryside, Syria February 3, 2016
Picture sleepless nights at 'Sultan' Erdogan's palace in Ankara. Imagine him livid when he learns the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), backed by Russian air power, started a preemptive Battle of Aleppo - through the Bayirbucak region - cutting off Ankara's top weaponizing corridor and Jihadi highway.

Who controls this corridor will control the final outcome of the war in Syria.

Meanwhile, in Geneva, the remote-controlled Syrian opposition, a.k.a. High Negotiations Committee, graphically demonstrated they never wanted to meet with the Damascus delegation in the first place - "proximity" talks or otherwise, even after Washington and Moscow roughly agreed on a two-year transition plan leading to a theoretically secular, nonsectarian Syria.

The Saudi front wanted no less than Ahrar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Islam and all Jabhat al-Nusra, a.k.a. al-Qaeda in Syria, collaborators at the table in Geneva. So the Geneva charade, quicker than one can say "Road to Aleppo!" was exposed for what it is.

Megaphone

Telling it like it is: Top German broadcaster says news agencies take orders from government

Wolfgang Herles
A retired media boss at a major German state broadcaster has admitted his network and others take orders from the government on what — and what not — to report.

National public service broadcaster Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), which was recently forced into a humiliating apology for their silence on migrant violence and sex assault is being drawn into a fresh scandal after one of their former bureau chiefs admitted the company takes orders from the government on what it reports. He said journalists received instructions to write news that would be "to Ms. Merkel's liking".

Former head of ZDF Bonn Dr. Wolfgang Herles make the remarks during a radio event (from minute 27) in Berlin where journalists discussed the media landscape. Moving on to the freedom of the press, the panel chair asked Dr. Herles whether things in Germany had got "seriously out of whack". With an honesty perhaps unusual in Germany, Dr. Herles replied that ordinary Germans were totally losing faith in the media, something he called a "scandal". He said:
"We have the problem that - now I'm mainly talking about the public [state] media - we have a closeness to the government. Not only because commentary is mainly in line with the grand coalition (CSU, CDU, and SPD), with the spectrum of opinion, but also because we are completely taken in by the agenda laid down by the political class".

Comment: The propaganda exposed in the German media is illustrative of what poses for objective news in most of the Western mainstream press, which has always been controlled by those in power. They continue to get away with such egregious propaganda by continually exploiting fear and xenophobia, keeping people so distracted and stressed that they are unable or unwilling to see the man behind the curtain.