Puppet MastersS


Eye 2

Israel repeatedly sprays crop-killing pesticides on Gaza farms

Israeli occupation planes have sprayed crop-killing chemicals on farmlands across besieged Gaza Strip, killing off crops in the coastal enclave.

Palestine
© UnknownAnother picture of Palestine that puts the lie to Israel's claim of the moral high-ground.
It is the third time the Israeli occupation planes have targeted Gaza farms, killing massive amounts of crops,

An estimated 371 acres of farming land in central Gaza and 50 acres of land in eastern Khan Younis have been affected.

Farmers in Johr al-Deek, south of Gaza city, Al-Qarara town, north of Khan Yunis, and Wadi Al-Salqa agricultural town, south of Deir al-Balah, complained of the effects of the Israeli unknown chemicals on their crops.

"Several farmers informed us that Israeli planes had sprayed their lands with pesticides," Wael Thabet, head of the plant protection department at Gaza Agriculture Ministry, said.

Comment: Israel is a shameless, psychopathic police state. See:


Light Saber

Lavrov: European politicians contradict themselves when speaking publicly versus privately

Lavrov
© Vladimir Astapkovich / Sputnik
European politicians don't say publicly anything sensible about the standoff with Russia, which they do in private, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"Sometimes the things they say from a podium contradict what they tell you in one-on-one talks, when nobody can overhear them," the minister told Zvezda TV channel. "Alone most of EU members tell me things I find quite sensible, said Lavorov: that it was wrong to confront Russia over Ukraine, which, in fact, fell victim to this European Union policy that forced it to chose between the two.

"They all say, let things quiet down a bit and we can go back to normal relations, the strategic partnership. But when they all gather together and speak in public, they just can't say those things," he said.

Lavrov said such ambiguity puzzles him and puts it doubt the wisdom and foresight of EU officials.

Bomb

Terrorizing Syria: Coordinated triple car-bomb attack in recently liberated Homs

homs terror
© RT
Explosions have rocked the Syrian city of Homs, the Syrian SANA news agency says. AFP cited the Homs governor, who said that at six people were killed and 37 injured in the blasts.

The suicide bomber blew himself up, and almost immediately a car bomb exploded, and then another explosive device detonated at the site of the previous attack. According to preliminary data, over 30 were killed, the police source told RIA Novosti.

The bombs reportedly detonated near the main square in the Al-Zahraa neighborhood, SANA news said.


Comment: With a number of such attacks occurring in regions of Syria recently liberated from the terrorists, it looks like the regime changers are reverting to the tactics used in the first stage of 'Operation Regime Change Syria', when 'classic' terror attacks were carried out with car bombs and other pre-planted explosives.

Observe as the Western media goes completely AWOL with respect to explaining why a 'popular rebel movement' feels the need to deliberately target its supposed supporters.

By the way, no 'suicide bombers' are used in such attacks. It's fairly clear that sophisticated, coordinated car-bombs and/or pre-placed bombs went off. In general, there is no such thing as 'Muslim suicide bombers', which is Western intel BS to slur Muslims and cover their own tracks.


Dollar Gold

Switzerland set to vote on banning banks from creating money - will it happen?

Money
© Thomas Hode/Reuters Swiss franc coins are seen in a cash drawer.
When Iceland jailed its bankers something changed. The unthinkable had happened: the real criminals had been held to account. Now Switzerland is also threatening to go off the fiat-bankster reservation. But will it happen?

Josiah Stamp once said: "If you want to continue to be slaves of the banks and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let bankers continue to create money and control credit."

Stamp knew whereof he spoke. Among his achievements, he was appointed a director of the Bank of England in 1928. All so-called modern, civilized countries are under the boot of the very mechanism Stamp described. Very few countries managed to achieve highly developed societies without it, such as Libya, Iraq and Syria.

Those countries all have something else in common. Whatever can it be?

However, other countries which have yet to become targets for unprovoked genocide at the hands of US agencies are waking up and smelling the pinstriped tyranny.

Switzerland, for example: hardly a place traditionally associated with wild-eyed fanaticism, Switzerland is set to vote on banning banks from creating money.

The English play football, drink beer and beat each other up in town centers in the evenings. The French pout and shrug and make simple things take a long time and cost a lot. The Swiss provide money a safe, boring place where nothing dramatic will happen to it, so that it may then be passed on to the next generation of rich people - preferably in an amount greater than was received - by this generation of rich people.

So money is at the heart of what Switzerland does. Switzerland is also home to the Bank of International Settlements, which - while it sounds as exciting as double-entry bookkeeping - is, in fact, the spider at the center of the entire financial web.

In an article entitled "Switzerland to vote on banning banks from creating money" the Telegraph reports:
Switzerland will hold a referendum to decide whether to ban commercial banks from creating money.

The Swiss federal government confirmed on Thursday that it would hold a plebiscite, after more than 110,000 people signed a petition calling for the central bank to be given sole power to create money in the financial system.

The campaign - led by the Swiss Sovereign Money movement and known as the Vollgeld initiative - is designed to limit financial speculation by requiring private banks to hold 100pc reserves against their deposits.
This sounds incredibly dull, doesn't it? But the idea behind it is what revolutions are made of.

Beer

Iraqi forces seize last Islamic State stronghold in city of Ramadi

Iraqi forces Ramadi
© ReutersIraqi security forces gather to advance towards the centre of Ramadi city, December 25, 2015.
Iraqi government forces have seized the government complex in the center of Ramadi - the last Islamic State stronghold in the western city, a military spokesman told Reuters.

"By controlling the complex this means that they [Islamic State, IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL] have been defeated in Ramadi," Sabah al-Numani, a spokesman for the Iraqi counter-terrorism units leading the fight, told the news agency. Al-Numani stressed the complex is under full control of the Iraqi forces with "no presence whatsoever of Daesh [ISIS] fighters" adding that some militants could still be hiding in "pockets that could exist here or there in the city."

According to al-Numan, a major clearing effort is still needed to allow Iraqi troops to move freely around the city as IS militants had filled the area with bombs and booby-traps. The necessity of a clear-up operation prevented the Iraqi government and the military from declaring a victory immediately, although some people in a number of cities were already celebrating, AFP reports.

Iraqi forces advanced to the provincial government compound in Ramadi overnight and encircled the terrorists in the complex earlier on Sunday. The Ramadi offensive has been supported by airstrikes from the US-led coalition, but Iran-backed Shiite militias were barred from the operation by the government, in order to avoid sectarian violence in the mainly Sunni Anbar province.


Comment: See also:


Arrow Down

Is a Saudi collapse on the horizon?

Saudi king Salman
Is the Saudi monarchy coming apart at the seams? Scholars and journalists have long predicted the kingdom's demise, but this time the forecasts may finally prove correct.

The reason is an unprecedented avalanche of problems pouring down on Saudi Arabia since 79-year-old Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud assumed the throne last January. A hardliner in contrast to his vaguely reformist predecessor Abdullah, Salman lost no time in letting the world know that a new sheriff was in town. He upped the number of public executions, which, at 151, are now running at nearly double last year's rate.

Comment: Looks like the greed, violence, and barbarism of the Saudi leadership is taking its toll on the country at large.


Light Saber

Best of the Web: 2015: The year Russia exposed Western barbarism

russia flyover
2015 was the year Russia exposed the barbaric nature of Western powers, from their criminal conspiracy for regime change in Syria, to aggression against Yemen, Iran, Russia, China and any country that does not toe the line.

It is a thread we can find in many other stories, many of which were covered by Western media. The difference is the latter media omit or lose the all-important thread of how Western powers have created or exacerbated major, pressing international problems.

Crisis made by the EU

Take the European Union's immigration crisis. Up to one million refugees have been recorded entering EU borders this year, according to the United Nations. Thousands perished while crossing the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas on rickety boats to reach the shores of Italy or Greece. EU nations held several top-level summits on the emergency, but no collective response was forthcoming, leading to much recrimination between the 28-member states. Countries such as Britain and France were accused of not doing enough to take in refugees, while "front line" states Greece, Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia complain they are being overwhelmed by the influx.

Jet4

Libyan foreign minister: 'We don't want direct international intervention against ISIS in Libya'

Libya leaders
'No terrorists here, we love Amerika!' Al-Dairi of the 'Libyan government' meeting his boss.
Libya does not need any foreign intervention to cope with threats to its security, including terrorism. It just needs better weapons, as well as some help "in training and planning," the country's Foreign Minister Mohamed Al-Dairi told RT.

Libya is not going to request foreign airstrikes against terrorist groups. It will ask the UN Security Council to lift restrictions concerning access to "adequate weaponry" imposed on the country's army, once the government of the national accord is formed, Al-Dairi said in an interview on Sunday with RT.

"However, at this stage, we are not seeking any international intervention," he said.

The minister also said Libya is not receiving "any tangible support" from Western countries and expressed hope for more support in the future, especially in planning and training. At the same time, he said "a group of Americans" had already arrived at the Al Wattayah military base in the country's west "to train some Libyan troops."

Comment: The problem with Libya post-NATO slaughterfest is that there are no less than three governments in the country.

So when is 'a legitimate request' actually legitimate?

Is Al-Dairi speaking for the Libyan people, or is he speaking for the US Empire?

According to the Libyan Tribal Council, the leaders of ISIS, Boko Haram and Ansar al-Sharia all gathered for meetings under one roof in Sirte, Libya earlier this month. All it would have taken was one airstrike to decapitate the Islamist monster.

But oops, they got away, again.


Network

What is Zuckerberg up to? India hits the brakes on Facebook's free internet service

Facebook traffic
© Paul ButlerPlanet Facebook, in 2010
India's regulators have dealt a major blow to Internet.org, Facebook's initiative to provide free but limited internet access in the developing world.

The Times of India reports that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has asked Reliance Communications, Facebook's sole operator partner in India, to halt the Internet.org project. Citing a source, the publication says the regulatory body is debating whether telecom operators should be allowed to price their services differently based on content. However, as of Wednesday morning local time, the service was still accessible to subscribers, according to the Times of India. It reports that Reliance received a notice two weeks ago.

"We are committed to Free Basics [the service provided by Internet.org] and to working with Reliance and the relevant authorities to help people in India get connected," a Facebook spokesman tells Quartz. He declined to say how long the regulatory body asked Reliance to stop offering the free internet service.

Quenelle - Golden

Kudos to Assad! Syrian authorities have foiled 'quite a few' US coup attempts

Syrian people Assad
© Sputnik/ Valeriy Melnikov
It is necessary to give kudos to Syrian President Bashar Assad who, in fact, stopped Washington from carrying out a coup in Syria, according to Russian political analyst Boris Dolgov.

In an interview with Sputnik, Russia's Middle East expert Boris Dolgov heaped praise on the policies pursued by Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose actions prevented the White House from staging in coup in Syria.

Washington has repeatedly tried to overthrow the regime of Bashar Assad, Dolgov said, referring to the White House's permanent efforts to undermine Assad's government from within.

Comment: The fact that Syrian authorities have fended off the US for so long says quite a bit about the quality of leadership in Syria.

See also: