Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

German armed forces arrive in Syria, take part in their first combat missions


Sputnik
Wed, 16 Dec 2015 14:14 UTC
Germany coalition
On late Tuesday and early Wednesday, Germany's Airbus A310 aerial refueling jet twice provided in-flight refueling to fighter jets conducting airstrikes against Daesh terrorist positions, according to German media.

The German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, took part in their first mission aimed to support the international anti-terrorist operation in Syria, German media reported Wednesday, citing the mission's commander.

On late Tuesday and early Wednesday, Germany's Airbus A310 aerial refueling jet twice provided in-flight refueling to fighter jets conducting airstrikes against Islamic State (ISIL, or Daesh in Arabic) terrorist positions, according to Bild newspaper.

Comment: Without the approval of the Syrian government, or the UN Security Council, the US-led coalition is operating illegally. Russia invited the West to join their anti-terror coalition (which was requested by the region's legitimate authorities) but the West instead continues their frenzied and genocidal invasion.

Read more:

Read More...
Attention

Russians providing military aid to Iraq


FARS News Agency
Wed, 16 Dec 2015 14:14 UTC
Russian tank
The Russian Defense Ministry supplied a large cargo of military and arms aid to Iraq as part of the Moscow-Baghdad growing anti-terrorism cooperation.

"A large number of the Russian-made armored vehicles, with impenetrable and highly resistant armor, have arrived in the Iraqi port of Basra," A Russian source said on Tuesday.
Read More...
Bulb

US gives in to Russia, publicly accepts Putin's position that Assad's future be determined by his own people

Eric Zuesse
Sott.net
Wed, 16 Dec 2015 14:04 UTC
putin kerry meeting
© Mandel Ngan/Pool Image via APUS Secretary of State John Kerry, left, speaks with Russia's President Vladimir Putin during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015.
For the first time today (December 15th), the United States has publicly and officially accepted the position that Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon have consistently held on the Syrian situation: that only a free and fair internationally monitored and accepted election of Syria's President by the people of Syria can legitimately determine whom the President of Syria ought to be, and that no Syrian citizen, not even the current Syrian President Bashar al-Assad if he decides to be a candidate, can be blocked by any foreign power from being a candidate in that election.

The way America's AP (Associated Press) put this in their news-report on Tuesday December 15th, was: "U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday accepted Russia's long-standing demand that President Bashar Assad's future be determined by his own people."

The way that Ban ki-Moon, or Mr. Ban, had expressed this "demand" is:
"I believe that the future of Syria, or the future of the peace talks, ... should not be held up by an issue of the future of one man. I believe that it is up to the Syrian people who have to decide the future of President Assad."

"The future of Assad must be determined by the Syrian people."
Read More...
Bad Guys

Saudi Arabia's anti-terror coalition is just a cover to 'pull Iraq and Syria into pieces'


Sputnik
Wed, 16 Dec 2015 13:57 UTC
Saudi Arabia coalition
© AP Photo/ Mosa'ab Elshamy
Saudi Arabia has announced the creation of a 34-country 'Islamic coalition against terrorism'. Officially, Moscow says that it will need more detailed information on the coalition's composition and aims. Unofficially, experts are already suggesting that Russia must stay as far away as possible from Riyadh's 'dangerous and disingenuous' endeavor.

On Tuesday, the Saudi Press Agency announced the formation of a 34-member 'Islamic coalition against terrorism', featuring a joint operations command center based Riyadh to coordinate and support military operations. The coalition's aims, according to state media, will be "to protect the Islamic nation from the evils of all terrorist groups and organizations," on "the basis of the right of peoples to self-defense."

Besides Saudi Arabia, the alliance will include countries in the Gulf and the broader Middle East, including Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Yemen (where a Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out a military operation against Houthi rebels), as well as the Palestinian National Authority (whose membership in the coalition is under question), Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Libya. Nearly two dozen other countries from across Africa and Asia, including Nigeria and Pakistan, are also expected to participate, with another 10 countries, including Indonesia, said to have expressed their support for the initiative.

Comment: Read more: Pepe Escobar: Is Washington letting Cold War 2.0 escalate?

Read More...
Bad Guys

NATO military forces increasingly surround Russia: Preparing for war?


Sputnik
Mon, 14 Dec 2015 00:00 UTC
NATO buildup
© AP / Mindaugas Kulbis
NATO has considerably increased its military presence in the Baltic countries, Poland and Romania and is actively drawing ever new states into its orbit, Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

"In the past year alone NATO has deployed thirteen times more troops, eight times more military aircraft and up to 300 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles to the Baltic states, Poland and Romania," Shoigu told an annual meeting of top Russian military officials in Moscow.

The 28-nation North Atlantic Alliance is actively facilitating the entry of the former Yugoslav republics, Georgia and Ukraine and is drawing Finland, Sweden and Moldavia into its orbit. It has also set up a cybersecurity center in Estonia and a strategic propaganda center in Latvia.

Comment: The US/NATO planners are a duplicitous, malevolent and relentless group that will seemingly stop at nothing to achieve their primary objective - world hegemony. Watch as they continue to bully and threaten Russia, China and other countries in ways both overt and covert, and continue on their trajectory of mass chaos and destruction. The comparisons made between Nazi Germany's and NATO/US goals are accurate. In terms of covertness, it seems NATO has "learned" a thing or two from its predecessor however, which is why we have not yet seen world outcry about its actions yet. But many are catching on...

See also:

Read More...
Bomb

Saudi-led coalition bombs Yemen, kills 17 civilians just hours before 'truce'


Dawn
Wed, 16 Dec 2015 13:28 UTC
Yemen
© Unknown
Air strikes by an Arab coalition targeting Yemen's dominant Houthi group killed at least 15 people late on Monday, residents said, hours before a ceasefire was due to take effect to pave the way for United Nations (UN)-sponsored peace talks in Switzerland.

Residents said war planes launched two raids on the village of Bani al-Haddad, in the northern Hajjah province on the border with Saudi Arabia, killing 13 people and wounding 20 others. Two more residents died while medics were trying to evacuate them, they said.

A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition could not be reached for immediate comment but the alliance says it does not target civilians.

Comment: See more:

Read More...
Snakes in Suits

Ukraine's government decides to start trade blockade of Crimea


ITAR-TASS
Wed, 16 Dec 2015 13:28 UTC
Ukraine’s prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk
© Maxim Nikitin/ITAR-TASS
The government of Ukraine made a decision to start trade blockade of Crimea, the official Twitter of Ukraine's prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said on Wednesday.

The Ukrainian government prohibited "supplies of goods, work and services" to Crimea and from Crimea," the statement said.

"The decision of the cabinet of ministers prohibiting all supplies from Crimea to Ukraine and vice versa, except personal items, socially important foods and humanitarian aid, will be carried into effect in 30 days," Yatsenyuk said.

Crimea and Sevastopol reunited with Russia after a referendum on April 16 2014.

Comment: Interesting this decision comes on the heels of Biden's visit to Kiev and Russia restoring electricity to Crimea. What could Yatsenyuk hope to gain from this blockade? Maybe trying to provoke a Russian response?

Read More...
Stormtrooper

300,000 US vets who suffered blast concussions have brain scarring


RT
Wed, 16 Dec 2015 02:57 UTC
An MRI scan of a 28-year-old man with blast-related mild TBI shows a total of 76 lesions on all sections of his brain
© rsna.orgAn MRI scan of a 28-year-old man with blast-related mild TBI shows a total of 76 lesions on all sections of his brain
Brain scarring appeared on more than half of active duty service members who suffered blast-related concussions, according to a new paper by the US military. It is the largest study using advanced brain imaging of active service members ever performed.

More than 300,000 US troops have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injuries (MTBI) between 2000 and 2015, according to the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center. Researchers at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland used MRI scans to study 834 such military service members with MTBI ‒ commonly referred to as concussions ‒ that were related to blast injuries.

Just over 84 percent of the patients involved in the study reported one or more blast-related incidents, and 63 percent reported loss of consciousness at the time of injury. The MRI scans revealed the presence of white matter T2 hyperintensities, or brain scars, in 52 percent of the MTBI patients, the study's authors, led by Dr. Gerard Riedy, found.
Read More...
Che Guevara

Death of Chavismo in Venezuela: Election of right-wingers heralds privatization, pillage, and pro-Americanism


Telesur
Fri, 11 Dec 2015 00:00 UTC
Henrique Capriles
© ReutersVenezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles speaks to journalists during a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela, Dec. 7, 2015
The opposition MUD coalition publishes its official plan for overturning gains made by the socialist government and the people over the last 17 years.

The right-wing coalition of parties, known as the MUD, that won a supermajority in Venezuela's National Assembly elections Dec. 6, has laid out its plan for a radical departure from the policies and laws laid down over the past 17 years by the socialist government.

Amid news of political infighting, on Thursday evening the MUD published on its website a list of laws its lawmakers plan to overturn once they come into office Jan. 5, including revoking price controls that have kept basic goods affordable; privatizing key enterprises and services; giving foreign companies concessions for infrastructure works; strengthening local police forces; and making public media "independent," or private.

Comment: The US finally got its wish in Venezuela. Little to no future plans aimed at improving socialized services for Venezuela's people, and the plunder of their country's resources to boot. Prediction: The MUD coalition will not only not improve conditions (except for the oligarchs) but will bring things back to how bad they were for most people there pre-Revolution. That's what those who make the deal with the devil (ie. the Western Corporatocracy) almost always seem to do. A sad situation.

Read More...
Pumpkin 2

What does it say about US when a pathological narcissist with zero empathy is front-runner for president?

Randi Kreger
Psychology Today
Sun, 18 Oct 2015 22:38 UTC
trump
All hail grandiose narcissist Donald Trump. Now that the GOP debates are over, I don't think he's made the front page in a couple of weeks. So now I think I can bear to post this blog post I wrote a month ago. Before I just couldn't be one more person talking about Donald Trump.

So we all know Trump is a narcissist of the "malignant" garden variety type. But does he have narcissistic personality disorder? The answer might surprise you.

NARCISSIST VS NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER

First, we have to look at the difference between a narcissist and a person with narcissistic personality disorder. People often get them confused.

Narcissism is often interpreted in popular culture as a person who's in love with him or herself. We think of narcissists as someone who thinks he or she is overly important, pompous, and overblown. The joke goes: "Let's stop talking about me," says the arrogant blowhard. "Instead, let's talk about myself.

But how well does he match the clinical definition of narcissistic personality disorder?

Comment: One could go further and say that Donald Trump is displaying all the traits of a psychopath. He is certainly not shy about reveling in his narcissism. From the wig to the pompous, self-centered personality, it's all right there in the open, and yet the American public has somehow not laughed him off the stage.

Read More...