Puppet MastersS


Light Saber

The Bear awakens: 355 ISIS targets destroyed by Russian Air Force in last 48 hours

Rudy Panko
Russia Insider
Fri, 20 Nov 2015 00:56 UTC
Putin explosion
© n/a
Full beast mode.

The United States still refuses to coordinate airstrikes against ISIS with Russia — but it doesn't even matter at this point: Russia has gone full beast mode. Over the last 48 hours, Russia has destroyed a fleet of 500 ISIS tankers used to smuggle oil out of Syria. But that's just a fraction of the world of pain that Putin has rained down on them:
355 [targets] were destroyed in the countryside of Aleppo, Idleb, Raqqa and Dir Ezzor during the last 48 hours.

"The Russian air force, in cooperation with the Syrian air force, carried out 186 sorties against ISIS sites in Syria," Syria news agency reported.

It added 26 command-centers, 35 depots, 28 fortified sites, 3 training camps, 8 explosive factories and 86 heavy-weapon stores were destroyed.
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Mr. Potato

Politics Ben Carson is struggling to grasp foreign policy, advisers say

Trip Gabrielnov
The New York Times
Tue, 17 Nov 2015 22:57 UTC
ben carson
© David Becker/ReutersPhoto Ben Carson after a news conference in Henderson, Nev., on Monday.
Ben Carson's remarks on foreign policy have repeatedly raised questions about his grasp of the subject, but never more seriously than in the past week, when he wrongly asserted that China had intervened militarily in Syria and then failed, on national television, to name the countries he would call on to form a coalition to fight the Islamic State.

Faced with increasing scrutiny about whether Mr. Carson, who leads in some Republican presidential polls, was capable of leading American foreign policy, two of his top advisers said in interviews that he had struggled to master the intricacies of the Middle East and national security and that intense tutoring was having little effect.

"Nobody has been able to sit down with him and have him get one iota of intelligent information about the Middle East," said Duane R. Clarridge, a top adviser to Mr. Carson on terrorism and national security. He also said Mr. Carson needed weekly conference calls briefing him on foreign policy so "we can make him smart."

Comment: Why The Incompetent Don't Know They're Incompetent

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Info

French magazine Valeurs Actuelles interviews President al-Assad


Syrian Arab News Agency
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 01:00 UTC
Image
President Bashar al-Assad said..Whoever fights terrorism somewhere, will protect the rest of the world.

President al-Assad added in an interview with the French Magazine Valeurs Actuelles Thursday that you cannot fight terrorism while you follow or pursue the wrong policies that support terrorism directly or indirectly.

Following is the full text of the interview:
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Blackbox

Trouble brewing for Washington? Paris attacks could push the EU closer to Russia


Sputnik
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 20:49 UTC
US NATO EU
© AFP 2015/ SAUL LOEB
Europe has suffered a great deal over the past couple of years due to US-fueled anti-Russian rhetoric that Washington forced on the EU, John Laughland, the director of Studies at the Institute of Democracy and Cooperation, told Radio Sputnik.

The EU is beginning to realize that they are the ones paying the price for Washington's anti-Russian rhetoric and poor US policies in the Middle East. The United States is destroying Europe by helping to cause the refugee crisis in the Middle East and terrorist attacks, Laughland said.

"If this realization starts to dawn, then there might be a risk for Washington," the political expert from the Paris-based think-tank said.

Comment: Check out:

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Bad Guys

Security crackdown: French MPs vote to extend 'state of emergency' for 3 months

Angelique Chrisafis and Julian Borger
The Guardian
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 22:54 UTC
French police
© REUTERS/ Christian Hartmann
French MPs have voted to extend the national state of emergency for three months, as François Hollande prepares a major tightening of security laws in the wake of the Paris terror attacks that killed 129 people.

The lower house of parliament voted overwhelmingly to extend the measures until the end of February and to increase certain powers, including immediately placing people under house arrest if they are considered a risk.

This is the first step in a security crackdown promised by Hollande after the attacks week. The senate will vote on the measures this Friday. The government then intends to hold a special vote of congress within three months to strengthen emergency powers in the constitution. Hollande also wants to introduce measures including stripping French dual nationals convicted of terrorism of citizenship and creating specialist "de-radicalisation centres" for youths.

Comment: This is an ominous situation indeed. For an overview, check out:

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Eye 2

Taking a page from Hitler's notebook: Trump hints at surveillance, special IDs for Muslims


RT
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 20:22 UTC
trump and hitler
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says the Paris terror attacks mean that "we're going to have to do certain things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago" in the US, including creating databases of Muslims and closely monitoring mosques.

Trump said he is concerned about the large Muslim population in the United States, and that, if he had his way, there would be increased surveillance, including warrantless searches, of American Muslims.

"We're going to have to do things that we never did before. And some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling that security is going to rule," Trump told Yahoo News.

"And certain things will be done that we never thought would happen in this country in terms of information and learning about the enemy. And so we're going to have to do certain things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago."

Comment: Whether he gets elected or not, the fact that Trump has made it this far as a presidential candidate shows just how far America has descended into a police state.

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Bad Guys

Israel's stormtroopers arrest 6-year-old boy and a leading activist at West Bank refugee camp


RT
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 06:06 UTC
Image
© PopularStruggle/Facebook
Israeli Defense Forces forcefully detained a six-year-old boy and an activist in the Aida Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, according to a new video released by a local activist group.

The Popular Struggle Coordination Committee published a video showing Israeli forces in full combat gear coming into the Aida refugee camp, located near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, and forcefully detaining two people, including a small boy.

The video starts out with three Israeli troops taking away the six-year-old boy, identified as Abdallah Lutfi Yousef, and dragging him by his arm. As the leader of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Coordination Committee, Munther Amira, tries to follow them, one of the soldiers starts to yell, while the other soldier continues to take the child away. Then the soldier attacks Amira by grabbing, pushing and shoving him. Shortly after, all three soldiers get involved in the scuffle, restraining the activist and then forcefully arresting him.

The video ends with both Amira and Yousef in Israeli detention.


Comment: Children of Gaza: The psychological toll of war trauma is too much to bear

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Vader

Former drone operators say they were horrified by cruelty of assassination program

Murtaza Hussain
The Intercept
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 21:31 UTC
Image
© Joe FiondaFormer drone operators Brandon Bryant, Michael Haas and Cian Westmoreland
U.S. drone operators are inflicting heavy civilian casualties and have developed an institutional culture callous to the death of children and other innocents, four former operators said at a press briefing today in New York.

The killings, part of the Obama administration's targeted assassination program, are aiding terrorist recruitment and thus undermining the program's goal of eliminating such fighters, the veterans added. Drone operators refer to children as "fun-size terrorists" and liken killing them to "cutting the grass before it grows too long," said one of the operators, Michael Haas, a former senior airman in the Air Force. Haas also described widespread drug and alcohol abuse, further stating that some operators had flown missions while impaired.

Comment: The bottom line here is that using drones to target alleged "terrorists" is not only haphazard, it's also incredibly irresponsible and outright cowardly. It's the same old "kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out" psychopathic mentality all too prevalent among the powers that be.

Below is a copy of the open letter written to President Obama, the US Department of Defense, and the CIA :
President Barack Obama
The White HouseWashington, D.C.

Secretary Ashton B. Carter
Department of Defense

Director John O. Brennan
Central Intelligence Agency

Dear President Obama, Secretary Carter and Director Brennan:

We are former Air Force service members. We joined the Air Force to protect American lives and to protect our Constitution. We came to the realization that the innocent civilians we were killing only fueled the feelings of hatred that ignited terrorism and groups like ISIS, while also serving as a fundamental recruitment tool similar to Guantanamo Bay. This administration and its predecessors have built a drone program that is one of the most devastating driving forces for terrorism and destabilization around the world.

When the guilt of our roles in facilitating this systematic loss of innocent life became too much,all of us succumbed to PTSD. We were cut loose by the same government we gave so much to ­­ sent out in the world without adequate medical care, reliable public health services, or necessary benefits. Some of us are now homeless. Others of us barely make it.

We witnessed gross waste, mismanagement, abuses of power, and our country's leaders lying publicly about the effectiveness of the drone program. We cannot sit silently by and witness tragedies like the attacks in Paris, knowing the devastating effects the drone program has overseas and at home. Such silence would violate the very oaths we took to support and defend the Constitution.

We request that you consider our perspective, though perhaps that request is in vain given the unprecedented prosecution of truth­tellers who came before us like Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange, and Edward Snowden. For the sake of this country, we hope it is otherwise.

Sincerely,

Brandon Bryant
Staff Sergeant
MQ­1B Predator Sensor Operator
SERE Instructor Trainee
USAF Joint Special Operations Command
3rd Special Operations Squadron
Disabled Iraq and Afghanistan Veteran
Founder of Project RED HAND

Cian Westmoreland
Senior Airman
RF Transmissions Systems
USAF CENTCOM
73rd Expeditionary Air Control Squadron
Disabled Afghanistan Veteran
Project RED HAND's Sustainable Technology Director

Stephen Lewis
Senior Airman
MQ­1B Predator Sensor Operator
USAF Joint Special Operations Command
3rd Special Operations Squadron
Iraq and Afghanistan Veteran

Michael Haas
Senior Airman
MQ­1B Predator Sensor Operator Instructor
USAF Air Combat Command
15th Reconnaissance Squadron
Iraq and Afghanistan Veteran


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USA

Wishful thinking: U.S. eyes Russia-Iran split in bid to end Syria conflict

Jay Solomon
The Wall Street Journal
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 21:01 UTC
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© Alexei Druzhinin/Kremlin/Associated Press Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Oct. 20 arrived for a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow.
The Obama administration and European and Arab allies are seeking to peel Russia away from its alliance with Iran, a partnership that has bolstered Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said senior diplomats involved in efforts to end Syria's lengthy conflict.

The efforts, which have unfolded quietly through meetings involving Russian President Vladimir Putin and Middle Eastern leaders, are meant to coax support from Moscow for a limit on Mr. Assad's time in power. Such a step would solidify an emerging international coalition and help clear the way for a more concerted military effort to counter Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.


Comment: Strange thinking here as Assad is actually helping Russia get rid of the head choppers. Ousting Assad won't make the task easier. Lavrov: No peaceful solution can be found in Syria without Assad


Iran is seen as a brake on those efforts because of its more staunchly pro-Assad position, which it wants the Kremlin to support. If Russia holds fast to Iran and Mr. Assad, it would undermine hopes for an international consensus.

A senior U.S. official on Tuesday said Washington has seen "increased tensions between Russia and Iran over the question of the future of Syria."

Comment: The US is looking for any weakness in Russia to exploit but Putin probably has anticipated that.

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Calculator

Kuwaiti security forces dismantle multinational ISIL cell


Sputnik
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 21:27 UTC
Image
© KUNA
The Kuwaiti security forces have dismantled a multinational cell of the Islamic State militant group, local media reported Thursday.

According to the KUNA news agency, there are nationals of Syria, Australia and Egypt in the cell.

Comment: Russia not alone: Putin discusses situation in Middle East with Kuwaiti Emir

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