Puppet MastersS


Chess

Best of the Web: Caliph at the gates: World leaders converge in Vienna to hold Syria talks on fighting ISIS

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Fri, 30 Oct 2015 15:41 UTC
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© Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
History has a jolly habit of repeating itself as surrealist farce. Is it 1683 all over again, with the Ottoman Empire laying siege to Vienna just to be defeated by the "infidels" at the last minute?

No; it's 2015 and a Caliph simulacrum - Ibrahim, a.k.a. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi — has prompted a gaggle of world powers, lesser powers and assorted minions to converge to Vienna to discuss how to defeat him.

Westphalians, we got a problem. None of this makes any sense if Iran is not at the table discussing a solution for the Syrian tragedy. Moscow knew it from the start. Washington — reluctantly — had to admit the obvious. But the problem was never Iran. The problem is the ideological matrix of goons who metastasize into Caliphs: Saudi Arabia.

Back — inevitably — to surrealism. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir stated, "The view of our partners ... was that we should test the intentions of the Iranians and the Russians in arriving at a political solution in Syria, which we all prefer."

Translation: "Our partners" means "His Masters' Voice," Washington; and the beheading-addicted oil hacienda does not "prefer" a political solution; they want regime change and a House of Saud satrapy.
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Stock Up

Win for Obama: US debt-limit budget truce to end of presidency

David Lawder, Susan Cornwell
Reuters
Fri, 30 Oct 2015 08:40 UTC
Obama money
© mrconservative.com
U.S. President Barack Obama early Friday won congressional passage of legislation that lifted the threat of a default on government debt through the end of his presidency and a budget blueprint easing strict spending caps through September 2017.

The Senate voted 64-35 to approve the measure, which was negotiated over the past few weeks by the White House and congressional leaders, including former House Speaker John Boehner, who retired from Congress. Obama will sign the bill into law as soon as he receives it, the White House said in a statement.

Without action by Congress, the Treasury Department would have exhausted the last of its borrowing capacity on Nov. 3, according to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, and risked default on U.S. obligations within days that would roil global financial markets.

The two-year budget provision provides new top-line spending levels for Congress for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1 and the one starting Oct. 1, 2016. It loosens budget caps, allowing an additional $80 billion in spending on military and domestic programs over the two years. But lawmakers still need to allocate that money among thousands of budget-line items. They face a Dec. 11 deadline, when existing spending authority by government agencies expires, and a spirited fight is expected.

Comment: Numbers on a page. Account ability and accountability...two very different things. The last raised debt ceiling fight/deal was in February 2014 and cost the taxpayers $24B in shut-down expenses.

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Gold Coins

Report claims complex money-laundering scheme in UK is funding terrorism


PressTV
Mon, 26 Oct 2015 15:49 UTC
ISIL terrorists Iraq
ISIL terrorists in Iraq
A newly-published report claims that terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq are being funded by a complex money-laundering scheme.

According to the report by the Financial Action Task Force-set up by G7 countries to tackle money laundering- dirty money gained through importing cars from the UK and other countries, is sent to terrorist groups. According to The Independent, the report has also shed light on a case study provided by UK authorities in which "people pose as police or bank staff in a scam where they are informed their account(s) have been compromised in some way".

The victims are cajoled into "transferring money into accounts controlled by the suspects or to withdraw the cash. A courier from the criminal network is dispatched to the victim's home address and picks up the cash." The cash in then funneled to groups in Syria and Iraq.
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Quenelle

Monsanto sugar beet farmers face tough competition - consumers prefer non-GMO products


RT
Fri, 30 Oct 2015 15:46 UTC
monsato protest gmo foods
© Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
Farmers of sugar beets, often using seeds from Monsanto and others, are seeing their products lose market share due to consumer demand for non-GMO foods. As a result, beet growers will engage in social media campaigning and amplify their lobbying efforts.

This year, 60 percent of the 8.8 million tons of sugar produced in the US will have originated in sugar beets. But in the last fiscal year, the actual share of deliveries to major users and customers dipped under 41 percent, the lowest rate recorded since the US government began keeping track in 1992. Industry heads say the public's negative response to genetically modified organisms is at least partially to blame.


Comment: So much for responding to the market. Up the propaganda rather than catering to demand.


In 2008, beet farmers began switching to a Monsanto seed which brought beet production to an all-time high and greatly downsized herbicide expenses.

"If we had to go back to conventional seeds, our cooperative couldn't survive," Western Sugar Cooperative research agronomist Rebecca Larson told Reuters.


Comment: Caught in the Monsanto trap.


Survival in the sugar market is all the more difficult because big food companies are turning away from GMO foods, and sugar cane has no GMO version. Even though sugar beet producers - mostly located in Michigan, Minnesota, Idaho, North Dakota, and California - are able to help produce sugar that tastes and looks exactly the same, the consumer often isn't buying.

Comment: Voting with your dollar, euros, or whatever, works! Make your choice known the one way the corporatocracy can't ignore!

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Bomb

Doctors without Borders rejects U.S. claims that Russia targeted hospitals


Sputnik
Fri, 30 Oct 2015 14:22 UTC
Doctors without Borders San Frontieres
© Mohammad Ismail / ReutersWounded Afghan men, who survived a U.S. air strike on a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) hospital in Kunduz, receive treatment at the Emergency Hospital in Kabul October 8, 2015.
Unsubstantiated US State Department claims that Russian airstrikes had struck hospitals have been rejected by Medecins Sans Frontieres and the Red Cross.

Medical staff from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) have made no claims that their hospitals were struck by Russian air strikes, the organization's head of emergency care told Sputnik on Thursday.

MSF's rejection of claims made by the White House, and repeated in the US press, that Russian air strikes had hit hospitals follows confirmation from the Red Cross that none of its personnel on the ground have made any claims about a Russian air strike on its centers in Syria.

Comment: The Western propaganda machine is in full swing. At this point the lies are so blatant that it almost seems like these psychopaths are trying to expose themselves. After all, didn't the U.S. just intentionally destroy a hospital associated with the Doctors Without Borders? Well, unlike their 'accusations' against Russia, there's actual evidence concerning their war crimes in the region.

Also see:

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Eye 1

Nazi sympathizers: Ukraine's political repression is 'downright funny' to Western media

Eric Draitser
New Eastern Outlook
Fri, 30 Oct 2015 14:26 UTC
Darth Vader statue Ukraine
© Reuters / Y. Volokin
Political repression and violence are allegedly incompatible with Western liberal democratic values. Respect for human rights, freedom of expression, and protection of the rights of minorities are all purportedly the hallmarks of "free societies," the goals toward which all nations should be striving. And yet, such standards of freedom and democracy are only selectively applied, and only when beneficial to the Western (US-UK-EU-NATO) agenda.

Western media and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are quick to highlight abuses, both real and imagined, in countries where it is politically useful to do so, such as in North Korea, Venezuela, Iran, Russia, and China. However, when it comes to the US-EU project in Ukraine, magically the liberal democratic values and human rights are no longer of central importance. Indeed, were one to read the Western media coverage of Ukraine, not only is political repression and violence not concerning, it's downright funny.

The Real Story

An article published in the exalted liberal pages of Britain's The Guardian ran with the headline The force awakens (in Ukraine): Darth Vader statue replaces Lenin monument (23 October 2015). The story highlighted the transformation of a statue of Lenin in the city of Odessa, into the Star Wars villain Darth Vader by Ukrainian artist Alexander Milov. The lighthearted tone of the piece, with tongue-in-cheek references to "the Force" (a Star Wars plot point) of the WiFi being radiated from the statue's head belies the seriousness of the issue - the intimidation and violent repression of political forces in the 'New Ukraine' - which the author conveniently downplays.

Comment: Also see: Just as predicted: IMF to change lending rules for Ukraine

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Handcuffs

Hillary Clinton should stand trial for war crimes over her role in destroying Libya


PressTV
Sat, 24 Oct 2015 03:53 UTC
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Clinton laughing about Gaddafi's brutal murder
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should be prosecuted for war crimes over her admission under oath that she played a part in destroying Libya, an American political commentator and journalist says.

Don DeBar made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Friday while commenting on Clinton's appearance before a congressional committee to testify about an attack on the US consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi in 2012.

The frontrunner Democratic presidential candidate tried to deflect Republican criticism of her handling of the deadly 2012 attack during a testy 11-hour hearing before the House Select Committee on Benghazi on Thursday.

She accused the Republicans of playing politics over the attack at the US diplomatic compound in Benghazi that left four US diplomats, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, dead.

"The most interesting part of the Hillary Clinton Republican committee show yesterday - and it is a show, a sideshow - was when one of the Republican members of Congress actually tried to get rid of the sideshow and deal with the actual issue at hand, which is not Benghazi but Libya proper, and particularly Hillary Clinton's role in destroying that country," DeBar said.

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Radar

A compilation of RT videos showing anti-ISIS aerial bombings started 1 month ago


RT
Fri, 30 Oct 2015 15:25 UTC
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© Ministry of defence of the Russian Federation / RIA NovostiA Russian Aerospace Defense Force jet bombs Islamic State facilities in Syria.
One month since Russia launched its ops against jihadists in Syria and online coverage of the campaign has boosted and attracted millions to RT online platforms in search of fascinating first-hand videos accounts from the region.

Cruising the Caspian

This is the best of the best of the footage - Russia showing just what an arsenal of high-powered weapons it has at its disposal by launching the most advanced cruise missiles at the jihadists from the Caspian Sea - and impressive 1,500km away! And with almost pinpoint accuracy to boot. Over a million of our viewers and readers enjoyed this one.

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Windsock

Winds of change: Sarkozy: Russia is great and essential power in solving Syrian crisis, tells Putin the world needs Russia


RT
Thu, 29 Oct 2015 15:17 UTC
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© Sergei Chirikov / ReutersRussian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with Nicolas Sarkozy, French former president and head of the conservative Les Republicains political party, at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia, October 29, 2015
Russia is "destined to be a great power" which cannot be isolated and should be reckoned with, Nicolas Sarkozy said on a visit to Moscow. The former French president also noted that all parties seeking to eradicate ISIS should unite their efforts in Syria.

"Russia is destined to be a great power, not a regional power," Sarkozy said during his speech at the Moscow State University of International Relations (MGIMO) adding that "those who forgot about the role of Russia made a grave mistake."

"But France did not forget," he noted. The ex-president said that Russia is an indispensable part of global policy and without Moscow, it is impossible to resolve the challenges the world faces today.

The leader of the French Republican party also criticized attempts to isolate Russia, which according to Sarkozy make "no sense."

"We need to talk to Russia especially when we disagree," he said. "This dialogue is not always easy because it requires respect, an effort to put aside clichés and stereotypes."


Comment: Looks like Sarkozy sees which way the political winds are blowing and is acting accordingly.

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Bad Guys

Italian journalist reveals ISIL's primary sources of revenue


Sputnik
Fri, 30 Oct 2015 14:19 UTC
isis
ISIS nutjob, after a semi-successful joint assault with Al-Nusra on a government-held supply line. Couldn't have done it without the U.S.
While many experts focus on the illicit sale of oil as ISIL's main source of revenue, in an interview with Radio Sputnik, Loretta Napoleoni, an Italian journalist and political analyst reveals that the Islamist group's main source of revenue is actually from taxation.

"It is not true that oil is the most important source of revenue for the IS; it is an important source of revenue, but the most important one is, actually, taxation. ISIL today controls a territory with 8 million people and levies taxes upon this population for their business," Loretta Napoleoni, an Italian journalist and political analyst and an expert on terrorist financing and money laundering, told Radio Sputnik.

"Oil is also taxed," she added. "Oil is also taxed with royalties. Whoever manages the oil production and the smuggling, pays a royalty."

Comment: ISIS is clearly a highly developed organization of head choppers. No wonder the US is fuming that it's all going up in smoke:

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