Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

Ukraine will receive reverse gas flow supplies from Slovakia but will only receive one quarter of what it usually gets from Russia


RT
Fri, 15 Aug 2014 18:57 UTC
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© AFP Photo / Sergey Bobok
Ukrtransgaz, Ukraine's national pipeline operator, has completed all the necessary construction to accept 27 million cubic meters of gas per day from Slovakia through 2019. The operations are due to start on September 1.

All technical aspects and negotiations have been agreed upon by Ukraine's Uktransgaz and Slovakia's Eustream AS, Ukraine's state oil and gas company Naftogaz said on Wednesday.

Natural gas will flow from Slovakia to Uzhgorod, a town in western Ukraine. Though the natural gas will help Ukraine with its depleting natural gas reserves, the 27 million cubic meters is still only 1/4 of what Moscow used to send every day.

Deliveries from Slovakia could satisfy up to 20 percent of Ukraine's natural gas demand, which in 2013 was 55 billion cubic meters.

The two companies first signed a Memorandum of Understanding on April 28, 2014 to provide reverse flow gas supplies to Ukraine.
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Bad Guys

FBI scheme to entrap "terrorists" finally receives setback in Ahmad Abassi case

Adam Goldman
Washington Post
Thu, 14 Aug 2014 18:44 UTC
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© Courtesy of Abassi FamilyAhmed Abassi celebrating his 26th birthday in Tunisia, 2 months before his travel to New York in 2013.
When Ahmed Abassi arrived in the United States for the first time in March 2013, the Tunisian student settled into a historic, neo-Gothic apartment building in Manhattan's Financial District.

Unknown to him, the apartment was wired with audio recording devices, and Abassi's American host was an undercover FBI agent. Abassi, then 26 and suspected of terrorism ties, had landed in an FBI sting, part of an elaborate operation that stretched from New York to Quebec City to a small town in Tunisia.

Abassi was caught on tape discussing "the principle that America should be wiped off the face of the earth," with people he believed to be co-conspirators, one of whom was the FBI agent, according to court records. At one point, Abassi suggested "putting bacteria in the air or in a water supply."

But last month, Abassi, who declined to be interviewed, pleaded guilty to relatively minor charges that did not include any terrorism enhancements that could have sent him to prison for years, and he is not contesting a deportation order.

The case was a rare setback for the FBI and federal prosecutors, which have successfully targeted suspected terrorists using sting operations, typically ending with the defendants about to embark on what they believe is a terrorist attack with fake weapons or bombs supplied by the bureau. Guilty verdicts and long prison sentences follow.
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Heart - Black

US and Britain call off rescue of up to 30,000 stranded Iraqis after bombing ISIS

Spencer Ackerman and Nicholas Watt
The Guardian
Thu, 14 Aug 2014 18:28 UTC
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© Youssef Boudlal/ReutersDisplaced Yazidi people who fled Sinjar rest at a border crossing between Iraq and Syria.
The US and Britain are stepping back from launching a risky military mission to rescue thousands of Iraqis stranded on Mount Sinjar after claiming that special forces on the ground found their condition was better than expected.

Declaring that the US bombing has succeeded in beating back forces from the Islamic State (Isis), the Pentagon said the planned rescue mission had been ruled out for the moment.

A small complement of special forces and US aid workers landed on Mount Sinjar to assess the situation of the Iraqi Yazidis - who for days have received air drops of food, water and medicine.

Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said late on Wednesday: "An evacuation mission is far less likely."

The decision to call off the rescue mission came as the White House declared the mission to target Isis positions in the area with four air strikes since Saturday a success. "The president's decisive decisions in the immediate wake of the crisis kept people alive and broke the siege of the mountain," a White House official said.

David Cameron said on Wednesday that Britain had planned to join the rescue mission to relieve the "desperate humanitarian" situation on the mountain. RAF Chinook helicopters were deployed to the region to help with the operation.

But Justine Greening, Britain's international development secretary, endorsed the view in Washington that the condition of the refugees was better than expected.

Comment: American aid defined: create crisis, deliver bombs, arm both sides, use humanitarian aid as an excuse, don't actually provide humanitarian aid.

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Family

UN reports Gaza agriculture decimated by Israeli offensive


RT
Fri, 15 Aug 2014 07:45 UTC
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© AFP/Said Khatib
The Israeli military operation in Gaza has devastated the enclave's food production process the UN has announced, warning that the lack of food will "severely" affect the local population and that recovery will need "significant external assistance."

"The recent fighting has resulted in substantial direct damage to Gaza's 17,000 hectares of croplands as well as much of its agricultural infrastructure, including greenhouses, irrigation systems, animal farms, fodder stocks and fishing boats," the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a statement.

With farming and fishing activities virtually halted after farmers, herders and fishermen were forced to flee their domains, and with the Israeli blockade imposed, Palestinians are facing food shortages.

Gaza has lost half of its population of poultry birds either from direct shelling or because the birds died from a lack of water, as the IDF bombardment destroyed Palestinian infrastructure, the World Food Programme (WFP) believes.

"Under the most recent ceasefire many farmers and herders are now able to access their lands, however resumption of food production faces serious obstacles given the damage sustained and shortage of water, electricity, inputs and financial resources, as well as ongoing uncertainty regarding the possible resumption of military activities," said Ciro Fiorillo, head of FAO's office in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
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War Whore

Acting Like They Care: White House stops transfer of Hellfire missiles to Israel due to Gaza catastrophe


RT
Thu, 14 Aug 2014 18:30 UTC
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© AFP Photo / Roberto SchmidtPalestinian boy Yussef, 8, carries bread on a bag as he enters an apartment building where he stays overnight with this father on August 14, 2014 in Beit Hanun, northern Gaza Strip
Israel's offensive in Gaza and the tremendous toll of civilian casualties it has caused has prompted the United States government to more carefully scrutinize requests for weaponry.

Last month, Israel requested "through military-to-military channels a large number of Hellfire missiles," according to the Wall Street Journal. The batch was to be the first released to Israel from the Pentagon, Israeli and US officials said.

But White House officials ordered the Pentagon to halt the transfer and instructed US defense agencies to consult with the White House and the State Department following any further Israeli requests for weaponry, according to the report.
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Dollars

U.S. Government running $460B deficit during FY2014 despite record tax revenues

Ali Meyer
cnsnews.com
Fri, 15 Aug 2014 18:24 UTC
Image
© AP
Inflation-adjusted federal tax revenues hit a record $2,469,178,000,000 for the first 10 months of the fiscal year this July, but the federal government still ran a $460,450,000,000 deficit during that time, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement.

Each month, the Treasury publishes the government's "total receipts," including all revenue from individual income taxes, corporate income taxes, social insurance and retirement taxes (including Social Security and Medicare taxes), unemployment insurance taxes, excise taxes, estate and gift taxes, customs duties, and "miscellaneous receipts."

In constant 2014 dollars, the $2,469,178,000,000 that the federal government collected from October through July in fiscal 2014 was $129,126,250,000 more than the $2,340,051,750,0000 it collected in October through July in fiscal 2013.
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Stock Down

Ukraine passes law to sell gas pipelines to US and EU markets


RT
Fri, 15 Aug 2014 17:56 UTC
Image
© AFP Photo / Sergey Bobok
Ukraine's parliament has passed a law that will allow foreign companies from the US and EU to co-manage Ukraine's national gas transportation system (GTS) which has a value of around $25-35 billion, one of the largest in the world.

The motion, proposed by PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk, was only supported by 228 parliament members, just two more than the required 226 to adopt the bill. The first reading of the bill was approved on July 4.

Ukraine will control 51 percent and foreign partners will be offered 49 percent in the venture, which seeks to "strengthen" Ukraine's position as a transit state, according to the bill's advocates.

Together with Western investors Ukraine is planning to create a new company that will control the country's gas transit system. However, it could be hard to find investors willing to participate in the project, some analysts believe, as Russia is currently developing a transit system bypassing Ukraine's territory, which has proved unreliable as a transit partner.

Comment: Just days ago Kiev backed off threats to shut off gas to Europe after being reprimanded by their masters in the EU. This legislation looks to be an insurance policy to ensure the crazies in Kiev don't go off script again. Too bad for the EU that this will all soon be in Russia's hands with the with the building of the South Stream pipeline.

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Card - MC

Dollar's decline: U.S. investment outflow hits record as China cuts holdings

Kasia Klimasinska
Bloomberg
Fri, 15 Aug 2014 16:55 UTC
Image
© Unknown
The U.S. posted a record cross-border investment outflow in June as China and Japan reduced their holdings of Treasuries and private investors abroad sold bonds and notes.

The total net outflow of long-term U.S. securities and short-term funds such as bank transfers was $153.5 billion, after an inflow of $33.1 billion the previous month, the Treasury Department said in a report today. The June figure, and $40.8 billion in net selling of Treasury bonds and notes by private investors in June, were the largest on record, the Treasury said.

"Right at the beginning of June, you had a very strong sell-off of Treasuries and that's what frightened a lot of private investors," Gennadiy Goldberg, U.S. strategist at TD Securities USA LLC in New York, said by phone. "As yields stayed lower in subsequent months, some of the investors probably resumed their buying."

Comment: Meanwhile, the BRICS countries are busy creating a banking system to rival the Western model:

Moving towards a multipolar world: BRICS countries to set up their own IMF
The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) have made significant progress in setting up structures that would serve as an alternative to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which are dominated by the U.S. and the EU. A currency reserve pool, as a replacement for the IMF, and a BRICS development bank, as a replacement for the World Bank, will begin operating as soon as in 2015, Russian Ambassador at Large Vadim Lukov has said.


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Eiffel Tower

French government warned travelers a year ago to avoid Ferguson, Missouri area

Jerome R. Corsi
WND.com
Thu, 14 Aug 2014 13:38 UTC
Advisory for northern St. Louis issued at least 1 year ago
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© WNDPolice in Ferguson, Missouri, during a fourth night of violence after the police shooting of a black teen.
For the past year, a French government website has warned French travelers to avoid visiting the area north of downtown St. Louis were the police shooting of a black teen Saturday sparked violent, racial tensions that now are being addressed by the White House.

The French government website "France Diplomatie" carries a security warning for St. Louis that reads in French: "St. Louis: Eviter le quartier nord entre l'aéroport et le centre-ville, mais la navette reliant l'aéroport est sûre."

It translates to: "St. Louis: Avoid the northern area between the airport and the city center, but the airport shuttle is safe."

Noticing the French government travel warning last November, KMOX-TV in St. Louis posted an article that began: "It was 250 years ago that Frenchmen Pierre Laclede and Auguste Chouteau founded the fur trading post that would become St. Louis. Now the French government has some warnings for travelers coming here."
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War Whore

Sex, drugs and jihad: Meet the British dupes funnelling laundered cash to heart-eating terrorists in Iraq and Syria

Sandra Laville and Duncan Gardham
The Guardian
Fri, 15 Aug 2014 16:59 UTC
Image
© Rex FeaturesAmal el-Wahabi and Nawal Msaad, old schoolfriends who were together accused of being drawn into the Syrian conflict.
Amal el-Wahabi and Nawal Msaad were the first British women to be tried for terror offences linked to Syria, but the jury heard a tale not of extremists but of manipulation from the jihadi frontline

They made unlikely jihadis; Amal el-Wahabi was described by her own barrister as a "foul-mouthed, phone-addicted, weed-smoking kaffir", Nawal Msaad a glamorous university student who had to be warned by the judge for associating with a male defendant in another court.

Wahabi was held in the sway of her husband who had swapped drug-dealing and criminality in the UK for jihad in Syria, while her old schoolfriend Msaad was accused of being an unquestioning mule who was drawn by the promise of €1,000 (£800) to carry money to Turkey.

Msaad was cleared on Wednesday following a four-week trial at the Old Bailey in London. Wahabi, becomes the first British woman to be convicted of terror offences since the Syrian conflict began.

During the trial, jurors heard how the pair, both aged 27, were not extremists and exhibited no support for the jihadist cause; rather they were ignorant dupes who became caught in the ripples of the Syrian conflict washing over communities in the UK.


Comment: What a sly descriptor that just happens to completely white-wash the fact that the mayhem in Syria was hatched by British intelligence:

UK planned war on Syria before unrest began: French ex-foreign minister Roland Dumas


Comment: In times past, Britain sent unwanted criminals to colonize Australia. Now she sends them to wage jihad in the Middle East.

Drugs rackets, police informants, cash mules, 'tours of jihad', prostitution rackets, and state terrorism all seem to blend into one seamless, seedy hive of rank corruption in the UK.

Put it together with 'normalized' and institutionalized pedophilia, legalized torture, secret trials, rampant corporate crime, constant warmongering, and military weaponry being the country's 'greatest' export... and you've got one seriously sick society.

Revolting.

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