Puppet MastersS


Vader

Best of the Web: Nato leaders maneuvering to construct Iron Curtain between Russia and the West

washington iron curtain ukraine
© a-w-i-p.com
NATO leaders are currently acting out a deliberate charade in Europe, designed to reconstruct an Iron Curtain between Russia and the West.

With astonishing unanimity, NATO leaders feign surprise at events they planned months in advance. Events that they deliberately triggered are being misrepresented as sudden, astonishing, unjustified "Russian aggression". The United States and the European Union undertook an aggressive provocation in Ukraine that they knew would force Russia to react defensively, one way or another.

They could not be sure exactly how Russian president Vladimir Putin would react when he saw that the United States was manipulating political conflict in Ukraine to install a pro-Western government intent on joining NATO. This was not a mere matter of a "sphere of influence" in Russia's "near abroad", but a matter of life and death to the Russian Navy, as well as a grave national security threat on Russia's border.

A trap was thereby set for Putin. He was damned if he did, and damned if he didn't. He could underreact, and betray Russia's basic national interests, allowing NATO to advance its hostile forces to an ideal attack position.

War Whore

We have no opinion on mass murder of children: Irish government abstains from vote on Gaza slaughter

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You'd have to have a heart of stone not to feel just a little sympathy for Charlie Flanagan, the Foreign Affairs Minister. It's true that the murdered Palestinian children and their distraught relatives have a greater claim on our solidarity - but, Charlie Flanagan, at this stage of 
his life, well, he's been finding out how humiliating it can be to be an Irish minister.

Last week, Charlie had to stand over the Irish Government's decision to abstain on a United Nations vote on the Gaza slaughter. UN member states had a choice - intervene in the slaughter or stand idly by. Intervening by resolution mightn't achieve much, but there was a stark difference between voting for the resolution and not doing so.

It really doesn't matter how appalled and shocked we say we are about the deliberate slaughter of civilians. If we're asked to allow the UN to hold a formal inquiry and we shrug our shoulders we're saying, yeah, sorry about the dead kids - appalled, shocked - but we have other fish to fry.

As the slaughter continues, the Israelis and their enemies lay down ceaseless barrages of propaganda. Turn on a radio or TV and there's always some wide-eyed zealot from one side or the other speaking with intense sincerity in terms that are only loosely related to reality.

Comment: At least some in Ireland still know how to make a stand. This new mural has appeared on the Falls Road in West Belfast:

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Quenelle - Golden

Best of the Web: Take that, America! International teams find 'no violations' by Russia along Ukrainian border

russian troops
© RIA Novosti / Sergey KuznecovRussian troops file photo

Inspectors who came to check the state of Russian troops along the Ukrainian borders have found no violations, Russia's Ministry of Defense said. This came as a response to the US alleging 15,000 Russian troops have amassed in the area.

"It has come to our attention that new allegations by top US officials as to the alleged amassing of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border have been voiced," the statement by the Defense Ministry read, following allegations by the US Permanent Representative to NATO, Douglas Lute, and State Department spokeswoman, Marie Harf.

"The last four months have witnessed 18 separate inspections along the Ukrainian border with the Russian Federation, all in line with the Vienna Open Skies Treaty and the Vienna agreement of 2011."

The statement goes on to list the international makeup of those inspections, which included representatives from the US, as well as NATO and Ukraine. The inspections also included flybys and visits to any military units that might have aroused suspicion.

Telephone

Snowden's latest leak: NSA and Saudis teaming up

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© AFP Photo/Bilal QabalanThe Saudi interior ministry building in Riyadh
The National Security Agency has increasingly been working hand-in-glove with the repressive Saudi Arabian government since 2013, sharing intelligence and assisting with surveillance, according to the latest Snowden leak.

Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden sent a top secret memorandum to The Intercept's Glenn Greenwald that describes the secretive US agency's relationship with Saudi Arabia. The NSA primarily works with the Saudi Ministry of Interior (MOI) and Ministry of Defense (MOD).

After the first Gulf War in 1991, the document says, the NSA had "a very limited [signals intelligence (SIGINT)] relationship" with the Saudi government, but is now "experiencing a period of rejuvenation."The increased cooperation came after Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper approved an expansion of the SIGINT relationship in December 2012.

Even before that authorization, however, the NSA was collaborating with the Saudi Defense Ministry on a "sensitive access initiative" that began in 2011, and focused on "internal security and terrorist activity on the Arabian Peninsula." It was conducted "under the auspices of CIA's relationship with the MOI's Mabahith (General Directorate for Investigations, equivalent to FBI)."

Now the NSA offers "technical advice on SIGINT topics such as data exploitation and target development" to the MOI's Technical Affairs Directorate, "as well as a sensitive source collection capability," and analytical and technical support. The US agency also provides "a sensitive decryption service to the Ministry of Interior against terrorist targets of mutual interest."

Heart - Black

Obama-Bibi affair on the rocks due to wiretapping?

obama bibi
© Steve Bell
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday hit out at the United States for what he described as "unacceptable" wiretapping of his predecessor Ehud Olmert, as reported in the media.

"Given the close relations between the United States and Israel, there are things we cannot do, and that is unacceptable for us," Netanyahu said at a meeting of his Likud party.

Netanyahu said he had asked for the reports to be verified.

The New York Times reported last week that in monitoring more than 1,000 targets in upwards of 60 countries between 2008 to 2011, US and British intelligence agencies tapped the communications of then premier Olmert, among other foreign leaders, according to secret documents revealed by intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

Comment: It is interesting to see Netanyahu "upset" over such "news", since by now it is widely known that all NSA-collected info makes its way to Israel and the agency itself seems to be more concerned with Israel's security than that of the U.S.:
A document suggesting that the U.S. National Security Agency may put the interests of Israel above those of the United States was released Wednesday by journalist Glenn Greenwald.

The document is one of the many slides leaked by NSA defector Edward Snowden, currently a fugitive from American law in Moscow.

Greenwald, who published many of Snowden's revelations over the last year, released his book "No Place to Hide" on Wednesday. Concurrently with the release of the book, Greenwald made public slides that Snowden obtained from the NSA. One of them deals with intelligence relations with Israel.

"Balancing the SIGINT exchange equally between U.S. and Israeli needs has been a constant challenge in the last decade; it arguably tilted heavily in favor of Israeli security concerns. 9/11 came, and went, with NSA's only true Third Party CT relationship being driven almost totally by the needs of the partner," one slide reads.

Another slide states, "The Israelis are extraordinarily good SIGINT partners for us, but ... they target us to learn our positions on Middle East problems. A NIE [National Intelligence Estimate] ranked them as the third most aggressive intelligence service against the U.S."

These statements imply that the NSA is providing Israel with information much more than Israel is providing the United States with information. Writing in The Guardian last September, Greenwald noted that "the National Security Agency routinely shares raw intelligence data with Israel without first sifting it to remove information about U.S. citizens."

Greenwald also pointed out that while Israel is one of America's closest allies, it is "not one of the inner core of countries involved in surveillance sharing with the U.S. - Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. This group is collectively known as Five Eyes."



MIB

Famous cyclist killed in hit and run in Russia

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Photo from facebook.com/pages/BikerOnTheRoad
A famous US cyclist who biked across dozens of countries supporting the message of peace died in a car accident in the Russian city of Ivanovo, local police said on Friday.

Ron McGerity, a 60-year-old American who has been living in Geneva, traveled at least 120,000 kilometers (75,000 miles) over the past 15 years, visiting 61 countries along the way.

The cyclist died on Thursday in a hit-and-run accident in Russia's central Ivanovo region, located some 254 kilometers (157 miles) from Moscow.

Snakes in Suits

Is Kiev lying? Or is Kiev lying?

jet crash ukraine
© Reuters / Shamil ZhumatovAn armed member of self-defenses forces stands guard at the site of the crash of the Il-76 Ukrainian army transport plane in Luhansk June 14, 2014
The current conflict in Ukraine provides a plethora of examples of the power of doublethink in shaping narratives in order to justify any actions, beliefs, and statements that are either untrue or so grossly distorted as to be entirely unbelievable.

The novelist George Orwell coined the term doublethink in his classic dystopian novel 1984. He defined doublethink as
"The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them...To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just as long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies."
Although the concept is elucidated in a work of fiction, it has clear and unmistakable parallels in the real world that, like Oceania - the supranational state in which the novel takes place - is in a state of constant war, and seemingly has been from time immemorial.

Comment: Amen!


Rocket

Human Rights Watch blames Kiev army for indiscriminately killing civilians with missiles

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© RIA NovostiViktor Stepanenko (69 years) by his house in the township of Snezhnoye that was destroyed by a Ukrainian rocket
The Ukrainian army is using indiscriminate Grad missiles to attack densely populated areas in Donetsk, which violates international humanitarian law, Human Rights Watch alleged. It also blamed militia for taking cover in those areas.

The rights organization confirmed four rocket attacks by the Ukrainian military, or Kiev-allied paramilitary, on residential areas in or near Donetsk, which resulted in at least 16 civilian deaths and many more wounded. The attacks were carried out with Grad multiple rocket weapon systems, highly indiscriminate weapons that cannot be used against populated areas.

Judging by the trail of impact the rockets left, "in four attacks they were coming from areas under the control of the Ukrainian army," Ole Solvang, researcher and security adviser for Human Rights Watch told RT.

"We were not able to see any kind of possible military target in that area and it's quite clear that this is a residential area. Everybody that we spoke to said that there had been no fighters, no weapons in that area," Solvang added.

The group released a statement on Friday.

"Although Ukrainian government officials and the press service of the National Guard have denied using Grad rockets in Donetsk, a Human Rights Watch investigation on the ground strongly indicates that Ukrainian government forces were responsible for the attacks that occurred between July 12 and 21," HRW said.

Propaganda

Wikipedia temporarily bans Congress IPs over 'persistent' disruptive editing

US capitol
© Reuters/Kevin LamarqueThe U.S. Capitol in Washington
Capitol computers have been barred from modifying Wikipedia for 10 days, due to "persistent disruptive editing." The legislative body was told by Wikipedia administrators that it is welcome to make "useful contributions" once the ban expires.

"You have been blocked from editing for a period of 10 days for persistent disruptive editing, as you did at Mediaite. Once the block has expired, you are welcome to make useful contributions," a Wikipedia message said.

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If you think there are good reasons why you should be unblocked, you may appeal this block," administrator Tom Morris told Congress on Thursday.

Cut

BBC Russian report censored because it included eyewitness statements that MH17 was closely followed by Kiev military jet

Ivshina BBC
© UnknownAn image grab taken from a video uploaded on YouTube.
BBC Russian has come under fire from internet users after deleting its report on the MH17 crash for not meeting 'editorial values.' The reporter questioned says that local militia fired the missile, with locals talking about Ukrainian army planes.

The report on the Malaysian plane tragedy by BBC Russian correspondent Olga Ivshina was released on July 23. She interviewed local witnesses who told her that they saw military aircraft in the sky before the incident.

"And there was another aircraft, a military one, beside it [the Malaysian plane]. Everybody saw it," said one witness.

"It was flying under it [the Malaysian plane], we could see it. It was going underneath the civilian one," added another.

The report contained a soundbite of an SBU official, saying that the aircraft was shot down by a Buk missile.