Puppet MastersS


Lemon

Ground Hog Day: House passes temporary spending bill, US government shutdown averted


RT
Wed, 30 Sep 2015 21:10 UTC
capital building washington dc
© Joshua Roberts / ReutersThe U.S. Capitol in Washington.
The US House of Representatives passed a spending bill that prevents a government shutdown by funding federal agencies through December 11. It has passed through both houses of Congress and will now go to the president's desk for signing.

The measure also extends the expiring charter of the Federal Aviation Commission and funds emergency measures to fight wildfires, and was passed with a vote of 277-151.

Before reaching the House, the bill passed through the Senate by a vote of 78-20 earlier on Wednesday. Senators Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), who are running for president, were absent from the vote.

Many feared that a shutdown could happen because of opposition to taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood within the Republican Party. Conservative opposition to funding Planned Parenthood with federal money was emboldened by a recent string of undercover videos that implicated the organization in the trafficking of fetal tissue.

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards testified before the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday that 86 percent of the organization's non-government revenue comes from performing abortions.

The measure is only a stopgap measure to buy Congress more time to craft a longer-term spending bill. Still looming are negotiations involving the raising of the national debt ceiling.
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Airplane

Russian has launched anti-terror op in Syria


RT
Wed, 30 Sep 2015 14:16 UTC
Russian jet
© www.rt.comA Sukhoi-34 jet
The Russian military has launched airstrikes against Islamic State militant targets in Syria. The move was approved after a request from President Bashar Assad to Vladimir Putin, who has also expressed concern about the number of Russian extremists in the country.
[Editor's note: Go to full article and read timeline from the bottom up.]

30 September 2015

19:21 GMT
"There is an illogical contradiction in the Russian position, and now its actions in Syria," Carter said. He has reportedly described Russia's operation as essentially "pouring gasoline on [the] fire."

19:10 GMT
Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter would not say if the US gave Russia any advance warning of coalition airstrikes over Aleppo on Wednesday, but said that the talks between the two countries' defense ministries would cover what kinds of information should be exchanged going forward to avoid incidents of friendly fire. US-led airstrikes in Syria will continue despite Russia's actions, Carter said, adding that the coalition doesn't "intend to make any changes in our air operations."

19:00 GMT
US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said that Pentagon had no confirmations of reports of civilian casualties during airstrikes carried out by Russia on Wednesday. He noted that the US and its coalition partners make sure that there are no civilian casualties when performing their strikes, despite reports of the contrary.
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Vader

Best of the Web: With one hand Obama handshakes China's Xi while sticking a knife in his back with his other hand

Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture Foundation
Tue, 29 Sep 2015 20:04 UTC
Image

While there were several points of apparent accord reached between the US and China during President Xi Jinping's state visit, the issue of cybercrime will continue to be a source of tension going forward. Tension that will be unilaterally and cynically exploited by Washington for its ulterior geopolitical aim of demonising and browbeating China.

The problem partly stems from Washington being able to propagate its sly, prejudicial attitude towards China. Smiles and handshakes aside, the United States' official mentality harbours and projects a demeaning presumption of Chinese guilt over cybercrime.

That mentality is manifest in the arrogant way that the United States government during President Xi's visit managed to appoint itself as «judge and jury» to arbitrate on this contentious issue.

Washington's truculent attitude is quite a feat of reality-inversion considering its own proven global NSA spying operations, as revealed by Edward Snowden; as well as its known state-sponsored hacking operations against countries, such as when it ravaged Iran's civilian nuclear facilities back in 2010 with the Stuxnet virus. That cyberattack was personally ordered by President Barack Obama, according to the New York Times.
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Propaganda

Deception, propaganda, and social control: The power of the false narrative psy-op

Robert Parry
Consortium News
Mon, 28 Sep 2015 19:46 UTC
Image
© Getty
"Strategic communications" or Stratcom, a propaganda/psy-op technique that treats information as a "soft power" weapon to wield against adversaries, is a new catch phrase in an Official Washington obsessed with the clout that comes from spinning false narratives, reports Robert Parry.

In this age of pervasive media, the primary method of social control is through the creation of narratives delivered to the public through newspapers, TV, radio, computers, cell phones and any other gadget that can convey information. This reality has given rise to an obsession among the power elite to control as much of this messaging as possible.

So, regarding U.S. relations toward the world, we see the State Department, the White House, Pentagon, NATO and other agencies pushing various narratives to sell the American people and other populations on how they should view U.S. policies, rivals and allies. The current hot phrase for this practice is "strategic communications" or Stratcom, which blends psychological operations, propaganda and P.R. into one mind-bending smoothie.

I have been following this process since the early 1980s when the Reagan administration sought to override "the Vietnam Syndrome," a public aversion to foreign military interventions that followed the Vietnam War. To get Americans to "kick" this syndrome, Reagan's team developed "themes" about overseas events that would push American "hot buttons."
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Phoenix

China outbids disappointed Japan for high-speed railway contract with Indonesia


South China Morning Post
Wed, 30 Sep 2015 19:39 UTC
Image
© AFPIndonesian models view scale models of Chinese-made bullet trains on exhibition at a shopping mall in Jakarta.
Japan has lost a key Indonesian high-speed railway contract to China, dealing a heavy blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who is seeking to take advantage of infrastructure exports for economic growth.

Sofyan Djalil, head of the Indonesian National Development Planning Agency, told Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga in Tokyo on Tuesday that Indonesia planned to accept the Chinese proposal, Suga said.

The decision came after Jakarta dropped both Chinese and Japanese high-speed railway construction proposals earlier this month because of the high financial costs and offered to consider a cheaper medium-speed railway.

But Sofyan told Suga that China recently made a new proposal to build the high-speed rail link between Jakarta and the West Java provincial capital of Bandung without Indonesian fiscal spending or debt guarantee. Sofyan was visiting Japan as special envoy of Indonesian President Joko Widodo.
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Bad Guys

US officials on Iraq's alliance with Iran, Syria, and Russia to combat ISIL


Sputnik
Wed, 30 Sep 2015 13:06 UTC
Iraq
© AP Photo
Iraq's decision to sign an intelligence-sharing accord with Syria, Iran and Russia has US Defense Department officials worried about what intelligence the Iraq government is going to share with its allies against terror, and the information it may contain regarding the US armed forces.

Surprised US defense officials are concerned about the decision by Iraq's Joint Operations Command to share intelligence with Syria, Iran and Russia in an effort to coordinate action against the Islamic State.

"We were caught by surprise that Iraq entered into this agreement with Syria, Iran and Russia. Obviously, we are not going to share intelligence with either Syria, or Russia, or Iran," Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday.

Comment: Also see:
The Pentagon had, in its hubris, believed that the Iraqi government was sufficiently 'owned' that it could share sensitive US military intelligence about US military activities (and US proxy forces) with the Iraqis. There is now a risk that that intelligence may be made available to the Russians, allowing for the better targeting of US and Saudi proxy forces in Syria, and even Iraq.

Russia establishes 'no fly' zone for NATO planes over Syria, moves to destroy "ISIS" - Pentagon freaks out


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Light Saber

Palestine declares reality - officially returns to occupied status, broken peace now 'Israel's responsibility'


teleSUR
Wed, 30 Sep 2015 19:03 UTC
Mahoud Abbass UN
© Reuters President Mahmoud Abbas addresses attendees during the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Sept. 30, 2015.
Mahmoud Abbas says Palestine will go back to being a state under occupation, and that Israel must bear responsibility for the breakdown of peace agreements.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas spoke at the United Nations General Assembly Wednesday, hours after Israel launched airstrikes on Gaza, announcing that his country will no longer abide by the peace agreements with Israel, and that Palestine will go back to being a state under occupation.

"Israel has thus left us no choice but to insist that we will not remain the only ones committed to the continuation of those agreements while Israel continuously violates them," he said.

"As long as Israel is not committed ... we for our part are not committed and Israel must bear full responsibility," he argued, making it clear however that Palestine will not resort to violence.

Abbas had hinted he would drop a "bombshell" in his speech. Early in the speech he said, "The continuation of the status quo is unacceptable, because it means giving in to brutal force inflicted by the Israeli government."

teleSUR's correspondent in Gaza, Noor Harazeen had reported Tuesday, before Abbas' speech, that his announcement might involve a threat to dissolve the Oslo Accords, which set up the current governance arrangement, known as the two-state solution, between Israel and the Palestinian Authority 20 years ago, and re-declare Palestine an occupied territory.

Abbas declared Wednesday, "We will not accept temporary solutions or a fragmented state," continuing, "We will seek to form a national unity government."

Comment: Given Putin's insistence that international law be followed, Abbas' speech points up once again, the failure of the UN to do its mandated duty.

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Chess

Saudi Arabia: There is 'no future' for Assad in Syria

Julian Borger
The Guardian
Tue, 29 Sep 2015 19:13 UTC
Kerry and al-Jubeir
© www.samaa.tvSaudi Arabia Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir and Secretary of State John Kerry
Saudi Arabia has called on Bashar al-Assad to give up power or be removed by force, raising the global stakes at a time when the Russians are shipping troops and military hardware to Syria in an effort to prop up its beleaguered leader. The threat was made on Tuesday by Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Adel Al-Jubeir.

"There is no future for Assad in Syria," Jubeir told journalists at the UN general assembly. "There are two options for a settlement in Syria. One option is a political process where there would be a transitional council. The other option is a military option, which also would end with the removal of Bashar al-Assad from power. This could be a more lengthy process and a more destructive process but the choice is entirely that of Bashar al-Assad." The foreign minister did not specify how Assad would be forcibly removed, but pointed out that Saudi Arabia is already backing "moderate rebels" in the civil war.

The Saudi intervention fueled an already heated row at the UN over Syria's future, where the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, issued a forthright defence of the Syrian regime, describing it as fighting a lonely and "valiant" battle against Islamic State extremists.

Comment: By launching airstrikes to facilitate Syrian military ground engagement with the terrorists, Russia has put the pedal to the metal.

What's O-bomber gonna do? Sanction Russia some more?

As for Saudi Arabia, at the current rate of developments in the region, THAT regime will be gone long before the Syrian one.

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Star of David

Israel confirms new airstrikes on Gaza


teleSUR
Wed, 30 Sep 2015 18:24 UTC
aza bombing 2014
© ReutersA general view shows ruins of houses that witnesses said were destroyed by Israeli shelling during a 50-day war in the 2014 summer. Israel has again bombed Gaza.
Israel has conducted fresh strikes on Gaza, over a year after killing more than 2,500 Palestinians in an offensive against the enclave.

Israel's military confirmed early Wednesday it had conducted at least four overnight airstrikes on Gaza, the Palestinian enclave they brutally pounded last year for 51 days, killing over 2,500 people. The strikes hit sites belonging to Hamas, the political body that administers Gaza. No injuries have been reported.

An Israeli military spokesperson claimed the strikes were in response to a rocket fired from Gaza late Tuesday. It's unclear who launched the rocket; rogue militant groups within Gaza boast a history of firing rockets without approval from Hamas. In the past, Hamas has condemned rogue rocket attacks,

Although Israeli army spokesperson Peter Lerner told Reuters that Tel Aviv continues to hold Hamas responsible for all rocket attacks. Tuesday's rocket was intercepted by Israel's missile defense system and the military says no one was injured.

Comment: Ever the bully, Israel is getting its blows in while the world is distracted by the Syrian crisis.

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Arrow Up

Oratory as a weapon of mass deception

John Rachel
jdrachel.com
Tue, 29 Sep 2015 18:18 UTC
Obama
© Mandel Hgan/AFPObama speaks at UN September 2015.
I used to say President Obama is a great orator.

In retrospect, particularly in view of his speeches over the past two years, I would have to modify my appraisal: Mr. Obama is a mind-numbingly effective orator -- with major emphasis on 'mind-numbing' -- whose powers of persuasion are both awe-inspiring and reality-altering.

But great? I think not.

You see, great orators don't insult their audiences by lying and using their enormous gifts to wreak havoc on the world, demean other world leaders, and generally inflict listeners with self-serving propaganda.

Great orators ennoble, enlighten, inspire!

There is so much deception, obfuscation, manipulative innuendo, faulty logic, sheer raw hypocrisy in his recent U.N. speech, I could write volumes. But it's not worth your time or mine, since so many of the lies upon which he built this petty and self-aggrandizing show have been repeated with such relentless regularity, they are part of the accepted collective wisdom of both the American public and the government propaganda apparatus, aka the main stream media.

I'll just throw out a few comments.
"But we cannot stand by when the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a nation is flagrantly violated. If that happens without consequence in Ukraine, it could happen to any nation gathered here today."
Like Yemen being bombed by the U.S.-supported tyrannical government of Saudi Arabia? Like Iraq? Or Libya? Or Afghanistan? Or any of the 30+ countries the U.S. has attacked or effected regime change by proxy?
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