Puppet MastersS


Family

Why are migrants going to great lengths to avoid this EU country

Tania Karas
Reuters
Mon, 28 Sep 2015 13:38 UTC
Cyprus refugees
© REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou
Nine months after Fadi, a refugee from Homs, Syria, landed in Cyprus on a boat carrying some 340 smuggled refugees, he still had not applied for asylum. He chose instead to attempt to reach mainland Europe by any means possible.

Fadi's reluctance to plant roots in Cyprus, the European Union country closest to Syria, stems from Cyprus' policy preventing most of those granted asylum from bringing their family members to join them.

For Fadi, who made the journey to Cyprus without his wife and 3-year-old son, the "right to family reunification" was important enough that he continued via "illegal ways," he said, to Sweden, where he was granted refugee status in August.

Of the more than 487,000 refugees and migrants who have reached Europe by sea so far this year, just over half are Syrian. But fewer than 3,000 have come to Cyprus, an island nation of just 1 million people located 60 miles west of Syria.
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Hardhat

Shell abandons Arctic exploration

Karolin Schaps
Reuters
Mon, 28 Sep 2015 13:29 UTC
Shell gas station
© Reuters/Robert Galbraith
Royal Dutch Shell has abandoned its Arctic search for oil after failing to find enough crude in a move that will appease environmental campaigners and shareholders who said its project was too expensive and risky.

Shell has spent about $7 billion on exploration in the waters off Alaska so far and said it could take a hit of up to $4.1 billion for pulling out of the Chukchi Sea for the "foreseeable future".

The unsuccessful campaign is Shell's second major setback in the Arctic after it interrupted exploration for three years in 2012 when an enormous drilling rig broke free and grounded.

Comment: So, as usual, it was about the money, not the environment. It also could be a sign that Shell has some foreknowledge of what's come in the Arctic. They've dropped billions on exploration only now to give up and pull out? Maybe their move is a warning sign:

Surprising cold 'blob' found in the North Atlantic Ocean - astute climate scientists worried

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Info

Africa dreaming: UK to send troops to 'shore up stability' in Somalia, South Sudan


RT
Mon, 28 Sep 2015 12:49 UTC
UK Troops
Hundreds of UK troops will deploy to the troubled African states of Somalia and South Sudan in what Prime Minister David Cameron calls an effort to ensure 'less terrorism, less migration, less piracy.'

Up to 70 troops could be sent to join a contingent of UN peacekeepers in Somalia to help fight Al-Shabaab insurgents, while around 300 could eventually be deployed to South Sudan in the coming months.

Cameron made the pledge to tackle the rise of terror groups in Africa and try to diminish the number of migrants heading to Europe ahead of the UN General Assembly summit to be held in New York from Sunday.

Comment: Is Cameron jealous of Putin getting so much attention on Syria that he is making similar gestures to help in Africa (after helping the West create the deplorable conditions there)?

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TV

60 Minutes: Charlie Rose interviews Vladimir Putin

Charlie Rose
CBS News
Sun, 27 Sep 2015 08:30 UTC
putin
© kremlin.ru

Comment: Thanks to Kristina Rus at Fort Russ, we have included the portions mistranslated or omitted from the CBS translation in brackets.



The following is a script from "Putin" which aired on September 27, 2015. Charlie Rose is the correspondent. Andy Court, producer.

There aren't many world leaders who have generated as much interest as Russia's Vladimir Putin. All eyes will be on Putin when he speaks at the U.N. tomorrow and meets with President Obama, at a time when he has placed himself and his country in the middle of the most pressing issues of our times. He helped the U.S. and its Western allies broker the nuclear deal with Iran, and now, with a Russian buildup of aircraft, military equipment and personnel in Syria, he has put himself and his country at the center of that civil war and the fight against ISIS.

Russian President Vladimir Putin CBS News Now, when his relations with the United States seem to be at a post-Cold War low, suffering under Western economic sanctions imposed on Russia, Putin may be looking for a way to restore his international influence and gain the respect he seeks for his homeland.

Just before his trip to the U.S., Putin invited us to meet him at his state residence outside Moscow where we found him characteristically confident and combative as he made the case that the focus in Syria should be on fighting ISIS rather than removing Syrian President Assad.


Comment: Putin will be speaking at the UN General Assembly today. Watch the live debate here.

Interesting that this part of the interview was left out about fighting terrorism in Syria: Putin interview on CBS 60 Minutes: Preview of UN speech The Kremlin will be publishing a complete, unedited transcript of the interview on Tuesday.

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Attention

Saudi Arabia: Co-opting the UN from investigating its war atrocities in Yemen?

Sarah Lazare
Common Dreams
Fri, 25 Sep 2015 00:00 UTC
UN
"The international community must seize this moment to establish a credible, international inquiry that offers hope for accountability and justice for victims of serious violations and abuses in Yemen," said James Lynch of Amnesty International. (Photo: Getty Images)
The Saudi Arabian government is unleashing a vigorous diplomatic campaign to block a United Nations proposal for a human rights investigation into the country's six-month-old military assault on Yemen—waged with the backing of international powers including the United States.

President Barack Obama has so far remained silent on the resolution, which was submitted by the Netherlands Thursday and calls for the UN Human Rights Council to launch a probe into abuses committed by all parties.
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Che Guevara

Catalan separatists win election, call it yes vote for breakaway - Spain braces for political crisis

Ashifa Kassam
The Guardian
Sun, 27 Sep 2015 04:15 UTC
catalonia independence
© Francisco Seco/Associated PressCatalonian pro-independence supporters celebrate in Barcelona.
Spain set for political crisis as regional government election result spurs coalition on with plans for independence

Separatists took control of Catalonia's regional government in an election result that could plunge Spain into one of its deepest political crises of recent years, by forcing Madrid to confront an openly secessionist government at the helm of one of its wealthiest regions.

A record-breaking number of Catalans cast their vote in Sunday's election, billed as a de facto referendum on independence. With more than 98% of the votes counted, the nationalist coalition Junts pel Sí (Together for Yes) were projected to win 62 seats, while far-left pro-independence Popular Unity Candidacy, known in Spain as CUP, were set to gain 10 seats, meaning an alliance of the two parties could give secessionists an absolute majority in the region's 135-seat parliament.

"We won," said Catalan leader Artur Mas i Gavarró, as a jubilant crowd waved estelada flags at a rally in Barcelona. "Today was a double victory - the yes side won, as did democracy."

After attempts by Catalan leaders to hold a referendum on independence were blocked by the central government in Madrid, Mas sought to turn the elections into a de facto referendum, pledging to begin the process of breaking away from Spain if Junts pel Sí won a majority of seats.
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Windsock

US gunning for China: Do you know a pattern for World War when you see it?

Tony Cartalucci
Land Destroyer
Sun, 27 Sep 2015 00:00 UTC
Image
Major General Smedley Butler could see the pattern and spoke up about it.
An Asian state aggressively expanding its military, bullying its neighbors, illegally fortifying islands, and bent on regional, then global domination - sound familiar? Are you thinking it's China 2015? No, it is Japan 1937-1944.

So shockingly similar is American propaganda regarding Japan during World War II to the propaganda being leveled against Beijing today that it seems almost intentional. Or perhaps those on Wall Street and Washington think so little of the general public's ability to discern fact from fiction, they see no reason to revise the script and are going ahead with a remake faithful to the original with only a few minor casting twists.

This US government production is titled "Why We Fight: A Series of Seven Information Films" with this particular part titled, "The Battle of China" released in 1944.

Comment: American designs on China and elsewhere are failing, but how much more destruction will the US inflict on the World and on its own people before this chapter of Empire will end?

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Che Guevara

Record turnout puts pro-independence parties on course for victory in Catalonia

Alasdair Fotheringham
The Independent
Sun, 27 Sep 2015 03:56 UTC
catalonia independence
© Associated Press
Catalonian independence supporters celebrate big gains in Spain’s regional elections yesterday. The election result could propel Catalonia toward independence from the rest of Spain as soon as 2017
Catalonia's pro-independence parties on course for victory with record turnout in vote which is likely to pose huge constitutional difficulties for Spain

Spain is tonight on course for its most serious constitutional crisis for a generation as early exit polls suggested Catalonia's pro-independence parties had won a majority of seats in elections that will kick-start the region's bid to break away from Madrid.

Victory is expected to act as a green light for Catalonia's secessionists to unveil a route map to independence by 2017.

The predicted win, with more than 74 of 135 regional parliamentary seats thought to have been won by the coalition of pro-independence parties, would mean that voters have ignored warnings by the Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy against supporting secession.

Mr Rajoy argued that such an outcome would cause dangerous tension between Spain's richest region and the rest of the country, and that an independent Catalonia would automatically be cast out of the European Union and would be at the back of the queue to rejoin.

Comment: This situation has been simmering for a while. Like the Scots, the idea of independence will not go away.

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MIB

ISIS: A 'Western proxy army who serves the interests of imperialist foreign policy'


Sputnik
Sun, 27 Sep 2015 02:59 UTC
ISIS
© AFP 2015/ Tauseef Mustafa
Speaking to Radio Sputnik on Sunday, independent journalist and peace activist Vanessa Beeley suggested that common sense seems to dictate that radical Islamist terror groups including ISIL are ultimately the product of Western intelligence agencies looking for "proxy armies" to be used to achieve the West's foreign policy goals.
The journalist pondered how it could be that despite a US-led effort against ISIL for over a year now, ISIL's operations have actually expanded. "And how come their armament stocks have also expanded, exponentially. It's not logical. If with all the equipment that the US coalition has at its fingertips, it can't wipe out what is supposedly a band of mercenaries, it begs the question: why not? And how come these mercenaries' ranks are continuously expanding?"
Beeley attributed the terror group's success in maintaining recruitment in part to Turkey's enthusiastic involvement in sending fighters across the border even "as they're being killed in their thousands." She suggested that "the buffer zone should be in Turkey, preventing them from getting into Syria, not in Syria."

She also attributed ISIL's success in part to the use of Saudi Arabia and its Wahhabist ideology, which she recalled has been used by Western countries for many decades to "achieve various strategic objectives and aims" throughout the Middle East.

More broadly, and controversially, Beeley suggested that Jihadist groups, including ISIL, are in fact "a form of proxy army, readily and easily...maneuvered and manipulated, or propagandized into existence, pretty much anywhere" to serve Western countries interventionist and imperialist foreign policy goals.


Comment: Yes, how is it that after two years of strikes on ISIS, the most powerful military force on the planet has only managed to strengthen the ranks of head choppers? Does the Western narrative make one lick of sense?



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MIB

Nauseating hypocrisy! Obama says many worldwide crisis could be averted if nations invested in people


Sputnik
Mon, 28 Sep 2015 02:37 UTC
Obama
© Reuters/ Jonathan Ernst
Obama stated during the high-level plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly that many crises worldwide could have been averted if countries spent more resources on human capital and if the wealthiest helped developing nations.

Many crises worldwide could have been averted if countries spent more resources on human capital and if the wealthiest helped developing nations, US President Barack Obama stated during the high-level plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly on Sunday.

"Refugee crisis, military interventions over the years could have been avoided if nations truly invested in the lives of their people, and if the wealthiest nations on earth and our partners were working with those who are trying to lift themselves up," Obama said.

The three-day UN Sustainable Development Summit 2015 is underway in New York.

On Friday, the summit opening day, the international community adopted 17 sustainable development goals with the aim of putting an end to global problems such as poverty and inequality by 2030.

The 2030 agenda is set to come into force on January 1, 2016, and replace the current Millennium Development Goals.

Barack Obama also said in a Sunday speech before the UN General Assembly that the world community should step up their contributions to promote long-term, sustainable world development over the next 15 years.

Comment: These kind of statements might sound reasonable if it weren't for the fact that Obama has presided over the most aggressive global campaign of crisis creation in modern history. Developing nations certainly don't need Obama's kind of 'help'.

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