Puppet MastersS


Bomb

Make bombs, not refugees

Pepe Escobar
RT
Wed, 09 Sep 2015 18:48 UTC
Aleppo, Syria
© Hosam Katan/Reuters Aleppo, Syria.
The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming! Well, the Russians are always coming. The Russians never stopped coming since those heady Cold War days. The Russians are "invading" Ukraine. Every day. For over a year now.

Now the Russians are "invading" Syria.

That's just a prelude. Soon the Russians will be invading the whole Middle East, the whole of Eastern and Western Europe, the whole Arctic.

And then, one day, surreptitiously, they will be back in Cuba, ready to invade Florida and then the whole homeland.

History now repeats itself under the eternal recurrence of farce. About the best illustration of the propaganda modus operandi underlying the current exceptionalist hysteria over Russia's alleged "military incursion" in Syria was penned way back in 2011 on Counterpunch by the late, great Alex Cockburn. Enjoy:
"Suppose the CIA leaks a national security review concluding that the moon is actually made of cheese, and the Chinese are planning to send up a pair of gigantic bio-engineered rats to breed in numbers sufficient to eat the cheese and thus sabotage US plans for Missile Defense radar deployment on the moon's dark side.

The headlines will initially proclaim, "Doubts on Chinese Rat Threat Widespread. Many scoff." The lead paragraph in news stories in the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal will quote the scoffers, but then 'balance' will mandate respectful quotation from 'intelligence sources', faculty professors, think tank 'experts' and the like, all eager to dance to the government's tune: Many say rat scenario 'plausible', etc.

Lo and behold, by the end of a couple of days of such news stories, the Chinese rat plot is firmly ensconced as a credible proposition. News reports then turn to respectful discussion of the US government's options in confronting and routing the Chinese rat threat: Vice President says 'all options are on the table,' etc."

Comment: Increasing its military presence in Syria may actually be what Russia intends, a move that was 'pre-empted' by the West revealing their plans...

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No Entry

Uruguay will pull out of TiSA free trade "deal" on services


TeleSur
Tue, 08 Sep 2015 18:17 UTC
Uraguay free trade deal
© Agencia EFE“I am not giving as much importance to the negotiations of TiSA as it has been given,” said senator Jose Pepe Mujical.
Jose Pepe Mujica, who initiated the negotiations when president, supports the new president's decision as the BRICs are excluded from the deal.

Uruguay's president eventually ceded Monday to the pressure of his progressive coalition Broad Front, which voted on Saturday to withdraw the country from negotiations on an international free-trade deal.

"President Tabare Vazquez took responsibility for Broad Front's resolution (not to participate in the negotiations) and asked the Minister of Foreign Relations Rodolfo Nin Novoa to inform the withdrawal of Uruguay from the negotiations of TiSA (Trade in Services Agreement)," said Minister of Tourism Liliam Kechichian after the weekly Council of Ministers.

Senator and former President Jose "Pepe" Mujica commented shortly after that he would have supported Vazquez' decision which does "not give as much importance to the negotiations of TiSA as it has been given."

The negotiations stopped bearing importance to him when the BRICs countries' demand to be part of them was denied. "This represents the exclusion of half of humanity, which is a powerful sign," he added. "This is another trick of the main powers like the United States to contain the Chinese competitivity in the world economy," said the former president, recalling that China was the main economic partner of Uruguay.

Comment: Jose Pepe Mujica, former president of Uruguay is one of those rare politicians who actually cares about his people. He puts on no airs and reserved no special privileges for himself when he was president. A true humanitarian:
  • Uruguay's Mujica repeats offer to take in 'kidnapped' Gitmo prisoners


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Eagle

Bilateral Cuba-US Commission meeting in Havana


TeleSur
Wed, 09 Sep 2015 18:00 UTC
Us Cuba meeting
© Reuters Presidents Raul Castro of Cuba (L) and Barack Obama of the U.S. (R) announced their countries would begin normalizing relations Dec. 17, 2014. | Photo:
The bilateral commission was created Aug. 14. It will meet Friday to define the agenda of talks aiming to normalize relations. The Cuba-United States Bilateral Commission will meet for the first time this Friday in Cuban capital Havana. According to a statement Tuesday by the Cuban Foreign Ministry, the talks will aim to "define" the issues up for discussion during the process of normalization of diplomatic relations between the countries.

The bilateral commission was created Aug. 14, during a visit to Havana by the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

"During the meeting this Friday, delegations from both countries will define the agenda of topics that will be discussed during this phase which was initiated after the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States last July 20," the Cuban Foreign Ministry said in a press released on their website.

The ministry went on to explain that the "Bilateral Commission will discuss new areas of cooperation for the benefit of both countries, also the dialogue regarding bilateral and multilateral issues, including those in which differences exist and other subjects with pending solutions between Cuba and the United States."

Comment: Obama may be motivated to end the Cuban embargo for several reasons, one being a legacy-burnishing move. The second, more like reason is to counter Russia's re-gaining a foothold so close to the US. Russia has already made good friends in Latin America.

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Cross

Christians in Syria and the terror unleashed upon them


The Truth About Syria
Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:06 UTC
Image
Dioceses of the Syrian Orthodox Church, just one branch of Christianity centered on Syria
I will tell you a story. Four years ago I was in Syria and was traveling by van to Marmarita, a Christian town located high in the mountains. It was the height of summer, in August, Christians were celebrating the feast of Virgin Mary. My companions were all Christians. The van's engine broke down at midnight and we found ourselves in a very obscure and deserted place. We could have waited a day or more for any assistance. A passing man with a motorbike saw us and told us to wait. He was from a Sunni Muslim town. He went to the his village and came back with tools and repaired the damage in the engine. After the repair his clothes were covered with dirt but he did not even ask for money. This story clearly shows what was the atmosphere in Syria, what was the culture in this country. I was wondering if something like this had happened to me in another country. We would have been robbed and tied naked to a tree in most of them. In Syria there was great understanding and tolerance. Any kind of religious intolerance was not allowed and punished.

What happened, however, in recent years? Where this tolerance has gone?
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Gold Bar

A COMEX gold crisis forming?

Dave Kranzler
InvestmentResearchDynamics.com
Wed, 09 Sep 2015 00:00 UTC
fading gold bars
Sure, you can't eat a bar of gold and it just sits in storage like a Pet Rock that's been cast aside by its bored owner. But try selling the Indians or Chinese a paper gold bar and see how far you get. You might end up with a knife in your forehead.

The stench has been growing stronger by the day. Many of us have been writing for years about the extreme imbalance between the paper futures open interest vs. the underlying amount of gold being reported as available for delivery. The latest disclosure from the CME is that the ratio of paper gold vs. the amount of deliverable ounces has spiked to over 200:1.
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Green Light

They don't need the West: Russia and China launch joint online e-commerce platform to increase cross-border trade


RT
Tue, 08 Sep 2015 14:55 UTC
Image
© tradeease.net
Russia and China have launched an online e-commerce platform called TradeEase which is aimed at increasing cross-border trade between the two countries.

The new platform will allow Chinese shops to sell their goods online to Russian customers.

The creation of TradeEase was announced in March by China's PayEase payment service, Bank of China, China's Heilongjiang province and the border city of Suifenhe. Russian online payment system Yandex.Money will process payments for the platform.

At the moment the platform provides service for 200 shops in Suifenhe, Beijing and other Chinese provinces. Eight hundred more Chinese companies are also expected to join by the end of 2015, an official from Yandex.Money told Russian daily Vedomosti. He added that the average transaction is expected to be $30, with turnover during the first year of operation expected to be $20 million.
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Stock Up

So much for sanctions: Russian oil companies outperforming Western competitors due to weaker ruble


RT
Wed, 09 Sep 2015 14:51 UTC
Image
© Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters
While the global energy giants are struggling with plunging crude prices, Russian oil firms are increasing profits and output as a weak domestic currency protects their business.

Russia's oil majors Rosneft, Lukoil and Gazprom Neft are doing better than their Western counterparts Shell, BP or Exxon. This comes on the back of the depreciating Russian currency which cuts costs and taxes for the companies that generate earnings in US dollars but pay most of their expenses in rubles.

"A weaker ruble is the key factor helping Russian oils to offset the drag of lower oil prices and this gives Russian oil companies a serious advantage against their global peers," Alfa Bank said earlier this month.

Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of state gas producer Gazprom, had earlier reported a 47 percent increase in second quarter net profit and its output jumped 25 percent.
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Airplane

Plan B: Iran opens airspace to Russian aid flights to Syria


Sputnik
Wed, 09 Sep 2015 14:30 UTC
Russian aid plane
© Press-service of Russian Emergency Situations Ministry
Iran has satisfied all of Russia's requests and opened the country's airspace for the delivery of humanitarian supplies to Syria, the Russian Embassy in the Islamic Republic told RIA Novosti.

"Several requests have been sent [to allow Russian aid flights to Syria via Iran's airspace] and the Iranian side approved all of them," the embassy's press attaché Maksim Suslov said.

He emphasized that it "concerns only the delivery of humanitarian aid."

Comment: Oh my, the US proclaimed 'axis of evil' providing humanitarian aid instead of bombing civilians. Quite the irony.

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Network

Tech companies fight for data privacy as US government seeks broader snooping powers


RT
Wed, 09 Sep 2015 14:01 UTC
Apple store
© Mike Segar / Reuters
Apple and Microsoft are at odds with the US government over access to private customer data in two concurrent cases, as both giants refused to comply with DOJ orders. Microsoft and the US government are to face off again in an appeals court on Wednesday.

Both tech giants have been unwilling or unable to comply with Department of Justice's orders in two separate investigations that have triggered more calls from officials for changes that would provide easier access to customer data.

Comment: The government always talks about protecting us from national security threats where in fact the public needs to be protected from government snooping without our knowledge. There is little evidence that government access to live communications prevents terrorist activities.

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Megaphone

Nothing new: Russia has always supplied Syria with equipment to fight terrorists


RT
Tue, 08 Sep 2015 14:00 UTC
Image
© Yaseen Al-Bushy / Reuters
Moscow has always supplied equipment to Damascus to help battle terrorists, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said, adding that Moscow will continue to support the Syrian authorities.

"We have always supplied equipment to them for their struggle against terrorists," Zakharova told New York Times, "We are supporting them, we were supporting them and we will be supporting them" in that fight.

According to Zakharova, Russia's proposal to resolve the conflict in war-torn Syria is "to gather all the efforts together — all the international players, all Syria's neighbors, all members of the opposition coalition, all of those who are involved."

However, the problem is that Western countries can't show "one example of how they would manage the Syria story right after."

"What is the West planning to do right after? Do they have a magic wand that will transform Syria from civil war to economic prosperity?"
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