Puppet MastersS


Dollars

Bye bye dollar: China intends to use yuan in oil trade


RT
Tue, 08 Sep 2015 13:57 UTC
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© Carlos Garcia Rawlins / Reuters
China is planning to launch its own oil benchmark in October, similar to Brent and WTI, striving for a more important role in establishing crude prices. Unlike the Western benchmarks, the Chinese contracts will be nominated in the yuan, not the US dollar.

Shanghai International Energy Exchange sent a draft futures contract to market players in August, Reuters reported quoting sources.

Oil futures will be the first Chinese contract to permit direct participation of foreign investors. However, this is not the first step for greater oil market openness in China. In July, Beijing allowed private companies to import crude. Previously importing was only done by state-run majors such as Sinopec, China National Petroleum Corporation and China National Offshore Oil Corporation, the Xinhua news agency reported.

A Shanghai-based contract will compete in the crude futures market, which is worth of trillions of dollars and is dominated by two contracts, London's Brent, seen as the global benchmark, and WTI, the key U.S. price.

North Sea, Brent oil was first developed in the 1970s. The ICE Brent futures contract was developed in 1988. With an approximate output of only 1 million barrels per day, this blend is considered a benchmark and its contracts are now used to set prices for roughly 2/3 of the world's oil.

China is one of the world's largest oil buyers. Nearly 60 percent of its oil consumption comes from imports.
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Eye 2

Saudi diplomat and family accused of raping and torturing 2 Nepali 'slaves'


RT
Wed, 09 Sep 2015 13:16 UTC
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© Desmond Boylan / ReutersIndian Sikhs attend a protest outside the embassy of the Saudi Arabia in New Delhi.
A Saudi Arabian diplomat in New Delhi has been accused of rape, and his wife and daughter are now facing charges for torturing the rape victims. The Saudi embassy in India has denied the allegations, dismissing them as "completely false."

It is alleged that the diplomat, whose name has not been disclosed, and his friends, raped two Nepali women, and his wife and daughter assisted in torturing them.

"After keeping the duo for some time in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, both were brought to Gurgaon. The victims were raped and gang raped by the diplomat and his friends and guests," Assistant Commissioner of Police Rajesh Kumar told the IANS independent news agency.

The Nepali women came to India after a woman in Nepal promised them well-paid jobs about half a year ago.

The women were reportedly rescued by security forces, with the help of the Nepalese embassy and the local NGO Maiti India, from an apartment on the fifth floor of the luxurious Ambience Island Caitriona residential area.
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Quenelle

Maduro orders more border closures with Colombia - sends 3,000 troops to stem a rise in violence


Sputnik News
Wed, 09 Sep 2015 11:41 UTC
Venezuela border
© REUTERS/ Jose Miguel Gomez
Nicolas Maduro reportedly sent 3,000 troops close to the border with Colombia. Recently, crackdown on smugglers has triggered violence at the border.

Venezuela will be closing off more of its border with Colombia, as border tensions continue, President Nicolas Maduro announced.

"I have decided after a careful assessment to construct a new frontier, to close the border crossing of Paraguachon in Zulia state," Maduro said Monday, as quoted by the Noticia Al Dia portal.

Comment: Venezuela is under a lot of pressure. Check out:

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Bad Guys

Shameless liars: Germany's Foreign Ministry blames Russia for the chaos in Syria


Sputnik News
Wed, 09 Sep 2015 11:26 UTC
Migrant crisis
© REUTERS/ Abdalrhman Ismail
Instead of saying who is really responsible for the bloody civil war in Syria, Germany is trying to lay the blame for the tragedy on Russia, Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten reported. As a result, Merkel's foreign policy is losing credibility.

"The conflict [in Syria] does not have a military solution. All stakeholders, including the government in Moscow, would be well advised to overcome their differences and hold talks on the political future of the country," the media outlet quoted a representative of Germany's Foreign Ministry as saying.

The comment follows false reports that Russia was engaged in a military buildup in Syria.
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Chess

Moscow is ready for more sanctions: Can live under continuous western pressure


RT
Wed, 09 Sep 2015 10:40 UTC
Sanctions
© Vladimir Sergeev / RIA Novosti
Russia has no illusion about sanctions being lifted and expects them to be stiffened in future, regardless of developments in Eastern Ukraine. That's according to a leading Russian diplomat, who says Moscow can live under continuous western pressure.

"We believe that in certain directions, notwithstanding of the developments in Donbass, we should expect toughening of the sanctions pressure," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said at the Russia Arms Expo 2015 in Nizhny Tagil on Wednesday.

According to Ryabkov, the new set of sanctions introduced by Washington last week against Russian companies, including arms exporter Rosoboronexport, "mirrors the policy of complicating operations of the Russian military-industrial complex and all of the mechanism of government." Sanctions come in handy as a "true instrument of aggressive foreign policy" aimed at Russia, the diplomat said.

Comment: Insane amount of world-resources are wasted on the US 'Cold Shoulder Policy'. The energy and livelihood of millions of hard working people are lost to sanctions. All the West is showing is gnashing of teeth toward the East.

We need a new, conscious leadership in all countries, not just Russia. Leaders who are able to make fair deals everywhere, so that we - the nations of the world - can work together, understanding the connection between our humanity and our planet and ensuring a prosperous future for our children. Without weapons, without war, without animosity. In a loving embrace with everybody's birth-place: Mother Earth.

See also:

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War Whore

Saudi-led Gulf States retaliate against Yemeni military by deliberately bombing civilians


South Front
Mon, 07 Sep 2015 10:21 UTC
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© South Front
The US-backed coalition have been expanding their war in Yemen by significantly increasing airstrikes and deploying 1,000 additional Qatar troops as they prepare to advance on the Yemeni capital. The Saudi military has faced its deadliest ever battle incident. Yemeni forces have declared the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's (KSA) cities as military targets.

  1. September 2, ISIS Wilayat Sana'a exercised a dual bombing at an al Houthi-run mosque in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a. One suicide bomber detonated a suicide vest in the al Muayid mosque and was followed by a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device that targeted emergency responders at the scene. 28 locals were killed and 75 were wounded.
  2. September 3, A vehicle-borne improvised explosive device killed at least five al Houthis in al Bayda city. No group has claimed the attack at this time, but Ansar al Sharia, the militant arm of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has taken credit for at least six other attacks on al Houthi positions in al Bayda governorate between September 2 and September 4.
  3. September 4, At least 45 UAE and 10 Saudi soldiers were killed in an attack on a Gulf coalition military base in Ma'rib governorate. The soldiers died in an explosion when a rocket, launched by al Houthi forces, struck a weapons cache inside the camp.
  4. September 4, Two al Houthi army soldiers were killed and six others wounded when suspected al-Qaeda militants carried out an attack in the province of Shabwa. Over the past months, al-Qaeda militants have frequently carried out attacks on Yemen's security forces. The militants have been also engaged in battle with the Shia Ansarullah fighters.
  5. September 5, Saudi fighter jets launched raids on residential areas in the northwestern Yemeni province of Sa'ada. Several people including a mother and her child were killed.
  6. September 5, The spokesman for the Yemeni army Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman said that the Saudi cities of Jeddah, Abha, and the capital Riyadh will turn into legitimate targets for the Yemeni forces in their retaliatory attacks against the kingdom.
  7. September 6, Saudi-led coalition pounded the Yemeni capital with air strikes on Sunday. Coalition warplanes hit military bases on the capital's Nahdain and Fajj Attan hills and the neighbouring presidential complex, south of Sanaa, as well as a special forces headquarters. At least 27 people were killed.
  8. September 7, Around 1,000 Qatar Armed Forces soldiers, backed by 200 armoured vehicles and 30 Apache helicopters, head to Yemen's Maareb province to join the Saudi-led coalition already fighting in the area.
  9. September 7, Saudi airstrikes killed 12 people and injured 39 others in the city of Yarim in Ibb Province.
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People 2

South Front News: NATO war refugees turning up dead in Europe - Video summary of recent events

South Front
YouTube
Fri, 04 Sep 2015 10:13 UTC
Image
© South Front
Europe, the land of 'humanism', 'democracy', 'human rights' and other words with no implementation, is, as we all heard and some of us even saw, facing a huge refugee crisis from the countries with ongoing military conflicts. While people were sharing thoughts on how did the Eu get to this situation, one thing should be clear - nothing in these events could be hidden.

At least 40 people died Saturday in the Mediterranean while traveling in an overcrowded boat trying to reach European shores while an Italian vessel was conducting a "rescue operation" off the Libyan coast, the Italian Navy reports.

A newborn boy was found dead after his migrant parents reached the shores of a Greek island in a boat from Turkey on Saturday, while new scuffles broke out between thousands of migrants and police on another Greek island Lesbos.

A Greek ferry unloaded 2,500 migrants at the port of Piraeus on Saturday, bringing the total number of people moved to the country's mainland since last Monday to 13,373, the coastguard said.
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Display

UK Parliament computers used for Ashley Madison


RT
Tue, 08 Sep 2015 02:41 UTC
Ashley Madison
© Bobby Yip / Reuters
Computers used by members of parliament and their staff have been used to access the extra-marital affairs site Ashley Madison, data obtained under Freedom of Information (FoI) rules show.

During the past year MPs, peers or staff have used parliamentary computers to log on to the site 26 times.

Ashley Madison, a service for individuals seeking an affair, was the victim of a huge data leak in July, when hackers targeted the site and released the details of millions of users.

In response to the revelation, parliament said the website is blocked on its network, but that MPs, their staff, researchers, advisers and members of the House of Lords are able to use the internet on their computers during non-working hours.

It said further information is unavailable because data is only stored for one year.
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Yoda

Putin: The only world leader speaking sense on migrant crisis, Syria, and ISIS

Stuart Hooper
21st Century Wire
Mon, 07 Sep 2015 02:24 UTC
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© Russian Presidential OfficePutin’s approval ratings are astronomical.
The only world leader speaking sense on the migrant crisis is the same one who is also subject to an international demonization campaign.

Russia's President Putin has presented the unadulterated truth on the migrant crisis to the world,saying the following:

"I think the crisis was absolutely expected. We in Russia, and me personally a few years ago, said it straight that pervasive problems would emerge, if our so-called Western partners continue maintaining their flawed ... foreign policy, especially in the regions of the Muslim world, Middle East, North Africa, which they pursue to date."

Putin highlighted the necessity to find out "what is happening, and what to do next", while branding Western policies as "shortsighted". He also noted that the U.S. was not feeling any impact at all from the current crisis, despite playing a huge role in creating it.
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Cross

Conservative dissent is brewing inside the Vatican

Anthony Faiola
The Washington Post
Mon, 07 Sep 2015 01:09 UTC
Pope Francis
On a sunny morning earlier this year, a camera crew entered a well-appointed apartment just outside the 9th-century gates of Vatican City. Pristinely dressed in the black robes and scarlet sash of the princes of the Roman Catholic Church, Wisconsin-born Cardinal Raymond Burke sat in his elaborately upholstered armchair and appeared to issue a warning to Pope Francis.

A staunch conservative and Vatican bureaucrat, Burke had been demoted by the pope a few months earlier, but it did not take the fight out of him. Francis had been backing a more inclusive era, giving space to progressive voices on divorced Catholics as well as gays and lesbians. In front of the camera, Burke said he would "resist" liberal changes — and seemed to caution Francis about the limits of his authority. "One must be very attentive regarding the power of the pope," Burke told the French news crew.

Comment: It is interesting to see the conservatives methods to voice their concern such as using the media and leaking documents. This makes the Pope's visit to the US more interesting.

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