Puppet MastersS


Boat

Best of the Web: The U.S. Navy is Unprepared for a Prolonged war With Yemen

us ship aegis
Aegis Missile Defense System
It looks like the United States, along with 9 allies — Great Britain, Italy, Bahrain, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain — are on the verge of entangling itself in a new Middle East quagmire as an international armada assembles in the international waters around Yemen. The mission? Stop Yemen from threatening cargo and oil tankers headed to Israel.

Tiny Yemen has surprised the West with its tenacity and ferocity in attacking ships trying to ferry containers and fuel to Israel. Yes, this is a violation of international law and the West is fully justified in trying to thwart Yemen. On paper it would appear that Yemen is outnumbered and seriously outgunned. A sure loser? Not so fast. The U.S. Navy, which constitutes the majority of the fleet sailing against Yemen, has some real vulnerabilities that will limit its actions.

Before explaining the risks, you must understand that the U.S. Navy is configured currently as a "Forward-Based Navy" and is not an "Expeditionary Navy." Anthony Cowden, writing for the Center for International Maritime Security in September, examined this issue in his article, REBALANCE THE FLEET TOWARD BEING A TRULY EXPEDITIONARY NAVY.

Comment: If Russia could sneak her Neptune-equivalent anti-ship missile into Yemen, she'd get even for the Moskva. All kinds of possibilities open up by the US regime sending its imperial fleet amidst people who daily chant "Death to America!"


Star of David

They can wait at leisure, whilst Netanyahu labours - and errs

Neti
© 124 NewsIsraeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu
Netanyahu is in the midst of 'a campaign'. It's not an election campaign, because he has no real chance of surviving an election.

In a small dimly lit room in Gaza, it was possible to discern first the museum-piece wheel chair, and then the crumpled, blanketed figure of the paraplegic figure who occupied it. Suddenly a high-pitched squeal seemed to emit from the wheelchair; it's occupant's hearing aid had gone wild, and was to continue to shriek at regular intervals during my visit. I wondered how much the chair-occupant could hear, with such a mal-adjusted ear-piece.

Settled into discussion, I realised that disabled or not, his mental state was sharper than a knife. He was as tough as nails; had a dry humour and his eyes perpetually sparkled. He was clearly enjoying himself - except when wrestling with the whistles and shrieks from his hearing aid. How was it that such charisma was packed within such a slight figure?

This man in the wheelchair and with the rickety earpiece - Sheikh Ahmad Yasin - was the founder of Hamas.

And what he said to me that morning has come to upend the Islamic world today.

What he said was: "Hamas is not an Islamic movement. It is a liberation movement, and anyone, be they Christian, or Buddhist - or even I - could join it. We all were welcome."

Why was this simple formula somehow so significant and connected to today's events?

Stop

Bucha and the scuttling of the Russo-Ukrainian Istanbul process

church
© UnknownUkrainian Church in Bucha Ukraine, site of mass graves
Few seem to recall that the infamous, supposed Russian massacre of Ukrainian civilians at Bucha in the the second month of President Vladimir Putin's 'special military operation (SVO) occurred on the background of the promising March 2022 Russo-Ukrainian peace talks held in Gomel, Belarus and then Istanbul Turkey. Until recently, even fewer would recall because of Western media coverup that the talks were purposefully scuttled by Washington, Brussels (NATO), and London. These two events - the subversion of the Russo-Ukrainian talks and the purported Bucha massacre - may be inextricably interconnected.

The details of the West's likely scuttling of the 2022 peace talks have been revealed by numerous persons over the last year: then Israel PМ Naftali Bennet, then former Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, and former chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schroeder. Bennet, for example, and then others stated over the last year that a truce had been all but secured, but the US stepped in to block it. Ukrainian and alternative Western reporting had long indicated this, including at the time of events.

In a new German report, the scale and seriousness of the efforts and the strong likelihood of a peace agreement being concluded has been reviewed; a likelihood of which, the same report demonstrates, was strangled by NATO, President Biden, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The report was written by a a formerly highest-ranking German and NATO general, a former UN assistant secretary-general official, and a German academic, who provide "a step-by-step reconstruction of the events that led to the peace negotiations in March and their collapse in early April 2022." The report concludes:
"In March 2022, direct peace negotiations between Ukrainian and Russian delegations and mediation efforts by Israel's Bennet created a genuine chance for ending the war peacefully only four to five weeks after Russia had invaded Ukraine. However, instead of ending the war through negotiations as Ukrainian President Zelensky and his government appeared to have wanted, he ultimately bowed to pressures from some Western powers to abandon a negotiated solution. Western powers wanted this war to continue in the hope to break Russia."

Comment: See also, by this author: Sad clown with the circus closed down: Zelenskiy's demise


Clipboard

Russian leadership assesses Ukraine conflict: Key takeaways

PutShoi
© Sputnik/Sergey GuneevRussian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and President Vladimir Putin
Defense Ministry Meeting • December 19, 2023
The country's goals remain unchanged, President Vladimir Putin says...

Russian President Vladimir Putin attended an expanded meeting of the Defense Ministry's Board on Tuesday, hosted by Minister Sergey Shoigu at the National Control Center in Moscow.

During the public part of the event, the president and top military officials discussed intermediate results of the ongoing military operation against Ukraine, Russia's goals, and the outstanding challenges the country is facing.

Estimates on Ukraine's losses

Ukraine has lost nearly 400,000 troops since the beginning of the hostilities, Shoigu claimed during the meeting. The minister noted that the Ukrainian military sustained a vast part of the losses during its botched counteroffensive, launched early in June.

Shoigu stated:
"Since the start of the special operation, the Ukrainian armed forces' casualties have exceeded 383,000 servicemen killed and wounded. The counteroffensive alone cost Kiev some 159,000 soldiers.

"Kiev has also sustained heavy losses in military hardware, including more than 14,000 tanks and other armored vehicles, 8,500 artillery weapons, 553 warplanes, and 259 helicopters."

Attention

Free world: how free are we really?

What if they have greater freedom of expression in Russia than we have in the "free world"?

Hooray, we are free people living in the free world! We know this because we are reminded of it daily with many soundbites and slogans: the freest nation on earth; liberté, egalité, fraternité, etc. And as we all appreciate, repetition makes truth - especially the kinds of truth we like to believe. Of course, some grunge might come by and say that, "None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."

But we should pay no attention to such hate speech - that's not about us. If he were alive today, Goethe would probably aim such quips at the Russians, the Chinese, or some other oppressed peoples. Indeed, it is our own, 21st Century's "white man's burden" to bring democracy and freedom to such peoples, whether they like it or not.

Free Speech
© Alex Krainer's TrendCompass

Control Panel

COP28 comes to an end. What does 2024 hold for Globalist gatherings?

COP28
The COP28 meeting ended with an agreement to begin the end of the fossil fuel era. What's next on the agenda for the Predator Class in 2024?

The United Nations COP28 meeting of world leaders concluded last week in Dubai with an agreement which is being heralded as the "beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era". The agreement was reached by nearly 200 nations who signaled support for ending dependence on fossil fuel products, as well as committing to a "just and equitable transition" which will see "deep emissions cuts". The agreement also calls on governments to accelerate this transition by tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030, speeding up efforts to end coal use, and accelerating technologies like carbon capture and storage.

The 2030 date is relevant because in 2015, the United Nations General Assembly agreed on the 2030 Agenda, or Agenda 2030, which also includes the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The UN SDGs are promoted as a "blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all", ostensibly aimed at fighting climate change.

The COP28 meeting, also known as the Conference of the Parties, was the 28th edition of the UN Climate Change conference, held in Expo City, Dubai, United Arab Emirates from November 30 to December 12th. The COP conference has been held annually since the first UN climate agreement in 1992 in Rio, Brazil.

Binoculars

Best of the Web: The 'Greater Israel' scheme and its global power play: A delusional recipe for Armageddon

Netanyahu
In 1996, a nest of American-born imperialists revolving around Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Richard Perle created a new think tank called "The Project for a New American Century."

While the principled aim of the think tank ultimately hinged on a new "Pearl Harbor moment" that would justify a new era of regime-change wars in the Middle East, a secondary but equally important part of the formula involved the dominance of "Greater Israel" Likud fanatics then taking power over the murdered body of Yitzhak Rabin.

It was toward the start of the new regime of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Richard Perle wrote the report "Clean Break: A Strategy for Securing the Realm," which outlined a series of goals that would govern the strategic vision of Washington and Tel Aviv for the next two decades. It called for:
  • Canceling the foundations for the Oslo Accords that threatened to bring about a climate of peace through economic cooperation in the Middle East under a two-state solution
  • Launching a new doctrine of "right of hot pursuit" justifying armed incursions into Palestinian territories
  • Inducing the United States to overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq
  • Armed incursions into Lebanon and possible strikes against Syria and Iran

Recycle

Russia, China completely abandon US dollar in bilateral trade, urge BRICS to do same - Russian PM

china russia putin xi jinping
FILE: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping
The Russian leader also stressed that the business ties between the two nations were also booming, with bilateral trade turnover already reaching $200 billion ahead of schedule.

Russia and China have completely abandoned the use of Western currencies, including US Dollar, in their bilateral trade, said Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Tuesday (Dec 19).

While speaking during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang in Beijing, Mishustin said nearly all payments were being carried out in Rubles and Yuan.

Comment: This has been in the works for a while, but it's unlikely to be a coincidence that this announcement occurs amidst the ominous escalation in the Middle East. However this is just the latest multipolar world maneuver intended to neutralise the US hegemon; which is currently in its death throes: US announces 10-nation force to counter Houthi attacks in Red Sea


Light Saber

Trump asks full Appeals Court to reconsider gag order in 2020 election case: 'Silences the leading candidate'

trump 2024
The New York Times/Sienna College poll echoes other findings pegging Donald Trump the far and away front-runner of the 2024 GOP primary.
Former President Donald Trump asked the full D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Monday to consider his appeal of the gag order issued against him in his 2020 election case.

Earlier this month, a three-judge panel of the court largely upheld the gag order issued by District Judge Tanya Chutkan, adding some limits, such as lifting part of the order that prevented him from criticizing special counsel Jack Smith. Now, Trump is asking for a rehearing before the panel or a review of the decision from the full D.C. Circuit, as well as requesting the court pause the order while it considers his request.

Trump's attorneys argue in his petition that the modified order still "suppresses large quantities of core political speech of direct relevance to the Presidential campaign."

"Among other things, it silences the leading candidate for President of the United States from making specific comments on the 'potential participation' of 'reasonably foreseeable witnesses' in this case — where the 'reasonably foreseeable witnesses' comprise major public figures who publicly attack President Trump amid his campaign, such as Vice President Pence, Attorney General Barr, and similar figures," his attorneys wrote.

Comment: Four different trials and four gag orders to fight? So much for the First Amendment:


TV

Best of the Web: Lavrov interviewed on Great Game program again

Lavrov
© unknownRussian FM Sergey Lavrov interview with Dimitri Simes, Channel One's Great Game
On this episode of Channel One's Great Game program, Lavrov is one-on-one with the senior Dimitri Simes as opposed to his previous encounter on 28 December 2022 when he faced a duo of questioners, the translation of that event is available at my VK here. The questions revolve around two intertwined topics: Ukraine and relations with the West. Now that Putin has expressed Russia's naivete regarding the West's attitude toward it, Lavrov is now free to add his view to that story, which is really the only really new revelation for those closely following Lavrov, although there're a few additional items revealed as you'll see: