Puppet MastersS


Yoda

Putin approval rating at 88%, highest point in 15 years of his presidency


TASS
Fri, 13 Mar 2015 20:50 UTC
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© Alexei Nikolsky/Russian presidential press service/TASS
Russian electors have placed President Vladimir Putin "on the peak of national confidence", winning 88% performance approval and the highest vote of confidence in his presidency recorded over 15 years, pollsters say.

This was announced at TASS headquarters on Friday as Russian Public Opinion Research Center head Valery Fedorov unveiled latest results from annual assessments carried out since Putin was first elected head of state.

Pollsters gathered views among 1,600 survey respondents in 130 Russian localities. Returns registered a continuing rise in support for the president since the last poll in 2014.
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Chess

North Korean Foreign Minister makes surprise visit to Moscow


Sputnik
Fri, 13 Mar 2015 20:48 UTC
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© REUTERS/ Vasily Fedosenko
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong, who has arrived in Moscow on an unscheduled visit, met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

The two top diplomats "exchanged opinions about bilateral relations, situation on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, as well as on several international issues of bilateral concern," the ministry said in a statement.

The North Korean minister was last in Russia in the fall of 2014, staying in the country for 10 days.

The two countries have had diplomatic relations since the 1940s, then through the Soviet Union, and share a border.

Earlier in the week, North Korea's state news agency reported that 2015 would be a "year of friendship with Russia," marking the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is set to visit Russia in May to attend WWII Victory Day celebrations.
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Che Guevara

Latin America uniting in solidarity against U.S. assault against Venezuela


Sputnik
Fri, 13 Mar 2015 20:30 UTC
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© AP Photo/ Ariana Cubillos
Clearly infuriated by the Obama administration's decision to declare Venezuela an "extraordinary threat to national security," President Nicolás Maduro demanded that Washington "show evidence" of how Venezuela threatens the US.

"We demand, via all global diplomatic channels, that President Obama rectify and repeal the immoral decree declaring Venezuela a threat to the United States," Maduro said during a speech at an "anti-imperialist march" in the capital city of Caracas, where he nearly shouted out of anger.

Latin American leaders are largely lining up to support Maduro, saying the US overstepped its bounds and meddled in regional affairs it has no business being involved in.

"This is an unacceptable attack on Venezuela's sovereignty," said Ecuadorian officials, while Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner said it was ridiculous to think that Venezuela could pose a threat to such a superpower. "It's absolutely incredible to think that Venezuela is the problem. It's absurd and unjustified," she said.

Cuba called Washington's action as "arbitrary and aggressive," while the Bolivian government said Obama's executive order was "interventionist" and reminded them of a dictatorship.
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Vader

Global bully U.S. pushing Vietnam to end military cooperation with Russia


Sputnik
Fri, 13 Mar 2015 20:26 UTC
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© AP Photo/ 331/332-Squadron of the Norwegian Air Force
While expanding NATO bases closer to Russian borders, the US government is trying to bully Vietnam into stopping its military cooperation with Russia in the Pacific.

Sputnik's sources in the US Department of State confirm that America is pushing Vietnam to stop letting Russia use Cam Ranh Bay military base. Russian air force recently used the facility to refuel nuclear-capable bombers. US officials say Russian bomber planes have increased the number of flights in the region and even conducted what the Pentagon calls "provocative flights" around Guam, a US territory in the Pacific that is home to a large military base.

US Army General Vincent Brooks told Reuters that the Russian planes circling Guam are refueled by Russian tankers flying from Cam Ranh Bay, a deep-water harbor that was a US air and naval base during the Vietnam War. The flights, Brooks alleges, show that Russia was "acting as a spoiler to our interests and the interests of others."

Brooks contends that the flights have increased since Russia's conflict with Ukraine began, he says as a show of Russian strength and to gather intelligence.
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Red Flag

Journalist recounts how Israeli apologist The Guardian told him to steer clear of Palestine

David Cronin
Electronic Intifada
Wed, 11 Mar 2015 18:39 UTC
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© Chatham House/FlickrJonathan Freedland, The Guardian’s opinion editor, is an apologist for ethnic cleansing.
When I started out as a journalist in the 1980s, I asked an experienced Irish reporter for advice. "Read The Guardian," he told me.

The message that there was no better newspaper had a lasting effect. For years, I wanted to write for The Guardian. Eventually, this desire was realized after I emailed the late Georgina Henry, then editor of its Comment is Free section, in 2007. Henry was immediately receptive to my idea of tackling the European Union from a critical, left-wing perspective.

I very much enjoyed contributing to The Guardian. Having previously worked for quite a stuffy publication, it felt liberating to be able to express opinions.

There was one issue, however, on which I felt my freedom curtailed: Palestine. Although The Guardian did publish a few of my articles denouncing Israeli atrocities, I began to encounter obstacles in 2009.
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Propaganda

EU to ready plan of action to counter Russian media 'disinformation'


RT
Thu, 12 Mar 2015 19:27 UTC

European leaders are determined to tackle what they see as Russian "disinformation campaigns" and are giving the EU foreign policy chief three months to come up with ideas in how to do this, a leaked document reveals. Draft proposals for an EU summit to take place March 19-20 have been obtained by Reuters.

According to the proposals, the European Commission High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini, will be asked to deliver an "action plan" in support of "media freedom" in three months.

"The European Council stresses the need to challenge Russia's ongoing disinformation campaigns and invites the High Representative... to prepare by the June European Council an action plan on strategic communication in support of media freedom and EU values," the draft says. "It welcomes the establishment of a communication team as a first step in this regard," it goes on to say.

The Reuters article on the issue specifically mentions RT, as an example of a Russian government-funded news outlet "steadily expanding their operations." The news outlet also cited an unnamed EU diplomat, who said there was "growing concern with the Russian propaganda and it is coming to a head now."

The West's claims of free speech and expression run counter to their actions, Alexander Mercouris, a London-based international affairs analyst, told RT.


Comment: The West is guilty of wishful thinking in trying to calibrate and manipulate the news. The truth has no "counter-policy."

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Bad Guys

'Undemocratic, interventionist': Bolivia lashes out at Obama for Venezuela sanctions


RT
Fri, 13 Mar 2015 10:01 UTC
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and Bolivia's President Evo Morales
© ReutersVenezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and Bolivia's President Evo Morales
Bolivia's Foreign Ministry has joined a chorus of condemnation over US sanctions on Venezuela. A statement called on the US to "abandon its interventionist practices," shortly after the rest of Latin America bonded in defense of Caracas.

Setting off the Latin outcry was US President Barack Obama's decision to label Venezuela a 'national security threat' in early March, something President Nicolas Maduro countered by saying that Obama had taken it upon himself to "defeat" and "control" the country.

La Paz is striking back at Washington in defense of Caracas, after Bolivian President Evo Morales earlier this week signaled his support for Maduro. In a Thursday document the Foreign Ministry expressed its "regret" at Obama's stance, saying "Bolivia rejects these interventionist actions of the US government to violate the sovereignty and self-determination of the Venezuelan people. These undemocratic actions of President Barack Obama threaten the peace and security of all countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

"Bolivia reiterates its full support for the legitimate government of brother Nicolas Maduro, a president democratically elected by his people, and pledge our solidarity to the Venezuelan people in this unfair and difficult time in which democracy is again trying to be sacrificed to serve foreign interests," the document also read.

Comment: There is growing support for President Nicolas Maduro, as others see the US labeling of Venezuela as a 'national security threat' as utterly hypocritical and absurd.

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Calendar

Best of the Web: The last month in Russia: Nemtsov cover story? EU/U.S. split? Crimea and more

Patrick Armstrong
Russia: Other Points of View
Thu, 12 Mar 2015 16:30 UTC
breedlove poroshenko
A Split at Last?

Many of us have been wondering how much longer Europe will harm and abase itself in Washington's service. Has the crack finally opened? You must read this: Der Spiegel, quoting the German Chancellery, is saying that NATO and Washington are lying. "German leaders in Berlin were stunned. They didn't understand what Breedlove was talking about. And it wasn't the first time." "The German government is alarmed. Are the Americans trying to thwart European efforts at mediation led by Chancellor Angela Merkel? Sources in the Chancellery have referred to Breedlove's comments as 'dangerous propaganda'." "No wonder, then, that people in Berlin have the impression that important power brokers in Washington are working against the Europeans". The EU foreign policy chief says the EU will not allow itself to be dragged into confrontation with Moscow. Rather late but welcome nevertheless. Perhaps this explains why Washington took its first step to de-escalate by postponing sending troops to Ukraine. In Washington's war against Russia, it's Europe that is paying and, should fighting spread out of Ukraine, it is where it will be fought.


Comment: See: Germany slams NATO's Breedlove for his dangerous lies - Breedlove still convinced he's right about everything


More De-escalation?

Zbigniew Brzezinski ("without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire") now says Washington should assure Moscow that Ukraine will never be in NATO. Of course NATO and the EU are already pretty tightly joined (more tightly than people realise) but that's something.
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Eye 2

Best of the Web: Fanning the flames: Israel and Western powers continue supplying IS with weapons


FARS News Agency
Mon, 09 Mar 2015 16:21 UTC
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A senior Iraqi legislator lashed out at the western countries and their regional allies for supporting Takfiri terrorists in Iraq, and said he is in possession of irrefutable intelligence documents showing that ISIL is receiving arms aids from Israel as well as a number western and Arab countries.

"We have intelligence which shows Israel and some major western and regional states have supplied weapons to ISIL," Al-Qad news website quoted member of the Iraqi parliament's Security and Defense Committee Abbas al-Khazali as saying on Monday.

Meantime, the Iraqi legislator stressed that his country needs more weapons to fight the ISIL, and said Baghdad is willing to purchase weapons from East European countries, Russia and China.

Comment: It is really getting obvious what the 'coalition' is up to and are not even bothering to hide it. Fanning the fuel for war to unknown ends.

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Newspaper

Moscow launches criminal case against Fox News analyst who called for killing Russians


Sputnik
Fri, 13 Mar 2015 00:23 UTC
Lou Dobbs, Robert Scales
© Fox Business Channel
Russia's Investigative Committee has launched a criminal case against Robert Scales, a retired US major general and a Fox News military analyst, who said in a live broadcast that the only way for the US to turn the tide in Ukraine is to start killing Russians.

The criminal case is launched under an article on "Public calls for unleashing an aggressive war through the mass media", according to a statement on the official website of the committee.

The investigators believe that such statements "break not only the norms of the Russian legislation but Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966, which prohibits any war propaganda and any instigation of discrimination, enmity or violence."

Maj. Gen. Robert Scales had been invited to the Lou Dobbs Tonight program on Tuesday to comment mostly on the fight between Iraqi forces and the Islamic State near the city of Tikrit.

Comment: Will this have any effect on the relentless war propaganda against Russia? Time will tell.
Push for war continues: Fox News military analyst suggests "killing Russians" to turn the tide in Ukraine

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