Puppet MastersS


Light Saber

Rep. James Comer says Hunter Biden indictment was 'to protect him'

Jon Levine
New York Post
Sat, 09 Dec 2023 20:11 UTC
james comer hunter biden subpoena tax records oversight committee
© Mandel NGAN/AFP, Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesRep. James Comer, R-Ky, and Hunter Biden
A top House Republican accused special counsel David Weiss of indicting Hunter Biden to protect him from the chamber's sprawling investigation into the first family.

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the House Oversight Committee chairman who is leading the congressional probe into Hunter Biden and President Biden, said Weiss was only bringing the minimum possible charges to spare father and son from potentially more damaging revelations from his committee.

Hunter Biden had been in talks to testify before the Oversight Committee next week.

"We think that this is just the tip of the iceberg. We think there are many more crimes," Comer said on CNN Friday. "And my concern is that Weiss may have indicted Hunter Biden to protect him from having to be deposed in the House Oversight Committee."

Comment: Comer is as relentless as a bulldog. Good.

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Dollars

Indictment shows Ukrainian firm Burisma halved Hunter Biden's 1M/yr salary when Donald Trump took office

James Lynch
The Daily Caller
Fri, 08 Dec 2023 19:43 UTC
hunter joe biden burisma schiff trump zelensky
© 21st Century Wire
Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings appeared to reduce Hunter Biden's salary after his father's vice presidency concluded and former President Donald Trump took office, according to a new indictment.

Burisma hired Hunter Biden to sit on the company's board in spring 2014 and began paying him more than $80,000 per month while then-Vice President Biden ran the Obama administration's Ukraine policy, bank records show. His salary dropped significantly beginning in March 2017, according to a new indictment leveled against Hunter Biden by a grand jury in California Thursday for numerous tax related charges.

"In or around April 2014, the Defendant joined the board of directors of Burisma Holdings Limited," the indictment reads. Hunter Biden lacked experience in the energy industry and Ukraine affairs prior to his position with Burisma.

Comment:

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Russian Flag

Russia's last laugh: How the G7's embargo backfired, and Russia's oil revenues almost doubled


RT
Sun, 10 Dec 2023 16:25 UTC
russia oil tankers black sea port
© Getty Images / R2-D2Russia's Baltic Sea oil loading terminal at Primorsk
Western attempt to curb Moscow's revenues from crude exports have had the opposite effect

The G7 decision to impose a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian oil aimed to curb Moscow's revenue from natural resource exports. However, a closer look reveals unintended consequences that not only fail to hurt Russia but also provide new opportunities for global players. The Western assumption of its near-monopoly on maritime insurance being a means to enforce the price cap has proven flawed. Instead of crippling Russia's financial standing, Moscow's net oil revenues almost doubled.

Despite the G7's efforts, Russia's oil exports continue to thrive. Seaborne exports rose by 10% last month, reaching 3.37 million barrels a day, well above the pre-2022 average of 3.1 million. This, coupled with higher prices, challenges the effectiveness of the imposed cap. Moscow experienced a nearly twofold increase in revenue from crude sales between April and October. In October, Russia's net oil revenues reached $11.3 billion, constituting 31% of the country's total net budget revenue for the month, according to information from the Russian Finance Ministry.

Comment:

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Black Magic

The clueless American elite's view of the NATO-Russian Ukrainian war

Gordan Hahn
Russian & Eurasian Politics
Fri, 08 Dec 2023 20:28 UTC
trump pence obama biden
The American elite, in particular its foreign and national security policy elite are clueless as to what time it is, where it is and to where it is going. This is exceedingly true when it comes to the NATO-Russian Ukrainian war or the war for and against NATO expansion. Recall that just months ago US President Joe Biden said: "Putin has already lost this war." Soon former US ambassador to Moscow and National Security Council advisor for Russia and Eurasia chimed in: "Ukraine is winning!" Now everyone acknowledges Ukraine has lost the war. Odd that, as elections approach. The Washington DC apparatchiki and nomenklatura live in an isolated bubble of misinformation constructed by their own disinformation. They believe their own lies, producing their world populated by simulacra, denial of responsibility and a special lack of self-awareness. Only when the lies are exposed and maintaining the fiction becomes a hopeless, self-destructive pursuit or the domestic political struggle dictates another line does something akin to reality is able to stick out its ugly head.

The closest thing to but still far from any realism or honest assessment of the war in the first year of the war for NATO expansion came from former CIA chief Robert Gates and Former National Security advisor Condoleezza Rice. Contrary to the universal propaganda machine meme that Ukraine has all but won the war and Putin can soon be toppled from power, their recent article rose above that low bar analysis to acknowledge that Kiev's army is on the ropes. The authors also spared us the inspirational though not inspired nonsense regarding 'Ukraine's democracy' standing at the gates of civilization holding off the Muscovite-troglodyte hordes. The sad news is that their realism was driven by the needs of domestic politics: Both are Republicans and so have an interest in countering the Democrat Party-state line.
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Chess

Moldova: EU-aspirant's president to punish opposition-controlled cities


RT
Sat, 09 Dec 2023 15:43 UTC
Maia Sandu
© Getty Images / Carl CourtFILE PHOTO. Maia Sandu.
Mayors who do not support so-called "European values" will be deprived of funding from the bloc, Moldova's Maia Sandu says

Moldovan municipalities controlled by "anti-European" forces will be deprived of funds provided by the EU, the country's President Maia Sandu has said.

The president issued the threat on Saturday while speaking at a forum in Chisinau that brought together some 500 mayors, although the gathering was boycotted by certain opposition parties.

"Regarding European money, I want to ask you: those mayors who are against the EU, do you think that the European Union should give you money if you do not support the EU? Where is the logic here?" Sandu asked.

Comment: The idea of European Values may sound beautiful, but what shall we think of the practice?

For more on Moldova, below are headlines from the last few years: The Wiki about Moldova writes about the relation with the EU:
"Moldova has set 2030 as the target date for EU Accession.[186]

Moldova signed the Association Agreement with the European Union in Brussels on 27 June 2014. The signing came after the accord was drafted in Vilnius in November 2013.[187][188]

Moldova signed the membership application to join the EU on 3 March 2022.[189] On 23 June 2022, Moldova was officially granted candidate status by EU leaders.[190] The United Nations Development Programme is also providing assistance to Moldova in implementing the necessary reforms for full accession by 2030.[191] The European Union's High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell has confirmed that the pathway to accession does not depend upon a resolution of the Transnistria conflict.[192]

On 27 June, Moldova signed a comprehensive free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association.[193] On 28 June 2023, the European Union announced a €1.6 billion support and investment programme for Moldova, as well as confirming reductions in the price of mobile data and voice roaming charges in Moldova by European and Moldovan telecoms operators, as well as Moldova joining the EU's joint gas purchase platform.[194]

Security

The European Union created a Partnership Mission in Moldova through its Common Security and Defence Policy on 24 April 2023. The mission seeks to support the government of Moldova in countering hybrid threats the country faces as a result of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[195]

A memorandum dated 29 March 2023 stated that the mission aims at "enhancing the resilience of Moldova's security sector in the area of crisis management as well as enhancing resilience to hybrid threats, including cybersecurity, and countering foreign information manipulation and interference".[196] The initial mandate of the mission is expected to be for two years and it will be made up of up to 40 police and customs officers and judicial officials.[197][198][199] Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Poland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Romania, and Denmark have all voiced support for the mission.[198]

On 2 February 2023 Moldova passed a law introducing criminal penalties for separatism, including prison terms. The law continues with penalties for financing and inciting separatism, plotting against Moldova, and collecting and stealing information that could harm the country's sovereignty, independence and integrity.[200]"
Is it an exaggeration to label the EU efforts in Moldova a result of western expansionism? Checking up on what the Wiki editors have to say about European Values, one finds in the Overview:
"Especially in France, "the European idea" (l'idée d'Europe) is associated with political values derived from the Age of Enlightenment and the Republicanism growing out of the French Revolution and the Revolutions of 1848 rather than with personal or individual identity formed by culture or ethnicity (let alone a "pan-European" construct including those areas of the continent never affected by 18th-century rationalism or Republicanism).[2]

The phrase "European values" arises as a political neologism in the 1980s in the context of the project of European integration and the future formation of the European Union. The phrase was popularised by the European Values Study, a long-term research program started in 1981, aiming to document the outlook on "basic human values" in European populations. The project had grown out of a study group on "values and social change in Europe" initiated by Jan Kerkhofs, and Ruud de Moor (Catholic University in Tilburg).[3] The claim that the people of Europe have a distinctive set of political, economic and social norms and values that are gradually replacing national values has also been named "Europeanism" by McCormick (2010).[4]

"European values" were contrasted to non-European values in international relations, especially in the East-West dichotomy, "European values" encompassing individualism and the idea of human rights in contrast to Eastern tendencies of collectivism. However, "European values" were also viewed critically, their "darker" side not necessarily leading to more peaceful outcomes in international relations.[5]

The association of "European values" with European integration as pursued by the European Union came to the fore with the eastern enlargement of the EU in the aftermath of the Cold War. [6]

The Treaty of Lisbon (2007) in article 1A lists a number of "values of the Union", including "respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights including the rights of persons belonging to minorities", invoking "a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail".[7]

The 2012 Eurobarometer survey reported that 49% of those surveyed described the EU member states as "close" in terms of "shared values" (down from 54% in 2008), 42% described them as "different" (up from 34% in 2008).[8]"
Is the joining the EU, or being forced to join really a wise "choice" for Moldova? Is the case of Ukraine, strongly supported by the EU, and its current European Values such an enticing prospect?

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Eye 1

Neil Oliver: The more you speak, the easier it becomes to say more. Don't doubt that you are right


GB News
Sat, 09 Dec 2023 14:20 UTC
Neil Oliver
Neil Oliver
Neil Oliver: Even in the darkest of times, we should know we are on a wondrous journey, and the truth is that more and more fellow travellers are joining every day. The more you speak, the easier it becomes to say more. I say know you are right. Don't doubt that you are right.'

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Putin

Putin and the opposition: Everything about the 2024 election in Russia


RT
Fri, 08 Dec 2023 20:54 UTC
President Vladimir Putin
© Sputnik / Valeriy SharifulinPresident Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting with distinguished servicemen in Moscow Russia, on December 8, 2023.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Friday that he plans to seek another term in office in the upcoming March 2024 presidential election.

Putin announced the bid during a meeting with servicemen, at which he awarded Hero of Russia medals to those who had distinguished themselves during the military operation in Ukraine. Putin said he has had "different thoughts at different times" on the matter, yet ultimately decided to run for office once again. "I am going to run for president of the Russian Federation," he stated.

When is the election set to be held?

The 2024 presidential election will be held over a three-day period from March 15-17, Russia's Central Election Commission (CEC) announced. This will be the first time a presidential election is held over multiple days. However, the multi-day format has been used in other elections in Russia after it was first introduced during the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.

The extended format has proven to be popular among voters, allowing better turnout and putting less strain on local election committees, CEC head Ella Pamfilova explained, adding that keeping the polls open for several days has become a "tradition" in the country.

Comment: Additional reporting by RT:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that he will seek reelection. Should he win, it will be his fifth term as head of state.

[...]

The footage from the ceremony shows Zhoga shaking hands with Putin and telling him that the entire Donbass would like him to participate in the election. "Thanks to your actions... we became free, we got the opportunity to choose... You are our president... We are your team, we need you, Russia needs you," he said.

[...]

Zhoga is the commander of the republic's famous Sparta Battalion, which has been defending the DPR against Kiev's forces since 2014. He took over the military post from his son Vladimir, who died at the age of 28 in 2022 while providing cover for the evacuation of civilians near the town of Volnovakha. For his heroic deeds, he was posthumously awarded the title "Hero of Russia."

According to a Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) poll released on Thursday, about 70% of Russian citizens believe that Putin should run for another term in office, with another 15% saying that the incumbent should leave his current post but take a senior government position. Only 8% believe that the Russian leader should leave the political stage altogether.

[...]


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Attention

Moscow on the Rocks

Pepe Escobar
Strategic Culture Foundation
Sat, 09 Dec 2023 22:47 UTC
Russia Calling
© Public Domain
And then, casually, almost as an afterthought while meeting Donbass heroes, Putin announces he will run for President again in next March's elections. Considering his massive popularity - at least 80% nationally - he's bound to remain in power until 2030.

Welcome to VVP-2024. Plenty of time for serial meetings with his dear friend Xi Jinping. The Russia-China strategic partnership - in charge of paving the road to multipolarity - is scheduled to be rocking more progressively than Emerson, Lake and Palmer in Tarkus ("Have you walked in the stones of years?")

These have been heady days in dazzling, snowy Moscow. To start with, let's go on a roll call of all those indicators which are being reluctantly admitted even by rabid NATOstan media.

A manufacturing boom is in effect in a semi war economy. Investments are up, up and away - including by dodgy Russian oligarchs who can't park their funds in the West anymore.

Tourism is up and up - including legions of Chinese tour groups and everyone and his neighbor from West, Central and South Asia. There's an oil and gas export boom - as EU clients continue to buy gas via Turkey or to the delight of New Delhi, Repackaged in India oil.

The yuan replaces the U.S. dollar and the euro.

Import substitution rules - while in parallel Made in Turkey or Made in China products replace Europeans.

Last January, the IMF was betting that the Russian economy would shrink by 2.3%. Now this outpost of the Treasury Department admits Russian GDP will grow by 2.2%. Actually it's 3%, according to Putin himself, based on figures provided by the "Disrupter" (as described by a Western rag), Madame Elvira Nabiullina.
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Briefcase

Hunter Biden indicted on tax charges

Rebecca Beitsch, Emily Brooks
The Hill
Thu, 07 Dec 2023 08:39 UTC
HBID
© aussiedlerbote.deThe Indicted
Hunter Biden has been charged with tax crimes in California, his second indictment from special counsel David Weiss as he faces mounting scrutiny over his financial dealings.

Biden will face three felony tax charges in relation to tax evasion and filing a false return, as well as six misdemeanor charges for failure to pay taxes between 2016 and 2019.

Prosecutors wrote in a Thursday night press release:
"Hunter Biden engaged in a four-year scheme in which he chose not to pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019 and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns."
Weiss's office also alleges that Biden withdrew millions from his company, subverting the payroll and tax withholding process, and also "spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills."

Court documents also accuse Biden of failing to pay back taxes for 2015 beginning in 2018, and for not paying his 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 taxes on time, "despite having access to funds to pay some or all of these taxes."

Court filings say he made $7 million between 2016 and 2020.
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Oil Well

COP28 President's "no science" remark blows holes in carefully curated 'Net Zero' narrative

Chris Morrison
The Daily Sceptic
Thu, 07 Dec 2023 07:00 UTC
Sultan
© UnknownSultan Ahmed Al-Jaber
COP28 President and Chief Executive of the UAE state oil company Adnoc, Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber let the cat out of the bag this week when he said there was "no science" that says phasing out fossil fuels will achieve a cap on global warming of 1.5°C. In an interview with the impressively self-important Irish politician Mary Robinson, he demanded to be shown a roadmap for sustainable socioeconomic development "unless you want to take the world back to caves". You would have had a heart of stone not to enjoy the antics of the BBC green activist-in-chief Justin Rowlatt as he tried to finesse Al-Jaber's remarks. What a creative chap to write a BBC story about it headed, 'Is the world about to promise to ditch fossil fuels?'

Rowlatt claims that the UAE has recognised the world has to kick its addiction to unabated fossil fuels and has decided to put itself decisively on the right side of history by trying to own the decision. "But yes, at the same time it is planning to increase capacity and sell even more oil," he helpfully added.

Other more realistic interpretations are available. The world will need as much, if not more, fossil fuel in 2050 as it consumes today, and its biggest customers will be those who are too virtuous to drill and frack the hydrocarbons for themselves. As is usually the case, the meek are unlikely to inherit the Earth.

Comment: 600 million years without a CO2 problem suggests 'Net Zero' is the result of collective brain disfunction and selective greed.

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