Puppet MastersS


Stormtrooper

Yes, Monsanto actually did buy the Blackwater mercenary group!

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A report by Jeremy Scahill in The Nation revealed that the largest mercenary army in the world, Blackwater (later called Xe Services and more recently "Academi") clandestine intelligence services was sold to the multinational Monsanto. Blackwater was renamed in 2009 after becoming famous in the world with numerous reports of abuses in Iraq, including massacres of civilians. It remains the largest private contractor of the U.S. Department of State "security services," that practices state terrorism by giving the government the opportunity to deny it.

Many military and former CIA officers work for Blackwater or related companies created to divert attention from their bad reputation and make more profit selling their nefarious services-ranging from information and intelligence to infiltration, political lobbying and paramilitary training - for other governments, banks and multinational corporations. According to Scahill, business with multinationals, like Monsanto, Chevron, and financial giants such as Barclays and Deutsche Bank, are channeled through two companies owned by Erik Prince, owner of Blackwater: Total Intelligence Solutions and Terrorism Research Center. These officers and directors share Blackwater.

Propaganda

New studies: 'Conspiracy theorists' sane; government dupes crazy, hostile

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Recent studies by psychologists and social scientists in the US and UK suggest that contrary to mainstream media stereotypes, those labeled "conspiracy theorists" appear to be saner than those who accept the official versions of contested events.

The most recent study was published on July 8th by psychologists Michael J. Wood and Karen M. Douglas of the University of Kent (UK). Entitled "What about Building 7? A social psychological study of online discussion of 9/11 conspiracy theories," the study compared "conspiracist" (pro-conspiracy theory) and "conventionalist" (anti-conspiracy) comments at news websites.

Eye 1

Who is the US arming in Syria? President Assad rubs his hands at news of rebel split

The President would be the FSA's best ally in war against Islamists, says Robert Fisk
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Syrian rebels gather outside a building which they blew up to target a regime sniper taking shelter inside but who managed to escape in the Salaheddine district of the northern city of Aleppo
Bashar is a happy man today. Long did America and the EU rub their hands with delight each time a minister or general left Assad to collaborate with the regime's enemies.

Every split within the Assad government was paraded as the "tipping point". And now, suddenly, what Assad's lads had been telling us for months - that it is their enemies who are divided - turns out to be true. The bodies of Kamal Hamami and his brother are the proof. The rebels are split. The Islamists and the Free Syrian Army are at war.

The Obamas and the Camerons are going to have to catch their breath. They, after all, want - or wanted - to send weapons to the FSA, the secular, "heroic" resistance fighting for "democracy" against the fascist regime of the dictator in Damascus. And our leaders can still make the argument that the FSA are the guys we should be arming, now that the al-Qa'ida outfits have started killing the FSA leadership. If the good guys in the FSA are now fighting the bad guys of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, we should help them.

But history suggests that the good guys might turn into the bad guys and that the bad guys might win. What if the Islamists wipe out the FSA? Then our weapons really will fall into the "wrong hands" rather faster than they would have done anyway - since guns are money in civil wars and al-Nusra and the rest have the cash to buy anything we give the FSA. Then there's the argument that does not occur to the Hagues and Kerrys of this world: that if the FSA really do want to polish off their former fundamentalist allies, then their obvious ally is the chap in the presidential palace in Damascus.

Light Sabers

Syrian civil war in disarray after Al Qaeda militants assassinate rebel leader, whose followers immediately vow revenge

Members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant killed Kamal Hamami of the FSA Supreme Military Council

Rebel commanders pledged to retaliate opening up the possibility of a conflict between Western-backed forces and Islamists

Rebel troops being supplied by tiny munitions shop that manufactures mortar shells by hand


The Free Syrian Army has vowed revenge after Al Qaeda linked militants assassinated a top rebel commander opening up the possibility of a conflict between Western-backed rebel forces and Islamists in Syria's civil war.
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Free Syrian Army fighters ready their weapons as they prepare themselves for an offensive in Deir al-Zor
The announcement is the latest sign of disarray in the armed opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has regained the upper hand more than two years into an insurgency that grew out of Arab Spring-inspired pro-democracy protests.

Members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a hardline Islamist group, killed Kamal Hamami of the FSA Supreme Military Council on Thursday. Also known by his nom de guerre, Abu Bassir al-Ladkani, he is one of its top 30 figures.Rebel commanders pledged to retaliate.

It follows growing rivalries between the FSA and the Islamists, who have sometimes joined forces on the battlefield, and coincides with attempts by the Western and Arab-backed FSA to allay fears any U.S.-supplied arms might reach al Qaeda.

'We are going to wipe the floor with them. We will not let them get away with it because they want to target us,' a senior rebel commander said on condition of anonymity.

He said the al Qaeda-linked militants had warned FSA rebels that there was 'no place' for them where Hamami was killed in Latakia province, a northern rural region of Syria bordering Turkey where Islamist groups are powerful.

Other opposition sources said the killing followed a dispute between Hamami's forces and the Islamic State over control of a strategic checkpoint in Latakia and would lead to fighting.

Light Sabers

Edward Snowden spoke, so why did the British press turn a deaf ear?

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© APEdward Snowden: largely ignored by the UK press.
Why did the majority of the British press ignore a story regarded as hugely important by newspapers in the United States and Europe and, for the matter, the rest of the world?

On Monday, Edward Snowden - the National Security Agency whistleblower regarded as the most wanted man in the world - did an online question-and-answer session arranged through The Guardian.

The American media were across it: the Washington Post of course (see commentary here), and the New York Times here, and the Los Angeles Times here plus the Wall Street Journal here. And most of the main metro papers across the US weighed in too.

Well, you might say, it's a big story in the USA, what with Snowden being an American who leaked American secrets.

But it was taken to be a big story across Europe too, in Le Monde and in Germany's Die Zeit and in Sweden's Expressen. And outside Europe too - here in the Times of India, and here in South Africa's Star. And plenty more.

This was only the mainstream media. The Q&A was widely discussed and dissected across the net. See Salon.com and Buzzfeed and Gigaom, plus scores more. Many thousands of tweets were devoted to it too.

Red Flag

Meet the "Journalists Against Journalism" club!

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© AP/NBC/AP/Nam Y. Huh/AP/Chris PizzelloDavid Gregory, David Brooks, Andrew Sorkin
The clique of media figures outraged when news outlets challenge power has a new member: Washington Post higher-ups

From David Gregory to Andrew Ross Sorkin to David Brooks, the ranks of Washington's hottest new club continues to swell. Call it Journalists Against Journalism - a group of reporters and pundits who are outraged that whistle-blowers and news organizations are colluding to expose illegal government surveillance. To this club, the best journalism is not the kind that challenges power or even merely sheds light on the inner workings of government; it is about protecting power and keeping the lights off.

Before today, this club could be seen as a collection of individuals. But not anymore, thanks to the hard-to-believe house editorial of the Washington Post titled "Plugging the Leaks in the Edward Snowden Case." Inveighing against the disclosures of NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the paper wrote that "the first U.S. priority should be to prevent Mr. Snowden from leaking information" and then fretted that Snowden "is reported to have stolen many more documents, encrypted copies of which may have been given to allies such as the WikiLeaks organization."

What's so utterly revealing about this editorial is not merely that it reads like hard-boiled talking points given to politicians by their surveillance-industry campaign donors. No, what sets this Washington Post editorial apart - what vaults it into the annals of history - is how it is essentially railing on the Washington Post's own source and own journalism.

Yes, that's right, the Post was one of two news organizations that Snowden originally contacted and that subsequently began breaking the NSA stories. That means the Washington Post editorial represents the paper's higher-ups issuing a jeremiad against their own news-generating source and, by extension, the reporters who helped bring his leak into the public sphere.

Newspaper

Edward Snowden's leaks cause editorial split at the Washington Post

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© AFP Photo
US paper accused of facing both ways over NSA whistleblower

Edward Snowden's whistle-blowing activities have not only split America's journalistic community, it appears to have split the Washington Post's staff too.

In a surprising editorial, "Plugging the leaks in the Edward Snowden case", the paper argued that the first priority should be to prevent Snowden "from leaking information that harms efforts to fight terrorism and conduct legitimate intelligence operations."

It pointed out that Snowden "is reported to have stolen many more documents, encrypted copies of which may have been given to allies such as the WikiLeaks organisation." And then it said:

"Stopping potentially damaging revelations or the dissemination of intelligence to adversaries should take precedence over US prosecution of Mr Snowden - which could enhance his status as a political martyr in the eyes of many both in and outside the United States."

And all this in the paper responsible for publishing Snowden's leaks. No wonder the facing-both-ways leading article moved syndicated newspaper columnist David Sirota to comment on Salon.com:

Star of David

Israeli security strip searches Arab journalist at U.S. July Fourth party

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© AFP Photo
Security guards for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stripped searched an Arab journalist working for the U.S.-funded Alhurra network at the the U.S. ambassador's Fourth of July celebration in Tel Aviv, the network said on Thursday.

The Arab satellite channel told The Associated Press that it had coordinated with Netanyahu's office, but security detained cameraman Samer Jallad when he arrived.

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who arrived late (was he stuck in traffic too?) waxed poetic about the meaning of freedom, liberty and justice for all," Haaretz reported. "This, as his security men outside, who clearly did not get the memo about the theme of the evening, reportedly detained and strip searched an Alhurra network cameraman who had arrived to cover the event."

Airplane

European states were told Snowden was on Morales plane, says Spain

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© Zuma/Rex FeaturesPresident Evo Morales announced at the Union of South American Nations summit that Bolivia may close the US embassy in his country.
Spanish foreign minister declines to say where information came from that NSA whistleblower was on Bolivian leader's flight

Spain says it and other European countries were told that the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was on board the Bolivian presidential plane that was diverted to Austria this week, causing a diplomatic row.

The foreign minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, said on Spanish National Television on Friday that "they told us that the information was clear, that he was inside".

The minister did not say who supplied the information and declined to say whether he had been in contact with the United States. But he said European countries' reactions were based on this information.

The Bolivian president, Evo Morales, claims the US pressured European countries to deny the plane flyover permission on Tuesday on suspicion that Snowden was using the flight as part of his bid to seek asylum.

Morales has warned he might close the US embassy in his country over the forced landing, which he called a violation of international law. He had been returning from a summit in Russia during which he had suggested he would be willing to consider a request from Snowden for asylum.

Vader

Bolivian President: U.S. 'imperialism' caused flight from Russia to be diverted


Bolivian President Evo Morales blames the United States for his plane from Moscow being diverted to Vienna, Austria, Wednesday for a 14-hour layover after suspicions arose he was harboring National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.

Returning home to a hero's welcome, Morales called it an "open provocation" to the South American continent after France, Spain and Portugal refused to let his plane pass through their airspace.

The United States and European allies "use the agent of North American imperialism to scare us and intimidate us," Morales said.

Morales added: "I regret this, but I want to say that some European countries should free themselves from North American imperialism."

The United States declined to comment on whether it was involved in any decision to close European airspace for Morales' plane.