Puppet MastersS


Footprints

Israel extends evacuation zone near Lebanon border amid escalating clashes with Hezbollah

Paul Godfrey
UPI
Fri, 20 Oct 2023 08:43 UTC
going gone
© Atef Safadi/EPA-EFEIsraelis leave the border town of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel
Israeli authorities said Friday they would begin evacuating 23,000 residents of a town near the border with Lebanon as cross-border clashes between Hezbollah militants and Israel Defense Forces intensified.

Activation of the National Emergency Authority plan to move people out of Kiryat Shmona to state-funded guest houses out of harm's way was announced early Friday after it was approved by Defense Minister Yoav Galant, IDF said in a post on X.

"The Northern Command informed the mayor of the decision a short time ago," the post said.

Kiryat Shmona was added to an evacuation list of 28 communities within 1.2 miles of the Lebanese border announced Monday, after Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles across the border throughout Thursday injuring three people in the town.

Comment: Netanyahu fires threats at Hezbollah promising 'unprecedented destruction':
Hezbollah "will be making the mistake of its life" if it enters the Israel-Hamas war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told troops stationed near the Lebanese border on Sunday. Netanyahu warned that Lebanon would be "devastated" in response.

"If Hezbollah decides to enter the war, it will long for the Second Lebanon War," Netanyahu said, referring to the 2006 conflict in which Israel invaded southern Lebanon and pounded Beirut with airstrikes in response to Hezbollah raids into Israel. Some 165 Israelis and more than 1,000 Lebanese were killed in the month-long conflict.

"We will strike it with unimaginable strength and the significance to it and to the country of Lebanon will be devastating."

Israeli and Hezbollah forces have engaged in tit-for-tat exchanges of rocket and artillery fire since the conflict with Hamas broke out two weeks ago. While the Lebanese paramilitary group has sent drones and a number of infiltrators across the border, no large-scale incursion has taken place, and Israel has thus far avoided opening a second front in the north.

The Lebanese militia has stepped up its attacks in recent days, however, firing dozens of rockets at Israeli military bases and killing an Israeli soldier in a missile attack on Friday. Israeli forces have responded with artillery bombardments and drone strikes.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant proclaimed on Saturday that Hezbollah "has decided to participate in the fighting" and would pay "a heavy price" for doing so.

Behind the scenes, however, the US is warning Israel against getting drawn into a war on two fronts, the New York Times reported on Friday. According to the paper's sources, American officials view Gallant as a Hezbollah hawk, whose actions risk dragging Israel into a war that it would struggle to win.

Furthermore, with the US backing Israel and Iran backing Hezbollah, such a war could easily spiral into a wider and more destructive conflict, the sources said.

Hezbollah is currently "in the heart of the battle" between Israel and Hamas, the group's deputy leader, Naim Qassem, said on Sunday. Qassem explained that Hezbollah's objective at the moment is to "weaken the Israeli enemy and let them know that we are ready" for a possible major escalation.


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Briefcase

US government and NewsGuard sued by Consortium News


Consortium News
Mon, 23 Oct 2023 00:00 UTC
courthouse
© TJ Bickerton/Wikimedia CommonsFederal Courthouse, Manhattan, NY
US government & NewsGuard Sued for 1st Amendment Violations, Defamation in NY Federal Court
Court Papers: Media 'Watchdog' Joined With US Intelligence to Suppress Foreign Policy Dissent

The United States government and internet "watchdog" NewsGuard Technologies, Inc. were sued today in federal court in Manhattan for First Amendment violations and defamation by news organization Consortium for Independent Journalism, a nonprofit that publishes Consortium News.

Consortium News' court filing charges the Pentagon's Cyber Command, an element of the Intelligence Community, with contracting with NewsGuard to identify, report and abridge the speech of American media organizations that dissent from U.S. official positions on foreign policy.

In the course of its contract with the Pentagon, NewsGuard is "acting jointly or in concert with the United States to coerce news organizations to alter viewpoints" as to Ukraine, Russia, and Syria, imposing a form of "censorship and repression of views" that differ or dissent from policies of the United States and its allies, the complaint says.

Watch the press conference announcing the lawsuit on Monday:


Read the entire complaint and the exhibits.
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No Entry

A financial crisis is here! U.S. banks are closing down hundreds of branches and laying off thousands of workers

Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse
Thu, 19 Oct 2023 00:00 UTC
bank
© Unknown/activerain/blogsview/KJN
I know that there is a lot going on in the world right now, but I just had to write about what is happening to our banks. High interest rates and chaos in the real estate industry are combining to put an enormous amount of pressure on our largest financial institutions. As a result, banks are getting very tight with their money, they are closing down hundreds of branches, and they are laying off thousands of workers. We are in the early stages of the worst financial crisis since 2008 and 2009, and I fully expect conditions to get even worse in the months ahead.

During the first week of October alone, U.S. banks closed a whopping 54 local branches...

Major US banks are continuing to close branches across the US, leaving an increasing number of Americans without access to basic financial services.

Bank of America axed 21 branches in the first week of October, according to a bulletin published by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on Friday.

Wells Fargo shuttered 15, while US Bank and Chase reported closing nine and three respectively.

In total, some 54 locations had either closed or were scheduled to close between October 1 and October 7. That is just one week! Of course bank branches have been closing at a frightening pace for quite some time now.

Comment: Snyder's drama aside, financial stability is losing tether foreboding a chain reaction of negative financial events.

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Eye 1

Neil Oliver: '...expendable!'

Neil Oliver
YouTube
Thu, 19 Oct 2023 18:03 UTC
Neil Oliver
Neil Oliver

'...are they now thinking the unthinkable!'

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Eye 2

Best of the Web: Hannibal Directive: Israel's forces responsible for Israeli civilian & military deaths following October 7 attack, testimony reveals

Anonymous Contributor
Mondoweiss
Mon, 23 Oct 2023 15:52 UTC
Israeli soldiers
© Abir Sultan/EFE via ZUMA Press/APA ImagesIsraeli soldiers drive along the border with Gaza near the southern city of Ofakim, October 11, 2023. A growing number of reports indicate Many details of what transpired on October 7 continue to be shrouded in mystery, including how the 1,400 Israelis who died were killed. A growing number of reports indicate the Israeli military was responsible for civilian and military deaths.
Editor's Note: The author of this article requested that their name not be published, fearing for their personal safety due to the intensification of fascist persecutions against critical voices in Israel.
Since October 7, the day's events have been shrouded in mystery. There are not only questions about the Israeli intelligence apparatus's colossal failure to anticipate what was happening in the tightly besieged Strip or the quick collapse of their billion-dollar "Maginot Line" but also the details of what actually transpired in the military bases and settlements around the Gaza Strip. We know that, by common estimates, 1,400 Israelis were killed in the following few days, but we do not yet know the details of how.

Some reports are beginning to appear, including documentation of the killing of Israelis by Palestinian fighters, but there are a growing number of reports that indicate the Israeli military was also responsible for Israeli civilian and military deaths on October 7 and the days after.

Hannibal Directive in action?

Comment: There was an incident earlier this year that may, or may not, be related: Retired Mossad agent and two spies drown in suspicious incident on Italian lake

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Newspaper

China Coast Guard accuses Philippines of invading disputed waters in South China Sea


Sputnik
Sun, 22 Oct 2023 09:07 UTC
Indian Navy
© Indian NavyA China Coast Guard ship participates in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Disaster Relief Exercise (DiREx) 2015 in Penang, Northern Malaysia
Four Philippine ships entered the waters of the disputed Nansha Islands, also known as Spratly Islands, in the South China Sea "without permission of Chinese authorities" on Sunday, which led to a collision with a Chinese vessel, the China Coast Guard (CCG) said.

"On October 22, the Philippines, ignoring repeated warnings by China, sent two transport ships and two coast guard ships for an unauthorized invasion into the waters near the Ren'ai Reef of the Chinese Nansha Islands," the CCG said in a statement on WeChat.

The Philippine ships "unsafely approached" a Chinese ship, which resulted in a light collision, according to the statement.

"Responsibility [for the incident] lies entirely with the Philippines," the CCG said.

Comment: Whilst the above may reveal just which foreign powers hold most sway in the Philippines, it seems unlikely that its compromised leadership will push their luck with China beyond being a minor annoyance:

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Bad Guys

NATO allies send planes & ships to Baltic Sea, follows suspected sabotage of undersea cables in Sweden, gas pipeline in Estonia

John Vandiver
Stars and Stripes
Fri, 20 Oct 2023 09:19 UTC
NATO aircraft
© Andrew D. Sarver/U.S. Air ForceFILE: A NATO AWACS aircraft flies over Europe, May 17, 2023. NATO has sent the AWACS and other aircraft, along with minehunter vessels, to the Baltic Sea in response to recently discovered damage to undersea infrastructure, the alliance said.
Drones, reconnaissance planes and ships have been dispatched to the Baltic Sea, a move that comes in response to recently discovered damage to critical undersea infrastructure, NATO said this week.

"NATO will continue to adapt its maritime posture in the Baltic Sea and will take all necessary steps to keep allies safe," NATO spokesman Dylan White said Thursday in a statement.

The vulnerability of undersea gas pipelines and communication cables to sabotage is a growing NATO concern. Alliance officials have warned that Russia could target such infrastructure to gain leverage against allied countries providing security assistance to Ukraine.

Comment: If they had any incriminating evidence on Russia, they would be eager to release it. However, as it is, as with the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline, it's likely that it's actors in the West are responsible.

It seems the above incidents are being used as a pretext to further surround and antagonise Russia. Although that's likely not the sole purpose for the sabotage.

It's notable that the sabotage of undersea cables goes back as far back as 2012. In 2021, surveillance cables, as well as those supporting polar orbiting satellites - that may have proved helpful in providing evidence for those involved in these kinds of activities - were damaged; in one incident they simply 'disappeared': Also check out SOTT's Focus from 2012: Undersea Internet Cables Cut AGAIN!

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Bad Guys

US forbade Ukraine to make peace with Russia in March 2022, reveals Former German Chancellor Shroeder


Sputnik
Mon, 23 Oct 2023 09:18 UTC
hummer army us ukraine
© Pavel BednyakovUkraine's US-provided Hummer armored vehicle on display at Army-2023. File photo - Sputnik International,
Ukraine was ready to make peace with Russia and give up its plans to join NATO during negotiations in March 2022, but eventually abandoned the idea due to pressure from the United States, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told the German newspaper.

"The only people who could settle the war against Ukraine are the Americans. During the peace negotiations in March 2022 in Istanbul with [then-Ukrainian chief negotiator] Rustem Umerov, the Ukrainians did not agree on peace because they were not allowed to. They first had to ask the Americans about everything they discussed," Schroeder said in an interview with the newspaper on Saturday.

The former German chancellor said that Kiev had contacted him in 2022 to learn whether he could mediate talks with Russia, after which he had meetings with Umerov and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Comment: In 2022 Merkel admitted that the 2014 Minsk agreement was merely a cover to allow time for the Kiev junta to militarise, for the conflict that the West intended to incite; and so for at least a decade Ukraine has been little more than a pawn for the US.

By their fruits:

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Attention

Context is Everything

James Corbett
Corbett Report
Mon, 23 Oct 2023 01:17 UTC
Context is Everything
© Corbett Report
I often get asked about an image I've had cause to include in several of my articles over the years. It depicts a television camera capturing a knife attack in such a way as to completely flip the reality of who is attacking and who is being attacked.

In case you haven't seen it before, here it is:

Flipped
© Corbett Report
I would happily credit whoever created this image, but I can't. It's been floating around on the internet for decades now, and I've never once seen it credited to a particular artist. It has, however, been posted and re-posted so much that it's generated its own lore at this point.

Some say that the cameraman framed both of them.

Others insist there's a gun pointed at the cameraman's head, just outside the frame of the picture.

Whatever the case, it's easy to see why the image has generated so much interest over the decades (and continues to do so, judging from the feedback in my inbox). It's because it perfectly encapsulates a point that I will now spend thousands of words elaborating: context is everything.

If you have already internalized this point and you understand how this insight has been weaponized by the powers that shouldn't be, great! But here's another point to consider: we can use this insight about the importance of context to our advantage.

How? Allow me to explain. . . .
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Vader

War harpy Nikki Haley would 'support Israel, strengthen U.S. military' as president

Robin Opsahl
Iowa Capital dispatch
Fri, 20 Oct 2023 20:18 UTC
Nikki haley
© Robin Opsahl/Iowa CapitalDisgraceful former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley spoke to a crowd at Avacentre in Cedar Rapids Oct. 20, 2023
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said Friday that when she talked to Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu on the recent conflict with Hamas, she had one thing to tell him: "Finish them."

Haley has emphasized her national security credentials on the campaign trail as a 2024 presidential candidate, speaking extensively on the need to combat China. In the wake of Hamas attacks on Israel, Haley told a crowd in Cedar Rapids Friday that the U.S. needs to pursue three goals when it comes to the Middle Eastern conflict.

"We have three priorities when we look at Israel: Support Israel with whatever they need whenever they need it," Haley said. "Eliminate Hamas, not weaken them — eliminate Hamas. And do everything we can to bring our hostages home."

Comment: Heaven forbid this lunatic from getting anywhere near the Oval Office. Not even as janitor.

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