Puppet MastersS


Bomb

Divide and re-conquer: Bombs rock Cairo on eve of 2011 uprising anniversary

Patrick Kingsley
The Guardian
Fri, 24 Jan 2014 04:12 UTC
Image
© Khalil Hamra/APEmergency workers gather at the Egyptian police headquarters after the blast in central Cairo.
Big explosion outside Egyptian police headquarters followed by two more blasts in capital

A large truck bomb has rocked the centre of Cairo, killing at least four people and injuring 76.

The explosion early on Friday morning - the eve of the third anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak - struck the Egyptian police headquarters.

Hours after the attack, two more blasts hit the capital.

A crude explosive device killed one policeman and wounded nine others in another Cairo neighbourhood, the interior ministry said in a statement. Security sources said a person driving past security vehicles threw a hand grenade in their direction.

In Giza, a large district on the outskirts of Cairo, a third explosion went off near a police station. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Comment: See also:

Manufacturing civil war in Egypt: 'Mystery' snipers massacre Morsi supporters
SOTT.net, July 9th, 2013

Three Decades With Egypt's Military Keep U.S. in Loop
Bloomberg, February 3rd, 2011
The Pentagon has 625 personnel in Egypt, helping keep the peace along the border with Israel and coordinating aid and weapons sales from such companies as General Dynamics Corp., Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Co. and United Technologies Corp.

[...]

More than 500 Egyptian military officers study each year at U.S. institutes such as the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, and National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington.


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Cult

Former UK Deputy House Speaker and Conservative Party Vice-Chairman Nigel Evans in court to face charges of sex crimes against multiple 20-something men


The Guardian
Fri, 24 Jan 2014 03:46 UTC
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Nigel Evans is accused of two counts of indecent assault, five of sexual assault and one of rape

Nigel Evans, the former deputy speaker of the House of Commons, will enter formal pleas on Friday over allegations of sexual offences against seven men.

Evans, the MP for Ribble Valley in Lancashire, is to appear at Preston crown court for a plea and case management hearing.

The 55-year-old is accused of two counts of indecent assault, five of sexual assault and one of rape. The charges date from 2002 to last year.

He has previously emphatically denied all the charges.

A provisional date of 10 March has been set for his trial, which is scheduled to last up to four weeks.
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Smoking

Smoking is not for the masses! Politicians and royals light up, though

Palash Ghosh
International Business Times
Tue, 25 Jun 2013 03:15 UTC
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© ReutersRussian foreign minister Lavrov lights up
What do Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Winston Churchill and Jawaharlal Nehru all have in common? They were (are) all fond of smoking.

Rates of cigarette and cigar smoking have been falling across the Western world as a confluence of health advocacy and advertisement restrictions have prodded millions of people to either quit or not take up the deadly habit in the first place.

But a surprising number of global leaders like to light up, although a great many avoid doing so in public.

In recent years, much discussion has been made about U.S. Presidents Obama and Clinton and their habit of smoking cigarettes and cigars, respectively.

Comment: Do as we say, not as we do!

Again we see that the issue isn't smoking per se. The main goal of tobacco smoking bans is "to change societal behavior" by stigmatizing smoking, making it less convenient and less socially acceptable. By raising the stakes, it helped transform a complaint into a right, so that people annoyed by tobacco smoke now felt justified in demanding that it be eliminated everywhere they might want to go, including other people's property.

In short, they have conditioned the majority of the people on the planet to behave like Nazis and think it is normal.

See also:

The devious plan of anti-smoking campaigns to control people and stop them from using their brain

Let's All Light Up!

5 Health Benefits of Smoking

Nicotine Lessens Symptoms Of Depression In Nonsmokers

Nicotine helps Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Patients

Brain Researchers: Smoking increases intelligence

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Bad Guys

Enbridge launches hundreds of digs for cracks in Line 9

Adam Carter
CBC News
Tue, 21 Jan 2014 06:31 UTC
Enbridge
© CBCFrom July to December of last year, Enbridge conducted hundreds of integrity digs for cracks, dents and corrosion on Line 9.
Oil giant says pipeline is safe, but activists remain unconvinced
In the last six months, Enbridge Pipelines Inc. has filed hundreds of maintenance notices for cracks, dents and corrosion on the controversial Line 9 pipeline that runs through rural Hamilton.

Activists and pipeline experts say it's a sign that the 38-year-old line is brittle, and strengthens their argument against the company's current plan to reverse the pipeline's flow and increase its capacity to carry crude.

But Enbridge says the wealth of maintenance digs are just further proof that the company is committed to keeping the line in good shape and that the maintenance attention is "prudent" preparation should its application be accepted by the National Energy Board.

From July to December of last year, there were 308 maintenance digs along line 9 - and the vast majority were for cracks in the line. In July alone, Enbridge filed 105 maintenance notices for digs on line 9, according to documents filed with the NEB.
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Robot

U.S. Army prepares to replace thousands of troops with military robots


RT
Thu, 23 Jan 2014 21:38 UTC
army robots
© AFP Photo / HO

An all-out drone war seems inevitable given the rapid rate at which battlefield technology is advancing in this day and age, but a United States Army commander expects an arsenal of robotic warriors could be but a few years away.

Gen. Robert Cone, the chief of the Army's Training and Doctrine Command, said during a recent symposium that he thinks there's a chance the size of the military's brigade combats teams will shrink by a quarter in the coming years from 4,000 total troops down to 3,000. Picking up the slack, he said, could be a fleet of robotic killing machines akin to the ground versions of the unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, increasingly used by the world's armies.

The Military Times' Paul McLeary was the first to report this week on remarks that Cone, a four-star general, made during the Army Aviation Symposium January 15 in Arilington, Virginia.

"I've got clear guidance to think about what if you could robotically perform some of the tasks in terms of maneuverability, in terms of the future of the force," Cone told his crowd, according to McLeary, adding that he also has "clear guidance to rethink" the size of those infantry squads, which currently are manned by nine troops apiece.
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Chess

Propaganda Alert: Female terrorist may have already infiltrated Sochi Olympic security zone; U.S. warships on standby

Leada Gore
AL.com
Thu, 23 Jan 2014 18:07 UTC
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© Stefan KrasowskiWork being done on an Olympic venue site in Sochi, Russia.
The U.S. is assisting Russia in the search for a suspected terrorist who could already be inside the security zone set up for next month's winter Olympics in Sochi.

Fox News is reporting U.S. counterterrorism operatives are searching for Ruzanna Ibragimova, a "white widow," - the wife of a dead terrorist - who is believed to have traveled from Dagestan to Sochi and may have breached the 1,500-mile security area. Ibragimova's husband was killed during a previous terrorist attack on a Moscow theater.

Her photo was distributed to Russian and U.S. security officials last week. An accompanying memo said Ibragimova is believed to be associated with "illegal armed groups for the organization of terrorist acts in the zone of the 2014 Olympics."

A U.S. security forces memo said the notice "is the first sign that terrorists may have managed to penetrate the security cordon."

Russia has about 40,000 security and police personnel in the area to deter attacks.

The news of the possible terrorist breach is just the latest security threat to the Olympics which are set to begin next month. Terrorist groups have already made videotaped threats to disrupt the proceedings, prompting U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel to offer security assistance to the Russians.
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Arrow Down

Corporate criminals, billionaires gather for World Economic Forum in Davos

Andre Damon
Global Research
Thu, 23 Jan 2014 17:59 UTC
World Economic Forum
© Global Research
The 44th annual World Economic Forum (WEF) began Wednesday, bringing over 2,000 corporate executives, major investors, government leaders, central bankers and celebrities to the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos.

The annual celebration of wealth and avarice follows a bumper year for the world's super-rich. Stock prices and corporate profits surged to new record highs, swelling the bank accounts and portfolios of the financial elite, even as austerity measures, wage cutting and layoffs slashed living standards and threw tens of millions more people into poverty.

On the eve of the forum, the British charity Oxfam released a study documenting the staggering growth of social inequality. Oxfam reported that the richest 85 individuals possess more wealth than the poorest 50 percent of the world's population - 3.5 billion people!

The Davos conference embodies the emergence of a new global financial aristocracy. In attendance at this year's meeting are 80 billionaires and hundreds of millionaires.

The general tone on the opening day was one of "fragile optimism," according to a survey of attendees. There is a general expectation of more good fortune in 2014. But looming over the festivities there is also fear of the social and political consequences of the naked plundering of society by the elites represented in Davos.

The conference, which goes from January 22 through 25, has officially adopted the title "The Reshaping of the World: Consequences for Society, Politics and Business." It will draw 1,500 business executives, 48 prime ministers and presidents, and the heads of twenty central banks. US attendees include Secretary of State John Kerry, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Environmental Protection Agency head Gina McCarthy.
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Calendar

Queen Elizabeth hands over the reigns to Chuck, kind of

Andy Lines
Mirror News
Mon, 20 Jan 2014 00:04 UTC
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Passing the baton: The Queen
Her Majesty to hand duties over to Prince Charles in an historic job share which experts say marks a gentle succession

It is being dubbed the "gentle succession" - as the Queen gradually begins to relinquish some of her traditional duties as monarch.

As she approaches her 88th birthday in April after almost 62 years on the throne, she has agreed to hand over part of her workload in a historic "job-share" arrangement with Prince Charles.

In a royal first, he will be taking on more head of state-style responsibilities as the Palace starts to make tentative plans for his eventual succession.

Courtiers yesterday described the softly-softly move as "wise" - and "just plain common sense".

The first sign of the partial power transfer will be the merging this week of the Queen and Charles's press offices.

In future any announcements concerning the monarch and her 65-year-old eldest son will now come from the same source. Palace sources insist the switch will be entirely seamless.
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Rainbow

Spain's new cardinal says homosexuality a 'defect'


Yahoo! News
Mon, 20 Jan 2014 00:00 UTC
Image
© AFP/Curto de la TorreAn activist brandishes a rainbow-flag sticker as he protests against homophobia during a gay rights rally in Madrid.
Pope Francis' newly chosen Spanish cardinal, 84-year-old Fernando Sebastian Aguilar, has described homosexuality as a "defect" that can be corrected with treatment, sparking condemnation from gay rights groups.

"A lot of people complain and don't tolerate it but with all respect I say that homosexuality is a defective way of manifesting sexuality, because that has a structure and a purpose, which is procreation," Sebastian told Malaga newspaper Sur.

The interview was published Sunday, a week after the Spaniard was named as one of 19 new cardinals chosen by the pope, to be officially appointed February 22.

"We have a lot of defects in our bodies. I have high blood pressure. Am I going to get angry because they tell me that? It is a defect I have that I have to correct as far as I can," said Sebastian, who is the archbishop emeritus of the northern city of Pamplona.

"Pointing out a defect to a homosexual is not an offence, it is a help because many cases of homosexuality can be recovered and normalised with adequate treatment. It is not an offence, it is esteem. When someone has a defect, the good friend is the one who tells him."

The archbishop was asked in the interview if he shared the view of Pope Francis, who said in July last year: "If someone is gay and seeks the Lord with good will, who am I to judge?"
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Propaganda

Propaganda Alert! Syria photos may prove torture by Assad regime

Mick Krever and Schams Elwazer
CNN
Wed, 22 Jan 2014 14:59 UTC
Image
© Unknown
A team of internationally renowned war crimes prosecutors and forensic experts has found "direct evidence" of "systematic torture and killing" by the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, the lawyers on the team say in a new report.

Their report, based on thousands of photographs of dead bodies of alleged detainees killed in Syrian government custody, would stand up in an international criminal tribunal, the group says.

CNN's "Amanpour" was given the report in a joint exclusive with The Guardian newspaper.

"This is a smoking gun," said David Crane, one of the report's authors. "Any prosecutor would like this kind of evidence -- the photos and the process. This is direct evidence of the regime's killing machine."

Crane, the first chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, indicted former Liberian President Charles Taylor for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Taylor went on to become the first former head of state convicted of war crimes since World War II. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

CNN cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the photographs, documents and testimony referenced in the report, and is relying on the conclusions of the team behind it, which includes international criminal prosecutors, a forensic pathologist, an anthropologist and an expert in digital imaging.

The bodies in the photos showed signs of starvation, brutal beatings, strangulation, and other forms of torture and killing, according to the report.

Comment: Bashar Al-Assad is one of the few leaders in the world who actually cares for his people. This unconfirmed, seemingly manufactured torture business stinks to high heaven! To learn about the real Bashar Al-Assad, see:

The Real Bashar Al-Assad
Video: Charlie Rose interview with Bashar al-Assad (full interview and transcript)
Western journalists are just reporting lies about Syria: Assad has many sunny days ahead of him
Syria: Democracy vs. foreign invasion. Who is Bashar Al Assad?

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