Puppet MastersS


Dollar

White House hopes to merge Ukraine and Israeli aid - media

W. House
© Jon Elswick/APWhite House in the colors of the Israeli flag to show solidarity with Israel • October 9, 2023
The measure could push pro-Israel Republicans to support new assistance for Kiev...

Top White House officials are considering whether to include more Ukraine funding in an emergency aid package for Israel, multiple news outlets have reported. One staffer suggested the move would force "far-right" lawmakers to authorize additional aid for Kiev.

Though President Joe Biden had already announced that military assistance was "on its way" to Israel following a surprise attack by Palestinian militants over the weekend, the White House has signaled that it would soon ask Congress to approve additional aid for the Jewish state.

Lawmakers in both parties and senior administration officials have hinted that the aid package could also include provisions for Ukraine, unnamed sources told the Washington Post, NBC News and other outlets on Monday.

Though no final decision has been made, one anonymous official told the Post that the move would be wise because it "jams the far right" - referring to Republicans who vocally support Israel but are skeptical of continued aid to Ukraine. White House spokesman John Kirby, meanwhile, declined to say whether the two aid packages would be linked, only stating "We believe both are important."

Comment: Make the killing fields larger and lethal? Here's the subsidy to do it!


Rocket

Hamas using weapons given to Ukraine - ex-Russian president

missiles
© Abed Rahim Khaith/Global Look PressMissiles fired
Arms Washington sent to Kiev and left in Afghanistan are about to be "uncontrollably used" around the world, Dmitry Medvedev has warned...

The weapons Kiev's Western backers have actively supplied to Ukraine have found their way to Hamas militants and are now "being actively used in Israel," former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said in a Telegram post on Monday, adding that any future military hardware supplied to Kiev could end up on the black market as well.

"It will only get worse from here," Medvedev warned, predicting that the world should "expect missiles, tanks, and even planes from Kiev on the black market soon."

His words came amid rumors that Hamas militants that control the Gaza Strip had gotten their hands on some US-made weaponry before their attack on Israel over the weekend. No solid evidence confirming these claims has emerged so far. However, an unverified video circulating online showed a Palestinian militant displaying assorted US-made pieces, including a standard-issue M136 anti-tank grenade launcher, while thanking Ukrainians for the weapons.

According to Medvedev, "corrupt authorities" in Ukraine would not hesitate to trade everything they had received from their backers. "They would steal everything in sight," the former president claimed, adding that the Western weapons sent to Ukraine would soon fuel conflicts in other parts of the world, just like the trove of weapons the Americans left in Afghanistan during their hasty withdrawal from the country in 2021.

Comment: More likely Biden knew and hid it (with a kickback to him). Congressional blowback on this will be fierce.


Star of David

Palestinians' anti-Israel operation 'legitimate defense' against decades of occupation: Iran's UN mission

Blaze
© AFPBlaze from rocket attack, southern Israeli city of Ashkelon • October 9, 2023
Iran's mission to the United Nations says Operation Al-Aqsa Storm is a "legitimate defense" against decades of Israeli occupation, rejecting allegations that Tehran had a role in the large-scale military operation against the Tel Aviv regime.

In a statement on Monday, the mission said Iran continues its unflinching support for Palestine, amid ongoing massive operation by Palestinian Hamas resistance movement against Israel.

It emphasized that Iran is not involved in Palestine's Operation Al-Aqsa Storm because it has been "taken solely by Palestine itself."

The mission said:
"The resolute measures taken by Palestine constitute a wholly legitimate defense against seven decades of oppressive occupation and heinous crimes committed by the illegitimate Zionist regime. The Palestinian resistance acts independently in its decisions, which are "unwaveringly in line with the legitimate interests of the Palestinian people.

"While recognizing the inherent right of self-defense for all Palestinians under international law, the Islamic Republic of Iran remains steadfast in its belief that the question of Palestine can only be resolved by ending the occupation, recognizing the inalienable rights of self-determination of the Palestinian people and through holding a national referendum with the participation of all Palestinian people, which requires the full restoration and protection of these rights, leading to the establishment of Palestinian sovereignty over entire Palestine."

Arrow Down

EU facing 'huge shortage' of ammunition - media

artillery
© Libkos/Getty ImagesUkrainian soldiers prep artillery shells for firing
The Israel-Palestine crisis has increased the strain on Western arming of Ukraine, Foreign Policy magazine has reported...

The war between Israel and Palestinian militant movement Hamas will divert Western attention and resources away from Ukraine, meaning more uncertainty for Kiev, Foreign Policy magazine has reported citing anonymous sources.

Ukraine was already experiencing issues with receiving additional weapons and funding for its counteroffensive against Russia, even before the surprise escalation of violence in the Middle East on Saturday. European nations in particular have found their armories and political willpower stretched thin, according to the outlet.

"We face a huge ammo shortage due to Ukraine," a German official told the magazine on condition of anonymity.

Kiev has enjoyed unprecedented Western assistance for its military, but its failure to achieve significant gains during the summer counteroffensive and political turmoil in the US appear to have diluted support for its plans. Last month, the US Congress declined to include aid for Ukraine in a 45-day stopgap spending bill under pressure from Republican lawmakers.

Comment: Zelensky tantrum right on cue. Ukraine has become the military supply's garbage disposal.


Nuke

Ukraine's nuclear admission a 'wake-up call' to the world - Moscow

Nukeplant
© Sputnik/Konstantin MikhalchevskyThe Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in Energodar
Kiev's top military spy Kirill Budanov confirms launch of three botched assaults to retake Europe's largest nuclear power plant...

The acknowledgement by Ukraine's military intelligence chief Kirill Budanov, that three amphibious commando raids had been launched against the city that hosts Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, must not go unnoticed by the UN nor by citizens of NATO states, Russia's foreign ministry has said.

In an interview with Ukrainian media last week, Budanov and some subordinates described how the country's military intelligence agency GUR had conducted commando raids on the city of Energodar and that each of these had failed.

The confession should bring people in NATO states "out of their hypnotic trance" in which they were "led to believe [by their governments] that Russia creates nuclear threats," ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated on Monday.

Zakharova also called for a reaction from the UN, which she said "has been claiming for all these months" that they couldn't determine the direction from which the nuclear facility was being threatened.

None of Kiev's three commando operations managed to establish a Ukrainian foothold in Energodar but officials claimed the expeditions gave them valuable experience and contributed to a larger goal of preventing Russia from using the plant to provide electricity to the region. The Zaporozhye station is in a state of partial shutdown, with a single reactor providing power for its own consumption.

Binoculars

War fever: Why China should prepare for the worst

chinese warrior
Washington is positioning its assets at chokepoints across Central Asia to block critical rail corridors that link Beijing to Europe. It's part of a US plan to isolate China from western markets following an outbreak of hostilities in Taiwan.
The destruction of Nordstream is the key to understanding how Washington plans to deal with China. The pipeline effectively erased the geographic borders between Russia and Germany creating a de facto free trade zone that spanned the continents and increased the prosperity of both trading partners. The arrangement anticipated a much larger commons area that would extend from "Lisbon to Vladivostok", in fact, that was Vladimir Putin's explicit goal. Washington saw this as a threat to its regional hegemony and set about to scuttle the partnership and the pipeline. As we pointed out in an earlier article:
In a world where Germany and Russia are friends and trading partners, there is no need for US military bases, no need for expensive US-made weapons and missile systems, and no need for NATO. There's also no need to transact energy deals in US Dollars or to stockpile US Treasuries to balance accounts. Transactions between business partners can be conducted in their own currencies which is bound to precipitate a sharp decline in the value of the dollar and a dramatic shift in economic power. This is why the Biden administration decided to destroy Nordstream, because Nordstream was the main artery linking the two continents together into a mutually beneficial relationship that operated independent of the United States. Thus, Nordstream was a clear threat to the unipolar world and the "rules-based order".

Star of David

Is the race war against the Palestinians turning into a war of the worlds (and other questions)

naval fleet deployment
A US Sixth Fleet squadron (lead image, top left) is now steaming towards the eastern shore of the Mediterraean, following the unusual mission last Thursday by a US Navy P-8 aircraft monitoring the state of operational alert of the Russian naval fleet at Tartous, Syria (top right).*

Between August 18 and September 1, the Soviet aircraft carrier Moskva passed through the Turkish Straits and into the Mediterranean, accompanied by two guided-missile destroyers. Over the next seven days the Soviet Navy gathered almost seventy surface ships - with uncounted submarines - and deployed between the Greek island of Crete and the point on the Libyan coastline where the Libyan and Egyptian border ran into the sea. That was fifty-four years ago in 1969 (lead image, bottom).

Ostensibly, the Soviet operation was to screen an amphibious troop landing exercise of Soviet, Egyptian and Syrian troops. In fact, the naval screen protected Libyan Army Captain Muammar Qaddafi and a dozen junior officer associates when, on September 1, 1969, they successfully toppled the regime of Libyan King Idris and ended US occupation and control of Libya through the Wheelus Air Force Base.

Star of David

Flashback Best of the Web: Beware: Israel the Eager Provocateur

gaza family killed
© MEE/Atiyya DarwishThe bodies of five children from the same family killed in an Israeli air strike on 14 November lie in a hospital ward in Gaza
With hostilities once again erupting between Israeli forces and Palestine, onlookers must keep in mind the greater agenda in which the current violence is playing out and the stated agenda of achieving hegemony over the Middle East in which Israel plays a pivotal role - as the "unilateral aggressor."

FOB Israel

Of course, Israel does nothing unilaterally. It is a stunted, militaristic faux-state that depends entirely on the West for its continued existence. From the funds it builds its military with, to the very hardware it buys and maintains, starting from the day the modern state of Israel was founded up to and including today, Israel is in reality a state-sized forward operating base (FOB). Wikipedia defines a FOB as follows:
"The base may be used for an extended period of time. FOBs are traditionally supported by Main Operating Bases that are required to provide backup support to them.[citation needed] An FOB also improves reaction time to local areas as opposed to having all troops on the main operating base."

Vader

Hezbollah watches on as Gaza war sparks fear of additional fronts for Israel to defend

The fence of an Israeli military position
© AP Photo/Hussein MallaThe fence of an Israeli military position is seen damaged after Hezbollah targeted it by rockets, on an occupied hill of Kfar Chouba village, southeast Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023. Israeli soldiers battled Hamas fighters in the streets of Israel's south on Sunday and exchanged strikes with Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group in the north, while Israel's retaliation strikes leveled buildings in Gaza. The prospect of Hezbollah joining the fighting a day after an unprecedented surprise attack from Gaza raised the chances of a broader conflict.
After more than 12 hours of ongoing terror and rocket attacks by Palestinian terrorists from Gaza in Israeli communities in the south, Israeli civilians along the country's northern border - close to Lebanon - slept uneasily on Saturday night, fearing a similar attack by the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah.

On Sunday morning, even as Israeli forces continued to battle Hamas fighters near Gaza, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for firing shots into a disputed area known as Mount Dov. Israel retaliated by striking Hezbollah infrastructure, according to the IDF spokesperson, including taking out two tents that the terrorist group erected there in June.

Amir Avivi, CEO of the Israel Defense and Security Forum (IDSF), told Fox News Digital that he was surprised that Hamas's attack on Saturday was not coordinated with Hezbollah or that Hezbollah did not take advantage of the events unfolding to also attack Israel.

Comment:
Is all this just a pretext for a larger military conflict with Iran for example or any other Arab country in the Middle East? Will this be another 9/11, and will they accuse Iran of the support and logistics of the attack on Israel the same way the USA accused Afghanistan of 9/11 and later Iraq of possession of WMD which was never found?
Israel declares war after Hamas surprise attack, launches retaliatory airstrikes in Gaza


Israel's security cabinet officially declared war Saturday night after Hamas terrorists launched a surprise barrage of thousands of rockets into southern Israel, killing hundreds and wounding thousands, according to Israeli media.

Israeli soldiers battled Hamas fighters in the streets of southern Israel a day after Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists invaded the area and launched rockets from the Gaza Strip, killing at least 600 Israelis and wounding at least 2,000 others.

Israeli forces launched retaliatory strikes against Hamas terrorists in Gaza on Sunday, while also trading fire with Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in the north.

Israel struck 426 targets in Gaza, blasting residential buildings to the ground, including a 14-story tower that held dozens of apartments as well as Hamas offices in central Gaza City. Israeli forces fired a warning just before the strike.

An Israeli airstrike struck Gaza City
© AP Photo/Fatima ShbairAn Israeli airstrike struck Gaza City on Saturday after Hamas militants carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of Hamas fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations by air, land, and sea.
Among the 313 killed in Gaza were 20 children, and close to 2,000 wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

Meanwhile, Israel's northern border came under attack Sunday as Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets and shells at three Israeli positions in a disputed area along the border. Israel's military returned fire using armed drones.

People stand outside a mosque destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip
© AP Photo/Yousef MasoudPeople stand outside a mosque destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Sunday.
Palestinians walk by the rubble of a building after it was struck by an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City
© AP Photo/Fatima ShbairPalestinians walk by the rubble of a building after it was struck by an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City on Sunday.
Palestinians inspect the rubble of a building after it was struck by an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City
© AP Photo/Fatima ShbairPalestinians inspect the rubble of a building after it was struck by an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City on Sunday.
During Saturday's incursion, Hamas fighters reportedly captured women, children and the elderly. Israeli military officials confirmed that a "substantial" number of Israelis were abducted Saturday without giving an exact figure.

An Egyptian official told the Associated Press,
"It's clear that they have a big number — several dozens" of hostages.
The official said Palestinian leaders claimed that they don't yet have a "full picture" of hostages, and those who were brought into Gaza were taken to "secure locations" across the territory.


Hamas terrorists claim to have taken enough Israeli hostages to free all the thousands of Palestinian prisoners being held in Israel on Sunday.

On Saturday night, Israel's security cabinet voted to officially go to war, unlocking "significant military activities," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced, according to the Times of Israel. It is Israel's first declaration of war since the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

Netanyahu had earlier declared war following the surprise attack on Israel, vowing that Hamas "will pay an unprecedented price." He warned, "This war will take time. It will be difficult."

Deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, Saleh al-Arouri, told Al-Jazeera TV that it had planned for a long fight.
"We are prepared for all options, including all-out war," al-Arouri, said. "We are ready to do whatever is necessary for the dignity and freedom of our people."

The Biden administration "unequivocally" condemned terrorist organization Hamas on Saturday amid its unprecedented and "appalling" assaults against Israel. President Biden and senior administration officials stressed that the United States "stands with Israel."
Israel strikes Lebanon after Hezbollah hits Shebaa Farms

Rockets are fired from Gaza toward Israel, in Gaza, October 7, 2023.
© ReutersRockets are fired from Gaza toward Israel, in Gaza, October 7, 2023.
Israel fired barrages of artillery into southern Lebanon on Sunday after Hezbollah targeted three Israeli military positions in the disputed Shebaa Farms.

There were no immediate reports of casualties. The cross-border fire comes a day after a surprise attack by Palestinian gunmen on Israeli towns left at least 250 Israelis dead, with another 230 Gazans killed in Israel's retaliatory bombardment.

Hezbollah, a powerful armed party backed by Iran, said it had launched guided rockets and artillery onto three posts in the Shebaa Farms "in solidarity" with the Palestinian people.

The Israeli military said on Sunday it fired artillery into an area of Lebanon where cross-border mortar fire was launched. "IDF (Israel Defence Forces) artillery is currently striking the area in Lebanon from where a shooting was carried out," it said.

Israel's military said one of its drones struck a Hezbollah post in the area of Har Dov, an area in Shebaa.

Israel has held the Shebaa Farms, a 39 sq km patch of land, since 1967. Both Syria and Lebanon claim the Shebaa Farms are Lebanese.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Saturday, it said it had enhanced its presence in southern Lebanon following developments in Israel and Gaza, including its operations to counter rocket launches.

Hezbollah, which effectively controls southern Lebanon, said Saturday it was in "direct contact" with leaders of Palestinian "resistance" groups and that it saw Palestinian attacks on Israel as a "decisive response to Israel's continued occupation and a message to those seeking normalisation with Israel".



Eye 1

Nord Stream syndrome: One year on, EU states and the US collude to sweep the pipeline attacks under the rug

gas leaking at Nord Stream 2
© Danish Defence/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesDanish Defense shows the gas leaking at Nord Stream 2 seen from the Danish F-16 interceptor on Bornholm, Denmark on September 27, 2022.
It's been more than a year since one of the biggest pieces of energy infrastructure in Europe was destroyed in what can only be described as a terror attack. One would imagine that no stone would be left unturned to investigate a crime of such magnitude and attribute responsibility.

You would also think that the countries that stood to lose most from Nord Stream's destruction would be at the forefront of these investigations. Well, welcome to the Europe of 2023 where, in a weird case of Stockholm syndrome, it seems neither the alleged perpetrator nor indeed one of the main victims wants any more "trouble" when it comes to Nord Stream. The consensus is to let sleeping dogs lie, and considering the evidence of US involvement in the attack, that's entirely unsurprising.

On September 26, 2022, the world's news feeds erupted with reports of the powerful explosions which tore the landmark Russian-German gas pipelines apart, dealing a devastating blow to Berlin's, and by extension the entire EU's, energy security. Within a couple of days, Western media had seemingly solved the mystery. Publications such as Politico eagerly proclaimed that "Everything is pointing to Russia," embracing the utterly delusional anti-logic that would make it plausible that Russia would destroy a piece of its own energy infrastructure that had been bringing it steady income. This reality, widely accepted by objective, nonaligned observers, was however lost on a slew of NATO-, US-, and EU-aligned commentators and officials. A mere four days after the explosions, US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told the BBC that it "seems" Russia was behind the destruction of its own multibillion-dollar investment.

When we roll the clock forward to today, it is now patently clear that Western media have been tasked with memory-holing the entire Nord Stream affair, with Germany, Sweden, and Denmark quietly conducting separate "investigations" which conveniently exclude Russian officials while also remaining strangely low-key in Western newsfeeds. These obviously declawed investigations continue as it is increasingly accepted in the West that Russia had nothing to do with the sabotage, it now being obvious that the US and/or a proxy partner were actually behind this terror attack on European soil. More than a year after these attacks, it's apparent that the manner in which this reality has been suppressed is possibly more sinister than the attack itself.